Cyprus and the Covid-19 Coronavirus

I hesitate to add to the many, many articles and posts on the topic of the current pandemic. But writing a blog post is an easy way of letting folk know what's going on, and what life is like for those of us living in Cyprus as the crisis develops around the world.

The latest figures, as of today, show 26 people infected in the Republic of Cyprus. That doesn't sound very many, but in a population of just under 1.2 million, it's equivalent, percentage-wise, to around 1700 in a country of 66 million people.  Which is more than the UK, currently.  However, almost all those tested positive for covid-19 in Cyprus are people who flew in from other countries, many of them from the UK.  Most were detected with fevers at the airports, and isolated immediately.

The Cyprus government does not want it to spread.  So last week they announced that all schools would close until April 10th; since that's the start of the two-week Easter break, children are all out of school now until late April.  But they're not playing outside, as they normally do at weekends or holiday periods.  The playgrounds are deserted.

Gatherings of more than 75 people are also banned.  And anyone arriving from any country had to go into 14-day mandatory self-isolation.  On Friday the government announced that there would be no tourists or visitors at all - only Cypriots, legal residents of Cyprus, and legitimate workers would be allowed in.

Today they took even stronger measures: anyone who does come into the country must present a certificate that they have tested negative for coronavirus, and must also go into 14-day quarantine, at a state-mandated institution.  Restaurants, cinemas, malls etc are all going to be closed.

The tourist industry is going to be very hard hit.  Airlines may go bankrupt.  Self-employed people will struggle, although the government is offering some form of compensation in a financial package, yet to be unveiled.

It's all very worrying.  Not that we are likely to develop serious complications if we catch it; we're not (quite) in the over-65 risky category, and we don't have underlying health issues. We are far more concerned about elderly relatives in the UK, where few measures are being taken to ensure safety.  And we can't really leave the country; flights are being cancelled all the time, and if we did succeed in getting out, it would be difficult to get back.

We've read about people panic-buying toilet paper in Australia and, more recently, the UK.  And while we haven't done that - and there was plenty of toilet paper in the shops, at least at the end of last week - we did do a bit of extra shopping on Friday, just in case we have to self-isolate.

We bought rather a lot of cat litter, for instance.  There were only three bags of our preferred brand at Metro, so we bought them all, and three more at SuperHome Centre. We bought some extra coffee and chocolate.  Another jar of Marmite.  Earlier I went out to the local Achna Discount shop, and bought some extra dishwasher tabs, soap, cat food, canned chickpeas, tahini and bread flour.  We can, if necessary, eat a lot of home-made bread and hummus.

But we're well-off for food anyway.  We usually have at least a couple of weeks' worth of frozen meals; when I cook something in the slow-cooker, I make 6-8 portions and freeze what we don't eat for future use.

My main concern, if all the shops close, is fruit and vegetables. I hope the fruitaria will stay open, and since most of the produce is grown in Cyprus, there shouldn't be a problem with supplies.  But just in case we can't get out, I did buy a few extra peppers to cut up and freeze:

I did the same with mushrooms.  And we have several containers of frozen stewed tomatoes, which I use instead of canned.  I  also buy peas and french beans ready-frozen.

know we're more fortunate than many, in that we can buy more food than we need and freeze what won't keep.  Being dairy-free is an advantage at present; we have several litres of coconut milk, which keeps for months unopened, as it was on special offer a week ago.  And we made an extra trip to the nut warehouse on Friday, so there are plenty of cashews to make cashew milk, and other nuts which we eat for breakfasts.  We have plenty of vegan 'fasting' cheese, too, which lasts much longer in the fridge than dairy cheese.

Last week I had, a little ironically, a rather more sociable week than usual.  Monday morning saw the monthly local Christian writers' group.  Seven or eight of us were present.  In the afternoon I went, for the first time, to a local reading/book club.  Another seven or eight people were there.  That's also once a month.  Somehow I doubt if either will meet early in April.

On Tuesday we spent most of the day with our closest friends - who we will continue to see as normal, unless even more stringent regulations are passed, or one of us becomes ill.  On Wednesday another friend came over for coffee.  On Thursday I went to a Lenten Bible study at St Helena's, the Anglican church which we're now part of.   I think there were eleven or twelve people there.

We went to St Helena's this morning for the regular Sunday service.  The congregation was perhaps a little lower in numbers than usual, but there were more people there than I expected.  We were given blobs of hand sanitiser on the way in, and were told 'no physical contact' during the passing of the peace.  This is when folk usually shake hands and hug as many people as possible.  Today we kept our hands to ourselves. And there was no wine at the communion, other than for the minister.

The coronavirus is the main topic of conversation wherever we go, but most people we meet are fairly resigned to it. They are taking sensible precautions but not panicking.  But then I suppose anyone inclined to panic is already self-isolating.

And to change the subject entirely, so I can post a rather more interesting photo, one of my freesias came into bloom yesterday:

Overuse of plastic in Cyprus

At the end of the catch-up post I wrote last week, I mentioned that Cyprus was supposed to be reducing the amount of plastic used. It's such a problem here that I think this topic is worthy of a post in its own right.  Plastic bottles and some cartons are recycled here; I just put out our last month's worth of paper and 'PMD' (plastic, metals, drinks) recycling, before starting this post, and was struck by the irony that we have to place our items in designated non-recyclable plastic bags....

Whatever people think of the problems of global warming and wherever they stand politically, I don't think there's any doubt that we humans use far too much unnecessary plastic. A lot of it ends up in the sea, and causes serious damage to marine life. If you haven't seen the stories (and some horrific images) then a quick online search for 'marine life plastic' (or similar) should set the scene.

One issue which recently hit the news is the over-use of plastic straws. When we were in the UK recently I looked for paper straws, which I remember from my childhood, but could not find them. There are some available at vast price online, but mostly intended for parties, with bright patterns and colours.  They did not appeal. I've seen re-usable straws made of metal or silicon, but am a tad dubious about the difficulties of washing them sufficiently between uses.

We don't use straws in the winter, but in the summer I make frappés rather than hot coffees after lunch, and we like to drink them through straws.  I was wondering if we could learn to drink them without straws at all, when I came across an article online about a restaurant which had started using straws made of pasta.  When we were in Metro I checked what was available - we don't cook pasta, other than wholegrain spaghetti and the occasional lasagne, so I had not previously looked - and found that long macaroni was available. It was even on special offer.  Sealed in plastic, of course... but still, we thought it worth trying.

The weather has been hot, so we've been drinking frappés for the past couple of weeks now, and have become quite accustomed to these longer-than-usual but very effective straws:

We can't decide if there's a slight taste to them or not. It's not a problem, anyway, and even though we have to throw them away after each use (we tried rinsing them out but they cracked and couldn't be used again) they are biodegradable.  If a family who eats this kind of pasta used them, they could probably rinse them out and store them in the freezer until there were sufficient to cook for a meal, and that would be even more efficient.

One of the biggest uses of plastic used to be the flimsy carrier bags given away by supermarkets. I say 'used to be...' because in most of Europe there are now charges for carrier bags; customers are encouraged to bring their own, either stronger re-usable plastic ones, or those made of cloth.  I recall a bit of negative muttering about it when this was first introduced in the UK, but most people are reasonable, and if nothing else could see that it costs something to produce each plastic bag.

In Cyprus, however, we tend to lag behind most of mainland Europe.  At the end of 2010 when Lidl supermarkets first came to the island, they were unusual in not giving away free carrier bags. We were not in the habit of taking our own at the time, and found this a bit irritating, but realised it was reasonable. We bought some of their heavy-duty carriers, and once or twice bought the inexpensive ones. We only went there rarely, at first, anyway.

Almost a year ago, Cyprus was warned that it should do something about the immense amount of plastic wastage. We read that a 5 cent charge on carriers would be imposed from 1st July 2018, and that in January supermarkets could introduce a 2 cent charge, to help customers become used to the idea. We decided to make more of an effort, so it's now become a habit to take cloth bags with us either to supermarkets or the local fruit shop.

I don't know what can be done about the small produce bags which are used in the fruitarias.  Here's a typical few euros' worth of fruit and veg:

I don't put everything in produce bags, but when buying - for instance - apples or oranges, it's important to use either the pink, green or blue bags because they're a code for the cashiers, to establish which aisle they're from. I use a lot of 'pink bag' produce, in the reduced section of the shop.  Even if that were not a problem, it would be impossible for them to weigh everything separately if I simply piled my selection into a trolley without bagging items separately.

However, even reducing the main carrier bags should make a difference.  We assumed that when the shops opened after the New Year break, they would have a two cent charge for carriers. But January came and went, and carrier bags were given away just as they had been before. Cashiers no longer started putting things in carriers automatically, or not so readily - but perhaps that's because they got used to us, and some of our friends, taking our own bags.

In the UK, prior to the introduction of the charge for plastic bags, a lot of the supermarkets ran promotions on 'bags for life', and cloth bags with logos. We haven't seen any of those here, until - as mentioned in the previous post - we saw an advert in Metro for trolley bags.  They seem to fit any large trolley and we think they're a great idea. So here's another photo of them in use:

Cutting down on plastic is a slow process. Each family who adopts a cloth bag or non-plastic straw may feel as if it makes no difference; but, as is oft-repeated, the ocean is made up of tiny drops of water.

If anyone has other recommendations for cutting down on unnecessary plastic, feel free to leave a comment.  

Another new supermarket in Cyprus...?

I do like having local shops within easy walking distance. The fruitaria and Achna Discount are excellent and convenient; I tend to walk to one or the other at least three times each week, around 7am before it's too hot to do anything. 

But inevitably with such small shops, the stock is somewhat limited. 

When we first moved here, I would also pop into a smallish supermarket which was even closer about once a week. Then at the end of 2007 this was replaced by Orphanides Express. Never a fan of Orphanides supermarkets, I nonetheless took advantage of this for items I could not find at the other local shops. This meant that we only had to drive to the main Metro supermarket about once a month. 

Then at the end of 2012, Orphanides Express closed down.  The chain was bankrupt, and although it did open again briefly, it was only for a week or so as stock was sold. Since then the building has been empty, and we've found ourselves having to drive to Metro more often. 

So I was quite pleased to see, on Tuesday, a new sign on the board outside the building: 

I had not heard of Micro Stores, but made a note of the website and the wording. It sounds like a good name for a small supermarket; the white wording (according to Google Translate) means:  comfortable, convenient, and everything....'.  The large word in yellow simply means 'cheaper'.  

Even better.

The Micro Stores website simply has a holding page at present, announcing that their shops will soon be open in five locations. No hint of a date, but that's probably wise. 

This morning I spotted a truck with the same logo, unloading things into the shop.  And a few cars in the car park: 

It looks encouraging.

Having said that, the economy is so bad, with recession predicted for many years that I don't hold out a whole lot of help. Many new shops and chains have started with enthusiasm, to meet a perceived need... only to close for lack of funds or customers within a few years. This location is a good one, and I'll certainly take a look when it opens. But more and more people are driving to the bigger supermarkets and I don't know how much hope there is for this kind of shop which is too large to be a friendly, family-run place, but too small to have the wide range of stock we see in, for instance, Metro and Carrefour. 

However, I look forward to seeing what happens in the next few weeks.

Update: A few days later the supermarket was open.  Long hours advertised, including Wednesdays afternoons and even Sundays.  Convenient, certainly. Comfortable - as much as any supermarket ever is. But unfortunately, on the few items I checked, not cheaper than Achna Discount. So other than for emergencies, I doubt if I will be going there much. 

Orphanides stores - closing down in Cyprus - or not??

I've never much liked Orphanides, one of the big supermarket chains in Cyprus. I haven't been to the big one for years now; I found the layout disturbing, the prices high, and the lighting migraine-inducing. 

But we have used the small local one for odds and ends in between big supermarket shopping trips, just because it's five minutes' walk away.  I've appreciated it, and the staff have been pleasant and friendly.  I popped there maybe once a week, on average, for something small.

I speak in the past tense because, a couple of weeks before Christmas, I noticed that stock seemed to be surprisingly low at the our local Orphanides Express. My gut feeling was that perhaps it wouldn't stay open too long. Sure enough, an official announcement was made that the company was in huge trouble financially, and eleven of the stores island-wide would be closing.  

A day later I noticed that our local branch's Christmas tree had disappeared: 

About a week before Christmas, it was completely closed. I did go up to the door once, seeing a couple of cars parked outside, but there were only a few staff inside, one of whom gestured to me that it was closed to the public.

We heard from other people that the big Orphanides store was still open; it made sense, we supposed, for the smaller shops to move their stock to the bigger one, to sell it off.  Deals were discussed, and - we gathered - turned down.  I felt sorry for the many staff who were losing their jobs, but couldn't really feel that Orphanides was a huge loss. Its closure would mean more trade for the other shops, and I did notice that our local Achna Discount mini-market seemed to be getting regular supplies of new stock more often than usual.

Then today, I learned that our local Orphanides Express was open again. I popped in, looking for a couple of items, neither of which I found - but in addition to regular items on the shelves, there were fresh fruit and veg, meat and dairy products.  It wasn't back to full stock, by any means, but certainly seemed to be almost back to normal.

Maybe.

It will be interesting to see what transpires in the next few weeks.

Buying frozen peas in Cyprus

In general, I buy fresh fruit and vegetables at our local fruitaria. I walk there about three times per week, and we also buy crates of fruit/veg at the fruit stall opposite at weekends, for freezing and/or dehydrating. 

But although local fresh fruit in season is excellent, there are a few things that are - in my view - not worth buying that way. One of them is sweetcorn, which I'm afraid to say I still buy in cans. Frozen sweetcorn just doesn't have the sweet, crunchy flavour that I like so much. And it's not as if we have it very often. We've tried buying corn on the cob in season, but have never found any that we actually like in Cyprus. I don't know why.

The other things which we've tried fresh, but which are costly, time-consuming AND disappointing are broad beans, and peas. I can happily live without broad beans, although I don't mind them occasionally, but Richard loves them. And we're both fond of frozen peas, which are very useful as a quick, second or third vegetable as part of a cooked meal when we've run out of hob space, or time, or both. 

At least, in the UK we were fond of frozen peas. Pretty much any brand could be quickly heated in a pyrex bowl in the microwave, or brought to JUST simmering in a small amount of water, or very lightly steamed until just done. 

We tended to eat them two or three times every week, so when we came to Cyprus, we just picked up the least expensive brand at Metro.

BIG mistake. They were tasteless, almost mushy. Ugh. 

We tried another brand.  

No better.  

Then one day Birds Eye frozen peas were on special offer, two bags for the price of one. That price was still a whole lot more than any of the other brands, but we knew we liked Birds Eye, so we bought some as a special treat. 

And they were very good. We eked them out for as long as we could... and then made the decision that we would only buy Birds Eye peas from then on. Even though they were not cheap, it was pointless buying peas that we disliked, and which we would end up throwing out. 

So, for many years, we have continued buying this brand of peas, not even considering any other, and I had taken for granted that, no matter how much we could economise on other products, it simply wasn't worth it for frozen peas.

Then this week, the ladies who were staying in our guest flat said they had a few bits and pieces from the fridge and freezer, which they were defrosting and leaving open (as no more guests are coming for a few weeks) so they wondered if we'd like to have them, rather than throwing things away. 

One of the items was this brand of frozen peas:

- about a quarter of a bag. I thanked them and shoved it in the freezer, thinking that we probably wouldn't use them and then, in another year or so, they'll be so frosted up that I'll just throw them away.

Except that on Thursday, Richard did the last part of our evening meal. I'd cut up some potato wedges and put them to cook, along with baked tomatoes and stir-fried mushrooms; he said he'd make our cheese omelettes, and microwave some frozen peas. Unbeknown to me, he picked out the bag we'd been given.  I only realised when I saw the empty packet on the work surface. I sighed, and hoped they wouldn't be TOO awful.

To my delighted surprise, they were very good.  Perhaps not quite as crisp and sweet as Birds Eye, but very acceptable. 

I'm not a huge fan of Orphanides, and won't go to the big supermarket. But we have a local Orphanides Express, staffed by very friendly people, and it's extremely convenient if I just want to pop out for something that I can't get at smaller shops. 

So I took a look today. These peas cost €2.49 for 1kg.  The last Birds Eye peas I bought were €5.23 for 900g.  At less than half the cost, I think these will be our choice for the foreseeable future. 

Another post about supermarket shopping in Cyprus

Eight months ago I wrote about the new Lidl supermarkets in Cyprus, and how generally underwhelmed we were. Since then, advertising mail has continued to arrive, and been filed immediately in the recycling. In my attempt to become more health-conscious, 'green' and economical, I'm buying almost nothing that's pre-processed these days. I do the majority of my grocery shopping at the local Achna Froutaria, popping in also, perhaps once a week, to Achna Discount and/or Orphanides Express. All these shops are within easy walking distance of our home so I go on foot, as early as possible now that the weather is getting decidedly warmer.

But, about once a month, we have to do a bigger shop for things I can't buy locally, or can't carry home on foot. Cat litter, for instance, or washing powder (which I prefer to buy in bulk) or long-life milk, which I need for making yogurt. So we go to our favourite supermarket, Metro, in the car. We buy almost all our meat there, too, as it's good quality and the prices are usually reasonable. On Thursday evening I realised that we needed to do a big shop before too long, so we decided to go on Friday morning.

However... several of our friends have mentioned using Lidl, and finding bargains there. Over the months I suppose there's been something of a trickle effect in our minds. So, as we got in the car yesterday, Richard said, 'Shall we try Lidl first?'

I knew that long-life milk cost under a euro at Lidl, also sugar (which has recently shot up in price - the standard supermarket price appears to be 1.49 euros per kilogram). So I shrugged, and said yes, why not?

It didn't take as long to get there as I'd expected, and - no longer being new - the car park was fairly empty.


We found a trolley - using the key token thing we were given months ago - and made our way slowly around. I can't say I was over-impressed. There were vast quantities of junk food - fizzy drinks, pre-processed migraine-inducing packs of imported chemicals masquerading as food - and the fruit and vegetable section was small, expensive and generally unimpressive.

Still, we did find sugar (which I need in large quantities for jam-making currently) and long-life milk, and also good value white flour, though no wholemeal. We thought we would try some Lidl chocolate, too, as that seemed a good price. And we found some special offer kitchen roll. We looked at various other items but most of them seemed to be more expensive than we would pay elsewhere, or else not the kind we liked. I was pleased, however, to find some dried chick-peas, something I've been looking for (in vain) for a couple of months now.

So, it was worth going; we ended up with about thirty euros of groceries:


- which doesn't look like much in the trolley at all, despite being discounted prices!

Unfortunately, we still had to go to Metro:


Two shops in one day is not much fun... but at least we know our way around Metro. We spent about 45 minutes in Lidl - which isn't very big - just looking around and finding a few items; we were only 40 minutes in Metro. And still spent a couple of hundred euros:


And yes, it all fit in one trolley. Even a year ago we would have needed two trolleys for that amount of money.

The cost of living in Cyprus has gone up phenomenally in the last year or so. About seventy euros of that was meat for the next month, most of which went directly in the freezer, to be used in the crockpot. Being a vegetarian would be a lot cheaper. Nearly thirteen euros was Biokill insecticide, rather necessary for the summer season; nearly twenty euros was cat food and litter; fifteen was toilet rolls. But it's still a bit scary that a few other groceries - olive oil, mayonnaise (I haven't yet found a good recipe for that), tuna, eggs, milk, cheese and a few other bits can add up to so much. I didn't even buy any washing powder this time.

Achna Discount in Cyprus

On Wednesday, I needed some fruit. I also wanted some kitchen roll and a small jar of mayonnaise (one day I shall experiment with making mayo... but for now we buy it). So I thought of popping into Orphanides Express on my way to the froutaria... then decided that, instead, I would have a look in Achna Discount... a store which opened at the start of February.


Or, rather, the shop as such re-opened; until about six months ago it was Tesco Express. I liked Tesco Express; it sold things I couldn't find anywhere else, such as 1.5kg bags of wholegrain bread flour, and excellent value oats. Unfortunately, there seemed to be longer and longer gaps between deliveries. The shelves grew emptier and emptier. Every time I popped in, I was assured that flour would be coming 'next week' or perhaps 'by the end of the month'. But it never came. And then it closed, and sat there empty for a while.

So I was interested to see what Achna Discount would sell. I assume it's an extension of the Achna Froutaria, a shop I visit at least twice per week, often three times. They sell other things as well as fruit and vegetables, and seem to be doing well - it's popular with Cypriots and usually busy. So I wandered round the new small supermarket a couple of times, but didn't see anything of great interest.

However, I assumed they would sell kitchen roll, at least. And, indeed, they did. Two packets of three for the price of one... or six rolls for just over two euros. Not bad, I thought. I spotted a small jar of Helleman's mayonnaise, too, so picked that up. And then saw that they were selling pure fruit juice for 90c/litre. We rarely buy pure fruit juice - it's very expensive in Cyprus, generally (well over a euro per litre) and much cheaper to juice one's own fruit. I mostly drink water anyway, But we like to keep a little juice in, for when we have visitors, or if Richard wants a drink in the middle of the night.

I don't yet know what the quality is like - we've tried cheaper brands in the past and been disappointed - but if it's any good, I'll be going there again any time we seem to be running out of packet juice.

I hope Achna Discount lasts rather longer than Tesco Express did.

Lidl in Cyprus

Yesterday, Richard returned from a day's sailing with a bag, stapled closed, which he had been given on the sea-front in Larnaka:


Apparently there is a new Lidl supermarket opening (or perhaps opened already) in Aradippou, not far from Larnaka.

He gave it to me to open. There wasn't exactly a huge amount inside... firstly, there was this magazine:


It was in both Greek and English, and basically giving the message that Lidl is good value and good quality. There were photos of some of the products being sold - but no prices. So I have no idea if Lidl will in fact be less expensive than the other supermarkets. One day when we're out in that direction we might pop in to see, but unless the prices are dramatically better than those in Metro or our local shops, it wouldn't be worth the extra petrol to drive out that distance.

Still, delving further into the bag, they did give us this useful shopping list pad:


It has a magnet on the back, meaning I can keep it on the fridge.

There was also this key-ring, which is less useful since we have many plastic keyrings around:


Best of all, there was some chocolate. Which we started immediately, before I even thought of taking photos...


So, in gratitude for these unexpected free gifts, I thought the least I could do was to write about them.

Shopping at Metro in Cyprus

We hadn't done a 'big' shopping trip for a month. Admittedly we did two in December: one where we spent a huge amount of money, early in the month, and one the day before Christmas Eve, when we basically went to collect our turkey and sausagemeat,and ended up buying rather more than intended. We did have to ensure we had food not just for Christmas Day, but for the weekend afterwards, and perhaps even the Monday which was the official Boxing Day holiday... but even so. December was an expensive month, grocery-wise.

For the past four weeks, I've popped into the local froutaria, and the local small supermarket, Orphanides Express when I've needed anything. Plus the occasional foray into a bakery for milk. I go on foot, so am limited to perhaps a couple of carrier bags of shopping. I use a wire carry-basket to collect what I need, and - since I don't want too much to carry home - it's fairly rare that I buy anything other than what I went out to get. Unless there's a very special offer on something which I'm going to need anyway, of course, and if I have room for it.

But once again we were running low on frozen portions of meals, and also cat litter. I could, of course, buy fairly small bags of cat litter from Orphanides Express, but we prefer the large 16kg bags from Metro, which are considerably better value. However, we have to go by car to buy one of those. As for meat: several people over the years have commented that Metro has by far the best meat. It's certainly better value than Orphanides Express, and much easier to find what we want.

So we decided to go this morning. I jotted down a few other bits and pieces that we needed - to save me a couple of trips locally - but didn't expect to buy a huge amount of shopping.

The trouble with Metro is, it's a nicely organised supermarket, and while I don't like shops in general, it's a lot better than most. if I go to one of the really big supermarkets, I've had enough after about fifteen minutes, so rush to get out as fast as possible. I'm much more inclined to browse at Metro.

Then there are the special offers, temptingly placed on low shelving as you go in. I'm quite good at avoiding bargains that we really don't want or need. But when I saw our favourite Arial washing powder, 4kg size, reduced from 12.99 to 8.99 euros, I picked up a bag. Even though the current one will last us at least another six weeks. Then we saw Heinz tomato ketchup in squeezy bottles, reduced by a euro, making it less expensive than the usual DF brand we buy. I picked up a couple... then a third...even though we didn't actually need any ketchup just yet. But we will, sooner or later.

We had a look upstairs too, just because we find it interesting to see what will be in stock. While we were there, we remembered that I needed some new lightbulbs in my study. Europe, of course, is phasing out all the old style lightbulbs so the only ones now available are the energy-saving ones... in quite small sizes, with 'warm' light, but at about ten times the cost of an old style bulb. I have a ceiling fan in the study with three bulbs underneath that can be used one, two or three at a time... so Richard thought we'd better buy three bulbs, so that they would match, even though only two of them needed replacing. So that was another 15 euros I didn't expect to spend. Then we saw the computer supplies, and I remembered that we needed some blank DVDs for backing up photos... and of course the best value, by far, were in racks of 25. Which should last us a couple of years, at least.

We did buy the meat, and the cat litter, and all the things I'd jotted on my list. I wasn't going to get any fruit and veg, other than - perhaps - some oranges and pears, and maybe some potatoes and onions. But then I saw the special offer places were piled high with bags of fruit or veg at either one euro, or 1.70 euros... in very good condition. Including the oranges and pears that I wanted anyway. So we bought a kilogram bag of broccoli, one of bell peppers, and one of mushrooms, and also a 2kg bag of carrots.

The trolley was much fuller than I had expected. Thankfully the bill was not as huge as the ones in December. Excluding the light bulbs and DVDs, it was about 180 euros, which I suppose isn't too bad for a month's supply of most groceries including all the meat.

When we got home, I decided it would be best to deal with the bulk veggies immediately. I knew if I put them in the fridge, I would forget about them... So I washed them all, peeled the carrots, chopped everything, blanched the broccoli, and have now frozen a large number of two-portion bags of mushrooms, carrot sticks, broccoli and peppers.

So that was my morning.

I was glad I didn't have to go out anywhere, since it started raining as we finished bringing the shopping into the house, and has barely stopped since.

December in Cyprus: bills, shopping and a general day

Not that it feels any different from November. The weather is still unseasonably warm. When I walked to the PO Box this morning, I was wearing a fleece; but by the time I arrived at Tots I was pretty warm, so I took it off. And while I expected to feel chilly during the course of the morning, it didn't happen. I carried it home, and didn't feel the need for an extra layer until about 3pm.

From comments I've received on this blog, and on Facebook after the posts I link to there (by no means all of them), and the occasional related email I've received, it appears that people who read this are primarily interested in four things:

• What the weather is like in Cyprus

• What I actually do from day to day

• What it costs to live in Cyprus

• What I cook and eat

Posts about plants typically attract the odd comment, usually from someone who's found the post via a search engine. And posts about places of interest in Cyprus are usually ignored completely, or so it appears.

Not that I intend to stop writing about interesting places, if we happen to visit anywhere new. But, wanting to please my public, so to speak, I shall attempt this month to write more on the above bullet-pointed items. Unless, that is, a stream of comments tell me that - as it appears to me, sometimes - those are rather tedious topics and I should write about something else.

So. I've covered today's weather in the first paragraph. Sunshine, and around 23C in the shade, I suppose. As it's been for most of the past month or so. Chillier once it gets dark - at around 5pm - but not really cold.

What I did: paid for the next years's PO Box rental (30 euros), collected mail (mostly bills), helped at Tots - the mother-and-toddler group run by Larnaka Community Church, but open to anyone. Walked home with friends, read email/Facebook, wrote a longish email and one or two forum posts, uploaded photos from Picasa to Kodak Gallery, so I can order some prints tomorrow. Laundry in the machine and then hung out, since it's a mains water day. Watered the plants, since it hasn't rained for a week. Filled drinking water bottles from the mains tap. Popped around the corner to Orphanides Express, since we needed some more milk and cheese for the cauliflower cheese I planned to make for tonight's meal. Chatted awhile on Instant Messenger with Tim, as he was deciding which essay topic to write for his Ethics class.

Then I cooked, and we ate, and I froze the rest of the large cauliflower which I bought yesterday: we'll get at least four meals out of it.

So much for my day. I'm now blogging... ! Richard is doing something on his laptop, but in a few minutes we'll switch off and probably play a board game.

And for those interested in the cost of living - from our perspective, anyway - my visit to Orphanides Express cost us just over 21 euros. For that, I bought a 2kg bag of cat food, 2 litres of milk, 400g Cheddar cheese, 1kg Greek yogurt, 1 litre of lemon squash, and 7 free range eggs. Dairy products are not cheap in Cyprus, and free-range eggs are particularly pricey. But I can't quite bring myself to buy the other kind.

As for the bills: in the last two months we've used up 120 euros of electricity, and in the past three months we've used 23 euros of water. That's in the main part of the house where we live; both seem very reasonable. In fact, given the scarcity of water in Cyprus, the water bill seems remarkably low considering that I run the washing machine three or four times per week, and the dishwasher probably five times. And of course we have showers every day, and are not economical about flushing the loo.

We also had bills for the guest flat: around 75 for electricity; slightly more than last year, but then we've had people staying fairly often this year. The water bill for the guest flat is just over 40 euros; it's unusual to be more than in our part of the house, but then it covers the period when the guest flat tank was leaking, and had to be replaced (and thus completely emptied out) a few months ago, and also we watered the plants outside, using guest flat water, every other day during July and August. The date range, strangely, for the water bills is July to October.

(Note: if you want to convert euros to some other currency, I'd recommend the oanda.com currency converter. If you want to find out imperial equivalents to the metric weights or Celcius temperature, the easiest way is to go to Google and type something like '400g in ounces' - and the first result will show you the exact calculation)

Christmas cake

Last year, I made our Christmas cake in the middle of November. The year before, I also made our Christmas cake in the middle of November. But each time, I had PLANNED to make it at least a week earlier. Events - in the form of a damaged oven door, or lack of glacé cherries, or general procrastination - meant I was done later than intended.

This year, prompted by various online friends, I determined to get it done this week. However Richard was away, and I couldn't find glacé cherries in any of the local shops. I kicked myself for using up the spare tub I bought a year ago on the cupcakes for Richard's birthday, just a few weeks ago. Even though we enjoyed them.

I was even more annoyed when we did our monthly big shop in Metro yesterday, only to discover that there were no glacé cherries there either. I was able to buy tubs of mixed peel, and already had everything else I needed. But, thankfully, we had to go to Orphanides - the big one - for something else , so I looked in the food section, even though I'm really not a fan of Orphanides, and yes! There were glacé cherries! Four tubs... so, once again, I bought two.

Last night I was about to go to bed when I thought about the Christmas cake. Delia's recipe requires that all the dried fruit be soaked overnight in three tablespoons of brandy. So I weighed it all out, cut up the cherries, and left it to soak:


Yes, that's nearly a kilogram of dried fruit.

When Richard had gone out this morning, I did the rest, and even remembered to put the oven on regular setting rather than the fan oven. It was perfect. It really did take four and a half hours. And here's the obligatory photo of a cake that looks pretty much identical to the ones I made the last two years:


It's now cool, so I've wrapped it in foil and put it in a cake tin. I shall 'feed' it with a little more brandy over the next few weeks, at random intervals when I remember, and put on marzipan and icing in the week before Christmas.

So that's one thing done. I know some people who have bought all their gifts, and organised all their Christmas food already. I prefer to leave it a little later in the year...

November turkeys in Cyprus...?

When we lived in the USA, in the early 1990s, one of the things we particularly liked was the celebration of Thanksgiving. This is on the last Thursday of November, and is when families gather from all over the country. The meal is somewhat like a traditional Christmas meal - roast turkey with trimmings for the main course, with extra side dishes such as green bean casserole, or the one we never quite came to terms with - jello salad. The desserts are mainly pies - apple, pecan, pumpkin, and others.

We celebrated Thanksgiving a couple of times when we returned to the UK, but since coming to Cyprus have not done so. However, this year there are some Americans in the house group which meets in our home on Fridays. We thought it was about time we had a social evening, so we decided to have a Thanksgiving style meal this Friday. Various people offered various dishes, and we said we'd cook the turkey.

A glib promise, it turns out.

In December, turkeys can either be bought frozen, or fresh ones can be ordered in advance. But in eleven years, this is the first time we have thought about cooking turkey in November. So, this morning after the toddler group where I help, I walked to Metro supermarket. I looked in the freezer section - no turkeys. So I went to the meat counter. 'Are you doing turkeys this week?' I asked, assuming they would get out their book and take my order.

The girl behind the counter looked a bit surprised, then shrugged, and said, 'No - not now. No turkeys until Christmas.'

I was surprised. There are, after all, a fair number of Americans living in Cyprus, so I'd have thought turkey would be much in demand at this time of year.

On the way home, I called into Orphanides Express, our small local supermarket which is connected with the big Orphanides store. I asked the same question, and received basically the same answer. They told me they would be taking orders from December 15th. Which isn't very useful when we'd like one this Friday!

I texted a friend who told me she's going to a Thanksgiving celebration on Thursday. I asked where her host would be getting the turkey... the reply said they were serving chicken.

Oh well. I suppose we'll be doing the same. Unless anyone who reads this happens to know of anywhere in Larnaka where turkeys ARE available in November...

Chip 'n' Pin has come to Cyprus

Located at the far Eastern end of the Mediterranean, Cyprus tends to be a little behind the rest of Europe in some ways. So it was no surprise to us that when the UK (and, I assume, most of the civilised world) started using 'Chip and Pin' technology on credit and debit cards, Cyprus continued asking for our signature on a credit or debit card slip. Even if using a British card endowed with the Chip'n'Pin system.

However, around the middle of last year we had a letter from the Bank of Cyprus, English one one side and Greek on the other. very efficient. The letter said that they will be adopting this technology here, although they call it 'Pin and Pay'. Signatures would still be fine, they told us, on current cards but all cards issued from January 1st 2008 would have the Chip, and we would be expected to know our PIN - the same one used at an ATM - and enter it when presenting the card for payment.

My debit card expired at the end of January, and a new one arrived in the PO Box a couple of weeks beforehand. I was pleased to see that it said it could be used outside Cyprus, which is also new. And, I was informed, it had a chip embedded in it. So I would need to remember my new PIN, which also arrived in the PO Box. Not as secure as the days (including last year) when the card went to the bank to be collectdd in person, and the PIN came in the post, but never mind. This is, I suppose, progress.

So on February 1st, after shopping at Metro, I presented my new card, having memorised the new number.

But they just asked for my signature on the slip, as they had done with my old card. I shrugged inwardly; I hadn't really expected the new technology...

Last week, however, I was surprised to be presented with the PIN-entering machine, and asked to type it in. Perhaps, I thought, different checkouts had different systems (this has happened before). Fortunately I still remembered the new number, and it all worked well.

Today, at a different checkout, there was no PIN-entering machine. So the checkout lady went to another till, and then called me over to enter the PIN.

Looks like Metro, at least, has caught on. I don't suppose the smaller shops have yet - I've been to at least one in Cyprus that still used the very old style translucent non-computer slips for paying by card - but it's good to know that it's working.

Not that the PIN is (in my view) any more secure than a signature. After all, it's actually easier to type someone else's PIN - if you know it - than to imitate their signature. But then in Cyprus, nobody ever looked at the signature on the back of the card anyway, so perhaps it is more secure here.

Strange date labelling in Larnaka

On Wednesdays, I usually spend the morning in the kitchen. I bake bread, strip the chicken (or whatever we had for Sunday lunch) and put the meat in the freezer, and make stock out of the bones and any leftover veggies in the fridge. I also make lemonade, if we have some lemons [we did], and some soup (in the winter), and usually something else as well. Today, for instance, I made the first thirty mince pies of the season.

I also try and sort out the fridge a bit. Today I noticed that we had three bags of courgettes (aka zucchini in the USA). We don't eat that many, but evidently I had been buying a few each week and we hadn't been getting through them.

So I found a recipe for courgette and tomato soup. I decided to double it, as we usually have a colleague of Richard's to lunch on Wednesdays, and Tim likes to have leftover soup in the freezer to thaw for his Sunday evening supper. Also because we had so many courgettes and I wanted to use at least four of them!

In our supermarkets in Cyprus, fruit and veg are loose; we choose what we want and put them in bags, then take them to a counter to be weighed and priced before going to the checkout. So, trying to be intelligent and logical, I decided I'd check the labels on the three bags of courgettes, and use the oldest ones.

I looked at the first bag that came to hand. The label said 21/11/2007.


21st November - OK, I thought, that's probably the oldest bag. There were only two courgettes in it, and they looked fine. I would definitely use those.

I looked at another bag. It said 04/12/2007. 4th December was last Friday. So those must be the most recent. I put them back in the fridge.

I didn't need to check the label on the third bag - either it was even older than the first, or (most likely) it was the one I bought on 28th November. But I looked anyway, and this is what I saw:


Yes, the unit price has gone up, by 4c per kilo.

AND they're only showing the price in Cyprus pounds. That's probably OK, since the prices displayed above the fruit and veg displays show both Cyprus pounds and euros.

But do you see that date? Click the picture to see it enlarged, if this image is too small. It says: 06/24/2049

1) The date bears no relation to reality
2) There is no 24th month. Perhaps it switched to American formatting, and means 24th June. But courgettes certainly wouldn't last that long in the fridge.
3) As Tim pointed out, if these are priced for forty-two years in the future, then the price increase is really very reasonable.

I wonder if they were experimenting with their Cyprus pound/euro converters on the labels, and fed the date in rather than the price...

New Orphanides Express supermarket in Larnaka

For many years, there was been a small supermarket called Kleitos, about five minutes' walk from where we're now living. It was a useful place - smaller than main supermarkets (Metro, Orphanides, Carrefour and Sarris), but considerably bigger than the small grocery stores that are dotted around all over the town.

Here's what it looked like eight months ago:


Shortly after we moved here, we heard that Kleitos had been taken over by Orphanides. At first, the only difference was that it started selling Orphanides own brands, and I could use my Orphanides card to gather points at Kleitos.

Then, about six months ago, they started building an extension on the side. It looked a bit strange, and they didn't seem to be using it at all. Business continued as usual in the shop.

When we got back from our seven weeks out of Cyprus, at the end of October, we saw that Kleitos was being gutted. We weren't sure if it was being turned into something totally different, or whether it was merely refurbishing the supermarket. Since the main entrance was being blocked up, I wasn't quite sure what was going on.

I didn't go there that often - we do our main weekly shop at Metro, and I buy fruit and veg at a local Froutaria (greengrocer). But it was useful having Kleitos for times when Richard's away, since I don't drive, or when I forgot something at our main shop. It was also very useful for visitors in our guest flat.

About a week ago, a notice appeared, saying that the supermarket was operating and that the car park was around the side. Not that it stopped cars parking at the front, of course!


But when you get round the side, there's a smart-looking new entrance, and a car park which is newly tarmacked , though not yet finished.


I went there today, for the first time. I was impressed. It's now 'Orphanides Express' and seems to stock a lot of products; far more than Kleitos used to.

I shall probably be using it more frequently now.

Buying fruit in Cyprus

When we moved here, in 1997, we bought our fruit at the supermarket, when we did our weekly shop once a week. As we tended to in the UK.

Friends told us that there were some lovely 'froutaria' shops - greengrocers, as we would call them in the UK - and sure enough I found one that was excellent, and would go there perhaps once a week for extra fresh fruit and veg.

Then it closed down.

When we moved, last year, we found a very close fruit shop - just two minutes' walk from our house. It was useful when I'd run out of onions or lettuce mid-week, but the prices didn't seem great, the produce wasn't really as good as that in the supermarket, and - worst of all - despite no-smoking signs everywhere, I saw several men with lighted cigarettes in the shop, and no attempt made to stop them. Ugh. At least smoking in supermarkets seems to have been banned in the past five or six years.

Friends told us that there was a much nicer froutaria a little further away, but it took me a while to try it. Now I'm hooked. I go there usually twice a week, first thing in the morning during the summer (it opens at 7am).


There are always lots of reduced fruit and vegetables outside, as shown in this picture. I assume they're the previous days' produce, since they're always in good condition, and the prices are amazing. Inside, the shop is air conditioned, usually pretty full of Cypriots (always a good sign) and the quality and selection of produce is superb. In addition, there's a refrigerated section with milk, lunch meats, cheeses (etc) and a few extra items - sugar, salt, some cans, and so on - that would be found in a regular supermarket.

I make freshly squeezed juice every morning, and (during the summer) pure fruit smoothies most afternoons, so this froutaria is very useful, particularly now when there are lots of soft fruit in season, which wouldn't necessarily keep for a whole week if we bought them at the supermarket.

Are they expensive? I get asked that fairly often. The prices vary during the season, they vary from shop to shop, and one person's idea of good value is another person's 'very expensive'. If you're from a country other than Cyprus, a lot depends on the exchange rate too.

But for what it's worth, here's what I bought this morning:

1.25 kg apricots (from the reduced section)
just under 1kg nectarines (from the reduced section)
just over 1kg grapes
0.75 kg black cherries
0.65 kg kiwi fruit

I should add that the black cherries are the most expensive of the lot. They were a whopping £2.99 per kilo. But worth it. The reduced apricots and nectarines cost 69c per kilo. (For those in America, that's about 69 US cents per imperial pound)

The total bill was £6.30. (That's around £7.40 sterling, or $13 US)

Is that expensive compared to other countries at this time of year? I'd be interested to know.

Monday miscellaneous

On Friday we went to Metro as usual, and found that some of the missing items were back on the shelves: cat litter (though not our usual brand), blackcurrant-and-green tea, and almond milk. Still no Linda McCartney sausages or cannelloni, but we can do without those. Really, we ought to be thankful that we can get such a variety of 'English' foods in the supermarkets as well as the excellent local produce. Living in Cyprus is a lot easier than it would be in many countries from that perspective.

On Sunday evening, I was in the kitchen, heating up some frozen soup to have with bread rolls. Sophia was making a loud noise, clearly demanding something, but I wasn't intelligent enough to understand. She didn't want to go out, she didn't want cat food, or fresh water, or yogurt. She didn't even want the leftover gravy from the roast chicken Tim made at lunch-time. But she clearly wanted something. Her mews were getting louder and louder, which was rather irritating, until suddenly I realised what the problem was...

Usually on a Sunday night, Richard makes us some salad-and-cheese-filled bread rolls to eat. While filling these rolls, he gives Sophia a piece of cheese. Despite Richard not being in the kitchen, and despite no cheese having left the fridge, she knew it was Sunday and expected her treat.

So I opened the fridge, cut her a piece of cheese, and sure enough that was what she wanted.

This morning I walked to the Post Office as I usually do on a Monday, and was pleased to find that the replacement for the two theology books Tim needed, which hadn't arrived (as described here) were awaiting me. Along with the book which I didn't need to replace... oh well. I shall have to send that one back. Tim was pleased and spent the morning reading one of them (by John Stott) which he said was lighter than he expected and very interesting.

Richard has a bad cold (which is why he wasn't in the kitchen last night). He thinks he caught it from a colleague in Egypt who had a streaming flu-like cold, and spent a lot of time with him the week before last. Richard doesn't often get colds, and this is a particularly bad one. Not bad enough to keep him in bed, but he feels pretty rotten. It started properly on Friday; he felt bad enough by lunchtime that he took the afternoon off, which is quite unusual, and had a couple of hours sleep. He didn't do much on Saturday, stayed in all Sunday, and went to work today 'for a short time', some hours ago.

Tim and I hope we don't get it...

Bits and pieces at the end of February

Although it's reasonably warm, the sky seems to be continually grey. We shouldn't find this surprising (after all, in the UK during winter the sky is rarely, if ever blue) but somehow we've got used to sunshine and clear blue skies, after nine years living in Cyprus. It hasn't rained much, though, which is a pity as the island still needs rain. But more is forecast. It's not till the end of May that we can pretty much guarantee constant sunshine here.

I was pleasantly surprised to receive an email, yesterday, in response to my message sent to Metro. They said that of the missing items we have noticed, two (veggie sausages and blackcurrant/green tea) are due to supplier problems, but should be in the next shipment. Cat litter is apparently back on the shelves, other than one brand, and although they were puzzled at my mention of almond milk, they assure me that almond juice has also returned. I assume we're talking about the same thing. The only item they will not be re-stocking is Pure margarine, due - apparently - to low demand. That's a pity, since as far as I know it's the only sort that's completely dairy-free and also avoids horrible hydrogenated fats. I must write back and ask if they have any other alternative for vegans or those who are lactose intolerant.

They did say that they always welcome feedback, so if anyone reading this in Cyprus has good - or not-so-good - things to say about Metro, let them know. Perhaps they will take them into account.

Communicating with the web-site Play.com is not so straightforward, however. They're a UK site who are usually my first choice for books or DVDs as their prices are good and they offer free postage anywhere in Europe. It's mildly annoying that they're now charging non-UK customers in euros, since I use our UK credit card and it charges an extra commission for changing to another currency, but it still works out better value than most other sites, and definitely better than buying in the rather limited bookshops on the island.

The vast majority of the time, Play.com are not only good value but speedy. DVDs are usually in our PO box about four days after dispatch. Books tend to take a couple of weeks, but then they come in a 'mailbag' rather than airmail; fair enough as we don't pay anything for postage, and I don't mind even when they take a month, as has happened once or twice.

In January we ordered four books for Tim's theology course, for the new modules he would be starting mid-February. I ordered two from Play.com, one from Abebooks, and one from Play Traders, who are Play.com's second-hand service - equivalent to Amazon Marketplace, I suppose. But with the huge advantage of free postage, just like the main site.

The book from Abebooks arrived in about a week, as did the book from Play Traders. When the two from Play.com weren't in our box by the end of January, I didn't worry. When a month had gone past, our guests were visiting and I didn't really think about it; Tim took a week's break from his studies, and said it wasn't a problem that he only had two of the books to start with. Indeed, two out of the three of his modules didn't arrive until a couple of weeks ago.

By Monday last week I was getting concerned. We decided to give it another few days, so I made an extra trip to the PO Box on Thursday. Nothing there. I even went in and asked the very friendly postmistress if by chance there was a parcel for us, but she said there wasn't. So on Friday morning I send an email to the info email address I had previously used for Play.com.

It came straight back with a message saying the mailbox was unattended, and that I should report any problems via the web-site. So I went to the web-site, found the help pages, and clicked the link for 'I have not received my order'. It told me to click the red button next to the missing items on the 'order history' page.

Fine. Unfortunately, on the order history page, only two items were showing the red button, and they were two books I had ordered early in February, and which had arrived within about ten days. Oops. Perhaps I had left it too long to report. I hunted everywhere for an email address, but there were none. There was a phone number for the UK but not one I could use from Cyprus.

So, in despair of being able to contact them (and distinctly concerned about Tim's necessary books) I clicked one of the red buttons for a book that had arrived, to see what happened. There was a comment box there, so I wrote a message saying that this particular book HAD arrived, but that I wanted to report two others which hadn't.

On Saturday morning, I had an auto-response from Play.com, saying - yes, you've guessed it - that they were sorry about my missing delivery, and would dispatch a replacement as soon as possible. A replacement for the item which had arrived, which I did not want replacing. Sigh. Evidently they had not read my comment. Still, I hoped a real person might do so before the parcel actually got sent - after all, someone presumably has to actually put the items in the jiffy bags and get them addressed.

On Sunday, I received an email saying that my missing item had been dispatched. Oops. Too late, then. However... this email DID have a phone number that could be used from abroad, which I was supposed to ring if the original parcel actually arrived, so I could return the replacement. But I could only call on Monday to Friday, 9am-5pm.

Monday morning, I went to the PO Box again, wondering if the parcel might have arrived at last. It hadn't. So at 11am (which is 9am UK time) I phoned the number, wondering if that too would be some automated system. To my slight surprise, it was answered almost instantly by a helpful man to whom I explained what had happened. He told me he would send out the missing books at once, and that there was no problem about the replacement book that I didn't want - all I had to do was send it back and they would refund my postage. He even sent a confirmation email for that, and I had an auto-email saying that the correct books were dispatched later that day.

So, we shall see...