Today we went to our local Crown paint shop, to buy paint for both our main guest bedroom and the studio. We chose a light, non-committal shade for the bedroom, but wanted a very dark green for the studio.
We found the green we wanted, and the man behind the counter said that yes, he could make that shade, but it would be 'very expensive'. The more dye they have to add, the more the paint costs, and it would obviously need a lot of dye. We asked how expensive, and he said it would be £1.75 more for two and a half litres than buying a light shade.
We shrugged, and said that we definitely wanted that colour, and didn't mind paying the extra.
So he made up the paint. I love watching this happening - it looks like one of those coffee machines where you can select milk, cream, froth, sugar (etc) and they get squirted into the hot water. When all the dye is added, the lid is put on the can and it's put in another machine, which agitates it until the colour is mixed.
We found a few other things we needed, and the guy totted up the total. It came to £36.76.
Then - typical for Cyprus, particularly when you get to be known in a shop - he discounted this to a round amount, ie £35.
I don't suppose it occurred to him that he had effectively given us our 'very expensive' dye for nothing...
Saturday, September 30, 2006
Thursday, September 28, 2006
Morphy Richards 'Fastbake' breadmaker
After much debate and some research, we decided to buy a breadmaker last Christmas. Prices were rising at our local bakery, and I was too lazy to make bread by hand. I tried using our food processor for the kneading, but unfortunately it wasn't really designed for that, and the motor wore out. Breadmakers seem to get cheaper all the time, and I read some encouraging reviews. So we narrowed the field down to about four possible makes, and decided to buy one.
It was perhaps a silly decision to shop on Christmas Eve. One shop had completely run out of breadmakers, the other had only two in stock. I would have given up the hunt, but both of the two available were on our list of possibilities. After much discussion, we made the pragmatic decision to choose the one with English instructions (the other had only Greek and German). It was the Morphy Richards Fastbake. It claimed to make three sizes of bread, and to have a 'fastbake' setting for white loaves in only an hour. As well as a large number of other settings which I knew I was unlikely to use.
FIRST USE
We got it home, we cleaned and prepared it according to the instructions in the accompanying leaflet, and I decided to make the first loaf on Christmas Day. Unfortunately our kitchen worktops at the time were very cluttered so we plugged it in in a bedroom, loaded the ingredients, and promptly forgot about it. The smell wafted around the house combined with that of turkey and stuffing, and it wasn't until mid-afternoon that I remembered my new toy.
FIRST DOORSTOP
I opened it up, and discovered... a brick.
Perhaps not quite a brick, but it was a sad excuse for a loaf. It would have made a good doorstop, I expect. We did manage to hack a couple of slices with the electric carving knife, but it wasn't very nice. We put it down to experience.
SECOND DOORSTOP
A couple of days later we tried again. This time the machine was in the kitchen, and I measured the ingredients carefully. watched as it kneaded the dough, which rose, and was punched down, and rose again, higher and higher... and then sank as the baking process started.
This time we had a doorstop with a valley in the top, and although it tasted a little better than the first attempt (partly because we ate it fresh) it was quite a disappointment. For one thing, it was much sweeter than we liked. It was also rather yeasty, not an even texture, and a bit solid.
TROUBLESHOOTING
The recipe leaflet had a troubleshooting guide at the back, which suggested my problems could be to do with the temperature of the liquid - too hot, or perhaps too cold - or too much yeast, or too much liquid, or too little liquid.... which wasn't really very helpful.
ANOTHER RECIPE
It came out perfectly.
My recipe used considerably less yeast than the booklet had recommended, and no sugar at all (but a tablespoon of honey).
RECIPE BOOK
I decided to buy a book about bread, and ordered the inexpensive 'Fresh bread in the morning'. It had good explanations of how bread works, and what ingredients were necessary. It told me what I could substitute, and had a far better troubleshooting guide than that of the leaflet that came with the machine. I might as well have bought the one that didn't have English instructions, as I would then have turned directly to another book for recipes!
Since then, I've tried several different recipes and have mostly had good results. I did find that in about June my bread started sinking again after rising rapidly, and realised that the hot temperatures of Cyprus can cause problems. he liquid ingredients are supposed to be warmed before adding them, but I found that if the kitchen temperature was over 25C, it's better to add liquid at room temperature. When the temperature reaches 28C or more, I have to ensure my liquids are refrigerated before adding!
VARIATIONS
For the first few months, I only used the standard three-hour recipes, with variations. We found that bread made with all wholewheat flour was rather heavy, so most of my bread is made with half wholewheat flour, and the rest white flour (bread flour and strong plain flour mixed in equal quantities). My son gets glue ear if he eats dairy products, so we didn't want to add milk or milk powder as most of the recipes advised - but when we used just water for the liquid, the bread was almost too light to cut.
So we tried using half soya milk and half water, and find that's ideal. There's no soya taste, but the texture is good, and there's additional nutrition as a bonus. The breadmaker bleeps after the first rise, alerting me that I can add further ingredients if I wish: we've tried herbs, grated cheese, chopped walnuts, sunflower seeds or linseeds, dried chili flakes. All have worked well.
FASTBAKE
It wasn't until a couple of months ago that I tried the 'fastbake' setting, as I was afraid it might be a disaster. Since it only takes an hour, there isn't the same problem with the liquid ingredients so I used room temperature water and refrigerated soya milk, and the result was excellent.
Once the temperature drops below 25C, I'll slightly warm the soya milk. Fastbake bread is only supposed to use white bread flour, but we've found that up to half a cup of wholewheat flour can be substituted for a little more texture and taste. Any more than that makes the loaf rather hard, however, as wholemeal flour needs more kneading than white flour.
DOUGH
The other setting we've used is the one for dough. This mixes and kneads ingredients, and does the first rise. Then it bleeps, and the rest of the process has to be done by hand. This is good if you want to make bread rolls, or bake bread in the oven in a regular bread pan. It's also good for pizza base, or naan bread. The dough process takes an hour and a half, after which it has to be punched down by hand, then shaped and left to rise in a warm place before baking.
OTHER SETTINGS
There are other settings on the breadmaker, for cakes and jam, but I haven't tried those. The cake setting requires two separate bowls of different mixtures to be made, so it seems to me much more effort than simply baking a standard cake in a cake-tin. I've been warned that the jam setting is a bad idea, since it can easily overflow the container, leading to a horrible mess in the bottom of the machine which is almost impossible to clean. I will continue to use my ordinary jam pan for jam-making.
TIMER
One of the features is a timer. This means that ingredients can be left in the pan overnight, with the idea that the bread will bake in the early hours of the morning, ready just in time for breakfast. A great idea, but none of our family eat bread at breakfast time so we haven't done this. Sometimes if I'm going out in the morning I'll set the timer for an hour or two extra, since we like our bread at lunchtime to be still warm, and we find this works well. Fresh milk or eggs can't be used on a timer, as they might go bad, but we don't use those anyway in our bread recipes.
SIZES
There are three sizes of loaf that can be made, the biggest being a kilogram in weight, the others 750g and 500g. The smaller ones simply use less ingredients and have a slightly shorter cycle. We find that the smallest one tends to be a bit crispier than we like, and while the medium one is fine, I generally make the largest loaf as the texture is the best. It's more than three of us can eat at one meal, but we often have guests at lunchtime. If there's leftover bread, we find it freezes well and keeps for at least a few weeks in the freezer.
STANDARD PADDLE PROBLEM
Nothing is perfect. As with many breadmakers, the mixing/kneading paddle often gets stuck in the bottom of the loaf. Even if it doesn't, there's a hole where it was, and this can make cutting the bread a bit difficult. It's best to leave it for about half an hour on a cooling rack after baking, so it's still warm but not too hot to handle. If you try to cut it too soon after baking, it can fall apart. It still tastes good, but is rather tricky to spread.
CLEANING
I was afraid it might be a nuisance to clean a breadmaker, but it's really no problem at all. I soak the pan in cold water (and the paddle, which usually has a bit of bread attached to it) and then it's easy to wash an hour or so later. The outside of the breadmaker itself can just be wiped with a cloth, and a little washing-up liquid if necessary, and the inside shouldn't need cleaning at all. If it does, it should be switched off (obviously!) and any spills wiped with a cool cloth. I take the pan out of the breadmaker before putting in the ingredients, so that flour doesn't get into the inside of the machine.
COSTS OF BREAD
We've used our breadmaker at least four times a week for the last nine months. We still love the smell of baking bread, and the results. I like knowing exactly what's going into the bread we eat, and the taste is far superior to even the best of bakery breads. Even the cost isn't too high: we reckon that, including everything, a standard loaf to my half-wholemeal recipe above (without anything extra added) costs about half the amount of an equivalent bakery loaf of similar size, in our region.
Having said that, it depends what brands of flour and other ingredients you use; if you buy flour in bulk, and use fresh rather than soya milk, the cost would be less. You probably won't be able to make anything as cheap as unbranded sliced white supermarket bread - but since the nutritive value of home-baked bread is superior, it's far better value for money.
CONCLUSION
I'm sure other breadmakers work just as well, and may even cost less, but we're very pleased with our Fastbake machine. Just don't take the instruction leaflet too seriously.
2022 UPDATE
The Morphy Richards Fastbake breadmaker lasted us around six-and-a-half years with regular use. It only took a few months to pay for itself, effectively, in the savings on bakery bread, so although we had hoped it would last longer, it didn't owe us anything.
While this exact model no longer exists, Morphy Richards still have a breadmaker which they call 'fastbake' so I expect it's similar. For a budget or starter breadmaker, it's probably worth trying.
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
Cyprus road rules?
Since Tim is now 18, and wants to learn to drive, the first step is to learn the rules of the road (what we call the 'highway code' in the UK) and take a theory test. So he paid £2 for a copy of the Cyprus 'road traffic act' in English. Not particularly good quality printing, but never mind, so long as it contains what he wanted...
It starts out fine. A little formal and convoluted in places, but that's often the way with translations from Greek. Pedestrians are told how to cross roads, and drivers are warned to be careful of pedestrians. Interspersed in the text are the kinds of questions that might be asked: for instance,
That shows rather nicely, we thought, the way that pedestrians and children really are (mostly) treated courteously and considerately by drivers.
Some of the instructions seem a little obvious - such as making sure there is room to open the door before doing so, but then some people do take the law literally. The first indication that perhaps the translator was getting bored (and thus a little careless) is on page 10, when we read:
Then we were a little puzzled (on page 13) by this question and answer:
There are then a few pages about hand signals (are those used any more?), traffic lights, and the standard triangular, circular and other international road signs. Including, oddly, a whole page about those for level crossings, controlled or otherwise, despite there being no trains in Cyprus, and thus no level crossings!
By page 29 we're getting to motorway and area signs (some of which are called 'sings' in this booklet) - then out of the blue is this question:
It does go on to say which should give priority on hills, and that heavier vehicles should give way to lighter ones.
This is followed by this rather bizarre set of instructions, which we're quite sure nobody obeys:
On page 34, I think somebody more mathematically inclined must have taken over the translation. I'm not entirely sure what this means, but it's right beneath a diagram of a T-junction:
If anyone can interpret this, please do let me know...
That does seem to be the only page in total gobbledegook, but there follow instructions - a page each - on how to turn left or right, and how to make a three-point turn, complete with diagrams. Then this slightly strange instruction:
... so, if we see a sideboard on the street, we must go back and collect it.
Right.
Underneath is an even stranger instruction which sounds excessively dangerous:
What's really worrying is that this one doesn't appear to have a typing or comprehension error. The accompanying diagram suggests that this is exactly what they do mean! Sure enough, it's something we've seen several times. No hint that they should drive ahead until there's a safe place to turn, and then drive back on the other side of the road so as to make a left turn!
After this, we barely blinked at such instructions as:
And felt quite moved by this:
But I did feel a little perturbed by this question on the final page:
Fortunately we realised from the answers (such as 'not enough water in the radiator') that 'overhead' was simply a typing mistake for 'overheated'.
So... all Tim needs to do is learn the contents of this book so he can take the written exam and get his 'learner's licence'.
Our visitor, meanwhile, enjoyed the booklet so much that she's going to buy several of them to take home for family Christmas gifts!
It starts out fine. A little formal and convoluted in places, but that's often the way with translations from Greek. Pedestrians are told how to cross roads, and drivers are warned to be careful of pedestrians. Interspersed in the text are the kinds of questions that might be asked: for instance,
When you see a ball rolling in the road what should you do?
You should stop because children are probably playing with the ball and a child may run after the ball in order to catch it.
That shows rather nicely, we thought, the way that pedestrians and children really are (mostly) treated courteously and considerately by drivers.
Some of the instructions seem a little obvious - such as making sure there is room to open the door before doing so, but then some people do take the law literally. The first indication that perhaps the translator was getting bored (and thus a little careless) is on page 10, when we read:
What must you remember before leaving your vehicle?Most people don't bother to lock their doors around here, but we really don't know whether they stop the egging....
- You must be sure that you have pulled up the hand brake, stopped the egging and locked the doors.
Then we were a little puzzled (on page 13) by this question and answer:
What are the safety discs and where to we find them?Small stones on small pillars sounds like some strange religious rite, but we think they're just talking about reflectors that show up after dark.
- These are small stones (reflectors) and are found upon small pillars on the left and right of the road, on corners or turns and where there are obstacles in the road. 'Those placed on the left are red and those on the right white).
There are then a few pages about hand signals (are those used any more?), traffic lights, and the standard triangular, circular and other international road signs. Including, oddly, a whole page about those for level crossings, controlled or otherwise, despite there being no trains in Cyprus, and thus no level crossings!
By page 29 we're getting to motorway and area signs (some of which are called 'sings' in this booklet) - then out of the blue is this question:
When you come face to face with another vehicle what must you do?Well, that's a relief!
- Do not insist that the other vehicle goes off the asphalt.
It does go on to say which should give priority on hills, and that heavier vehicles should give way to lighter ones.
This is followed by this rather bizarre set of instructions, which we're quite sure nobody obeys:
When less than six vehicles are moving together in the same direction what distance must there be between each vehicle?Quite apart from the fact that very few people can remember the pre-decimal 'feet' measurement, and that cars generally drive a great deal closer than 120ft, we've no idea how they would divide, as if in a dance, to form two groups as soon as a seventh car joins them!
- There should be a distance between each vehicle of at least 120ft. When the vehicles moving together are more than six they should be separated into two groups, each group should include less than six vehicle and there should be a distance between these gruops of at least 300ft.
On page 34, I think somebody more mathematically inclined must have taken over the translation. I'm not entirely sure what this means, but it's right beneath a diagram of a T-junction:
Horizontal marking: What does it means and what must the driver do?Then, right after more complicated lessons on road markings, is this unrelated question:
- The sign STOP is complemented with a white line vertical to the axis of the road and with another white line in the middle of the road and lengthwise. It indicates the position at which the driver must stop his vehicle before entering the main road....
Which is the main cause of fatal accidents?Up to this point, the guide was wordy, complex and muddled, but we could at least make sense of it. Then we got to page 40, which I had to photograph for the full effect. Click the small image to see a full-screen version:
- High speed is, in most cases, the main cause of fatal accidents. Start for your destination early, in order not to find yourself in the necessity of speeding.
If anyone can interpret this, please do let me know...
That does seem to be the only page in total gobbledegook, but there follow instructions - a page each - on how to turn left or right, and how to make a three-point turn, complete with diagrams. Then this slightly strange instruction:
How to make the left reverse move
As soon as you pass the sideboard on your left, stop on the left side of the main road and drive backwards on the left side of the side-road.
... so, if we see a sideboard on the street, we must go back and collect it.
Right.
Underneath is an even stranger instruction which sounds excessively dangerous:
How to make the right reverse moveThis is a country where people drive on the left (or are supposed to, anyway). So they're saying that if you're on a main road, driving on the left, and see a turning on the right which you should have taken, you should drive onto the WRONG side of the main road, then reverse into the side street.
As soon as you pass the side-road on your right stop on the right side of the main road. Look over your shoulder outside the window and drive backwards, stopping on the left side of the side-road.
What's really worrying is that this one doesn't appear to have a typing or comprehension error. The accompanying diagram suggests that this is exactly what they do mean! Sure enough, it's something we've seen several times. No hint that they should drive ahead until there's a safe place to turn, and then drive back on the other side of the road so as to make a left turn!
After this, we barely blinked at such instructions as:
The examines [we think this refers to the student taking the test] must know:
- How to dive carefully....
And felt quite moved by this:
Look upon the motorcyclists with sympathy and protect them. The dangers they face are many more, because they rely only on two wheels, the chassis of the motorcycle doesnot offer them any protection and they are exposed to the weather conditions.
But I did feel a little perturbed by this question on the final page:
When we notice from the indicator panel that the motor is overhead, what are the usual causes?Um... wouldn't we notice if the car was upside-down without having to check the indicator panel??
Fortunately we realised from the answers (such as 'not enough water in the radiator') that 'overhead' was simply a typing mistake for 'overheated'.
So... all Tim needs to do is learn the contents of this book so he can take the written exam and get his 'learner's licence'.
Our visitor, meanwhile, enjoyed the booklet so much that she's going to buy several of them to take home for family Christmas gifts!
Friday, September 22, 2006
A special day
Today marks the end of an era. Or perhaps, the start of a new one. Yesterday I had one child still living at home. Today is Timothy's 18th birthday, so he is now a young adult. An artificial boundary, of course, but a significant one. Under Cyprus law, he can now start to learn to drive. He could also get married, and can drink alcohol in public. He has no inclination to do either of the latter two at present, I'm thankful to say, but is VERY eager to learn to drive. A scary thought. Richard will call our insurance broker early next week: he's left it as long as possible, since the premium will more than double to insure someone under the age of 25.
Today is also, of course, the official Hobbit Day, since September 22nd is also Bilbo and Frodo Baggins' birthdays.
Today is also, of course, the official Hobbit Day, since September 22nd is also Bilbo and Frodo Baggins' birthdays.
No rain yet
The weather forecast has been for thunderstorms and some rain this weekend, starting yesterday and continuing until Monday or Tuesday.
Yesterday morning dawned bright and clear, though slightly cooler than it had been. By lunch-time, there was a good covering of cloud, some of it rather grey, and the air felt muggy.
I knew I would have to go to the PO box in the afternoon. Tim wanted to know if the student id card for his OTC course had come yet, and I wanted to check if there were any more birthday cards or gifts for him. The Post Office is usually only open during mornings (7.30am - 1.30pm, Monday to Friday) but on Thursdays it's also open for a couple of hours in the afternoon. We can access the PO box when the Post Office is closed, of course, but I had a feeling there might be a parcel too big for the box.
I didn't want to get caught in rain, and the sky continued to look threatening, but by 4.15 or so I knew I would have to go soon. I looked for an umbrella, but realised I have NO idea where we've put them. Richard packed all our winter clothes away when we moved here at the start of July, and I couldn't see the umbrellas anywhere obvious.
Oh well, I thought. It wasn't cold and it might be quite fun to be caught in the first rain of the season. It was unlikely to last long. So I set out. At least it wasn't too hot: with the cloud cover, the temperature everywhere was only about 30C, the 'shade' temperature for the day.
After about ten minutes, I felt a drop of water on my right foot. I glanced around, but couldn't see any other raindrops. Five minutes later, I felt another. Strange - just one drop, nothing else visible. This continued all the way to town - a fifteen minute walk - and it didn't really occur to me how odd it was that only my right foot should have felt these drops.
Then I discovered the source. The small water-bottle, which I carry everywhere during the summer, was not properly fastened. It had leaked all over my bag... and was slowly dripping out.
There wasn't much mail in the PO box, but there was indeed a slip telling me that there was a parcel too big to fit inside. So I collected it from the Post Office. It was three more of Tim's theology books, which I had ordered from Amazon.com. Yes, the American Amazon. With the dollar being so weak at present, prices there are excellent from the European point of view. More significantly, Amazon.com counts Cyprus as part of Europe, whereas Amazon.co.uk does not. So postage from Amazon USA is actually cheaper than postage from Amazon UK. I had expected that shipping would be considerably slower, so was very impressed that these books had arrived within about ten days of our order.
By the time I got home again I was pretty warm - the weather was rather muggy, even though the sun wasn't out much, but it didn't rain. Nor has it rained today although it's still forecast. I do hope we get SOME rain and thunder before the end of the month.
Yesterday morning dawned bright and clear, though slightly cooler than it had been. By lunch-time, there was a good covering of cloud, some of it rather grey, and the air felt muggy.
I knew I would have to go to the PO box in the afternoon. Tim wanted to know if the student id card for his OTC course had come yet, and I wanted to check if there were any more birthday cards or gifts for him. The Post Office is usually only open during mornings (7.30am - 1.30pm, Monday to Friday) but on Thursdays it's also open for a couple of hours in the afternoon. We can access the PO box when the Post Office is closed, of course, but I had a feeling there might be a parcel too big for the box.
I didn't want to get caught in rain, and the sky continued to look threatening, but by 4.15 or so I knew I would have to go soon. I looked for an umbrella, but realised I have NO idea where we've put them. Richard packed all our winter clothes away when we moved here at the start of July, and I couldn't see the umbrellas anywhere obvious.
Oh well, I thought. It wasn't cold and it might be quite fun to be caught in the first rain of the season. It was unlikely to last long. So I set out. At least it wasn't too hot: with the cloud cover, the temperature everywhere was only about 30C, the 'shade' temperature for the day.
After about ten minutes, I felt a drop of water on my right foot. I glanced around, but couldn't see any other raindrops. Five minutes later, I felt another. Strange - just one drop, nothing else visible. This continued all the way to town - a fifteen minute walk - and it didn't really occur to me how odd it was that only my right foot should have felt these drops.
Then I discovered the source. The small water-bottle, which I carry everywhere during the summer, was not properly fastened. It had leaked all over my bag... and was slowly dripping out.
There wasn't much mail in the PO box, but there was indeed a slip telling me that there was a parcel too big to fit inside. So I collected it from the Post Office. It was three more of Tim's theology books, which I had ordered from Amazon.com. Yes, the American Amazon. With the dollar being so weak at present, prices there are excellent from the European point of view. More significantly, Amazon.com counts Cyprus as part of Europe, whereas Amazon.co.uk does not. So postage from Amazon USA is actually cheaper than postage from Amazon UK. I had expected that shipping would be considerably slower, so was very impressed that these books had arrived within about ten days of our order.
By the time I got home again I was pretty warm - the weather was rather muggy, even though the sun wasn't out much, but it didn't rain. Nor has it rained today although it's still forecast. I do hope we get SOME rain and thunder before the end of the month.
Wednesday, September 20, 2006
Our guest flat in use again
I'm glad I took the pictures for the previous post, showing how very cluttered and messy our downstairs flat was! I'd almost forgotten how bad it was, in just a few days. Our guest arrived in the early hours of this morning, so we worked hard to make the flat presentable again.
First, Richard made 14 of the fibreglass panels, covering them with the bright coloured material from Egypt. I gather they're for sound treatment, not sound proofing, so they won't cover the entire room. There are still several more to make, but he's put up these, matching the patterns where possible:
A lot brighter than I would have chosen, but Tim loves them. I think we're going to paint the wall underneath in a very dark green - eventually!
Richard had the ingenious idea of stapling the frames together rather than using screws. Inspired by some of our photo frames, since these panels are very light and hang on the wall rather like pictures. It made the job considerably faster, but it was still getting a bit tedious by the time he got to the last few. And there are still more to do, but not this week.
As for the rest of the house... well, we moved the rest of the fibreglass, all the painting tools and other general clutter into the front bedroom, which is still awaiting its plumbing and new doorframe:
We gave four boxes of no-longer-wanted books, clothes and other bits and pieces to the jumble sale [which, incidentally, is roughly equivalent to an American 'rummage sale', I believe]. People were sorting yesterday, and the sale itself was today. For the first time since we've moved here, I had no inclination to go to the jumble sale. Perhaps because, now our main living area is mostly decluttered, I don't want to end up with more clutter!
I sorted the downstairs books, somewhat, too. The one currently functioning guest room now has all the children's books - about eight large shelves of them. The living room has other books we don't want or need upstairs, but don't want to get rid of.
As for the rest of the downstairs, I spent most of yesterday cleaning. And wow, it was dirty! Cyprus gets pretty dusty anyway, and I don't suppose I'd dusted or mopped the floors for at least three weeks, as there was so much stuff everywhere. Then all the woodshavings made it worse. Richard swept, then I dusted and swept, then I mopped everywhere twice.
Tim put the 'guest' computer back together, and Richard put up a shelf unit which made a useful place to store CDs for the computer. This is one end of the kitchen:
The kitchen/dining area really is pretty big - we've moved all the downstairs board games into one of the kitchen cupboards, and there's still plenty of space.
Then last night Richard adapted the TV shelving unit he built for our old TV at our other house. The new one he bought inexpensively for downstairs was 2cm too tall and 2cm too wide, so he had to take the shelving apart and redesign it. It took a while, but the TV looks a lot better than it did when it was balanced precariously on the coffee table.
The weather site is predicting thunderstorms and rain for the next few days. If so, it will be the first rain since about May, and will be very welcome. Today is quite cloudy, and a bit muggy. It's slightly cooler than it was, but not significantly.
First, Richard made 14 of the fibreglass panels, covering them with the bright coloured material from Egypt. I gather they're for sound treatment, not sound proofing, so they won't cover the entire room. There are still several more to make, but he's put up these, matching the patterns where possible:
A lot brighter than I would have chosen, but Tim loves them. I think we're going to paint the wall underneath in a very dark green - eventually!
Richard had the ingenious idea of stapling the frames together rather than using screws. Inspired by some of our photo frames, since these panels are very light and hang on the wall rather like pictures. It made the job considerably faster, but it was still getting a bit tedious by the time he got to the last few. And there are still more to do, but not this week.
As for the rest of the house... well, we moved the rest of the fibreglass, all the painting tools and other general clutter into the front bedroom, which is still awaiting its plumbing and new doorframe:
We gave four boxes of no-longer-wanted books, clothes and other bits and pieces to the jumble sale [which, incidentally, is roughly equivalent to an American 'rummage sale', I believe]. People were sorting yesterday, and the sale itself was today. For the first time since we've moved here, I had no inclination to go to the jumble sale. Perhaps because, now our main living area is mostly decluttered, I don't want to end up with more clutter!
I sorted the downstairs books, somewhat, too. The one currently functioning guest room now has all the children's books - about eight large shelves of them. The living room has other books we don't want or need upstairs, but don't want to get rid of.
As for the rest of the downstairs, I spent most of yesterday cleaning. And wow, it was dirty! Cyprus gets pretty dusty anyway, and I don't suppose I'd dusted or mopped the floors for at least three weeks, as there was so much stuff everywhere. Then all the woodshavings made it worse. Richard swept, then I dusted and swept, then I mopped everywhere twice.
Tim put the 'guest' computer back together, and Richard put up a shelf unit which made a useful place to store CDs for the computer. This is one end of the kitchen:
The kitchen/dining area really is pretty big - we've moved all the downstairs board games into one of the kitchen cupboards, and there's still plenty of space.
Then last night Richard adapted the TV shelving unit he built for our old TV at our other house. The new one he bought inexpensively for downstairs was 2cm too tall and 2cm too wide, so he had to take the shelving apart and redesign it. It took a while, but the TV looks a lot better than it did when it was balanced precariously on the coffee table.
The weather site is predicting thunderstorms and rain for the next few days. If so, it will be the first rain since about May, and will be very welcome. Today is quite cloudy, and a bit muggy. It's slightly cooler than it was, but not significantly.
Saturday, September 16, 2006
Downstairs in chaos again!
Nearly two months ago, I wrote this post about how we just about got the main part of our new house organised, when we learned that we were having unexpected guests from Lebanon to stay. So over a couple of days we tidied away the vast amounts of clutter that had accumulated in the guest flat part of the house. One of the guests stayed for about two weeks, and then just over a week later we had another guest.
So far so good.
But in the past month, clutter has somehow started appearing downstairs all over again. Firstly it was the painting tools, since we've finished painting upstairs.
Then some boxes of Tim's books which he's decided he doesn't need in ihs room. And so on. The music studio has been used by Tim and some of his friends a few times, but is fairly untidy, with wires and rugs and equipment fairly randomly arranged.
Other than that, we haven't really used the flat at all.
This would all be fine, since we do plan to decorate and finish organising the flat during the Autumn, once the weather cools a bit. But on Friday Tim will be 18, and he's having a party on Saturday to which he's invited the entire youth group. Potentially up to 30 people, though they probably won't all come. And he wants the party downstairs.
We might have persuaded him that upstairs would be easier, but then on Richard's recent trip he learned that one of our July visitors wants to come back for a week. Arriving this Wednesday. She doesn't at all mind that there's going to be a teenage party in the flat on Friday, but it does mean we need the place tidy and clean by the end of Tuesday. And we can't just shove all the clutter in the one current bedroom as we might have done if it had just been for the party. The other bedroom still needs the plumbing and doorframe finished, something we've been waiting for since the end of July, as explained in this post.
Just to add to the confusion, a few weeks ago we were given some fibreboard pieces to use in the studio for sound treatment.
While in Egypt last week, Richard bought some very brightly coloured cloth to cover them with, and on Thursday he bought some wood to make the panels. On Thursday evening, despite being pretty tired, he made the first two, to see how they would look:
A lot brighter than I would have chosen, but then I won't be using the studio - and they'll certainly make it more interesting.
This morning Richard went sailing with our friends who've been in the UK all summer, and this afternoon he's having to get ready for some recording he's doing at the office tomorrow... but at some point he hopes to make some more panels, and perhaps fit some of them. And tidy up. The painting stuff, I suppose, can go in the not-yet-ready bedroom. The books need to be sorted, and I was delighted to learn that there's a jumble sale coming up on Wednesday at St Helena's Church. A good opportunity to pass on some of the educational and other books that we will never use, and various other unwanted items discovered in the past few months that are too good to throw away.
So far so good.
But in the past month, clutter has somehow started appearing downstairs all over again. Firstly it was the painting tools, since we've finished painting upstairs.
Then some boxes of Tim's books which he's decided he doesn't need in ihs room. And so on. The music studio has been used by Tim and some of his friends a few times, but is fairly untidy, with wires and rugs and equipment fairly randomly arranged.
Other than that, we haven't really used the flat at all.
This would all be fine, since we do plan to decorate and finish organising the flat during the Autumn, once the weather cools a bit. But on Friday Tim will be 18, and he's having a party on Saturday to which he's invited the entire youth group. Potentially up to 30 people, though they probably won't all come. And he wants the party downstairs.
We might have persuaded him that upstairs would be easier, but then on Richard's recent trip he learned that one of our July visitors wants to come back for a week. Arriving this Wednesday. She doesn't at all mind that there's going to be a teenage party in the flat on Friday, but it does mean we need the place tidy and clean by the end of Tuesday. And we can't just shove all the clutter in the one current bedroom as we might have done if it had just been for the party. The other bedroom still needs the plumbing and doorframe finished, something we've been waiting for since the end of July, as explained in this post.
Just to add to the confusion, a few weeks ago we were given some fibreboard pieces to use in the studio for sound treatment.
While in Egypt last week, Richard bought some very brightly coloured cloth to cover them with, and on Thursday he bought some wood to make the panels. On Thursday evening, despite being pretty tired, he made the first two, to see how they would look:
A lot brighter than I would have chosen, but then I won't be using the studio - and they'll certainly make it more interesting.
This morning Richard went sailing with our friends who've been in the UK all summer, and this afternoon he's having to get ready for some recording he's doing at the office tomorrow... but at some point he hopes to make some more panels, and perhaps fit some of them. And tidy up. The painting stuff, I suppose, can go in the not-yet-ready bedroom. The books need to be sorted, and I was delighted to learn that there's a jumble sale coming up on Wednesday at St Helena's Church. A good opportunity to pass on some of the educational and other books that we will never use, and various other unwanted items discovered in the past few months that are too good to throw away.
Thursday, September 14, 2006
General updates
Richard's been away for a week, with a heavy round of meetings in Cairo and Tunis. He got back this morning, pretty tired but otherwise fine. He's brought some rather bright material from Cairo to use in the studio room downstairs, which he's going to soundproof. Possibly this weekend since there's a stack of fibreglass padding lying in the kitchen, and a load of other clutter, and we have someone coming to stay next week...
We told him about the new Argos and decided to go and peruse the catalogue in the shop itself. It really looks nothing like a British Argos store - no little booth things to check catalogues, no obvious system for ordering or for products to be produced. Just a table in the corner with a couple of ladies chatting in Greek, and a friendly dog roaming around the store. Then there were a few stacks of merchandise, some of which didn't look at all like Argos products.
But the catalogues were the new Autumn/Winter 2006 ones, and they said we were welcome to sit at another table and browse. We asked if they could get all the products easily, and they said that they had some here, and there are more at their main store in Nicosia. But if we want items that aren't already in Cyprus, it will be a 4-6 week wait, and if we want furniture it will be a two-month wait.
Ok....
We found some lightshades we liked, and decided to order those. We looked at mirrors but didn't see any we really liked. We browsed various other things - the catalogue is so much nicer than the online search facility - but decided in the end just to start with the one small order, and see how long it really does take.
Having made the order, we were given a free catalogue to bring home, so we can browse more at our leisure. They also gave us a free sunshade thing for the car windscreen (something we'd been looking out for but hadn't found) - advertising some completely different company.
I'm not sure that Argos will catch on at all in Cyprus .. but it will be interesting to see what happens.
Next we went to the Thrift Store to see if there was a suitable bedside table for Tim. We'd seen several last time we were there. This time there were only a couple of possibilities, and he didn't really like either of them. He says he doesn't really need a bedside table. However we did find a nice mirror and also a much better watering can than the one we had already. That's how shopping often seems to work here: we go looking for one thing, and find something completely different that we couldn't find when we were looking for it.
We told him about the new Argos and decided to go and peruse the catalogue in the shop itself. It really looks nothing like a British Argos store - no little booth things to check catalogues, no obvious system for ordering or for products to be produced. Just a table in the corner with a couple of ladies chatting in Greek, and a friendly dog roaming around the store. Then there were a few stacks of merchandise, some of which didn't look at all like Argos products.
But the catalogues were the new Autumn/Winter 2006 ones, and they said we were welcome to sit at another table and browse. We asked if they could get all the products easily, and they said that they had some here, and there are more at their main store in Nicosia. But if we want items that aren't already in Cyprus, it will be a 4-6 week wait, and if we want furniture it will be a two-month wait.
Ok....
We found some lightshades we liked, and decided to order those. We looked at mirrors but didn't see any we really liked. We browsed various other things - the catalogue is so much nicer than the online search facility - but decided in the end just to start with the one small order, and see how long it really does take.
Having made the order, we were given a free catalogue to bring home, so we can browse more at our leisure. They also gave us a free sunshade thing for the car windscreen (something we'd been looking out for but hadn't found) - advertising some completely different company.
I'm not sure that Argos will catch on at all in Cyprus .. but it will be interesting to see what happens.
Next we went to the Thrift Store to see if there was a suitable bedside table for Tim. We'd seen several last time we were there. This time there were only a couple of possibilities, and he didn't really like either of them. He says he doesn't really need a bedside table. However we did find a nice mirror and also a much better watering can than the one we had already. That's how shopping often seems to work here: we go looking for one thing, and find something completely different that we couldn't find when we were looking for it.
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
Argos in Cyprus!
Note: I see that this post is still getting results from search engines. So I should mention, perhaps, that the Argos in Larnaka apparently closed down at least a year ago. It probably wasn't economically viable in Cyprus. The notice on the window says 'Enoikazetai' - to let.
I went to the Post Office this morning, and on the way back walked on the shady side of the main road. I noticed a newish shop, one I'd glanced at before, with a sign outside saying 'Argos'. A Greek-sounding name, so I hadn't thought too much about it, but today I realised that the sign is exactly the same as that of the British Argos stores.
I noticed, moreoever, that behind the smoked glass windows there was a variety of merchandise - kitchen appliances, garden equipment, and other random bits and pieces that looked remarkably like the kinds of things sold in the familiar Argos.
Intrigued, I went and had a closer look. There, by one of the windows, was a whole pile of green catalogues. And yes, printed on them was the Argos UK web-site address!
Alas, the store didn't open until 8.30am and it was only eight o'clock. So I came home and told Tim about it. He decided to go and look for himself - it's only about ten minutes' walk from our house - and set off. He hoped to pick up a catalogue, but when he returned half an hour later he had only a single sheet of paper. The catalogues, apparently, cost £4 each although a discount of the same amount is then given on the first purchase from the store. He didn't take any money with him, and we don't know if we want to use it anyway. But he had a chat with the lady in charge, and she told him that the prices will be related to the catalogue prices - only we'll have to pay in Cyprus pounds rather than sterling. An increase of about 20% on current exchange rates, but that takes into account the shipping from the UK.
They have a warehouse at the back, but as they're relatively new, they won't hold all stock and so goods may need to be ordered. And they hope to give away free catalogues eventually, but at present can't afford to do so as they have to bring those from the UK too.
Argos isn't the cheapest place for many items in the UK, but it's considerably better value than many stores in Cyprus. Moreover, it has some things that simply can't be bought anywhere else. So we'll be having a good browse of the UK website, and may well return...
I went to the Post Office this morning, and on the way back walked on the shady side of the main road. I noticed a newish shop, one I'd glanced at before, with a sign outside saying 'Argos'. A Greek-sounding name, so I hadn't thought too much about it, but today I realised that the sign is exactly the same as that of the British Argos stores.
I noticed, moreoever, that behind the smoked glass windows there was a variety of merchandise - kitchen appliances, garden equipment, and other random bits and pieces that looked remarkably like the kinds of things sold in the familiar Argos.
Intrigued, I went and had a closer look. There, by one of the windows, was a whole pile of green catalogues. And yes, printed on them was the Argos UK web-site address!
Alas, the store didn't open until 8.30am and it was only eight o'clock. So I came home and told Tim about it. He decided to go and look for himself - it's only about ten minutes' walk from our house - and set off. He hoped to pick up a catalogue, but when he returned half an hour later he had only a single sheet of paper. The catalogues, apparently, cost £4 each although a discount of the same amount is then given on the first purchase from the store. He didn't take any money with him, and we don't know if we want to use it anyway. But he had a chat with the lady in charge, and she told him that the prices will be related to the catalogue prices - only we'll have to pay in Cyprus pounds rather than sterling. An increase of about 20% on current exchange rates, but that takes into account the shipping from the UK.
They have a warehouse at the back, but as they're relatively new, they won't hold all stock and so goods may need to be ordered. And they hope to give away free catalogues eventually, but at present can't afford to do so as they have to bring those from the UK too.
Argos isn't the cheapest place for many items in the UK, but it's considerably better value than many stores in Cyprus. Moreover, it has some things that simply can't be bought anywhere else. So we'll be having a good browse of the UK website, and may well return...
Sad plant
A few weeks ago we were given a lovely house plant by some friends. One of those frondy palm-like ones, with soft rather than prickly leaves. They said they had one themselves, and it was almost impossible to kill. Good news, I thought. House plants and I don't have a good relationship, unfortunately. Either I over-water them, or I forget about them entirely.
There were no instructions with this plant, or even a label telling us what it was called, but our friends assured us it liked shade, so we put it on a ledge by the stairs, which looked like the perfect place. It got some natural light from a high-up window, but no direct sunlight. We were careful not to over-water it, but since we went past it several times each day, it was difficult to forget about it.
For the first couple of weeks, it appeared to thrive.
Then we noticed the odd leaf yellowing and falling off. I didn't worry too much. After all, it's technically autumn... although I had a feeling this kind of plant should be evergreen. But it started to happen more often, and then we noticed healthy-looking green leaves falling off too.
Yesterday one of the stems seemed a bit fragile, almost bent over. And this morning, when I got up, I saw this:
Or, on closer inspection, this:
The larger stem still looks all right, although several of the leaves had fallen. But the smaller one looks distinctly sorry for itself.
With no idea what kind of plant it is, I don't know what we've been doing wrong. But it suddenly occurred to me that this plant is very like one which was left behind by the previous owners when we bought the house. It looked almost dead, but we set it outside the downstairs kitchen, in a mostly shady area, and it now looks alive and well.
So I picked up our sad-looking house plant, and moved it downstairs and outside. I hope it will recover. If any plant experts happen to be reading this, and know what it's called and/or what we should do with it, please let me know in the comments!
In the meantime, I think we'll concentrate on outdoor plants, which mostly seem to be doing well.
There were no instructions with this plant, or even a label telling us what it was called, but our friends assured us it liked shade, so we put it on a ledge by the stairs, which looked like the perfect place. It got some natural light from a high-up window, but no direct sunlight. We were careful not to over-water it, but since we went past it several times each day, it was difficult to forget about it.
For the first couple of weeks, it appeared to thrive.
Then we noticed the odd leaf yellowing and falling off. I didn't worry too much. After all, it's technically autumn... although I had a feeling this kind of plant should be evergreen. But it started to happen more often, and then we noticed healthy-looking green leaves falling off too.
Yesterday one of the stems seemed a bit fragile, almost bent over. And this morning, when I got up, I saw this:
Or, on closer inspection, this:
The larger stem still looks all right, although several of the leaves had fallen. But the smaller one looks distinctly sorry for itself.
With no idea what kind of plant it is, I don't know what we've been doing wrong. But it suddenly occurred to me that this plant is very like one which was left behind by the previous owners when we bought the house. It looked almost dead, but we set it outside the downstairs kitchen, in a mostly shady area, and it now looks alive and well.
So I picked up our sad-looking house plant, and moved it downstairs and outside. I hope it will recover. If any plant experts happen to be reading this, and know what it's called and/or what we should do with it, please let me know in the comments!
In the meantime, I think we'll concentrate on outdoor plants, which mostly seem to be doing well.
Thursday, September 07, 2006
Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness....
... not in Cyprus, though. Although I feel that September is the start of Autumn, the temperatures continue at 32-33C today and predicted for the next week, as they have been through August. No great heatwave, thankfully, but no sign of cooling either, although it's a bit less hot at night.
I think the Greek-speaking schools must have started back today after their three month break. I walked to the Post Office this morning to collect mail, at about 7.30am, and saw crowds of children in new-looking uniform, all congregating on a local school. I was pleased to see that many of them were pulling along the wheelie-style backpacks which look more like carry-on luggage than traditional school bags, but are so much better for their backs.
It was chaos at the school when I passed it. A few adults (teachers, I presume) were looking around, calling children, trying to gather them together. Some very small children were looking a little nervous, holding hands with their mothers. Older ones milled around in groups, shouting greetings to their friends. Perhaps they don't sort out the classes until school actually starts. No doubt the children were all sitting in their rather sad rows, with their new text-books, by the time I got home again. School here is only in mornings, so it starts early and goes on until past 1pm. Then they have vast amounts of homework, even the little ones. I'm glad we opted out.
In the mail was a package of photos from Directfoto, where I order all my prints from digital photographs, a couple of items from the excellent Play.com (less of a selection than Amazon UK, but free postage anywhere in Europe) for upcoming family birthdays, and also some information for Tim from the Open Theological College, where he's starting a degree course by correspondence in a few weeks. He actually received two info packs. They had sent one at the start of August, but it hadn't arrived by last week so Tim emailed the college, and they sent out another. Both arrived this week. The postal service here is mostly good, but every so often we receive something that's taken a month or more to arrive from the UK.
It occurred to me that life for ex-pats is a great deal easier with the Internet and online ordering. While basic requirements of life in Cyprus - such as rent, food and utilities - are relatively inexpensive, books and DVDs are highly priced, and (not surprisingly) although there is an increasing selection in English, the majority is Greek. Photo processing is a little less expensive than it was, but still significantly more than in the UK, and not such good quality. Of course, for someone wanting prints in a hurry, online ordering is no good: its one disadvantage is that it's usually at least a week before the order gets here. But that doesn't worry me.
Later in the morning Tim went out to get some passport-sized photos so he can send off his application to OTC tomorrow. No instant photo booths here, but the photographers' shops - the ones we don't use for processing of prints - do a good service: four prints for £3, and the quality isn't bad. Better than UK photo booths, anyway.
This afternoon I've been browsing the recommended OTC booklists. Alas, we can't use the library service from Cyprus, but then again, if a book's worth reading, I'd rather own it than borrow it, for future re-reading. I expect I'll read most of the books Tim's going to study too, as they all sound interesting. But searching through the huge number of 'recommended' books and choosing just a few in addition to the one or two compulsory ones per module is going to be quite a task.
Sitting here with the air conditioning on in the study (since computers don't function well over 30C, we run it at 28 - that's 82F) it does feel pleasantly cool and dry. But we're still going around in shorts and tee-shirts, sweltering any time we go outside, and will probably continue to do so for at least another six weeks.
I think the Greek-speaking schools must have started back today after their three month break. I walked to the Post Office this morning to collect mail, at about 7.30am, and saw crowds of children in new-looking uniform, all congregating on a local school. I was pleased to see that many of them were pulling along the wheelie-style backpacks which look more like carry-on luggage than traditional school bags, but are so much better for their backs.
It was chaos at the school when I passed it. A few adults (teachers, I presume) were looking around, calling children, trying to gather them together. Some very small children were looking a little nervous, holding hands with their mothers. Older ones milled around in groups, shouting greetings to their friends. Perhaps they don't sort out the classes until school actually starts. No doubt the children were all sitting in their rather sad rows, with their new text-books, by the time I got home again. School here is only in mornings, so it starts early and goes on until past 1pm. Then they have vast amounts of homework, even the little ones. I'm glad we opted out.
In the mail was a package of photos from Directfoto, where I order all my prints from digital photographs, a couple of items from the excellent Play.com (less of a selection than Amazon UK, but free postage anywhere in Europe) for upcoming family birthdays, and also some information for Tim from the Open Theological College, where he's starting a degree course by correspondence in a few weeks. He actually received two info packs. They had sent one at the start of August, but it hadn't arrived by last week so Tim emailed the college, and they sent out another. Both arrived this week. The postal service here is mostly good, but every so often we receive something that's taken a month or more to arrive from the UK.
It occurred to me that life for ex-pats is a great deal easier with the Internet and online ordering. While basic requirements of life in Cyprus - such as rent, food and utilities - are relatively inexpensive, books and DVDs are highly priced, and (not surprisingly) although there is an increasing selection in English, the majority is Greek. Photo processing is a little less expensive than it was, but still significantly more than in the UK, and not such good quality. Of course, for someone wanting prints in a hurry, online ordering is no good: its one disadvantage is that it's usually at least a week before the order gets here. But that doesn't worry me.
Later in the morning Tim went out to get some passport-sized photos so he can send off his application to OTC tomorrow. No instant photo booths here, but the photographers' shops - the ones we don't use for processing of prints - do a good service: four prints for £3, and the quality isn't bad. Better than UK photo booths, anyway.
This afternoon I've been browsing the recommended OTC booklists. Alas, we can't use the library service from Cyprus, but then again, if a book's worth reading, I'd rather own it than borrow it, for future re-reading. I expect I'll read most of the books Tim's going to study too, as they all sound interesting. But searching through the huge number of 'recommended' books and choosing just a few in addition to the one or two compulsory ones per module is going to be quite a task.
Sitting here with the air conditioning on in the study (since computers don't function well over 30C, we run it at 28 - that's 82F) it does feel pleasantly cool and dry. But we're still going around in shorts and tee-shirts, sweltering any time we go outside, and will probably continue to do so for at least another six weeks.
Monday, September 04, 2006
Um....
This afternoon Tim offered to make a chicken and mushroom pie for supper.
He has always had a slightly bizarre sense of humour:
He has always had a slightly bizarre sense of humour:
Goodbye, Banana Island!
Last week seemed to rush by, after the first couple of days. It was quite a shock when Friday rolled around. Every morning 40 children started arriving at 9.30, went through 'passport control' and then into their little groups. My group were the 'Star Fruits', age 5-6. Most days we did some kind of craft related to the main theme for the day - such as this tree, which was used later in our drama about Zacchaeus:
Of course, the Bible tells us that Zacchaeus climbed a sycamore tree, but we used a bit of artistic license and created a banana tree instead.
At ten o'clock, when everyone had arrived, we went into the main hall where we heard a flight sequence taking us to Banana Island. There we had a sketch from the Banana Boys, Ripe and Rotten. These were two lads from the youth group, who were excellent:
We sang the Banana Song and other children's worship music, and we played silly games - a popular one (repeated on subsequent days, by request) was for each group to create a 'mummy' by wrapping one of their members in toilet paper:
Then we had a refreshment break, with time to chat in our small groups, and finish the craft activity from earlier.
When we returned to the hall, we heard sounds much like the TARDIS from Dr Who, and the 'time-shed' shook before a strangely dressed character emerged. Actually most of them were dressed in the same clothes... and each of them represented a Bible character who 'went bananas' for God. Noah arrived on the first day. Building a huge ship in the middle of a desert would certainly have seemed crazy to his neighbours, until the rain started.
On Tuesday our visitor was Gideon, who cut down his army from over 30,000 to about 300 - not the kind of military tactic that would go down well these days:
On Wednesday our visitor was Elijah (who poured water over the altar before praying for fire), on Thursday it was the unpopular tax collector, Zacchaeus, who - after meeting Jesus - gave away four times the money he had taken under false pretences. And on Friday, we had the lady who poured a large jar of expensive perfume over Jesus' feet. Each visitor was interviewed by Ripe and Rotten.
We sang a few more songs, did other activities, heard a short talk about the day's theme from 'The Navigator' (a local church leader), and then went back to our groups to talk about God, and to write 'postcards' to relatives.
The children LOVED it. The main leaders were wonderful - full of enthusiasm and energy, despite the heat. Thankfully it wasn't quite as hot as the previous week, and the humidity was much less, but it was still at least 30C in the shade, and the hall has no air conditioning.
Then on Sunday we had a celebration in the evening, outside the church hall, with the children and their families invited, and also people from the local English-speaking churches. It was fairly chaotic - people arrived late, some children didn't turn up, an electric guitar string broke, and Richard - who took his PA system - didn't have much clue what was going on or what the order was. But still, it went well and was a nice ending to an exhausting but satisfying week:
Of course, the Bible tells us that Zacchaeus climbed a sycamore tree, but we used a bit of artistic license and created a banana tree instead.
At ten o'clock, when everyone had arrived, we went into the main hall where we heard a flight sequence taking us to Banana Island. There we had a sketch from the Banana Boys, Ripe and Rotten. These were two lads from the youth group, who were excellent:
We sang the Banana Song and other children's worship music, and we played silly games - a popular one (repeated on subsequent days, by request) was for each group to create a 'mummy' by wrapping one of their members in toilet paper:
Then we had a refreshment break, with time to chat in our small groups, and finish the craft activity from earlier.
When we returned to the hall, we heard sounds much like the TARDIS from Dr Who, and the 'time-shed' shook before a strangely dressed character emerged. Actually most of them were dressed in the same clothes... and each of them represented a Bible character who 'went bananas' for God. Noah arrived on the first day. Building a huge ship in the middle of a desert would certainly have seemed crazy to his neighbours, until the rain started.
On Tuesday our visitor was Gideon, who cut down his army from over 30,000 to about 300 - not the kind of military tactic that would go down well these days:
On Wednesday our visitor was Elijah (who poured water over the altar before praying for fire), on Thursday it was the unpopular tax collector, Zacchaeus, who - after meeting Jesus - gave away four times the money he had taken under false pretences. And on Friday, we had the lady who poured a large jar of expensive perfume over Jesus' feet. Each visitor was interviewed by Ripe and Rotten.
We sang a few more songs, did other activities, heard a short talk about the day's theme from 'The Navigator' (a local church leader), and then went back to our groups to talk about God, and to write 'postcards' to relatives.
The children LOVED it. The main leaders were wonderful - full of enthusiasm and energy, despite the heat. Thankfully it wasn't quite as hot as the previous week, and the humidity was much less, but it was still at least 30C in the shade, and the hall has no air conditioning.
Then on Sunday we had a celebration in the evening, outside the church hall, with the children and their families invited, and also people from the local English-speaking churches. It was fairly chaotic - people arrived late, some children didn't turn up, an electric guitar string broke, and Richard - who took his PA system - didn't have much clue what was going on or what the order was. But still, it went well and was a nice ending to an exhausting but satisfying week:
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