Frank and Joan's news for 25 November 2006 in Northern Cyprus

Frank and Joan's Adventures in Northern Cyprus

Our adventures in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus continue....

Sometimes when life just goes on as normal it is difficult to find interesting things to talk about. Three trips to the supermarket and another dinner in a local restaurant must get boring for you all. However the newspapers do sometimes give some interesting items, such as:-

A two month moratorium to curb the concrete sprawl on Girne Mountain. The government has introduced this to curb the concrete sprawl overtaking the countryside. All applications for developments involving more than one house are suspended until the end of January, when officials aim to have permanent planning legislation in place. Not unexpectedly, the construction industry is complaining already. What always strikes me, is the fact that it is mostly foreign investors from the Turkish mainland or elswhere who are the

main benificieries of development and for sure they are not worried about the destruction of this once beautiful island and the polution of the environment.

A lifelong gunners fan and a Turkish Cypriot living in London, has been displaying the TRNC flag at matches for years. Now in the new stadium he is regularily in a more prominent postion, so the club received complaints from other football fans. They could not possibly have been Greek Cypriots, could they? The club took advice and then announced that he could continue to display the flag as banning the emblem would be an act of discrimination against Turkish Cypriots. Now thats a right result.

A 55 year old Brit was arrested at the border on Friday with property related papers on his person. It turns out subsequently that there is more to this than meets the eye as this man Kenneth Hawkins also has property in the Paphos area and had done some sort of property exchange deal here and clearly the border police were acting on a tip off.

More about the need to obtain permission to purchase before commiting to property. It would seem, according to The Homebuyers Pressure Group, that more and more people are being told that "Permission to Purchase" is just a formality, but some get turned down for a variety of reasons, having invested heavily here in the first place. Maybe the secret is to rent here until your permission comes through and then commit your capital. At least get a clause in your contract that says you can have all your money back, within a stipulated timescale, in the event of permission being refused.