The Christmas cake looks as though it turned out fine. I turned the oven off after four hours, but left the cake in as it cooled down. This morning I wrapped it in greaseproof paper and foil, and put it in an airtight container. Other than feeding a couple of times with more brandy (if I remember) I don't need to worry about it again until a few days before Christmas, when I'll do the marzipan and icing.
So that's one thing to cross off my list.
I also wrote three cards. That means there are only about 75 left to do.
I went to the PO Box this afternoon, expecting a few items I'd ordered from Play.com to have arrived. As I got there, I remembered that Richard's colleague still has my PO Box key, which we gave him while we were away so he could check for mail. Very irritating. But I did post a parcel to Daniel (a few music books we'd ordered that arrived just after we left, and a CD Tim has made for him).
Which reminds me, anyone who reads his blog, he's updated it a couple of times this week - not much text, but there are a couple of new photos. Not mentioned on his blog is that the Doulos is currently having lifeboat inspections by a company in Italy. The lifeboats are safe (ie they won't sink!), and the crew have been complimented on their hard work, good attitude, and extensive safety training. On the other hand, the lifeboats are very old and may well not pass the new international safety requirements.
On the way back, I popped into Argos. It was nearly three months ago that we ordered a pair of fluted lightshades from them. We were told they would take 4-6 weeks to arrive. Well, I suppose this IS Cyprus. We were just wondering if the order had got lost or forgotten, when I had a phone call yesterday (asking for 'Mrs Shoe') telling me they had arrived. And indeed they had, packed nicely in a carrier bag, for someone called 'Richard-Sue'. I didn't need any identification, and as soon as I said Richard's name they produced it. That's a good side of life in Cyprus: tust and friendliness.
I also started uploading photos this afternoon, to DirectFoto, so I could order some prints, something I intend to do every couple of months, but keep forgetting. Unfortunately I got in a muddle as I apparently uploaded some before, which I didn't order. And my computer started complaining that it was low on virtual memory - something that happens relatively often when I have Picasa open. Bah. I left the rest till tomorrow.
I wrote the Christmas family newsletter, complete with photographs, about a week ago. Tim set up the colour deskjet printer on the 'guest' computer which runs Windows 98. My computer runs Windows 2000, and for some reason the deskjet printer won't work with that, so I have the black only laserjet printer on my desk.
But no problem, I emailed the newsletter to myself on gmail, then retrieved it on the guest computer.
I could probably have got hold of it somehow through the network. But it seemed easier to do something I understood, and I wanted to see what it looked like as an email attachment anyway.
When I printed it, the black ink looked smudgy. Tim installed a cleaning/setup thingy - the printer hadn't been used since we moved in July - but it made no difference. Indeed, each test print was slightly worse than the previous one. Evidently we needed a new black cartridge. We've had one refilled for the past few years, but I recalled that it wasn't very good last time, and it clearly hasn't lasted well, so it's probably at the end of its life.
But a new cartridge for this rather old printer costs over £20 in Cyprus. If they're even still available. The colour one will probably run out before long, too, and it costs even more to replace new. Which is totally ridiculous, since we can buy a new deskjet printer, complete with new cartridges, for under £40. Truly we live in a disposable society.
Tim suggested I take the file to the photocopy shop and have it printed there. But last time I asked about colour copies, they quoted me 50c per page. 80 copies at 50c each... that too would cost more than a new printer.
But we don't WANT a new colour printer. We only use it once a year. It was an impasse...
However Richard and his colleague have been discussing buying a colour laser printer for the office, for publicity (among other things). They were given a good price, and decided to order one so we can all print our Christmas newsletters on them. Assuming it arrives tomorrow. I might even get our cards and newsletters posted before the 'last posting date', which would be unusual.
Just to round off a rather mixed day, Tim was finishing the last few words of the third assignments for his theology degree course when his ibook notebook computer failed. Dramatically. The mouse ball thing refused to work at first, and when he tried to save his latest version using the keyboard, he got a grey screen (apparently the Apple equivalent of 'Blue Screen of Death') and couldn't do anything other than switch off. When he switched on again, the same thing happened. And again.
Richard thinks it's a hard drive problem. But, alas, the computer is just one month out of warranty. Even worse, there's no Apple repair centre in Cyprus. If it had gone a few weeks ago we could have taken it to the excellent Apple centre in Singapore...
So now Tim's downloading something (on my computer) to enable him to save all his data. Then he'll try reformatting and see if that helps. But he's very frustrated, particularly as he was within about an hour of emailing his essay to the course tutor. It's due tomorrow, though he may be able to get an extension if he has to work on the computer all day.
Showing posts with label Directfoto. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Directfoto. Show all posts
Thursday, December 07, 2006
Thursday, September 07, 2006
Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness....
... not in Cyprus, though. Although I feel that September is the start of Autumn, the temperatures continue at 32-33C today and predicted for the next week, as they have been through August. No great heatwave, thankfully, but no sign of cooling either, although it's a bit less hot at night.
I think the Greek-speaking schools must have started back today after their three month break. I walked to the Post Office this morning to collect mail, at about 7.30am, and saw crowds of children in new-looking uniform, all congregating on a local school. I was pleased to see that many of them were pulling along the wheelie-style backpacks which look more like carry-on luggage than traditional school bags, but are so much better for their backs.
It was chaos at the school when I passed it. A few adults (teachers, I presume) were looking around, calling children, trying to gather them together. Some very small children were looking a little nervous, holding hands with their mothers. Older ones milled around in groups, shouting greetings to their friends. Perhaps they don't sort out the classes until school actually starts. No doubt the children were all sitting in their rather sad rows, with their new text-books, by the time I got home again. School here is only in mornings, so it starts early and goes on until past 1pm. Then they have vast amounts of homework, even the little ones. I'm glad we opted out.
In the mail was a package of photos from Directfoto, where I order all my prints from digital photographs, a couple of items from the excellent Play.com (less of a selection than Amazon UK, but free postage anywhere in Europe) for upcoming family birthdays, and also some information for Tim from the Open Theological College, where he's starting a degree course by correspondence in a few weeks. He actually received two info packs. They had sent one at the start of August, but it hadn't arrived by last week so Tim emailed the college, and they sent out another. Both arrived this week. The postal service here is mostly good, but every so often we receive something that's taken a month or more to arrive from the UK.
It occurred to me that life for ex-pats is a great deal easier with the Internet and online ordering. While basic requirements of life in Cyprus - such as rent, food and utilities - are relatively inexpensive, books and DVDs are highly priced, and (not surprisingly) although there is an increasing selection in English, the majority is Greek. Photo processing is a little less expensive than it was, but still significantly more than in the UK, and not such good quality. Of course, for someone wanting prints in a hurry, online ordering is no good: its one disadvantage is that it's usually at least a week before the order gets here. But that doesn't worry me.
Later in the morning Tim went out to get some passport-sized photos so he can send off his application to OTC tomorrow. No instant photo booths here, but the photographers' shops - the ones we don't use for processing of prints - do a good service: four prints for £3, and the quality isn't bad. Better than UK photo booths, anyway.
This afternoon I've been browsing the recommended OTC booklists. Alas, we can't use the library service from Cyprus, but then again, if a book's worth reading, I'd rather own it than borrow it, for future re-reading. I expect I'll read most of the books Tim's going to study too, as they all sound interesting. But searching through the huge number of 'recommended' books and choosing just a few in addition to the one or two compulsory ones per module is going to be quite a task.
Sitting here with the air conditioning on in the study (since computers don't function well over 30C, we run it at 28 - that's 82F) it does feel pleasantly cool and dry. But we're still going around in shorts and tee-shirts, sweltering any time we go outside, and will probably continue to do so for at least another six weeks.
I think the Greek-speaking schools must have started back today after their three month break. I walked to the Post Office this morning to collect mail, at about 7.30am, and saw crowds of children in new-looking uniform, all congregating on a local school. I was pleased to see that many of them were pulling along the wheelie-style backpacks which look more like carry-on luggage than traditional school bags, but are so much better for their backs.
It was chaos at the school when I passed it. A few adults (teachers, I presume) were looking around, calling children, trying to gather them together. Some very small children were looking a little nervous, holding hands with their mothers. Older ones milled around in groups, shouting greetings to their friends. Perhaps they don't sort out the classes until school actually starts. No doubt the children were all sitting in their rather sad rows, with their new text-books, by the time I got home again. School here is only in mornings, so it starts early and goes on until past 1pm. Then they have vast amounts of homework, even the little ones. I'm glad we opted out.
In the mail was a package of photos from Directfoto, where I order all my prints from digital photographs, a couple of items from the excellent Play.com (less of a selection than Amazon UK, but free postage anywhere in Europe) for upcoming family birthdays, and also some information for Tim from the Open Theological College, where he's starting a degree course by correspondence in a few weeks. He actually received two info packs. They had sent one at the start of August, but it hadn't arrived by last week so Tim emailed the college, and they sent out another. Both arrived this week. The postal service here is mostly good, but every so often we receive something that's taken a month or more to arrive from the UK.
It occurred to me that life for ex-pats is a great deal easier with the Internet and online ordering. While basic requirements of life in Cyprus - such as rent, food and utilities - are relatively inexpensive, books and DVDs are highly priced, and (not surprisingly) although there is an increasing selection in English, the majority is Greek. Photo processing is a little less expensive than it was, but still significantly more than in the UK, and not such good quality. Of course, for someone wanting prints in a hurry, online ordering is no good: its one disadvantage is that it's usually at least a week before the order gets here. But that doesn't worry me.
Later in the morning Tim went out to get some passport-sized photos so he can send off his application to OTC tomorrow. No instant photo booths here, but the photographers' shops - the ones we don't use for processing of prints - do a good service: four prints for £3, and the quality isn't bad. Better than UK photo booths, anyway.
This afternoon I've been browsing the recommended OTC booklists. Alas, we can't use the library service from Cyprus, but then again, if a book's worth reading, I'd rather own it than borrow it, for future re-reading. I expect I'll read most of the books Tim's going to study too, as they all sound interesting. But searching through the huge number of 'recommended' books and choosing just a few in addition to the one or two compulsory ones per module is going to be quite a task.
Sitting here with the air conditioning on in the study (since computers don't function well over 30C, we run it at 28 - that's 82F) it does feel pleasantly cool and dry. But we're still going around in shorts and tee-shirts, sweltering any time we go outside, and will probably continue to do so for at least another six weeks.
Thursday, March 16, 2006
Side-bar tour
The sidebar of this blog is getting quite full. But it adds a bit of interest (I hope) to those stalwart souls who read right my long-winded ramblings, right the way down the page. For those who wonder what it all means (the side-bar, not the ramblings), here's a quick guided tour.
Under the standard blogger 'About me' description, is the current weather in Larnaka from Weather Underground. It's not actually the site use for my daily weather report, but it's the only one I could find with a link for blogs. I've and chosen a 'dynamic' link, which turns grey when it's cloudy and blue when it's sunny. It only updates about once an hour, but it gives an idea of what time it is here, and what the temperature is like. I even set it to show Fahrenheit temperatures as well as Celcius, since I know there are some who read this from the USA.
Directly underneath is my search box from Atomz, which is now known as Websidestory. I'm glad I used this facility on other sites when it was still Atomz, as I would never have guessed from the new front page of the site that it provided such a useful utility. The free edition only searches up to 500 pages, and this blog is over 250 already, but perhaps in another year or so Blogger's own search-this-blog facility (currently located in the top left of the screen) will work a bit faster and better.
Links to the last three family Christmas newsletters are self-explanatory, as are the links to my other blogs, and other family sites.
Under those is one of my new favourite features - a link to our book collection, courtesy of Bibliophil. I discovered this wonderful site via Methodius's blog. I still haven't finished entering our books, but enjoy putting a few more in each day. There are one or two bugs in the site but things seem to get fixed when they're reported, and I like the simple, plain interface. Bibliophil allows me to find out which other users share similar collections, read brief reviews, and even add Google-style 'labels' to each of my books, so I can quickly find - say - all the recipe books, or all the Christian books. I can enter the dates when I read books, write reviews, and allocate rates. I can also have 'buddies' although I'm not quite sure what value this has. Best of all, it's entirely free with no limits.
Under my book collection link, is the newest feature - random photos from Flickr. This is a site where I can upload my digital photos into an album for others to see. I actually use Directfoto for uploading photos when I want to order prints (they're so much cheaper and better quality from the UK than in Cyprus) but it takes ages to get photos there, and they don't have a facility to put random ones on a blog. I'd seen Flickr in action on Sarah's blog, and then recently read on Leonid's blog that after trying all the options, he too was opting for Flickr. I decided to try it out. Unfortunately I didn't read the instructions, which would have told me that there was only a limited amount of upload space per month, and my first ten pictures used up my limit rather quickly. . Next month I'll reduce the size of my pictures considerably, since I shan't be using them for prints. But I thought I'd try the random photos in the side anyway even though they won't change much in the first few weeks!
Under the photos are links to the books I'm currently reading - usually about four or five. I catalogue those at the Allconsuming site since it's another that allow for links to blog sidebars.
Then comes a fairly long list of other blogs I read, roughly categorised. They're not the only ones I read, but I have all these linked in Bloglines, a very useful site which I can leave open in my browser, and see at a glance what's been updated. If I turn my speakers on, I can even hear a ping when a new blog entry is added to one the ones I've subscribed to.
The previous entries in the blog are simply links to the other posts on the main page - I'm not sure how useful this is, since by the time anyone has scrolled down that far they'll have seen about half of them anyway. But it's a standard Blogger feature, as is the archive list - where you can (if you're REALLY keen) read entries from previous months.
Then comes the Google Adsense links. I'm not generally a fan of advertising, but on the whole I think Google does a good job - they're not intrusive, and they're usually applicable to the sites in question. I was, of course, attracted by the idea of my blog actually making money, although I was cynical enough to imagine it might come to about a penny a month, if that. I'm pleasantly surprised to learn that in the last three-and-a-half months my blog has actually earned a grant total of $3.85. Ahem. They pay out when the total reaches $100, but at this rate I could get there in another eight years or so...
Then there's a counter link from Blogpatrol (which I thought wonderful at first - I barely look at it now I've been blogging for over a year), a link to Blogarama, a blog directory (though I'm not sure how much it's used), a link to another counter at the Sitemeter site, installed later than the Blogpatrol one, but with publicly available interesting graphs and reports showing where readers of this blog come from around the world. And finally, after Blogger's own link, one to 'Whozontop' - and I don't even remember why I put that one in, or what it's for.
If anyone's read this far, I'd appreciate comments. Is there too much in the sidebar? Does it make the blog look messy, or does it add interest? Should I abandon Adsense? Are there other useful places to link to? All opinions welcome...
Under the standard blogger 'About me' description, is the current weather in Larnaka from Weather Underground. It's not actually the site use for my daily weather report, but it's the only one I could find with a link for blogs. I've and chosen a 'dynamic' link, which turns grey when it's cloudy and blue when it's sunny. It only updates about once an hour, but it gives an idea of what time it is here, and what the temperature is like. I even set it to show Fahrenheit temperatures as well as Celcius, since I know there are some who read this from the USA.
Directly underneath is my search box from Atomz, which is now known as Websidestory. I'm glad I used this facility on other sites when it was still Atomz, as I would never have guessed from the new front page of the site that it provided such a useful utility. The free edition only searches up to 500 pages, and this blog is over 250 already, but perhaps in another year or so Blogger's own search-this-blog facility (currently located in the top left of the screen) will work a bit faster and better.
Links to the last three family Christmas newsletters are self-explanatory, as are the links to my other blogs, and other family sites.
Under those is one of my new favourite features - a link to our book collection, courtesy of Bibliophil. I discovered this wonderful site via Methodius's blog. I still haven't finished entering our books, but enjoy putting a few more in each day. There are one or two bugs in the site but things seem to get fixed when they're reported, and I like the simple, plain interface. Bibliophil allows me to find out which other users share similar collections, read brief reviews, and even add Google-style 'labels' to each of my books, so I can quickly find - say - all the recipe books, or all the Christian books. I can enter the dates when I read books, write reviews, and allocate rates. I can also have 'buddies' although I'm not quite sure what value this has. Best of all, it's entirely free with no limits.
Under my book collection link, is the newest feature - random photos from Flickr. This is a site where I can upload my digital photos into an album for others to see. I actually use Directfoto for uploading photos when I want to order prints (they're so much cheaper and better quality from the UK than in Cyprus) but it takes ages to get photos there, and they don't have a facility to put random ones on a blog. I'd seen Flickr in action on Sarah's blog, and then recently read on Leonid's blog that after trying all the options, he too was opting for Flickr. I decided to try it out. Unfortunately I didn't read the instructions, which would have told me that there was only a limited amount of upload space per month, and my first ten pictures used up my limit rather quickly. . Next month I'll reduce the size of my pictures considerably, since I shan't be using them for prints. But I thought I'd try the random photos in the side anyway even though they won't change much in the first few weeks!
Under the photos are links to the books I'm currently reading - usually about four or five. I catalogue those at the Allconsuming site since it's another that allow for links to blog sidebars.
Then comes a fairly long list of other blogs I read, roughly categorised. They're not the only ones I read, but I have all these linked in Bloglines, a very useful site which I can leave open in my browser, and see at a glance what's been updated. If I turn my speakers on, I can even hear a ping when a new blog entry is added to one the ones I've subscribed to.
The previous entries in the blog are simply links to the other posts on the main page - I'm not sure how useful this is, since by the time anyone has scrolled down that far they'll have seen about half of them anyway. But it's a standard Blogger feature, as is the archive list - where you can (if you're REALLY keen) read entries from previous months.
Then comes the Google Adsense links. I'm not generally a fan of advertising, but on the whole I think Google does a good job - they're not intrusive, and they're usually applicable to the sites in question. I was, of course, attracted by the idea of my blog actually making money, although I was cynical enough to imagine it might come to about a penny a month, if that. I'm pleasantly surprised to learn that in the last three-and-a-half months my blog has actually earned a grant total of $3.85. Ahem. They pay out when the total reaches $100, but at this rate I could get there in another eight years or so...
Then there's a counter link from Blogpatrol (which I thought wonderful at first - I barely look at it now I've been blogging for over a year), a link to Blogarama, a blog directory (though I'm not sure how much it's used), a link to another counter at the Sitemeter site, installed later than the Blogpatrol one, but with publicly available interesting graphs and reports showing where readers of this blog come from around the world. And finally, after Blogger's own link, one to 'Whozontop' - and I don't even remember why I put that one in, or what it's for.
If anyone's read this far, I'd appreciate comments. Is there too much in the sidebar? Does it make the blog look messy, or does it add interest? Should I abandon Adsense? Are there other useful places to link to? All opinions welcome...
Tuesday, November 08, 2005
Energy, Photos and Home Education
In the UK, Spring is my favourite season. I love the bulbs, the blossom, the new growth on trees, the warmer weather with gentle wind and (sometimes) sunny skies.
Here in Cyprus, however, I think I prefer Autumn. Despite the chilliness of the house at night, as mentioned previously, the weather is mostly very pleasant. Today, for instance, it was sunny with a deep blue sky, and a light breeze. Warm enough that I opened most of the windows at about 9am to let in some fresh air, and then left them open until it began getting cooler and dark, shortly after 4.30pm. I did three loads of laundry today, and the first one was dry by the time I hung out the third. I baked some bread this morning, and was able to leave it to rise on the kitchen window-sill, rather than having to put it over a pan of hot water.
I've realised that the only way to get much done, and keep on top of the household chores, is to leave the computer switched off until after lunch. Somehow if I turn it on 'just to check email' in the morning, I find other things to do online (broadband is a blessing, but also something of a curse as it means the Internet is constantly available) and time whizzes by. Then I rush to do what has to be done - cooking, cleaning the kitchen, laundry - and become stressed. By contrast now, I'm more relaxed and getting more done.
Of course I've tried this before: it's that extra energy that comes with cooler weather, motivating me. I'm back to cooking all our evening meals from ingredients rather than using jars and ready-made food. Baking bread and cakes has become enjoyable again. It will probably last until about Christmas, at which point I'll take a break, and relapse into bad habits again. But it's nice while it lasts.
While online the last couple of afternoons, I've been uploading photos to the DirectFoto site. We've used the DirectFoto ordinary envelope service for years, when we used 35mm film cameras. They would post processed photos to Cyprus with no extra postal service, and would include a free film as well as an index-print, and prices about half those we could get locally. Moreover the quality was always excellent, whereas in Cyprus some of the processors seem to change their chemicals only rarely (if ever!) and produce very washed-out prints.
Before we went to the UK I put several digital prints on a CD and sent them to DirectFoto for printing; as with prints from film, the quality was superb and the prices good. We even got a free CD returned with the pictures. I was going to do the same with the digital photos taken while in the UK, but discovered that DirectFoto now have an online service where prints can be stored, and then ordered as wanted. That seems like a much better idea - so much easier to get reprints, for instance. Moreover they have a special offer at present: 15 free prints with any order of £2 or more. Since each regular-sized print is 10p, and postage £1, that means I can get 35 prints for £3.
As with any of these sites, it takes a LONG time to upload high-quality pictures, even with broadband. I'm doing five at a time, and each batch takes about 20 minutes. But - so far - they've all uploaded successfully. Previously I tried using another similar service, but about half the time the uploads failed and I had to try again. So that's another point in favour of DirectFoto!
In case anyone reading this is interested in our home education - it's still continuing, in a low-key way. Dan has about eight workbooks to complete; he thought he'd lost his current science one, but found it again today. He only has two subjects to finish, then he'll have his level two certificate and can stop doing any coursework. Having got this far, we thought he might as well finish this level, even though he'll probably never need the qualifications. He's still hoping to return to the Doulos next year - if possible in January - but hasn't heard from them yet despite going for an interview in Shropshire three weeks ago.
Dan is also busy with his new clarinet - and hoping to find a more advanced teacher, but with no success as yet. He's continuing with drum lessons, teaching himself piano, taking aural music lessons, doing drama with the English-speaking teenagers at Antidote, helping out occasionally with Antidote's other productions (keeping the website up-to-date, designing posters etc), taking stage combat and karate, learning Greek, and playing in the church band. In addition he's starting to make short video productions, and hopes to be repairing/servicing more clarinets and other woodwind instruments in future.
Tim has rather more to complete for his level 2 qualifications, but is working steadily through. At last he's making sense of the maths (American-style geometry with rather convoluted proofs required - however he's grasped the techniques) and actually quite enjoys the history. Tim is busy with his other interests too: he takes piano lessons, plays keyboard in a youth band, and sometimes plays the organ at the church he attends. He also takes singing lessons and aural music lessons, plays guitar at a group for international students run by the church the rest of us attend, is on the committee for the inter-church youth group, and administers some online forums. For the future he wants to take some technical computer qualifications, and study theology.
So I certainly say that home education has not damaged their prospects in any way; on the contrary, it's given them widespread interests, social contact with people of all ages and backgrounds, and the ability to teach themselves whatever they want to learn.
Here in Cyprus, however, I think I prefer Autumn. Despite the chilliness of the house at night, as mentioned previously, the weather is mostly very pleasant. Today, for instance, it was sunny with a deep blue sky, and a light breeze. Warm enough that I opened most of the windows at about 9am to let in some fresh air, and then left them open until it began getting cooler and dark, shortly after 4.30pm. I did three loads of laundry today, and the first one was dry by the time I hung out the third. I baked some bread this morning, and was able to leave it to rise on the kitchen window-sill, rather than having to put it over a pan of hot water.
I've realised that the only way to get much done, and keep on top of the household chores, is to leave the computer switched off until after lunch. Somehow if I turn it on 'just to check email' in the morning, I find other things to do online (broadband is a blessing, but also something of a curse as it means the Internet is constantly available) and time whizzes by. Then I rush to do what has to be done - cooking, cleaning the kitchen, laundry - and become stressed. By contrast now, I'm more relaxed and getting more done.
Of course I've tried this before: it's that extra energy that comes with cooler weather, motivating me. I'm back to cooking all our evening meals from ingredients rather than using jars and ready-made food. Baking bread and cakes has become enjoyable again. It will probably last until about Christmas, at which point I'll take a break, and relapse into bad habits again. But it's nice while it lasts.
While online the last couple of afternoons, I've been uploading photos to the DirectFoto site. We've used the DirectFoto ordinary envelope service for years, when we used 35mm film cameras. They would post processed photos to Cyprus with no extra postal service, and would include a free film as well as an index-print, and prices about half those we could get locally. Moreover the quality was always excellent, whereas in Cyprus some of the processors seem to change their chemicals only rarely (if ever!) and produce very washed-out prints.
Before we went to the UK I put several digital prints on a CD and sent them to DirectFoto for printing; as with prints from film, the quality was superb and the prices good. We even got a free CD returned with the pictures. I was going to do the same with the digital photos taken while in the UK, but discovered that DirectFoto now have an online service where prints can be stored, and then ordered as wanted. That seems like a much better idea - so much easier to get reprints, for instance. Moreover they have a special offer at present: 15 free prints with any order of £2 or more. Since each regular-sized print is 10p, and postage £1, that means I can get 35 prints for £3.
As with any of these sites, it takes a LONG time to upload high-quality pictures, even with broadband. I'm doing five at a time, and each batch takes about 20 minutes. But - so far - they've all uploaded successfully. Previously I tried using another similar service, but about half the time the uploads failed and I had to try again. So that's another point in favour of DirectFoto!
In case anyone reading this is interested in our home education - it's still continuing, in a low-key way. Dan has about eight workbooks to complete; he thought he'd lost his current science one, but found it again today. He only has two subjects to finish, then he'll have his level two certificate and can stop doing any coursework. Having got this far, we thought he might as well finish this level, even though he'll probably never need the qualifications. He's still hoping to return to the Doulos next year - if possible in January - but hasn't heard from them yet despite going for an interview in Shropshire three weeks ago.
Dan is also busy with his new clarinet - and hoping to find a more advanced teacher, but with no success as yet. He's continuing with drum lessons, teaching himself piano, taking aural music lessons, doing drama with the English-speaking teenagers at Antidote, helping out occasionally with Antidote's other productions (keeping the website up-to-date, designing posters etc), taking stage combat and karate, learning Greek, and playing in the church band. In addition he's starting to make short video productions, and hopes to be repairing/servicing more clarinets and other woodwind instruments in future.
Tim has rather more to complete for his level 2 qualifications, but is working steadily through. At last he's making sense of the maths (American-style geometry with rather convoluted proofs required - however he's grasped the techniques) and actually quite enjoys the history. Tim is busy with his other interests too: he takes piano lessons, plays keyboard in a youth band, and sometimes plays the organ at the church he attends. He also takes singing lessons and aural music lessons, plays guitar at a group for international students run by the church the rest of us attend, is on the committee for the inter-church youth group, and administers some online forums. For the future he wants to take some technical computer qualifications, and study theology.
So I certainly say that home education has not damaged their prospects in any way; on the contrary, it's given them widespread interests, social contact with people of all ages and backgrounds, and the ability to teach themselves whatever they want to learn.
Friday, June 10, 2005
Bits and Pieces
Doulos:
It looks as though Daniel will be going! Richard has managed to book (provisioinally) flights with Emirates Air, going via Dubai, at reasonable prices. Dan's drama teacher took him to the hospital, negociated his way through the complex system of chaos to find the nurse who does vaccinations, and he has had a tetanus/diphtheria booster - which he was due around this age anyway - and also the vaccination against yellow fever which is compulsory for entering Tanzania. He also now has an official yellow international vaccination record. So far the cost has been £8.80 which I'm sure is less than traveller vaccinations in the UK would cost. He has to go back for a polio booster a couple of days before he flies, and his drama teacher's sister will get hold of the others he's supposed to have: typhoid, meningitis A&C, and hepatitis A. Oh, and we need to find some anti-malarial tablets too.
There's no Tanzanian Embassy in Cyprus so we just hope and pray he can get the tourist visa at the Dar Es Salaam airport when he arrives. That's supposed to be possible but it's a bit worrying not to have the visa in advance. It's too late to send his passport to the UK to get it there.
Jemima:
Well... after she reappeared on Wednesday, she spent about half an hour sitting under my desk, then she went to sleep on Tim's windowsill for a while. I gently wiped her eye and removed some dirt; it didn't look particularly bad once the dirt was gone, and she purred when we stroked her. After a couple of hours she went out again... and we haven't seen her since. I'm not so worried now; I guess she's just found a comfortable place to sleep and will pop in again when she feels like it. One of our neighbours commented that our cats like eating snakes, so perhaps she's found a good supply of food and is content without us.
Feral Kittens:
Still doing well. Eating just three meals a day, grooming themselves well. Unfortunately they have rather a lot of fleas and are too young for most flea treatments; I've sprayed the place where they sleep with Biokill and brushed some herbal non-toxic flea repellant into their fur, and manually caught and killed several fleas. I guess there's not much else I can do. We keep saying that we MUST get round to getting in touch with the sanctuary in Paphos but they're still no trouble and are so cute....
Photos
When we first came here, we were shocked to find that having a film developed and printed cost about £7. Sending a film back to the UK, by contrast, cost about £3 and included a free film returne with the prints. So for seven years we've used the Directfoto Express film service, which is reliable, good quality, and takes about ten days to two weeks to return photos to Cyprus.
A couple of months ago Richard found an old (but good) camera left by another organisation, which nobody wanted. Daniel has been getting more interested in photography, and had said he hoped he'd get some good pictures on the Doulos. So Richard suggested he have this camera, which has fully manual exposure and other complicated stuff which I don't begin to understand, and much better zoom than Dan's current camera.
So he's been taking a few photos, and we were going to send his film away to be processed, just to check that the camera was actually working. It hadn't been used for about fifteen years, probably.
But as he's now going on the Doulos in a fortnight, we didn't want to send the film back to the UK as we couldn't be certain it would arrive in time. So he took it in to a local developing place, and I thought we'd just have to pay the £7, or maybe more by this time.
To my surprise, the cost was only £5. What's more, he got not just the photos but an index print, a free mini photo album AND a free film. All that and four-hour processing....
So suddenly I think we might be getting our films developed here after all. Supporting a local firm is all to the good, and it's much nicer to have prints back immediately. Of course I take most of my everyday pictures on the digital camera now, but when I want prints I use my real one. If I can get them processed locally and inexpensively, I may take more in future.
It looks as though Daniel will be going! Richard has managed to book (provisioinally) flights with Emirates Air, going via Dubai, at reasonable prices. Dan's drama teacher took him to the hospital, negociated his way through the complex system of chaos to find the nurse who does vaccinations, and he has had a tetanus/diphtheria booster - which he was due around this age anyway - and also the vaccination against yellow fever which is compulsory for entering Tanzania. He also now has an official yellow international vaccination record. So far the cost has been £8.80 which I'm sure is less than traveller vaccinations in the UK would cost. He has to go back for a polio booster a couple of days before he flies, and his drama teacher's sister will get hold of the others he's supposed to have: typhoid, meningitis A&C, and hepatitis A. Oh, and we need to find some anti-malarial tablets too.
There's no Tanzanian Embassy in Cyprus so we just hope and pray he can get the tourist visa at the Dar Es Salaam airport when he arrives. That's supposed to be possible but it's a bit worrying not to have the visa in advance. It's too late to send his passport to the UK to get it there.
Jemima:
Well... after she reappeared on Wednesday, she spent about half an hour sitting under my desk, then she went to sleep on Tim's windowsill for a while. I gently wiped her eye and removed some dirt; it didn't look particularly bad once the dirt was gone, and she purred when we stroked her. After a couple of hours she went out again... and we haven't seen her since. I'm not so worried now; I guess she's just found a comfortable place to sleep and will pop in again when she feels like it. One of our neighbours commented that our cats like eating snakes, so perhaps she's found a good supply of food and is content without us.
Feral Kittens:
Still doing well. Eating just three meals a day, grooming themselves well. Unfortunately they have rather a lot of fleas and are too young for most flea treatments; I've sprayed the place where they sleep with Biokill and brushed some herbal non-toxic flea repellant into their fur, and manually caught and killed several fleas. I guess there's not much else I can do. We keep saying that we MUST get round to getting in touch with the sanctuary in Paphos but they're still no trouble and are so cute....
Photos
When we first came here, we were shocked to find that having a film developed and printed cost about £7. Sending a film back to the UK, by contrast, cost about £3 and included a free film returne with the prints. So for seven years we've used the Directfoto Express film service, which is reliable, good quality, and takes about ten days to two weeks to return photos to Cyprus.
A couple of months ago Richard found an old (but good) camera left by another organisation, which nobody wanted. Daniel has been getting more interested in photography, and had said he hoped he'd get some good pictures on the Doulos. So Richard suggested he have this camera, which has fully manual exposure and other complicated stuff which I don't begin to understand, and much better zoom than Dan's current camera.
So he's been taking a few photos, and we were going to send his film away to be processed, just to check that the camera was actually working. It hadn't been used for about fifteen years, probably.
But as he's now going on the Doulos in a fortnight, we didn't want to send the film back to the UK as we couldn't be certain it would arrive in time. So he took it in to a local developing place, and I thought we'd just have to pay the £7, or maybe more by this time.
To my surprise, the cost was only £5. What's more, he got not just the photos but an index print, a free mini photo album AND a free film. All that and four-hour processing....
So suddenly I think we might be getting our films developed here after all. Supporting a local firm is all to the good, and it's much nicer to have prints back immediately. Of course I take most of my everyday pictures on the digital camera now, but when I want prints I use my real one. If I can get them processed locally and inexpensively, I may take more in future.
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