Frank and Joan's news for April 2010 in Northern Cyprus

Rain and lots of it seems to be all we are getting at the moment, but then as I am indoors and doing the painting etc it doesn't matter too much. Guess the donkeys are not overly impressed by it either, as they seem to spend lots of their time sheltering in their big shed. Brinnie, the mother, is about to produce another any day now so hope it happens before 15th before I leave.

Spoke to Joan earlier today and it appears that Tiggy is still in the vets and on the drip. But she did actually eat something early this morning so here's hoping. She is staying there until Saturday at least so lets hope she eats for Joan over the weekend.

Went off to Bergerac this morning to get a tall cupboard to put in the downstairs loo and to take pics of some wardrobes that they have there in Conforama, to send off to Joan. On the way back I stopped off in Castilliones, our nearest town, because they have an annual Easter Saturday event which is really all about tractors and things, obvious really in the middle of this farming community. It was great shame that it was so very wet as I would have enjoyed taking a careful look at some of the oldies on display. There was one, a real beauty, which caught the eye, especially as Joan is looking for a convertible.

In the evening I went over to Barbara's and we joined a crowd of other Brits at a Hog Roast. This was held on a farm and because the weather was dodgy we all ended up in a huge barn. The hog was served up buffet fashion and we all managed to get large portions of nicely roasted piglet, together with the necessary trimmings and lots of wine. When the tables were cleared there was dancing at the hog roast enjoyed by all, especially this little guy who kept rushing on to the floor despite his mothers attempt to keep him by her. Altogether a good evening and because I had my car at Barbara's it was decided that the best thing I could do was to stay over for the night and then I wouldn't miss out on the wine on offer.

Met up with Steve, V and Barbara at a car boot in a local village. Apparently once the spring starts these occur in all the towns and villages around. We are told that the one in Eymet, usually held in May, is quite huge and takes over nearly all the streets.

It was very interesting to see that people try to get rid of the same sort of rubbish that they do in UK, but guess if you really want to root there is some good stuff amongst it all. One thing the girls noticed was that the prices are very high here. They came up with a scheme to go to Boot Fairs in UK, buy a van load and bring over here to sell at profit. Sounds like a lot of hard work to me.

Afterwards they all came back to me for coffee and a good nosey around the farmhouse.

Been out around the DIY shops today and managed to get a new fitted cupboard and wash basin with mirror over, to go in our bathroom, so that is the task for this coming weekend. I also learnt a lesson in French, was looking for a particular colour of emulsion for the walls and discovered that they have a super range of mixers which you can use to get exactly the colour you want. The problem is only that I bought a 5 litre pot of white emulsion, or so I thought and because it was cheaper than other paints, only to discover when I got home and examined it properly, it is under coat. Oh well now I have to go back and try to exchange it for the more expensive, but the correct paint. Should have bought the stuff in Holland, it is a cheaper and also I speak that language so would have known what I was buying.

While stitching up the hand of a 75 year old Devon farmer, who cut it on a gate while working cattle,
the rural doctor struck up a conversation with the old man.
Eventually the topic got around to Gordon Brown and his appointment as Prime Minister.

"Well, you know," drawled the old farmer, "this Brown fellow is what they call a fencepost tortoise."

Not being familiar with the term, the doctor asked him what a fencepost tortoise was.

The old farmer said,
"When you're driving along a country road and you come across a fence post with a tortoise balanced on top, that's called a fencepost tortoise."

The old farmer saw a puzzled look on the doctor's face, so he continued to explain,
"You know he didn't get up there by himself, he definitely doesn't belong up there,
he doesn't know what to do while he is up there, and you just have to wonder what kind of idiot put him up there in the first place”

Now everybody knows were I wouldn't vote if I was still allowed to vote in UK.

Well here we are again folks, just over 1 week late back and have to say that yesterday morning at 5 a.m. when I landed, I was shattered. The whole idea of sleeping on the night flight was slightly upset by two Turkish matronly ladies, who never stopped talking, in high pitched voices for the 4.5 hours between Stansted and Antalya. But at the end of the day, I'm back at last.

First most of the week was used to paint and decorate two rooms in the farmhouse ready for our eventual move. My feeling was that it was better to work in empty rooms than to try to get dust covers over all the furniture once it is in place. Also on my own I didn't need to rush at it so much so was bale to take a couple of breaks during the week that I was still there.

For example I was introduced to a super new restaurant that I will just have to take Joan to on our next visit. It is about 25 kilometers away but really worth every bit of the journey through the countryside. We started with a tourine of home made soup, then I had a big bowl of the old moules in garlic and white wine, followed by a very nice steak with vegetables, the French tradition of cheese to follow and then a huge slice of home made cherry tart. All this washed down with two bottles of the local red between the four of us and all for 11.50 euros each. No complaints there and of all the restaurants that the longer standing residents have introduced me to, this has to rate number 1.

Then on the Sunday 11th, I was invited over to Barbara's for lunch. It turned out to be Steve's birthday but the real reason for the invite was that Barbara wanted to show me the house that she had found and had told Stewart they were buying. This then is Stewart and Barbara's a bungalow with masses of potential and quite a bit of work to get it up to the standard that Barbara will want. There is around 2 acres of land and some absolutely stunning views all around. Have to say that it is worth everything they will have to pay but it is still a big project to get it up to standard.

I then had a couple more days left to finish my main project in the farmhouse. Paint the bathroom and fit a new washbasin with cupboards under, so that we had a little more room to store the essentials. Wednesday was spent cleaning everywhere, doing my washing etc before preparing for the off on Thursday 16th. The idea being that Steve, V and Barbara were to come over for a lunch at the restaurant up the road and then take me to Bergerac airport for my trip home.

That morning, this happened http:// www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/04/more_from_eyjafjallajokull.html I awoke to put on the news before packing the TV away, to find this devastating volcanic eruption in Iceland and the bad news about flights. i spoke to Brabara and agreed that they would come round anyway, but that I would make the 20 minute journey to the airport this morning to see what the real flight situation was. Well it was quite clear that there would be no Ryanair flight in or out of Stansted today, but it was suggested that I enquired later in the day. So we went out to The Monte Christo restaurant on the road down to Villereal and had a very nice lunch and then it was agreed that the best thing was for me to stay put and see what the news was later in the afternoon.

When I went back to the airport at 3.30 in the afternoon it was confirmed that I would not be flying today but was offered a transfer to a flight out of Limoge, tomorrow morning, which at that time was confirmed with space available. Seemed like a sensible option as I felt that if I got back to UK, I could then see about the second stage of my journey. The only problem was that I had to be there by 0700 and the journey was at least 2 hours, plus of course I didn't want to leave my car there, probably at huge cost. So I went to Hertz, rented a one way car and left it in their car park at the airport. I then drove round to Barbara's, asked her to follow me home and then take me back to the airport to collect the hire car. A sort of round the house's trip but the only way I could think of sorting it out.

Early bed then and rising at 3 a.m. for a shower and trip to Limoge guided by our GPS thingy. I actually managed to find one of those 24 hour petrol pumps close to the airport and arrived in plenty of time. The Ryanair desk was in fact manned at thsi time and I was told that this and all other flights in the foreseeable future were cancelled. OK so now what? Well first things first, the coffee shop was open so I got a coffee and my thinking hat on.

I stood around watching others arriving and being told that the flight was cancelled and then having seen three people together, talked to them about hiring a car and driving to Calais. They were very receptive to the idea so we went back to Hetz, where we both had previously hired cars from that day and luckily managed to negotiate a Peugeot hatchback that was big enough for us all and the luggage. Of the three, Gillian was experienced in driving in Europe so we now had two drivers to share the task, important because we had all been on the go since very early in the morning already.

We had a couple of coffee stops on the way up and it took around 7 hours to get to Calias. There was chaos, organised, but still chaos. As fast as the hire cars were coming in they were being put on low loaders rushed back to depots were people were waiting for them. I counted 11 of them along the edge of the car park area and vehicles with number plates from every country in Europe. We were then directed to a queue for tickets for foot passengers on the ferries. We stood out in the cold for three and a half hours until we finally got tickets for the 8 o'clock boat and at last a meal on board.

I had sent a text message to Les and Jill on the way up, begging a pick-up at Dover, a bed for however many nights I needed to be there and a cold beer waiting on arrival. Fortunately I got a yes to all three messages. My three travelling companions, still had to get to Northampton and had already organised for a local, to their home, taxi firm to come down and collect them. I heard later that they only waited 1 hour for the man to arrive. So in the ned we all made it safely back this far, but I had no idea when I was going to make it back to Cyprus.

At the same time as all this, Stewart was stranded in Cyprus as he was supposed to be travelling the reverse route on the same dates. Guess what, he and Joan did the only sensible thing and parked him in our spare bedroom, until the situation resolves itself.

Whilst watching things being reported on TV it became very clear that this was oing to be a very long affair. Jill, Les and I guessed, quite accurately as it happened, that they would be stuck with me for at least a week.

The weather was quite nice as it happened, if a little cold sometimes, but on Sunday I was able to go out with Les and his new Honda to a bikers meeting held at the fire station near Maidstone. There were hundreds of bikes there and lots of stands selling everything that a dedicated biker could wish for. People were just walking around and admiring many of the bikes and there was show of Harley specials all done out in fancy patterns and shiny colours. Les and I came back via Headcorn airport and watched to parachute boys and their freefall antics. Nice coffee sitting out in the sun. Then on to Folkestone harbour were we had some king prawns in garlic and chilli sauce and a nice big bag of prawns to take home for tomorrow's dinner. When we got back later in the afternoon, we met up with Brenda and Reg at the Cinque Port arms for a couple of pints of real beer, very enjoyable.

The rest of the week we were also enjoying some reasonable weather so I was able to make myself useful with Les's new pressure washer on the patio and also help Jill empty and clean out the greenhouse ready for the new seasons veggies which Les was about to start planting. We also went out for dinner at The Bell Inn one evening, as I thought that was the very least I could do for them. All in all an enjoyable week, but have to admit that I was very pleased to receive the telephone call from Ankara Travel, here in Kyrenia, to say that they had got me on the night flight Thursday. I have to say that Ankara did a super job of keeping me informed and I just left them to sort it for me. A highly recommended service.

Well you heard about the lack of sleep on the flight over, si I just took to my bed in the norning to get a partial recovery going. We had, booked in advance before I went off, tickets for the Lambousa Chorus show Only a Rose. The show was written by two of the directors of the chorus and was based loosely around the Cole Porter musical "Anything Goes". An excellent show and here in the final scene you see most of the cast on stage. A good night out and after Bryan and Pat brought us home and had a drink with us, I crashed out and don't remember a thing until 8 o'clock this morning.

Things have of course happened whilst I was away, not the lest the defeat of Mr Talat as President, to be replaced by Mr Eroglu, who was sworn in last Friday. Mr Eroglu is a definite hard line man in comparison and is of course the now ex-prime minister. He is saying that he wants to resume the negotiations with the Greek Cypriot president a.s.a.p. but has clearly stated that the Greek Cypriots must recognise equal sovereignty for the Turkish Cypriots in order to reach an agreement. An immediate challenge as this will be unlikely to be accepted by the South.

Another important front page article is the fact that Gary Robb has pleaded guilty to the drugs charges against him. What this ultimately means for those buyers at Amaranta Valley and in Catalkoy we must wait to hear. One thing is certain, the British Court now has access to the £1.7 million which was frozen and could be returned to those who have paid heavily for waht amounts to nothing at this time.

Another British crook, attempting to hide away here has been exposed and sentenced to 6 years by Leeds Crown Court. Apparently Barry Thackrah had a four bed villa and a Thai wife over here, all bought from the proceeds of a £1 million theft from RBS. What's this I hear you say, a thief in RBS, never.

The Greek Cypriot lawyer who supposedly masterminded the defeat of the Orams in the European courts has been hauled before the courts in South Cyprus and reported to the disciplinary committee. Some things never end.

Two very sad deaths during my last week in UK. The first was Mary Maternaghan, the wife of the previous chairman of the BRS. She died after a long battle with cancer and will be sadly missed by many here. The second was Ray Penlington, at the age of 67. Joan and I were just acquaintances of Ray and his wife Elaine, but it was in fact their villa that we were shown around before making our final decision of what to buy here.

The Wednesday paper has confirmed that CTA is on the verge of bankruptcy It seems that their debts have risen to $105 million and staff will not be paid this month end. There is talk of some investors showing interest but they have only until 15th May to come up with something to stave off the inevitable. If anybody does try to invest they must be aware that the root cause of the problem is the excessive over staffing of this airline.

Whilst I have been away there has been some considerable progress made on the Girne bypass. It is now said that the route should be open at the end of May, after some more delays incurred due to there not being a clear understanding of the requirements for the infrastructure services. The route is partially open and I in fact came down that way on my way back from Nicosia. The saving in time is quite considerable

This evening we had the pleasure of helping Anne celebrate her 65th birthday. Joan and i had gathered some funds together from some of the Layabouts and had deliverd her some garden plants that were on her wish list. There was a party gathering at a local restaurant with many more to help celebrate the occassion. Enjoyed by all and especially by Anne, she says.