Dear Family and Friends,
We knew this would be a year of change. It seems as if it's mostly been a year of farewells....
The rest of the 2006 family newsletter can now be found on our family website.
Showing posts with label moving. Show all posts
Showing posts with label moving. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
Saturday, November 04, 2006
Patience. An important virtue in Cyprus.
It's now four months since we bought the house we're living in. When we went to the municipal office to do all the final legal stuff, part of the process was deed transfer. We were told exactly when we could hand over our final cheque to the people selling the house, and also when we had to pay the tax for transferring deeds. Everyone had told us not to do the final payment to the vendors until we were at the deeds office, and it all worked well.
Then, at the end, one of the officials told us they would post us the deeds as they couldn't do the final transfer on the spot. We weren't sure why, as it's all computerised, but the house was legally ours so we didn't worry. We assumed the new deeds would arrive in a week or two.
They didn't.
By the end of July, we were a little puzzled, but as August is a holiday almost everywhere in Cyprus, we thought perhaps it would be done in September.
September passed. Most of October passed, and it occurred to us that we still didn't have the deeds. So Richard made a note on his organiser to phone our lawyer to find out if he knew when we should have them. Or what would happen if they had got lost in the post.
He was going to get around to it yesterday. Then on Thursday a large brown envelope was delivered to the mailbox outside the house. Inside were the deeds! A little crumpled, but fortunately I had rescued the envelope (which was sticking out of the box) before it rained.
And, Cyprus still, there were two sets of deeds. One in my name, and one in Richard's. Each of us legally owns half of the house.
Then there's the gas. The ovens are electric, but the hobs are gas, as is the central heating. There's a huge gas barrel outside, downstairs, and the vendor assured us that a truck would come by every two weeks to fill it up. So for our first fortnight in the house, I kept half an eye out for the truck, not sure what would happen. Nobody came.
Mid-August, another friend said that their house uses large barrels too, but that the truck doesn't come during the summer, as they use so little gas when the central heating isn't on. He said that he has to phone them to ask them to come when he wants them in the winter, and then they do come every two weeks.
Well we haven't wanted to use the central heating yet, but after four months I was beginning to wonder how long the gas would last. There's no dial to tell us it's nearly empty, and as we're going away I suggested Richard might phone the vendor and get the number, so we could have some more gas delivered.
He might have done that on Friday (though it wasn't urgent...) but at 7.30 Friday morning, a man arrived with a truck and asked if we wanted gas.. so I said yes, and he will now deliver it every two weeks.
So, as we're slowly learning, all we have to do - very often - is to wait.
Patience is a better word than procrastination, anyway.
Then, at the end, one of the officials told us they would post us the deeds as they couldn't do the final transfer on the spot. We weren't sure why, as it's all computerised, but the house was legally ours so we didn't worry. We assumed the new deeds would arrive in a week or two.
They didn't.
By the end of July, we were a little puzzled, but as August is a holiday almost everywhere in Cyprus, we thought perhaps it would be done in September.
September passed. Most of October passed, and it occurred to us that we still didn't have the deeds. So Richard made a note on his organiser to phone our lawyer to find out if he knew when we should have them. Or what would happen if they had got lost in the post.
He was going to get around to it yesterday. Then on Thursday a large brown envelope was delivered to the mailbox outside the house. Inside were the deeds! A little crumpled, but fortunately I had rescued the envelope (which was sticking out of the box) before it rained.
And, Cyprus still, there were two sets of deeds. One in my name, and one in Richard's. Each of us legally owns half of the house.
Then there's the gas. The ovens are electric, but the hobs are gas, as is the central heating. There's a huge gas barrel outside, downstairs, and the vendor assured us that a truck would come by every two weeks to fill it up. So for our first fortnight in the house, I kept half an eye out for the truck, not sure what would happen. Nobody came.
Mid-August, another friend said that their house uses large barrels too, but that the truck doesn't come during the summer, as they use so little gas when the central heating isn't on. He said that he has to phone them to ask them to come when he wants them in the winter, and then they do come every two weeks.
Well we haven't wanted to use the central heating yet, but after four months I was beginning to wonder how long the gas would last. There's no dial to tell us it's nearly empty, and as we're going away I suggested Richard might phone the vendor and get the number, so we could have some more gas delivered.
He might have done that on Friday (though it wasn't urgent...) but at 7.30 Friday morning, a man arrived with a truck and asked if we wanted gas.. so I said yes, and he will now deliver it every two weeks.
So, as we're slowly learning, all we have to do - very often - is to wait.
Patience is a better word than procrastination, anyway.
Sunday, October 22, 2006
My new small friend
While I don't seem to have done much this week, life has been fairly full. Downstairs in our guest flat, we have a family staying for nearly a week, with four children from the ages of three up to eleven. The family arrived on Wednesday night, about 10.30pm just as thunder was starting to roll around Larnaka. They were all wide awake and excited to be here, other than the three-year-old who was fast asleep, as he had been for about three hours, apparently. We showed them around, and when the 11-year-old boy saw the many shelves of children's books in the second guest room, he sighed deeply, and said,
"Wow. I wish we were staying a YEAR not just a week...."
Then they saw the trunk full of Lego. And a few children's DVDs which we had put downstairs for them. Including 'The Railway Children', which their mother had just been reading to them... I eventually retired to bed around 11pm as I am NOT a night-owl, but it was pretty late by the time the rest of them got to bed.
Except of course for the three-year-old.
Thursday morning, around 7.30am, I was going down the main outside stairs to put some rubbish out, and I saw a face at the side window of the main guest room. A small child opened the window a bit more, and stepped right out onto the stairs. He was watching one of our cats, and asked me if it scratched.
I said no, she's a friendly cat. He evidently decided I was a friendly person, and followed me up to the main part of the house. We don't have any children's toys or books up here, and I thought he'd quickly be bored. But he found the cat toys, and played with them for a while. And talked, and talked.... asking questions, telling me about his family, who were still asleep. A remarkably sociable three-year-old - all the more remarkable because I learned, later, that he almost never goes to strangers! I thought as soon as I met the family that they must be home educators - they had the right kind of relaxed dynamic, and the three-year-old reminded me of two other young boys I'd known from home educating families. I was correct.
Since then this little boy has wandered up to have a chat and play with the cat toys several times. His siblings are happy to play with Lego and read, but he's not really old enough for their games or books, and prefers to have intelligent conversation upstairs!
Of course they've been out - they spent a day at the beach, and today Richard took some of them sailing in the afternoon. But it's nice to know our guest flat works so well for a family with children of this age, and I'm very glad we kept all the Lego and children's books!
"Wow. I wish we were staying a YEAR not just a week...."
Then they saw the trunk full of Lego. And a few children's DVDs which we had put downstairs for them. Including 'The Railway Children', which their mother had just been reading to them... I eventually retired to bed around 11pm as I am NOT a night-owl, but it was pretty late by the time the rest of them got to bed.
Except of course for the three-year-old.
Thursday morning, around 7.30am, I was going down the main outside stairs to put some rubbish out, and I saw a face at the side window of the main guest room. A small child opened the window a bit more, and stepped right out onto the stairs. He was watching one of our cats, and asked me if it scratched.
I said no, she's a friendly cat. He evidently decided I was a friendly person, and followed me up to the main part of the house. We don't have any children's toys or books up here, and I thought he'd quickly be bored. But he found the cat toys, and played with them for a while. And talked, and talked.... asking questions, telling me about his family, who were still asleep. A remarkably sociable three-year-old - all the more remarkable because I learned, later, that he almost never goes to strangers! I thought as soon as I met the family that they must be home educators - they had the right kind of relaxed dynamic, and the three-year-old reminded me of two other young boys I'd known from home educating families. I was correct.
Since then this little boy has wandered up to have a chat and play with the cat toys several times. His siblings are happy to play with Lego and read, but he's not really old enough for their games or books, and prefers to have intelligent conversation upstairs!
Of course they've been out - they spent a day at the beach, and today Richard took some of them sailing in the afternoon. But it's nice to know our guest flat works so well for a family with children of this age, and I'm very glad we kept all the Lego and children's books!
Thursday, October 05, 2006
Three month update on the house
It's exactly three months since we moved in here. People tell us it looks 'lived in' - and I'm never quite sure if that's good because it feels more like a home, or not-so-good because it's getting more cluttered! Perhaps somewhere between the two.
Of course there's still a lot to do. In between guests, Richard's spending evenings turning Daniel's old cabin bed - which was fine when he was eight or nine - into one more suitable for a young man, assuming Dan returns for awhile when he's finished on the Doulos. We had managed to lose the ladder in transporting the basic bed from the UK to here, so he's built a new one and is now in the process of building an enormous desk as part of the bed. Eventually it will have shelving behind. Meanwhile I have cut and re-hemmed the curtains from Dan's room in our other house, since he liked them and there was plenty of material, to fit his room here:
In case it looks as if we're well-organised, there's still a huge pile of boxes the other side of the room, variously labelled 'Dan's books', 'Dan's clutter', 'Dan's stuff', 'Dan's junk', 'Dan's miscellaneous', etc.
Tim had hoped that we could use the curtains from his old room here too, and we tried, but there wasn't quite enough material and there was an annoying gap which let through the neighbour's side-light overnight. So we persuaded him to come to the curtain factory last week, when we needed to order curtains for the downstairs studio, and there was one kind of material (amongst hundreds) which Tim liked. So he now has new curtains, which he's very pleased with:
The guest flat downstairs, of course, still has a lot of work to do. Although our last guest left only about ten days ago, and our next ones are due this Sunday, it's once again become a general dumping ground and looks remarkably messy:
This is partly because we were hoping to have the main guest bedroom ready for this weekend, but we still haven't had the plumber or the carpenter to fix either the sink or the doorframe. Still, Richard filled about 30 holes with polyfilla last week, and we've now painted it - a similar colour to the previous one, but it looks a great deal better without white patches and holes! I've also adapted two pairs of curtains - which we had in the living room of our last house - to fit the room. They go surprisingly well, and keep it significantly cooler.
Yesterday we cleaned the downstairs bathroom ceiling, which was a bit mouldy, and Richard repainted it with mould-resistant paint. Then he and Tim started painting the studio, with the 'expensive' green paint we bought earlier in the week. Since the sound-treatment panels will be hanging on the wall, they just painted around them, meaning it looked a bit odd while being done:
But very effective when the panels were put back on their hooks:
Of course there's still a lot to do. In between guests, Richard's spending evenings turning Daniel's old cabin bed - which was fine when he was eight or nine - into one more suitable for a young man, assuming Dan returns for awhile when he's finished on the Doulos. We had managed to lose the ladder in transporting the basic bed from the UK to here, so he's built a new one and is now in the process of building an enormous desk as part of the bed. Eventually it will have shelving behind. Meanwhile I have cut and re-hemmed the curtains from Dan's room in our other house, since he liked them and there was plenty of material, to fit his room here:
In case it looks as if we're well-organised, there's still a huge pile of boxes the other side of the room, variously labelled 'Dan's books', 'Dan's clutter', 'Dan's stuff', 'Dan's junk', 'Dan's miscellaneous', etc.
Tim had hoped that we could use the curtains from his old room here too, and we tried, but there wasn't quite enough material and there was an annoying gap which let through the neighbour's side-light overnight. So we persuaded him to come to the curtain factory last week, when we needed to order curtains for the downstairs studio, and there was one kind of material (amongst hundreds) which Tim liked. So he now has new curtains, which he's very pleased with:
The guest flat downstairs, of course, still has a lot of work to do. Although our last guest left only about ten days ago, and our next ones are due this Sunday, it's once again become a general dumping ground and looks remarkably messy:
This is partly because we were hoping to have the main guest bedroom ready for this weekend, but we still haven't had the plumber or the carpenter to fix either the sink or the doorframe. Still, Richard filled about 30 holes with polyfilla last week, and we've now painted it - a similar colour to the previous one, but it looks a great deal better without white patches and holes! I've also adapted two pairs of curtains - which we had in the living room of our last house - to fit the room. They go surprisingly well, and keep it significantly cooler.
Yesterday we cleaned the downstairs bathroom ceiling, which was a bit mouldy, and Richard repainted it with mould-resistant paint. Then he and Tim started painting the studio, with the 'expensive' green paint we bought earlier in the week. Since the sound-treatment panels will be hanging on the wall, they just painted around them, meaning it looked a bit odd while being done:
But very effective when the panels were put back on their hooks:
Monday, October 02, 2006
Rain
Well... a few spots, anyway. And, more to the point, thunder, which means I need to turn my computer off in a moment. The cats are quite disturbed. Perhaps they thought it wasn't going to rain at our new house!
There's usually great excitement at the first rain of the season, but so far it's not exactly major. And, typically, a large pile of cement was delivered just outside one of our neighbour's houses this morning. If it rains heavily, they'll have a huge block of concrete....
There's usually great excitement at the first rain of the season, but so far it's not exactly major. And, typically, a large pile of cement was delivered just outside one of our neighbour's houses this morning. If it rains heavily, they'll have a huge block of concrete....
Wednesday, September 20, 2006
Our guest flat in use again
I'm glad I took the pictures for the previous post, showing how very cluttered and messy our downstairs flat was! I'd almost forgotten how bad it was, in just a few days. Our guest arrived in the early hours of this morning, so we worked hard to make the flat presentable again.
First, Richard made 14 of the fibreglass panels, covering them with the bright coloured material from Egypt. I gather they're for sound treatment, not sound proofing, so they won't cover the entire room. There are still several more to make, but he's put up these, matching the patterns where possible:
A lot brighter than I would have chosen, but Tim loves them. I think we're going to paint the wall underneath in a very dark green - eventually!
Richard had the ingenious idea of stapling the frames together rather than using screws. Inspired by some of our photo frames, since these panels are very light and hang on the wall rather like pictures. It made the job considerably faster, but it was still getting a bit tedious by the time he got to the last few. And there are still more to do, but not this week.
As for the rest of the house... well, we moved the rest of the fibreglass, all the painting tools and other general clutter into the front bedroom, which is still awaiting its plumbing and new doorframe:
We gave four boxes of no-longer-wanted books, clothes and other bits and pieces to the jumble sale [which, incidentally, is roughly equivalent to an American 'rummage sale', I believe]. People were sorting yesterday, and the sale itself was today. For the first time since we've moved here, I had no inclination to go to the jumble sale. Perhaps because, now our main living area is mostly decluttered, I don't want to end up with more clutter!
I sorted the downstairs books, somewhat, too. The one currently functioning guest room now has all the children's books - about eight large shelves of them. The living room has other books we don't want or need upstairs, but don't want to get rid of.
As for the rest of the downstairs, I spent most of yesterday cleaning. And wow, it was dirty! Cyprus gets pretty dusty anyway, and I don't suppose I'd dusted or mopped the floors for at least three weeks, as there was so much stuff everywhere. Then all the woodshavings made it worse. Richard swept, then I dusted and swept, then I mopped everywhere twice.
Tim put the 'guest' computer back together, and Richard put up a shelf unit which made a useful place to store CDs for the computer. This is one end of the kitchen:
The kitchen/dining area really is pretty big - we've moved all the downstairs board games into one of the kitchen cupboards, and there's still plenty of space.
Then last night Richard adapted the TV shelving unit he built for our old TV at our other house. The new one he bought inexpensively for downstairs was 2cm too tall and 2cm too wide, so he had to take the shelving apart and redesign it. It took a while, but the TV looks a lot better than it did when it was balanced precariously on the coffee table.
The weather site is predicting thunderstorms and rain for the next few days. If so, it will be the first rain since about May, and will be very welcome. Today is quite cloudy, and a bit muggy. It's slightly cooler than it was, but not significantly.
First, Richard made 14 of the fibreglass panels, covering them with the bright coloured material from Egypt. I gather they're for sound treatment, not sound proofing, so they won't cover the entire room. There are still several more to make, but he's put up these, matching the patterns where possible:
A lot brighter than I would have chosen, but Tim loves them. I think we're going to paint the wall underneath in a very dark green - eventually!
Richard had the ingenious idea of stapling the frames together rather than using screws. Inspired by some of our photo frames, since these panels are very light and hang on the wall rather like pictures. It made the job considerably faster, but it was still getting a bit tedious by the time he got to the last few. And there are still more to do, but not this week.
As for the rest of the house... well, we moved the rest of the fibreglass, all the painting tools and other general clutter into the front bedroom, which is still awaiting its plumbing and new doorframe:
We gave four boxes of no-longer-wanted books, clothes and other bits and pieces to the jumble sale [which, incidentally, is roughly equivalent to an American 'rummage sale', I believe]. People were sorting yesterday, and the sale itself was today. For the first time since we've moved here, I had no inclination to go to the jumble sale. Perhaps because, now our main living area is mostly decluttered, I don't want to end up with more clutter!
I sorted the downstairs books, somewhat, too. The one currently functioning guest room now has all the children's books - about eight large shelves of them. The living room has other books we don't want or need upstairs, but don't want to get rid of.
As for the rest of the downstairs, I spent most of yesterday cleaning. And wow, it was dirty! Cyprus gets pretty dusty anyway, and I don't suppose I'd dusted or mopped the floors for at least three weeks, as there was so much stuff everywhere. Then all the woodshavings made it worse. Richard swept, then I dusted and swept, then I mopped everywhere twice.
Tim put the 'guest' computer back together, and Richard put up a shelf unit which made a useful place to store CDs for the computer. This is one end of the kitchen:
The kitchen/dining area really is pretty big - we've moved all the downstairs board games into one of the kitchen cupboards, and there's still plenty of space.
Then last night Richard adapted the TV shelving unit he built for our old TV at our other house. The new one he bought inexpensively for downstairs was 2cm too tall and 2cm too wide, so he had to take the shelving apart and redesign it. It took a while, but the TV looks a lot better than it did when it was balanced precariously on the coffee table.
The weather site is predicting thunderstorms and rain for the next few days. If so, it will be the first rain since about May, and will be very welcome. Today is quite cloudy, and a bit muggy. It's slightly cooler than it was, but not significantly.
Saturday, September 16, 2006
Downstairs in chaos again!
Nearly two months ago, I wrote this post about how we just about got the main part of our new house organised, when we learned that we were having unexpected guests from Lebanon to stay. So over a couple of days we tidied away the vast amounts of clutter that had accumulated in the guest flat part of the house. One of the guests stayed for about two weeks, and then just over a week later we had another guest.
So far so good.
But in the past month, clutter has somehow started appearing downstairs all over again. Firstly it was the painting tools, since we've finished painting upstairs.
Then some boxes of Tim's books which he's decided he doesn't need in ihs room. And so on. The music studio has been used by Tim and some of his friends a few times, but is fairly untidy, with wires and rugs and equipment fairly randomly arranged.
Other than that, we haven't really used the flat at all.
This would all be fine, since we do plan to decorate and finish organising the flat during the Autumn, once the weather cools a bit. But on Friday Tim will be 18, and he's having a party on Saturday to which he's invited the entire youth group. Potentially up to 30 people, though they probably won't all come. And he wants the party downstairs.
We might have persuaded him that upstairs would be easier, but then on Richard's recent trip he learned that one of our July visitors wants to come back for a week. Arriving this Wednesday. She doesn't at all mind that there's going to be a teenage party in the flat on Friday, but it does mean we need the place tidy and clean by the end of Tuesday. And we can't just shove all the clutter in the one current bedroom as we might have done if it had just been for the party. The other bedroom still needs the plumbing and doorframe finished, something we've been waiting for since the end of July, as explained in this post.
Just to add to the confusion, a few weeks ago we were given some fibreboard pieces to use in the studio for sound treatment.
While in Egypt last week, Richard bought some very brightly coloured cloth to cover them with, and on Thursday he bought some wood to make the panels. On Thursday evening, despite being pretty tired, he made the first two, to see how they would look:
A lot brighter than I would have chosen, but then I won't be using the studio - and they'll certainly make it more interesting.
This morning Richard went sailing with our friends who've been in the UK all summer, and this afternoon he's having to get ready for some recording he's doing at the office tomorrow... but at some point he hopes to make some more panels, and perhaps fit some of them. And tidy up. The painting stuff, I suppose, can go in the not-yet-ready bedroom. The books need to be sorted, and I was delighted to learn that there's a jumble sale coming up on Wednesday at St Helena's Church. A good opportunity to pass on some of the educational and other books that we will never use, and various other unwanted items discovered in the past few months that are too good to throw away.
So far so good.
But in the past month, clutter has somehow started appearing downstairs all over again. Firstly it was the painting tools, since we've finished painting upstairs.
Then some boxes of Tim's books which he's decided he doesn't need in ihs room. And so on. The music studio has been used by Tim and some of his friends a few times, but is fairly untidy, with wires and rugs and equipment fairly randomly arranged.
Other than that, we haven't really used the flat at all.
This would all be fine, since we do plan to decorate and finish organising the flat during the Autumn, once the weather cools a bit. But on Friday Tim will be 18, and he's having a party on Saturday to which he's invited the entire youth group. Potentially up to 30 people, though they probably won't all come. And he wants the party downstairs.
We might have persuaded him that upstairs would be easier, but then on Richard's recent trip he learned that one of our July visitors wants to come back for a week. Arriving this Wednesday. She doesn't at all mind that there's going to be a teenage party in the flat on Friday, but it does mean we need the place tidy and clean by the end of Tuesday. And we can't just shove all the clutter in the one current bedroom as we might have done if it had just been for the party. The other bedroom still needs the plumbing and doorframe finished, something we've been waiting for since the end of July, as explained in this post.
Just to add to the confusion, a few weeks ago we were given some fibreboard pieces to use in the studio for sound treatment.
While in Egypt last week, Richard bought some very brightly coloured cloth to cover them with, and on Thursday he bought some wood to make the panels. On Thursday evening, despite being pretty tired, he made the first two, to see how they would look:
A lot brighter than I would have chosen, but then I won't be using the studio - and they'll certainly make it more interesting.
This morning Richard went sailing with our friends who've been in the UK all summer, and this afternoon he's having to get ready for some recording he's doing at the office tomorrow... but at some point he hopes to make some more panels, and perhaps fit some of them. And tidy up. The painting stuff, I suppose, can go in the not-yet-ready bedroom. The books need to be sorted, and I was delighted to learn that there's a jumble sale coming up on Wednesday at St Helena's Church. A good opportunity to pass on some of the educational and other books that we will never use, and various other unwanted items discovered in the past few months that are too good to throw away.
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
Argos in Cyprus!
Note: I see that this post is still getting results from search engines. So I should mention, perhaps, that the Argos in Larnaka apparently closed down at least a year ago. It probably wasn't economically viable in Cyprus. The notice on the window says 'Enoikazetai' - to let.
I went to the Post Office this morning, and on the way back walked on the shady side of the main road. I noticed a newish shop, one I'd glanced at before, with a sign outside saying 'Argos'. A Greek-sounding name, so I hadn't thought too much about it, but today I realised that the sign is exactly the same as that of the British Argos stores.
I noticed, moreoever, that behind the smoked glass windows there was a variety of merchandise - kitchen appliances, garden equipment, and other random bits and pieces that looked remarkably like the kinds of things sold in the familiar Argos.
Intrigued, I went and had a closer look. There, by one of the windows, was a whole pile of green catalogues. And yes, printed on them was the Argos UK web-site address!
Alas, the store didn't open until 8.30am and it was only eight o'clock. So I came home and told Tim about it. He decided to go and look for himself - it's only about ten minutes' walk from our house - and set off. He hoped to pick up a catalogue, but when he returned half an hour later he had only a single sheet of paper. The catalogues, apparently, cost £4 each although a discount of the same amount is then given on the first purchase from the store. He didn't take any money with him, and we don't know if we want to use it anyway. But he had a chat with the lady in charge, and she told him that the prices will be related to the catalogue prices - only we'll have to pay in Cyprus pounds rather than sterling. An increase of about 20% on current exchange rates, but that takes into account the shipping from the UK.
They have a warehouse at the back, but as they're relatively new, they won't hold all stock and so goods may need to be ordered. And they hope to give away free catalogues eventually, but at present can't afford to do so as they have to bring those from the UK too.
Argos isn't the cheapest place for many items in the UK, but it's considerably better value than many stores in Cyprus. Moreover, it has some things that simply can't be bought anywhere else. So we'll be having a good browse of the UK website, and may well return...
I went to the Post Office this morning, and on the way back walked on the shady side of the main road. I noticed a newish shop, one I'd glanced at before, with a sign outside saying 'Argos'. A Greek-sounding name, so I hadn't thought too much about it, but today I realised that the sign is exactly the same as that of the British Argos stores.
I noticed, moreoever, that behind the smoked glass windows there was a variety of merchandise - kitchen appliances, garden equipment, and other random bits and pieces that looked remarkably like the kinds of things sold in the familiar Argos.
Intrigued, I went and had a closer look. There, by one of the windows, was a whole pile of green catalogues. And yes, printed on them was the Argos UK web-site address!
Alas, the store didn't open until 8.30am and it was only eight o'clock. So I came home and told Tim about it. He decided to go and look for himself - it's only about ten minutes' walk from our house - and set off. He hoped to pick up a catalogue, but when he returned half an hour later he had only a single sheet of paper. The catalogues, apparently, cost £4 each although a discount of the same amount is then given on the first purchase from the store. He didn't take any money with him, and we don't know if we want to use it anyway. But he had a chat with the lady in charge, and she told him that the prices will be related to the catalogue prices - only we'll have to pay in Cyprus pounds rather than sterling. An increase of about 20% on current exchange rates, but that takes into account the shipping from the UK.
They have a warehouse at the back, but as they're relatively new, they won't hold all stock and so goods may need to be ordered. And they hope to give away free catalogues eventually, but at present can't afford to do so as they have to bring those from the UK too.
Argos isn't the cheapest place for many items in the UK, but it's considerably better value than many stores in Cyprus. Moreover, it has some things that simply can't be bought anywhere else. So we'll be having a good browse of the UK website, and may well return...
Wednesday, August 09, 2006
The cool of the evening
I'm thankful for many things in this new house. But one thing that stands out above all the rest is the way that the cats adjusted so quickly and easily. You would think they had always lived here. They've sorted out their own routines, they're confident moving around the neighbourhood, they don't seem bothered by the dogs in the street, and they haven't shown the slightest indication to return to the old house.
Their essential characters remain the same, of course. Cleo still looks around nervously at any unexpected noise, and loves to sleep in quiet corners, particularly cardboard boxes. Sophia is still very talkative and likes to ensure we do things at the same times each day. Jemima still likes to be out at night, and sleep all morning, and is very cuddly to me, while mostly ignoring anyone else. Tessie still greets everyone who comes into the house and likes to sit on as many laps as possible.
But a new habit is that of sitting outside on the steps in the evening around 8pm, as the temperatures cool slightly. This is the time when many Cypriots have their evening meal, so perhaps there are tempting scents on the breeze. But the cats simply sit and watch the world go by. Usually it's just one or two of them, but yesterday I caught three of them all at the same time:
Sophia is at the top, her twin Jemima is just below, and Tessie is the one at the front of the picture.
Cleo was fast asleep in a cardboard box at the time. Which is preferable to her choice of steps: she prefers to be camouflaged wherever possible, and likes to sleep on one of the black metal spiral steps at the other side of the house. Which is fine, until someone is going up or down and she lies there, refusing to move...
Their essential characters remain the same, of course. Cleo still looks around nervously at any unexpected noise, and loves to sleep in quiet corners, particularly cardboard boxes. Sophia is still very talkative and likes to ensure we do things at the same times each day. Jemima still likes to be out at night, and sleep all morning, and is very cuddly to me, while mostly ignoring anyone else. Tessie still greets everyone who comes into the house and likes to sit on as many laps as possible.
But a new habit is that of sitting outside on the steps in the evening around 8pm, as the temperatures cool slightly. This is the time when many Cypriots have their evening meal, so perhaps there are tempting scents on the breeze. But the cats simply sit and watch the world go by. Usually it's just one or two of them, but yesterday I caught three of them all at the same time:
Sophia is at the top, her twin Jemima is just below, and Tessie is the one at the front of the picture.
Cleo was fast asleep in a cardboard box at the time. Which is preferable to her choice of steps: she prefers to be camouflaged wherever possible, and likes to sleep on one of the black metal spiral steps at the other side of the house. Which is fine, until someone is going up or down and she lies there, refusing to move...
Saturday, August 05, 2006
One month since we moved: day-to-day living
In some ways it feels as if we've been in this house for far longer than a month. The main part is reasonably organised (other than some boxes still in cupboards, and Dan's room which is a great muddle, and some painting which still needs to be done...) and when we made a list this week of things left to buy and/or do, it was surprisingly short.
At the same time, it still feels as if we're in the holiday/vacation period of culture change. I still can't quite believe that it's ours. Last night, driving home from an evening with friends, Richard needed to drop me home before going to see someone else who was briefly in Larnaka. He nearly took me to the old house. If he had done, I hope I would have noticed before getting out...!
Life is settling down, although as ever in Summer I tend to estivate. Less so than last year, but still it's difficult to do very much when the outside temperatures are in the thirties. [That's high eighties or nineties fahrenheit]. We do have air conditioning in all the rooms, but it's not particularly healthy to use them all the time, and would be rather expensive if we did! Much better simply to switch it on in rooms we're using, when necessary. We run them at 28C [82F] /which feels surprisingly cool. When my computer's on, I use the a/c since computers tend to be unreliable when it gets over 30C. At night we run them in the bedrooms, in economy mode, so that the cooling is only on when the temp is above 28, but they work as fan and dehumidifier all night. I also use the one in the kitchen if I'm cooking, and we sometimes use the living-room a/c in the evening if it feels particularly humid.
Twice this week I've been asked what my days look like. So if anyone's really interested, here's an approximate outline:
6am (ish) - get up in yesterday's clothes, open curtains, feed cats, have coffee, read, pray, etc
7.30am - empty dishwasher (oh, how I like having a dishwasher!), general dusting/mopping of floors (which get surprisingly grubby with dust and cat hair), quick clean of bathrooms
8.30am (or earlier, if possible) - out to Post Office, or fruit shop, or any other errands on foot, before it gets too hot.
9.00am - take Richard his coffee! Have breakfast (fruit and yogurt). Make new yogurt if necessary, put ingredients in breadmaker, put on washing machine.
9.30am - quick dust/mop of upstairs, or downstairs guest flat. Feeling very hot and sticky by now.
10am - have wonderful cool shower and get dressed in clean clothes!
On Wednesdays we usually have one or two of Richard's colleagues to lunch, so I clear out the fridge, make some salads, wash extra fruit, and possibly make some cake. On Fridays we do our weekly supermarket shop, so I get that unpacked and put away, then make the beds with clean sheets. On Thursday, when I've been to the Post Office for mail, I sort it and deal with anything that needs doing. On Saturday I do any necessary ironing (minimal, but at least it's bearable with the a/c switched on).
Other than that, I try and use the mornings reasonably constructively: I'm working through a Greek study book in the hope of finally mastering the language at basic level; I'm also working on a floral tapestry picture which I started over two years ago... no, it's not enormous, I just keep forgetting to do it. A little each day seems to be getting somewhere. I also do some writing, and hang out the laundry when it's finished washing.
I also try and do a bit of unpacking each day. I don't know how many boxes remain, but I hope we're more than half-way through. Of course, now we've found all the important things, it would be all too easy just to leave the others unpacked. But now we've finally bought somewhere, and hopeto stay here long-term, we feel we should sort through ALL our things, and either find a place for them or get rid of them.
Around 1pm we have lunch: fresh bread, cheese, salads, fruit, etc. Richard comes home for an hour, which is nice. Around 2pm most people here have a siesta for a couple of hours; if I'm really tired I might do that, but usually I switch my computer on. I might read and write email, get our accounts up-to-date, chat with Dan via IM if he's online, read blogs and forums, write blog entries, look at the latest news, play Babble or Sudoku, etc. I try and switch it off around 5pm as it would be very easy to spend hours and hours online and forget about 'real life'.
A couple of times a week in the summer we go swimming around 5pm for an hour or so, when the sun isn't too high but the sea is still very warm, then we eat something quick and easy afterwards. Other days I spend a bit longer cooking; I also fold and put away the laundry, water the plants (when I remember!), and empty the bins. We usually eat around 7pm in summer, or a little earlier.
After we've cleared away from our meal, and put the dishwasher on, we might watch a DVD together if we're all in, or possibly play a board game, although we haven't done so since Dan went away in January. Tim's out two evenings a week, and Richard has to pop back to the office two or three times a week, depending on who's there or what urgent project needs continuing, so I might read or knit (or possibly spend more time at the computer if I forgot to switch it off).
So there it is. Nothing terribly exciting, and in a week like this one, time seems to whizz by so I can barely believe it's Saturday again. Tim has spent most of today with friends in the 'studio' downstairs recording some music, and Richard's spent most of his time with his Egyptian colleague, who's returning to Egypt tonight. He wanted to buy one or two gifts, and there were a couple of things he needed to finish at the office and hand over to Richard. I expect he'll be eating with us tonight.
At the same time, it still feels as if we're in the holiday/vacation period of culture change. I still can't quite believe that it's ours. Last night, driving home from an evening with friends, Richard needed to drop me home before going to see someone else who was briefly in Larnaka. He nearly took me to the old house. If he had done, I hope I would have noticed before getting out...!
Life is settling down, although as ever in Summer I tend to estivate. Less so than last year, but still it's difficult to do very much when the outside temperatures are in the thirties. [That's high eighties or nineties fahrenheit]. We do have air conditioning in all the rooms, but it's not particularly healthy to use them all the time, and would be rather expensive if we did! Much better simply to switch it on in rooms we're using, when necessary. We run them at 28C [82F] /which feels surprisingly cool. When my computer's on, I use the a/c since computers tend to be unreliable when it gets over 30C. At night we run them in the bedrooms, in economy mode, so that the cooling is only on when the temp is above 28, but they work as fan and dehumidifier all night. I also use the one in the kitchen if I'm cooking, and we sometimes use the living-room a/c in the evening if it feels particularly humid.
Twice this week I've been asked what my days look like. So if anyone's really interested, here's an approximate outline:
6am (ish) - get up in yesterday's clothes, open curtains, feed cats, have coffee, read, pray, etc
7.30am - empty dishwasher (oh, how I like having a dishwasher!), general dusting/mopping of floors (which get surprisingly grubby with dust and cat hair), quick clean of bathrooms
8.30am (or earlier, if possible) - out to Post Office, or fruit shop, or any other errands on foot, before it gets too hot.
9.00am - take Richard his coffee! Have breakfast (fruit and yogurt). Make new yogurt if necessary, put ingredients in breadmaker, put on washing machine.
9.30am - quick dust/mop of upstairs, or downstairs guest flat. Feeling very hot and sticky by now.
10am - have wonderful cool shower and get dressed in clean clothes!
On Wednesdays we usually have one or two of Richard's colleagues to lunch, so I clear out the fridge, make some salads, wash extra fruit, and possibly make some cake. On Fridays we do our weekly supermarket shop, so I get that unpacked and put away, then make the beds with clean sheets. On Thursday, when I've been to the Post Office for mail, I sort it and deal with anything that needs doing. On Saturday I do any necessary ironing (minimal, but at least it's bearable with the a/c switched on).
Other than that, I try and use the mornings reasonably constructively: I'm working through a Greek study book in the hope of finally mastering the language at basic level; I'm also working on a floral tapestry picture which I started over two years ago... no, it's not enormous, I just keep forgetting to do it. A little each day seems to be getting somewhere. I also do some writing, and hang out the laundry when it's finished washing.
I also try and do a bit of unpacking each day. I don't know how many boxes remain, but I hope we're more than half-way through. Of course, now we've found all the important things, it would be all too easy just to leave the others unpacked. But now we've finally bought somewhere, and hopeto stay here long-term, we feel we should sort through ALL our things, and either find a place for them or get rid of them.
Around 1pm we have lunch: fresh bread, cheese, salads, fruit, etc. Richard comes home for an hour, which is nice. Around 2pm most people here have a siesta for a couple of hours; if I'm really tired I might do that, but usually I switch my computer on. I might read and write email, get our accounts up-to-date, chat with Dan via IM if he's online, read blogs and forums, write blog entries, look at the latest news, play Babble or Sudoku, etc. I try and switch it off around 5pm as it would be very easy to spend hours and hours online and forget about 'real life'.
A couple of times a week in the summer we go swimming around 5pm for an hour or so, when the sun isn't too high but the sea is still very warm, then we eat something quick and easy afterwards. Other days I spend a bit longer cooking; I also fold and put away the laundry, water the plants (when I remember!), and empty the bins. We usually eat around 7pm in summer, or a little earlier.
After we've cleared away from our meal, and put the dishwasher on, we might watch a DVD together if we're all in, or possibly play a board game, although we haven't done so since Dan went away in January. Tim's out two evenings a week, and Richard has to pop back to the office two or three times a week, depending on who's there or what urgent project needs continuing, so I might read or knit (or possibly spend more time at the computer if I forgot to switch it off).
So there it is. Nothing terribly exciting, and in a week like this one, time seems to whizz by so I can barely believe it's Saturday again. Tim has spent most of today with friends in the 'studio' downstairs recording some music, and Richard's spent most of his time with his Egyptian colleague, who's returning to Egypt tonight. He wanted to buy one or two gifts, and there were a couple of things he needed to finish at the office and hand over to Richard. I expect he'll be eating with us tonight.
Sunday, July 30, 2006
Planting the plants
This morning, I went to the Community Church; Tim and our visitor from Australia went to the Anglican church; Richard and his colleague from Egypt went sailing!
We all converged back here at lunchtime, where Tim had used both kitchens to produce roast beef, roast potatoes, two veg and the best yorkshire pudddings he has ever made - rather to his surprise, since he realised, when they were in the oven, that he had put in 100ml too little milk.
In the afternoon, we chatted awhile, watched the news briefly, and relaxed. Then Richard and his colleague started fitting some ducting for computer wires in the guest apartment, and Tim had a siesta. Our visitor worked, in some frustration, on some complicated knitting she's doing for her prospective grandchild. I got out a tapestry picture I've been working on - off and on - for the past two years. It's about half finished. Still, every little helps. Perhaps I'll get it done by the time Daniel returns, in about 18 months...
At 6pm Tim asked for a ride back to the church, where he had to play the organ for the evening service. So Richard drove him there, then we went on to our old house where we collected a wheelbarrow full of stones. We knew there were thousands, gathered from the garden over the years and nobody else would want them. While there, I noticed my newest bougainvillea looking rather sad, having been knocked down. But still alive. I know bougainvilleas don't like being moved much, but I thought I'd give it a chance as it was still small enough to dig up - and it wouldn't last long if I left it behind. Then I saw two of my geraniums, still just about alive but very dry after a month without being watered. So I watered them and dug them up too. Then I decided to take a few cuttings from the larger geraniums, which are in more shady areas and still thriving despite the lack of water.
We also filled the barrow with stones and managed to get them back in the car. Then with our visitor advising, we filled our pots and a couple of planters with stones, and used the compost we had bought combined with older soil to re-plant what we bought yesterday, and the ones I hope to revive from the old house. We also replanted the palm that was in a broken pot. And then had to do yet more mopping of the porch! Here's the results so far... it'll be interesting (to us, anyway) to see what survives.
The two lavender plants. They don't look as happy as they were yesterday, but still smell wonderful. They were rather badly pot-bound, so having a bit more freedom and fresh soil should help:
The palm in its new pot, and the two geraniums from the old house:
The two hibiscus plants. They look very healthy, at least so far:
The bougainvillea from the old house, and one of the citrus trees (with Cleo observing):
I wasn't going to do anything with our cactus which seems to keep growing and sprouting new pieces, and which was almost falling out of its pot in various places. But Richard's colleague took it out, pulled off the dead leaves, and replanted the healthiest pieces in fresh soil:
Then as there were so many bits left, he planted some more in a small trough planter:
He seemed confident about what he was doing, but admitted afterwards that he had never done this before, and had no idea if they would survive! I'm not a huge fan of cactus, but this one has survived eight years of neglect with occasional watering, so I hope it will do well with increased space and nutrients.
We all converged back here at lunchtime, where Tim had used both kitchens to produce roast beef, roast potatoes, two veg and the best yorkshire pudddings he has ever made - rather to his surprise, since he realised, when they were in the oven, that he had put in 100ml too little milk.
In the afternoon, we chatted awhile, watched the news briefly, and relaxed. Then Richard and his colleague started fitting some ducting for computer wires in the guest apartment, and Tim had a siesta. Our visitor worked, in some frustration, on some complicated knitting she's doing for her prospective grandchild. I got out a tapestry picture I've been working on - off and on - for the past two years. It's about half finished. Still, every little helps. Perhaps I'll get it done by the time Daniel returns, in about 18 months...
At 6pm Tim asked for a ride back to the church, where he had to play the organ for the evening service. So Richard drove him there, then we went on to our old house where we collected a wheelbarrow full of stones. We knew there were thousands, gathered from the garden over the years and nobody else would want them. While there, I noticed my newest bougainvillea looking rather sad, having been knocked down. But still alive. I know bougainvilleas don't like being moved much, but I thought I'd give it a chance as it was still small enough to dig up - and it wouldn't last long if I left it behind. Then I saw two of my geraniums, still just about alive but very dry after a month without being watered. So I watered them and dug them up too. Then I decided to take a few cuttings from the larger geraniums, which are in more shady areas and still thriving despite the lack of water.
We also filled the barrow with stones and managed to get them back in the car. Then with our visitor advising, we filled our pots and a couple of planters with stones, and used the compost we had bought combined with older soil to re-plant what we bought yesterday, and the ones I hope to revive from the old house. We also replanted the palm that was in a broken pot. And then had to do yet more mopping of the porch! Here's the results so far... it'll be interesting (to us, anyway) to see what survives.
The two lavender plants. They don't look as happy as they were yesterday, but still smell wonderful. They were rather badly pot-bound, so having a bit more freedom and fresh soil should help:
The palm in its new pot, and the two geraniums from the old house:
The two hibiscus plants. They look very healthy, at least so far:
The bougainvillea from the old house, and one of the citrus trees (with Cleo observing):
I wasn't going to do anything with our cactus which seems to keep growing and sprouting new pieces, and which was almost falling out of its pot in various places. But Richard's colleague took it out, pulled off the dead leaves, and replanted the healthiest pieces in fresh soil:
Then as there were so many bits left, he planted some more in a small trough planter:
He seemed confident about what he was doing, but admitted afterwards that he had never done this before, and had no idea if they would survive! I'm not a huge fan of cactus, but this one has survived eight years of neglect with occasional watering, so I hope it will do well with increased space and nutrients.
Friday, July 28, 2006
Quick tour of our house
I don't usually join in blogging parties (as it were) but just as I was thinking it was time to post a few more photos of our new house, I spotted that Boomama is organising a grand tour of bloggers' homes, with links to dozens of them, showing a wide variety of living spaces. The idea is to show one's front door (without any identifying features), living room, blogging space, kitchen, and one other room.
By the time I got around to taking the photos it was dark (as happens around 8pm here even in summer), so here's what our house looks like at night-time. It's four weeks since we first had access to the house, three-and-a-half since we moved in. So there's still quite a long way to go.
Our 'front door' is at the side of the house, at the top of a marble staircase, since our guest flat is on the ground floor. That has a nicer and more photogenic entrance that really is at the front of the house, but this is the door where we come in. Except when we come up the spiral stairs at the other side of the house. Sophia is out enjoying the cool of the evening (and moved slightly as I took the picture).
Here's our living room, the first room we painted, and also the first one we organised and made livable. Tessie is asleep on a chair on the right of the photo. The light coloured bookcase (which originally belonged to my grandparents in the UK) contains our DVDs and a few of Tim's music books. The two darker bookcases, which we recently bought from some friends who have returned to their home country, contain about half of our non-fiction. One is Christian books, the other 'general'. The other half are still in a random muddle on shelves in the guest apartment.
Here's our kitchen. I loved this kitchen at first sight: real wood cabinets, and lots of them! Even the tiling is to our taste, and while the dark counter tops aren't quite what I would have chosen, they look good.
I was particularly happy to find that (a) there's an air conditioner (b) there was a space for a dishwasher. Neither of which we had in our kitchen at the old house. So we bought a dishwasher to fit the gap. I am extremely thankful for both.
Here's the dining room - right next to the kitchen. That might seem obvious, but in the old house it was the other side of the house. I particularly like the dining room because we've combined the best of our teenage and grown-up (I hesitate to use the word 'adult' since none of it is anywhere near X-rated) fiction in the bookcases around the walls. Most of our children's fiction is scattered randomly around the shelves in the guest flat, along with some other books we didn't want to get rid of, but don't read very often.
The door goes out onto a little balcony where the metal spiral staircase leads to the guest flat.
And lastly... my study. Where I do my blogging, much of my reading, and where I plan to do my sewing, knitting, tapestry, writing, and Greek study.
Still not painted, alas. There have been too many other calls on our time. But maybe some time soon...
The sharp-eyed may notice a cardboard box next to my desk. Yes, this is one of our moving boxes, yet to be unpacked. A week ago there were about six in the study, so it's a great improvement. But this one is a bit more difficult, since it contains all the things from the other boxes for which I couldn't find obvious places....
By the time I got around to taking the photos it was dark (as happens around 8pm here even in summer), so here's what our house looks like at night-time. It's four weeks since we first had access to the house, three-and-a-half since we moved in. So there's still quite a long way to go.
Our 'front door' is at the side of the house, at the top of a marble staircase, since our guest flat is on the ground floor. That has a nicer and more photogenic entrance that really is at the front of the house, but this is the door where we come in. Except when we come up the spiral stairs at the other side of the house. Sophia is out enjoying the cool of the evening (and moved slightly as I took the picture).
Here's our living room, the first room we painted, and also the first one we organised and made livable. Tessie is asleep on a chair on the right of the photo. The light coloured bookcase (which originally belonged to my grandparents in the UK) contains our DVDs and a few of Tim's music books. The two darker bookcases, which we recently bought from some friends who have returned to their home country, contain about half of our non-fiction. One is Christian books, the other 'general'. The other half are still in a random muddle on shelves in the guest apartment.
Here's our kitchen. I loved this kitchen at first sight: real wood cabinets, and lots of them! Even the tiling is to our taste, and while the dark counter tops aren't quite what I would have chosen, they look good.
I was particularly happy to find that (a) there's an air conditioner (b) there was a space for a dishwasher. Neither of which we had in our kitchen at the old house. So we bought a dishwasher to fit the gap. I am extremely thankful for both.
Here's the dining room - right next to the kitchen. That might seem obvious, but in the old house it was the other side of the house. I particularly like the dining room because we've combined the best of our teenage and grown-up (I hesitate to use the word 'adult' since none of it is anywhere near X-rated) fiction in the bookcases around the walls. Most of our children's fiction is scattered randomly around the shelves in the guest flat, along with some other books we didn't want to get rid of, but don't read very often.
The door goes out onto a little balcony where the metal spiral staircase leads to the guest flat.
And lastly... my study. Where I do my blogging, much of my reading, and where I plan to do my sewing, knitting, tapestry, writing, and Greek study.
Still not painted, alas. There have been too many other calls on our time. But maybe some time soon...
The sharp-eyed may notice a cardboard box next to my desk. Yes, this is one of our moving boxes, yet to be unpacked. A week ago there were about six in the study, so it's a great improvement. But this one is a bit more difficult, since it contains all the things from the other boxes for which I couldn't find obvious places....
Tuesday, July 18, 2006
Settling down in the new house
So we're more than half way through July. That struck me this morning, when Richard pointed out that tomorrow is our 26th anniversary. Wow. In the busy-ness of recent weeks, I'd lost track of the date. We'll probably go out to eat in the evening - taking Tim along, if he's doing nothing else. We need to make the most of the time when he's still living at home, as it won't be many more years until he flies the nest. In the morning we thought we might buy a few plants since we have no garden as such - just paved carports and a large front porch. At some point we're considering digging up the paving at one side, but not at this time of year. Of course it's not really a good time to buy new plants but it would be nice to have some to start us off. We'll get more in the Autumn, no doubt.
Yesterday and today I unpacked more boxes in the study. There are built-in cupboards along one of the walls, which are now full of paperwork/magazines/pictures not yet hung. But it does look tidier. Tonight Richard's colleague from Egypt is coming to supper and then helping to paint the study. He's very keen to work on the house, so we're making the most of it.
The downstairs guest flat is still fairly full of boxes, but Richard's put together the two single beds in one of the guest rooms, and the living room of the flat has two sofa-beds, so if necessary we could have four guests (more if they were small children). We need to have a door knocked into what's going to be the master bedroom downstairs, since it was a hairdresser salon, separate from the main house. As it was originally part of the living room, the dividing wall is easy to cut through. But unlike in the UK, we can't buy doors and wood for frames from a DIY store and then put it in place ourselves. We have to employ a carpenter, who will make the door exactly as we want it. This probably won't be too expensive, and we've asked someone to look into this, so we can get the guest flat at least basically organised.
Some friends had considered coming to stay at the start of August, which would have motivated us to get the guest rooms painted and in good condition rapidly - however they're not now coming until next year.
But... a couple of days ago Richard had a phone call about someone who was visiting Lebanon, is currently elsewhere in the region, and now - obviously - strongly advised not to return to Lebanon. So she may be coming to stay. We don't know if there will be other refugees: yesterday a boatload of Italians and French people arrived here, and apparently there will soon be some Brits. There are a significant number of ex-pats in the Christian/mission world in Lebanon, so there may well be a call for temporary accommodation. If so, we'd like to be ready. It's only about six weeks since we were briefly in Beirut; hard to imagine that this busy, European style city is now under siege.
What we still need to do in the main part of the house:
- paint study (this evening, we hope) then hang curtains and one or two pictures
- paint Dan's room and put his cabin bed together
- paint hall/stairs/landing and then put up family photo gallery
- fix ceiling fans and/or light shades for bedrooms
- sort out Dan's and Tim's curtains
- buy mirror and light fitting for loo
- find some kind of mirror for our room
- find some way of fitting a cat door
Which isn't really all that much, certainly compared to all the houses we've lived in before. We might well get all that done by the end of July.
At some point we need to ensure we get a final certificate of approval for the main part of the house. Just in case anyone actually wants to follow the plot - so to speak - and hasn't a clue what I'm talking about, I described the potential problems here, what we learned here, and what transpired here.
In a nutshell: the main part of the house, ie the top two storeys, had planning permission, but the building did not entirely follow the plans. Nor were the plans totally accurate. An architect can sort it all out for us (at a cost) so long as we do it soon. It's not dangerous, or even illegal - but until we have the certificate, we could have problems if we wanted to sell it. Not that we do, of course. But one day we might.
As for the downstairs part of the house, that still needs a LOT of work. Painting everywhere. Light fittings almost everywhere. Curtains - which I shall probably adapt from the curtains we had at our previous house - almost everywhere. The door cut through to the front bedroom. Beds in place. Kitchen equipped with more than the 'spare' stuff we don't use much. And all the remaining boxes need to be unpacked, with homes found for the contents.
It would be much easier if we could leave this until the weather gets cooler, but it's probably best to keep going. A little at a time.
Yesterday and today I unpacked more boxes in the study. There are built-in cupboards along one of the walls, which are now full of paperwork/magazines/pictures not yet hung. But it does look tidier. Tonight Richard's colleague from Egypt is coming to supper and then helping to paint the study. He's very keen to work on the house, so we're making the most of it.
The downstairs guest flat is still fairly full of boxes, but Richard's put together the two single beds in one of the guest rooms, and the living room of the flat has two sofa-beds, so if necessary we could have four guests (more if they were small children). We need to have a door knocked into what's going to be the master bedroom downstairs, since it was a hairdresser salon, separate from the main house. As it was originally part of the living room, the dividing wall is easy to cut through. But unlike in the UK, we can't buy doors and wood for frames from a DIY store and then put it in place ourselves. We have to employ a carpenter, who will make the door exactly as we want it. This probably won't be too expensive, and we've asked someone to look into this, so we can get the guest flat at least basically organised.
Some friends had considered coming to stay at the start of August, which would have motivated us to get the guest rooms painted and in good condition rapidly - however they're not now coming until next year.
But... a couple of days ago Richard had a phone call about someone who was visiting Lebanon, is currently elsewhere in the region, and now - obviously - strongly advised not to return to Lebanon. So she may be coming to stay. We don't know if there will be other refugees: yesterday a boatload of Italians and French people arrived here, and apparently there will soon be some Brits. There are a significant number of ex-pats in the Christian/mission world in Lebanon, so there may well be a call for temporary accommodation. If so, we'd like to be ready. It's only about six weeks since we were briefly in Beirut; hard to imagine that this busy, European style city is now under siege.
What we still need to do in the main part of the house:
- paint study (this evening, we hope) then hang curtains and one or two pictures
- paint Dan's room and put his cabin bed together
- paint hall/stairs/landing and then put up family photo gallery
- fix ceiling fans and/or light shades for bedrooms
- sort out Dan's and Tim's curtains
- buy mirror and light fitting for loo
- find some kind of mirror for our room
- find some way of fitting a cat door
Which isn't really all that much, certainly compared to all the houses we've lived in before. We might well get all that done by the end of July.
At some point we need to ensure we get a final certificate of approval for the main part of the house. Just in case anyone actually wants to follow the plot - so to speak - and hasn't a clue what I'm talking about, I described the potential problems here, what we learned here, and what transpired here.
In a nutshell: the main part of the house, ie the top two storeys, had planning permission, but the building did not entirely follow the plans. Nor were the plans totally accurate. An architect can sort it all out for us (at a cost) so long as we do it soon. It's not dangerous, or even illegal - but until we have the certificate, we could have problems if we wanted to sell it. Not that we do, of course. But one day we might.
As for the downstairs part of the house, that still needs a LOT of work. Painting everywhere. Light fittings almost everywhere. Curtains - which I shall probably adapt from the curtains we had at our previous house - almost everywhere. The door cut through to the front bedroom. Beds in place. Kitchen equipped with more than the 'spare' stuff we don't use much. And all the remaining boxes need to be unpacked, with homes found for the contents.
It would be much easier if we could leave this until the weather gets cooler, but it's probably best to keep going. A little at a time.
Saturday, July 15, 2006
Hunt the cutlery
In our old house, we had three distinct sets of cutlery.
1) a nice-feeling stainless steel set which we bought when we were in the USA in the early 90s. This is what we use for everyday meals, and it still looks good. There were originally eight of each item (ie knives, forks, spoons and teaspoons, plus four serving spoons) but over the years we've lost one or two, so we probably can't make more than seven complete sets. We brought this with us from the UK back in 1997 when we first moved to Cyprus.
2) a set of random bits and pieces, mainly from the Thift Store, which we have bought over the years to supplement the main set when we've had parties or potlucks, for church, work or home educators' gatherings.
3) a nice-looking stainless steel set that we had for a wedding present almost 26 years ago, in a design called 'Love Story'. The basic set came in a wooden canteen, with six of each item - but as there were smaller and larger knives and forks, and soup spoons as well as dessert spoons, we could actually make up 12 place settings, particularly if some of the people eating with us were children. We had this packed away in our house in the UK until last November, but shipped it out here and have been using it on occasion.
With me so far?
When we moved to our new house here in Cyprus, I made sure that the everyday set came with us so we had it for meals early on. Even with the dishwasher, running just once a day mostly, seven place settings is sufficient for the three of us. So I hadn't really thought about the other two loads of cutlery. There are boxes and bags and bits all over the downstairs guest flat, so I assumed they were amongst them.
Until yesterday evening.
At 6.30 we were expecting our house group for a potluck social, as the first meeting in the new house. Eleven people in all. At around 5.30 it occurred to me that seven sets of cutlery wasn't going to be enough. So when Richard got home, I asked him casually to find some more. Preferably the canteen, but the spare bag of random pieces would be fine.
Twenty minutes later, he hadn't found anything.
Well, he had found a nice ornamental clock, and some games and jigsaws, and some cables... but no cutlery. I remembered that we had some plastic forks and spoons which - for some reason - were unpacked early on, so we got those out and used them. Not ideal, but it worked.
We heaved a sigh of relief. Plenty of time to find the cutlery as we slowly unpack over the next few weeks.
Not so. At lunchtime today, we remembered that we've invited people to Sunday lunch tomorrow. There will be nine or ten of us, including three children. And we still only have seven sets of cutlery.
So Richard and I did a more thorough search of the unpacked boxes. We looked in the study, in Daniel's room, and then went fairly methodically through the downstairs rooms. We discovered two summer dresses of mine, brought out from the UK. We discovered more games and puzzles. We found a pile of saucers to match our everyday crockery. We came across several ornaments we had almost forgotten about.
But no cutlery.
So much for my happy idea that we would take one box at a time and unpack each fully before moving on to the next!
I begin to think that the bag of random cutlery may well be at the old house, sitting on a sofa waiting to come. Richard can pop over tomorrow morning to check, and fetch it if necessary.
But we're very puzzled about the canteen of 'Love Story' cutlery.
1) a nice-feeling stainless steel set which we bought when we were in the USA in the early 90s. This is what we use for everyday meals, and it still looks good. There were originally eight of each item (ie knives, forks, spoons and teaspoons, plus four serving spoons) but over the years we've lost one or two, so we probably can't make more than seven complete sets. We brought this with us from the UK back in 1997 when we first moved to Cyprus.
2) a set of random bits and pieces, mainly from the Thift Store, which we have bought over the years to supplement the main set when we've had parties or potlucks, for church, work or home educators' gatherings.
3) a nice-looking stainless steel set that we had for a wedding present almost 26 years ago, in a design called 'Love Story'. The basic set came in a wooden canteen, with six of each item - but as there were smaller and larger knives and forks, and soup spoons as well as dessert spoons, we could actually make up 12 place settings, particularly if some of the people eating with us were children. We had this packed away in our house in the UK until last November, but shipped it out here and have been using it on occasion.
With me so far?
When we moved to our new house here in Cyprus, I made sure that the everyday set came with us so we had it for meals early on. Even with the dishwasher, running just once a day mostly, seven place settings is sufficient for the three of us. So I hadn't really thought about the other two loads of cutlery. There are boxes and bags and bits all over the downstairs guest flat, so I assumed they were amongst them.
Until yesterday evening.
At 6.30 we were expecting our house group for a potluck social, as the first meeting in the new house. Eleven people in all. At around 5.30 it occurred to me that seven sets of cutlery wasn't going to be enough. So when Richard got home, I asked him casually to find some more. Preferably the canteen, but the spare bag of random pieces would be fine.
Twenty minutes later, he hadn't found anything.
Well, he had found a nice ornamental clock, and some games and jigsaws, and some cables... but no cutlery. I remembered that we had some plastic forks and spoons which - for some reason - were unpacked early on, so we got those out and used them. Not ideal, but it worked.
We heaved a sigh of relief. Plenty of time to find the cutlery as we slowly unpack over the next few weeks.
Not so. At lunchtime today, we remembered that we've invited people to Sunday lunch tomorrow. There will be nine or ten of us, including three children. And we still only have seven sets of cutlery.
So Richard and I did a more thorough search of the unpacked boxes. We looked in the study, in Daniel's room, and then went fairly methodically through the downstairs rooms. We discovered two summer dresses of mine, brought out from the UK. We discovered more games and puzzles. We found a pile of saucers to match our everyday crockery. We came across several ornaments we had almost forgotten about.
But no cutlery.
So much for my happy idea that we would take one box at a time and unpack each fully before moving on to the next!
I begin to think that the bag of random cutlery may well be at the old house, sitting on a sofa waiting to come. Richard can pop over tomorrow morning to check, and fetch it if necessary.
But we're very puzzled about the canteen of 'Love Story' cutlery.
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
Slowly getting sorted
Oddly enough, despite full air conditioning in this house, we're hardly using it. The weather's fairly hot - 30-32C in the shade outside [that's about 86-90F] but since none of the house faces South, and it's high enough to catch some breezes, it doesn't feel unpleasant at all during most of the day. The ceiling fans we bought from friends make a big difference in circulating the air, and the only time we're really using the a/c is overnight, when it's quite humid. So nice to sleep without feeling hot and sticky.
However, my computer has crashed twice in the past two days, for no obvious reason. It's not a computer which crashes, so I'm wondering if it's due to the heat. A good excuse to run the a/c in my study, anyway, to see if it makes a difference.
Last night Tim had some friends over to watch the DVD of the first Narnia movie, which one of his friends recently acquired. Several of his friends are leaving the country soon - some are away at college and are just back for the summer, one is going on a course in Scotland for six months, some are leaving Cyprus to return to their home country. So although we still have a long way to go in unpacking, he invited them for yesterday and I think they had a good time. Only problem being that they all arrived late - quarter to nine rather than eight o'clock - and since we don't yet have any rugs or curtains, the living room is very echoey. By 10.30 I wanted to get to sleep, but the louder parts of the movie were disturbing; after it had finished, they chatted for a while and had some cake, and although I don't suppose they were particularly noisy, I couldn't sleep. Our plan is to have a TV and DVD player for the guest flat, so Tim can have friends down there as late as they want, so long as nobody's staying. After last night we realised that's definitely a good idea!
The cats all seem to be contented in the new house, showing no inclination to run away. So far we've managed to keep them all in overnight, and they don't mind much. They've started exploring neighbouring yards; Jemima and Cleo went for a short tour of the local garage roofs this morning, but they all return. I can't say I like cleaning cat litter every few hours, or having to sweep the entire house every morning due to the accumulation of cat hairs, but it still has novelty value. Besides which, we're thankful that the cats have adjusted so well.
We're now using our dining room, which we cleared a couple of days ago after beginning to sort books. This was how it looked on Sunday:
If you think that looks surprisingly organised for a few days after moving, here's what it looks like when I turn about 45 degrees towards the kitchen!
Here's how we get into the main part of the house, and the reason my calves were aching for a couple of days after we got access to paint:
And here's Tessie, part way down the outside stairs, considering whether to explore across the car-port:
However, my computer has crashed twice in the past two days, for no obvious reason. It's not a computer which crashes, so I'm wondering if it's due to the heat. A good excuse to run the a/c in my study, anyway, to see if it makes a difference.
Last night Tim had some friends over to watch the DVD of the first Narnia movie, which one of his friends recently acquired. Several of his friends are leaving the country soon - some are away at college and are just back for the summer, one is going on a course in Scotland for six months, some are leaving Cyprus to return to their home country. So although we still have a long way to go in unpacking, he invited them for yesterday and I think they had a good time. Only problem being that they all arrived late - quarter to nine rather than eight o'clock - and since we don't yet have any rugs or curtains, the living room is very echoey. By 10.30 I wanted to get to sleep, but the louder parts of the movie were disturbing; after it had finished, they chatted for a while and had some cake, and although I don't suppose they were particularly noisy, I couldn't sleep. Our plan is to have a TV and DVD player for the guest flat, so Tim can have friends down there as late as they want, so long as nobody's staying. After last night we realised that's definitely a good idea!
The cats all seem to be contented in the new house, showing no inclination to run away. So far we've managed to keep them all in overnight, and they don't mind much. They've started exploring neighbouring yards; Jemima and Cleo went for a short tour of the local garage roofs this morning, but they all return. I can't say I like cleaning cat litter every few hours, or having to sweep the entire house every morning due to the accumulation of cat hairs, but it still has novelty value. Besides which, we're thankful that the cats have adjusted so well.
We're now using our dining room, which we cleared a couple of days ago after beginning to sort books. This was how it looked on Sunday:
If you think that looks surprisingly organised for a few days after moving, here's what it looks like when I turn about 45 degrees towards the kitchen!
Here's how we get into the main part of the house, and the reason my calves were aching for a couple of days after we got access to paint:
And here's Tessie, part way down the outside stairs, considering whether to explore across the car-port:
Sunday, July 09, 2006
It's been a busy week
Since Wednesday, life has been rather a whirl of unpacking boxes, buying extra bits and pieces, tidying up the old house, and generally getting used to being here. I suppose house moving has its own culture shock in a way, and right now we're in the initial holiday/vacation period that happens in any new place - it all feels exciting, and interesting. Finding homes for our stuff is enjoyable, in a strange sort of way, but part of me feels as if it might as well stay in boxes for a while longer. The neighbourhood is unfamiliar - it takes me ages to find my way around a new place anyway, and although I can walk where I want to get to, map in hand, I have no clue when we're in the car. Richard takes a different route every time we go anywhere, since he's getting to know all the different streets and working out the best ways to get places. But that doesn't help me! When the weather gets cooler - October, probably - I shall explore a bit more. There are plenty of little shops within about five minutes' walk, including a small supermarket, an excellent greengrocer, and a bakery.
Since the living room is also the entry to the main part of the house, we've made that reasonably sane, unpacking boxes and sorting books into bookcases. Here's how it looked shortly after we moved in:
We found a TV unit we like, and yesterday Richard and Tim set up the new television. So here's how it looks now:
Tomorrow we're going to order some curtains. It's not possible to buy ready-made curtains here, other than a few plain colours in huge sizes. However it's very inexpensive to have them made, so that's what we'll do rather than make them ourselves. On Friday we managed to find a warehouse that was recommended by two different people, with loads of material on rolls. None of it really leapt out at us, but we did find some we thought would go well in the living room, and some for our bedroom. We wanted to check measurements and think a bit more about it, so we didn't order at the time, but will probably do so tomorrow.
This warehouse also sells carpet-like rugs, at good prices and in quite nice patterns. We may well consider one for the living room once the weather gets cooler. At present, though, we'll just use the tile floor - it's not hard like the marble we had at the other house, and we found that carpets or rugs made the place a lot more humid. Cypriots often take up their rugs during the summer and only use them in the cooler weather.
Richard has installed the four ceiling fans we bought from some friends who are leaving Cyprus, and today he plumbed in the adaptor that was necessary for our washing machine - very useful!
We've started letting the cats out - we couldn't keep them in forever. At first they were surprisingly nervous, not going more than a metre or two outside the doors. Today they've done more exploring, including going into some of the neighbouring yards. Each time they've rushed back and up the outside stairs, so it does seem as if they're beginning to feel that this is 'home'. There are several dogs in the street, and a white cat over the road, so we hope our cats will soon learn which is their territory, and respect their boundaries.
Since the living room is also the entry to the main part of the house, we've made that reasonably sane, unpacking boxes and sorting books into bookcases. Here's how it looked shortly after we moved in:
We found a TV unit we like, and yesterday Richard and Tim set up the new television. So here's how it looks now:
Tomorrow we're going to order some curtains. It's not possible to buy ready-made curtains here, other than a few plain colours in huge sizes. However it's very inexpensive to have them made, so that's what we'll do rather than make them ourselves. On Friday we managed to find a warehouse that was recommended by two different people, with loads of material on rolls. None of it really leapt out at us, but we did find some we thought would go well in the living room, and some for our bedroom. We wanted to check measurements and think a bit more about it, so we didn't order at the time, but will probably do so tomorrow.
This warehouse also sells carpet-like rugs, at good prices and in quite nice patterns. We may well consider one for the living room once the weather gets cooler. At present, though, we'll just use the tile floor - it's not hard like the marble we had at the other house, and we found that carpets or rugs made the place a lot more humid. Cypriots often take up their rugs during the summer and only use them in the cooler weather.
Richard has installed the four ceiling fans we bought from some friends who are leaving Cyprus, and today he plumbed in the adaptor that was necessary for our washing machine - very useful!
We've started letting the cats out - we couldn't keep them in forever. At first they were surprisingly nervous, not going more than a metre or two outside the doors. Today they've done more exploring, including going into some of the neighbouring yards. Each time they've rushed back and up the outside stairs, so it does seem as if they're beginning to feel that this is 'home'. There are several dogs in the street, and a white cat over the road, so we hope our cats will soon learn which is their territory, and respect their boundaries.
Moving day itself - Wednesday
On Wednesday morning, early, I packed the rest of my study. I started on the kitchen but it was too overwhelming. I was really tired and feeling very stressed too.
Our first helpers arrived at 8am. Richard had organised the start of the day well, with three open pickup trucks, the Antidote truck - which is rather bigger - and about 9 students, five guys and four girls, who were going to do the actual moving. The idea was to have half the people at each house, so some would be loading while others would be unloading, and the pickup trucks would drive to and fro.
To complicate matters, a large quantity of boxes we had been storing in our garage for the last eighteen months (for someone from our church who returned to the USA) were being collected by a professional shipping company the same morning.
We started with the heaviest items in the Antidote truck - the piano, which is going downstairs, and our fridge-freezer (for upstairs) and washing machine (for downstairs). Then a steady stream of other furniture and the packed boxes.
It was very tiring, and by mid-morning pretty hot too. I stayed at the old house to ensure that we only moved the items we wanted (we're leaving a few sofas, and there were one or two things belonging to our landlady) and Richard directed operations at the new house. Amazingly, all the heavy stuff was moved shortly after noon, and although the old house looked as if a bomb had hit it, we decided it was better to leave it there. So we all went to the new house, had coldish drinks (the fridge had only been on for an hour or so) and ordered pizza. We were very, very thankful for our assistants - about 18 in all.
And the cats?
Sophia complained a lot, most of the morning, then went to sleep in her favourite basket. Jemima kept out of the way. Tessie watched everything, crying a little. Cleo - the most nervous one - to our surprise kept climbing on or in boxes, being as involved as possible.
At 11am I had to go and rescue Tessie who had climbed into a bookcase on the back of one of the pickup trucks. She was very distressed. Tessie is our fourth cat, the one who had evidently been abandoned by a family with children when she was just a few months old. It occurred to me that perhaps this family moved house and left her behind... which would explain her huge distress, seeing us moving. So I phoned Richard (on someone else's mobile - I don't have one) and he came back, got Tessie in the cat basket, and took her to the new house. He said she cried all the way, but when she saw Tim she was very happy and purred loudly. Tim shut her in his room with food and a litter tray, and she was fine.
After that success, Tim returned in the next truck, with the cat basket, and we tried to get Jemima inside. The first time she struggled and escaped. We caught her again, and shut her in the basket. She started crying, and somehow managed to burst out before they got in the car. Then she vanished.
So the driver of the truck suggested Tim take another cat on his lap, rather than using the basket. Tim took hold of Sophia, and succeeded despite a few scratches along the way. He shut her in Daniel's room.
By the time we were going for lunch at the new house, Cleo had vanished entirely and Jemima was sleeping on the patio, but running away any time she saw me. Clearly I had betrayed her trust. We decided to leave them for a few hours.
We also decided, during lunch, to let Sophia and Tessie out of their rooms. So we closed all the windows and turned on the air conditioning. We were surprised to find that neither of them wanted to come downstairs to the main floor at all... having lived in a bungalow, they had only experienced a few concrete steps outside, and the slippery marble ones in the new house clearly defeated them.
After the helpers left, Sophia did venture slowly down the stairs, with much persuasion, but Tessie wouldn't even try them until much later in the afternoon.
About three o'clock we went back to the old house, and found both Cleo and Jemima inside. Since Cleo likes cardboard boxes so much, Richard put her in one with a few airholes, then taped the top. Tim said he would carry Jemima rather than subject her to the basket again. And we got them both to the new house and up the stairs, thinking they would both stay up there for a while. They surprised us... Cleo ran straight down, as if she had been using marble stairs all her life, then up again, then down again. Jemima was a little more careful, but managed them without problem. However they both refused to talk to us at all, and kept hiding behind boxes or under sofas. By that stage, Sophia was purring and washing, and Tessie following us around the house, so we thought perhaps it took awhile to adjust.
In the evening Tim had music rehearsals at church, and Richard and I were asked out to eat with some friends. We realised we hadn't collected a few essential items like toothbrushes from the old house, so we returned there to find what we needed, then back to the new house where we still had to assemble our bed! This is the pine bed we had as a wedding present 26 years ago, which was in the UK until last October, and has been sitting wrapped up in pieces until yesterday. Thankfully all the pieces were there, and Richard remembered how to do it.
Cleo had evidently decided to forgive us, and started following us around the house wanting lots of cuddles. Jemima continued to hide behind boxes, looking very sad.
Finally, by 10pm,we fell asleep in our new house.
Our first helpers arrived at 8am. Richard had organised the start of the day well, with three open pickup trucks, the Antidote truck - which is rather bigger - and about 9 students, five guys and four girls, who were going to do the actual moving. The idea was to have half the people at each house, so some would be loading while others would be unloading, and the pickup trucks would drive to and fro.
To complicate matters, a large quantity of boxes we had been storing in our garage for the last eighteen months (for someone from our church who returned to the USA) were being collected by a professional shipping company the same morning.
We started with the heaviest items in the Antidote truck - the piano, which is going downstairs, and our fridge-freezer (for upstairs) and washing machine (for downstairs). Then a steady stream of other furniture and the packed boxes.
It was very tiring, and by mid-morning pretty hot too. I stayed at the old house to ensure that we only moved the items we wanted (we're leaving a few sofas, and there were one or two things belonging to our landlady) and Richard directed operations at the new house. Amazingly, all the heavy stuff was moved shortly after noon, and although the old house looked as if a bomb had hit it, we decided it was better to leave it there. So we all went to the new house, had coldish drinks (the fridge had only been on for an hour or so) and ordered pizza. We were very, very thankful for our assistants - about 18 in all.
And the cats?
Sophia complained a lot, most of the morning, then went to sleep in her favourite basket. Jemima kept out of the way. Tessie watched everything, crying a little. Cleo - the most nervous one - to our surprise kept climbing on or in boxes, being as involved as possible.
At 11am I had to go and rescue Tessie who had climbed into a bookcase on the back of one of the pickup trucks. She was very distressed. Tessie is our fourth cat, the one who had evidently been abandoned by a family with children when she was just a few months old. It occurred to me that perhaps this family moved house and left her behind... which would explain her huge distress, seeing us moving. So I phoned Richard (on someone else's mobile - I don't have one) and he came back, got Tessie in the cat basket, and took her to the new house. He said she cried all the way, but when she saw Tim she was very happy and purred loudly. Tim shut her in his room with food and a litter tray, and she was fine.
After that success, Tim returned in the next truck, with the cat basket, and we tried to get Jemima inside. The first time she struggled and escaped. We caught her again, and shut her in the basket. She started crying, and somehow managed to burst out before they got in the car. Then she vanished.
So the driver of the truck suggested Tim take another cat on his lap, rather than using the basket. Tim took hold of Sophia, and succeeded despite a few scratches along the way. He shut her in Daniel's room.
By the time we were going for lunch at the new house, Cleo had vanished entirely and Jemima was sleeping on the patio, but running away any time she saw me. Clearly I had betrayed her trust. We decided to leave them for a few hours.
We also decided, during lunch, to let Sophia and Tessie out of their rooms. So we closed all the windows and turned on the air conditioning. We were surprised to find that neither of them wanted to come downstairs to the main floor at all... having lived in a bungalow, they had only experienced a few concrete steps outside, and the slippery marble ones in the new house clearly defeated them.
After the helpers left, Sophia did venture slowly down the stairs, with much persuasion, but Tessie wouldn't even try them until much later in the afternoon.
About three o'clock we went back to the old house, and found both Cleo and Jemima inside. Since Cleo likes cardboard boxes so much, Richard put her in one with a few airholes, then taped the top. Tim said he would carry Jemima rather than subject her to the basket again. And we got them both to the new house and up the stairs, thinking they would both stay up there for a while. They surprised us... Cleo ran straight down, as if she had been using marble stairs all her life, then up again, then down again. Jemima was a little more careful, but managed them without problem. However they both refused to talk to us at all, and kept hiding behind boxes or under sofas. By that stage, Sophia was purring and washing, and Tessie following us around the house, so we thought perhaps it took awhile to adjust.
In the evening Tim had music rehearsals at church, and Richard and I were asked out to eat with some friends. We realised we hadn't collected a few essential items like toothbrushes from the old house, so we returned there to find what we needed, then back to the new house where we still had to assemble our bed! This is the pine bed we had as a wedding present 26 years ago, which was in the UK until last October, and has been sitting wrapped up in pieces until yesterday. Thankfully all the pieces were there, and Richard remembered how to do it.
Cleo had evidently decided to forgive us, and started following us around the house wanting lots of cuddles. Jemima continued to hide behind boxes, looking very sad.
Finally, by 10pm,we fell asleep in our new house.
Thursday, July 06, 2006
We've moved!
At last we're in our new house. We're all tired, drained, and somewhat excited at the same time. So much to think about, so much to write about.
In a nutshell: we completed the purchase on Tuesday, we did the main move (with much help) yesterday, and are now living in our new house.
For those who want the long version, read here....!
In a nutshell: we completed the purchase on Tuesday, we did the main move (with much help) yesterday, and are now living in our new house.
For those who want the long version, read here....!
Moving house, the long version. Tuesday.
Tuesday was set for completion day. The vendor told us that he had some contact in the Land Registry office, so it might be a bit quicker (typical for Cyprus!). He also said that his tax wouldn't be sorted out fully until about noon, and that he would call Richard's mobile phone to tell us when to go there. Not 8am as our lawyer had suggested, to get first place in the queue.
So we all went to the new house, with the contents of our freezer in cool-boxes in the back of the car. Richard had switched the freezer and fridge on before we left on Monday night so they could get cold enough. We were astounded at how much frozen food we had...! I was also surprised at how full the huge new freezer (a seven-drawer upright) became.
We didn't feel at all inspired to paint, but decided to do our bedroom. We had chosen a pale creamy colour, much more suitable than the blue, and with all three of us working it only took a couple of hours. At 11.30 Richard suggested we go to the old house to have something to eat, realising that if we were indeed called to the Land Registry office at noon, we might be sitting there until past two o'clock, getting very hungry.
It was excellent foresight. Just as we were finishing our lunch, the vendor called saying we should go there at once. So we gulped down some too-hot coffee, and - with a little confusion - found the correct place.
The vendor wasn't there.
So Richard phoned him, and he said he was still at the tax office! But he would be there soon. So we waited about half an hour, thinking we could have had our coffee in a more leisurely way...
It was a strange place. Very busy, with doors that banged every few seconds and people rushing in and out. Thankfully it was air-conditioned. Unfortunately the seats were uncomfortable and hardly anyone thought to close the doors carefully. About 12.30 the vendors came in, went and talked to one of the officials, and then asked us to sign some papers.
We usually like to read what we're signing, but they were all in Greek - so we trusted that everything was all right, and signed anyway. We also had to produce our copy of the contract. Then the vendors had to go and pay yet more tax, and told us to wait about an hour!
So we did so, entertaining ourselves in the meantime by writing a lengthy list of things we knew we would need for the new house - like extra bins, dustpan and brush, rope to tie items onto trucks on moving day, new toaster... thrilling stuff.
Eventually the vendors came back having paid their capital gains tax, and shocked at the amount which was twice what they had expected. In the UK, this tax is only due on second properties, or those used for rental. But here in Cyprus, it's payable - at a rate of 20% - on any house sale. it's not surprising that people move so rarely!
We waited a bit more, then were asked through to the other office where we had to hand over our passports and the paper giving us permission (as foreigners) to buy a house. Then they told us to go back to the waiting room.
So we waited yet more, talking a bit with the vendors about details of the house - like the washing machine problem, and how to change the water filters - and eventually, at two o'clock - when everyone else had gone from the outer room, and the place was about to close - we went back to the inner office where we had to sign yet more paper, and hand over the bank draft for the balance on the house. We also had to pay for the deeds transfer. We were told it was £500 more than the lawyer had told us, so our bank draft was not enough. We phoned him, and he said that the Land Registry people were correct - he had made a mistake. Thankfully they didn't mind a cheque for the final amount, so we wrote that, relieved that there were no more serious problems.
So at last we were the legal owners of this house. We didn't receive the deeds then - I don't know why the computers couldn't just print them out, but apparently not. They will come in the post.
What a relief.
We spent most of Tuesday afternoon buying the bits and pieces on our list, pleased to discover that Orphanides non-grocery departments were having a 10% off sale. In the evening we tried in vain to pack the rest of the bits and pieces that were still lying around in our rental home, but there seemed so much clutter - despite a month's packing - and I was so tired I had to get to bed before 10pm.
So we all went to the new house, with the contents of our freezer in cool-boxes in the back of the car. Richard had switched the freezer and fridge on before we left on Monday night so they could get cold enough. We were astounded at how much frozen food we had...! I was also surprised at how full the huge new freezer (a seven-drawer upright) became.
We didn't feel at all inspired to paint, but decided to do our bedroom. We had chosen a pale creamy colour, much more suitable than the blue, and with all three of us working it only took a couple of hours. At 11.30 Richard suggested we go to the old house to have something to eat, realising that if we were indeed called to the Land Registry office at noon, we might be sitting there until past two o'clock, getting very hungry.
It was excellent foresight. Just as we were finishing our lunch, the vendor called saying we should go there at once. So we gulped down some too-hot coffee, and - with a little confusion - found the correct place.
The vendor wasn't there.
So Richard phoned him, and he said he was still at the tax office! But he would be there soon. So we waited about half an hour, thinking we could have had our coffee in a more leisurely way...
It was a strange place. Very busy, with doors that banged every few seconds and people rushing in and out. Thankfully it was air-conditioned. Unfortunately the seats were uncomfortable and hardly anyone thought to close the doors carefully. About 12.30 the vendors came in, went and talked to one of the officials, and then asked us to sign some papers.
We usually like to read what we're signing, but they were all in Greek - so we trusted that everything was all right, and signed anyway. We also had to produce our copy of the contract. Then the vendors had to go and pay yet more tax, and told us to wait about an hour!
So we did so, entertaining ourselves in the meantime by writing a lengthy list of things we knew we would need for the new house - like extra bins, dustpan and brush, rope to tie items onto trucks on moving day, new toaster... thrilling stuff.
Eventually the vendors came back having paid their capital gains tax, and shocked at the amount which was twice what they had expected. In the UK, this tax is only due on second properties, or those used for rental. But here in Cyprus, it's payable - at a rate of 20% - on any house sale. it's not surprising that people move so rarely!
We waited a bit more, then were asked through to the other office where we had to hand over our passports and the paper giving us permission (as foreigners) to buy a house. Then they told us to go back to the waiting room.
So we waited yet more, talking a bit with the vendors about details of the house - like the washing machine problem, and how to change the water filters - and eventually, at two o'clock - when everyone else had gone from the outer room, and the place was about to close - we went back to the inner office where we had to sign yet more paper, and hand over the bank draft for the balance on the house. We also had to pay for the deeds transfer. We were told it was £500 more than the lawyer had told us, so our bank draft was not enough. We phoned him, and he said that the Land Registry people were correct - he had made a mistake. Thankfully they didn't mind a cheque for the final amount, so we wrote that, relieved that there were no more serious problems.
So at last we were the legal owners of this house. We didn't receive the deeds then - I don't know why the computers couldn't just print them out, but apparently not. They will come in the post.
What a relief.
We spent most of Tuesday afternoon buying the bits and pieces on our list, pleased to discover that Orphanides non-grocery departments were having a 10% off sale. In the evening we tried in vain to pack the rest of the bits and pieces that were still lying around in our rental home, but there seemed so much clutter - despite a month's packing - and I was so tired I had to get to bed before 10pm.
Moving house, the long version. Monday.
Monday was going to be a crazy day, at least in the morning.
Richard had to meet the vendor at the Water Board at 8.30am so we could get the water utility bill transferred to our name. Apparently both seller and buyer have to be there together to agree the current meter reading. Our bank is round the corner from the Water Board, so after that he planned to go and get the bank drafts necessary for completion on Tuesday.
Before that I planned to go to Metro, our local supermarket, to buy some dishwasher powder since we were having our first dishwasher installed that morning.
Then we were going to go and buy the rest of the paint we needed to do our room and Dan's, and finish the dining room. We were expecting delivery of our new freezer from Dalco, and a few other items from George (our favourite white goods shop), during the morning; Richard knew he would have to go to George's shop to guide them to our new house, so planned to do that after leaving me there to start the painting and wait for Dalco. At 11am he had to be at his office for an online Skype meeting with several people in Limassol and elsewhere.
Alas for the best-laid plans.
Well, it started all right. I went to Metro, found various other things we needed, and then perused the dishwasher powders. I had no idea what was needed, and most of the options were too heavy for me to carry back to our house on foot, but I found one type which seemed good value, said it was recommended by the top brands, and wasn't too big.
Richard then met the vendor at the Water Board and that was sorted out. But when he was there, he had a phone call from George, saying their truck was packed and they wanted to deliver immediately. So Richard came to collect me. I had just discovered that our Internet connection had been cut off (as we had been told would happen, in order that it could be reconnected at the new house on Wednesday or Thursday) but the phone was still working.
So we went to George's, and the drivers followed us to the new house. They brought in the television and microwave, changed the plug on the microwave to standard UK-style three-pin, and tried to plumb in the new washing-machine. Problem #1: the waste pipe had a different fitment to the outlet. They suggested a method of solving this, but couldn't do it themselves. Richard said he would do it. Then they started plumbing in the dishwasher, only to discover that they didn't have all the tools they needed.
By this stage, Richard was getting a bit worried about time - the banks are only open from 8.30am - 12.30pm here, and the bank drafts were vital. So he left me at the house to supervise the dishwasher installation (ha!) and went to the bank. There he had quite a time of it - a lengthy queue, then concern over the amount of money he wanted in the draft. He had to have an interview with the bank manager, who was temporarily under the impression that we wanted a loan... but eventually was given the rather worrying piece of paper worth a large amount of money to complete the purchase.
He also had to get a draft for the Land Registry, and it took some phone calls to work out who it should be made out to. But at about 10.30 he arrived back with the drafts in an envelope in a folder which we didn't let out of our sight for the next 24 hours! By then the delivery men had left, having given me complicated instructions for the dishwasher in rather broken English, which I didn't really understand. The most important item seemed to be that I needed 'salt'... not table salt, but dishwasher salt.
They assured me that there were instructions which I could read. Indeed there were - in Greek, Portugese, Italian, German, or French. But not English! I could make out most of the French instructions and was still reading them when Richard got back. There was a little strip of paper with instructions about testing the water for hardness, enabling us to set the 'salt' intake, so we tried that. Chemistry at home! We knew the house had some kind of water purification and filtering system, and sure enough it wasn't as hard as the delivery men seemed to think. Still, we apparently needed to buy some salt.
We also needed to buy some paint, so we went to the Crown shop, chose our colours, and then returned to our old house. Richard had his online Skype meeting at 11am and got there just in time. I tried (in vain) to pack some of our kitchen while I waited. We had lost a morning's painting, but I wasn't too worried since we were very tired. So long as we finished the dining room, we decided, we wouldn't worry.
At 12.30, Richard arrived home saying we had to rush to the new house again. CYTA had phoned his mobile, saying they were ready to connect our phone and Internet at the new house already! So he grabbed the various bits of equipment we needed, and we drove to the new house, where it took the engineers about 45 minutes to get it all installed and working. By then we were very hungry so we returned to our old home for a bite to eat, and coffee, and then had a siesta... it was hot, and we were really tired.
At 2.30 we drove to Richard's office, to collect a fridge we're going to use in our guest flat. We waited for his colleague to help us down the steps, and brought it to the new house.
We realised that Dalco had not delivered the freezer, so we drove there to find out what was happening. As we went in the door, Richard's mobile started ringing... it was Dalco, trying to find exactly where our house is! So we guided the delivery men there, and they installed the new freezer. They told us to leave it to settle for three or four hours before switching on.
Then we went to Metro to buy some dishwasher salt and a few other things we had realised we needed. At which point Tim phoned to say the coach had returned from camp. So we went to collect him, then dropped his heavy backpack at the old house and collected painting clothes.
So by the time we were actually ready to do some painting, it was past five o'clock. Neither of us felt at all like painting, but although Tim was tired (they never seem to sleep much at camp) he was enthusiastic about painting, and happy to use the roller so he completed the dining room with a little assistance from me. Richard, meanwhile, experimented with the dishwasher on various items we had brought from our other house, which had been wrapped in newspaper. We were impressed...
By seven o'clock we had finished, and decided on fast food yet again. Tim was shocked to hear we had been to MacDonald's on Saturday, but said he could cope with KFC so we ate there. Then back to the old house to collapse once more.
Richard had to meet the vendor at the Water Board at 8.30am so we could get the water utility bill transferred to our name. Apparently both seller and buyer have to be there together to agree the current meter reading. Our bank is round the corner from the Water Board, so after that he planned to go and get the bank drafts necessary for completion on Tuesday.
Before that I planned to go to Metro, our local supermarket, to buy some dishwasher powder since we were having our first dishwasher installed that morning.
Then we were going to go and buy the rest of the paint we needed to do our room and Dan's, and finish the dining room. We were expecting delivery of our new freezer from Dalco, and a few other items from George (our favourite white goods shop), during the morning; Richard knew he would have to go to George's shop to guide them to our new house, so planned to do that after leaving me there to start the painting and wait for Dalco. At 11am he had to be at his office for an online Skype meeting with several people in Limassol and elsewhere.
Alas for the best-laid plans.
Well, it started all right. I went to Metro, found various other things we needed, and then perused the dishwasher powders. I had no idea what was needed, and most of the options were too heavy for me to carry back to our house on foot, but I found one type which seemed good value, said it was recommended by the top brands, and wasn't too big.
Richard then met the vendor at the Water Board and that was sorted out. But when he was there, he had a phone call from George, saying their truck was packed and they wanted to deliver immediately. So Richard came to collect me. I had just discovered that our Internet connection had been cut off (as we had been told would happen, in order that it could be reconnected at the new house on Wednesday or Thursday) but the phone was still working.
So we went to George's, and the drivers followed us to the new house. They brought in the television and microwave, changed the plug on the microwave to standard UK-style three-pin, and tried to plumb in the new washing-machine. Problem #1: the waste pipe had a different fitment to the outlet. They suggested a method of solving this, but couldn't do it themselves. Richard said he would do it. Then they started plumbing in the dishwasher, only to discover that they didn't have all the tools they needed.
By this stage, Richard was getting a bit worried about time - the banks are only open from 8.30am - 12.30pm here, and the bank drafts were vital. So he left me at the house to supervise the dishwasher installation (ha!) and went to the bank. There he had quite a time of it - a lengthy queue, then concern over the amount of money he wanted in the draft. He had to have an interview with the bank manager, who was temporarily under the impression that we wanted a loan... but eventually was given the rather worrying piece of paper worth a large amount of money to complete the purchase.
He also had to get a draft for the Land Registry, and it took some phone calls to work out who it should be made out to. But at about 10.30 he arrived back with the drafts in an envelope in a folder which we didn't let out of our sight for the next 24 hours! By then the delivery men had left, having given me complicated instructions for the dishwasher in rather broken English, which I didn't really understand. The most important item seemed to be that I needed 'salt'... not table salt, but dishwasher salt.
They assured me that there were instructions which I could read. Indeed there were - in Greek, Portugese, Italian, German, or French. But not English! I could make out most of the French instructions and was still reading them when Richard got back. There was a little strip of paper with instructions about testing the water for hardness, enabling us to set the 'salt' intake, so we tried that. Chemistry at home! We knew the house had some kind of water purification and filtering system, and sure enough it wasn't as hard as the delivery men seemed to think. Still, we apparently needed to buy some salt.
We also needed to buy some paint, so we went to the Crown shop, chose our colours, and then returned to our old house. Richard had his online Skype meeting at 11am and got there just in time. I tried (in vain) to pack some of our kitchen while I waited. We had lost a morning's painting, but I wasn't too worried since we were very tired. So long as we finished the dining room, we decided, we wouldn't worry.
At 12.30, Richard arrived home saying we had to rush to the new house again. CYTA had phoned his mobile, saying they were ready to connect our phone and Internet at the new house already! So he grabbed the various bits of equipment we needed, and we drove to the new house, where it took the engineers about 45 minutes to get it all installed and working. By then we were very hungry so we returned to our old home for a bite to eat, and coffee, and then had a siesta... it was hot, and we were really tired.
At 2.30 we drove to Richard's office, to collect a fridge we're going to use in our guest flat. We waited for his colleague to help us down the steps, and brought it to the new house.
We realised that Dalco had not delivered the freezer, so we drove there to find out what was happening. As we went in the door, Richard's mobile started ringing... it was Dalco, trying to find exactly where our house is! So we guided the delivery men there, and they installed the new freezer. They told us to leave it to settle for three or four hours before switching on.
Then we went to Metro to buy some dishwasher salt and a few other things we had realised we needed. At which point Tim phoned to say the coach had returned from camp. So we went to collect him, then dropped his heavy backpack at the old house and collected painting clothes.
So by the time we were actually ready to do some painting, it was past five o'clock. Neither of us felt at all like painting, but although Tim was tired (they never seem to sleep much at camp) he was enthusiastic about painting, and happy to use the roller so he completed the dining room with a little assistance from me. Richard, meanwhile, experimented with the dishwasher on various items we had brought from our other house, which had been wrapped in newspaper. We were impressed...
By seven o'clock we had finished, and decided on fast food yet again. Tim was shocked to hear we had been to MacDonald's on Saturday, but said he could cope with KFC so we ate there. Then back to the old house to collapse once more.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)