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Our
adventures in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus continue....
 
Another month has gone by, where the hell do they all go. Having said that Joan and I are sitting here with the garage full of packing boxes and are getting anxious to be over in France. A whole new adventure awaits us there and we are looking forward to it. But whatever anyone says the actual moving bit, although only partially at this time for us, can be really stressful. One of the biggest problems for us, together with Stewart and Barbara, is to select the right shipping company and one that can get things there on time for us.
Anyway one of the ways to reduce the stress is to go our with friends and enjoy a good meal and a laugh. This week we chose The Grape Garden in Alsancak. The guy who has taken this over this season, used to be at The Cabin in Lapta, a couple of years ago. Good food, a little stretched on the waiter side, but they were very busy.
Back to the hospital with Joan this morning, the doctor is pleased with progress in the short term and wants her back there same time next week.
At least that gives me time to catch up on a little sleep. Was up at 4 a.m. to take Richard to the airport. After the micro-surgery on his heart last week the surgeon said take a holiday/rest, so he has gone off to visit friends in Kuala Lumpa until 23rd of this month. he will be back to cat sit for us before we head off to France.
After a nap early afternoon I took the chance to see the newspaper headlines.
Remember the story about the post between UK and here getting lost, or at least about 50% of it, well, after test posting by the BRS it would seem that the problem lies either in Istanbul or here in TRNC. So now there will be discussions with the authorities about it.
A burglar has been arrested with a suitcase full of loot. A guy from Turkey, who has been here on a tourist visa, was caught by airport police last Wednesday. He had jewelery, money, mobile phones, digital cameras etc and he has confessed to breaking and entering. Maybe somebody was actually using the airport security check to good advantage that day.
Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot records of who owned what land before and immediately post 1974, do not tally. Hands up all those who are surprised by this. Obviously another stumbling block in the discussions to resolve the property issue.
Lots of bitterness building over the proposal for 24 hour opening in supermarkets etc.One of the biggest complaints looming is the proposal that they can now go back to building on Sundays. It has been so peacful since that was banned, lets hope it does not come back. Having said that current sales are slowing down builders work anyway so maybe it wont happen.
Joan and I have continued with the final bits of packing for goods going to France. We now have to get the shipping list translated in to Turkish before getting an official authority stamp, that allows us to move our own personal things out of the country. Guess that the list will be looked at by the customs official who attends the container loading. The justification for this is that we might be trying to sneak artifacts out of the country.
After arranging all the above yesterday afternoon we nipped over the border to get some cat food and other things as we have to lay in a supply for Richard during our absence.
A depleted "Boys Night Out" this evening, Charles has a visitor here and they all went out to dinner, Bryan is in Turkey for a week but we still managed to have an enjoyable evening at Scruples Bar.
Didn't get a midweek paper this week, I have to be honest and say that the content is getting thinner by the week and I am thinking that it is a waste of 85p each week. Go on say it "mean bugger".
Twelve of us went to the Green Palace in Karsiyaka for our Thursday evening round the trough. We specifically went there because Ian and Carol choose the venue so that Ian could have the prawns in garlic. What does he do? Order a T-bone steak. There is just no accounting for some people, but having said that I really enjoyed my large prawns.
It is now 5 a.m. on Saturday morning. Bryan and Pat were due in at 20.45 yesterday evening. They got a call from the travel company that the flight (CTA by the way) was delayed until 3.35 a.m. out of Dalaman. I was just driving up the road at 4 a.m. when I got a text from them that the flight was now reported to be leaving at 5 a.m.. So here I sit, writing this rubbish and waiting for the next message.
Well finally the flight landed at 6.15 a.m. and we got back home around 8 o'clock. Pat looked really shattered and kept falling asleep in the back of the car and I have to admit that I took to my bed at around 2 in the afternoon to try to catch up a bit of lost sleep.
Sunday morning and the last of the packing should be completed today, although I have to say that I woke up sweating and with a runny nose this morning, seems like a dose of "man flu" is on its way. Not to be down about it I cooked the old bacon and egg breakfast this morning, my excuse being that they say you should feed a cold. Sounds good to me.
Did anybody watch the Chelsea match against Apoel, here in Greek Cyprus. If so did you see the banners saying "Cyprus is Greek". What chance peace talks whilst this attitude still persists.
Home buyers here are being given an olive branch the press says. The TRNC Bar Council is to draft new laws that would rip up the unworkable specific performance law. This law was supposed to make sure that all parts of a contract were honoured, but time limit constraints etc made it almost unworkable. Lets hope the new ideas are better thought out.
The Red Lion Pub in Alsancak has been closed down by the police because they didn't have a licence to sell alcohol. The owner says he was shopped but the police say no, just a regular check identified the problem. Surely he must have known that you can't trade without the proper licences.
Both sides of the island are continuing to have a pop at one another and now also at the UN. This is politics gone mad and do we need all this when the two presidents are trying to negotiate.
According to a report by the UN, Cyprus is one of the best places in the world to live. The island was ranked 32nd out of 182 countries according to the quality of life their citizens experience.
The Ministry of Health has pledged to improve North Cyprus health care over their tem in office. They have promised a much better treatment in the oncology area in particular.
Yep I was right, definitely man flu. Yuk, but still have to get a few things sorted. We managed to combine the shipping list of Stewart and Barbara together with ours and get a first translation done using Goggle translator, this has now been followed by our friend Kadir from Ronnie's Furnishing doing the human check and sending back the whole on an Excel spread sheet. What a great guy just when we needed some help, there in true Turkish Cypriot style somebody steps in. This is one of the things we will sorely miss eventually, the friendship of the local people.
Well having printed out the list I then had to go to see the Muhtar at the local council to get his permission to take our own things out of the country. This is in preparation for the container arriving on Friday next.
We did finally pick Fushion Freight to collect and deliver our stuff to France. Dolphin had come up with some attractive overland figures, but, when it came down to it they had not told us the truth. They were unable to give us a firm pick up date until they had a full vehicle and equally well were unable to offer a delivery date. This despite the fact that we had discussed this at length over the phone with their representative, who had given us the "No problem" message. Now with Fushion, the container will be sealed here on site, sent to Mersin in Turkey and then by container ship to Antwerp, customs cleared there in to Europe and then driven down to us.
Oh yes almost forgot. Tiggy had the first of her monthly chemo sessions on Friday last. She has not forgiven me yet for putting her in the basket and when she sees me in the mornings, runs off, in case I am going to do it again. Next month it will be Richards turn as we shall be in France.
All that is to be packed is now packed, the lists are submitted and we are ready for the big Friday job.
This evening Joan and I collected Steinni and Sigga from Alsancak and they joined "The Layabouts" at Sirin Yali Restaurant in Karsiyaka. This used to be a speciality seafood restaurant but has changed hands this season.
The food was OK but at the end of the day we found the whole bill to be quite expensive in comparison from many places we eat, so guess it might be some time before the gang descends on them again.
Load and go day for France. In our case of course stage one only, but never the less a big day all round.
We started off at 8.15 with me escorting the small truck and our man Raymond from Fushion Freight, up the mountain to Stewart. Stewart had in fact been up since 4 a.m.as he had started the day by taking Barbara to the airport for her visit to UK.
It took four loads of the small falt bed truck to get everything of theirs down to the field behind our villa. By around midday it was ready to load directly into the container on it's arrival.
The decision had been made earlier to load from the field because of the difficulty of getting the the 40 footer down our road at the front, as the top entrance was far too narrow for him to turn.
The truck and team of loaders arrived at around 3.30 pm, followed by the customs guy about half an hour later. Nothing can be loaded until he gives it his authority and if he wants the odd box opening to check content it has to be done. Stewart said he was mostly checking boxes which contained garden pots and ornaments, checking for antiquities I assume.
Once they had loaded everything from the field to the back end of the container, it was our turn next. They backed the whole down to the gap next to our garden shed and manhandled everything either through the house or round the side garden. I have to say that the five guys worked very hard, as some of this stuff is quite heavy. By the time they had finished it was almost in the dark and the container was full to about 2 foot from the end, although they could have stacked higher if we had had more. Finally they borrowed some ropes of us to secure the stuff from slipping backwards and then the customs man sealed the doors. Hopefully the next time we see that seal will be in Ferrensac next month.
At around 7.30, Joan and I sat down with a drink and it felt a sort of anti climax. We had been building up to all this for so long and now suddenly it was over.
It seems as if there has been a change of plan. The customs clearance in to Europe will now take place in London, although the container will still be off-loaded in Antwerp, before being trucked down to us in the Dordogne. Strange, but apparently it is all to do with the fact that you only have to import it once in to Europe and that is only a paperwork formality.
Last night Joan and I went, just the two of us, for a pleasant evening to The Scruples restaurant here in Lapta. They do specials on Friday and Saturday evenings and we had a very fine evening, enjoying good food, a couple of quiet drinks at the bar and meeting others, some old friends and some new. Nice way to round off this week.
I did buy the newspaper yesterday so lets see what it has to tell us this week.
There is a very strong condemnation of the anti-Turkish leaflets that were being handed out during the Chelsea /Apoel, Nicosia football match. If you noticed I mentioned that banners proclaiming "Cyprus is Greek" had been displayed. Well now it seems that a leaflet was being handed to Chelsea supporters explaining how the Turkish Army had invaded and all about their version of the human rights atrocities. What chance peace on this island so long as this attitude still persists. The leaflet also suggested that there are still links to the Greek Eoka terrorist organisation which is supposed to have been disbanded according to the authorities.
A 24 year old man, wanted for murder in UK, has been arrested in Girne. Michael Bishop is wanted by Sussex police for the murder of Stuart Slade, in Brighton last December. It appears that the guy had been hiding here for a few months and has now been put in to jail here, I assume pending extradition.
The BRS has been granted permission to submit a document to the UK Court of Appeal hearing on the Orams case next month. Their submission maintains that recognition and enforcement of the judgment given by the District Court of Nicosia in contravention of customary international law rules on state jurisdiction would constitute a breach of English public policy. The case will be heard in November and many are waiting for the outcome.
Another wonderful decision has been made, this time by HSBC bank here in TRNC. Mt Handford was told he could not have a cheque book because he had reached the age of 65, unless he took out life insurance with the company. Then they told him that he was too old to have life insurance under the bank rules, hence no cheque book. They have got to be joking.
This evening we will be at Scruples again, but just the boys this evening. David Rogers is here from Nairobi to sort out a few things on his villa, so he will join us also. Long time no see, David.
The news on our container is good, it is leaving for Mersin and then hopefully setting off from there on 17th to go to Antwerp. This means our schedule of arriving around the 8th November in readiness looks to be about OK.
It is now almost the end of the summer season so we are trying to plan one more boat trip before the weather prevents us from going out. Steini & Sigga both want to go with us, so with some luck we might get a trip this coming Friday. It has been very windy the last couple of days so it is a sort of fingers crossed booking.
A whole new thread has opened up which might interest some and when you read the e-mail I have copied on to here you may want to give comment, which I am happy to post.
Does anybody remember Henson's Restaurant, when it was run by Bob (would you buy a secondhand car from this man) and his lovely wife Maggie. Well it used to be one of our most popular restaurants. When Maggie's health started to suffer they sold out to a man called John Sutherland. He, in all our opinions, succeeded in destroying the place in less than 6 months. At the time I made no comment about the quality and service, despite the fact that we on one occasion took some local friends and had to apologize for one of the worst eating experiences we have ever had on the island. I did comment at the time as it was reopened as The Red Lion and then we found it to be good.
Well recently Mr Sutherland has taken offense about my comment despite the fact that he was personally never mentioned. He sent me a couple of e-mails criticising the site and in particular the fact that I seemed to be always praising TRNC as a place to live. He accused me of only praising because we want to sell and he is is obviously a very bitter man and believes that the island is responsible for his troubles here. He accuses me of only ever painting the rosy picture which is very surprising when I have had numerous e-mails thanking me for the balanced output. In fact some personal friends have suggested that I might be setting myself up for heavy political criticism for many of the negatives. It seems a shame that somebody could be so bitter about their experiences here as to be almost offensive. Maybe the man is incapable of reading properly what is written.
I have to date ignored his e-mails as I felt that response was inappropriate, but now he is taking things a stage too far, so I am copying his latest missive for you to read and would say comments by e-mail please. I will print them on the site but without names showing unless you agree to this being so.
Mr Gillin
Despite my previous emails to you about your website you still refuse to even acknowledge their existence.
Why do you still refuse to exchange emails with me?
As I said previously, you are blatently lying to people who read your website www.frankandjoan.com about living in North Cyprus.
I have had the opportunity of experiencing life in that place and it is nothing like the picture you are painting. It is a place to be avoided AT ALL COSTS. I am personally extremely annoyed that you are confusing people into believing that TRNC is some sort of paradise. It is quite obviously the worst place I have ever had the misfortune to visit.
As promised in my previous emails to you, if you wouldn't tell the truth about life in TRNC, then it would be up to me to create an alternative website showing and educating people about what REALLY happens there. I will also be asking you, via the website, to answer some very prudent questions. Some that I doubt you will have the bravery to answer.
I have therefor today registered the website of www.frankandjoan.xx.xx and will build this over the ensuing weeks. I plan to advertise its existence in UK and TRNC media.
Just in case you are considering any action, I have checked with my legal representatives and they have verified that there is no copyright infringement. Naturally, to avoid any confusing issue with your own website I will refrain from directly referring to your site, but not you personally. I can assure you, that any details revealed will be truthful and not defamatory. I urge you to do likewise.
I will however, be posting this email on the new website for everyone to read so that they can draw their own conclusions as to why you have not replied.
Perhaps you will NOW reply to my emails. Something you have REFUSED to do in the past.
John Sutherland
The weather is still good and Steini & Sigga wanted a boat trip so off we went for the last sail of the year. There were only eight of us but Kantar and Tanya did their very best for us. Sigga is of course the European Ladies Rod Fishing Champion, so with no more ado, she was advised that the two of them were responsible for catching lunch for us all.
Now Sigga reckoned that the chances of catching anything by just trailing a few hooks in the water was not very likely, so it's a good job that Tanya had foreseen this and prepared some fish and chicken herself.
We most of us went in for a swim and have to say that the water is noticeably colder now, in fact bl***y cold is more near the truth. After a very good lunch and some lazing around in the sun, Charles and most of the rest of us managed an afternoon siesta.
Blame Steini for the placement of the water bottle!
Well things have developed around the John Sutherland saga. To start with I have received a total of 37 e-mails in support of the website and its balanced musings with only one dissenting e-mail from another reader who is not happy about things here. Thanks for all of those and I will answer to each of you over the next few days.
But the final end has come to the issue, as John Sutherland has sent a mail which says he is abandoning the idea of rubbishing the TRNC as he thinks it was very unprofessional and childish. Well thank goodness for that and it seems to be the end of the issue.
I think to summarise, that almost all the mail is commenting on the sometimes hilarious and sometimes very aggravating issues with civil servants etc here, part of life in another country, but never the less something to make the average ex-pat very frustrated.
Finally this afternoon I went to Ercan to collect Richard, after his three weeks holiday in Kula Lumpa. He seems to have enjoyed this immensely and no doubt we will get to see all the pics soon. Guess after his heart operation he needed this getaway holiday.
Another early morning for me as I had promised to take Anne to the airport and she needed collecting at 6 a.m. Back home by 8 o'clock and then after a couple of wake up coffees got breakfast ready for four of us. Why four, well Stewart is on his own at the moment so couldn't see him going hungry.
The newspaper tells us that this week we can expect heavy rain for three days starting Tuesday. Just when I wanted to get some hedge cutting done before we go over to France.
The hunting season started today. Eleven Sundays from today, shooting is allowed from sunup until sunset. The arguments have started again between the Green Action Group and the Hunting Federation. The usual should they shouldn't they fight. Personally I think they should just have a pigeon cull here and leave the rest alone.
A small left hand column headline says "No Progress". Surprising this as it refers to the Presidential discussions on the property issue. I would have expected that as front page news it is so vital to an island solution. On another page the Greek Cypriot president is accuses Talat of election diplomacy and not co-operating at the talks. He is also on record as saying that the two leaders were a long way from a solution.
Guess at the end of today the Liverpool/ Man U game will be something that will be interesting for me. If they lose this one will Rafa still be there at the end of the week?
Yesterday afternoon, Joan and I picked 4 kilos of olives off our one and only tree. This is the first year we have had any real crop as it takes a few years apparently for an olive tree to establish.
Well this morning we took our bucket with 4 kilos round to the Olive factory here in Karsiyaka and they very kindly converted in to about 1 litre of olive oil, at no charge. It was interesting to watch the process as some people were coming with multiple big bags of olives, obviously the result of a weekend picking. Clearly the guy took pity on our measly quantity and said for free, must tell Stewart, he will be mortified at the cost........
The end of the month already and Joan and I have been doing all the last monute things to get ready for our trip to UK and then France, next week.
Yesterday the weather improved a bit so we took Steini & Sigga up the mountain to the castle and then over the mountain road to stop off for lunch at The Kozan restaurant. In all the years they have been coming here they had never been over this lovely road with the superb views.
In the evening, Pat & Bryan had invited the four of us for dinner, which was enjoyed as always. Well done Pat.
Please will nobody mention the Fulham/Liverpool game.
Today, in between the heavy rain showers, I managed to get the other half of the front hedge cut. I did one half earlier in the week, then it went dark on me and from that day on it has rained very heavily. Two days ago we had huge hailstones bouncing off the cars and being blown against the garage door. It sounded like a drum solo. So you see it is not only UK that gets severe weather.
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