Happy Christmas

I started writing two posts in the past six weeks, but didn't finish either of them. I may still do so, and then publish them back-dated to when I started to write. Today, however, is Christmas Eve so I will continue my annual tradition and post a picture of this year's Christmas cake:

Not significantly different from previous years' cakes. But I don't think I've put an approximate star shape in the middle before (which was my intention, though it doesn't look very star-shaped). I made it at the end of October, fed it a couple of times with Cyprus brandy and put home-made almond paste on it at the end of last week. This afternoon, I made royal icing in the food processor, so it's done, albeit finished rather at the last minute this year. 

I've tried to pace myself with food preparation over the past week. Our freezer is extremely full. But today was fairly busy and tomorrow will be hectic trying to time everything correctly, and keep things hot. Neither of our sons are able to be with us, but our local friends, with four of their offspring will be joining us. And I can't, somehow, let go of the family tradition of making too much food with a lot of options, both for lunch and for tea/supper. 

But, hopefully, I then won't have to cook at all for the rest of the week.

We'll go to the church service tomorrow morning, as we usually do, which should help to focus on the real reason for Christmas for an hour. 

Seasons greetings to all who read this, and wishing you every blessing for 2025.  How strange to recall that, quarter of a century ago, we were all feeling concerned about the 'millennium bug'...

On decorating for Christmas

When I was growing up, decorating for Christmas used to happen at the start of the school holidays. Or that's what I recall, anyway. My parents had a real Christmas tree for many years, so wanted it to last until it was taken down on January 6th. And since they used to host Christmas Day for the whole family even after I was married, Richard and I didn't have a tree for some years.

However when our sons were small we bought an artificial tree; I think it was in 1989 when Daniel was three, and very insistent that we should have our own tree. So he and Richard went out on Christmas Eve... but the only real trees they could find were either very scraggy, or enormous and very expensive. So they compromised with a fake tree, pointing out that if we used it for more than one year it would be good value. Thirty-five years later, we still have that tree. We didn't take it to Colorado when we lived there for two years, and we didn't have it here in Cyprus for our first few years. But it's probably had thirty Christmases. 

Since we were home educating in Cyprus, there was no obvious time to put up the tree and other decorations each year. So it was somewhat random. If we were hosting a Christmas party early in December, we would decorate before that event. If not, it was sometimes left until a day or two before Christmas. When the boys had grown up and left home, we didn't feel much like decorating at all, but usually managed to host local friends (and for many years Tim came home). 

In the past thirteen years, our friends' three daughters have helped put up our tree at some point in December. Thirteen years ago, when the oldest of them was six, and the youngest just two, the adults did most of the work, and the hanging of decorations was a bit ragged, so I adjusted everything after they had left.

But it made a tradition. In 2018, for instance, they managed most of it themselves. 

The date of putting up the tree has gradually become earlier in recent years. Since we take everything down around January 5th, I quite like having decorations up for at least four weeks. So in the past couple of years, we've decorated around Advent Sunday. And despite our young friends now being teenagers of 19, 16 and 14, this is still an important tradition for them. 

They put the tree together rapidly and efficiently, then open the decoration boxes to decide which baubles and other decorations they will use. 

The Roomba is now situated in the place where we used to have our tree, so we haven't quite determined the best place for it. But this year we decided to have it next to the DVD bookcases. 

We had already bought a poinsettia and placed it in the usual spot where they seem to thrive, despite our record of killing indoor plants:

And, as I have done for several years now, I hung last year's Christmas cards up across the doors between our living room and dining room: 

Many people no longer send cards (postage prices from the UK are horrendous) but those that do arrive usually get here in the last few days before Christmas, or the first couple of weeks of the new year. So I always keep them to display the following year.

On the table, our knitted nativity set was displayed, this time with the baby conveniently hidden inside Mary's skirts during advent:

I no longer have to do any rearranging of the tree. Our young friends are artistic and competent, and the result was just as I hoped: 

Another week over...

 Wasn't New Year just a few days ago...? How can it be nearly half-way through January already? Time has a way of racing past, faster and faster and I really don't know where the last week has gone.

Part of that, I acknowledge, is that I've had quite a bad cold. Which I'll come to later... 

On Friday January 5th, we went for a walk along the sea-front to check our PO Box. And there, as so often happens at this time of year, we found ELEVEN Christmas cards. All from the UK, posted on different dates between the 5th and 17th December. 

So much for official 'last posting dates'. It all seems quite random. 

That nearly doubled the number of cards we received for the 2023 Christmas season, so I put them up along with those we had already received:

 

We do appreciate the cards that arrive. If you happen to be reading this and are one of the people who still sends us a card each year, then thank you very much. But we have been rather shocked at the amount of postage necessary to send a card to Cyprus from the UK. So please don't feel that you must! Electronic greetings are also welcome. It's rather sad that, even if folk post cards early in December, they can take a month to arrive. This is why I always keep the latest cards in an envelope along with our tree and decorations, and put them up the following year. 

So these, which we displayed right through December, are actually the cards we were sent for Christmas 2022 (many of which didn't arrive until early or even mid-January 2023)

The traditional times for taking down Christmas decorations range from January 5th (Twelfth Night) through to Candlemas (February 2nd). But having had ours up since December 1st, I felt that it was time to take them down on January 5th... so we made sure the knitted wise men arrived at the manger even though it was a day earlier than Epiphany:

In the evening, Richard helped me take everything down, and packed it away much more neatly and efficiently than I can manage when I'm doing the un-decorating alone.

And so, that was Christmas. 

Winding back a few hours, on that same Friday, which felt like a very long day, one way and another, I went to hang out the laundry I had done in the morning, only to find it still rather wet. I put it on to spin again, and nothing happened. Well, the washing machine made a lot of noise, but the drum did not turn at all. 

Uh-oh.

The washing machine, which was eight and a half years old, had been playing up for many months: I could no longer select the programme I used the most, and had to use a different one. Sometimes it was hard even to find that. We wondered about seeing if it could be fixed, but thought it (a) unlikely and (b) probably expensive. 

With a second major thing not working, we realised the time had come to buy a new washing machine.  Our previous one lasted nine years, and ended dramatically by boil-washing some clothes that never really recovered. Eight-and-a-half isn't significantly less. And whereas we were happy to buy a used (and probably elderly) steamer at the thrift store, just a day earlier, we didn't even look for a second-hand washing machine.  A steamer might be used ten or twelve times in a year, and we can manage quite well without it if we have to. A washing machine is used at least 150 times a year, with just the two of us, and I would find it extremely difficult to cope without it. 

So we went out to our favourite local white goods store, George Theodorou, after perusing their website, and ordered a new machine. To be delivered on Monday. And while many things have become more expensive in the past decade, I was slightly surprised to realise that our new washing machine was forty euros cheaper than the one we bought in 2015. And it comes with a five-year guarantee.

Our washing machine is located on an outside utility balcony, inside a biggish metal cupboard.  It works well; it's right by the washing lines, and it's not taking up space in the kitchen. 

But also in the cupboard, next to the machine, we tend to accumulate things like old cardboard boxes, ends of cans of paint - particularly when they're still in use - and unused cat litter trays. I also had a large bag of polystyrene beads for beanbags. At one point we had four beanbags, but one of them was damaged by one of the cats, and we didn't really think we needed four.. so I rescued the filling, and thought it would be useful for topping up the three remaining beanbags. The fillings tend to get squashed, so the bags become less comfortable with time.

It was, I think, a good idea. But I did that probably five or six years ago, and had not done any topping up. I also hadn't realised that the large bin bag in which I put the spare beads was a biodegradable one. And it started to biodegrade. I had noticed a few beans leaking out but hadn't done anything about it... and the slight leak, just a week or two earlier, had turned into a major cascade...

I might have left this for weeks, even months longer, although a high wind could have caused beans to go flying all over the place. But knowing that a new washing machine was coming on Monday was an excellent motivator. So on Sunday I set to work with a jug and a new bin liner... 

Richard helped, and between us we managed to tidy up the inside of the cupboard effectively, getting rid of some almost empty (and dried up) paint containers, and throwing out some of the beans which had become very grubby. 

On Monday the new washing machine was delivered and installed, and the old one taken away. I hadn't realised that the door was so dark, I couldn't see the laundry going around inside. But I guess it doesn't matter. 

The programme names seem a bit random; I've tried three different ones so far, and they all work well. The cycles are rather quicker than those on the previous machine, which is a plus point. 

On Thursday, when I went out for a walk with Sheila first thing, the flamingoes were right on the shore. It had rained a bit, and evidently there were plenty of fresh little pink shrimp by the shore. 

We can't get too close, or they become frightened, and my phone zoom isn't great - but I was quite pleased with this picture. 

2023 broke all the records for warmth, at least in Cyprus, and December was no exception. As I said in a previous post, I don't think the overnight temperatures dropped below ten degrees (Celcius, of course) and the daytimes were mostly 20-23 in the shade. 

Early January remained warm, too. But on Friday, for the first time, my phone showed slightly cooler temperatures when I got up:

And, indeed, it rained - not much on Friday afternoon, but today has been very grey, with rain more than once. A report in the Cyprus Mail said that snow is falling in Troodos. 

Perhaps winter is, at last, arriving. 

Oh, and my cold...

I had a slight sniffle on Monday that barely affected me. I walked with Sheila as usual first thing on Tuesday, but felt exhausted when I got home and very 'coldy' for the rest of the day. It was  really quite bad on Wednesday, then started to improve. It's pretty much gone by now. I didn't test for Covid; mainly because most of our remaining free testing kits have dried up entirely. But I checked several sites to see if there were any clear differences. I was sneezing a lot (common with colds, very uncommon with Covid). However I didn't have a headache, other than slight pressure around my sinuses on Wednesday (headaches are very common with Covid), nor did I have any aches and pains anywhere else. I was a bit tired, but not in a debilitating way. And my coughs were productive.

All of which is probably far more information than anyone reading this cares to read, so I'll end here. 

Christmas Eve 2023

 I quite like Christmas being on a Monday. It means we collected our turkey and did the last bits of shopping yesterday, so today was - theoretically - a bit more relaxing. I thought of it almost like an extra Saturday. Not that I've sat down much; I've been pottering in the kitchen, making extra food, cutting up vegetables, washing up at least three times for items that won't go in the dishwasher. 

I made our Christmas cake at the start of November, put almond paste on it a few days ago, and iced it yesterday. I rarely do anything new or creative despite having many books with amazing looking ideas. Here's this year's effort, anyway:

I see, glancing through this blog, that it's very similar to the one I made in 2014. 

I didn't have any handy aquafaba and it seemed silly to open a can of chickpeas just for a few tablespoons of the cooking water. But I really don't like using raw egg white in royal icing. So I tried 'No Egg', something which is an inexpensive commercial egg replacer which we bought from Holland and Barrett a few weeks ago. I don't know how it works, but it was quite effective, though I had to add a tablespoon of extra water and another teaspoon of lemon juice to get the icing to bind together. 

We cooked the turkey yesterday, too. Well, Richard did most of the work. I just made the stuffing. It's now neatly sliced in a pan in the fridge, to be reheated tomorrow. 

I don't know why Christmas entertaining feels a whole order more complicated than normal evening or Sunday lunch entertaining. And I know the food and friends are not what Christmas is really about. But still, no matter how simple I try to keep it, I usually do some food preparation most days of December, with a lot on the last couple of days, and a full schedule Christmas morning. 

Advent was very short this year, only three weeks; today is the fourth Sunday of Advent. We put our tree up on December 1st, and hung up last year's cards. Fewer and fewer cards arrive each year, which is fine; electronic communication is more efficient, and considerably less expensive. Postage from the UK is shockingly high, and we know from experience that other cards will arrive next week, or later in January. So this year's cards will be hung up next year. 

This is a poignant time of year for many, a stressful time for even more. The world news is increasingly depressing. But I'll still take this brief moment to wish anyone who sees this a peaceful, blessed and encouraging day tomorrow, however you might celebrate - or even if you don't. 

Where is Autumn....?

We have lived here long enough (26 years) that I no longer expect summer to be over by the start of September. In our first few years, I would feel a stab of disappointment on the first day of the month when it was still hot and humid. I suppose it was a bit like a child waking up on their birthday, devastated to discover that nothing had really changed overnight. 

But I was, briefly, quite hopeful at the end of August this year. We had a downpour of rain towards the end of that month. It was unexpected, and welcome... however, it didn't make the temperatures decrease. Cyprus, like most of Europe, has had the hottest summer on record. September wasn't much better. 

Still, by the middle of September, the humidity did reduce somewhat. And the night-time temperatures dropped to around 19-21 degrees overnight, even though we were still seeing more than 30 degrees in the daytime. So, towards the end of September, I started walking with my friend Sheila again, on three mornings each week. 

The Salt Lake had mostly dried out, but there was a little patch of water. I was told that flamingoes have been spotted already, although we haven't yet seen any on our walks. 

But now it's almost the end of October. We've managed not to use any air conditioning this month - though we were using it right up to the end of September - but we're still running ceiling fans, day and night. The early morning temperatures are still 19-21 degrees. The daytime temperatures have mostly remained up to 30-31 degrees. This morning, the Salt Lake didn't look much different; in previous years it's usually had quite a bit of water by the end of October. 

We've had a bit of rain, two or three times, but no more than about five minutes at a time despite forecasts of thunderstorms and heavy rain. I've had to keep watering the plants, something I don't usually have to do at this time of year.  I haven't yet put even our lightweight duvet on the bed, and I haven't got out my jeans. I did find a thin, light-weight jacket that I wore a few times when walking in the morning, but I didn't remember it today, and didn't need it. I haven't wanted long trousers to walk in, either. 

We had a surprise yesterday, on visiting one of the DIY shops locally, to find that they already had extensive Christmas displays. Here's just one of the sections:

It seems a bit premature, when people are still going around in tee shirts and shorts, but perhaps they know something we don't. November is when we usually start thinking about central heating, so maybe this year we'll move straight from summer into winter...

That's not what the forecast suggests:

But they haven't been all that accurate, recently. And tonight we put the clocks back an hour, so it will be light earlier in the morning (which is good for early morning walkers) but it will be dark earlier in the evenings. 

I haven't updated this blog in a long time.  So here are a few other random items that may or may not be of interest: 

• At the start of September, we had our sofit and fascia boards re-painted, repaired and/or replaced by a young friend, using a boom lift to reach the roof. I didn't even know what sofit or fascia boards were until Richard pointed out that they desperately needed maintenance. 

• Some long-standing friends came to stay for a week, early in September. Mostly they sailed with Richard, but one afternoon we drove to a village festival where there was grape-treading, long speeches and traditional dancing. There were more people than I've seen in one place for a long time:

• Our bird of paradise plant bloomed a couple of weeks ago, for the first time in eight years: 

• Richard celebrated his birthday over two days: we had a barbecue for a few friends in our side yard, and the following day the two of us went to eat at the Art Cafe, somewhere we hadn't been for many years.The staff were younger than they used to be, but the place and the menu did not seem to have changed at all. 

• I had stopped spraying everywhere against large and unpleasant insects, as there were very few in August, none at all in September. Then a couple of days ago, I saw tiny ants swarming on the food processor. I cleaned them off, only to find more on another nearby appliance a few hours later. So I pulled everything out, cleaned away the inevitable crud that accumulates behind kitchen appliances, and sprayed the area with biokill.  Then I found more of these tiny creatures running around on the top of the microwave. Apparently they were nesting inside the vents. Google tells me this is not unusual, and the microwave still works.  Spraying the top and sides of the microwave seems to have helped. 

• Lady Jane must have learned that classic early-reading phrase, 'The cat sat on the mat'. Every time I set the table for our evening meal, she sits down on the mats in the middle:

This may all sound rather frivolous, given the horrific war which, geographically, isn't all that far from Cyprus. A lot of exiles have passed through, en route elsewhere, and a few remain. This little island is braced for many more. We've had two people (both friends of friends) staying in our guest flat: one for a couple of nights, one for rather longer. 

The news sites are increasingly negative, with just a few brief lighter articles. The world seems to be a dangerous place, but, where possible, life goes on. While we pray for peace, with little hope of a solution, we can be thankful for all we have, and make the most of it while we still can. 

Christmas Eve 2021

 As has become a tradition, I'm writing a post on Christmas Eve to wish a very happy Christmas to anyone who might read this.  I don't suppose I'll turn my computer on at all tomorrow. 

So in keeping with the annual posts on this date, I'll begin with a photo of our Christmas cake which I iced this morning and decorated in much the same way as I have every other year. I was tired - it's been a stressful year, and a surprisingly busy December - so didn't feel like anything more creative: 

Richard and Tim took over the kitchen after I had done that, preparing and cooking the turkey. We always do this on Christmas Eve now; after it had stood for half an hour or so after being cooked, Richard carved it and it's now in the fridge in a roasting pan, so it can easily be reheated for an hour in the oven tomorrow. That way it can be served hot, rather than cooling down as everyone waits for it to be carved.

I'm not sure why I'm quite so tired this year; perhaps it's just my advancing years meaning I can do less. I've tried to limit extra baking and cooking to just one thing per day, and have not turned the computer on until after lunch. This means I've been slightly more productive in the kitchen than usual, but considerably less productive at the computer.  

In the early part of the month, other than making some mince pies (as mentioned in my last post) I didn't do much extra cooking; instead I focused on writing and posting cards, and organising Christmas presents for the extended family in the UK. However on December 9th I made three Christmas puddings, seen here in the steamer:

A couple of days later, I tried out a recipe which claimed to be 'failsafe' (a politer way, I suppose, of saying 'foolproof'), lemon bars:

I used dairy-free spread instead of butter, of course, and half wholewheat flour in the base, and made exactly three-quarters of the given amount to fit my tin. But other than those modifications, I made it exactly as given... it was very tasty, but quite messy to get out of the tin. I wished I had greased it although the recipe specifically stated that an ungreased tin should be used. 

However they seemed to be appreciated by the Larnaka Christian Writers' Group; the December meeting was held at our house, followed by our usual pre-Christmas potluck/shared lunch. Much food was enjoyed by nine of us. 

When I made the lemon slices again a few days ago (they really did taste good, definitely repeatable...) I used a silicon sheet underneath and greased the sides, and they came out rather better. 

I made other things to freeze for Christmas, managing to find space in the freezer although it's not easy, and did some extra cleaning, including Tim's room after Richard did significant amounts of tidying.  Yes, despite Omicron and increased Covid restrictions, our younger son was able to fly here on Monday. He said the flight was crowded and rather scary as several of the passengers were not wearing masks, or not wearing them properly. But he's here, and has finished the few days of isolating with us (Cyprus distinguishes 'isolation' from 'strict isolation', the latter only coming into play if someone tests positive).

We went to the Post Office yesterday to see if there was any mail and were surprised by quite a number of Christmas cards. Usually the majority don't arrive until after Christmas, so we keep them and then put them up the following year.  But we've had quite a few now, which is nice:

We send most of our Christmas greetings by email, with an update of a few significant events from the past year - most of which can be found by browsing this blog, despite the distinct lack of entries for the year. 

Tomorrow we'll be going to St Helena's for the morning service, where Tim will be playing, then back here to finish lunch preparations. Our friends will be joining us, with four of their children - not really children any more as the youngest is eleven . We'll eat too much then play board games, and then eat some more. And we'll try to remember the real reason for Christmas amidst the light-hearted indulgences of the day. 

Wishing every blessing to all who read this, with a safe and happy celebration in whatever form it takes. And praying for a more hopeful New Year. 

The First Week of December

 An anonymous comment on this blog reminded me that I had not written here for some time. I was a little shocked to realise that it has been almost three months. Not that a great deal has happened: for October and November in Cyprus in general, just browse the archives for those months, with a little masking and distancing thrown into the mix. 

We were delighted to be able to host two sets of visitors, although, sadly, others had to cancel. But in general, life has continued its normal daily round, as far as I'm concerned. And now we're in Advent: a week into December and already past the second Sunday of Advent, since the first one was on November 28th. 

Christmas preparations always begin with the Christmas cake; this year I made it on October 31st, and then put it in an airtight container to mature.  I have remembered to 'feed' it with a little brandy once, and will probably do so again, but I tend to forget about it until the week before Christmas, when I ice it. 

Other preparations began slightly before I was expecting them to, when we were on a hunt for Christmas cards on the last Friday of November. They weren't yet available in the UK on our visit there in August, and I've never had much success in finding them here. We didn't find cards but we did see some rather nice looking poinsettias at the size we wanted, for a good price: 

I mentioned on Facebook that I couldn't find cards, and a local friend let me know about two shops that sell them locally. It turned out to be much easier than I thought to find them. 

Two days later, November 28th, was Advent Sunday. Something else we had found in one of the shops that sadly lacked Christmas cards was a wreath that was decidedly less tacky than most of what that shop had to offer. It was probably intended as a door wreath, but I realised it would be just right for a candle.  So I put it up and we lit our first candle:

I also made some mincemeat, which I usually do every other year. It doesn't take long and is very simple - if anyone's interested, here's our family recipe for mincemeat, passed down at least two generations so far. The original one was for twice as much, and in pounds rather than grams... and the annotation at the end said it makes 'an enormous lot'.  Mine makes a much more conservative 2kg, which is usually plenty for us for two years. I keep the extra kilogram in the fridge.

The following day, November 29th, I went to the shops mentioned above and found a good selection of Christmas cards. Last year we only sent about eight, to close family members, as the postal system was so bad. This year it's better - we hope - and so we're back to sending about thirty. Far fewer than we sent ten years ago, but many people have stopped sending them altogether, and we've lost touch with some folk. 

We had agreed to host some Advent discussion groups starting on December 1st, so decided to do our annual tree-decorating (with help from young friends) on the last day of November. Outrageously early, as one friend commented on a Facebook post I made, and yes, that's true. But if not at the start of Advent, when...? Christmas Eve is too late, in my view, and any date between Dec 1st and Dec 23rd entirely arbitrary. Besides, I like seeing our tree and Nativity figures. 

The cats are now middle-aged, but it didn't stop them attacking the tree about ten minutes after it was up: 

'Who, me?'  

His sister had raced through to the dining room and was looking entirely innocent although it was almost certainly her fault. 

The Advent discussion group for our church on Wednesday evening, a mixture of in-house and Zoom, was small but enjoyable - hopefully more will join for other discussions. 

On Saturday I joined the Christingle-making group at the church, for the first time. There were eight of us, and it took about an hour to produce over sixty Christingles. We all cleaned the oranges first (harvested from another church member's garden), and cut up foil. Then it turned into a production line. My role was to attach the red tape around the oranges. I don't know what tape it was, but it stuck beautifully. 

On Sunday, in addition to preparing soup, bread and a dessert for our friends who come over every other week, and lunch for the two of us, I made my first batch of mince pies:

We went, with our friends, to the Christingle service in the evening. 

We're fairly used to having chairs in groups of two, wearing masks, having our safe-passes checked etc, but I don't suppose I'll ever like it. It was a pleasant service, starting with a local choir singing (outside). Richard ensured it all worked, so that the choir could hear the music played back, and the congregation could hear the choir.  He also set up the livestream which, if you're interested, is here: 

(The actual service starts about 24 minutes into the stream). 

We lit our second Advent candle on Sunday after we returned from the service with our friends and ate our meal a bit later than usual. 

On Monday morning this week I went to the local Post Office to buy stamps, having written the cards in odd moments over the weekend, and plan to post them all tomorrow.

In the afternoon the local reading group met to discuss a couple of books, and to eat some shared Christmas goodies including more mince pies. 

Today I started ordering presents for the family in the UK... 

And we're only at the end of the first week of December. 

Half-way through January

It's only three weeks since Christmas. That's easy enough to calculate, of course, but it feels like much, much longer. December - when we were still able to have up to ten people meeting at a time - seems like a distant dream.

Christmas Day was pleasant despite being unable to see any of our family. We were able to go to a church service in the morning, albeit in a masked and distanced way, and it was good to see people. Our closest friends came over for lunch, and games in the afternoon, followed by a high tea where none of us felt hungry, but all of us ate plenty.  

On Boxing Day we didn't do much; on the Sunday we had some other friends to lunch and mainly ate leftovers. 

It almost felt like normality. 

But the Covid numbers were climbing. On December 28th, there were 751 new cases announced in Cyprus.  That's equivalent to around 50,000 in the larger countries of Western Europe, or the UK. This is a small country, and while the hospitals weren't yet full, the authorities were getting worried. The restrictions - such as they were - from mid-December were due to end on January 11th. Schools were closed until then, and only two people were supposed to meet outside, although - bizarrely - we could still be with up to eight other people indoors.

On 29th December, after an emergency meeting, the government announced that people could no longer visit anyone else's home. That was in place until December 10th, we were told, but on New Year's Eve there was a relaxation of the rules. We could invite one other family to our home, and the curfew would not start until 1am on New Year's Day rather than 9.00pm as it had been the rest of the time. 

So Richard took the opportunity of inviting some friends to sail on New Year's Eve; it seemed reasonable to be able to count his boat as part of our home, and was safer (from the virus perspective) since it's outside rather than indoors.  And as the wind was light, and the weather not too hot, I went too. For my first time on his boat Liza. 

It was an enjoyable day, and I said I might even go again at the end of 2021. 

In the evening we were the one household invited to our other friends for an evening meal and games; I just about managed to stay awake. I really wanted to make sure 2020 had gone... even though it took me a few days to catch up on the lost sleep. I don't do well with late nights!

So from January 1st we were back to virtual meetings only, with the exception that two people from different households are still allowed to meet outside for exercise. So I continued walking first thing with my friend Sheila. Sadly, although daily Covid case numbers dropped a bit, they were still in the four hundred range, so we knew the restrictions were not going to be relaxed on January 11th. Indeed, it was fairly certain that we'd be subject to another lockdown. 

That has proved to be the case; it was announced last week that from January 10th until the end of the month we must stay at home, other than 'essential' outings, for which we must send an SMS request to the government. But it's not as strict as the lockdown last spring.  For one thing, we're allowed two daily requests rather than being limited to one. Somehow that makes an enormous difference.

We're also allowed to walk in parks or on beaches, as exercise is one of the permitted reasons for going out. And two unrelated people can still meet for exercise, though no more than two (unless one of them has under-age children with them). 

The weather has been very mild, with no rain at all until Wednesday when there were several heavy showers. That meant that on Thursday morning, the flamingoes were much closer to the shores of the Salt Lake than usual. I didn't have my camera with me, of course, but was able to take a slightly better photo of a few of them with my phone: 

And I took a video, albeit not great quality, showing flamingoes walking, and some of them flying.  (If you decide to watch it, it looks better if you either use the full-screen option or click the YouTube option to see it there).

Walking first thing is not just good exercise, and a chance to spend time with a friend, it's a great start to the day, which gives me more energy and focus.  At least, in theory. It's not easy to get things done in this continued uncertainty. And while we had plans to do various things in the house, we didn't manage to get organised enough to buy what we needed before the current lockdown. All shops deemed non-essential are closed, although many more now offer online ordering. 

So the first week has almost ended, and it hasn't been too bad. Perhaps it's easier because we've done it before. Maybe it's less stressful because we're no longer worried that the virus might leap up at us from the supermarket. We all wear masks, and of course we do wash our hands when we arrive home, as it's a good idea in general. But I often forget to sanitise my hands on the way in and out of shops, and it's not enforced. Nor is anyone wearing those horrible disposable plastic gloves that were required back in the spring last year. 

And perhaps it's less worrying because, although the scope of Covid has been far, far worse than anyone imagined, the vaccinations offer hope, at last, that the elderly and the most vulnerable will be safe. Of course it's very difficult for many businesses, hard hit by last year's lockdown, suddenly having to close again. Some may never recover. 

The positive case numbers have been a bit better - around 250-350 the last few days, reflecting the fact that we haven't been able to meet in other people's houses since the start of the year. We don't know what will be announced for February; perhaps 'non-essential' businesses will be able to open again, if the numbers stabilise and the hospitals stop being over-crowded. But I doubt if we'll be allowed to get together with friends inside for some time to come. 

Christmas Eve greetings from Cyprus

I have written a post each year for the past decade on - or close to - Christmas Eve. So as Richard is currently carving the turkey, with the doors closed to keep the cats out, I thought I might as well continue the tradition. 

The previous posts have started with an illustration of our Christmas cake, each one pretty similar to all the previous ones. I iced this year's cake yesterday, using home-made icing (with aquafaba rather than raw egg white) and since we had almost an entire tub of glacé cherries, I put some of those on, just to make it slightly different from previous years.

This is not, of course a typical Christmas. We miss our sons desperately, particularly Tim who has spent every Christmas with us, other than one, until this year. But travel from the UK is difficult at present, with Covid-test requirements, and now seven days of hotel quarantine. There's no guarantee of being able to get back again, either. So, sadly, it didn't make sense for anyone in the family to come out to Cyprus this year. 

The case numbers in Cyprus have been getting worse, but - so far - we're still allowed to gather with up to eight other people in our home. Church services were cancelled, so everything moved online, including last Sunday evening's carol service. But the government has made a concession to the Orthodox Archbishop and has allowed congregations to meet (so long as they are masked, distanced and no more than one person per three square metres) on Christmas Day only. So we will be able to attend a live service tomorrow, rather than just streamed. 

Our local friends who usually join us for Christmas will, unless some disaster strikes, be coming for lunch tomorrow. Which means that, despite wanting to keep it simpler than usual, I found myself baking and cooking far more than will be eaten in two meals. I like to over-cater - much better than running out, although there has never been a danger of that. Besides, if there's too much food, then I don't have to cook anything much else for several days, and that's always a good thing.

It's been a long and depressing year, and I realise that it has been considerably worse for many others than for us. Our hearts go out to those who have been bereaved, or who have suffered badly with the virus and its after-effects. We hope and pray that the vaccines will be effective, and that, gradually, more normal life can resume in the spring. 

As I said in the last post I wrote, we only sent six Christmas cards this year, and didn't expect to receive many. Until yesterday we had received eight, two of them giving to us by local friends. Then we went to the Post Office to check our box, just in case there was anything... and there were thirteen cards, all from the UK, posted between November 30th and - astonishingly - December 17th.  And one card arrived in our letter box outside our house. 

So in addition to last year's cards, which we always put up as part of our regular decorations (since the majority arrive in January), we have MORE new ones than usual before Christmas this year, displayed on a couple of bookcases:

Rather than rambling on for longer, I will end this post with a photo of our living room a week or two back when Richard put a fire - complete with crackling noises - on our television. 

It almost made the room feel warmer:

Wishing peace and blessings to all for this most unusual Christmas season. 

First eight days of December

Although Advent started on November 29th, I wasn't quite ready to start thinking about Christmas preparations until December started. Well - other than making our cake a month ago, and feeding it a couple of times with extra brandy.  And something else I order online for a selected few people, which had to be done before the end of November.

Then I realised I had to think about Christmas cards. Many people are not sending any this year, due to extremely slow postal deliveries. The number of cards we send out has reduced significantly over the years: from about seventy ten or so years ago to just thirty-five last year. That's partly due to losing touch with some folk, for various reasons (including a small number who, sadly, have died), and partly because more and more people are now sending Christmas greetings by email rather than in the post.

Since we didn't go to the UK in the summer, I had no chance to buy Christmas cards for this year; I've never much liked those I can find here (and it's not easy to find them at all - or maybe I'm looking in the wrong places). I discovered that I had a handful of reasonable cards that I was willing to send - but nowhere near 35. So that made the decision easy:  I wrote just six cards, to relatives who are a generation above ours - even though most are on email anyway. 

I even had six UK stamps in my desk. So last Tuesday, the first day of December, I walked to the Post Office, and put the cards in the letter box.  I have no idea if they will arrive in time for Christmas... 

Something else I usually do early in December is to make a batch of mincemeat and some Christmas puddings. But we still had half of last year's mincemeat in the fridge, and one Christmas pudding - so as we won't be doing much entertaining this year, I didn't need to make any more.

On Wednesday, December 2nd, we spent the morning with a local friend helping her publish her collection of forty-two short stories via Amazon KDP.  We have been very impressed with this method of self-publishing and have helped various people this year to publish their work. The quality is excellent and 'print-on-demand' means that there's no need for a publisher (or writer) to risk anything in advance.

In the evening, back on the Advent theme, I attended a short Advent service via Zoom, offered by St Helena's Church. 

I'm not entirely sure where Thursday disappeared to. We shopped on Friday, but only at the froutaria. We met our friends in the evening for a shared meal, as we usually do, and on Saturday I cleaned the house fairly thoroughly. 

On Sunday I did quite a bit of baking: some bread rolls, a pan of gingerbread, and some different biscuits for our shared afternoon with friends, and for Monday. And in the evening we went to the Christingle service at St Helena's. 

We weren't sure whether there would be room - there were strict limits on numbers of people who could attend any church service in Cyprus, and the maximum permitted in the St Helena's building was something like 28, with distancing between unrelated people or groups, and of course masks on all the time. However the service was streamed, and there was the possibility of seating outside. 

In the event, while twenty people watched online (and many more afterwards) exactly the right number of people turned up at St Helena's, and it was a pleasant service. I am very thankful we were able to go, because today new pandemic restrictions have been announced in Cyprus: there will be no more church services with congregation present until at least January. So the Carol service, Crib service and Christmas Day service will be online only.  That will be strange, and quite disturbing not to go to any church service at Christmas. 

On Monday the local Christian writing group had to meet in two groups, as there were eleven or twelve of us who wanted to meet, and no more than ten people can be present in anyone's house. We usually have a shared potluck-style lunch in December, but decided it was best not to do that this year. Perhaps we'll celebrate at Easter instead. Or whenever we are finally able to meet again as one group.

In the afternoon I went to the local book discussion group where we did have some Christmas nibbles to share during the meeting - there were eight of us, spread out in a distanced way around the table which was full of finger foods. 

Then on Tuesday, my friend Sheila and two of her daughters came over to help put up and decorate our Christmas tree. When I say 'help', that's how it was when the girls were smaller. But now they put the three together unaided, and decorate exactly as they wish.  They do an excellent job, and I rarely move or change anything. 

I started ordering presents for family members yesterday too - so much less stressful not struggling through Christmas crowds (not that it would happen this year). 

And in the evening, we watched that Christmas classic DVD 'Love Actually', which we hadn't seen for eight years. I had reservations about it when we first saw it, but enjoyed it a lot more last night.

Advent Sunday

I can remember having an Advent calendar as a child. It was usually a cardboard affair, with a scene of the Nativity, or shepherds, perhaps, in bright colours, sometimes with glitter.  We opened one little window each day during December, with the final one being the 24th, usually - Christmas Eve - with a larger window, and a manger scene. It used to puzzle me why that didn't appear on the 25th until I realised that, of course, Christmas Day is no longer Advent.

I used to love my Advent calendar. Sometimes we had a family one, and took it in turns to open the little windows, but at least a couple of times I had one of my own. I knew what was coming, but I loved the anticipation, nevertheless: the reminders of the background to the Christmas story, leading up to the Nativity. 

By the time my sons were small, Advent calendars had become more secular. We tried to get 'religious' themed ones, but it was quite difficult. Advent calendars were more likely to have jolly Santa figures, or Christmas trees - a countdown to Christmas, certainly, but really nothing to do with Advent.  At least once someone gave us one with chocolates inside, which seemed even more of a bad idea, giving extra sugar to children who were already excited about Christmas coming. 

Nowadays, of course they have become almost entirely commercialised. It's possible to get Advent calendars with all kinds of gifts - with beauty products, or wine, or even cheese samples.  This, for instance, is a site that recommends the 'best' Advent calendars for 2020: I looked at the first few entries in the gallery, and the least expensive was over $30. 

Advent is a Latin word for 'coming', and is used to indicate the arrival of an important person or thing. So I suppose it makes sense for those of a non-religious persuasion to think of it as waiting for the arrival of Santa Claus. Which is all very well for children, but those expensive Advent calendars with perfumes or wine are not intended for the young. I suppose they have become an excuse for yet more spending in the festive season - and this year, with so many shops struggling, it's perhaps a good way to make money at last. 

Of course, most years Advent doesn't actually start on December 1st. And unlike Lent, Advent is not a fixed length of time.  There are four Sundays in Advent, so when Christmas is a Friday, as will happen this year, the fourth Sunday of Advent will be December 19th, and today - November 29th - is the first Sunday of Advent. 

In the Anglican Church, which is in our background and where we're now established again, Advent is the start of the church year. We were wished 'Happy new year' this morning in the church service.  The cloths on the table - and the clergy stoles - had changed to purple, and there was an empty scene under the table, waiting for the Nativity scene.

Naturally - it's traditional on the first Sunday of Advent one of the songs was 'O come, o come Emmanuel'. It's much loved by many, but I admit to finding it a bit dreary. On the other hand, I really like the more modern 'Christ be our Light', which was another of today's songs. 

There was a new Advent service sheet too, and an Advent wreath, which just about shows on the left of the photo above, in the middle. It has four candles, and the first one was lit today.

All symbolic, of course, and not everybody appreciates symbolism of this kind. But I find it helpful, and I like the progression of the church calendar.  In Advent we think about the first coming of Jesus, the one that is celebrated in Nativity plays and Christmas carols, but we also think about the second coming  - the end times - something that feels all the more real towards the end of this extremely difficult year. 

At home we don't currently have any purple candles, and I haven't seen any in the shops. I was thinking of buying a red one for Advent, but I couldn't find one I liked. Most candles in the shops currently are scented, and I really dislike candles with scents. They're not good for cats, either. But we had an unused white candle, so I put away the green one that's been on the table since we stopped using ceiling fans,  and started a new white one at lunch-time today: 

And as an aside, not relevant to Advent, today also happens to be a very important day in my family: my father's birthday. So my brother arranged a family Zoom call - the first time we've done this, though we plan to repeat it regularly - and it worked extremely well. 

Restrictions for the first half of December, island-wide

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about the latest restrictions on travel, shopping, meetings etc in Cyprus. These were introduced in the hope of curbing the sudden increase in Covid numbers. Limassol and Paphos had stricter regulations than the rest of the island, but the only new thing that affected us was not being able to do any shopping before 10am. Which, in the scheme of things, is no more than a minor inconvenience.

Unfortunately, the number of new cases testing positive each day has remained in triple figures, mostly between 180 and 260. That's a lot when the population is only around one million. Equivalent to around 14,000-20.000 in the larger Western European countries, and they've had much stricter restrictions over the past month. 

Here's how the overall case number chart is looking for Cyprus now, in bar chart form: 

It's not good. 

Part of the reason for the increase in positive cases is that testing has been increased quite significantly over the past couple of weeks.  But if the cases weren't there, they wouldn't be found. Many are asymptomatic, of course, which makes it harder to find them, particularly when people are casual about isolating, and reluctant or even unable to divulge all their contacts. 

On a global scale, Cyprus hasn't done so badly:

Compare, for instance, to three of the worst-hit countries in the European areas:

(To read the statistics, you probably need to click the images to see them rather larger)

The significant figures are the total cases and deaths per million. The worst European country is Belgium, with nearly 1400 deaths per million. Of course different countries calculate statistics somewhat differently, and one has to take into account the age and general health levels of the populations. But those are unlikely to be significantly different in countries such as these. 

Still, despite having done reasonably well overall, the recent increase in numbers in Cyprus is very concerning, and all the more so because the health system is beginning to struggle, as more and more people are having to be treated in hospitals each day.  A bar chart of the deaths doesn't look too bad - most days it's just one or two people, the majority with underlying health conditions. But each death is a tragedy for the family concerned. And the trend is not encouraging:

So, on Wednesday the health experts met with government advisors, and various scenarios were discussed, though no details were released at the time. Today there was another meeting, and the new regulations were announced shortly after 1.00pm. 

Road restrictions to Limassol and Paphos have been lifted. The case numbers in Paphos have apparently improved, and limiting traffic to and from the cities was causing major traffic jams as well as a logistical nightmare, with everyone eligible to go to these towns needing to be tested for Covid first. 

However, the entire island has a new, stricter set of regulations from November 30th-December 13th, in the hope of reducing numbers significantly. One that is going to affect us and our friends is:

Curfew from 21:00 until 05:00

That stops people having long drawn-out evening meals together (particularly Cypriots, who often don't eat until eight or even nine o'clock), and it will prevent us from our regular evening get-togethers for board games with friends, usually twice per week. But it's another minor inconvenience in the cause of preventing spread of the disease. 

A slightly surprising new restriction is: 

Restaurants to be open until 19:00 with the exception of take away and delivery.

Many restaurants don't even open in the evening until seven o'clock anyway. And even if one goes to an all-day restaurant at six o'clock for an early evening meal, it would be quite rushed to finish and be out within an hour. So this essentially stops people eating out in the evenings. 

We were also surprised to see this:

One person for every 10 s.m. for shops.

It had been one person every 3 sq m, as far as I remember. This is going to make it more difficult to do any shopping - and we didn't think there had been any cases of people being infected via shopping. Hand sanitisation and mask-wearing have become 'normal' in shops, and people are pretty good at moving out the way of other customers, and keeping a couple of metres apart most of the time. 

Other restrictions - the closure of gyms and casinos, public transport to operate at 50% capacity, and so on - don't affect us personally.  And, again, they're irritating to those involved, but in the scheme of things not a huge problem, particularly if it's only for two weeks.

We had expected a reduction of the number of people allowed in private gatherings in houses, but that's still set at ten. It doesn't even have to be the same ten people: there's no 'bubble' system operating here. We could theoretically invite eight people over one day, a different eight people the next day, and so on, leading to nearly fifty close contacts in a week. 

We don't do that, of course. We normally see our closest friends a few times each week, and a limited number of other people.  But we were expecting some reduction in the numbers allowed for private gatherings, as those are where the transmission of the virus is most likely. Masks and distancing are not required or even expected in private gatherings, possibly because it simply wouldn't happen here. 

As for what will happen from December 14th onwards, that will depend in part on the epidemiological situation. But according to this article on the Kathemerini site (right-click to translate, if necessary) they hope to return the curfew to 11pm rather than 9pm, and to allow restaurants to open until 10.30pm again.  Between December 23rd and January 1st, they plan to allow 15 people in private gatherings rather than 10.

Christmas is inevitably going to be very subdued this year. Maybe things will start to get back to normal in the spring: there's been some apparently encouraging news published about vaccine trials. But according to the Lancet, the results haven't yet been peer reviewed.  There's a concerning phrase in that article:

"How well the vaccines work in older people or those with underlying conditions and their efficacy in preventing severe disease are still unclear."

If the vaccines don't make any difference to those most at risk, then it's hard to see how we expect any semblance of normality within the next few months.