Re-designed Metro supermarket in Larnaka...

It was some weeks ago when Metro supermarket showed signs of redevelopment. Perhaps even months ago. It's our favourite supermarket in Larnaka, and we used to go there weekly. But with just two of us at home, and an excellent froutaria and discount mini-market within walking distance, we now only tend to go to Metro monthly.

Last time we went there, early in March, there was evidently a significant amount of construction work going on. Most of the upstairs was blocked off, and the small space remaining was cramped with stationery, kitchen equipment and the like. The only way to get there was by the stairs at the back of the shop, as the escalators by the entrance were not available.

We guessed that they might be installing a 'travelator' which would enable trolleys to be taken upstairs, rather than having to park them somewhere on the ground floor, hoping that nobody else would take them. And then, just before I went to the UK for a couple of weeks, Metro temporarily closed for the final reconstruction.

It opened while I was away, so the first time I saw the new design was just over a week ago.  I had already learned that, rather than a travelator, they had installed large glass-doored lifts by the entrance.  I didn't think to take a photo when we went in, but this is what they look like from the back:

We took a trolley (Metro are one of the few places that do not require a coin to collect a trolley - a definite plus point in my view) and went in the lift. It was smooth and quite pleasant; I'm no fan of lifts but it wasn't at all claustrophobic, and could easily have taken several people and their groceries.

Upstairs used to have non-grocery items: stationery, small kitchen appliances, cutlery and crockery, mops and buckets, plastic containers, vases, mugs and glasses; also sandals, slippers, bedding, towels, candles ... not as good a selection as at bigger supermarkets, but we've often popped up there to have a look round.

However it now also has items that I'd count as groceries: in particular cleaning products, shampoos and soaps, and cat/dog food and litter. There seem to be fewer electrical goods (though we did see and buy a fan on special offer) and we did not find ornaments, candles or crockery, though they may still be there. Oh, and the entire alcohol section seems to have moved upstairs - there were several aisles with wine and spirits. 

Then I realised that it's not just 'non-food' upstairs, but there are also apparently random items such as flour, nuts, health foods, and some cordials. Probably other things too but I was trying (in vain) to make sense of the layout. We found displays with sandals and slippers in at least three different places, and I'm not sure we went down all the aisles.

Still, we found the cat litter which was our main purpose for going to Metro last week. We went down again, and made our way around the ground floor level of the shop. I very much liked the style, which has much wider aisles than previously, making it much easier to navigate even when there are a lot of people around.

It will take a while to learn where everything is now being displayed, as lots of it is different from the way it used to be. It doesn't seem very logical, either; we found some flour downstairs, but nowhere near the selection they have upstairs. It would be annoying to do a big shop there and have to keep popping up and down in the lift; perhaps they will make it more clearly organised in future.

Still, the fresh fish and meat counters are in the same places, at the far end of the supermarket, and the freezer sections are where they always were, near the entrance (and thus also near the new lifts).

The checkouts are where they always were, too, with the same friendly people staffing them, and a display of chocolate nearby:

It was a quick visit, and my feelings were mixed. It looks good, and I very much like the wide aisles which makes the displays seem lower; the whole place looks more up-market and lighter.  Having to learn a new layout is a bit frustrating but then supermarkets change those from time to time anyway, and I try not to be annoyed by changes of that kind.

However I do hope they'll sort out the upstairs part a bit better, and make it more obvious what is up there.  I imagine we'll continue using Metro rather than any of the other supermarkets, and we'll get used to it. It will be interesting to know whether the new design attracts more customers, or causes some to leave, as it's unlike anything we've seen before in Cyprus.

Another empty Cyprus shop

Last November, I wrote about the increasing number of empty shops that were appearing in our neighbourhood. This was long before the dramatic banking crisis that hit the international headlines in March - the economy of Cyprus has been going downhill for a long time.

I was, however, encouraged to note (back in November) that a recently-closed fruit shop close to where we live seemed to have re-opened as a mini-market:

I did visit it once or twice, although I can't say I was very impressed. There didn't seem to be much choice, and the prices weren't great. And then I didn't really think about it... until I noticed that it, too, had closed down:

I'm not surprised, although I didn't think the owners would discover quite so quickly that yet another mini-market simply wasn't viable. But perhaps they simply didn't attract any customers.

People still need to buy groceries, and our favourite supermarket (Metro) seems to be doing well, as is the excellent fruit shop (Achna) which I visit at least three times per week. I just hope they continue to do so... 

Apostrophe Atrocity!

Truly, I'm not a pedant.  

I can proof-read with reasonable accuracy, and I am aware how punctuation is supposed to be used. I understand the differences between there/their/they're, and your/yore/you're... I hope I use them correctly, too. But anybody can make a typing error.  I'm responsible for what I type (and glad when people mention mistakes I might have made) but it's not up to me to judge or criticise anybody else's use of language, unless they've actually asked me to check or proof-read something. Even then, I hope I would remain placid and friendly about it. 

So...

Incorrect use of grammar or spelling just isn't that big a deal, as far as I'm concerned. If it becomes impossible to understand something, it may be a problem, but we're all different, and - to me - the content is far more important than its fine detail. I suppose I would be annoyed if I read a published book that was full of proofing errors - it shows lack of care for the reader - but in general, on occasion, I  mentally shrug and move on. Life is worth more than a few spelling errors.  

Likewise, while I sometimes find classic greengrocer-style apostrophe errors mildly amusing, they don't cause me intense anger and frustration. However, if you are the kind of person whose blood pressure rises dangerously when you see such things, please read no further. 

Out of all the incorrectly-used apostrophes I have ever seen in my life, this one - which appears twice on this large poster in a big supermarket not far away - is probably the oddest:

Fair Trade Chocolate in Cyprus

For many years now - at least fifteen - we have avoided all Nestlé products due to their policies on baby  milk. This is pretty big in the UK, at least in Christian and/or home educating circles, and isn't very hard to implement. Occasionally I have a slight hankering for a KitKat, but in general it's not a problem at all. I don't make a huge deal of it - when offered Nescafé or given After Eights, I accept with thanks. But I won't buy Nestlé products myself - at least, not knowingly. 

However, I've taken something of an ostrich-style stance about how chocolate is produced in general, or what other companies do. I was shocked out of my lethargy recently by reading that Mars conducts cruel animal experiments - totally unnecessary for human safety since chocolate is poisonous to most animals. This was a bit of a jolt, since we have been buying and very much enjoying plain chocolate Bounty bars, recently, and I do rather like Galaxy. 

It was only about a week later that our young teenage friend Jacob brought out the latest issue of his single-handedly produced youth magazine 'The Onymous'. The focus was on child slavery on chocolate farms. I knew, somewhere deep down, that a lot of chocolate was produced unfairly, but I suppose I had vaguely thought that although wages were extremely low for cocoa-bean pickers, they probably were still worth having, and that if people didn't buy regular chocolate, these impoverished workers would suffer. 

But Jacob's well-researched article made sobering reading. Chocolate slaves are young children, bought from their parents with promises of wealth, made to work long days with no breaks. They live in crowded, filthy conditions and are beaten cruelly if they slow down. 

Thankfully not all chocolate is produced this way.  Some beans are produced without slaves, sold by Fairtrade organisations. When Jacob wrote his article, the only fairly traded chocolate available in Cyprus was made by Green and Black's, one of the pioneer organic/fairtrade groups. And it wasn't easy to find. In our favourite supermarket, Metro, there are several Green and Black's bars available, but they're not shelved with all the other chocolate: instead, they are in the health food aisle along with other organic products, at the far end of the store. 

However, by the time 'The Onymous' was actually printed and distributed, some ordinary Cadbury bars bearing the fairtrade logo had started appearing amongst the other chocolate bars in Metro: 

When I spotted one, I started looking through the others to see how many there were. Not many, unfortunately - but in my search, a senior member of staff happened to be nearby, and asked if I was looking for something in particular. I pointed out the 'Fairtrade' logo, and he said that this bar was in a new shipment. He asked what the logo was, so I explained, and said that it was a good thing - that customers liked to buy fairly traded chocolate.  

A couple of days later, I spotted the same bars in our local Orphanides Express. Someone there was stacking the shelves, so I talked to her about the fairtrade logo too, and she seemed impressed.

Then I bought a small packet of 'chocos': 

An unoriginal name, and I suspect just an expensive way of packaging Dairy Milk (I haven't eaten them yet!) - but although fairtrade chocolate does often cost a little more than slave-produced chocolate, I'm now convinced that we should buy it more often. I asked myself if I wouldn't happily give a few cents - even a few euros - if I knew it would free a child from a life of slavery. Of course I would.  If the only way to increase the amount of fairly traded chocolate and persuade the growers to stop the slave trade is to vote with our purses... then it seems to me an excellent reason to spend a a little more on fairly traded chocolate. Even if it means buying fewer bars overall. 

I encourage anyone reading this to do likewise. And if you can talk to a member of the shop staff about fairtrade chocolate, then perhaps they will buy more.... 

(Those who want to do this in Cyprus, but are dairy-free, lactose intolerant or vegan will probably have to stick to Green and Black's which do various plain chocolate brands but are rather more pricey still. But you could always get in touch with other fairtrade chocolate suppliers and ask them if they would consider exporting to this island)

It's still October... just!

...but this is what I spotted as I walked towards the local 'express' Orphanides supermarket this morning, to buy a few things I needed for this evening's meal:

I knew it had been early before. I had forgotten that, a couple of years ago I spotted the same tree, in the same location, on October 23rd. 

It's only just beginning to feel like Autumn. I haven't yet switched from shorts to jeans, or worn a long-sleeved top, other than a very light one one evening last week. But I suppose it would be a good idea to start thinking about the forthcoming festive season, even if it is still almost two months away. 

I have just signed up for NaBloPoMo (hence the new image in my sidebar) after realising how rarely I remembered to blog this month. NaBloPoMo is simply a challenge to write something here every day during November. That should result in more frequent but rather shorter posts. 

A Little Lidl...

So, Lidl opened just outside Larnaka, a couple of weeks ago. I'm told there are two new stores: one in Aradippou, the other somewhere along the Dhekelia Road.

Since receiving the gift pack, we've seen several glossy advertising brochures for Lidl in our mailbox. I glanced through them, but couldn't see anything particularly appealing. I was glad that we now have paper recycling in Cyprus, since there have been a vast number of advertising brochures recently.

A few of our friends have already visited Lidl. I gather that there was chaos on the first couple of days, when there were special 'opening offers', but - of course - nowhere near sufficient to meet the demand. I heard that some of the products are very good value, even when not on special offer. But for just two of us, it somehow didn't seem worth bothering with the extra distance.

This morning, we had two shops to visit before Richard went to the office. We both really need new trainers [US: sneakers], and we also had a few items to buy at Metro. In particular, a kind of cat litter we haven't found anywhere else, and Richard's favourite ground coffee, which isn't available at the local supermarkets. It's three weeks since we did a 'major' grocery shop at Metro, which is usually once a month, and I only had about half a dozen things on my list... but it seemed a good idea to go today, anyway, and then perhaps wait another three or four weeks before doing a major shopping expedition prior to Christmas.

On the way out of the house, I saw yet more advertising brochures in our mailbox. I grabbed them to glance at in the car. They were both from Lidl, who must have spent a fortune on advertising. One of them was for food items, but the other made it look rather more interesting:


I had not realised they had such a big non-food section, but this brochure ran to several pages:


I commented that we'd probably do well to stay away from Lidl, since it looked as if it might be the kind of place where we'd spot all kinds of 'bargains' that we hadn't realised we needed.. then I noticed that they had men's trainers on offer. When I mentioned that, Richard suggested we take a look...

It was a little further away than I'd expected - past Kleima by quite a way, but it was easy enough to find:


I had brought with me the blue keyring that came in our free bag, since, as several people kindly pointed out to me, there is a removable plastic circle which can be used in lieu of a euro to get a trolley. I was eager to try it out, but Richard suggested we have a look first, since we might not be buying anything.

Inside, it looked much like the two British Lidl stores I've seen. The non-food part was, disappointingly, just a series of boxes down the middle. The quality didn't look as great as the advertising suggested, and the shoes looked much too narrow for Richard. I couldn't find most of the products from the brochure at all. Perhaps they'd already been bought.

Flour (plain white all-purpose) and sugar (white) were at very good prices - 49c, which is around half the regular price. Had we needed any, I would have bought some. I did see one man with an entire trolley full of flour - perhaps he was going to sell it somewhere else. Or make a lot of cakes. But I had plenty of flour and sugar at home, and we don't get through that much with just two of us, so we didn't buy any.

I did see chicken breast at about a euro per kilogram cheaper than we usually get it. I was tempted... but if we'd bought that, we would have had to go home to put it in the freezer before going out to do our other shopping, so I didn't. They didn't have the coffee we wanted - indeed, it was hard to find any coffee - nor the cat litter.

I'm glad we had a look around, to appease our curiosity, but we were both underwhelmed, and didn't - in the end - buy anything at Lidl.

So then we drove to the ShoeBox (previously Shoe Emporium) where we've bought good value trainers in the past. No such luck this time. Cypriots (other than children) don't seem to wear trainers much and there's nothing like the selection we can find in the UK. We'll have to look in town, I suppose.

Then on to Metro. Four bags of cat litter, two of coffee. A couple of large bags of cat food. We found a few items on two-for-one special offer - things which keep, and which we would buy - so put those in the trolley too. And I was particularly pleased to find chicken breast on extra-special offer, a euro LESS than the price at Lidl, so bought several packs of that for the freezer.

Despite it not being a 'major' shop, we spent just over a hundred euros at Metro. Living in Cyprus is a great deal more expensive than it used to be, which I suppose is why so many people are excited about Lidl opening. If we lived nearer, I would probably go there for sugar and flour when I needed them, but it isn't worth the extra petrol.

Three large shops in one day. Sigh. That's more than I like to see in a month.

First sighting of a Christmas tree in Larnaka

The birthday season, for my immediate family, is now over. We celebrated Richard's last Saturday; five friends came to dinner, and we had an enjoyable evening.

The weather is still warm - about 26-28C during the daytime - and our only gesture towards Autumn, so far, is the thin duvet on our bed. And Richard has switched from shorts to long trousers/jeans. And we did stop using the air conditioning a few weeks ago. I'm still wearing shorts, tee-shirts and sandals and avoiding going out during the main part of the day, but it's a lot more comfortable now that the humidity has gone.

So when I popped out to our local supermarket a few day ago, I was slightly startled to see this as I walked down the street towards it:


I know that Christmas cards appear in the shops in the UK in about August... but I don't remember trees or decorations appearing in Cyprus until at least November. We haven't even had Ochi Day yet.

Introducing Tesco Express in Larnaka

Note that Tesco Express did not last long... it was replaced after about 18 months by Achna Discount, a very useful small mini-market which supplements the fruit and vegetables at the Achna Fruitaria just over the road. 

I don't remember when I was first aware of a new, small supermarket being built opposite our favourite Achna Froutaria.



My gut feeling is this 'Tesco Express' appeared about a year ago. But the older I get, the more difficult it becomes to estimate time in the past. The present and future are a great deal more interesting to me; the past seems to telescope inwardly. So, I know it appeared after we moved to this house. And that was over three years ago. (How can it have been three years already?). I'm pretty sure it was after I started using the froutaria regularly, and I think that only happened a couple of years ago.

More significantly, it was after Orphanides Express appeared. And that, as I just discovered with a quick Google search of my blog, was almost exactly two years ago.

Anyway.

My first reaction was, 'What is another supermarket doing in this area?'. I felt quite protective of the new Orphanides Express, which isn't all that big but has almost everything we might need from a supermarket. We got to Metro once a month, but it's remarkably convenient to walk around the corner for milk, or whatever else we might have run out of, in between.

So for some months, I didn't even go into Tesco Express. Then I happened to be at the froutaria, and I needed something that they didn't sell. I don't remember what it was, but I realised it would be quite convenient just to pop across the road. Besides, I was curious to see what it was like.

It's very small. Even by Cyprus supermarket standards. It's more mini-market sized. But it has basic supermarket shelves, with cat food, and baking ingredients, and canned goods, and a freezer section... nothing special. No fruit and vegetables; no bread. But then it's right across the road from the froutaria, and around the corner from the Perseus bakery. It didn't appear to be anything to do with Tesco in the UK. Still, the man on the till spoke fluent English, and was friendly, and the prices seemed reasonable.

I haven't been in there all that often. But a couple of weeks ago I needed some raisins, so I popped in, and was pleased to discover they had some bags of British raisins which were - bizarrely - less expensive than the Cyprus ones. Something is wrong there; grapes grow here, profusely. They only grow in greenhouses in the UK. So the UK bags of raisins were probably first imported to the UK, and then sent here. The shipping costs alone should have made them significantly more expensive. I don't like adding to my 'carbon footprint' more than I have to. But now I wonder if the Cypriot raisins are actually vastly over-priced...

About a week ago, I was in Tesco Express again. I don't remember what I was looking for, but I was very pleased when I spotted some wholegrain bread flour. I make almost all our bread (in our breadmaker), and recently have been unable to find any real bread flour. No strong white flour (which used to be available at Metro), no wholewheat brown flour for bread (which we also found in Metro, more recently, but not in the past few months). I've had to make do with the lighter wholewheat flour which gives a reasonable loaf, but it's not the same.

So when I saw a 1.5kg bag of wholegrain flour that actually said it was intended for bread, I snapped it up. The first loaf I made with it was extremely good. So I went back, and there was only one bag left on the shelves. I bought it, and was assured that they were ordering more. By then all the bags of British raisins had gone, too.

Ordering stock is a bit haphazard here even at the big supermarkets, and we've found more than once that something will go right out of stock right across the island. It happened once with Marmite. It happened for some time with vanilla extract. Currently there seems to be no Bertolli spread. For a small supermarket such as Tesco Express it must be even more difficult trying to keep the shelves stocked with what customers want, when so much has to be imported.

I've been intending to write about this small supermarket for a while, but kept forgetting to take a photo. Today, when I finally remembered, it was a bit annoying that a huge delivery truck was parked right outside!

A little hint of ecological awareness in Cyprus

Cyprus is not very good from the ecological point of view. There is almost no recycling, for instance. There is a lot of over-packaging in supermarkets. People waste water, even though it's severely limited many years, and run their air conditioners far cooler than necessary. They replace things rather than mending them, and prefer new cars to second-hand. The excellent thrift stores (we know of three in Larnaka, now) are mainly used by ex-pats and refugees rather than Cypriots.

It's cultural, of course. And so, if anything is going to change, it needs to come from Cypriot groups, in a way that makes people take notice.

A few months ago, we were surprised to receive a piece of junk mail informing us that Metro (our favourite supermarket) was 'going green'. A little ironic, given that this was printed in full colour on glossy light card, both sides (one in Greek, one in English), and delivered - I assume - to every mailbox in the town, where the majority would go straight into the bin.

Intrigued, I read it. Metro, it seems, had decided to make an ecologically sound long-lasting bag, which would be available for several euros (or equivalent in loyalty card points) so that people would not have to use the plastic carrier bags so much.

A good start. And, to be fair, Metro is a long way ahead of the other supermarkets in its supply of organic and health food produce, even though it seems limited compared to what we're used to in the UK.

We didn't buy one of these new 'green' bags, because I already have about half a dozen re-usable cloth bags which I take with me when walking to the local Froutaria, or Orphanides Express. But when we go to Metro, we like getting plastic carriers, since we re-use them as bin liners. In a country where toilet paper generally must not be flushed, it's important to have closed bathroom bins, emptied regularly. Supermarket carrier bags are ideal to line them.

I don't think the new green bags have really caught on. We go to Metro about once a fortnight, and haven't seen anyone toting one of these re-usable bags yet, although no doubt there are some people who bought them.

Today I was even more surprised to notice that the carrier bags at the tills no longer bore the blue Metro logo and text that we have become accustomed to. Instead, the logo was in a green circle, with the slogan 'eco-friendly Metro superstores' around it.



Eco-friendly plastic carrier bags? It seemed like a contradiction in terms!

Looking a little closer, we saw in the little box at the bottom:

This bag is made of Polyethylene containing a special degrader. It is recyclable just like all plastics and has a limited life when left in the environment, since it degrades by light, oxygen and heat and then along with humidity it becomes food for microorganisms (just as happens with all natural elements, ie wood, leaves, branches etc).

We're a little cynical. The bags may be recyclable, but since there is nowhere to take plastic (or, for that matter, glass or paper) to be recycled in Cyprus, other than the army base, it's not a lot of help.

Moreover,'Limited life' could theoretically mean anything from a few years to a few hundred thousand years. Still, it seems like a step in the right direction. This kind of thing might help Metro customers to become a little more aware of the importance of environmental issues - and perhaps the bags do degrade more rapidly than the ones they used to use.

The only problem is that they are thinner than the old bags. Which means that they break more easily.

Which means that we needed to use nearly twice as many as we used to...

Yet another public holiday in Cyprus?

We usually go to Metro to do our weekly supermarket shopping on Fridays. But we didn't need anything much today, so we didn't.

I did ponder popping around the corner to Orphanides Express to buy a few potatoes, and to see if they had any Marmite, as we are running low of both. But it hardly seemed worth it.

Then, this afternoon, I was feeling both tired and a bit cold. Not quite cold enough to put the heating on early, and not quite tired enough for a siesta... so I decided to have a cup of coffee.

Then I realised we had almost run out of milk. There was just a drop in the carton... nothing like enough. So, I thought, I'll just pop out now, and get some milk, as well as potatoes and Marmite.

To my surprise, there was no sign of life at Orphanides Express. There was a note on the door saying that all their stores would be closed on both January 1st and January 2nd. How strange, I thought. Obviously it would be closed yesterday - as it was last week on Thursday and Friday with Christmas and Boxing Day. But surely things are back to normal today?

Ah well, maybe they're re-stocking, I thought. So I walked a little bit further to Froutaria Achna, where I get fruit and vegetables, and which also sells milk.

It was also closed.

Over the road from the froutaria is a new Tesco Express. It was also closed.

I'm now wondering if January 2nd is yet another public holiday. Or perhaps just an extra break for the shops.

I walked just a little further, to our old faithful Perseus, the bakery, which also sells milk:



Perseus was open, as it is every day other than Christmas Day and Greek Easter. So I bought the milk. The potatoes and Marmite will have to wait until tomorrow.

By the time I got home again, I was no longer feeling either cold or tired. And the coffee was lukewarm. But I drank it anyway. At least I won't have to pop out early tomorrow to get some for Richard's coffee...

Cyprus has switched to the euro

So, after three days (more-or-less) of public holiday this week, shops got back to normal yesterday. We had managed to run down our supply of Cyprus pounds cash, other than about £5 in cash, which Tim decided to take charge of. On Wednesday he bought a roll at Zorpas (a bakery, which is open almost every day of the year) and said that their tills now work only in euros. They had a large pot of Cyprus money and told him an approximate amount, then just threw the cash in.

That's one way of dealing with it!

This morning we made our usual weekly trip to Metro supermarket to buy groceries. We wondered what changes would have been made... would they have switched around all the price tags on the shelves? Would there be a whole new set of special offers on the windows, all in euros...?

No.

It looked exactly as it did a week ago. The Cyprus pound labels were still bigger than the euro labels, and the notices on the doors advertising special offers were still in Cyprus pounds.

Labelling at the meat and fruit/veg places (where produce is weighed and priced) gave the price in euros, but bizarrely prefixed by a £ (pound) symbol. And the date stamp was way off - as it had been a few weeks previously - telling us that the food was packaged in the year 2049.

At the till, one of the girls was putting Cyprus pounds in a bag, and shouting at one of the other girls - complaining, I think, about having to deal with two currencies. All in Greek so I could only catch a few words, but she didn't seem very happy about it. Probably because even though people can pay in Cyprus pounds, they are now obliged to give change in euros.

I always pay with my debit card so that was simple enough - I just handed it over, signed for the amount in euros, and all was OK. Somehow I had expected the change to be more obvious.

Tonight, as there was no youth group and no house group, we decided to treat ourselves to our favourite take-away, Souvlaki Express. Richard and Tim went out to buy it. They were told how much to pay in euros, and handed over some euro cash... then received a till receipt in Cyprus pounds.

There are supposed to be inspectors ensuring that all shops are dealing with euros and the conversion correctly. I think that will be a more than full-time job (and probably a losing battle) for the next month.

We're quite used to using different currencies when we travel - Richard visits Middle Eastern countries, and we've lived in the UK and USA, and travelled around mainland Europe before they switched to the euro. In 2006 we visited Singapore, and last year were in Hong Kong and Malaysia.

And yet, it feels rather strange to be using a different currency, which we aren't yet familiar with. Or, at least, we don't have a 'feel' for how much euros will buy. I think it's because we usually have to travel to change currency. It's not often that one changes within one's own country.

Tim pointed out that Richard and I both lived through the change from pounds, shillings and pence in the UK to the decimal system of pounds and pence in 1971, but somehow that wasn't so disturbing. Partly because we were children, but partly because a pound was still a pound, even though the pence altered in value.

First strawberries of the year

I did spot some a couple of weeks ago, but they looked rather small and were very expensive.

However I couldn't resist these in Metro this morning:


Very tasty they are, too...

Supermarket update

This morning we went for our weekly trip to the supermarket again. Metro (I only discovered today that they have a web-site) is our favourite, and we usually go there first thing Friday morning. (Well, we actually go around 9am usually, which is almost the middle of the morning for me, but for Richard it's first thing).

Last week I mentioned several missing items, which worried us somewhat. This week we were relieved to see that the shelves didn't look quite so empty as before. Of the items we could not find last week, we did find:

Walls sausages, frozen (I bought two packs)
Bertolli margarine (I bought four containers - only 250g size)
Rombouts brand coffee (though not the style we usually buy)

However there was still no sign of any kind of vegetarian sausages, dairy-free margarine, blackcurrant-and-green-tea or almond milk. Nor any cat litter, of any variety. Just as well I managed to find two of the last ones in the country last week...

The Marmite shelf was looking a bit depleted too, so I bought two jars, just to be on the safe side. Large ones aren't available here so the largest size we can get is 250g.

Since I found the website for Metro, and since they have a form to fill in for feedback or comments, I sent a note to let them know we were missing these items and hoped they would soon stock them again. I don't know if it will make any difference, of course.

Imported goods starting to disappear...

Every so often, in Cyprus, some imported item vanishes from the shelves of our local supermarket - and it seems to be a temporary island-wide problem since all the other supermarkets stop stocking whatever it is too. That happened one year with vanilla essence, and another time (more significantly) with Marmite. It once happened with Linda McCartney veggie sausages, too, and a few other items. But each time before this year they reappear after a month or so. We were warned that this kind of thing happens from time to time, and told not to worry about it.

So, about three months ago when Pure margarine (the dairy-free soya version) disappeared, I wasn't too worried. It was a bit of a nuisance as Tim tries to avoid dairy products completely as they give him glue ear. But we don't do that much baking, and we found other products that had very small amounts of dairy products to substitute - or Bertolli, which we use as a spread.

But it didn't return.

A couple of months ago I realised that veggie sausages were no longer available. I much prefer them to regular sausages, but it wasn't a huge deal.

They haven't returned, either.

About a month ago I looked for my favourite London Fruit & Herb brand blackcurrant and green tea, which I like to drink in the morning. That, too, had vanished. There was still orange and green tea, and multi-packs, so I assumed they'd just temporarily run out of the blackcurrant.

But it's still not there. Nor were there any multi-packs this week - just the peach (which I find rather artificial) and the jasmine (which I don't like at all).

Bertolli has gone, too. And the frozen Walls sausages Tim loves. And Rombouts brand of filter coffee, which Richard drinks. And almond milk, which Tim has on cereal.

But worst of all, there was no cat litter. It wasn't just the type we usually get that was missing - the entire shelf, where usually there are at least three varieties and several bags, was empty.

What is going on?

Richard said he thinks he might have heard something about a dockers' strike - but if so, it's been going on a long time. And you would think the supermarkets would put up a notice somewhere, if they really are having trouble with imported goods.

Of course there are still plenty of local products available, and it's better for the ecology to use local items as far as possible, but there just aren't equivalents to most of these items. Cyprus-made sausages are not very nice at all, and they don't do a veggie version. Coffee isn't grown here at all, so it will be a big problem if that runs out.

As for cat litter... well, I thought rapidly. I guessed the other big supermarkets might also have run out, so on the way back from our weekly shop I called in at our local small supermarket, Kleitos. To my great relief they had three bags of cat litter remaining. The most expensive brand, but at least it was something. So I bought two of them immediately.

We're having quite a few visitors in the next few months, but most of these items aren't really transportable. So we just hope that whatever the problem is will soon be resolved.

Where to find picture hooks in Larnaka on Saturday afternoon

This morning we painted the stairs and landing. This afternoon, we decided to hang our family portrait gallery (a mixed bag of framed photos over the years) on the wall next to the stairs.

Problem: we needed more picture hooks.

Further problem: the shop where Richard bought the previous hooks, EOL, has been closed for the August break, and he was almost certain it was still closed today.

But we knew we had seen them in supermarkets, and we also knew that Cyprus is, slowly, becoming more European, meaning that supermarkets at least are now open on Saturday afternoons. When we first arrived here, nearly 9 years ago, everything closed at 1pm Saturday and re-opened Monday morning. Hours are gradually extending, and supermarkets are now open until about 8pm, even on a Saturday (though not, of course, on Sundays).

We also needed some light shades. The last ones we bought, at our old house, were from Orphanides supermarket so we decided to go there and hoped we might find picture hooks too.

Alas, Orphanides had very few light shades. We did manage to find one small one suitable for a bedside lamp, which we needed. But no sign of picture hooks.

Still, we also found some broccoli, which Metro (our usual supermarket) had run out of yesterday.

Next stop: Chris Carrefour supermarket, which has recently been refurbished and redesigned after the merger with Carrefour. We were impressed to see that it now has one of those sliding ramp type escalators where trolleys lock in place, so they can be taken upstairs. Previously there was only a rather clunky lift, if it was necessary to take a trolley between floors.

Unfortunately, Chris Carrefour had even fewer light shades than Orphanides. Nor did it have any picture hooks.

But we did find some little wooden dowels, which Richard needed for Dan's cabin bed.

It occurred to us that Kleima, a kind of general store with everything from fridges and TVs to toys and tools might have lamp shades. We had no idea if it would be open - but discovered it was, until 4pm.

As we parked in the Kleima car park, we were startled to see something we had not seen for some months - raindrops on the windscreen! Naturally I grabbed the camera and snapped a photo.


It only lasted a few seconds, but was still rather amazing for August.

Unfortunately, it became unbelievably humid later in the evening. I don't know if there's a connection.

In Kleima, there were no light shades.

On the other hand, they did have picture hooks...

So we then spent an hour starting to sort through our framed photos and decide some kind of order to hang them.

A little busier than expected

The title of this post is an example of the classic British understatement.

Three days ago we learned that two Australian writers Richard knew somewhat, in Lebanon, were hoping to escape on a British warship coming to Cyprus, and wondered if they could stay in our guest apartment. They thought they might be here some time Thursday, but communications were limited. We gathered that the husband needed to go to a conference in Tunis on Saturday, so Richard reserved him a seat with one of the Cyprus estate agents. Just as well, since it's now impossible to get any flight out of Cyprus - they're all fully booked, with extra flights chartered for refugees from Lebanon.

Wednesday was our 26th anniversary. We thought we might go out and buy some plants in the morning. But, knowing guests were coming, we went first to buy a curtain pole for the main bedroom (which has large french windows onto the front porch), then to look for other bits and pieces such as saucepans for the guest apartment. By the time we got to the plant shop it was noon, very hot and sunny. I had had enough of shopping... so after a cursory glance around we decided it would be better to get plants in the Autumn. My head ached, and I felt weak with the heat as well as overwhelmed by all those shops.

During the afternoon I had a phone call from the person who's sorting out a door and sink for the main bedroom in the guest apartment. He said it would be at least five days. Since Cyprus more-or-less shuts down for two weeks in August, lots of people are having jobs done now and the workmen are busy constantly. Since the only way into the room is a hole in the wall at present, and the old hairdresser sink (removed) is dripping, we knew there was no way the main guest room could be used.

In the evening, after an afternoon in air conditioning, I felt better so we went out to eat, taking Tim. We went to Viale's, an open air cafe/restaurant where some friends took us for ice creams a few weeks ago. Very pleasant food, beautifully presented; good service (albeit rather slower than we would have liked), and prices not too unreasonable.

When we got back, we spent a couple of hours moving boxes from the second guest room, where Richard had set up two single beds. He moved some boxes, which we knew we weren't going to need for a while, to high cupboards, and others upstairs. But when we gave up for the night, the kitchen was covered in tools, and other random bits and pieces, and there were still about four boxes on the floor.

On Thursday morning Richard moved a few more boxes, then I spent four hours sorting, tidying and cleaning. What had seemed impossible proved to be doable. I even got to the stage of finding some pictures to hang up, and they made the walls look less boring. It would have been nice to paint before having guests, but obviously there was no chance of that! I washed loads of curtains from the old house, and hung a pair in the guest room, cutting them to size.

Thursday afternoon, Richard had a phone call saying that this couple were hoping to come on a ship leaving Thursday evening, so should be there in the middle of the night. So I made up beds, and we found various useful bits and pieces - a lamp, a fan, bug spray, towels, and so on. During the afternoon we had an hour and a half's power cut, to our surprise, so I decided to spend the time usefully and hemmed the curtains in the guest bedroom by hand. Something which, otherwise, would probably have been left for months.

There was no phone call during the night, but about 9.30 this morning Richard received a quick call saying that they had just arrived in Limassol port. There were long queues, and they expected that it would take at least an hour to get out. Then they would get a shared taxi ('service') to Larnaka. So we did our usual weekly trip to Metro supermarket, and picked up various extra bits and pieces for the guest apartment, knowing that our visitors were arriving with hand luggage only.

They finally got here about 12.30, very tired but relieved to have got out. They said it was unbelievable how quickly Lebanon has gone from a peaceful, busy city to a war zone. They've watched bombs falling, they've seen people who have lost everything. They are thankful that they're safe, that their adult children are safe - one in Australia, the other, newly married, leaving Lebanon tonight with his bride. This son had to cancel his planned large wedding in August, and get married a couple of days go in a small ceremony with only about 25 guests, most of them in jeans as it was last-minute.

They said that the British warship was brilliant, with all the soldiers helpful and friendly. But they're worried about so many people left behind, and about the fact that the embassies are telling foreigners to leave the country. They're trying to be as fair as they can about the whole conflict, and are horrified at how biassed some of the media is, particularly the American channel CNN which is apparently as pro-Israel as ever, and giving a highly sanitised version of the horrors going on in Lebanon. The BBC is apparently somewhat better; but perhaps it's impossible for a reporter to describe accurately what's going on, though, without having lived in the country.

I had wondered, sometimes, why we bought such a huge house now the boys are adults. Now I'm beginning to find out!

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.

Panic over!

There was Marmite in Metro again this morning. I bought two 250g jars, which should last us about a month.

What a relief!

Disappearing from the shelves...

We're getting used to the vagaries of Cyprus supermarkets. Well, we should be after eight-and-a-half years! Seasonal fruit and vegetables make sense. We miss oranges in the summer, and grapes in the winter, but realise it's better for us - and the environment in general - to have fresh locally grown produce (on the whole) rather than fruit that's forced and then shipped across the world.

We cope, too, with things occasionally vanishing from the shelves entirely. It's happened once or twice with vanilla essence (extract). The disgusting artificial vanilla flavouring is there, but no essence. So we do without. No big deal. Last time I was in the UK we bought a large bottle from Lakeland, and that should last us a couple of years, at least. Peppermint essence hasn't been available for a couple of years now, but again - it's not a huge problem. We only want it about twice a year, anyway, for making peppermint creams or choc-mint ice cream.

It's more of a problem when water filters vanish, but they soon reappear. Last time we wanted to change the one in the kitchen, we had to wait a couple of extra weeks. The mains water tasted a bit chemically, but we could always buy bottled water.

A bigger problem still is that Biokill - our insecticide of choice - has been gone for about six months now. It's environmentally friendly, and (most important) safe for all warm-blooded animals. Such as cats - and of course people! So I usually spray the insides of our kitchen cabinets with Biokill, to keep away ants in the summer, and all entry points to the house to deter cockroaches. But Biokill has not been seen since last summer... and I'm not sure what we'll do once insects start appearing again.

However none of these compare to the huge problem we found this morning: there was no Marmite in Metro! They reorganised the shop a while ago so we thought perhaps it had been moved, but no - it was gone. We couldn't even find the place where it should have been.

Perhaps only other Brits can appreciate the enormity of this. How can we manage without Marmite? I eat it with peanut butter, with cheese, with cream cheese and coleslaw. It's a great source of B-vitamins, and it's delicious! Of course a medium (250g) jar will last us a couple of weeks now that Dan's not at home any more, and we still have about half a jar left so it's not quite an emergency yet. We just hope this is only temporary and that it will be back soon. We know from experience that there's little point searching in the other supermarkets: if something's gone from Metro, it's almost certainly gone from Orphanides and Chris too.

When we lived in the USA we survived by asking all guests to bring out Marmite - in the large, 500g jars, which aren't available here - and when we ran out, we managed to find a small and expensive 'British foods' shop which, joy of joys, sold Marmite. But we don't have any guests coming for awhile, and as it comes in glass jars it's not something that can be posted.

Perhaps life in Cyprus isn't as easy as it sometimes seems...

Catching up....

... with sleep, and jobs, and laundry. Very slowly, but I'm beginning to feel like a human being again. Tim managed 14 hours of sleep on Tuesday night, but I can never do that. However for two days I didn't wake up till 9am. Amazing. We realised we don't need to adjust our body clocks fully since this weekend is clock-changing time anyway; they go back an hour, to give more light in the early morning and less in the evening.

I've done seven loads of laundry so far, and still haven't caught up. It seems an immense amount, but we couldn't easily do any clothes-washing in the last 9 days of our stay in the UK. Also there was some laundry remaining from before we went away. At least I can get the lid on the basket though! Thankfully too it's dry and sunny here, so easy to get everything dry.

Weather's changed a lot in the past month, but it always does at this time of year. Before we left in the last week of September, it was still humid. We were sleeping with just sheets over us at night, and feeling hot in tee-shirts and shorts. In the UK of course we wore long trousers or jeans, and now we're back it's comfortable to continue in the jeans. In the evenings we even need sweatshirts as it feels quite chilly, and we've got out the duvets again for overnight. I prefer it this way, but no doubt in another couple of weeks it'll feel like winter again. Autumn is much too short in Cyprus.

Unfortunately mosquitoes are rife at this time of year, buzzing around our heads at night. We don't get bitten much - or if we do, we barely notice it - and there's no malaria risk here, but the noise drives us wild and keeps us awake. Eventually we plug in an insecticide pellet but the smell is horrible; I'm never quite sure which is worse. We bought - supposedly - an ultra-violet light thing that should attract mosquitoes and kill them, but they seem to ignore it mostly. Eating lots of garlic reduces the biting, but they still buzz around annoyingly.

The garden doesn't look as bad as I expected - it's still mostly brown as there hasn't been a huge amount of rain. There are leaves and pods all over the patio and elsewhere, but so far I haven't had the energy to sweep/rake them up. Maybe at the weekend. The pomegranates are almost finished, but the oranges and lemons are ripening fast.

Oh, and our local supermarket, Metro, has expanded. There has been building work going on for months, still evident on the outside. But inside are some extra aisles, with more space for things like cereals, and a new chilled fish counter. Several other things have moved too, and a lot of people seemed to be hunting for products (as we were) when we went there yesterday.

Unfortunately, nobody seems to have thought about the design. The fish counter, for instance, is positioned such that a strong fishy smell greeted us as we went in. Not very pleasant. Moreover, the chilled meat section has expanded, but is no longer on the last aisle before leaving. We used to buy all the chilled and frozen produce last when doing our weekly shop, as the fridge and freezer cabinets, and the delicatessen were all in a row. Now they're in various places, so either we have to go back for the ones at the beginning, or risk them getting warm in the trolley while we buy other things.

There are other confusingly placed shelves, but no doubt we'll get used to them once we learn where everything is. It wasn't exactly logical beforehand; I don't suppose it's any worse. After all, as is so often said, 'This is Cyprus'.