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

We have had a number of e-mails about the caterpillars. Seems they are called processional caterpillars and if you brush against them they can give you a very nasty rash. I had said to Joan that they reminded me of similar caterpillars we used to get on the golf course in Rye, Kent. I remember that if people went off the fairway they used to poke around carefully looking for their ball and using a club only.

Last evening the gang went to The Grumpy Grouse restaurant, which is on the way down to Girne, just passed the Denizkizi turn off. This place has very new owners but was as good as it has always been, well worth a visit.

Shortly after we got home it started to rain fairly heavily. This was followed by thunder and lightening and exceptionally heavy rain for the whole night. The time is now midday and there is no sign of it letting up. Outside f="../../../photos/2010/02/13.htm">the road is a river and it is flowing into Charles and Yvonne's garden as the first point of entry, then it is gushing through the drainage pipes in the wall and flooding the rose garden and any minute now all that muddy water will be heading off into the pool. The water is then flowing across the terrace area and now we have our own small stream which then ultimately crosses over into next doors garden and heads off down the hill.

Joan tried to get in to Girne at around 10 o'clock this morning as she had some old customers staying in the Acapulco who wanted to meet her. She had to turn back at Tempo supermarket as the fire engines were there pumping out and the roads are completely closed. Guess if it does ease off later we will try it together.

As the day progressed the rain got heavier so we  were glad that Joan had made it back. Soon after she got back she shouted to me that water together withgravel and sand was pouring in to our driveway and the whole front garden was beginning to flood. We got out onto the road quickly and together with the help of Charles we built a dam to divert as much as possible in to the field area opposite. Later investigation showed that tons of water was coming down a ravine on the other side of the main road, this was going under a culvert which crossed the road and the we can only assume that the natural flow was blocked off, because the water just gushed off the field and started to create a new river bed down our road.