Cyprus hairdressers

There are lots of hairdressers in Larnaka. That is to say, LOTS of them. They can be found all over the place - in shopping areas, and residential districts alike. They are in little boutiques, and beauty salons, and hair styling studios... and they all look very daunting to me.

It's not just the language problem - most people here speak English to some degree. It's not just the expense of having one's hair done - it's generally less expensive than in the UK. I think it's those efficient looking women wielding scissors and other sharp instruments, usually with immaculate hairstyles and stunning manicures. And then there's that question, 'How do you want it cut?' Well, how should I know? I want it to look tidy, and to be easy to handle, and for the cut to last at least six weeks, maybe more.

For the first eight years that we lived here, I didn't have my hair cut at all. It was long, and easy enough to trim at home. Of course, I didn't trim it perfectly, which added to my worries about going to a hairdresser. 'Where did you have it cut?' she might ask, disdainfully. And I would feel like crawling beneath the floorboards. Much easier not to go.

But in 2005, we decided to have a few days away for our 25th anniversary. A few weeks earlier, at the end of June, I finally decided to have my hair cut short. I went to a hairdresser around the corner from where we lived. She was very nice - though she really did NOT want to cut my hair short! - and took a great deal of care. It looked good, and she charged me the grand sum of £4 CY.

I was so pleased with it, I returned to her every couple of months for just over a year. I became less and less nervous about the whole thing, reminding myself that I was the customer. The hairdresser did try and persuade me to have my hair dyed to remove the grey hairs, and told me often that it looked thin, or that I should grow it again. But I determined years ago never to dye my hair (once you start, you have to continue... and unless you pay a LOT of money, it always looks artificial) and I liked it short. I also liked the price, which didn't change, although I usually gave her £5 and insisted she keep the change. Tipping isn't normal in Cyprus, but somehow I felt she deserved it after an hour's work on my hair, and probably needed it - there never seemed to be many customers in her shop.

I continued going there for a couple of years, continuing after we moved when she was no longer around the corner. Then apparently she closed. And I had to find somewhere else, because with a layered cut I couldn't simply let it grow again even if I wanted to.

After much thought, I went to a place downtown which a couple of friends had recommended. It was rather bigger, and the hairdresser was older, and spoke much better English. She was also a great deal more encouraging. She told me my grey hairs had come through like highlights, and that I was very lucky. She said no way should I dye it. She also said the hair was fine, and a nice colour, and that the style suited me. Perhaps she said that kind of thing to all her customers, but I found it a great deal more reassuring.

Which was just as well, because despite only taking half an hour on a wash, cut and blow-dry, she charged me £12. Still not bad compared to UK prices, but three times as much as I had been paying. But it was a good cut, so I went there a few more times. I had another slight shock in January 2008 when the euro price was €22.50 - a distinct increase. But I paid it, and went back a few more times.

Then her shop was closed for a long time. And seemed to have a new owner when it was finally opened again. And since it was a bit of a nuisance having to go downtown, I thought I might try a local hairdresser I had seen, near the fruit shop that's just five minutes walk away.

The first time I was booked in, I was unimpressed. I had to wait nearly an hour while various elderly ladies had trims and perms and blow-dries. The tools didn't appear to be as well sterilised as those in the other places I'd been, either. The blow-drying at the end was nothing like I wanted - they used clips and brushes, and made it stand out in a way that was totally not 'me'. I had to re-wet it as soon as I got home, and dry it in my usual style. And they charged me €25.

I nearly decided not to return. But I had noticed that when I went to the till, the hairdresser said, 'Hmm, washing, and cutting, and blow-drying...' then she did some mental calculation before presenting me with the bill. They were itemised as three separate things on my receipt, too.

Since they are so very convenient, I decided to go there once more. So, mid-November, I made an appointment for 'a cut'. At the other two places, I had asked at first for 'a cut', and they had said, 'you mean a cut-and-blow-dry', and I had meekly agreed. So the first time at this local places, I asked for a cut-and-blow-dry. Which is what I got.

But they agreed to book me in for 'a cut'. I wondered whether they would cut it dry, since I firmly refused a wash. I never like having my hair washed by someone else anyway. Instead, one of the junior girls sprayed my hair with what looked like a plant mister before it was cut. I wondered then if I would have to walk home with my hair still damp, since I didn't want a blow-dry. But after the cut, the hairdresser got out the hairdryer, and quickly dried it using her hands to style, just like I do.

I didn't have to wait that time, and she charged me €11.

It seemed ideal. Convenient, good price, and the kind of cut I want without any fuss.

So I booked another appointment for this morning. Once again there was no waiting around, and a good cut with no fuss. It's gone up to €12, but I don't think that's unreasonable. I think I'll be sticking with this one for a while... unless, of course, she too closes down. Shops and businesses come and go with great frequency in Cyprus. Still, this hairdresser does seem to have a lot of customers, mostly Cypriots, so I hope she'll stick around.

Another warm week in Cyprus

September. I somehow feel as if the weather should be Autumnal, but it's still hot. Less humid (thankfully) but still much too hot for me during the daytime.

Cyprus started to come to life again this week after the summer break. All the shops and businesses were open again, and some of the schools returned on Thursday. Others will be back next week. A lot of ex-pats are still away - it's generally cheaper to go at this time of year - but others have returned.

What have I done since I last wrote?

General house things: cleaning, laundry, cooking. Email, forums, a bit of chatting in Instant Messenger with both Daniel and Tim. Talking with Richard about temperament and interaction styles, so that he could help someone else understand about personality differences.

On Wednesday I had my hair cut at a local place. A good cut, but a terrible blow dry, and not particularly good value. Half an hour late starting, too. But very convenient in the hot weather when I really don't want to walk down-town more than I have to. Then some colleagues came to lunch. On Thursday I took our BGCM (the Bissell 'Big Green Cleaning Machine')_ to the church hall, to clean the three large rugs used by the mothers-and-toddlers group. That took a couple of hours, and was very warm work but well worth doing.

On Friday evening the house group meeting in our home re-started after the summer, and last night we went to the annual inter-church meal at the Aradippou picnic site. Excellent food, and it was good to catch up with some people we hadn't seen for a while. Good views over Larnaka, too:


.. and observant readers may notice I've chosen another similar view to turn into a new banner at the top of this blog, since the previous one was really a winter photo showing an empty beach.

I've also sorted out, uploaded and ordered from Kodak some prints of our last three months' photos, during the past week.

I hope, as the weather turns cooler, that I will get rather more done!

This IS Cyprus....!

Cyprus is a great place to live, in many ways. The people are friendly, the lifestyle relaxed, and while I don't do well in heat, the weather is at least reasonably predictable. We love having a lot of space in our home for visitors, and it's been a wonderful place to bring up our sons.

But it's still a strange culture, in some ways. Bizarrely, even the Cypriots are aware of it. They are the ones who will shrug and say, 'This is Cyprus!' at any oddities of life. Such as crossing the road when there's a space, rather than at a pedestrian crossing.

We fly to the UK tomorrow, on the start of our seven weeks away. So here, in the meantime, are a couple of the oddities that we still haven't got used to:

Banks

I wrote last week about some problems with the Cyprus banks. Richard wrote another post about his frustrations with the banks both in Cyprus and in the UK.

Oh, and a friend of ours tried to withdraw a large amount of money to pay his children's school fees, at a branch other than his own, and was told that he couldn't do so. He thought perhaps the amount was too great for his ATM card, so tried to withdraw a smaller amount. It wouldn't let him, saying he didn't have enough money. He went to his own branch and asked what was going on.. and they said the entire amount was 'blocked'. Why? Because he had tried to take it out, but hadn't completed the transaction. And no, his own bank couldn't do anything about it - he had to get the other bank to unblock it.

Eventually the other bank did release the money, but it was very frustrating for a few days. Nobody quite knows what it means for money to be 'blocked' but it's a commonly used word here. When we pay a UK cheque into our Cyprus bank account, the money is 'blocked' for 21 days. It takes about one week to clear... but we don't have access to it for three weeks.

Compared with all that, my latest little snippet is hardly worth mentioning.

Last week, Richard went to close down the business accounts he had been using that were in our personal name, and open up new ones in the organisation name. It had only taken about two years to get that sorted.

In the process, he discovered that £38 had been transferred from our personal account to the old business account. They thought the account was going to go overdrawn by £38, apparently - and rather than letting us know, they do tend to go ahead and make a random transfer from an account that has money in it.

It turned out that the account was actually only going to go overdrawn by £6, because of a cheque book which he didn't need (yes, we even have to pay for cheque books here). So he gave them some cash to cover it, and asked that the money be transferred back.

A few days later I was working on our accounts, and checked our online statement. It showed a transaction of £35 out of our personal account, but no corresponding transaction into it. I thought maybe it would take a few days, but today I had another look and still there was no repayment. And it wasn't even the amount they said they had transferred.

Then I saw that our savings account had an extra £38 in it. That, too, turned out to be a bank transfer.

But why take it out of one account, and then pay it into another? And even more oddly, why did we apparently gain £3 from it???

This is Cyprus!

Hairdressers

For over two years now, I've been going to a pleasant girl who runs her own business on her own, very close to where we used to live. She doesn't talk too much, she does exactly what I want, and she only charges £4 despite usually working for nearly an hour on my hair, even when it's just a trim.

It's a bit of a walk from our new house, but I've been going back there because she's so good. I last went in early June, as far as I recall. I asked then if she would be closed at all during the summer. She said yes, she would have to close for a week in August as it was the law. But that was all.

I was going to go in July, but it was hot and humid, and I wasn't in that neighbourhood, and anyway my hair looked OK. So I didn't.

I thought about it in August, but realised I didn't know which week she would be closed. Then I realised that, as we'll be away for seven weeks, it would be best to wait till the first week of September anyway.

On Tuesday this week, the mothers-and-toddlers group (where I help out) started again after a two-month break. It's quite close to the hairdresser, so I walked back past the shop, intending to pop in and either book a trim or - if she wasn't busy - have it at the time.

But it was closed. There was a note on the door saying that it was going to be closed from August 15th-19th, so I just assumed she had gone to lunch or something.

On Wednesday, we had to do a few errands and drove through the same area. So I thought I'd pop in. Once again, it was closed. The same note was still on the door. And then it occurred to me that the hairdresser is very tidy and organised, and would surely take down her holiday notice when she went back. So it looks as though she has not returned to work. Either she's sick, or she's decided it's not worth running the business - she never seemed to draw a huge amount of traffic.

But that means I have no idea where to get my hair cut.

However, I remembered a place in the town that some friends have recommended, and I also knew there was a hairdresser just five minutes walk from our home. Today I wanted to go into the town to check our PO Box, so I thought I'd go this afternoon and then call in at the hairdresser there, and see what they were like. I've been told that appointments aren't usually necessary.

Trouble is - it was closed.

So was the hairdresser near our house. And so was another one I saw on the way back.

Then I remembered that while Wednesday is the regular early closing day for shops, Thursday is the early closing day for hairdressers. It does make sense, I guess... shopkeepers can get their hair cut on a Wednesday afternoon, and hairdressers can do their shopping on a Thursday afternoon.

It's just that, despite having lived here for nearly ten years, I had totally forgotten.

MOT

Cyprus has, at last, got the MOT theory sorted out. All cars have to have this test ever two years, and there has to be a valid MOT certificate before we can apply for car tax.

Of course, it's quite possible to pay the car tax up to a year (or more) late - that doesn't seem to worry anyone.

Anyway, the tax on our newer car (the one that's only ten years old) is well overdue, so - nothing like leaving things to the last minute before we go away - Richard took it for its MOT test today. It had a thorough service not long ago, and the mechanic said it was up to MOT standard, so he thought it would be fairly straightforward and quick.

Not so.

The car has tinted windows at the back and sides. Very pleasant in the summer as it cuts down the glare of the sun, and also means the car doesn't get too hot.

Unfortunately, new MOT regulations mean that tinted windows are not allowed. At least... they're allowed if the glass itself is tinted. But if there's a thin tinted film painted on it, that's not OK. Unfortunately, our car has the latter type. Why that should be 'worse' than tinted glass, I've no idea.

Richard did not think it possible to remove the tinted film. But then one of the junior mechanics produced a small double-sided razor blade, and demonstrated that it is possible. In about five minutes, he managed to remove about a square centimetre.

Labour is very cheap in Cyprus, so the garage owner said he would employ someone for a day to remove all the tinting, so that our car can pass the MOT tomorrow, so that we can pay the tax. Would they really go to that much trouble in other countries??

What's even more bizarre, though, is that our old car (the one that's 20 years old) had its MOT on Tuesday. It has a tow-bar which Richard had fitted a couple of years ago, when he bought his first dinghy. Apparently the new regulations say that a tow-bar should not stick out quite as much as ours does.

So, the mechanic told us, if we get asked about the tow-bar, we have to say that we fitted it after the MOT was done....

So let's hope nobody asks about it, since we're not going to tell lies about it, but also don't want the mechanic or the MOT folk to get into trouble!

Yes, this is Cyprus...

Could have been an expensive day....

After much thought and some discussion, I decided to have my hair cut. It's been long for about ten years now, with a fringe which I trimmed myself occasionally. It was ages since I'd been to a hairdresser. But a new one opened just around the corner about a year ago and every so often I told myself I should go in there. Trouble was, there were no prices advertised and I know hairdressers can be expensive. And I really don't like having other people cut my hair or anything like that.

But we're going away for a few days next week, and my head's been feeling heavy with the heat and humidity. It always happens, but this year I got fed up with it. Besides that, I'm feeling it's a year of milestones and it was about time for a symbolic change. Sometimes middled-aged or elderly people with long hair look even older than they are. I don't know if this is true for me, but I've had enough. So I booked a haircut for this afternoon.

The lady was very nice although she took some persuading to cut a lot of my hair off. She took a lot of care over it, and added various nice-smelling chemical things as she dried it after cutting. The whole process took about 50 minutes in all. It's ended up longer than I'd expected, but I think it looks all right. It certainly feels much lighter, and Richard says it looks good. It's certainly a starting-point towards much shorter hair.

This evening the air-conditioner man arrived with an assistant. They removed some air from the system, re-wired part of it, and spent a lot of time explaining to Richard what was wrong - as well as generally chatting. They must have been here over an hour in all. When they left, the unit was certainly blowing cool air although not as cold as we'd hoped. But anything's better than nothing, and we've moved my computer into the room with a/c. The repairman realises it isn't perfect but says the compressor is fine, and we must let him know if there are any other problems.

Back in the UK, I would expect to have paid at least £20 for the haircut I had, perhaps more since it was such a different style from the previous one. And I should think we would easily have paid £50 to the air-conditioner men. (Not that we needed a/c in the UK, of course, but that's quite beside the point!)

What did I actually pay?

£4 for the haircut. I had to ask the hairdresser to repeat it twice, I couldn't believe it was so low. [That's about £4.15 sterling, or $8 US]

As for the a/c, the repairman said he wasn't going to take any money from us until he knew for sure that it was working. So - at his insistence - we didn't pay him anything.

Sometimes I can't get over how inexpensive some things are here, and even Cyprus is considered very expensive when compared to, say, Egypt.