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Our adventures in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus continue....
  
The end of another week and now that Arie has gone back we kept it fairly quiet. Friday evening Joan and I went down to The Cabin for a couple of drinks only to find that the rest of the layabouts had hibernated. You see what happens when we get a little rain and it goes a little colder, they all hide away. Michael did turn up by himself for a couple of beers, so we didn't feel quite so ostracised. Saturday evening we went out with Michael, Barbara and their daughter Caron to the Chinese restaurant down near the Denizkizi hotel. This restaurant has improved immensely since they first opened up and we had an excellent meal with lots of variety, served up nowadays on those table with the rotating centre piece. An enjoyable meal in good company. Toady was the big cut the hedges day for us. The weather has gone much cooler, down to around 22 degrees in the middle of the day so it is good to work in and we achieved lots before succumbing to old age and the need for a swim around 2 o'clock.What the papers say time:- An interesting article in the Cyprus Times, only a small bi-line on page three. Feasibility studies have been going on to build a second runway at Ercan airport to make it possible for big aeroplanes to land. The government says that a decision will be made and the second runway realised in 2006. Guess it doesn't need me to point out that they are not doing this without good reason.The Homebuyers Pressure Group who I mentioned last week again have printed an i
mportant notice in The Cyprus Times. The Homebuyers Pressure Group where apparently informed by the Undersecretary of the Interior Ministry that no one should enter into any property sales contract or pay any deposits on properties until such time as they have received their permission to purchase from the Interior Ministry. The Undersecretary also advised that potential purchasers should submit and expedite their own application and that the services of an estate agent or lawyer are not required for this process. This service is provided free of charge by the TRNC government. Now this is not new, the rule has always applied and in fact we did exactly that, but, in 1999 it only took three to four months to get permission now it takes two to three years and if you are 3,000 miles away then how do you get this work completed because as sure as hell the ministry don't reply to phone calls and probably never look at their e-mails. Add to this the mislaid files and lost papers and you have the impossible task. This is the very reason why estate agents and lawyers started to do this work on behalf of their clients, so guess the ministry needs to get it's act together before issuing these sort of statements. Our builder did not start the actual build until all permissions where in place and therefore we only paid a small initial deposit until such time work commenced and that gave us lots of peace of mind. So maybe that's the way to go.Lots in the papers about Aga Developments and their site at Amaranta Valley. It appears that the government has frozen bank accounts and work on the site has stopped but the lawyer for the company and the directors are denying any wrong doing and that they are negotiating with the government to free up the funds and complete the work. The message seems to be don't panic the problem will be resolved. Doubtless there will be lots more legal action and we will have to wait to see the results of all this. But at the moment there seems to be a big internal fight between the two directors, Gary Robb ands Tahir Soycan, with each blaming the other for the mess. Personally I think the government is going to have to step and soon, the effect on the building industry and the economy would be too great if they don't resolve this issue. Don't suppose we will ever learn the truth but think that the development will get finished for the reason stated above.President Mehmet Ali Talat is going to a invitation meeting with the US Secretary of State next Friday. Is this another sign of progress towards recognition from somewhere?Finally Joan and I are trying to get tickets to come over to the UK at the end of the month. Joan has this notion to do some Xmas shopping, but at this time we only seem to have stand-by tickets to get off the island on 27th with confirmed return flights on 6th November. Interesting, if we can't get off them what's the point of confirmed returns ? We will await developments early in the week.
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