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Our
adventures in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus continue....
   
Bit of a cold week so far, at least by Cyprus standards that is. It's quite strange, visitors come over and walk around in T-shirts whilst those of us who have acclimatised go around complaining that it has gone cold.
Yesterday evening Joan and I met Richard and Paul, just back from their holiday in America. We met at L.D's as they had not been there since they opened up and are pleased to say that their only comment was, "we will be back". It seems that they had a great time there in the States and this time included a visit to Vegas, where they bought a singing lucky dawg for Joan.
Last weekend it had been reported that there was a possible case of bird flu here in TRNC. Today we had confirmation of this from a UK contact, Ben Van-Vuuren, as follows:-
Hi There
Thanks Joan. Just to let you know the status of the bird flu. The UK lab on Monday confirmed the deadly strain of the Bird flu virus. Read this in Turkish, Asian and American reports. The area has been quarantined for a 10km diameter. All chickens have been slaughtered in the village. Talat is now calling on the South to co-operate by stopping smugglers from North and South.
Well that was the news update for the day.
We will keep an eye on the press over the next few days.
There is a report in the daily newspaper about the bird flu situation.
It would seem that Dr. Guenael Rodier, a special advisor to The World Health Organisation was visiting the island by chance this week, a visit arranged some considerable time ago. He has stated that despite the confirmation this week, all the evidence indicates that there is no need to be unduly worried.
The village of Incirli and an area of 10 kilometres around has been semi-isolated and Dr. Rodier stressed that the chances of humans contracting avian flu were remote unless having close physical contact with sick or dead birds. He also pointed out the need for close cooperation between north and south, as he said that public health issues such as this were not a local problem but a regional and global health problem that recognised no boundaries.
In fact Joan and I went over the border yesterday to do some shopping and at the border, in addition to the vehicle checks, there is now a chemical impregnated mat which you have to drive over, stop, get out of your vehicle and walk around to wet your shoes before crossing.
At last a sunny day for almost the first time this week and Joan is spending it cleaning both cars. At this time of the year when we get heavy rains the roads are covered in mud everywhere. There is so much building work going on that the big lorries just drag the stuff off site and on to the roads. Whilst she is kindly doing that I will take a look at the newspapers.
There is a fear of a tourist slump this summer season as crucial New Year bookings are only half what they were this time last year. The three major travel companies here are blaming, high hotel charges, high air fares and dissatisfaction at the construction boom. The biggest operator of the three says we have priced ourselves out of the market and add to that the destruction of the natural beauty and tranquility and you have a recipe for disaster.
They are still struggling with the power supply, so the South is to supply us for another 16 days at least. It is hoped that repairs to our own plant will be completed by then.
There is a strong feeling that there may a shift in world opinion regarding the North/South situation and many countires have begun to express their appreciation of the policies being pursued by the TRNC. The latest political move comes from Russia when Mr. Putin told a press conference, that the North had taken a more active role in efforts towards a Cyprus solution. Add this to Jack Straw's very dramatic visit to our president's office here in the North, despite the objections from the South and you have the press actively writing about changes in attitude.
All Joan's hard work on my car yesterday was destroyed in about 1 hour today. I had to go and visit two extremely muddy sites to check on installation possibilities for kitchen equipment and now my car looks as bad again. Even if we get a week of dry days, I don't think some of these sites are going to dry out and on many there are no workmen, as they just can't get the trucks safely on site.
After the site visits, we both went over to Nicosia as one of the suppliers I use, had called to say that a container of generators had arrived. By the time we got there in the afternoon, he had already sold 90% of the shipment. He did have three bigger diesel ones available so we made the decidion to upgrade ours, hopefully to cope with the occasional need to run at least one of our air conditioner heating units.
Last evening we went down to L.D's with Jill and Roger only to find them closed. Apparantly they had posted up notice of a long weekend break and we had forgaooten about it. Never mind, we all went to The Padesha in Kyrenia. There we found that they have changed their menus. Now they have a policy of a fixed price menu which is a whole series of meze dishes followed by a main course of kebab etc.
Tthis is similar idea to Cenaps restaurant in Alsancak but they are keeping some of the old traditional main courses, such as home made Mousaka, Liver and Onions etc so those who don't want the full meal idea, which may be fine if you haven't eaten all day, can still get a superb meal and drinks.
This afternoon the guys brought our new diesel gennie so I had to change the wiring around and take away the old petrol generator, which Derek and Val Rogers in Karsiyaka are buying from us. Being diesel it also seems as if it might be much quieter than the old petrol model, especially important as it runs right outside my office window.
This evening, the original layabouts, Joan and I with George, Susan, Michael and Barbara went down to the Curry Buffet at The Paradiso. George was in fact a curry virgin, but declared at the end of the evening that he had enjoyed the experience. At least there you can try all the various strengths to find something you enjoy. It remains very good value for money and an enjoyable evening out.
It remains a fairly mundane sort of week. Dodging the heavy rain falls, which still persist, visiting some of our customers properties and trying to get Joan's new furniture venture off the ground. We have come to the conclusion that she needs an independant website as it will be much easier for her to add, subtract and modify as he finds new suitable products.
We have in fact been communicating with a guy called Chris Ryan, who has bought property in Bogaz, on the Famagusta side. I mention this because he has identified a couple of press reports about the Jack Straw visit and his subsequent report to parliament. It seems as if Mr Straw has succeded in upsetting the south's politicians. Tut Tut.
Interesting news on Jack straws visit
www.zaman.com/?bl=hotnews&alt=&trh=20060210&hn=29602
It's really put the cat among the pigeons
www.cyprus-mail.com/news/main.php?id=24281&cat_id=1
There feels like there is a bit more momentum of late on the political situation between north and south. I am not sure if it will ever come to much but I haven't seen this much political activity since the Anan Plan vote.
Thanks Chris, makes interesting reading and I have been saying for a few weeks now that his visit had significance.
Yesterday the sun shone again for most of the day so I was able to get some much needed maintenance work done around and about the villa and Joan was able to attack the garden.
Today it is is similar, so now Joan is out cleaning my car again whilst i am doing this site update. Who's a lucky boy then.
Bad news in the paper for the golfers amongst you. Weather blamed for golf course delay. See, I keep telling you it has been raining lots, now its official and causing problems. It seems as if the course will not be open fully until August. Must be something to do with the world's changing weather pattern and I even recieived proof that this global warming is a force to be reckoned with.
They are going to install speed cameras in 140 locations throughout the North and summonses will be received at home through the postal system I assume. I wonder if they are also going to expose some of the vehicles that are not registered and taxed at the same time. Having recently been done for speeding, I was very surprised not to be asked for my Insurance papers, Licence etc at the time of making payment.
As expected there is a report on Jack Straw's statement to the UK parliament this week. He has now said that European Union membership would not be considered in the current political climate. Something we have always said, why on earth take a divided island in to the union, it was bound to cause problems from the outset. He has actually said that the Greek Cypriot side was using European Union membership as "Unacceptable" leverage to advance its own interests, to "marginalise" the Turkish Cypriot people. Not surprisingly the other side are a bit angry about all this........
Final plans are being laid for a TRNC census next month. This is why suddenly we have all had our little roads named and houses numbered. I guess that there might be some people who have not yet done anything about residency, getting slightly concerned because the census day requires everybody, including tourists in hotels etc to remain "at home" for the day. A day long curfew in effect, with a target date of about the third weekend in March. The results, when they eventually come out, should be interesting. The government says that the time taken to issue results will be dependant on how many people are inputing the data received. Now thats an interesting logical statement.
Valentines Day, so the Layabout Ladies had to devise something special. It seems that last Thursday when we went for the curry buffet they drew lots as to who made starters, main meal and pud. The main meal would be the chosen house.
The results were:- Joan starter, she did a very tasty layered salmon mouse over avocado. Susan drew the short straw, so we dined at their place and she did an exceedingly tender beef en-croute. Barbara produced a very tasty fig in pastry and a french apple tart, but unfortunately Barbara was feeling a little under the weather, with a very nasty chest cold so stayed at home and sent Michael with the goodies. Roger, because Gill has gone to the UK, came on his own also and he was designated to bring the after eights. Is it any wonder that we have to consider going on a diet sometimes. Oh yes, almost forgot, the boys had the job of supplying the beer and wine, no problems there then.
A superb idea and super food, so much so, that the general opinion was that we should do this on a regular basis, just switching the homes/diner courses around.
Just a quick note to say to those who believe that the Med is always warm. Yesterday was a very cold day and the old air conditioner heaters where going for most of the day keeping the house nice and warm.
This morning I got up as usual around 7 a.m. and the temperature out on the kitchen terrace area was down to 3.5 degrees.
It has remained a very cold week. Joan and I have been saying that this is the coldest we have known since we came over here, three and a half years ago.
Last night, when we nipped down to L.D's for a quick bite to eat, there was a local there, who said that it is many years since they have had a February so cold as this, but the last time this occured March was a very warm month, so here's hoping.
Having said all that, Joan and I have booked to go skiing in Bulgaria on 27th February for 7 days. Sort of gluten for punishment thing I suppose, but we have been to this resort, Borovets, before and it was very enjoyable, with the added advantage now that it is only 1.75 hours flying time from Larnaca.
Quick early morning trip over the border today. Two reasons for this, we needed to stock up the meat in the freezer a little, get lots of cat food in stock for Barbara, who is going to feed our two when we are away and secondly to insure Joan's car to use when we go over to Larnaca a week on Monday. We have to cross the border at around 4 a.m. and don't know if the insurance offices are open at that time.
This evening Joan and I went down to Henson's for dinner. John and Lindzi have been going on at us ever since they took over to come down and have dinner as their guests. Now there is an offer that is difficult to refuse, but they felt that we had offered them lots of help when they were planning to come over and this was their way of saying thank you. Nice one folks and very nice meal it was too.
It would seem that Lindzi's brother is coming over soon and is going to build them a website, so look out for another link in the future.
Sunday morning and a look at the papers:-
Anybody coming over and planning to set up a business will find a massive hike in the capital required for company start-ups. From 1st April anyone who is not a TRNC citizen starting up a new business must prove they have capital in the bank of $100,000. In addition they must pay a deposit of £10,000 dollars to the government, refundable after one month. The alternative of course is to go in with a TRNC citizen as partner, who has to own 51% of your business. That requires a considerable degree of trust I think.
Our power station is now back in action so lets hope that we don't get too many cuts from now on. There si always of course a chance of that as the two generators remain running over capacity with not enough time for proper maintenance.
Two independant cases of Turkish Cypriots claiming property in the south have now been finalised and both have been given back the original property. Whilst the first case, that of Mr Mustapha, has been viewed as a legal landmark, lawyers on both sides where quick to point out that this was not a precedent for other cases pending, but another interesting situation nevertheless.
We obviously get many readers of this website, as this week we got an e-mail from Durham police asking if we knew if Gary Robb was still on the island. Obvious answer, don't really have a clue only rumour that speculates he has gone to Thailand.
Busy little day for both of us today. I went over to Nicosia early this morning to meet with the importer of garden furniture and then to meet up with Ray & Tina Adams.
Ray & Tina have bought a villa in the Medview development over in Bogaz and needed to look at Bosch kitchen equipment followed by a look at some of Joan's furniture possibilities.
They followed me back to Lapta after the Bosch visit and as it was a glorious warm day we all sat out on the terrace and had some lunch before going down to Kyrenia to look at furniture and curtains. Hopefully they have found some things to suit them and we look forward to hearing from them when they get back to UK.
We are still spending lots of time working on www.joansfurnishingcyprus.com" target="_blank">Joan's website, which we hope to have operational by the weekend, before we go off on our ski holiday.
This evening we took a trip down to L.D.s again for some of their quality basic foods. George & Susan joined us, as they are heading off to UK whilst we are away and Roger because he is still on his own, with Gill still being in UK. Where else can you get a huge gammon steak with egg and all the trimmings a couple of large lagers and still get change out of £12.00
Roger, for one moment, thought his luck had changed. we where all standing at the bar when Sandra said "come on young man, let's put you to bed" but actually it turned out she was talking to their parrot. Neever mind Roger you can't win all the time.
Oh yes something of interest. We have found, thanks to a few tips from others, that you can leave your car at Larnaca airport in a secure car park for £3.00 CYP per day and be taken to the airport by mini bus. You can also book this facility on-line by going in to www.skypark-cyprus.com.
Interesting little article in the Cyprus Mail today. It seems that the Greek Cypriots sent a Cyprus flagged comntainer ship to Mersin to offload. The Turks refused entry and now the Greek Cypriots are saying that they will use their veto in the EU to block Turkeys proposed future inclusion in the union.
Now nobody would dare to say that the Greek Cypriots deliberately sent this ship, knowing that Turkey would be certain to refuse it leave to enter port and this according to the south, runs counter to Turkeys customs protocol agreement with the EU. Now they are going to report the matter to the authorities in Brussels, whilst Turkey maintained, right from the signing of the protocol, that it would only allow them entry to its ports when the EU agrees to direct trade with the north.
Hey Ho here we go again, politicians playing silly buggers for their own gain.
This morning we got up at our usual time of around 7 a.m., or at least the cat came in screaming for breakfast to wake me up, only to find the Lapta had become an invisible village
There was absolutely no sun around for most of the day nad indeed it was quite cold as a result. It for sure must have been very cold up in the village itself.
What a complete turn around from yesterday's weather. This morning Joan and I sat out on the terrace at 8.30 and had a full English breakfast sitting out in the sun. You just never know whats next, at this time of the year.
Both of us spent time yesterday putting the finishing touches to Joan's Furniture Emporium www.joansfurnishingcyprus.com" target = "_blank"> www.joansfurnishingcyprus.com so now it is live and kicking, for you to look at if you are concerned about styles, costs etc of furnishings here. There are already many more items that we have identified to include for you but most of these are going to have to wait another week.
Oh yes, a must mention. Somebody had told us to go down to the Ravine Bar, previously O'Sullivans, to sample their cod and chips. Well as we had been working on the computer most of the day we decided to give it a try, with a take away version. One of the best I have had in many a year. Lovely piece of real cod in a nice light batter and large hand cut chips, highly recommended at 10 YTL each. (That's £4.25 to the those that don't know the exchange rate)
Spent 30 minutes this morning in bed, with a mug of coffee, looking at the weekly newspaper to see what might be of interest.
It seems as if the South Cyprus Tourism Organisation have succeded in blackmailing Thompsons Holiday Company to pull all the TRNC holiday brochures from their 773 branches. It seems that they had refused to pay a substantial amount of money owed to Thompsons, until the brochures where pulled. If that's not blackmail what is? All this despite the fact that the UK court had already overuled the ban on advertising TRNC on London transport buses and trains. Another blow to the tourism industry here.
Proposed new rules on permanent residency and citizenship here in TRNC. Proposals suggest that foreign residents may have to wait 15 years before being allowed to apply for citizenship, rather than the current 5 years. However it will allow a foreigner living here for more than 5 years, to apply for permanent residency. This of course will save the cost and inconvienience of re-applying every year.
Apparantly there is to be a meeting between Kofi Annan and Mr Papadopoulus, the leader of the Greek South, next Tuesday in Paris. The paper is suggesting that Papadopoulus has been told not to come empty handed. The UN are looking for sensible proposals from him to end the deadlock, otherwise they are suggesting that negotiations will have reached a dead end. This cynic says that's it then, dead end it is.
The Kyrenia District Office inspectors, accompanied by architects and engineers are starting inspections which are to prevent building work going ahead without permission and of poor quality. This is at the same time that a member of parliament has started a debate on the construction and destruction nightmare. Does this mean that at long last somebody is aware of the lack of planning, control and total destruction...........Not yet I think, but maybe the first steps towards control.
Turkey has come up with 840 million YTL as aid to the TRNC. Roads, water and electricity are to receive large chunks of this aid as is local authorities, who are to use this aid for infrastructure investment. Included in the list of things for which this aid is intended is a second runway at Ercan airport, now that's interesting.
That's it for this week, in fact for this month, as tomorrow morning at 3.30 a.m. Joan and I are heading off to Borovets in Bulgaria for a weeks skiing. I am not taking the laptop this time, only the camera, so expect pictures of these intrepid winter sports enthusiasts on our return.
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