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Our
adventures in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus continue....
  
Well we made it back after four quite hectic and humid days in Bangkok. The journey back was very long because it was overnight and try as we did, sleeping on an aeroplane is not the best thing to try to do. The final crunch came when our local Cyprus Turkish Airlines flight was 3.5 hours late out of Istanbul, just what we needed, standing in a queue with a lot more irate passengers and nobody telling you why or when. The sooner CTA lose their monopoly on this island the better, as at the moment the airline operates for the benefit of the employees not the passengers. Enough of the moaning, what about Bangkok you ask.
Brilliant. We are staying in the sort of middle of the city, quite close to the sky train which now moves people around quickly but on arrival we where able to use our pre-booked taxi service to the hotel, great this internet stuff, and this also included a contact with the Ministry of Tourism at the airport counter. Because we had done all our booking this way and our hotel was on the Ministry official listing, we were offered a half day tour with private car and tour guide for only £10.00, so selected to look at the temples in the old city area as we felt that the guides knowledge would be advantageous.
After a leisurely breakfast we were collected by Nancy to start our tour. This was excellent and we soon found out that we were able to bi-pass all the bus loads of tourists, as this lady of ours had influence and really knew her stuff. We started with the world famous Golden Buddha. This is quite a magnificent sight, weighing in at over 5 tons of gold. It is housed in a moderate sized temple with a local school in the grounds, dormitories for the resident monks and the crematorium. Guess with 16 million people there must be more than one crematorium and this must be for the privileged few, but didn't ask the question. From there we went on to look at The Reclining Buddha, this view is only of the head as the entire thing is 46 metres long and covered in gold plate. The head is 15 metres off the ground and the feet take size 5 metre shoes, the soles are inlaid with mother of pearl. It would seem that the Buddha was constructed first in 1804 and then the temple built over the top later, to protect. The next stop was the major temple where the four principle kings of Siam are buried in huge tombs. This one was very ornate and each of the four large tombs and indeed all the smaller ones, dedicated to important families in Bangkok, where decorated in Chinese porcelain set out in floral patterns. In the evening, on Nancy's recommendation, we walked up the road to a place called Silom Village which is really one huge restaurant divided up by differing kitchen areas, so you can eat local food, Chinese, Japanese, Italian and or Seafood. Very nice and probably where we shall eat for the next couple of nights.
We enjoyed this trip so much and Nancy was very knowledgeable, so when she offered a 7 hour trip up country for the next day, to include the original floating market we thought, lets go for it, with only a few days to see things we had concluded that this was the best way and at only £40 including car and driver a veritable bargain. She collected us at 7.30 a.m. (and I thought we were on holiday) and then we drove some 50 kilometres north of Bangkok to look at what she thought we would find interesting. A small town with a huge flower and vegetable market. We walked around for a while and saw people buying large quantities, obviously from wholesalers and then small traders just catering for the individuals. Everywhere you went there were mini kitchens and people standing around with bowls and chopsticks, as it appears that the local community just eat little and often throughout the day. One really interesting thing to see and the main reason for Nancy taking us to this place, was the market stalls set out alongside the train lines. It appears that a train comes along eight times per day during trading times and the stall holders get warned by whistles and a flag man, they then lower their stall fronts. let the train come by and then set up again without batting an eyelid. Very risky I would have thought but apparently this has been happening for years. When we got up to the floating market area we all three climbed in to a James Bond style boat with huge car engine and long pole with the propeller and rudder attached. We cruised the canals for a while, looking at how the locals lived and then eventually arrived at the floating market proper. Here you had the option of taking a hand paddled boat through the market or just walking around the whole area and taking it all in. We chose the latter as it gave you the opportunity of seeing the whole market area as some of it is land based also.
Here I felt that I just had to include a picture of the wonderful Nancy and just look, she is even smaller than Joan. Nancy then said if we fancied lunch we should cross the canals and go where the locals went so we sat on the side of the canal, watched this lady cook three large bowls of noodles with pork, vegetables and eggs which we then ate with chopsticks and washeddown with bottles of water for the total sum of £1.50. It was absolutely delicious and has to be the cheapest lunch for three that I have ever paid for.
From the floating market area we where then taken to one of the top wood carving factories in Thailand. The skill of these people is something to admire and many of the furniture items had names and addresses on ready for shipment to UK, America and Australia. If you wanted beautifully made solid teak furniture then this clearly was the place to buy, as each piece was individually made to your choice of style and painstakingly carved for you. From the factory we where logically shown in to the furniture showroom, where you can really admire the finished products, some of which was very ornate but other items where exquisitely done. Joan's Biff suddenly got this urge to become an elephant driver.... Back to the hotel mid afternoon and time to relax before going out to eat again, this time we chose the Peking duck. spare ribs and some special fried noodles and from there we walked up to the night market. This is something you just have to do in Bangkok, you walk along between the many clubs where the girls dance around poles and probably offer other services, look at all the "genuine" classy watches, bargain T-shirts, all with big brand names and in our case buy 3 CDs for 40 pence each and surprise, when we got back to the hotel they all worked perfectly in the drive of this laptop. This market opens every night at around 8.30 p.m. and goes on until 2 a.m.. There were many tourists milling around and many buying gifts to take home, anybody want a genuine Rolex for about £20.00 after bargaining.
Our last full day in Bangkok was spent in and around some of the hundreds of shops in the city centre itself. There is a place there called The World Trade Centre which has two huge departments stores and hundreds of individual shops. We spent most of the day in it's air conditioned comfort just browsing and stopping for the odd cold drink. Joan found this shoe shop who had a sale special, every pair for the same price, just under £3.00 a pair. I managed to stop her at two pair, with a reminder that our cases where already full, but then found room for a few cotton shirts at crazy prices. I also found a 7 storey department store, dedicated to computer and digital equipment. My new Nikon digital camera, which I bought in Singapore was slightly cheaper here, but at least I have had 4 weeks use out of it. Oh for some space, I could have very happily bought one of the latest design 20" super slim monitors at only just over £100 each.
An interesting place Bangkok, worth another visit at sometime.
Roger and Gill had very kindly delayed having a BBQ until we got back so we trooped off round to their place yesterday evening to enjoy the pleasures of being able to sit and relax in warmth and with close friends. It was also the first time since we got back that Susan was able to talk to Joan about our trip, clearly the ladies are enjoying being lazy in the sun. George and Susan have friends from the UK staying at present so they were included in the group as temporary Lapta Layabouts. That's them, Vic and June, sitting back left of the group.
We all had an extremely enjoyable late afternoon and evening but have to be honest about Roger's BBQ techniques. He needs more practice! I need my own teeth. We had crispy charcoal burgers and rather well done chops, then he excelled himself with a superbly cooked kebab. Like I said you need more practice Roger so we will happily be testers for you anytime, just to prove that it's true, Frank will do anything for a free meal. Guess now after all that criticism we are going to have to return the compliment and do a BBQ here, just lets hope I don't cock it up. The conversation was as usual fun and light, clearly the lads are taking it all in seriously .
Oh yes and I started to get the nodding disease about 9.30 p.m. and really could have sat there and fallen asleep. Clearly the jet lag not yet out of the system. Very rude, but hopefully I will be forgiven.
Joan went back to school today and I started to pick up the threads again of what has or has not been installed in my absence, so we where very glad of an offer from Michael and Barbara.
Just before we went away, we had all noticed a new restaurant opened near Escape Beach called "The 5 Mile". Michael and Barbara offered a chance to test this out by saying that it was their present to us for our anniversary and it also came on a recommendation from Roger and Gill, who had been there whilst we were away.
Have to admit that the whole place is beautifully done with an absolutely wonderful setting at the edge of the Med. and the quality and presentation of the food was excellent. Definitely to be repeated and although slightly more pricey than our regular eating places, really right for that occasion. The four of us enjoyed immensely, well done the gang at 5 Mile, we will be back.
Today, Joan and I, together with many others attended the wedding of Peter and Vashti. They have been together now for a couple of years and are formally tying the knot in front of family and friends at The Ambiance restaurant here in Kyrenia. Many of their family members had come over for the occasion and made a fine family group at the waters edge. They had been legally married yesterday so today's ceremony was to enable them to have their special day in front of their friends and family. Clearly the happy couple are thoroughly enjoying it all and I made Peter promise that in 25 years time we would all four sit down to celebrate our 50th and their 25th together, on or near the date. Better oil the wheels on the Zimmer for the occasion.
Well done you two, enjoy your life together as much as we have and in 25 years you will still remember this day.
Actually today is the 23rd and now I am frantically trying to catch up with things. So much seems to be happening since we came back and the 207 e-mails have been consuming lots of time.Today, the 11th, is Michaels birthday so a whole crowd of us went out to a restaurant to help him celebrate. Not that we all need an excuse to go out to a restaurant but it sounds a little better if we have an excuse and it stops all you lot out there saying that we go out ALL the time. Not true, only some of the time!!!! The restaurant we choose was the new "La Vista" on the road down to the Denizkizi Hotel. Service was a little slow but the food was worthy of a return visit and who cares on a warm Sunday evening if the service is a bit slow. Anyway, Happy Birthday Michael and sorry I forgot the camera. You are catching up, but however hard you try you will always be just those 5 months behind me
Rush around time catching up with my kitchen equipment suppliers etc and sorting out the new installations needed soon. This afternoon Joan and I took time out to go over to Tasas Car Sales. When we where in Aussie on holiday we both decided that now we have definitely decided that TRNC is the future for us, despite the huge boating attractions in Australia, that I needed to finally do something about trading in my Mitsubishi Lancer for something with a little more ground clearance. We test drove a couple of the smaller 4 x 4s that they had in and finally settled on a Toyota Rav4 which should be ready to collect in a couple of days.
Well there she is. My "Yeni Otto" or "New Car" to you. Only the 3 door version but we came to the conclusion that as it is me and me alone for 95% of the time, Joan with me when we go out together and occasionally a foursome to go out for a meal. The only time we might have a space problem is if we have to pick up friends and luggage from the airport, so simple, hire a car for the day, after all I deal direct with one of the hire companies, so if I can't get a cheap car then it's a sad day and why pay extra for two more doors.
We have had a visitor around for the last week or so. It would appear that a Chameleon has decided to take up residence in our front hedge. Now Speedy Gonzales he is not, but he seems to change his colour to camouflage his appearance in the hedge, but this time Joan caught him out in the open. and it doesn't seem to bother him that there are people close by. He moves around about as quickly as a Turkish Cypriot worker, bit rude to those I love, but you have to admit to the truth.
Jade was 12 years old today so of course there was a party. Joan and I were invited and so were 21 of her school friends. At least with a pool and a bouncy castle in the garden nobody had to worry about dreaming up party games. Mark was seen to be very active in the BBQ department and I think I caught him scraping the spare ribs, whatever, the food was delicious and the kids tucked in with gusto. After the kids had their fill we adults also got a large share of the ribs, sausages, chops, chicken etc while the kids went back to the pool. Some time ago they invented the walk the lilo game in their pool, a bit like walking the plank but on floating lilos. One of the most successful at this game was 3 year old Daniel, guess with no weight to speak of he finds it easy to climb from one to the other. Before all the parents came to collect their children Jade's birthday cake was brought out for her to cut and share around and later when only the girls who were staying the night remained, we were given a performance of the dance routine from the last school show.
Great party and guess what, Mark & Hayran had already decided to do a sort of repeat next weekend as an end of summer season party. This time everybody is contributing with food and booze, so expect some more pics next week, but this time with a different crowd.
Sort of a normal week really apart from this evening when Joan and I met up with Derek & Sandra for a meal. We had not been out together since before we went off on our holidays and lots had happened to them since. Carol's bar and restaurant, up near the university, came up for sale and Derek, Sandra and Lorraine made a sudden decision to get out of Lardy Dars and take on the challenge. It means a change from the English afternoon teas etc and more evening restaurant work. At the moment it is closed whilst they spend some time doing some redecorating etc, but they say they want to open up at the end of the month to paying guests, so to speak. Will get up there with the camera nearer the time and let you all know.Meantime we had a great evening out and in view of the above had lots to talk about
This evening, 12 of us had booked a night time boat trip from the harbour. It is now getting a little cooler so we felt that this would be one of the last opportunities for a night time swim before the winter. These trips include dinner on board as well and as last Wednesday had been Richard's birthday we had that as an excuse. Unfortunately during the day some very strong winds had got up so we got a phone call to say sorry, have to cancel, so maybe we will try to reschedule for next Friday.
So in the end we all just went down to The Serenada restaurant here in Lapta and had dinner together.
Before I close the week i must just copy a document I received this week from Jim Barnes who currently lives in Wigan but is shortly moving over here. He clearly feels very strongly about the TRNC situation and is trying to shake the British government into some positive action during their reign at the head of the EU. It will be interesting to see if he ever gets any sort of response and in the meantime I am going to pass this letter round to people here who have influence over events. The more of us who poke a big stick at the EU, the UN and all the others who seem incapable of making a sensible decision about the current political stalemate, the more chance we have of shaking sense in to them.
10 Downing Street, London, SW1A 2AA
To:-
The Prime Minister Tony Charles Lynton Blair
The Right Honourable Jack Straw
Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
Dear Sirs
As Britain takes its place in the seat of presidency of the European community and your high office places you as Britain’s Foreign Minister, to perhaps wield even greater influence upon the European community and its many people, I wonder how the future will Judge Britain’s time in this high office.
At a time when east is meeting west in friendship and the European Union welcomes former soviet block countries, to join and trade within the union, the horrors of European conflict will remain in history books already written, The greatest deterrent to any future European war is the promotion of trade and mutual security within its member nations. The European Union is now the greatest democracy on our planet, where each member state knows that they belong to a new and growing, brotherhood of humanity.
I ask now that Britain looks upon the issue of the people of North Cyprus, who are denied not only recognition but existence as a people, Greece wants what Greece can never have again; Dominium over the Turkish Cypriots, The Turkish Cypriots experienced Greek dominium once before and because of it, looked upon the face of oblivion.
Turkish Cypriots were forced to live in blockaded ghettos, a term not seen to apply to a people or nation since the dark days of world war two, The secret and later open policy that dragged Cyprus towards Enosis with Greece, spelled the future doom of the Turkish Cypriots as a people, That the Turkish Cypriots would not “go quietly into the night and disappear without a fight “ enraged the Greeks and seems to have irritated the European politicians who sat on the sidelines sipping pink gins, the European politicians saw Enosis as a solution to the Cyprus problem. Either they wouldn’t admit or were too blind to see, that it would also be the new “Final solution “for the Turkish Cypriots.
They were rescued from extinction by the only country brave enough to take action, Turkey, and Since 1974 Turkey has been vilified as an aggressor. Turkey stands guilty, but only of having the courage that the rest of the world lacked. Turkey refused to stand idly by and watch the Turkish Cypriot civilians be driven out of existence at the muzzle of assault rifles and modern artillery used by a military force that despised them,
The fact that the Turkish Cypriots had been born on Cyprus soil for generations only made them trapped targets for a modern military machine to practice on.
The people of North Cyprus for the last 30 years have stood guilty too, of only one thing: Surviving eradication, and as punishment for surviving, they have suffered international embargo instigated by the very people who sought to wipe them out , This embargo which must be one of the longest in history and supported by Britain, shames us all as a nation.
I would call your attention to Article 15 sections one and two of the United Nations universal declaration of Human rights signed and ratified By Britain as one of the founder members 57 years ago,
Article 15.
(1) Everyone has the right to a nationality.
(2) No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality.
The declaration of Human rights is a truly Noble document, its words penned by men of great wisdom and even greater vision and compassion. It was also a gift to all of Humanity. There are no exceptions for any of the family of humanity within its pages, Article 15 provides the solution to the Cyprus problem and if used would gain a new nobility in the minds of men.
I would plead on behalf of the people of the Turkish republic of North Cyprus for Britain to honour these articles or stand accused by future generations of hypocrisy on an international scale. I ask Britain to lead the way and use its influence to recognise the right of the North Cyprus people to exist in the name of international justice,
The time is now, when the radical and extreme face of Islam preaches hate and destruction, the Turkish nation and the Turkish republic of North Cyprus, wait in the wings to bring the desirable face of Islam in peace and friendship to the European community. These people sit at the geographical crossroads of east and west. They have a choice: To keep waiting at the door of Europe or look east, perhaps for a warmer welcome. God forbid that Europe would loose Turkey and the republic as allies and friends.
The recognition of the people of North Cyprus would be to extend the hand of friendship to a kind, hospitable, and industrious people whose greatest desire is to live in peace with the rest of the world; This recognition owed too long , would remove the crux of the Cyprus Problem and the last stumbling block for Turkey to join the EEC.
I hope that the days of Turkey and North Cyprus, playing the role of the Cinderella’s of Europe will come to an end in this time of Britain’s presidency, So that the books of history that are yet to be written, will record Britain’s time as premiers of the European community as a time of wisdom, justice , and healing,
James Barnes
Wigan, United Kingdom.
One of the joys of a Saturday is to get the English Cyprus Today, go up to the village, get the local barber to cut your hair, shave you with the old cutthroat and give you a neck massage to complete and all this for the princely sum of 15 YTL (£6.00). Loooovely!
Bits of interest in the newspaper.
The Kyrenia bypass is to start within 2 months, and that's a promise they say. With the current traffic situation around Kyrenia we could say, not before time, but it is going to take until the summer of 2007 to complete and one can imagine the traffic congestion that is going to be caused by all this work.
As you may be aware, Turkey is trying to start talks to allow it's entry in to the EU. As a prelude to these talks starting they where required to sign an protocol accord recognising all 25 EU states. They made a counter declaration saying that they where unable to recognise "The Republic of Cyprus" as being the government of the whole of the island. The EU have countered this and made everybody very angry again by saying that Turkey was wrong to make this declaration, what do they want then to do, desert their own people !!! The EU last year pledged to lift trade restrictions against the Turkish Cypriot side and to provide financial aid as the result of the "Yes" vote here. Has it happened, has it hell. Now they are trying to get the UN to restart negotiations between the north and the south, bit of a waste of time the south don't want a solution that doesn't suit them 100%, i.e. they have total control over the total island. If Turkey wants to enter the EU in the future then eventually they will be forced to recognise the "Republic of Cyprus" and with this light at the end of the tunnel getting brighter, why should the south agree to anything, except to sit around and wait for another 10 or 15 years.
Power cuts: The fiasco continues, says the headline. true and now that it is getting worse, as all these new houses are put on line and no investment seems to be being made in the infrastructure. Joan and I have done the only other thing that we can do and been out and bought a generator. It is all set up and ready to go except that the electrician who is going to complete the installation has gone sick, so we will have to wait a few days. Still after three years without, a few more days will not matter.
CTA has finally been taken over by a new management team. Lets hope that this means that flights to and from the island become more efficient and maybe on time. Who knows, one day the new management team might just realise that customers are and important commodity.
A home buyers pressure group has been set up to protect the rights of property buyers against unscrupulous developers and builders. They say that they are building up a database of good and bad suppliers, initially targeted at Estate Agents, Builders and Lawyers. In principle a good idea but I just hope they get their facts right before they publish any such lists. Dangerous stuff I would say.
More traffic fines to be introduced and a hike in the costs of the existing ones. This at a time when 3 or 4 deaths on the road are reported every week. Every time you drive down the road to Kyrenia you see one or more accidents. It's not traffic fines they need, maybe a little education and more effective policing policies.
This evening, Joan and I went to the so called "end of summer" party, but I didn't get the camera out as I expect that you are all fed up of seeing all the happy people eating, drinking and generally having a good time. Actually the truth is I forgot to take it........Great party all the same.
Don't you just get some complete dumb skulls in life. As many of you know I get dozens of e-mails every week and the head count on hits on the website has now gone over the 138,000 mark. I get some unpleasant ones, which just get passed on to an e-mail address within the government here, so that the can store them up for future reference. Then I get some which can only be put down as sad. This one came in on Sunday last from somebody who calls himself appropriately "Anorak":->----- Original Message ----- From: "anorak anorak" <anorak33@hotmail.com>
>To: <frankandjoan@superonline.com>
>Sent: Sunday, September 25, 2005 8:40 AM
>Subject: Northern Cyprus
>>
>>Hello
>>I visited your website, its interesting to see it.
>>
>>Recently we visited N Cyprus for the first time, we were left with many
>>impressions, the first and major one unfortunately being the amount of
>>rubbish and litter left lying around.
>>
>>This really spoils it, it is generalised enough for it obviously to be a
>>national characteristic of the inhabitants, or at least a substantial
>>sector of the population.Cypriot frends blame the mainland settlers, I don't know whether its true
>>or not. Certainly its not like that in the South.
>>
>>I read the letter to the British Government, its a shame he didn't get it
>>checked for spelling and correct use of terms before it was published but
>>the meaning comes through clearly anyway.
>>
>>It is time that N Cyprus was recognised, direct flights established and
>>injured parties from the 70's conflict fairly compensated.
>>
>>Its now all gone on so long that it is now virtually impossible to
>>repatriate mainland settlers to Turkey, yet without that N Cyprus will
>>never regain its original character.
>>
>>A difficult problem, especially as the Greek Cypriots still feel very
>>bitter and are unlikely to agree to anything reasonable at all.
>>
>>We visited former Greek Cypriot villages and saw Turks living in squalor
>>in the Greek Cypriot owned houses which are falling down around them and
>>the churches vandalised and used for agricultural purposes.
>>
>>This is not a good advert for the North and should be addressed, maybe
>>then the Greeks will become marginally more amenable.
>>
>>Certainly as you drive over the border from the South to the North you
>>become immediately aware you have entered what is to all intents and
>>purposes a third world country, with rubbish everywhere, smoke belching
>>trucks and a general air of dereliction.
>>
>>If you have any interest in the future of the island maybe you could
>>mention this to anyone you know who is in a position of authority.
>>
>>Just out of interest - what is the title to your house? In the face of
>>increasing legal action from the legitimate land owners does this
>>concern you?
>>
>>I would be interested to hear your views.
>>
>>Best Regards, MikeWhilst I agree that the litter problem needs to be addressed, it can only be addressed by a policy of education and that is true of very many of the Mediterranean countries, including the south of this island. It never ceases to amaze me that people do not first read the history of the conflict and understand that the Greeks Cypriots will never become amenable to anything that doesn't suit there objectives. Maybe somebody, other than a Greek Cypriot "friend" should tell this guy who started the whole mess in the first place and who invented the word "genocide". Whoever you are Anorak, try reading a book, written by an English journalist who lived here during the 60s and 70s, called "The Genocide Files". Then come back and apologise for this crap. As you might guess folks I replied and he came back and suggested that I was abusive. Now would I ever be abusive, yep, but only if it is warranted and I did not think that suggesting Anorak was a suitable name was necessarily abusive.On a much lighter note, on Monday evening, Joan and I had been in the garden doing things after the sun went down, when we realised that it was 8.30 and we had not even christened dinner. So we did the only sensible thing left and went down to The Silver Grill, on the road between Lapta and Karsiyaka. They do a mean Chicken Kiev, the sort where you can smell the garlic from half a mile away, with chips, rice and salad, a beer for me a G & T for the boss, coffee and brandy, all for £11.50 the lot. Ali and his wife, who run this place where very pleased to see us, as we had not been down since our holidays and they kept telling us how grateful they where for the computer. Then we realised they had had lots of customers over the summer who had read of our praise of this place and had been telling them that they found it on Frank & Joan.com. Well done folks, glad you found it and isn't it good? Another even better reason for recommending it came to pass this evening. Ali and his wife insisted that we went down to have their special lamb kleftiko, on the house, as a thank you for all you folks spending your money there. Whilst this sort of thing can be embarrassing, those of you who know the local Turkish Cypriots, know that they would be very offended if you turned the offer down. The kleftiko was to die for, so tender and so much flavour we really enjoyed it and here are mine hosts for you all to see, they really are lovely people and everything is cooked as you wait by Ali's hard working wife. Joan and I decided then and there that The Lapta Layabouts, who all like good food, are going to go down mob handed and eat pre-ordered kleftiko all round, that way we will get our own back and they will never know.Managed to get in some of the first half of the Liverpool / Chelsea game by meeting up with Michael and obviously all of the second half, whilst the boss took my new car home. Full inspection this morning revealed all is well. Only one thing I can say, "we was robbed" two definite penalties and the ref went blind at the appropriate moment, but then a previous tenant of the Kop would say that wouldn't they
This morning I am back on the stupid e-mail track again. How about this idiot:------ Original Message -----
From: <Fredkohlhofer@aol.com>
To: <frankandjoan@superonline.com>
Sent: Wednesday, September 28, 2005 11:50 PM
Subject: European Arrest Warrants - Attention Frank Gillin
> Please take note that a reliable source has warned me that a European
> Arrest Warrant has been issued. Travel to any European Union country (
> includes UK) would now be unwise as any scan of the passport would result
> in immediate arrest and extradition to the issuing country, in this case
> Republic of Cyprus.
Surely this Fred "whatever your real name is" doesn't think for one minute that we don't have the ability to check out these lies very quickly, so what does he think he is achieving. Maybe his real name is Papadopolous or something similar. The unfortunate thing is that some people might receive this and get really worked up about it and quite worried, but then that's how this sort get their satisfaction. Very sad and my sources tell me that this has been sent to others, but it is only a wind-up
The last day of September and still quite warm, although the locals consider this to be the last day of summer. We hardy ex-pats will probably be sitting out for another 6 weeks or so yet.The Layabouts decided on a grand night out and booked a boat out of the harbour for a cruise along the coast and dinner on board. We left harbour just after 6 p.m. and it was still light enough for the Layabout Lads to be able to see their beer, but it wasn't long before one of our spectacular sunsets was visible over the bow. It really was very warm, even warm enough for Susan & Joan to sit in the bows, with their glasses of wine.We anchored up of Escape beach and there some of us dived in for a swim, it really was quite warm, much warmer than our pool is now. After the swim the captain and his wife aided by the deckhand, cooked us a superb dinner of fish and chicken, served up with different meze dishes and to follow fresh fruit and coffee. A nice time to relax out in the evening air or to try to see what is going on ashore. Whilst we were anchored out there a bit of a swell got up and some of the Layabouts began to feel less than likely lads, so we headed off back to harbour to arrive just after 10 p.m. and then low and behold we ended up in The Lapta Cabin on dry land, to round the evening off. A great shame that one or two felt a bit green but a lovely evening despite that
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