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Our
adventures in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus continue....
  
Started off the day putting one of the chest of drawers together and had just about completed this when Stewart and Barbara turned up. We had arranged to show them Villereal and to have lunch together.
Joan and I, when exploring a week or so ago, found a Hippodrome in Villereal, which is in fact a race track for the trotting ponies they seem to love so much here. Stewart was of course over the moon about finding a place were horses race and money is won or lost, so near to home. How long before he is running a book here? Apparantly these races are held almost weekly during the summer months and are a great place to go for an entertaining evening out.
The four of us also kept up the French tradition of having an extended lunch. A four course meal and coffee for €11.50 each plus of course the necessary house wine. The starter was soup followed by an extensive buffet, the main meal was breast of duck, the desert was a buffet again and cheese was also available if you still had space for it. That's me done for the day with eating and this restaurant/pub is only 5 minutes up the road for us.
Finally got the pics off Barbara's camera. These are taken on the occasion of Barbara's Birthday and shows the whole table in two bites, at that super restaurant we went to. The second pic shows Barbara's birthday again but this time the opposite end of the table with their new friends Steve and Vera. the final picture shows Barbara & Stewart together on this special day.
Joan and I had spotted an advert for a Chinese night at the pub we went to last Saturday in Villereal. It was being organised by some expats in the area so we thought a good chance to get to know some people. We had called a guy called Darryl who was the organiser and explained that we were the new kids on the block so to speak. He and his wife explained that the whole thing was sort of casual and you could just come at any time of the evening, so we plumped for 19.30 as it seemed about right.
When we got there we could see a large table occupied in the restaurant area so went to the bar first and ordered a drink, a half carafe of house white of course. After about 15 ninutes when no other expats showed up we thought OK lets go in to the restaurant. One of the girls showed us to a table laid for four and as we passed the table of fourteen, I said politely "Good Evening". Deathly silence and we were totally ignored. Later another table of six became occupied and we understand that this included the organisers of the evening. Again we were totally ignored by this lot as well. A nice welcome from the expats in the area....... Also the funniest thing was that the table of fourteen was made up of all the ladies at one end and all the men at the other and they were noisey. Anybody want to liken this lot to The Layabouts! Guess when we get back here finally we will try to identify some of the many Dutch residents in the area.
Last Thursday Joan and I went to Bergerac to have a look for a wardrobe to go in the dressing room and found a super 2 metre long one in a place called Fly. We had arranged, at least so we thought, for a delivery at 09.30 this morning. At around 10.15 we got a phone call from the company that confused me somewhat. Really must get to grips with this language. Went across to see Gerry for some help and called the company back after explaining to him that we had expected a delivery. After a little while he started to laugh, it appears that when we had booked a delivery in the two hour period commencing 09.30, it actually meant that we got the use of their van during this time.
Well he managed to arrange a new slot between 16.00 and 18.00 for us, so we drove over to Bergerac and there was the van, already loaded up for us. So it was a sort of come fly with me back to Ferensac, off load in to the farmhouse and then back to deliver the van and collect our car. The costs are supposed to be, first hour free then €15.00 per hour thereafter which includes the fuel. Because we had confused the whole system and got back in 1.5 hours they just waived the charges. Brilliant service and all the better now we know the system.
This is our last Sunday in France for a little while so we went with Stewart and Barbara to the same hotel restaurant that we had been to for her birthday. Because it was a Sunday it was very busy and we had to go off and have a beer at a local watering hole and come back for a later table.
Once again a super meal and excellent value for money. It really makes some of the TRNC restaurants pale in to insignificance.
Prior to meeting up with them I had spent some time putting together the new wardrobe. The carcass went up very easily, only one problem, the floor is very uneven in this particular bedroom so I guess I am going to find lining up the doors impossible until I have devised some sort of plinth underneath the base to level things off. I suppose it is only to be expected in a building that is almost 500 years old.
Did find one other problem this morning. One of the wardrobe doors came without hinges and handle. Only one thing for it, back to Bergerac again. Have to say when we managed to explain our problem and the fact that we couldn't really wait for them to order one set up from a central warehouse, they came up rumps by nicking off another complete door pack and will order the replacement for that one.
So now we have it all complete. A huge four door wardrobe in what is to be our dressing come computer room, but the doors are definitely a bit wonky. They will just have to stay that way until we next come back.
Gerry, our landlord, came over with some news this evening. He is off to Zurich at the end of the week, as he has been offered a super job there and just maybe they will all move there. If that does happen we will have to come back over quite soon to agree some things with him as he is not planning to let out the barn, so that means we will have the whole place to ourselves. This could be a big change as there are 5.5 acres of land, three donkeys, a big saltwater swimming pool etc.
Tomorrow we start the journey back to Lapta. The day started well with a text from Richard to say Tiggy had been looking at the calender and gone walkabouts on the day she was due another chemo session. He has agreed with the vet to take her tomorrow if she doesn't get back home early enough. The little madam and she is doing so well.
We have started to prepare for leaving by eating all the things in the fridge and freezer, this included four choc ices we had discovered and forgotten about. Well not to be too greedy we gave two of them to Sarah and Poppy, lucky that Gerry went off to Zurich early this morning so there was no contest.
Joan is looking forward to getting back to TRNC as she feels rightly that this is not yet home. She is right really but I will miss some of the things we have found around and about. Last minute trip to the local supermarket in Villereal as Sarah tells us we need to be sure to put anti-midge tablets in all the drawers etc as the little buggers love to eat holes in things. At least they smell of lavender, so that wont be so bad.
Our flight out of Bergerac to Stansted is not until 16.30 so plenty of time to pack. Stewart and Barbara are picking us up to drive us to the airport and then we have booked an overnight B & B near the airport.
We stayed at The Pussy Willow B & B and it is delightful. Close to the airport and only a 10 minute walk to a local pub were we had an evening meal and I had a couple of pints of Abbot Ale, very nice to and it may be a long time before I get some UK beer again.
The long haul out of Stansted with Pegasus airlines was the usual boring time but we got back to Ercan only 30 minutes late. Pat & Bryan picked us up and we settled in for a cosy night in our own bed. The cats seemed happy that we had come back and settled in their big bed in our room for the night.
Got up this morning and took a look around as we had heard that there had been lots of rain and some storms during our time away.
The garden has grown like fury and as soon as we get a few dry days we are going to have to get out there and attack the hedges etc. We had only just finished cutting back before we went away and now we have to start all over again. Amazing what some rain can do in this country, the plants and shrubs that are resistant to drought go absolutely mad when they do get some rain. One thing is for sure we will not be doing much out there today as it is absolutely pouring down again.
One thing that angered me and also amazed, was the state of our swimming pool. We have a contract with Splash Pools to clean and maintain the pool. Today I find that they have smashed the tops off the inlet valves on the bottom of the pool and when I spoke with the boss man of the company he said that they had to do it because they were blocked. The only way we are going to replace these is by getting somebody with diving gear to go down or to drain the pool completely and replace that way. What I wanted to know was, what gave him the right to smash something belonging to us without our knowledge. One thing is absolutely clear, when our contract expires at the end of this year we will not be renewing and my personal recommendation is steer well clear of Splash Pools, they don't know what they are doing and this is not the first bad experience we have had with them.
Almost forgot. Joan and I decided last night to finish our time away with a dinner out together. We had been round to see Charles and Yvonne late afternoon and the went off to The Green Palace n Karsiyaka. I had one of the tastiest T-Bone steaks that I have had for many a long day, Joan of course plumped for her favourite, prawns in garlic.
Have bought the Cyprus Today newspaper and will see tomorrow if there is anything really of interest to you in it.
The headline news is that the governments plan to finish off all the unfinished properties here have been dealt a blow by the experts. They have called for a thorough check on incomplete sites first as there is a suggestion that many of these buildings have serious technical problems. Lack of good foundations, missing and low quality materials being used are quoted as being some of the identified problems. If this is proven to be true then it is probably due to may unqualified and unlicensed builders being allowed to operate here during the boom.
There is to be a big shake up in CTA, the so called state airline. The boss has been replaced by the Minister of Public Works and Transport and a new General Manager has been appointed. He was previously vice-president of Turkish Airlines ground services division.
Progress towards unifying the island seems to be only six column lines on the side of page three. The two have met and discussed the economy and are to meet again on the next two Mondays and that's it......
The £12 million project for the new marina is finally due to start early in the new year says Altan Huseiyn the owner. he said that investors had been worried about developments around the Orams case etc but that these worries are now behind them and the project is to go ahead.
After months of complaints from locals, the Teknecik power plant, on the road out to Esentepe, is to be monitored over pollution.
There is a strongly worded letter in the paper about "Morons" at a charity event. The writer says he watched a section of the community, mostly Brits, stocking up on sausage rolls, mince pies etc from the buffet table and then putting them in handbags etc to take home. The result of this meant that the charity had to go out and "buy" extras to restock the buffet which of course depletes the income they are trying to raise for good causes, in the case The North Cyprus Cancer Charity Trust. I have to say that Joan and I have witnessed this sort of behaviour also and feel disgusted at the so called Brits involved.
So you see, we have been away 5 weeks and nothing changes, just like Joan and I said in France. We caught a glimpse of Coronation Street on our Sky Television, same old faces as were on the screen 7 years ago when we last saw it, nothing changes except of course they looked a little older.
Day on my own today. Joan had a hair appointment at 10 o'clock and then went off first to Ronnie's furnishing to deliver some screw fixings that we had especially brought back for them from Screwfix in UK and then on to Nicosia to see Mr Omac at his shop. She came back all excited about a new kitchen range that they have there so guess I am going to have to go over soon and see. It may just be something that we could take to France in the final container and get our man there to install for us.
This gave me the opportunity to catch up on a load of e-mails and some banking work that had been hanging around since we came back, then in the evening we were down to just three for boys night out.
Joan went off for Christmas lunch at The Black Olive Cafe. This is the place were the ladies meet each week for exercise classes and a good natter afterward. Vickie who owns the Black Olive had laid on a super turkey dinner for them all and from all accounts they had an enjoyable lunch time.
As we didn't want to be left out of things, Bryan, Charles and myself took ourselves off for lunch together. We went to Ezic Premier, up on the so called new bypass, as Charles had never been there before. I think we three felt that it was probably the only way we were going to get anything else but bread and jam for the day. We had an enjoyable lunch too.
This evening, Anne came around for a couple of glasses of wine. She is off to UK on Monday morning, to spend Christmas with Debbie and the grand children.
Joan and I went to the Christmas Fair at The Carpenters Restaurant this morning. There were a reasonable number of stalls there, considering the terrible weather we have been having over the last week and all the stall holders had dressed for the occasion in appropriate seasonal costumes. Guess we were all quite lucky as this morning was the first ray of sunshine for quite a few days, but it didn't last. By afternoon it was persisting down again.
This evening there was a Christmas "Sing-a-Long" at St Andrews Church hall. Anne had got us some tickets whilst we were away, so we had an early dinner and went along. An enjoyable evening with the traditional mince pies, sausage rolls and mulled wine during the interval. The idea of this evening was a fund raising exercise for a new organ for the church.
Richard has gone off to UK for Christmas this morning, he should be back early in the New Year. He is not missing much as we are still suffering from torrential rain on a regular basis. If we get a few dry hours tomorrow I am oing to have to pump out the balance tank on the pool as this is completely full and the gullies are also filling up.
Speaking of the pool and our wonderful pool cleaning service, we have had no response from them about who the hell is going to pay for the damage caused by them smashing the vents on the bottom of the pool. I still can't believe that they did that without any authority from us and I have no idea why they did it either. They say that the vents were blocked, which is of course impossible, because they are only there to pump water back into the pool after it has been filtered and cleaned. Since I put the last comment on the site about Splash Polls, I have had a number of e-mails from other customers of theirs who are equally dissatisfied and like me believe that they do not know what they are doing.
Thursday was Barbara's birthday, so this evening she had decided to throw a small party for ten of us, but the Bryan went down with a streaming cold so stuck to his bed. A very enjoyable evening was had by all.
Low and behold the sun is shining. In fact today is a complete turn around, at lunch time the temperature had gone up to 25 degrees and we were able to sit outside for coffee etc. At least I was able to get all those pumps working and to go fishing in the pool for all the leaves etc that the strong winds had blown in. In fact we have other damage in the garden, the big bougainvillea that was over our front wall has been blown completely off its support trellis and it looks as if I am going to have to cut it right back to save it. Also you wouldn't believe just how much things have grown in the weeks we have been away, must be the complete enjoyment of abundant rain after the summer drought.
Looks like the new government has woken up to the fact that they can earn a huge sum of money by processing building permits etc. The prime minister is suggesting that with improvements in the Land Registry Office expats could get their Permission to Purchase much more quickly, he has even suggested four days is possible. Could be that somebody has told him that there is £100 million in unpaid taxes out there for the taking. Foreign buyers should get their PTP before signing a contract to buy here, but because in some instances it has taken up to 6 years to get that permission, it has been largely ignored. If he could turn this department round then this would be fantastic for all concerned.
The Greek Cypriots are at it again. This time European diplomats have suggested that the Greek Cypriot government will be on its own in calling for obstacles to be put in the way of Turkey's EU accession bid.An environment chapter is due to be opened but the Greek Cypriots have threatened to use their veto again. Could it be that EU delegates are finally beginning to realise who the problem child really is?
The much awaited by-pass has run in to problems again. This time the newly appointed contractor has downed tools for a rain break. They say that if you put gravel or tar on the wet surface then it would break down. Hey-Ho, one day maybe.
Please don't mention the Liverpool result to me!!!!!!!
Still the sun shines, today it was around 25 degrees during the midday hours. The weather has been so nice and warm that I have been able to get out for the last two days and do some much needed gardening and the now well known hedge cutting. When we do move, believe me when I say that we will not have so many fast growing hedges. I believe that in France, Gerry gets one of the local farmers to come along with his hedging machine attached to a tractor and do the whole lot in a couple of hours. Wonderful....
Still we have to attack the problem of the big bougainvillea that was blown down. Guess it is time to get out the "round to it" excuse, or bring somebody in to do it for me.
This morning whilst I was having the old toast and marmalade, the Splash Pool company turned up to clean our pool because the current contract is to the end of the year. With them was the boss, with whom I had had the row when we got back. Finally he admitted that they should not have damaged the inlet jets on the bottom of the pool without our authority and said he is going to do the repair at his expense. He has got somebody with diving gear and the necessary experience to do it, but rightly suggested that it might just be a bit cold in there now. Guess I will maybe go with him for another 3 months just to make sure the repair gets done, but keep a very close watch on his workers when they are here.
Yesterday, Joan and I had borrowed Anne's car as she is in UK and her car is insured for crossing the border, then we went across to visit Marks & Spencer and do some other bits of Xmas shopping. It took absolutely ages as every junction, every roundabout and every set of traffic lights had a mile long queue of traffic. Must be just like UK, without the snow, everybody leaves the shopping until the last minute. Still it didn't really matter as it was a glorious warm sunny day and we were just walking around in shirt sleeve order. Just to be nosey, we also went in to the new development called Madison's. It turns out to be a huge department store with some fairly high class and therefore expensive stores renting space inside. On the basement level is an ice rink and on the top floor a bowling alley and some restaurants and an amusement arcade.
First job this Christmas eve for me, was to go and collect our turkey and a few other essentials, such as gin, vodka, beer and some wine for us on Christmas day and anybody else who fancies a drink over the holidays. I had no sooner got back from these errands than it was time to take our Smudge puss down to the vets. She was due her cat flu jab and a worming injection, we have to maintain all these things for both cats to protect our export documentation for their eventual move to France.
It is not quite as warm today but remains dry and Joan is outside doing some weeding in the garden. Later we have to get ready to go out with the gang as this evening seven of us are going to The Chinese House in Girne for a not so traditional Christmas eve meal. Should be good, so expect a report tomorrow. In the meantime, to all readers:-
A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM FRANK AND JOAN.
Christmas Day on our own just as we planned. Lie-in first with coffee in bed and then traditional breakfast with smoked salmon etc and a couple of glasses of bucks fizz. Once we had got the turkey ready for the oven we went out for a walk. Lovely sunny day so we went down to the shore in between Lapta and Karsiyaka. There is a glorious bay down there were they commenced to build a hotel about 18 months ago and then all work stopped. Don't know why but it is a great shame as this would be a lovely holiday spot.
There is a small shed type restaurant down on the beach area which was operating during the summer and when we got down there we found three stray dogs. Clearly somebody is feeding these regularly as they were just fine but happy to have company. We walked all along the coast and had these three for company until we got back to the car.
When we got home again we put the old bird into the oven, watched a DVD film that we have been saving and then had a nice leisurely dinner around 6.30 p.m. A lovely relaxing day with just the pussies for company.
Another bright sunny day, a little bit of wind around so slightly colder, once again we decided to go walking. This time we walked up to Pat & Bryan's and had a cup of coffee with some of Pat's mince pies.
So much turkey left that we had another dinner of that, but still haven't found the room in the stomach enough to heat up the Xmas pud, so maybe we will save this until New Year.
Spent part of today visiting some of the Estate Agents who have our villa on their books. We have now discussed reducing the price by taking the furniture and car off the deal to see if this moves things on, it just means we will have to ship this lot over to France. Not really a big deal as we need to send some stuff over anyway.
When you talk seriously to these people you learn a few things and wonder why they don't actually communicate to there sellers too much.
The result of this exercise seems to be a decision to remove the spiral staircase and replace it with a wooden one that goes up in an L shape. Guess when they come to do that we will be in a mess again but if the spiral is causing negative reaction it has to go.
Spent the day moving furniture around ready for the guys to come in to knock an even bigger hole in the ceiling to take the new staircase. We moved everything out of the room off the hallway that we have been using sometimes as a dining room and put all this in to the area just outside the kitchen which is now the new dining room. The rounds table and chairs which were in there are now in the garage, ready to go to France. The rattan three piece suite from the outside terrace is now in this room off the hall together with the big bookcase from the hall, as this would be in the way of the new stairs. So together with the taking down of pictures to accommodate all this, filling in holes left by picture hooks and re-painting the walls we had quite a busy day.
Everything looks a lot different but think it actually makes sense as we hardly ever used the dining room as such. Lets hope those viewing in the future approve also.
Last day of the old year and it looks as if Joan and I are to see some more changes. Richard came back from his Christmas visit to his parents last night and says he has been offered a villa in Ozankoy which would be ideal for him, so he is going to take a look at that, so it looks as if we might be losing our house guest. He also brought back a rather nice perfume for Joan and a litre of super malt whiskey for me.
Joan and I had planned to meet up with Margaret and Norman at the Las Vegas casino around 11 p.m. but before that went round to Pat and Bryan's for dinner together with Sandy, John and Anne, who was also on the same flight as Richard last night.
The Las Vegas was absolutely packed out with a very noisy Turkish group providing the entertainment. At midnight there was the draw, for which we had acquired 17 tickets, for $10,000, guess what we didn't win! The place was so very busy we couldn't even get on one of the machines but did manage a glass of champagne just after midnight. We got home around 1 a.m. and then decided to have a drink of our own, because I had been driving we had deliberately taken it easy. We switched the TV on and there was a Joan Rivers show on which we watched until finally ut finished at just after 2 a.m. Very funny lady and nice way to round off the evening. So that's it then another year has drawn to a close and all that remains is for Joan and I to wish you all a very Happy and Healthy New Year and may all you wish for yourselves in 2010 come true.
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