Frank and Joan's news for 03 November 2007 in Northern Cyprus

Frank and Joan's Adventures in Northern Cyprus

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

The three of us took a walk over to the shopping street on the south side of Nicosia this morning. It was a bit of an overcast morning but still warm so it seemed to be a nice sort of thing to do with Arie. we got back just after lunch so that gave me a chance to read the local news.

Last Wednesday a Karaman resident, Peggy McAlpine took a tandum paraglide jump off the local mountains with The Highline Airtours experienced owner. Nothing remarkable in this you might say except Peggy was 100 years and 1 day old on the day she did the jump. A possible for the Guiness Book of Records. Brilliant stuff.

The police stepped in and closed a building site this week. A court order had been issued against Ozyalcin Construction Ltd to stop any further work on an uncompleted, three storey block of apartments, as the foundations work considered to be unsatisfactory. Ozyalcin Construction had ignored the order and carried on working so the police had to be called in to enforce it. Apparently the top soil under the apartments is 10 meters deep and the foundations totally inadequate. This is just the sort of shoddy, irresponsible workmanship that has to be stopped, just imagine the consequences of an earth tremor in the area. It is refreshing to note that finally the autho

rities are taking this sort of action, but there is still along way to go. Maybe this is one builder to avoid.....

There was a foot and mouth scare this week concerning a possible outbreak in the south. Impregnated mats were on the borders and people have to step out of their cars on to the mat and then drive over the chemical mixture. When we walked across this morning there was a mat on re-entry. It would now seem that the test results turned out negative so there was great relief all round.

The Oramses were again in the limelight, this time speaking at the HBPG meeting. There is another opportunity to sign the petition defending property rights in Northern Cyprus, by logging on to www.hbpg-trnc.net If you have a property here then it does make sense, as like it or not, the Orams case is now going the full course of the European courts and the result could effect us all here.

The hunting season has started again. Every Sunday from sun-up to sunset we can here the guns up in the mountain. So far, on the first day, only one hunter has been shot, but it is early days yet.

The Greek Cypriots are still getting on their high horse about the so called protocol agreement signed between Turkey and UK, last week. If you read this agreement it is no different than the agreement that already exists, it just reaffirms its existance. despite this the Greeks are threatening to charge rent for the Sovereign bases and are questioning their legality and continued existance. Maybe those who are making lots of noise about his should read the 1960 Treaty of Guarantee, which they the Greek Cypriots also signed. The bases are British Sovereign territory which they have no jurisdiction over.

Anybody who has sent me e-mails this week and who is still awaiting an answer will realise that we are having problems. We can receive mail in, but can't get anything out. Our server in the UK is blocking mail because it suggests that there is spam coming down the line. No spam can be found and we both have good virus protection on our machines. Frantic effort are being made to unblock us so expect mail a.s.a.p.

We finished off the day with dinner at Pat & Bryan's. A lovely corned beef hash, traditionally English, but Arie says just like a well known Dutch dish. It was very nice Pat and what followed was "A low calorie pud". Oh boy, think of the waistline please.