Soon to be in the euro-zone... yes, this is Cyprus!

On January 1st 2008, Cyprus will switch currencies from the Cyprus pound to the euro. A good thing too; the cyprus pound isn't used anywhere else in the world, and has been artificially high for years. It's been fixed to the euro since July: 1 euro is approximately 0.58 Cyprus pound.

In preparation for this change, banks and shops have been required to show both euro and Cyprus pounds prices for several months now. The bigger shops have been showing both on till receipts as well as in the store, and probably won't find the change-over too hard. When people use debit or credit cards for paying, the process will be exactly the same. If they write cheques, they'll simply do so in their new euro-cheque books.

If they choose to pay cash, it will be a bit more complicated in January. Shops have to accept Cyprus pounds, but must give change in euros. If the tills are able to calculate the correct change, then there's no problem. But in the smaller shops, with single-currency tills (and, sometimes, assistants who struggle to do even simple arithmetic) the whole thing is going to be something of a nightmare.

In February, Cyprus pounds will cease to be legal currency (although I believe banks will continue to change them for a few months longer) and we'll just have euros.

Fine.

Today we learned of a bizarre rule, which doesn't even make sense. At least, not to this non-Cypriot.

As I mentioned, both Cyprus pounds and euro prices have to be shown on goods for sale at present. Like this scraper which Richard bought this morning:



See that? £1 CY or €1.71

One of the shop assistants explained to Richard that, at present, the Cyprus pounds sticker has to be higher up on the product than the euro sticker. As in the photo.

However, from January, the law says that the euro price must be above the Cyprus pound one.

Fair enough, for new products arriving in the store after the New Year. But this applies to everything, apparently.

So shop assistants will have to spend New Year's Day peeling off one set of stickers from every item in the shop, and putting on another set, so that the euro price will be higher up than the Cyprus pound price.

Then, at the end of January, they'll have to remove the Cyprus pounds stickers altogether.

What a remarkable waste of effort, for something that most people won't even be aware of. Until it was pointed out, it hadn't even occurred to me that Cyprus pounds prices always show above euro ones.

I wonder if this happens in every country that changes currency, or only in Cyprus...

Paying car tax in Cyprus

In August last year, we bought a 'new' car. New to us, that is. It was about ten years old at the time.

In the UK, when one buys a car from a garage, its tax and MOT are up-to-date. It didn't occur to Richard to ask about either; we assumed documentation would come through when either was needed. The tax disc actually showing on the windscreen was dated June 2005, but we didn't really think anything of it - people often seem to show outdated tax discs in Cyprus. Sometimes because they're behind on payments, sometimes because they've forgotten to put the new disc on the window. Not a big deal either way, it seems. Car tax is always paid up to the end of June or December, so we assumed we would have to pay from January 2007.

In about February, paperwork arrived at our new house telling us we needed to pay car tax on our old car (the one that's nearly 20 years old).

However, nothing arrived for the new car.

So Richard asked around, and eventually was given some rather scruffy photocopied paperwork: the application for car tax, when one hasn't paid it before. He also learned that it hadn't been taxed in the latter part of 2006. Oops.

He filled in the paperwork, then realised he had no idea where to take it. So he put it on a shelf, and somehow it got forgotten...

In the summer, we learned that the MOT was due for the newer car. Fair enough, it happens every year. When I went to pay the car tax for the older car (about six months late...) I was told that its MOT had also expired. So that also needed one, before we could pay the tax.

We got them done early in September, as described in this post about some of the oddities of Cyprus life.

I went to pay the tax for the older car, and was successful. Since I had regular renewal paperwork, I just went to the co-op (not a supermarket here - a place to pay bills) and paid. They didn't even comment on the fact that I was now nine months late in doing so.

However Richard still didn't know where to take the paperwork for the newer car, so as we were leaving Cyprus for seven weeks a day later, and nobody was driving it in the meantime, he put the paperwork back on the shelf....

Yesterday I reminded him, and suggested he take it to the co-op. Even if they couldn't deal with it, I thought they might know where he could go. So, armed with all the relevant bits of paper, he went there.

They told him: yes, they could deal with it.

Unfortunately, they refused to take a cheque. Due to their new and efficient car tax collecting system, where it's all online on their computers, they can only take cash. Bizarre.

So he had to go to the bank, draw out the large amount of money necessary for 18 months worth of car tax on a biggish car, and pay it in cash...

We're not entirely sure how that's more efficient than a cheque, though I suppose it saves us the 12c it effectively costs us to write a cheque (free banking is not a concept that Cyprus understands: we are charged £6 per book of 50 cheques)

New Orphanides Express supermarket in Larnaka

For many years, there was been a small supermarket called Kleitos, about five minutes' walk from where we're now living. It was a useful place - smaller than main supermarkets (Metro, Orphanides, Carrefour and Sarris), but considerably bigger than the small grocery stores that are dotted around all over the town.

Here's what it looked like eight months ago:


Shortly after we moved here, we heard that Kleitos had been taken over by Orphanides. At first, the only difference was that it started selling Orphanides own brands, and I could use my Orphanides card to gather points at Kleitos.

Then, about six months ago, they started building an extension on the side. It looked a bit strange, and they didn't seem to be using it at all. Business continued as usual in the shop.

When we got back from our seven weeks out of Cyprus, at the end of October, we saw that Kleitos was being gutted. We weren't sure if it was being turned into something totally different, or whether it was merely refurbishing the supermarket. Since the main entrance was being blocked up, I wasn't quite sure what was going on.

I didn't go there that often - we do our main weekly shop at Metro, and I buy fruit and veg at a local Froutaria (greengrocer). But it was useful having Kleitos for times when Richard's away, since I don't drive, or when I forgot something at our main shop. It was also very useful for visitors in our guest flat.

About a week ago, a notice appeared, saying that the supermarket was operating and that the car park was around the side. Not that it stopped cars parking at the front, of course!


But when you get round the side, there's a smart-looking new entrance, and a car park which is newly tarmacked , though not yet finished.


I went there today, for the first time. I was impressed. It's now 'Orphanides Express' and seems to stock a lot of products; far more than Kleitos used to.

I shall probably be using it more frequently now.

Looking back on most of November in Cyprus

It's now just over a month since we returned to Cyprus after our trip to Hong Kong and Malaysia. It feels like considerably longer.

About a week ago days ago, I made myself a list of things I wanted to complete by the end of November. There were around 35 items on the list, so I reckoned if I did four per day I would complete them all. Some of them were quick things which I knew I would do (such as paying various bills), and others a bit longer, but lists generally help me stay motivated. Or at least remind me of what needs to be done.

So far I have crossed off twelve items from the original list. I've also added in a further twelve, of which I have crossed off four. We're going to do a couple more this evening.

Evidently I'm not going to get anywhere near completing the list by the end of the month, but at least I know I've done several useful jobs that needed to be done.

In addition, I've been updating my book reviews blog with links to Amazon (both UK and USA) - partly in the vague hope that someone might order through them, giving me commission, but also because I think they look better with photos of the book covers.

Oh, and I've been sent three updates for Daniel's Doulos blog which I've now posted, along with photos. One of them ('How to make a rope ladder') was remarkably difficult to do, as he didn't tell me where any of the photos should go, and I didn't understand much of the jargon. Nor did I know what most of the photos were. Richard edited it and moved the photos to better places, but we're still not sure it's entirely correct. Daniel can blog from the Doulos himself, but the connection isn't very good and he can't upload photos easily. So he emails them to me. Usually he tells me where he wants them to go in his post, which makes life much easier.

Oh, and - so far - I've also managed to post at least one entry in this blog every day this month, which is the aim of 'National Blog Posting Month' (or NaBloPoMo).

Jemima still hasn't come back. It's strange how much I miss her; she was quiet, and peaceful, and didn't make her presence felt anything like as much as the other three do. I'm still hoping that she will reappear, but it's three days now.

First Christmas card in Larnaka (for us, anyway) and a missing cat

Today, the first Christmas card arrived.

I suppose it IS now less than a month until Christmas. I was beginning to think I should start writing cards, and typing up a newsletter, so as to send them out in the first week of December. But to receive a card today (and it was in our PO Box, so it could have been waiting there for a few days) someone must have been remarkably efficient.

On another subject, one of our cats has vanished. Jemima disappeared for three days once before - back in June 2005. She returned, but one of her legs was very strange for a week or so. Then she seemed to recover, and has been fine ever since.

I know I saw her on Saturday night, when I was making up a bed in the guest flat. I can't remember if I saw her on Sunday morning. When I get up, I usually let one cat out, and one cat in, and feed another.... with four of them, I don't always notice whether or not they're all around. Besides, Jemima sometimes does sleep most of the morning.

But when she didn't appear at lunch-time, I was surprised. By evening, I was getting concerned. Richard went around the neighbourhood looking for her, but to no avail.

We hoped she had got temporarily shut in somewhere, and would re-appear this morning, but she didn't. We just hope she hasn't injured her leg again, or worse...

Cats on beds in Cyprus 'winter'

The cats are very happy that we now have warm duvets on the beds, and central heating morning and evening.

They are not happy when I change the sheets and duvet covers. They hate being turned off the bed. On Friday, Cleo tried desperately to let me know that it was her bed, and I had no right to remove the duvet, but eventually I won.

Yesterday afternoon, I found both Cleo and Sophia, looking for once like mother and daughter in exactly the same pose on our bed. Their expressions were saying exactly the same thing too: "Don't you DARE take this nice warm thing off the bed!"

Cyprus boat show cancelled

About ten days ago I saw a boat show advertised in the 'In Touch' magazine. Cyprus's first boat show, apparently, due to take place in Ayia Napa. They had a website, so I showed it to Richard. His sailing friends also saw an advert for it.

Today they went out sailing for the morning, then had lunch, then drove to the hotel where the show was supposed to be taken place. Richard said he didn't really expect much of it... maybe two or three stands.

Turns out even that was rather optimistic. The hotel informed them that the show was cancelled. They didn't know why - they were just told three days ago. Lots of people were turning up, apparently, asking for it.

I assume that the message now on the website says something along the lines of 'the boat show is cancelled. Please accept our apologies'.

It's sad, but rather typical. This is, after all, Cyprus.

For more examples of why we - and the locals - say 'This is Cyprus....', I enjoyed this week's 'Letter from Larnaka' post.

Central heating and warm duvets are a good idea in Cyprus

Before we came to Cyprus, a little over ten years ago, we assumed our main problems would be with the heat. We packed all our shorts and tee-shirts (little worn in the UK) and a few thin sweatshirts, in case it got chilly in the evenings. We also - after some reflection - packed our thin (4.5 tog) duvet, since someone had warned us that the nights could be cold. We laughed inwardly. Cold in Cyprus, we thought, would be like midsummer in the UK. or, at least, a warm spring day.

We quickly learned our mistake.

Our first hint was seeing a large Damart store in Larnaka. (Damart, in case anyone doesn't know, are best known for thermal underwear). But then we saw Cypriots dressed in long jeans and warm jackets when the temperature was still 20C and sunny, and just assumed they felt colder because they were acclimatised.

By the time we had been here three months (it was then January 1998) we realised that it does get very cold, particularly in unheated houses. Well... 'very cold' is, of course, a relative term. The temperature never drops below about 3-4C, so we don't get frosts. But when there's no central heating, just a few small electric heaters, bare marble floors, and the windows don't fit very well, it feels FAR colder than a centrally-heated and carpeted house in the UK.

So, over the years, we have brought out our warmer clothes, and thicker duvets. And were very pleased, when moved to the house we liked, that it had central heating.

We've also acclimatised. As I said in yesterday's post about the weather, I now feel chilly when the house is around 19C, if I'm sitting still.

So last night, Richard serviced the central heating. He set it to come on this morning at 6am, and I very much enjoyed the warmth as I came downstairs. We only run it for about an hour in the morning, and the same in the evening, until it gets much colder (even then it's rare to run it all day) but it takes the chill off the house.

This morning, when I changed the bed sheets, I put the 9 tog duvet on our bed. I don't suppose I'll ever get used to the rapid changes of season. Only three weeks ago I put the 4.5 tog duvet on the bed, not really sure if we would need it yet. Now I'm switching to double that weight. It will probably only be a few more weeks before I velcro them together and use the full 13.5 tog weight.

Another post about weather in Cyprus

It is distinctly chilly this afternoon.

This morning, it was lovely and sunny. I dusted and mopped the guest flat, since someone is coming to stay for a couple of days on Sunday. Then I mopped the steps at the side of the house, and the front porch, as they were looking fairly grubby after the recent rain. The sun was on the porch, and by the time I had finished, I felt pretty warm. I was wearing jeans and a sweatshirt, and almost - but not quite - shed the sweatshirt.

Instead I took a shower when I had finished. Then I put on clean jeans and another sweatshirt, thinking I would feel cooler when not working. I was correct. It was apparently only 21C in the shade [that's 70F] so not as warm as I thought.

About an hour ago - that's around three o'clock in the afternoon - I realised I was feeling cold. So I'm now wearing a fleecy jacket on top of a sweatshirt. The sun has gone in, and it's apparently 19C outside. Not cold, exactly, but there's a bit of wind so it definitely feels chilly. Winter is on the way.

Stock and soup in Cyprus

Hint of the day:

If you're making stock out of chicken bones, and you're in a bit of a hurry, do take time to make sure that the shaker section of your ground pepper container is in place before you give a couple of shakes into the pan. Or use a pepper grinder.

Ahem.

On Wednesdays Richard usually brings a colleague home for lunch. Today there was an additional person coming, to work with both Richard and Tim on the DVD of 'Esther' which they recorded in the Summer.

The house was beginning to feel a bit chilly, after yesterday's rain. So I decided to make curried carrot and ginger soup.

I could have used stock from the freezer, but since we had a partly-eaten chicken in the fridge, I stripped that, froze the meat, fought off the cats (after giving them a few pieces of skin) and threw the bones into a pan with lots of water, some chopped onions, some leftover veggies, some vinegar, and some herbs.

Then I seasoned it.

A shake of salt - no problem. I decided to use ground black pepper. So I took off the lid - it's one of those herb/spice containers - NOT NOTICING that the second lid, the one with the shaker holes in it, had removed itself from the jar, and embedded itself in the main lid.

Fortunately, there wasn't much pepper in the container. But it was still a great deal more than I planned to put in the stock.

Thankfully, the leftover veggies took the brunt of it. So I removed them, and rinsed them to remove the visible pepper grounds, and hoped it would be all right. I simmered the stock for a couple of hours, then tasted it. Uh-oh. It was distinctly peppery, with quite a back-bite.

So I used 750ml stock from the freezer, and 850ml new peppery stock, hoping that would dilute it. I also hoped that the curry powder and ginger in the soup would disguise the taste a little.

An hour later, we sat down to eat. I stirred some Greek yogurt into my soup, and ate it with some freshly-baked bread, and thought it was all right, if a bit spicy.

One of our guests took a sip, then asked for the salt... and the pepper!

Serious rain in Larnaka

Usually we've had at least one heavy downpour of rain by the end of October.

Not so this year. There was one brief overnight shower - apparently - in October, and another light shower of rain a couple of weeks ago, again overnight.

This morning I was awakened about 5am by the sound of rain. This time, instead of dying away within ten minutes, it continued. There was lightning and thunder, too. And heavy rain, which lasted for over an hour, off and on.

It's only a drop in the ocean - so to speak. Perhaps I should say a drop in the reservoirs. We need a LOT of rain this winter if we're not to find severe water restrictions next summer.

But still, it made a pleasant change. It settled the dust, and cleaned the rooftops and trees. And strangely, by about 8am the clouds had dispersed and the sun came out. It was still chilly, but has stayed sunny all day.

As I walked to the mother-and-toddler group where I help, this morning, I did wonder if I would see flooding along the road, as happened in February. Thankfully it wasn't that bad - I suppose two hours of rain couldn't produce that much water - but there were still a lot of puddles:

Larnaka town centre

On Monday mornings, I walk into the town to check for mail at our PO Box. It occurs to me that people who haven't been to Cyprus might not have any idea what a typical Cypriot town looks like. So here are a few random photos:


Looking down the main shopping street - Ermou, as it's called (or Hermes) Street. Cars parked everywhere, of course. Larnaka was not designed for cars.



This is looking in the other direction. A mixture of Greek and English on the signs, more cars, and very Cypriot looking shops.


And one more, showing how uneven the paving slabs are. I'm used to them now, but a friend has her 90-year-old mother staying, who normally lives in a remote village of England. She thinks it's very noisy and busy here, and so difficult to walk with all the uneven pavements.

Where is Cyprus?

Several people apparently find this blog when trying to find out where Cyprus is. So this post is for anyone who still doesn't know.

Cyprus is a small island at the Eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea. It's just South of Turkey, West pf Lebanon, North of Egypt. Politically it's part of Europe - it became part of the European Union a few years ago, and will join the euro currency zone in 2008 - although geographically it's closer to Asia. It's known as the cross-roads between the East and the West; it's convenient for travel to Africa as well.

You can see Cyprus on this map of Europe; it's the little island at the bottom, furthest to the right. Click it - or the word 'Cyprus' in the list of countries - and you'll find the Lonely Planet information about Cyprus.

Christmas Fairs in Larnaka

Today we had the first signs that Christmas isn't far away. St Helena's Church, where Tim is the pianist, held its Christmas Fair this afternoon, starting at two o'clock. Cakes, second-hand books, raffles, white elephant, and a Christmas stall, amongst others.

I headed straight for the book stall, as usual, and bought (ahem) eight books, for the grand price of £2. I'm not entirely sure where we're going to put them, but we've been saying we need new bookcases....

Narrow Gate, the youth band which Tim plays in, were on duty for most of the afternoon doing contemporary Christian music outside, where people sat, drinking tea or eating cake. All very pleasant, and it was nice to catch up with a few people we hadn't seen for a long time.

Over the road, at Larnaka Community Church (where I usually go on a Sunday) there was a Christmas card and book fair run by CLC (Nicosia) starting at three o'clock. They do this annually, and it usually attracts quite a crowd. There weren't many people there when I arrived just after it opened, so I was able to browse at my leisure. I even bought some Christmas cards.

I suppose it is only just over five weeks until Christmas. Tomorrow afternoon Tim will be holding the first rehearsal of the carol choir he will be pulling together for the 'Lessons and carols' service on December 23rd.

Green poinsettia in Cyprus

Nearly a year ago, Richard brought a poinsettia home from the office. If you click that link, you'll see a picture of it with large, dark green leaves, and the typical scarlet bracts at the top. It was also sprayed with glitter, so I didn't expect it to survive.

Two months later, the poinsettia was still alive. Looking a little wilted around the edges, but there was some new green growth, to my surprise.

It evidently liked that table by the window, where we put it, so it's remained there all year. This is what it looks like now:



Very green. Much smaller leaves, and all green. There are lots of new small leaves, so I suppose likes the cooler, dryer weather. But I'd hoped it might have started going red again around the top. Was that too much to hope for? Do poinsettias only have one display of scarlet in their lifetime? Does anyone know?

New venture for Tim in Cyprus

Tim - who is 19 - is seriously considering being a primary school teacher. This is fairly unusual in a guy; so much so that, apparently, some UK teacher training colleges get extra funding for male applicants. It's even more unusual for someone who was educated at home for the past ten years!

Since he will be applying to UCAS soon, he thought it a good idea to do some volunteering at a local school. Partly to help him see if he really did like the idea of being in a classroom again, partly because it will be useful experience, partly because it's a helpful thing to put on an UCAS form when applying for teacher training!

Since all the state schools are Greek-speaking only, Tim spoke to a friend who teaches in one of the English-speaking private schools. She spoke to the Head, who met Tim last week, and agreed that he could help in classrooms on Tuesday and Thursday mornings.

The only minor difficulty is that the school day starts just after 7.30am here, and Tim usually gets up around 9am!

Two days ago there was a school day off, for Chrysostomos day. Nobody I spoke to seems entirely sure why it's a day off for schools (it's not a general public holiday). The general concensus was that someone in the government may have that name.

Anyway, it meant that Tim's first experience helping in a classroom was this morning. He set his alarm last night, and got up at 6am, much to Sophia's disgust. Sophia is our talkative and scheduled cat, who knows just where we should all be at different times of the day. I am permitted to get up around 6am (indeed, if I'm not up by 7am she hustles me out of bed) but Tim isn't supposed to be up at that hour. She followed Tim around, complaining bitterly.

Apparently he had a great time. He said the school was far nicer than it was when we had a look around it ten years ago. Perhaps, had it been then like it is today, he would have wanted to go there... and our lives would have been very different.

Christmas Cake

Tim isn't particularly keen on fruit cake, so would be quite happy to have no Christmas cake at all. I'm not bothered either way - I like a piece or two, but don't find it particularly scrumptious.

But Richard LOVES Christmas cake. The traditional rich fruit cake, that is, of which the best recipe - in my opinon - is Delia's classic Christmas cake.

So every year I bake one. Delia says, in her book, that it should be made about eight weeks before it's eaten. I don't think I have ever managed that, because somehow the beginning of November just doesn't feel like the right time to think about Christmas. Particularly not when the weather is bright, sunny, and around 25C. Last year I made the cake at the beginning of December, but then we were away for most of November last year.

This year I seem to be more organised, at least in theory. I actually THOUGHT about the Christmas cake before we went away for seven weeks in September. Since we were due back on October 26th, I reckoned I'd have the weekend to recover from the flights, and then could make the Christmas cake easily eight weeks before Christmas.

Reality never quite meets expectations. When we got home, we were absolutely shattered. We did go shopping a few hours after we landed, but I went around the supermarket like a zombie, picking up a few things that looked useful, and a lot of fruit and veg. I certainly didn't think about Christmsa cake ingredients.

Still, a week later, I did remember, so I got out the recipe, and wrote the ingredients on my list. We bought them all, and I unpacked them into a cupboard, thinking I would bake the cake over the weekend.

Then I forgot all about it until a week later - last Friday - when I was looking in the cupboards to see what we were running out of. I noticed the mixed peel and extra soft brown sugar, and the large quantities of raisins and currants.

Ah.

Perhaps, I thought, I would bake it at the weekend...

But somehow, although I don't do much at the weekend, it didn't happen. Possibly because Tim does all the cooking at weekends, so I don't go into the kitchen much at all, other than to clear away.

So I decided to make it on Monday. That's the day before yesterday. I was planning to cook a beef stew for our evening meal, and it needed the oven set low. Ideal, I thought, for the Christmas cake to bake at the same time.

On Monday afternoon I put the stew in the oven, then got out the recipe.

Then I noticed the part which I always manage to forget: 'The night before you make the cake....'

Duh. I've been doing this recipe for at least five years now, and never ever remember in advance that I need to soak all the dried fruit in brandy overnight before I can make the cake.

I thought about putting the fruit to soak over Monday night, but since I'm out helping at mothers-and-toddlers on Tuesday mornings, I knew I would be tired and wouldn't even get started till after lunch, and the cake would then be in the oven when I wanted to use it for other cooking.

So I decided to soak the fruit Tuesday night. I didn't remember until about 9.30pm, but at least I did it. So this morning I FINALLY got around to making the cake. Yesterday it was six weeks till Christmas so I'm only two weeks late.

Here's how it looked when it went in the tin:


Then, although the online version of the recipe doesn't mention it, Delia's book says that the tin should have a piece of brown paper tied on the outside as well as a double layer of greaseproof paper on the top of the cake, while it's baking. I had some brown paper saved from a year ago, so I followed the instructions, and then baked the cake at 140C (on regular, not fan oven) on the bottom shelf for four hours. I didn't even peek during that time.

The smell was amazing. After four hours I did take a look, and I reckoned the cake was done. So I turned the oven off and let the cake cool in the oven for ten minutes, then took it out to cool some more:


Finally, after another half-hour, I turned it out so it can finish cooling on a wire rack:


If you're not familiar with rich fruit cake, you might think it odd that the baked version looks not much bigger than the raw version. That's correct. The flour used is plain, and there's no baking powder or bicarbonate of soda added (thank goodness - imagine the taste if a cake with bicarb was left for six or eight weeks!)

I shall put marzipan and icing on at some point in December (quite possibly Christmas Eve though I hope to be slightly more efficient) and we will cut it open on Christmas Day.

DVD rentals, Cyprus style

Let me first set the scene:

Richard and Tim rather enjoy an old American TV series called 'West Wing'. It's a light political drama series, which they say is cleverly made, well produced, and sometimes funny.

Since they're fairly expensive to buy - and they can't imagine watching them more than once anyway - they've started renting a four-episode West Wing DVD every weekend. They watch two episodes on Saturday night, and two on Sunday, and then return the DVD on Monday. That costs a grand total of £1.50 per DVD.

I must also mention that we keep, on a table by our door, a pot of small change. It's easy to collect coins that make a wallet very heavy, so we all offload our change into the pot, and then pick up whatever we need if buying bread, or needing parking money, or doing some photocopying, or renting a DVD, etc.

So...

On Saturday evening, Tim picked up three 50c pieces from the pot, and popped out to the DVD rental place. He was given the next West Wing DVD in the series, and handed over his £1.50.

Unfortunately, only two of the coins were actually 50 Cyprus cent pieces.

The third was a British 50p piece, which looks remarkably similar:



... particularly if you're in a hurry, which Tim usually is. Besides, he didn't expect to find anything other than Cyprus coins in the pot.

We could speculate on whether a 50p piece from our recent travels somehow made its way there, or whether one of us was given it in change in Cyprus somewhere, and didn't notice. We shall never know.

But for Tim, standing there in the DVD rental shop, it was a big problem.

Still, this is Cyprus.

'No problem,' they told him. 'You can give us the extra fifty cents next time you come in.'

They know he's a good customer, and it wasn't exactly a huge amount they were talking about.

However, it's 21st century European Union Cyprus. The DVD rental shop is fully computerised. So it wasn't quite as simple as a shrug and trusting him to bring the money next time. They had to make the account and paperwork correct.

So this is how they worked it out:

First they gave him a discount of 50c for the weekend's rental. Discounts are very common in Cyprus, and - it seems - can be given for any reason.

Then they put a 'late charge' of 50c against his account, to ensure that he would be charged the extra money at some point in the future!

Last night he returned the DVD, paid the 'late charge' (although in fact he has never returned anything late) and everyone was happy.

New euro stamps for Cyprus

The currency in Cyprus will change from Cyprus pounds to euros on January 1st 2008.

Seems like a good move as we have so many European tourists here. Cyprus pounds have been over-valued for many years, and no other country uses them. Banks and supermarkets have been displaying both euros and Cyprus pounds for the past several months on all statements, bills, and so on; for them, the process should go relatively smoothly.

It's harder for small businesses that can't easily work in multiple currencies, as someone was explaining to us. In January, the change-over month, Cyprus pounds will still be valid, but all change has to be given in euros. Some shop workers have a hard time dealing even with change in one currency when it's shown on the cash register machine. ... they're going to find it very difficult with two, when the machine may not show the amount.

Postage stamps have also had to be issued with both currencies, although I assume that after January these will be phased out to allow for euros only. But December, of course, is probably the month when the most cards and letters are sent in the mail so they've had to produce some special dual-currency stamps just for these few months. Here's the standard 30c stamp, which apparently will be €0.51 in the new year. (I realised as I typed that last sentence that I have no idea what the abbreviation for euro-cent is. Will it still be c or is there a new symbol? Anyone know?)


There's one stamp that hasn't been reissued, however. This is a Cyprus speciality, something I haven't seen anywhere else in the world. Every letter, postcard and parcel has to have an additional 1c postage stamp, the proceeds of which go to the refugee fund. That's not refugees seeking asylum in Cyprus (of which there are an ever-increasing number) but Greek Cypriots who became refugees from the North of the country after the invasion in 1974.

I don't know what will happen to this stamp in January, but so far it still looks like this:

Power cuts in Cyprus

On Friday, several people received notices that their electricity would be cut sporadically on Sunday, while some new cables were laid in the street outside. Much better, of course, than having it go off without warning. But it was a bit inconvenient since one of the buildings was a bakery (open 7 days a week) and another was St Helena's Church, where Tim is the organist. They use a digital piano for the main morning service, switched to organ mode for hymns. And today was Remembrance Sunday, a big event in the Anglican Church.

Unsure whether it would be advisable even to switch the piano on - since a power surge could potentially damage it - Tim took his classical guitar with him. He had never played any of the hymns chosen for the service on the guitar, and didn't have chords available, so had to read the piano music and turn it into guitar chords on the spur of the moment. Apparently he succeeded, and even though some of the folk who attend morning service don't like guitars much, it was better than singing a capella.

The PA system obviously didn't work either, so those leading the service had to speak extra-loud, but it's not a huge church. One of them apparently did have a mental block at the last hymn... he put an acetate on the overhead projector, and then couldn't understand, for a moment, why it didn't work! Fortunately most of the words used were in the hymn book. Just as well this happened in November, so they weren't expecting to use the air conditioning.

Tim said, when he got home, that evening service might be cancelled if the power wasn't returned. I asked why - after all, he usually plays his guitar for the evening service, and as there are only usually about twenty people there, they can manage easily without microphones.

I had forgotten one important fact. By 6.30pm it's dark. Without power, they wouldn't be able to see a thing....

Richard dropped him at the church at 6pm and the lights were working. So, presumably, the power is now on again.

November in Cyprus: sweatshirts, sailing, and donating rice online

This morning we all sprouted sweatshirts. It was distinctly cooler.

Still, depite threats of strong wind and rain, it was sunny and calm. So Richard went sailing with his friends, as he often does on a Saturday morning. He said they were out for a couple of hours, but it then did get too windy after lunch. So now he's brought his boat back to our driveway, so he can spend the winter doing some necessary repair-work and maintenance. He hadn't really expected to go sailing at all after we returned from Malaysia just over two weeks ago, so has been pleased to have three extra Saturdays when the weather was suitable.

I cleaned most of the windows this morning, as they were looking a bit grubby, and did some ironing, before switching on the computer to check email, forums, and so on. I ordered some Christmas presents from play.com which is almost always the best value site for ordering to Cyprus, since postage is free.

I also browsed the BBC site and found this interesting article about free rice for the hungry. It appears to be genuine. Sponsored by advertisers, the FreeRice site gives words with four possible definitions. A little like 'Call my Bluff' or 'Balderdash'. Select the correct one, and the site will donate 10 grains of rice to the United Nations World Food Program. In about a month, since the site started, a billion grains have been donated - enough, apparently, to feed 50,000 people for a day.

Even if it weren't an interesting and educational game, I think this is worth doing for anyone with a few minutes spare (and, probably, a broadband connection). But the vocabulary game itself is also quite interesting. There are 50 levels of vocabulary, according to the FAQ; get three words in a row correct, and the level moves up by 1. They say that it's very rare to get beyond level 48; I can believe it. I think my vocabulary is fairly good, helped by an understanding of some Latin and Greek, but the highest I saw was level 46. Most of the time I was between 42 and 44. I think I donated 1500 grains of rice today in all - the game, simple though it is in concept, is surprisingly addictive.

Rain at last in Larnaka

We've now been back in Cyprus for two weeks, though it feels considerably longer.

Only a week ago I put the thin duvets on our beds. We weren't entirely sure we would need them, but we're very glad we have them now, only seven days later, since it's been a lot chillier at night. Not cold, exactly, but certainly under 20c in the house.

Last night it actually rained! Only for about ten minutes, but some of it sounded quite heavy. Unfortunately it was about 3am, and I didn't sleep much afterwards.

Cleo, our oldest and most nervous cat, is the most sensitive to cold. Perhaps because she was born during a Cyprus summer, so likes warm weather. At our old house, all the cats enjoyed the kerosene heater when it was on; Cleo, however, used to lie in front of it, rather pointedly, when it wasn't on, if she was feeling cold.

This house has double glazing so doesn't get nearly as cold as the other one did. It also has central heating, which, last winter, we ran for a couple of hours each morning and evening from about December to February, to take the chill off the house. Three of the cats were happy to sit on their usual chairs or beds, but Cleo liked to lie right in front of radiators.

We didn't realise that she was feeling cold last night (it wasn't THAT cold - even Richard was still just in a tee-shirt and light trousers). Cleo was dropping some pretty strong hints:


Richard will have to give the system a quick service before we switch it on; however the gas man did come this morning to fill up our huge gas tank, so we can start to use it any time. As soon as it starts getting really cold. But until we've decided we need to wear sweatshirts in the house, we really don't need the central heating!

Slightly cooler in Cyprus

Yesterday the sky did look grey for some of the day. It was a bit windy, too. But it didn't rain.

Today I didn't wake up until 6.30am, for which I am very thankful. And it was surprisingly chilly when I opened one of the doors to let Sophia out. Pleasantly so: I enjoy early mornings at this time of year. People had been telling me that it would surely rain today but it didn't. At least, so far. The sky stayed clear and blue until it got dark.

Tim, as ever, is very busy. His theology course has a 'web CT' this week, involving considerable discussion and posting of articles. I gather it counts for half the coursework; it's the kind of thing he hoped to be doing with a correspondence course, and was disappointed last year that there was so little online discussion.

At lunch-time he went to chat to the Head of one of the local English-speaking private schools. He's hoping to do some volunteer work in classrooms, partly to see if he really does like the idea of primary teaching, and also partly because it will be useful on his UCAS form and future CV. He's hoping to transfer to a university in the UK next Autumn, either to continue theology or to start teacher training. A little ironic, considering that he was educated at home from the age of nine!

This afternoon he had a meeting with his Vicar to discuss music for the next few months. On the way home he bought some props he needs for leading Youth Group games tomorrow night. And in half an hour he'll be out again, to play for and direct his church choir. As I type, he's printing out Christmas music on the printer beside me, so I suppose they'll be starting that soon...

Dustmen in Cyprus

I do appreciate our dustmen ('trash collectors' for anyone in the USA wondering what on earth dustmen are). They collect rubbish three mornings per week. They will take any amount of rubbish, too - it doesn't even have to be in black bags. We pay £65 CY per year for the privilege, and have to give them a pound or two at Christmas, but it's well worth it. In a hot country, it wouldn't be a good idea to have rubbish lying around for more than a few days, after all.

Where we used to live, our collection days were Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Where we live now, only about 2 km away, our collection days are Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Since they come fairly early, I put the rubbish out the night before, and it's usually gone by the time I get up.

So far, so good.

I don't know how many dustmen's lorries there are around the town, but it probably isn't a huge number. So they have to start fairly early in order to get around all the necessary streets to collect all the rubbish.

I think they vary their routes. And since we've been back from Malaysia (12 days now) our street is targetted around 5am. The dustmen, wonderful though they are, are not particularly quiet. Nor is the dustcart. So on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, I wake up and then can't get back to sleep again.

Hence I'm rather tired today. Again.

(PS If anyone is interested in bathrooms on the Doulos, Daniel has just posted a new article including a delightful photo of a salt-encrusted flush valve....)

The Larnaka Salt Lake in November after no rain

Some friends from one of our churches in the UK have been staying in Limassol for the past week. Today they caught a service (shared) taxi to Larnaka, so they could see us, and also visit Richard's office, and see our new house. They spent the morning with Richard while I was helping at the mothers-and-toddlers group, then came to lunch at our house.

We chatted for a while, then - as they didn't have a whole lot of time, but were interested to see something of Larnaka - we took them to the nearby Salt Lake.

Of course, after no rain for about six months, there's no lake at all - it's just salt crust:


We went up into the bird-watching observation place, to get a better view. Looking to the right, everything is very brown:

.. and not much better looking to the left:


If it doesn't rain soon - and in quite significant amounts - Cyprus is going to be in big trouble next summer.

(To see how very different it looks in the spring, this post shows photos of the Salt Lake eight months ago)

Still warm in Cyprus

I'm sleeping better now, thankfully. This morning I didn't wake till 6.45am, which is pretty late for me. By the time I'd done the various things I do first thing in the morning - general cleaning, making fresh apple juice, breakfast, shower, etc - it was 9am. I go to the Post Office on Monday mornings to check our mail; in the summer I go much earlier and have my shower when I get home since it's so hot, even at 7.30am. But by this time of year it's not so bad; there is shade for much of the way, and the temperature was 'only' about 25C. Still, by the time I got there - a twenty-minute walk - I was pretty hot and sticky.

I popped into a couple of shops after collecting the mail, then tried to find my way to the Christian Writers' Association of Larnaka - a rather grand title for a group of about five of us who have been meeting for the last few months to talk about writing. The lady who hosts it has moved, and had given me a sketch map, saying it was pretty close to our Post Office. Unfortunately I don't have much sense of direction and got hopelessly lost.

Fortunately, I had my mobile phone with me. I've only had it for six months, and it's only about the fourth time it's actually been useful, but I was very pleased to have it today! I phoned the hostess of the group, who sent her husband to meet me in his car.

They have a terrific view from their flat:


- it really is a lovely day. Someone gave me a lift home, which is a good thing since by the time I got back it was (according to the weather site) 29C. That's pretty hot for November.

In previous years, the temperature has dropped drastically around the end of the first week of November, and it's started to rain. Some time between the 7th and the 10th. It will be interesting to see if the same happens this year. We need rain more than ever...

Weekends in Cyprus

We have a great arrangement in our household. Tim, our 19-year-old son, does all the cooking at weekends. He is an excellent cook, whose specialities are authentic Indian curries and traditional British Sunday roasts. My idea of cooking a curry is to throw in a bit of curry powder... and I wouldn't bother with a Sunday roast most weeks if I were cooking. Certainly not in the Summer.

But Tim loves a traditional roast, and took over the cooking of them at least two years ago. Most weeks we buy a chicken; he makes stuffing and peels potatoes before leaving for church (his service is at 9.30am, but as he's the organist he tries to get there half an hour earlier) then Richard puts the stuffing in the chicken and the whole in the oven before he leaves for church (the service he goes to is at 10am). When Tim gets back he puts the potatoes to boil, then in the oven to roast about noon, bastes the chicken, deals with vegetables, and possibly even makes a dessert.

Sometimes we have something different - either a bit of lamb, or some beef. This week we bought beef, and Tim decided to braise it. Since the smallest piece we could get was just over a kilogram, we invited some friends for lunch, something we do probably a couple of times per month. Tim cooked the outside of the beef in a Le Creuset casserole dish we had as a wedding present, then peeled, sliced and cooked some carrots and onions, putting the beef on top, adding a few peppercorns and a bayleaf, and some water. He asked Richard to put it in the oven on low before he left.

When I got back from the service I go to (which starts at 9am) I made a dessert, since Tim didn't think he'd have time today; but he did everything else - roast potatoes, excellent yorkshire puddings, broccoli and peas.

Of course I still have to clean up the kitchen, but having a dishwasher makes that far more enjoyable than it used to be. And since I don't have to cook at the weekend, I really don't mind a bit of clearing up.

Acclimatisation in Cyprus

When we first came here, ten years ago, the temperatures were similar to this year's. 25C - or thereabouts - in the shade. Sunny, most of the day. Down to about 18C overnight.

I have never much liked heat, and can remember being miserable, convinced I would never survive if Cyprus was 'that hot'. I mentioned this to one of Richard's new colleagues, and she said, 'You think this is hot? Huh... just wait till next Summer. This is wonderfully cool by comparison.'

Not the most helpful or encouraging of comments, although of course she was correct. 25C is a great deal pleasanter than 35C, after all. But at the time, I felt it was unbearable. We went around in tee-shirts and shorts, astounded to see some of the local people in long trousers and even jackets. I tossed and turned all night with the heat...

Now here we are, ten years later, and I've been dressing in jeans since we got back from our travels just over a week ago. The house feels a very pleasant temperature. There's a lovely fresh breeze first thing in the morning. And I'm glad I put the light duvet on our bed last night, because it felt much more comfortable than just a sheet.

I now think of 20-25C as the perfect temperature for Spring and Autumn. I still don't go out much in the sunshine during the main part of the day as sunshine tends to give me a headache, but I'm certainly not complaining of the 'heat' any more.

[NB for any Americans reading, 25C is 77F]

Back in Cyprus for a week: duvets and a mosquito

It's a week since we flew back home. I certainly feel a great deal more human than I did a week ago! The house is now fully dusted, mopped, etc, and I think everything is put away. Other than a large pile of paperwork (including dozens of receipts) which I need to deal with over the weekend.

We thought that, while we were away, it would get cool enough for our cat-sitter to need a light duvet on her bed, where she was sleeping. But she didn't. So we decided not to get the duvets out last week, as we were so exhausted, and sure enough we were fine with just a sheet covering us at night.

But the last two nights, both Richard and I have been carefully spreading our dressing gowns (that's 'bathrobes' for anyone in the USA) over ourselves before going to sleep. So today, when I changed the sheets, I also got out the lightweight duvets and covers, and put them on the beds. Tim wasn't sure he'd need his, but decided he might as well. I'm glad I washed them before putting them away for the summer - a much better idea than doing so when I get them out again for the autumn!

Last night I should have had an unbroken sleep, but for a mosquito which found its way into our bedroom and buzzed around my ear. I don't think it bit me, but it woke me up about 3am. I got up and switched on the electric mozzie-killer and that seemed to work, but it meant yet another disturbed night. Sigh. Spring and Autumn are the worst for mosquitoes in Cyprus, so I suppose I should have expected it.

Strangely, it made me realise that in Malaysia, where it was warm, humid and very rainy, I didn't see a single mosquito.

November begins in Cyprus: All Saints' Day

Sometimes November can be a bit dull and rainy in Cyprus, but today it's warm and sunny. About 25C [or 77F if you prefer to think that way]. Still no rain. Not even any forecast rain for the next ten days, although that might change.

The year we moved here, 1997, we were taken out for the day on November 1st, to a beach at the Eastern end of the island. That was also warm and sunny, and I can remember thinking that there were some bonuses to having moved here - which we did only five days beforehand. That morning I had received an email from a friend in the UK saying they had the first frost of the season overnight, and a friend in Colorado in the USA saying they had several inches of snow! A sunny beach with 25C heat seemed very pleasant by comparison.

Here's a view of our neighbourhood showing the clear blue skies overhead:


Tim is having a busy day. Halloween isn't celebrated in Cyprus (the Greek Orthodox Church don't allow it - for which I am very thankful) but today is All Saints' Day. There was a service at Tim's church for which he was playing at 10am, then he had to play for a funeral at 1pm. This afternoon he has been working on a new song book for the inter-church youth group.

I decided before we returned to Cyprus that I would take the last few days of October to get re-settled and catch up on some sleep. Then I would try to be organised from November, with house-cleaning routines, doing more writing, regular blogging, and so on.

I slept well on Monday night, and felt fine on Tuesday. Just as well, since that's the morning when I help with mothers-and-toddlers. Unfortunately, on Tuesday night Richard was listening to the radio as he went to sleep. BBC World Service, which for some reason goes off the air in Cyprus between about midnight and 5am. Even more unfortunately, I tend to wake up when it comes on again, and then find it hard to get back to sleep. And worst still, the off-air times don't seem to have adjusted to the clock-change of the weekend. So it came on at 4am. And I couldn't get back to sleep, so I finally got up at six o'clock.

I do not do well on broken nights. I am one of those people who really needs 8 hours continuous sleep every night. Seven is all right once in a while, but six or less is not good news.

Yesterday I made it through the day - one of Richard's colleagues came to lunch, and then one of the youth group leaders came to supper, cooked by Tim. I finally went to bed about 9.30pm and slept soundly... until about 3.30am when Richard got into bed. Apparently there was some technical problem at the office so he had to go back there and sort it out. After I woke, I managed to doze a bit but not fall back to sleep again. So once again I'm pretty tired.

Oh, and Tim and I have both come down with streaming colds, which we think we caught on the flights home last week. We are both taking mega-doses of Vitamin C, and getting through mega-numbers of tissues.

So all in all, I'm not feeling much like being organised. However, on a mad kind of impulse I signed up yesterday for NaNoWriMo - the site that encourages people to write a novel in a month. (It means 'National Novel Writing Month'.) Only a short novel - 50,000 words, which means about 1666 words per day - and the idea is just to keep writing rather than editing. I had an idea playing around in my mind so I thought I'd give it a go - and to my surprise, found I easily wrote 1600-ish words today in under an hour.

Then I saw something similar mentioned on Gina's blog, called NaBloPoMo - National Blog Posting Month. Of course, they're both actually international, but never mind. That one encourages people to post on their blogs at least once per day during November. Sounds a good idea, so I signed up for that too.

So perhaps I shall be motivated by having joined these two sites. I hope so.