April marks the transition from Spring to Summer in Cyprus, or so it seems. At the start of the month we still feel quite chilly at night, and sometimes during the day. By the end of the month we've mostly abandoned warm duvets, sweaters and fleeces, other than in the evening. It's a good month for visitors; our next three arrive on Wednesday, early May, but since this April has been overall a little cooler than usual, we're hopeful that it won't be too hot for them. Indeed, the longer the real summer is delayed, the better, as far as I'm concerned!
Since our last guest left on Wednesday, I've caught up with various bits and pieces gradually, including washing (and even ironing!) lots of sheets, pillowcases, etc. I've written quite a few emails, finished typing up the list for the Community Church library - something I started in March - and have also begun work on a new website about living in Cyprus, since so many people seem to want to know what life is like here.
I can't quite believe it's the end of the week already, and almost the end of April too ...
Saturday, April 28, 2007
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Airport queue frustration
Larnaka Airport is bigger and more modern than it was when we arrived here nine-and-a-half years ago, and there are many improvements promised. But it seems to me that, no matter how plush (or otherwise) an airport is, the checking-in process is fairly horrendous. Larnaka Airport is far from plush - it's a huge squarish room with check-in desks all around, nowhere to sit, really, and the only restaurant before passport control is upstairs.
Richard's mother came on a charter flight with Thomas Cook, as it was most convenient and good value. Unfortunately, there are a lot of these flights at present - people mostly use them for package holidays - and today they had five flights leaving Larnaka.
We arrived at the airport just before 4.30pm, correct time for a 6.35pm flight, although we knew from the excellent Flightstats site that it was going to be fifteen minutes late. But we thought it better to be a little early, and planned to have some coffee together before Richard's mother needed to go through passport control to board.
There were several check-in desks for Thomas Cook, all for 'all flights'. All the queues were lengthy. So we picked one.
Alas, we had picked the slowest. By a LONG way. A couple in front of us got fed up after about ten minutes and moved to a different queue, where they quickly moved to the front and were checked in perhaps fifteen minutes later. We stayed where we were. And waited, and waited, and every so often crawled slowly forward...
By the time we reached the front, we had been standing for over an hour. Nothing to lean on. The air conditioning wasn't even on - I suppose it isn't hot enough, but it was distinctly warm. We couldn't understand why everyone in our queue seemed to take about four times as long as anyone else to be checked in - the girl on the desk seemed to have to consult with her neighbour or a supervisor fairly frequently. But by the time we were close enough to see that, it was too late to move to a different queue.
When we finally got to the desk, we realised that the girl didn't have very good English. Sufficient for standard conversation, but presumably some people had extra questions, and she needed help in understanding and replying. Or perhaps she was just learning the job. Or standing in for someone else. I don't suppose it was her fault that the queue was so slow, but it was very frustrating and exhausting, and by the time we were through it was only ten minutes away from boarding time. So we didn't even get to sit down in the restaurant.
We were not impressed.
Richard's mother came on a charter flight with Thomas Cook, as it was most convenient and good value. Unfortunately, there are a lot of these flights at present - people mostly use them for package holidays - and today they had five flights leaving Larnaka.
We arrived at the airport just before 4.30pm, correct time for a 6.35pm flight, although we knew from the excellent Flightstats site that it was going to be fifteen minutes late. But we thought it better to be a little early, and planned to have some coffee together before Richard's mother needed to go through passport control to board.
There were several check-in desks for Thomas Cook, all for 'all flights'. All the queues were lengthy. So we picked one.
Alas, we had picked the slowest. By a LONG way. A couple in front of us got fed up after about ten minutes and moved to a different queue, where they quickly moved to the front and were checked in perhaps fifteen minutes later. We stayed where we were. And waited, and waited, and every so often crawled slowly forward...
By the time we reached the front, we had been standing for over an hour. Nothing to lean on. The air conditioning wasn't even on - I suppose it isn't hot enough, but it was distinctly warm. We couldn't understand why everyone in our queue seemed to take about four times as long as anyone else to be checked in - the girl on the desk seemed to have to consult with her neighbour or a supervisor fairly frequently. But by the time we were close enough to see that, it was too late to move to a different queue.
When we finally got to the desk, we realised that the girl didn't have very good English. Sufficient for standard conversation, but presumably some people had extra questions, and she needed help in understanding and replying. Or perhaps she was just learning the job. Or standing in for someone else. I don't suppose it was her fault that the queue was so slow, but it was very frustrating and exhausting, and by the time we were through it was only ten minutes away from boarding time. So we didn't even get to sit down in the restaurant.
We were not impressed.
New Plants for the Patio
Since Saturday, the week has gone very quickly with Richard's mother here. She wanted to buy us a few more plants for the front patio, so he took the afternoon off yesterday and we visited our two favourite garden centres: Four Seasons, and Cosmea. I happened to have £5 vouchers for each of them, so said I'd spend those as well.
In all, we bought:
Geraniums are easy enough, too. They tend to grow huge in this climate but it's easy enough to take cuttings and prune them back. They like sunshine or shade.
This is the fig tree. Rather small at present so I doubt if it will fruit for a while, but they seem to grow in all kinds of conditions so at present it's in the sun:
Here's the eugenia. It isn't mentioned in any of my plant books so I googled and found this site - which seems to suggest that there are several varieties, most of which have flowers and even sometime edible fruit. There were several other sites too, none of which was terribly helpful. We don't know which variety we have - I just hope it's not the huge type which can grow to a height of 20 metres or more, apparently! I thought I might be able to find some instructions for its care, but I didn't. The lady in the shop told me it was good in full sun, but that was about all.
As for this plant, we even don't know what it's called. We met a friend in the shop where we bought it, and she assured us that it grew well in full sun too... so we hope she's right.
Anyone know what it might be?
I'll be watching them all carefully as the weather gets warmer; if any of the plants starts to turn black or look unhappy, I'll move it to a shadier patch.
I shall also have to be careful to get the watering correct; over-watering and under-watering are both fatal to some plants, but I'm not very good at knowing how much is appropriate. Nor do I necessarily even remember to check how dry the soil is. Yesterday we watered very well after moving all the plants to suitable sized pots, and this evening the soil was still quite damp, so we're not at the stage of needing to water every day just yet.
Still, most of the plants we started last year - as described in this post (with photos) and this post (without photos) have done pretty well. The lavenders died... perhaps they weren't watered enough; I was surprised that the hibiscus lost their leaves during the winter, as I thought they were evergreen. But they're in bud again, looking healthy, as is the cyclamen, the geraniums, the antirrhinum, and the citrus trees.
It's beginning to feel as if Summer has started... I'm thankful that most of April has been relatively cool (for Cyprus) but on Monday the temperature reached about 28C in the shade, though it was cooler yesterday and today.
In all, we bought:
- a bougainvillea to grow up the back fence
- a couple of small geraniums
- a fig tree
- a plant called Eugenia
- a plant whose name we don't know
Geraniums are easy enough, too. They tend to grow huge in this climate but it's easy enough to take cuttings and prune them back. They like sunshine or shade.
This is the fig tree. Rather small at present so I doubt if it will fruit for a while, but they seem to grow in all kinds of conditions so at present it's in the sun:
Here's the eugenia. It isn't mentioned in any of my plant books so I googled and found this site - which seems to suggest that there are several varieties, most of which have flowers and even sometime edible fruit. There were several other sites too, none of which was terribly helpful. We don't know which variety we have - I just hope it's not the huge type which can grow to a height of 20 metres or more, apparently! I thought I might be able to find some instructions for its care, but I didn't. The lady in the shop told me it was good in full sun, but that was about all.
As for this plant, we even don't know what it's called. We met a friend in the shop where we bought it, and she assured us that it grew well in full sun too... so we hope she's right.
Anyone know what it might be?
I'll be watching them all carefully as the weather gets warmer; if any of the plants starts to turn black or look unhappy, I'll move it to a shadier patch.
I shall also have to be careful to get the watering correct; over-watering and under-watering are both fatal to some plants, but I'm not very good at knowing how much is appropriate. Nor do I necessarily even remember to check how dry the soil is. Yesterday we watered very well after moving all the plants to suitable sized pots, and this evening the soil was still quite damp, so we're not at the stage of needing to water every day just yet.
Still, most of the plants we started last year - as described in this post (with photos) and this post (without photos) have done pretty well. The lavenders died... perhaps they weren't watered enough; I was surprised that the hibiscus lost their leaves during the winter, as I thought they were evergreen. But they're in bud again, looking healthy, as is the cyclamen, the geraniums, the antirrhinum, and the citrus trees.
It's beginning to feel as if Summer has started... I'm thankful that most of April has been relatively cool (for Cyprus) but on Monday the temperature reached about 28C in the shade, though it was cooler yesterday and today.
Saturday, April 21, 2007
Lefkara again
This afternoon we made another trip to Lefkara, where the traditional silver and lace is made. We weren't sure if anywhere would be open, since Saturday is still early closing day in parts of Cyprus, but there were a fair number of tourists around and a lot of shops open.
Some did start packing up around 2.30pm, but we learned from one of the shopkeepers that there was a wedding that afternoon. The daughter of someone who lived in Lefkara was getting married at the local church, and then there would be a reception for 1500 people in Aradippou (not far from Larnaka). That's a lot, even by Cypriot standards!
There's a rather stunning purple-blossomed tree that was in full bloom today:
.. and some of the lace-making women were sitting outside their shops in the sunshine, happy for me to photograph them:
This one tried very hard to persuade us to buy something, but we're used to the heart-rending hard sell appeal that everyone seems to make in Lefkara, and managed to resist:
Finally, after wandering around for an hour or so (and purchasing one or two gifts) we stopped for some ice-creams:
Some did start packing up around 2.30pm, but we learned from one of the shopkeepers that there was a wedding that afternoon. The daughter of someone who lived in Lefkara was getting married at the local church, and then there would be a reception for 1500 people in Aradippou (not far from Larnaka). That's a lot, even by Cypriot standards!
There's a rather stunning purple-blossomed tree that was in full bloom today:
.. and some of the lace-making women were sitting outside their shops in the sunshine, happy for me to photograph them:
This one tried very hard to persuade us to buy something, but we're used to the heart-rending hard sell appeal that everyone seems to make in Lefkara, and managed to resist:
Finally, after wandering around for an hour or so (and purchasing one or two gifts) we stopped for some ice-creams:
Birthday
Richard's mother arrived on Wednesday evening. We didn't do a whole lot on Thursday - popped into the town, chatted, sat in the sun, played some Scrabble in the evening. It's been mostly sunny in Larnaka, though no warmer than about 22C, and quite chilly after dark.
Friday was my birthday. Not that birthdays are a big deal these days... but I had some nice pressies and some cards. We did our usual weekly supermarket shop in the morning, and drove past the site of our old house, which was knocked down four months ago. The site was completely cleared, as the photo on that post showed, but with a wet winter plenty of weeds have grown back. And now, apparently, it's being used as a car park for the people in the street:
Tim baked me a delicious lemon cake, though it didn't rise as much as he had hoped. Probably because the tins were a couple of centimetres bigger than they should have been for the recipe. He forgets that cake ingredients have to be multiplied by one-and-a-half if using even slightly larger tins. And the icing was a little too wet so it drizzled over the edges. But it tasted very good, anyway!
In the afternoon Richard's mother and I went for a short walk to the Salt Lake Park:
Friday was my birthday. Not that birthdays are a big deal these days... but I had some nice pressies and some cards. We did our usual weekly supermarket shop in the morning, and drove past the site of our old house, which was knocked down four months ago. The site was completely cleared, as the photo on that post showed, but with a wet winter plenty of weeds have grown back. And now, apparently, it's being used as a car park for the people in the street:
Tim baked me a delicious lemon cake, though it didn't rise as much as he had hoped. Probably because the tins were a couple of centimetres bigger than they should have been for the recipe. He forgets that cake ingredients have to be multiplied by one-and-a-half if using even slightly larger tins. And the icing was a little too wet so it drizzled over the edges. But it tasted very good, anyway!
In the afternoon Richard's mother and I went for a short walk to the Salt Lake Park:
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Cyprus is colder than parts of the UK...
My sister and her family left (for a week in Egypt staying with friends) on Sunday night.
On Monday the temperature was about 21-22C: pleasantly warm, if a little cloudy. I didn't put a sweasthirt or fleece on when I got up, and wondered if the time had come to abandon them. In the morning, I did a quick clean of the guest flat (although they'd left it very tidy and clean) and made up a bed, as a work contact of Richard's was staying overnight.
By lunch-time, I was feeling distinctly chilly so I found a sweatshirt. By evening I was even colder, so I put a fleece on too. Then had an email from Richard's mother (who's coming to stay for a week, arriving this evening) saying that it had been 26C in the South of England...
Yesterday, the morning dawned clear and sunny, but not particularly warm. Showers were forecast, so when I went out to help at the Mothers-and-Toddlers group, I wore jeans and a sweatshirt, and had an umbrella with me. I had to use it on the way back. Perhaps due to the clouds it wasn't particularly cold, however.
Today, once again, the sun was shining when I got up. The forecast was for sunshine all day. I tidied up the plants on our front porch, and did some more cleaning in the guest flat. I even cleaned the windows, which was perhaps a mistake: around noon the sky suddenly turned grey, and about half an hour later there were spots of rain, followed by a torrential downpour and thunder.
The weather site is showing the temperature as 16C. I can believe it. I just hope it doesn't rain all week!
On Monday the temperature was about 21-22C: pleasantly warm, if a little cloudy. I didn't put a sweasthirt or fleece on when I got up, and wondered if the time had come to abandon them. In the morning, I did a quick clean of the guest flat (although they'd left it very tidy and clean) and made up a bed, as a work contact of Richard's was staying overnight.
By lunch-time, I was feeling distinctly chilly so I found a sweatshirt. By evening I was even colder, so I put a fleece on too. Then had an email from Richard's mother (who's coming to stay for a week, arriving this evening) saying that it had been 26C in the South of England...
Yesterday, the morning dawned clear and sunny, but not particularly warm. Showers were forecast, so when I went out to help at the Mothers-and-Toddlers group, I wore jeans and a sweatshirt, and had an umbrella with me. I had to use it on the way back. Perhaps due to the clouds it wasn't particularly cold, however.
Today, once again, the sun was shining when I got up. The forecast was for sunshine all day. I tidied up the plants on our front porch, and did some more cleaning in the guest flat. I even cleaned the windows, which was perhaps a mistake: around noon the sky suddenly turned grey, and about half an hour later there were spots of rain, followed by a torrential downpour and thunder.
The weather site is showing the temperature as 16C. I can believe it. I just hope it doesn't rain all week!
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Lefkara
On Thursday and Friday, my sister and her family went to the local beach, did some shopping, and went for another walk to the Salt Lake.
On Saturday, Richard wasn't working so we drove to Lefkara, a village a little way in the mountains, about half an hour's drive from Larnaka. It's the home of the traditional Lefkara lace which is widely sold around Cyprus, and there are also traditional silversmiths - making everything from large containers for incense through to delicate filigree jewellery. The latter is very good value.
There's a lot of renovation work going on in this area - a good thing, really, so that tourism is encouraged. Some of the older folk are worried that the traditional crafts are dying out, since their children and grandchildren aren't interested in carrying on with them. Many of the buildings are looking rather scruffy, due to the ravages of the weather, and because they're getting old.
Some have been very nicely renovated, keeping the traditional stone facings, like this one:
But according to some plans we saw, the majority are going to be renovated in a far less attractive way, making Lefkara bright and colourful. We saw houses in blue, pink, and yellow... here's one which is still in process:
A pity. Perhaps nobody has realised that tourists from overseas like to see traditional buildings. Or, at least, buildings that look like old-style Cyprus houses, even if they've been improved in recent years.
(There are more pictures from Lefkara in this post, from a visit six months ago)
On Saturday, Richard wasn't working so we drove to Lefkara, a village a little way in the mountains, about half an hour's drive from Larnaka. It's the home of the traditional Lefkara lace which is widely sold around Cyprus, and there are also traditional silversmiths - making everything from large containers for incense through to delicate filigree jewellery. The latter is very good value.
There's a lot of renovation work going on in this area - a good thing, really, so that tourism is encouraged. Some of the older folk are worried that the traditional crafts are dying out, since their children and grandchildren aren't interested in carrying on with them. Many of the buildings are looking rather scruffy, due to the ravages of the weather, and because they're getting old.
Some have been very nicely renovated, keeping the traditional stone facings, like this one:
But according to some plans we saw, the majority are going to be renovated in a far less attractive way, making Lefkara bright and colourful. We saw houses in blue, pink, and yellow... here's one which is still in process:
A pity. Perhaps nobody has realised that tourists from overseas like to see traditional buildings. Or, at least, buildings that look like old-style Cyprus houses, even if they've been improved in recent years.
(There are more pictures from Lefkara in this post, from a visit six months ago)
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Tuesday and Wednesday
Since Richard had worked on Good Friday (and some of Easter Saturday) he decided to take Tuesday off as well as Easter Monday. He asked if my sister and her family wanted to go anywhere that he could drive them, and they suggested Nicosia. They thought they might go over the border to the North, and also see some of the tourist shops in the 'old city'.
Tim went with them, but I stayed at home to have a peaceful morning by myself. They didn't have a particularly successful time: firstly, the old city seems to have replaced all the nice touristy shops with modern boutiques and technology stores. Secondly, although they found Ledra Street, where the barrier with the North was taken down a month previously, it's not yet open for public access. This is partly due to unresolved political differences; rumour has it that there may also be unexploded landmines in the vicinity, but I've no idea if that's actually true.
So they walked some way, looking for the place where it has been possible to walk over the border for a while, but didn't find it. Still, they did find a nice park where the children were able to climb and go down slides, and it was good to see somewhere different. And they found a cafe to have a sandwich lunch.
On their way back they hit a thunderstorm, with torrential rain and even some hail. This storm hit Larnaka about midday - the forecast had promised us some rain, and while the details weren't correct, we certainly got some. The thunder got so close I had to switch my computer off. So it was a good thing our guests didn't go to the beach in the morning, as they would have got drenched....
Once they were back, and changed into warmer clothes, we talked, the children watched a bit of 'Shrek' on DVD, Tim and his cousin played a couple of duets on the piano... and we read books.
On Wednesday the sun shone in the morning, so they walked to the beach - it's about a mile away. I did suggest they might take our old car, which is insured for any driver (between the ages of 25 and 70) but they thought they'd like a walk. I went with them, as I had to go to the Post Office anyway, and showed them a few key places. They stayed an hour and a half, or so, but by about 12.30 it often gets windy and chillier, so they came home for lunch. In the afternoon, they walked to the Salt Lake Park with Tim, played in the play area, and also played some french cricket.
It's the ideal time of year to visit, really. Daytime temperatures are about 20-24C, and although it's still the Easter holiday period, there aren't too many tourists around.
Having the guest flat is ideal, as they can get up when they want to, do their own thing as far as breakfast goes, do any laundry that they want, and put the children to bed whenever seems appropriate. They brought their old 'baby alarm' with them, so they can leave one of the children downstairs asleep and hear immediately from our part of the house if there's any problem.
Tim went with them, but I stayed at home to have a peaceful morning by myself. They didn't have a particularly successful time: firstly, the old city seems to have replaced all the nice touristy shops with modern boutiques and technology stores. Secondly, although they found Ledra Street, where the barrier with the North was taken down a month previously, it's not yet open for public access. This is partly due to unresolved political differences; rumour has it that there may also be unexploded landmines in the vicinity, but I've no idea if that's actually true.
So they walked some way, looking for the place where it has been possible to walk over the border for a while, but didn't find it. Still, they did find a nice park where the children were able to climb and go down slides, and it was good to see somewhere different. And they found a cafe to have a sandwich lunch.
On their way back they hit a thunderstorm, with torrential rain and even some hail. This storm hit Larnaka about midday - the forecast had promised us some rain, and while the details weren't correct, we certainly got some. The thunder got so close I had to switch my computer off. So it was a good thing our guests didn't go to the beach in the morning, as they would have got drenched....
Once they were back, and changed into warmer clothes, we talked, the children watched a bit of 'Shrek' on DVD, Tim and his cousin played a couple of duets on the piano... and we read books.
On Wednesday the sun shone in the morning, so they walked to the beach - it's about a mile away. I did suggest they might take our old car, which is insured for any driver (between the ages of 25 and 70) but they thought they'd like a walk. I went with them, as I had to go to the Post Office anyway, and showed them a few key places. They stayed an hour and a half, or so, but by about 12.30 it often gets windy and chillier, so they came home for lunch. In the afternoon, they walked to the Salt Lake Park with Tim, played in the play area, and also played some french cricket.
It's the ideal time of year to visit, really. Daytime temperatures are about 20-24C, and although it's still the Easter holiday period, there aren't too many tourists around.
Having the guest flat is ideal, as they can get up when they want to, do their own thing as far as breakfast goes, do any laundry that they want, and put the children to bed whenever seems appropriate. They brought their old 'baby alarm' with them, so they can leave one of the children downstairs asleep and hear immediately from our part of the house if there's any problem.
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Parks and picnics
Despite the fairly dire weather forecast for Larnaka, the last couple of days have been very pleasant, weather-wise. Sunday was lovely and sunny - and although (as described in this post) I was exhausted after getting very little sleep, it was lovely to have my sister and family with us at last! Tim cooked the usual roast chicken lunch with two chickens and lots of trimmings, and I'd made a couple of desserts. Nothing spectacular, but there was of course plenty of chocolate too, as tends to happen at Easter!
In the afternoon we walked to the Salt Lake Park and my nephew and niece enjoyed the play area for a short time. It's not a particularly exciting play area - quite a nice wooden slide, a couple of swings:
.. and one of those complicated constructions with several ways up, over and through. Even Tim was tempted to try it:
Then we walked along by part of the Salt Lake itself, and home by a slightly different route.
My sister and her family were all wearing shorts and tee-shirts; Richard, Tim and I were dressed in long trousers and sweatshirts or fleeces. Amazing how we've acclimatised!
On Easter Monday, the day dawned warm and sunny again. We arranged to meet some sailing friends at the Larnaka sailing club. They have a son about the same age as my nephew, so Richard took both boys out a couple of times in his Mirror dinghy.
Our friends, who have a somewhat larger Lazer dinghy, took out first my brother-in-law, and then my sister and niece for a shorter trip. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves, although by about noon the wind was increasing and it was a bit chilly.
Tim and I stayed on shore, Tim armed with a Pratchett book, me with the digital camera and also our video camera.
We'd brought picnics so we walked along a little way and at them before returning to our house (all ten of us) for coffee, and to see the video I'd filmed of the two boats. Being a complete novice at video, there were times when one or other of the boats appeared to be sailing uphill...
Then, after our friends had left, my sister and family went to another local park with excellent and brightly-coloured climbing equipment, slides, swings and so on.
In the afternoon we walked to the Salt Lake Park and my nephew and niece enjoyed the play area for a short time. It's not a particularly exciting play area - quite a nice wooden slide, a couple of swings:
.. and one of those complicated constructions with several ways up, over and through. Even Tim was tempted to try it:
Then we walked along by part of the Salt Lake itself, and home by a slightly different route.
My sister and her family were all wearing shorts and tee-shirts; Richard, Tim and I were dressed in long trousers and sweatshirts or fleeces. Amazing how we've acclimatised!
On Easter Monday, the day dawned warm and sunny again. We arranged to meet some sailing friends at the Larnaka sailing club. They have a son about the same age as my nephew, so Richard took both boys out a couple of times in his Mirror dinghy.
Our friends, who have a somewhat larger Lazer dinghy, took out first my brother-in-law, and then my sister and niece for a shorter trip. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves, although by about noon the wind was increasing and it was a bit chilly.
Tim and I stayed on shore, Tim armed with a Pratchett book, me with the digital camera and also our video camera.
We'd brought picnics so we walked along a little way and at them before returning to our house (all ten of us) for coffee, and to see the video I'd filmed of the two boats. Being a complete novice at video, there were times when one or other of the boats appeared to be sailing uphill...
Then, after our friends had left, my sister and family went to another local park with excellent and brightly-coloured climbing equipment, slides, swings and so on.
Sunday, April 08, 2007
Easter in Cyprus...
After a quiet Holy Week, the Greek Orthodox churches have a vigil until midnight on Easter Saturday, at which point the priest produces a lighted candle. All the people attending also bring candles; the priest lights one of them, saying: χριστος ανεστι - 'Christos anesti' phonetically, meaning ' Christ is risen' - to which the response is: αλεθως ανεστι - ' alethos anesti' - meaning ' he is risen indeed' (similar to the words used at the start of Anglican services on Easter day).
Then there's a ceremony that involves burning an effigy of Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Jesus. It sounded rather barbaric to me until someone pointed out that in the UK we do the same kind of thing with Guy Fawkes on bonfire night. And there's a procession around the church, too. We've never been to one of these Easter night services - I'm decidedly not a night-owl - but we've heard about them from friends. Particularly friends who live near Greek Orthodox Churches, who can pretty much guarantee not to get to sleep until about 1am.
A couple of years ago they started having fireworks in addition, at midnight. We could hear a few of those from our old house, but if I was asleep I wouldn't notice them.
Last year people started making their own fireworks - a kind of pipe bomb thing - which were noisier, and also more dangerous. I gather they were made illegal in the last year. And so... this year, there were more of them. Last night, I didn't get to sleep until about 11pm anyway - my sister and her family arrived safely, with the plane making good time - but at about 3am I woke, hearing loud bangs. Again, and again. Apparently they'd been going on almost all night... and continued until at least 5am. I got up shortly after 6, totally shattered, then went back to bed again an hour later and slept until nearly 8am. And still felt shattered.
So I didn't make the 9am service at the Community Church. I stayed home and did some of the cooking for lunch instead. In the afternoon we all went out for a walk by the Salt Lake and in the evening I went to the Anglican church Easter evening service, where Tim was playing.
Now it's only quarter past nine and I'm almost falling asleep as I type...
Happy Easter to anyone reading this.
Then there's a ceremony that involves burning an effigy of Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Jesus. It sounded rather barbaric to me until someone pointed out that in the UK we do the same kind of thing with Guy Fawkes on bonfire night. And there's a procession around the church, too. We've never been to one of these Easter night services - I'm decidedly not a night-owl - but we've heard about them from friends. Particularly friends who live near Greek Orthodox Churches, who can pretty much guarantee not to get to sleep until about 1am.
A couple of years ago they started having fireworks in addition, at midnight. We could hear a few of those from our old house, but if I was asleep I wouldn't notice them.
Last year people started making their own fireworks - a kind of pipe bomb thing - which were noisier, and also more dangerous. I gather they were made illegal in the last year. And so... this year, there were more of them. Last night, I didn't get to sleep until about 11pm anyway - my sister and her family arrived safely, with the plane making good time - but at about 3am I woke, hearing loud bangs. Again, and again. Apparently they'd been going on almost all night... and continued until at least 5am. I got up shortly after 6, totally shattered, then went back to bed again an hour later and slept until nearly 8am. And still felt shattered.
So I didn't make the 9am service at the Community Church. I stayed home and did some of the cooking for lunch instead. In the afternoon we all went out for a walk by the Salt Lake and in the evening I went to the Anglican church Easter evening service, where Tim was playing.
Now it's only quarter past nine and I'm almost falling asleep as I type...
Happy Easter to anyone reading this.
Saturday, April 07, 2007
Rainy week forecast
My sister and her family arrive this evening!
The guest flat is as clean and tidy as I can make it, given this generally dusty country. Beds are made. Coffee, milk, Flora (since Bertolli is still unavailable), Marmite, jam, cereal and fruit in the kitchen for breakfasts (our family is not by nature sociable in mornings, so guests Do Their Own Thing as far as breakfast is concerned). I shall shortly go and buy some sliced bread to add to the supplies. Tomorrow being both Eastern and Western Easter, all the shops will be closed - even the bakeries that are usually open every day from about 7am till at least 9pm. The supermarkets will be closed on Monday too (though, bizarrely, they were open all day on Friday, which is surely a more important holiday than Easter Monday in this predominantly Greek Orthodox country).
I checked the flight arrival time at the useful Flightstats site, and it's predicted to be ten minutes early. Amazing! However when I looked at the stats for this flight in general, I was told it has 0% history of being on time, with an average delay of 58 minutes. So we won't hold our breaths. I'm not entirely sure how they can estimate that a flight is going to be ten minutes early when it hasn't even taken off yet, anyway.
Then I checked the UK weather site forecast for Larnaka. Not good news. It's grey at present, not particularly warm, and rained this morning. Tomorrow, it tells us, will be warm with sunshine, and shade temperatures of up to 23C, which would be pleasant, but then there's cloud and showers for the rest of the week, other than Thursday.
Uh-oh.
Still, the forecast isn't always accurate. So I looked at the BBC site forecast for Larnaka. Oh dear. Even worse. They only show five days, but they're saying rain today, more rain tomorrow, rain Monday, and thunder on Monday and Tuesday.
Oh dear.
Finally I looked at the Weather Underground forecast for Larnaka - that's the site where I get my little icon in the sidebar showing the current weather (and it's usually fairly accurate). They tell me there's a 20% chance of more rain today, that tomorrow will be clear and sunny, Monday will have scattered clouds, Tuesday has a 20% chance of rain, and Wednesday will be clear though only 18C.
Hmm. So much for modern, accurate weather forecasting. I just hope we get at least some days of sunshine and reasonable warmth. It's a long way to come to Cyprus for weather that's not much better than the UK.
The guest flat is as clean and tidy as I can make it, given this generally dusty country. Beds are made. Coffee, milk, Flora (since Bertolli is still unavailable), Marmite, jam, cereal and fruit in the kitchen for breakfasts (our family is not by nature sociable in mornings, so guests Do Their Own Thing as far as breakfast is concerned). I shall shortly go and buy some sliced bread to add to the supplies. Tomorrow being both Eastern and Western Easter, all the shops will be closed - even the bakeries that are usually open every day from about 7am till at least 9pm. The supermarkets will be closed on Monday too (though, bizarrely, they were open all day on Friday, which is surely a more important holiday than Easter Monday in this predominantly Greek Orthodox country).
I checked the flight arrival time at the useful Flightstats site, and it's predicted to be ten minutes early. Amazing! However when I looked at the stats for this flight in general, I was told it has 0% history of being on time, with an average delay of 58 minutes. So we won't hold our breaths. I'm not entirely sure how they can estimate that a flight is going to be ten minutes early when it hasn't even taken off yet, anyway.
Then I checked the UK weather site forecast for Larnaka. Not good news. It's grey at present, not particularly warm, and rained this morning. Tomorrow, it tells us, will be warm with sunshine, and shade temperatures of up to 23C, which would be pleasant, but then there's cloud and showers for the rest of the week, other than Thursday.
Uh-oh.
Still, the forecast isn't always accurate. So I looked at the BBC site forecast for Larnaka. Oh dear. Even worse. They only show five days, but they're saying rain today, more rain tomorrow, rain Monday, and thunder on Monday and Tuesday.
Oh dear.
Finally I looked at the Weather Underground forecast for Larnaka - that's the site where I get my little icon in the sidebar showing the current weather (and it's usually fairly accurate). They tell me there's a 20% chance of more rain today, that tomorrow will be clear and sunny, Monday will have scattered clouds, Tuesday has a 20% chance of rain, and Wednesday will be clear though only 18C.
Hmm. So much for modern, accurate weather forecasting. I just hope we get at least some days of sunshine and reasonable warmth. It's a long way to come to Cyprus for weather that's not much better than the UK.
Thursday, April 05, 2007
Spring cleaning is in the air...
My sister and her family are coming for Easter. They arrive in the evening on Saturday, and stay just over a week. It's eighteen months since we've seen them, though we correspond fairly regularly via email.
The family staying in our guest flat at the end of last week left yesterday. So, given that we got the house ready for them, and they tidied and stripped the beds before they left, it shouldn't take long to get ready for our next visitors.
Or so I thought.
Of course there was quite a lot of bedding and several towels to wash, with six people having stayed there. But the weather is fine, so I thought I'd do a couple of loads a day in the guest flat washing machine and hang them out where they catch the breeze. No problem. In fact that's all I did in the guest flat yesterday.
My brother-in-law is allergic to cats, and also to dust mites. We keep the cats out of the guest flat (mostly) and the lack of carpets should help on both counts. I dust and mop (dry and wet) the guest flat every week anyway, so I thought I'd just do it a little more thoroughly than usual. And maybe wash the pillows, which haven't been washed for at least a year. The mattress on the double bed is pretty new, as is the duvet, so they shouldn't be too bad...
My sister told me not to worry too much - her husband will have his anti-histamines with him. But, silly me, I googled for 'dust mites'.
I don't recommend doing so, if you want an easy life.
These microscopic creatures are, apparently, just about everywhere. They like humid conditions (Cyprus is very humid in the summer). And the magnified images shown on most of the sites I found are disgusting. There are millions of them in most beds and quilts and blankets and sofas.... Even without being allergic, I don't think I want them.
The good news is that there are ways to reduce the number. Washing all bedding at 60C is one method. Hanging it out in the sunshine and breeze helps too, as does ironing, and generally keeping a house well-ventilated. And for un-washable cushions and toys, freezing is another good way of getting rid of dust mites. Plus, of course, general - and frequent - vacuuming, shampooing, and also keeping other insects under control as dust mites feed on dead bugs as well as dust, scales of skin and pet fur.
So...
This morning I ironed not just the freshly-washed pillowcases and duvet covers, but also the sheets. Ironing fitted sheets is NOT easy!
I also washed the cushion covers, and stuck all the cushions in the guest flat freezer. I just hope I remember to take them out before Saturday as it wouldn't be very comfortable sitting on frozen blocks of ice!
Richard also got out our Bissell 'Big Green Cleaning Machine' otherwise known as the BGCM. It's basically a carpet-shampoo machine, which - as we don't have any carpets in this house - we haven't used for over a year. But it has an upholstery tool, so I thought I'd give the sofas a quick shampoo.
Since I'd completely forgotten how to fit it together, I had to find the instructions, but thankfully I had filed away appliance instructions in a box when we unpacked, so it was easy to find.
Unfortunately, the upholstery tool didn't seem to work. There was a leak somewhere, or so it seemed - the spray function simply dripped the solution everywhere. So I had to use the carpet-cleaning attachment which isn't so easy on sofas, but at least it worked. I hope. The one I've done so far does, at least, look cleaner!
I still haven't done the dusting and mopping, but that would probably be better done on Saturday morning.
Incidentally, my possible 'cold' didn't come to anything. I know many people don't believe in using Vitamin C, but I'm convinced it makes a difference. So long as one takes sufficiently large doses at the early onset of a cold.
The family staying in our guest flat at the end of last week left yesterday. So, given that we got the house ready for them, and they tidied and stripped the beds before they left, it shouldn't take long to get ready for our next visitors.
Or so I thought.
Of course there was quite a lot of bedding and several towels to wash, with six people having stayed there. But the weather is fine, so I thought I'd do a couple of loads a day in the guest flat washing machine and hang them out where they catch the breeze. No problem. In fact that's all I did in the guest flat yesterday.
My brother-in-law is allergic to cats, and also to dust mites. We keep the cats out of the guest flat (mostly) and the lack of carpets should help on both counts. I dust and mop (dry and wet) the guest flat every week anyway, so I thought I'd just do it a little more thoroughly than usual. And maybe wash the pillows, which haven't been washed for at least a year. The mattress on the double bed is pretty new, as is the duvet, so they shouldn't be too bad...
My sister told me not to worry too much - her husband will have his anti-histamines with him. But, silly me, I googled for 'dust mites'.
I don't recommend doing so, if you want an easy life.
These microscopic creatures are, apparently, just about everywhere. They like humid conditions (Cyprus is very humid in the summer). And the magnified images shown on most of the sites I found are disgusting. There are millions of them in most beds and quilts and blankets and sofas.... Even without being allergic, I don't think I want them.
The good news is that there are ways to reduce the number. Washing all bedding at 60C is one method. Hanging it out in the sunshine and breeze helps too, as does ironing, and generally keeping a house well-ventilated. And for un-washable cushions and toys, freezing is another good way of getting rid of dust mites. Plus, of course, general - and frequent - vacuuming, shampooing, and also keeping other insects under control as dust mites feed on dead bugs as well as dust, scales of skin and pet fur.
So...
This morning I ironed not just the freshly-washed pillowcases and duvet covers, but also the sheets. Ironing fitted sheets is NOT easy!
I also washed the cushion covers, and stuck all the cushions in the guest flat freezer. I just hope I remember to take them out before Saturday as it wouldn't be very comfortable sitting on frozen blocks of ice!
Richard also got out our Bissell 'Big Green Cleaning Machine' otherwise known as the BGCM. It's basically a carpet-shampoo machine, which - as we don't have any carpets in this house - we haven't used for over a year. But it has an upholstery tool, so I thought I'd give the sofas a quick shampoo.
Since I'd completely forgotten how to fit it together, I had to find the instructions, but thankfully I had filed away appliance instructions in a box when we unpacked, so it was easy to find.
Unfortunately, the upholstery tool didn't seem to work. There was a leak somewhere, or so it seemed - the spray function simply dripped the solution everywhere. So I had to use the carpet-cleaning attachment which isn't so easy on sofas, but at least it worked. I hope. The one I've done so far does, at least, look cleaner!
I still haven't done the dusting and mopping, but that would probably be better done on Saturday morning.
Incidentally, my possible 'cold' didn't come to anything. I know many people don't believe in using Vitamin C, but I'm convinced it makes a difference. So long as one takes sufficiently large doses at the early onset of a cold.
Monday, April 02, 2007
Cold?
Yesterday afternoon, my throat began to feel a bit scratchy. Not painful, just not quite right. I took a megadose of Vitamin C a couple of times, and this morning felt much better.
This afternoon, around 5pm, I suddenly felt cold. Really quite icy cold and shivery. Very odd. I went to put a fleece on, on top of my sweatshirt, and thought that perhaps the weather had got chilly again despite having been sunny for most of the day.
Tim made us a curry this evening, and even that didn't warm me up. Afterwards the three of us squeezed into one of our two-seater sofas, and watched an episode of Quantum Leap. Cleo sat on top of me for some of it, and I still didn't feel warm. Even odder, when I commented that it was chilly tonight, Richard - who usually feels the cold far more than I do - said it was reasonably warm.
So Tim reckons I'm finally getting the cold/flu that's been going around. Great. What's odd, though, is that I feel absolutely fine other than so cold!
I suppose I should get some hot lemon and honey, stir in some more Vitamin C, take some echinacea, and maybe even make the first hot water bottle since we moved to this house (which usually is pretty warm.). But I don't feel ill....
This afternoon, around 5pm, I suddenly felt cold. Really quite icy cold and shivery. Very odd. I went to put a fleece on, on top of my sweatshirt, and thought that perhaps the weather had got chilly again despite having been sunny for most of the day.
Tim made us a curry this evening, and even that didn't warm me up. Afterwards the three of us squeezed into one of our two-seater sofas, and watched an episode of Quantum Leap. Cleo sat on top of me for some of it, and I still didn't feel warm. Even odder, when I commented that it was chilly tonight, Richard - who usually feels the cold far more than I do - said it was reasonably warm.
So Tim reckons I'm finally getting the cold/flu that's been going around. Great. What's odd, though, is that I feel absolutely fine other than so cold!
I suppose I should get some hot lemon and honey, stir in some more Vitamin C, take some echinacea, and maybe even make the first hot water bottle since we moved to this house (which usually is pretty warm.). But I don't feel ill....
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