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Our
adventures in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus continue....
   
We have had a couple of really relaxing days, showing Les and Jill some of the local tourist places, lying around on a couple of beaches and sampling some local restaurants. It is still warm enough to sit on the patio in the evenings with a drink, something which I think they will miss next week back in U.K. Today we decided to go up to the Karpas Peninsula and stay over night in order to be able to really enjoy this remote place. The Karpas is the most easterly point of Cyprus and as yet it is untouched by development. It is frequently referred to as the nature reserve of Cyprus with its golden sands, protected turtle nesting beaches and abundant wildlife, which includes the Karpas donkeys. We checked in at the Malibu Motel, late morning. This motel only has 5 simple en-suite rooms but is situated right on its own beach and only a few hundred yards from the fishing harbour at Yeni Erinkoy. I think we are looking forward to dinner already. We drove on to the very tip of the peninsula in the afternoon, only stopping at Golden Beach for a couple of beers and a kebab lunch. Towards the tip you come across the Apostolos Andreas Monastery which has the tradition of being the Lourdes of Cyprus. There is now only one old woman, speaking Greek, who mans the grotto and two policemen outside with a visitors book, which you are required to sign and enter your passport number. On our return journey to the motel we stopped for a swim and a coffee at the Sea Bird Restaurant, we had the entire beach to ourselves and it was great to wash off the travel dust. Dinner this evening consisted of fresh grilled fish; what else could you have here!. Proceeded of course by meze, washed down with wine, coffee and brandy. What bliss.
This morning Joan and I woke early to the sound of the sea, only 10 yards from our room. What else could you possibly do but go for a wonderful pre-breakfast swim. Breakfast was traditional and include boiled eggs, meats, olives, cheese, fresh bread and an abundance of coffee. When we came to check out we found that the cost per person was only £16.00, this included dinner and drinks the previous day, bed and breakfast. We resolved to save up and stay 2 nights next time.
We spent a few hours on the beach and then drove back to Kyrenia by crossing the mountain range and visiting Kanatara Castle, on the way. Once again the views from the top are tremendous and it gave Les some further photo opportunities. The drive back was along the northern coast road, the surface of which leaves a little to be desired, but what the hell we were in no hurry and the coastal scenery is glorious. About 4 miles from home we reached St Katherines restaurant around 7pm, Joan and I had always intended to try this place, which came highly recommended and they were right. Also it meant that we arrived home at a reasonable time and the driver could have a little drinkie. Thank you.
Quick visit to the building site to check on progress, then down to Compass beach for the rest of the day. Les is still looking for that elusive squid.
In the evening Brian and Lil had invited us to there place for a BBQ. I think he just wanted to show off his new temple to outdoor cooking as he calls it. An extremely enjoyable evening, thanks Bri & Lil, another one we owe you.
A very sad day. Les and Jill flew out at 1600 hours after too brief a visit, but next year they promised to come back for much longer, if they get invited that is!
They say that the world is a very small place and this afternoon we had the proof of that. We made a totally impromptu diversion up to Bellapais, to see Kemal in his shop about our residency. As we walked out of the shop we met Jonathan Lee and his family, who were staying on the other coast of the island and had just come for a look around Bellapais. Jonathan worked with Joan in Canterbury 4 years ago and neither of us had seen him in all that time.
Jonathan and his family came over again to visit, from Salamis, so we were able to take them to see our house and then come back to Catalkoy to play tennis with the girls and have an afternoon BBQ.
As of today we are legal residents of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. Kemal succeeded in getting our residents permits through, now all we need are our driving licences. Next week maybe!
Site visit to check progress again. Saturday is another work day here so the Number 1 walling team were still very busy. When all of this stone walling is completed and our gates fitted, it is going to look stunning and give a real finish to our garden and patio. The kitchen is beginning to take shape with the basic cupboards installed and almost all of the tiling work has been completed including under the covered area below the house. The tiler obviously found it warm work as he decided to take the plunge in our pool, rather him than me when you see the condition of the test water currently in the pool.
Went with Kemal, his young son and his father in law, to the first premiership game of the season. The team to support is Kyrenia who play in a red strip and their No 9 wears white boots. But there the resemblance ends. Lots of real enthusiasm and some reasonable skill, the ref's yellow card was on elastic so that he could get it in and out of his pocket quickly and even the red came out twice. Both sides 10 men half way through the second half. The spectators were also equally enthusiastic, one from our home team stand went to the opposition stand, started a fight and the police sat on the wall and watched. All this entertainment for £1.20 and free car parking, I'll definitely be going again.
One more trip to Nicosia today with Kemal, because today we have been here exactly three months and had to complete our driving licence application. Technically over here if you don't have your licence within three months you car insurance is nul and void. Because of the earlier delays in residency, due to problems with their computer system, we were sailing very close to the wind. Kemal assures us that because our residency is valid and we made the application for licences, then we are covered. We also heard another piece of interesting news today. Those of you who remember our July news, where we were able to do a very good deal on a Suzuki 4 x 4, will recall that we had been able to cut £1,500 off the original asking price. Now we know why. If you recall, the guy who was selling was going back to mainland Turkey and needed to sell before he left. O.K. so far. But now it appears that the reason he needed to go home was to look after the family because, father had just been awarded 12 years inside. So that's why the guy was so keen to close the deal; and we were all concerned that it might have been a dodgy motor.
The weather here is still very hot, in fact it has gone back to almost July temperatures, after a couple of cooler days and some cloud cover, so we did the only sensible thing today and went down to our favourite Lara beach. Have to admit though that the water temperature is going down rapidly, so it is now necessary to get in a bit quickly. But cool water or not, I know of no time when I have spent the day on the beach in England on October 17th.
Early start today, we had to be on site to meet the painter by 8 am, then go to Nicosia to collect our car from servicing at 10 am, then back to Lapta to meet the telephone man, together with the other neighbours. All of us needed to meet together, because there is a cost of digging up and laying cable all the way down the road and this has to be a divided cost between us.
We did have the good fortune to be able to spend some time talking to Darryl, on site, and he is quite certain that all his workers will be off site by the end of next week and then the cleaners move in. So it looks very much as if we could be moving in on 1st November. All is coming together very well, as our container is confirmed for next Tuesday, 22nd October and takes about 7 days to clear customs etc.
Mustapha, from Cyprus Pools, also is confident that they will complete the pool and terrace in the same timescale, in fact they start tiling the pool on Monday. They are all hand laid and it only takes about 3/4 days, so we should really see some changes next week. As usual, as soon as you appear on site with a camera they all shout photo, photo, so we had to take one of the pool crew this time and the paymaster had to be in it too.
We have seen some real progress this week towards completion. The pool crew have laid lots of the tiles, in fact the sides are completed and grouted. In the house the painters are very active, almost all of the interior is complete by now and they started to paint the first coat on the facia boards etc. We feel really confident that Darryl will get everything finished by 31st October as promised.There is one little potential problem looming up. Back in September, Joan and I decided that we would like a granite worktop. We told Darryl that we wanted to do this and he was happy so long as we fit in with his schedule, he even recommended a company in Nicosia. We looked at three different companies and finally because of colour and granite pattern we choose a company called Simtas, which was not the company recommended by Darryl, maybe next time we will listen! On 1st October Simtas guaranteed installation in 14 days. Today, 23 days later, the ship finally arrived with their granite shipment and they are going to get customs clearance and then cut and install on Friday, 25th. So far they have given us so many excuses, and we feel lies also, about shipment delays, that we are reluctant to believe them before we see the finished job. The problem is that the cabinet makers cannot finish until the worktop is in, and of course, I had promised Joan a granite worktop. If however, the installation doesn't take place on Friday then we have a decision to make, accept the delay, or put on a standard Formica worktop.
Today was a really early start. Ian & Dorothy arrived on the night flight at 0530 and we met them to take them to their hotel. They are here because construction has started on their house in Ilgaz and they need to agree fittings etc. with the builder. No doubt there will be a few evenings out over the next 10 days.At 0900 we meet Kemal and went once again go to Nicosia, this time to obtain customs clearance on our container. Also to collect our driving licences at last, so now we will have all the legal documents we need to live here.As it is now only 0740 am, it is too early to report as to whether the granite worktop will be fitted today, so I suppose it is "Watch this space". Why do we have this nasty feeling about this company called Simtas.Well we went to Nicosia and chased around getting customs clearance. Its a good job Kemal knows what he is doing. After three different offices in and around Nicosia we paid £65.00 to clear our stuff. Then when we went to collect the driving licences, mine was ready, but they had lost the paperwork for Joan's licence somewhere in their files. Hey Ho this Cyprus! Maybe next week, after the 3 day bank holiday.1600 hours. Well the granite worktop was installed when we got there to check. What a terrible job! The splashback strips which are supposed to be against the tiles and silicone fitted to the worktop, fit as and where they touched. During fitting they had attempted to push tighter against the tiles and broken the granite, which they then attempted to hide with silicone filler. But the worst possible fault was that they had cut the hole for the sink in the wrong place, damaging one of the fitted cupboards in the process. Resolved to visit their offices and demand a site visit tomorrow a.m. The company just got a new name from us today " SIM-TRASH".
Big meeting on site with Simtas, Darryl (to help with the language problem), Joan and myself. We made it very plain that their unprofessional work was totally unacceptable and that they had to replace all damaged and incorrectly cut pieces by Monday latest. It turns out that they had insufficient of the same colour to do so. End result they were told, in no uncertain terms, to take out the entire worktop on Monday morning, without any further damage and to repay the deposit in cash.
Darryl from Australian Construction saved the day. He took us to Re-Mer another granite supplier and explained the problem. We were able to pick a very acceptable green granite and Joan and I took one of their men out to site to measure the area. He also got a good look at the workmanship of Simtas; was last seen shaking his head. Re-Mer have come up with the same cost for supply and fit and under the circumstances have agreed to cut and prepare Monday and fit on Tuesday. We think that the big difference is that they carry a big stock of stone. Darryl says that he can work around the delay and still deliver to us for Friday 1st November. Moral to the story, don't have anything to do with a marble and granite company called Simtas, they have not yet met one single commitment to us. Lets hope we get our deposit money without problems.
Early morning start as we needed to be on site when Simtas called to remove the offending worktop. Before they arrived out came the digital to record all the damage and errors, don't know why we did that, just a feeling I suppose. Eventually they arrived at 11 a.m. and made one more offer, £200 discount to leave it as is, response was immediate. Get the bl***y thing out of here. True to form, despite Joan and I watching, they managed to damage two wall tiles in the process and leave the kitchen in such a state, that we set too; and cleaned up after they had gone. Down to Simtas offices to collect £200. Oh boy, huge shouting match and once again every excuse from Simtas, blaming everybody else but themselves. Complaining that they now had granite they could not re-use, to which I said "so what". Complaining about the cost and loss to the company, again I said "so what". They just will NOT accept that their workmanship was responsible for the whole problem. They wanted us to bring Darryl in and I said no, the contract was between us and Simtas and had nothing to do with Australian Construction. Clearly we were getting nowhere, so we went To Ertrugal and asked his advice, he called his solicitor for us and the man said we were entitled to our deposit refund. He is prepared to act for us, so we will get a meeting with him soon. The whole thing has now just become a matter of principal with us, against a very unpleasant man.
Now a much lighter note, Darryl has again pulled out all the stops and is still on schedule, although a little tight, to give us the house on Friday. Re-Mer are fitting the replacement worktop this afternoon, working late if necessary and the cabinet makers are fitting doors and locks everywhere. The painters have finished and we like the look of the finished product, well almost finished anyway. Darryl has called for all our kitchen appliances for tomorrow so that will be the next exciting thing. We are really getting to the point now when we want to be up there watching, every minute of the day. Very difficult to restrain ourselves because we realize that we would just be in the way. The pool people are also progressing well, the outer water gutters are going on and then they can start the terracing. Mustapha confirmed that he will be completed by 4th November. Not really a problem as it will be too cold to swim anyway. Today was a national holiday here, although as usual all the shops and most other places were open. Just a holiday for Banks and Government workers then! We went down to the seafront in Kyrenia to watch the parade, lots of speeches that we couldn't understand and lots and lots of enthusiastic clapping from the locals, to the military parade. There is still this very strong feeling here about the actions of the Turkish army in 1974 and how different things would be if they had not intervened. Back up to the new house late afternoon to see Re-Mer turn up with the new granite, Darryl was hanging in there to see completion, so we got out of the way around 6.30 p.m. but it was looking good and really professional. What a relief. Darryl says he will have the cleaning team in there on Thursday 30th, and asked Joan if she would hang around with them all day to check their work. I think it relieves him to worry about other sites.This evening we went to dinner with Ertrugal and Ayshan to The Passport restaurant. This is fairly new and excellent value for money. We will definitely be going back there again.
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