Frank and Joan's news for 28 January 2007 in Northern Cyprus

Frank and Joan's Adventures in Northern Cyprus

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

The forecast is that the weather is about to change for us. We have had some very warm weather for this time of the year and as I have said before a huge shortage of rain.

Some time ago I bought some transparent sealant for the two terraces that now form roofs over the new kitchen and part of the lounge and because of the forecast decided that might be my last chance to clean and seal these areas, so it was up early and get breakfast out of the way, then get some work done. I had just finished both of the terraces by early afternoon and the stuff was almost dry when it started to rain. Just in time I think.

Whilst doing this I was able to watch 5 guys trying to repair a water truck. This has been a three day struggle and right outside Barbara and Michael's villa, making it very difficult for them to get out. Sometime early on Friday morning this truck w

as backing up to turn round and all of a sudden it ceased to go anywhere. We think that the propshaft broke which is fairly disastrous. Since then there has been one or two guys crawling about underneath trying to repair it, with the standard Cypriot hammer, with of course at least three more guys watching and giving advice. Finally late in the afternoon today, it seemed to be fixed and headed back to the nearest water well.

The weekly newspaper clearly was short of news as the front page spread and most of page three was all about the new Ezic Chicken premier restaurant that they are building alongside the new bypass.

Down the bottom of page three, was an article of lesser importance! A proposed steep rise in property tax, currently before parliament. I thought that it was only the UK cabinet that sneaked these things in whilst your back was turned. The proposals are for a hike of around 6 times the current cost per meter of land covered by your property, with an even bigger hike on pools. This on top of the lovely UK airport tax introduced by Gordon Brown, which further increases the cost of getting to and from here.

Headline news, on page 9, "Generator running by April". it is stated that the new power station, hailed as the answer to TRNC power cuts, will be open and running by April. Don't hold your breath folks but it will be nice if it happens. I was having a little problem earlier in the week getting something electrical to work, so put a meter across the power supply, low and behold 206 volts. No wonder we sometimes get bulbs that glow brown.

The director of the City Planning office has finally admitted, "Construction boom: We can't cope". Many of us could have told them that some time ago, but if many of them actually did a days work they would be able to cope better.