After much thought and some discussion, I decided to have my hair cut. It's been long for about ten years now, with a fringe which I trimmed myself occasionally. It was ages since I'd been to a hairdresser. But a new one opened just around the corner about a year ago and every so often I told myself I should go in there. Trouble was, there were no prices advertised and I know hairdressers can be expensive. And I really don't like having other people cut my hair or anything like that.
But we're going away for a few days next week, and my head's been feeling heavy with the heat and humidity. It always happens, but this year I got fed up with it. Besides that, I'm feeling it's a year of milestones and it was about time for a symbolic change. Sometimes middled-aged or elderly people with long hair look even older than they are. I don't know if this is true for me, but I've had enough. So I booked a haircut for this afternoon.
The lady was very nice although she took some persuading to cut a lot of my hair off. She took a lot of care over it, and added various nice-smelling chemical things as she dried it after cutting. The whole process took about 50 minutes in all. It's ended up longer than I'd expected, but I think it looks all right. It certainly feels much lighter, and Richard says it looks good. It's certainly a starting-point towards much shorter hair.
This evening the air-conditioner man arrived with an assistant. They removed some air from the system, re-wired part of it, and spent a lot of time explaining to Richard what was wrong - as well as generally chatting. They must have been here over an hour in all. When they left, the unit was certainly blowing cool air although not as cold as we'd hoped. But anything's better than nothing, and we've moved my computer into the room with a/c. The repairman realises it isn't perfect but says the compressor is fine, and we must let him know if there are any other problems.
Back in the UK, I would expect to have paid at least £20 for the haircut I had, perhaps more since it was such a different style from the previous one. And I should think we would easily have paid £50 to the air-conditioner men. (Not that we needed a/c in the UK, of course, but that's quite beside the point!)
What did I actually pay?
£4 for the haircut. I had to ask the hairdresser to repeat it twice, I couldn't believe it was so low. [That's about £4.15 sterling, or $8 US]
As for the a/c, the repairman said he wasn't going to take any money from us until he knew for sure that it was working. So - at his insistence - we didn't pay him anything.
Sometimes I can't get over how inexpensive some things are here, and even Cyprus is considered very expensive when compared to, say, Egypt.
Wednesday, June 29, 2005
Cicadas
I heard the first cicadas today, chattering outside my study window. Amazing how such tiny things can make such a loud noise. Just for a few minutes, then they (or it) stopped. Then again, half an hour later. A sure indication that summer is here.
The first summer we were here, 1998, the boys and I went back to the UK for six weeks while Richard stayed here. We flew on the last day of June, since prices were much less in June than July, and returned mid-August. Before we left, the cicadas hadn't started, and while we were away Richard got used to them and had forgotten about them. I'll never remember my shock having arrived back in Larnaka about 11pm and collapsed into an exhaustes sleep, waking about 7am to the most incredible racket outside.... sitting bolt upright, and asking, 'What on earth is THAT??" To which Richard couldn't even think what I was referring to at first.
But true enough, in later years we too reached the stage of being able to shut out the noise entirely. What strange creatures they are - here's a site describing their life-cycle. They only survive one season as insects - sucking juices from the trees and mating. But their larva burrow into the ground and stay there up to 17 years before emerging, climbing trees, and starting the cycle over again. Amazing.
The first summer we were here, 1998, the boys and I went back to the UK for six weeks while Richard stayed here. We flew on the last day of June, since prices were much less in June than July, and returned mid-August. Before we left, the cicadas hadn't started, and while we were away Richard got used to them and had forgotten about them. I'll never remember my shock having arrived back in Larnaka about 11pm and collapsed into an exhaustes sleep, waking about 7am to the most incredible racket outside.... sitting bolt upright, and asking, 'What on earth is THAT??" To which Richard couldn't even think what I was referring to at first.
But true enough, in later years we too reached the stage of being able to shut out the noise entirely. What strange creatures they are - here's a site describing their life-cycle. They only survive one season as insects - sucking juices from the trees and mating. But their larva burrow into the ground and stay there up to 17 years before emerging, climbing trees, and starting the cycle over again. Amazing.
Shopping
Last night we went to look at ceiling fans. The Kleima showroom was still open at 7pm, although we had to navigate - probably illegally - around a real mess of roadworks to get there. Unfortunately we couldn't find any boxes with fans in them, so we had to squint up at the various types which were running on the ceiling of the shop. We couldn't find the very inexpensive ones anywhere. We did see some at twice that price - still good value - but they didn't appear to have any kind of cord attached. Does that mean they can only be on (lights and fan) or off? If so, that's no good. We would want to use the fan only overnight in the summer, and the light only in the evening in the winter.
Then there were others at £24.99, same price as last year. Considerably less than an airconditioner, of course, but we've managed without ceiling fans for seven years now, so we didn't get any. Although comments on yesterday's post have made me think that perhaps we should go back and have another look, at least for the bedrooms.
We went to Orphanides, the big supermarket with two floors upstairs containing clothes, linens, electricals, toys, and so on. We're going to need some new sheets soon - ours were second-hand eight years ago. I measured all the beds, because last time we were in that store we saw various types of sheet on special offer, but didn't know what sizes we needed. With fitted sheets, it's important to know!
Unfortunately we didn't find any suitable sheets. Either the sizes were wrong, or we didn't like the colours and patterns, or they weren't poly-cotton. It's vital to have sheets that can just be folded straight from the line. I do as little ironing as possible - perhaps twice a year.
However we did find some good-sized bath towels on special offer. We don't have a huge number of towels, and they're rather small - particularly now the boys are so big. We had a slight haitus when we picked up the colours we liked best, only to discover that there were several different styles of towel all in the same row, but only one style was on offer. However after checking at the till, we returned and found four colours which weren't too bad. Tim was very pleased when he got home, as he's been finding our old towels much too small.
There weren't any ceiling fans at Orphanides, so we didn't buy anything we intended to. But at least we have four new towels, which as I type are hanging out drying in the sunshine after their initial wash.
Then there were others at £24.99, same price as last year. Considerably less than an airconditioner, of course, but we've managed without ceiling fans for seven years now, so we didn't get any. Although comments on yesterday's post have made me think that perhaps we should go back and have another look, at least for the bedrooms.
We went to Orphanides, the big supermarket with two floors upstairs containing clothes, linens, electricals, toys, and so on. We're going to need some new sheets soon - ours were second-hand eight years ago. I measured all the beds, because last time we were in that store we saw various types of sheet on special offer, but didn't know what sizes we needed. With fitted sheets, it's important to know!
Unfortunately we didn't find any suitable sheets. Either the sizes were wrong, or we didn't like the colours and patterns, or they weren't poly-cotton. It's vital to have sheets that can just be folded straight from the line. I do as little ironing as possible - perhaps twice a year.
However we did find some good-sized bath towels on special offer. We don't have a huge number of towels, and they're rather small - particularly now the boys are so big. We had a slight haitus when we picked up the colours we liked best, only to discover that there were several different styles of towel all in the same row, but only one style was on offer. However after checking at the till, we returned and found four colours which weren't too bad. Tim was very pleased when he got home, as he's been finding our old towels much too small.
There weren't any ceiling fans at Orphanides, so we didn't buy anything we intended to. But at least we have four new towels, which as I type are hanging out drying in the sunshine after their initial wash.
Tuesday, June 28, 2005
Hot
I think Summer's really here now. It feels hot and sticky. Our air conditioner still isn't working, so my computer is still in the study, where at least there's a breeze. The weather site tells me it's currently 32C in the shade, with 46% humidity, which is a little disappointing: I thought it was more humid than that. It means there's still a long way to go till it reaches 80% humidity and more, as happens in July.
Richard spoke to the a/c repairman yesterday. He wasn't terribly hopeful: it could be that the compressor has gone. In which case it would be better to buy a new unit altogether, since the cost of the compressor is about three-quarters the cost of a new air conditioner. Maybe we'll do that, since we really do need one for the computers. And for a place to go to cool down when the humidity is high. The problem with a/c, of course, is that it makes everywhere else feel even hotter by comparison, and the kitchen feels like an oven even when nothing is cooking. When we have our own house, air conditioning in the kitchen is a necessity!
We're thinking about ceiling fans too. A catalogue for the Kleima Electrical shop shows them much less expensive than they used to be. We need to change the light fitting in the dining room anyway, and we now have a ladder long enough and stable enough for it to be relatively easy for Richard to fit some ceiling fans. They wouldn't reduce humidity, but at least would move the air around much better than a regular fan. We might even think about having some in the bedrooms, too.
This morning I cleaned Daniel's room, since two people will be sleeping there from the end of this week until the middle of July. He did a lot of tidying and organising before he left for Africa last week, but there were still bits and pieces lying around. It didn't take too long although it still needs vacuuming. Probably tomorrow morning since afternoons are so much hotter and stickier, and our vacuum cleaner gives out a lot of heat.
Sophia, Daniel's cat (or rather, Daniel is Sophia's person) sat on his windowsill this morning and talked to me quite a bit. That was encouraging. She's been very quiet the last couple of days, evidently missing him. On Saturday she sat outside on the step, as she does when waiting for him to come home from the theatre group. On Sunday we barely saw her at all. Yesterday she did appear briefly in the morning, and again in the evening, but other than that wasn't about. However it seems as though she's accepted the situation - he did tell her he was going away for two months, and she's remarkably good at understanding him. Cats are amazing animals.
Richard spoke to the a/c repairman yesterday. He wasn't terribly hopeful: it could be that the compressor has gone. In which case it would be better to buy a new unit altogether, since the cost of the compressor is about three-quarters the cost of a new air conditioner. Maybe we'll do that, since we really do need one for the computers. And for a place to go to cool down when the humidity is high. The problem with a/c, of course, is that it makes everywhere else feel even hotter by comparison, and the kitchen feels like an oven even when nothing is cooking. When we have our own house, air conditioning in the kitchen is a necessity!
We're thinking about ceiling fans too. A catalogue for the Kleima Electrical shop shows them much less expensive than they used to be. We need to change the light fitting in the dining room anyway, and we now have a ladder long enough and stable enough for it to be relatively easy for Richard to fit some ceiling fans. They wouldn't reduce humidity, but at least would move the air around much better than a regular fan. We might even think about having some in the bedrooms, too.
This morning I cleaned Daniel's room, since two people will be sleeping there from the end of this week until the middle of July. He did a lot of tidying and organising before he left for Africa last week, but there were still bits and pieces lying around. It didn't take too long although it still needs vacuuming. Probably tomorrow morning since afternoons are so much hotter and stickier, and our vacuum cleaner gives out a lot of heat.
Sophia, Daniel's cat (or rather, Daniel is Sophia's person) sat on his windowsill this morning and talked to me quite a bit. That was encouraging. She's been very quiet the last couple of days, evidently missing him. On Saturday she sat outside on the step, as she does when waiting for him to come home from the theatre group. On Sunday we barely saw her at all. Yesterday she did appear briefly in the morning, and again in the evening, but other than that wasn't about. However it seems as though she's accepted the situation - he did tell her he was going away for two months, and she's remarkably good at understanding him. Cats are amazing animals.
Monday, June 27, 2005
Succulent about to Flower?
I'm no fan of cacti and succulents, but we have a large one on our front porch, left by our landlady. I water it occasionally, and repotted it last Autumn when the previous pot actually broke due to the excess of roots. Yesterday I noticed that it has a long stem with buds at the top, so I'm now expecting it to flower any day. I think this is the first time since we came here nearly eight years ago... perhaps due to my having repotted it!
Quiet?
I was wondering what I'd do this week. No rushing around helping Daniel get ready to go to Africa; no kittens to feed after this morning; not even Tim here, as he's helping all weekwith the children's work at a conference locally, only returning for evenings after leaving at 8am each morning.
I needn't have worried. After saying goodbye to the kittens (see previous post) I cleared up the various boxes and ground coverings we'd used for them, and threw out the rather tatty plastic dishes we'd been using to feed them. Then I cleared out the fridge. A disadvantage of having a larger fridge than we used to is that I often seem to put things in there to cool down, or to keep for a day or two, and then forget about them. With the small fridge, there wasn't room for anything extra!
It was certainly easier putting things on the compost heap when I didn't have to watch out for kittens all the time, and could leave the back door open. It was also a great deal easier to hang out laundry. Those kittens never did learn not to get underfoot!
Then someone from the conference - an old friend - phoned Richard to see if he could do something at his office. We invited him to lunch, which was easy as we only ever have cold lunches in the weekdays: bread, cheese, salad, spreads, fruit. It was nice to catch up with his family news.
Richard went with him to the office after lunch, and half an hour later I had a phone call from another old friend at the conference. She has a free evening today and wondered if she could come and see us, so I invited her to supper.
Thankfully I've started on my summer plan for cooking, which means everything as easy as possible. I bought some ready-made chicken tikka masala sauce, and have had some cut-up chicken breast marinading in it since this morning. A terrible cheat, but so much easier than making my own. It will go in the oven for an hour and I'll steam some rice, and cook a few veggies. Or maybe even have salad with it. We don't usually have desserts, but since we've got a visitor (and the first course will have to feed four of us rather than three) I took some of the frozen loquats out to thaw, and will make a crunch dessert. I'm so glad I froze all that fruit back in April and May.
It's getting hot, but not yet too humid. As I sit here, there's a slight breeze coming in the window. I have a fan on, pointing at my computer to keep it cool, and am gaining some benefit from it myself. Our air conditioner isn't fixed yet - the man didn't appear despite promising to before the weekend - but as the humidity hasn't started yet, it's not a huge problem. I prefer my computer being in this little study/guest room as long as possible, anyway. As soon as we get the a/c working again we'll have to move it to the living-room/dining-room which is where the a/c unit is.
I needn't have worried. After saying goodbye to the kittens (see previous post) I cleared up the various boxes and ground coverings we'd used for them, and threw out the rather tatty plastic dishes we'd been using to feed them. Then I cleared out the fridge. A disadvantage of having a larger fridge than we used to is that I often seem to put things in there to cool down, or to keep for a day or two, and then forget about them. With the small fridge, there wasn't room for anything extra!
It was certainly easier putting things on the compost heap when I didn't have to watch out for kittens all the time, and could leave the back door open. It was also a great deal easier to hang out laundry. Those kittens never did learn not to get underfoot!
Then someone from the conference - an old friend - phoned Richard to see if he could do something at his office. We invited him to lunch, which was easy as we only ever have cold lunches in the weekdays: bread, cheese, salad, spreads, fruit. It was nice to catch up with his family news.
Richard went with him to the office after lunch, and half an hour later I had a phone call from another old friend at the conference. She has a free evening today and wondered if she could come and see us, so I invited her to supper.
Thankfully I've started on my summer plan for cooking, which means everything as easy as possible. I bought some ready-made chicken tikka masala sauce, and have had some cut-up chicken breast marinading in it since this morning. A terrible cheat, but so much easier than making my own. It will go in the oven for an hour and I'll steam some rice, and cook a few veggies. Or maybe even have salad with it. We don't usually have desserts, but since we've got a visitor (and the first course will have to feed four of us rather than three) I took some of the frozen loquats out to thaw, and will make a crunch dessert. I'm so glad I froze all that fruit back in April and May.
It's getting hot, but not yet too humid. As I sit here, there's a slight breeze coming in the window. I have a fan on, pointing at my computer to keep it cool, and am gaining some benefit from it myself. Our air conditioner isn't fixed yet - the man didn't appear despite promising to before the weekend - but as the humidity hasn't started yet, it's not a huge problem. I prefer my computer being in this little study/guest room as long as possible, anyway. As soon as we get the a/c working again we'll have to move it to the living-room/dining-room which is where the a/c unit is.
Farewell Kitties :-(
Yesterday I managed to get good photos of all the kittens other than the large orange one. This is the kitten Daniel named 'Darwin'. The reason was that this kitten was the largest and healthiest when we found them, and was extremely pushy about getting at the bottle - or whatever else I fed them. So he clearly believed in survival of the fittest!
I managed to take this photo of him this morning. I do think he's a remarkably handsome kitten, and I'm not generally a fan of ginger tom-cats. He's still the biggest and strongest, but is very affectionate too.
A few minutes later we persuaded all seven of them to get inside the basket we'd borrowed (not a simple task, since one tried to get out each time we put another in!) and took them to the Cat Protection League shop. There I filled in some details, and left them, so they could be taken to the Animal Sanctuary in Pahpos.
It wasn't easy to say goodbye, but next week Richard and I will be away; although there will be some people staying here with Tim, he didn't want responsibility of having to feed all the kittens outside every day, although he'll happily feed our four adult cats on demand.
The lady in the shop was encouraging; she commented that our kittens looked in very good condition, and friendly too. She said that kittens like these are the most likely to find homes fairly easily. But even if they don't, cats have a wonderful time at the Sanctuary: they're free to come and go from their building, there are trees to climb, and plenty of space. So I'm sure they'll be fine. They weren't happy in the car but seemed bewildered more than upset at being put in the basket. I hope they've now arrived and are enjoying their new living accommodation.
Last night Darwin started making friends with one of the large feral cats that was wandering through our garden. While most of the adult cats have either hissed or ran away from the kittens, this one was being friendly too. Then it went through a hole in the fence... and Darwin followed. Certain confirmation that it was time for the kittens to move on. We couldn't have them indoors - certainly not all the time - and some Cypriots hate cats. There are awful cases every month of cats and kittens being poisoned around the island; one of the really horrible features of living here that I will never understand.
I managed to take this photo of him this morning. I do think he's a remarkably handsome kitten, and I'm not generally a fan of ginger tom-cats. He's still the biggest and strongest, but is very affectionate too.A few minutes later we persuaded all seven of them to get inside the basket we'd borrowed (not a simple task, since one tried to get out each time we put another in!) and took them to the Cat Protection League shop. There I filled in some details, and left them, so they could be taken to the Animal Sanctuary in Pahpos.
It wasn't easy to say goodbye, but next week Richard and I will be away; although there will be some people staying here with Tim, he didn't want responsibility of having to feed all the kittens outside every day, although he'll happily feed our four adult cats on demand.
The lady in the shop was encouraging; she commented that our kittens looked in very good condition, and friendly too. She said that kittens like these are the most likely to find homes fairly easily. But even if they don't, cats have a wonderful time at the Sanctuary: they're free to come and go from their building, there are trees to climb, and plenty of space. So I'm sure they'll be fine. They weren't happy in the car but seemed bewildered more than upset at being put in the basket. I hope they've now arrived and are enjoying their new living accommodation.
Last night Darwin started making friends with one of the large feral cats that was wandering through our garden. While most of the adult cats have either hissed or ran away from the kittens, this one was being friendly too. Then it went through a hole in the fence... and Darwin followed. Certain confirmation that it was time for the kittens to move on. We couldn't have them indoors - certainly not all the time - and some Cypriots hate cats. There are awful cases every month of cats and kittens being poisoned around the island; one of the really horrible features of living here that I will never understand.
Sunday, June 26, 2005
Decisions about Kittens
We've been looking after the orphaned kittens for six weeks now. Here's the blog entry describing how we found them, and here's another, with a picture showing how small they were a couple of days later. There are other photos and bits of kitten news scattered around the May and June archives.
But now they're about nine weeks old. They're strong, and getting increasinbly more adventurous. They keep themselves very clean, and they're exploring more and more of the garden. It won't be long before they can jump over our (low) fence separating them from the driveway, and then I dread to think what would happen if they rushed to meet the car one day, or tried to explore down the street. They're too tame to be feral kittens any longer; they don't know how to hunt or fend for themselves, and they don't know the dangers of traffic, or some of the people who (sadly) don't like cats.
On the other hand, our four adult cats will not tolerate kittens at all. They have mostly ignored them while they've lived outside, but are beginning to get disturbed by seeing them invade more and more of their territory. Even Jemima, most placid of the four, said something so rude to one of the kittens a couple of days ago that it raced across the patio with its ears down, and hid.
We don't know anyone who wants kittens, either. Particularly not two or three - and they're so sociable that it wouldn't be fair to send just one of them away. But nor can we keep seven kittens in our back garden forever. Moreover, Richard and I are going away for a few days in a week's time, and Tim (plus some people staying here) won't be around most of the daytime to feed and look after them.
So... we knew we would have to send some of them away, and the Paphiakos cat sanctuary in Paphos seemed - from all accounts - to be an excellent place for kittens. They find homes for some, and the others have plenty of freedom to run around and explore. One lady assured me that cats have a wonderful time there.
But we can't send away just a few of them. It wouldn't be fair, and I don't think they're ready to be separated yet anyway. Last week I provisionally booked a slot with the truck from Paphiakos that's coming to Larnaka this week, and today I had a call from a lady at the Cat Protection League charity shop, saying it will be here about 10am tomorrow. I've put this off long enough, but now does seem to be the time to let them go. So we went down there to collect a basket, not huge but bigger than the one we have, and will take them there tomorrow morning.
I will hate to see them go. It's so hard making a decision like this where my mind tells me it's right, and best for the kittens, and there are all kinds of good reasons for sending them away now... but my heart tells me they're adorable, and very happy where they are, and surely we could keep them just a little longer, or find someone who could look after some of them....
They all thought the basked was very interesting. I don't think there will be any trouble getting them inside tomorrow. I just hope they don't find it too distressing being in the car. Then we'll have to leave them at the shop - where I know they'll be looked after and treated well. Poor little things.
small white
But now they're about nine weeks old. They're strong, and getting increasinbly more adventurous. They keep themselves very clean, and they're exploring more and more of the garden. It won't be long before they can jump over our (low) fence separating them from the driveway, and then I dread to think what would happen if they rushed to meet the car one day, or tried to explore down the street. They're too tame to be feral kittens any longer; they don't know how to hunt or fend for themselves, and they don't know the dangers of traffic, or some of the people who (sadly) don't like cats.
On the other hand, our four adult cats will not tolerate kittens at all. They have mostly ignored them while they've lived outside, but are beginning to get disturbed by seeing them invade more and more of their territory. Even Jemima, most placid of the four, said something so rude to one of the kittens a couple of days ago that it raced across the patio with its ears down, and hid.
We don't know anyone who wants kittens, either. Particularly not two or three - and they're so sociable that it wouldn't be fair to send just one of them away. But nor can we keep seven kittens in our back garden forever. Moreover, Richard and I are going away for a few days in a week's time, and Tim (plus some people staying here) won't be around most of the daytime to feed and look after them.
So... we knew we would have to send some of them away, and the Paphiakos cat sanctuary in Paphos seemed - from all accounts - to be an excellent place for kittens. They find homes for some, and the others have plenty of freedom to run around and explore. One lady assured me that cats have a wonderful time there.
But we can't send away just a few of them. It wouldn't be fair, and I don't think they're ready to be separated yet anyway. Last week I provisionally booked a slot with the truck from Paphiakos that's coming to Larnaka this week, and today I had a call from a lady at the Cat Protection League charity shop, saying it will be here about 10am tomorrow. I've put this off long enough, but now does seem to be the time to let them go. So we went down there to collect a basket, not huge but bigger than the one we have, and will take them there tomorrow morning.
I will hate to see them go. It's so hard making a decision like this where my mind tells me it's right, and best for the kittens, and there are all kinds of good reasons for sending them away now... but my heart tells me they're adorable, and very happy where they are, and surely we could keep them just a little longer, or find someone who could look after some of them....
They all thought the basked was very interesting. I don't think there will be any trouble getting them inside tomorrow. I just hope they don't find it too distressing being in the car. Then we'll have to leave them at the shop - where I know they'll be looked after and treated well. Poor little things.
investigating the basket!
tabby, orange-and-white, large orange and tortoiseshell
tabby, orange-and-white, large orange and tortoiseshell
small white
tortoiseshell
orange-and-white with white fluffy
little orange
tabby
orange-and-white with white fluffy
little orange
tabby
Saturday, June 25, 2005
Alleluia!
We saw Daniel off last night at Larnaka airport. Why? Well the story starts here - yes, only two and a half weeks ago, when he first heard that it was possible for him to join the Doulos ship in Tanzania.
In case the title misleads anyone, I'm not rejoicing to see him go for my sake. We're going to miss him in the next two months. But with such a short time-frame and so many unknowns, I'm delighted and relieved that it's all worked out so well, and that he's finally there.
I don't know how he felt but as well as being sad to see him go, it was pretty scary for me when we finally had to say goodbye! He had a voucher for a hotel in Dubai, and knew that his luggage would be going through so he wouldn't have to collect and re-check it. But his new backpack was beginning to tear slightly at the straps. On the plus side, we had some excellent ice creams at the airport before he left. They were clones of Cornettos, but actually very much nicer. I wish I'd taken note of their name.
Daniel's main luggage weighed 19kg and his backpack 8kg. That's fine as far as the airline is concerned, but his email from the Doulos said he should take a maximum of 20kg. I thought that was just a reminder about most airlines' regulations within Europe and Africa for checked-in luggage, but he thought it was the total he was supposed to take. I'm not sure how he could have got away with much less, though. He had to take four pairs of shoes in addition to the ones he was wearing, for instance! One pair of sandals, a spare pair of trainers, a 'smart' pair of shoes, and another pair to be put in a lifeboat. He needed a full set of clothes for the lifeboat (sensible, but extra weight), plus everyday clothes for about a week including long trousers for evenings (to avoid mosquitoes), and also some dress trousers with a belt and a long-sleeved button-up shirt. Apparently some African churches expect people to dress up in the way some British churches did 50 years ago.
Then he had to take a towel, and a mug, and a Bible and a camera... and of course his clarinet, which goes with him everywhere.
Anyway, that was yesterday afternoon. In the evening Richard discovered that a friend of his from Egypt was also going to be in Dubai airport overnight, on his way to Yemen. So he sent Dan a text, and his friend Dan's mobile number, thinking they might like to have coffee together.
Both the boys refuse to use text language or txtspk or whatever it's called. However Dan amused us by texting a message in telegram language, which started:
ARRIVED DUBAI STOP HOTEL GOOD STOP
Neither of us slept much; I suppose we were both worried he might fall asleep and miss the second flight (what an over-protective mother I am!) so since we were awake at 5am our time, Richard sent a text asking if he was awake. He had an immediate reply saying he was talking to Richard's Egyptian friend at the airport. So we knew he'd get on the flight to Tanzania.
The flight was due to arrive at 2.30pm so we thought we might hear from him about an hour or so later than that. But we didn't. I actually started worrying less, the longer it got; my father brought us up to believe that 'no news is good news' Richard sent a text and even tried phoning, but Dan's phone wasn't switched on. I thought that if he had been having problems, he'd have turned it on to call the people who were there to meet him, and if he'd been refused entry he'd have let us know.
Eventually at about 5.45pm we had a brief text from him saying that yes, he's in. What a great relief. A lot of people have been praying. A second text said it took two hours to get the visa - we don't know if that means he had to queue that long or if it was a complicated process.
Anything more about Dan's trip will be on his Doulos blog, which I can update if he sends emails or texts. Or he may get Internet access himself when the ship is in port.
I hope I'll sleep better tonight now!
In case the title misleads anyone, I'm not rejoicing to see him go for my sake. We're going to miss him in the next two months. But with such a short time-frame and so many unknowns, I'm delighted and relieved that it's all worked out so well, and that he's finally there.
I don't know how he felt but as well as being sad to see him go, it was pretty scary for me when we finally had to say goodbye! He had a voucher for a hotel in Dubai, and knew that his luggage would be going through so he wouldn't have to collect and re-check it. But his new backpack was beginning to tear slightly at the straps. On the plus side, we had some excellent ice creams at the airport before he left. They were clones of Cornettos, but actually very much nicer. I wish I'd taken note of their name.
Daniel's main luggage weighed 19kg and his backpack 8kg. That's fine as far as the airline is concerned, but his email from the Doulos said he should take a maximum of 20kg. I thought that was just a reminder about most airlines' regulations within Europe and Africa for checked-in luggage, but he thought it was the total he was supposed to take. I'm not sure how he could have got away with much less, though. He had to take four pairs of shoes in addition to the ones he was wearing, for instance! One pair of sandals, a spare pair of trainers, a 'smart' pair of shoes, and another pair to be put in a lifeboat. He needed a full set of clothes for the lifeboat (sensible, but extra weight), plus everyday clothes for about a week including long trousers for evenings (to avoid mosquitoes), and also some dress trousers with a belt and a long-sleeved button-up shirt. Apparently some African churches expect people to dress up in the way some British churches did 50 years ago.
Then he had to take a towel, and a mug, and a Bible and a camera... and of course his clarinet, which goes with him everywhere.
Anyway, that was yesterday afternoon. In the evening Richard discovered that a friend of his from Egypt was also going to be in Dubai airport overnight, on his way to Yemen. So he sent Dan a text, and his friend Dan's mobile number, thinking they might like to have coffee together.
Both the boys refuse to use text language or txtspk or whatever it's called. However Dan amused us by texting a message in telegram language, which started:
ARRIVED DUBAI STOP HOTEL GOOD STOP
Neither of us slept much; I suppose we were both worried he might fall asleep and miss the second flight (what an over-protective mother I am!) so since we were awake at 5am our time, Richard sent a text asking if he was awake. He had an immediate reply saying he was talking to Richard's Egyptian friend at the airport. So we knew he'd get on the flight to Tanzania.
The flight was due to arrive at 2.30pm so we thought we might hear from him about an hour or so later than that. But we didn't. I actually started worrying less, the longer it got; my father brought us up to believe that 'no news is good news' Richard sent a text and even tried phoning, but Dan's phone wasn't switched on. I thought that if he had been having problems, he'd have turned it on to call the people who were there to meet him, and if he'd been refused entry he'd have let us know.
Eventually at about 5.45pm we had a brief text from him saying that yes, he's in. What a great relief. A lot of people have been praying. A second text said it took two hours to get the visa - we don't know if that means he had to queue that long or if it was a complicated process.
Anything more about Dan's trip will be on his Doulos blog, which I can update if he sends emails or texts. Or he may get Internet access himself when the ship is in port.
I hope I'll sleep better tonight now!
Techie stuff
So, Blogger now allow us to insert photos without the hassle of using Hello. Great news! It will make life a great deal easier.
I've also finally discovered what a blogroll is. The word sounds faintly rude, sort of 7-year-old humour. To anyone outside the UK who has no idea what I'm talking about, the word 'bogroll'is a highly informal (and not terribly polite) word for toilet paper.
Anyway, a blogroll turns out to be an automated list of other blogs. In other words, there's an easy way of adding extra links to the side of my blog, without having to do the complex html involved in adding them one at a time in my template. Not being very html-literate I'm pleased to have discovered this. Now at last I can put links to all those blogs I read regularly, with easy add/delete/edit options where necessary. The site Blogrolling makes it all straightforward.
I've also finally discovered what a blogroll is. The word sounds faintly rude, sort of 7-year-old humour. To anyone outside the UK who has no idea what I'm talking about, the word 'bogroll'is a highly informal (and not terribly polite) word for toilet paper.
Anyway, a blogroll turns out to be an automated list of other blogs. In other words, there's an easy way of adding extra links to the side of my blog, without having to do the complex html involved in adding them one at a time in my template. Not being very html-literate I'm pleased to have discovered this. Now at last I can put links to all those blogs I read regularly, with easy add/delete/edit options where necessary. The site Blogrolling makes it all straightforward.
Thursday, June 23, 2005
Doulos Update
Daniel has started a new blog, Brummie At Sea, which will - we hope - give an up-to-date account of what he's doing. When he's able to get Internet access in Africa, he'll post himself. Other times he may send mobile phone text messages to Tim, and one of us will upload them.
It's amazing what we've managed to do in just over two weeks! Today Dan had his anti-typhoid vaccination at the hospital. A couple of weeks ago they said he didn't need it, but today he managed to persuade them. Typhoid vaccinations can only be given at a designated typhoid centre, and the hospital is the only one in Larnaka, as far as we can work out. Anyway, they did it, so that was good.
Yesterday he had the two which the hospital couldn't manage: heptatitis A and meningitis. His drama teacher's sister is a doctor, so she arranged that. She told him he would not need a polio booster since he was fully vaccinated against the disease as a child. Today the hospital agreed with that.
This morning he started on the anti-malarial tablets, and also on some garlic tablets, which may or may not keep mosquitoes away, but should be good for his general health anyway. I bought him a supply of multi-vitamins for vegetarians, and Vitamin C a few days ago, plus traveller's shampoo, tea-tree oil, lavender oil, and some tea-tree antiseptic cream in case of cuts and scratches. Of course there's a doctor on board the Doulos, who will have general first-aid supplies, but we prefer the natural approach where possible.
Today we bought a new backpack as his old one was falling to pieces. And changed some Cyprus pounds to American dollars, at the bank, since dollars are the easiest currency to change in African countries. They're also used as currency on the ship. He'll need to pay for his Tanzanian visa, and also one for Mozambique, and may need extra money for books, souvenirs, cold drinks when off the ship, and so on. It's better to take too much than too little.
Tonight he'll start packing when he gets back from drama (last workshop until the Autumn). Yesterday I realised how very disorganised we are, in the scheme of things. We had some friends to lunch who are going away to the UK for a month, also leaving tomorrow, albeit earlier than Dan. This was Wednesday... and when one of our friends saw Dan, she asked if he had finished his packing yet!! He admitted that he hadn't started...
Then when we'd had coffee and chatted awhile, they said they needed to go to finish a few last-minute bits of packing. Wow. To us, last-minute packing is what you do half an hour before going to the airport, not two days before! I am full of admiration.
So Dan leaves tomorrow evening. He'll have a night in Dubai, supposedly at a hotel, but he's realised that it's actually quite a short time. Technically it's a nine-hour stopover, but as he'll have to check in for the second flight a couple of hours early, it's only seven. And given that it can take an hour to get out of an airport (and he may need a short-stay visa, though they're free and pretty automatic) that cuts it down to six... which isn't really enough time for sleeping. So now he thinks he might just take a book and read overnight, then try to sleep a bit on the flight to Tanzania which should take seven hours.
It's amazing what we've managed to do in just over two weeks! Today Dan had his anti-typhoid vaccination at the hospital. A couple of weeks ago they said he didn't need it, but today he managed to persuade them. Typhoid vaccinations can only be given at a designated typhoid centre, and the hospital is the only one in Larnaka, as far as we can work out. Anyway, they did it, so that was good.
Yesterday he had the two which the hospital couldn't manage: heptatitis A and meningitis. His drama teacher's sister is a doctor, so she arranged that. She told him he would not need a polio booster since he was fully vaccinated against the disease as a child. Today the hospital agreed with that.
This morning he started on the anti-malarial tablets, and also on some garlic tablets, which may or may not keep mosquitoes away, but should be good for his general health anyway. I bought him a supply of multi-vitamins for vegetarians, and Vitamin C a few days ago, plus traveller's shampoo, tea-tree oil, lavender oil, and some tea-tree antiseptic cream in case of cuts and scratches. Of course there's a doctor on board the Doulos, who will have general first-aid supplies, but we prefer the natural approach where possible.
Today we bought a new backpack as his old one was falling to pieces. And changed some Cyprus pounds to American dollars, at the bank, since dollars are the easiest currency to change in African countries. They're also used as currency on the ship. He'll need to pay for his Tanzanian visa, and also one for Mozambique, and may need extra money for books, souvenirs, cold drinks when off the ship, and so on. It's better to take too much than too little.
Tonight he'll start packing when he gets back from drama (last workshop until the Autumn). Yesterday I realised how very disorganised we are, in the scheme of things. We had some friends to lunch who are going away to the UK for a month, also leaving tomorrow, albeit earlier than Dan. This was Wednesday... and when one of our friends saw Dan, she asked if he had finished his packing yet!! He admitted that he hadn't started...
Then when we'd had coffee and chatted awhile, they said they needed to go to finish a few last-minute bits of packing. Wow. To us, last-minute packing is what you do half an hour before going to the airport, not two days before! I am full of admiration.
So Dan leaves tomorrow evening. He'll have a night in Dubai, supposedly at a hotel, but he's realised that it's actually quite a short time. Technically it's a nine-hour stopover, but as he'll have to check in for the second flight a couple of hours early, it's only seven. And given that it can take an hour to get out of an airport (and he may need a short-stay visa, though they're free and pretty automatic) that cuts it down to six... which isn't really enough time for sleeping. So now he thinks he might just take a book and read overnight, then try to sleep a bit on the flight to Tanzania which should take seven hours.
Kitten update
We still have seven feral kittens... although as someone commented, they're not really feral any more. They're entirely tame, and reliant on people to feed them three times a day.
I went to talk to the Cat Protection League charity shop on Tuesday morning. They said that the Paphiakos animal sanctuary is still taking animals, it has official permission to build a new site, and the lease of its current location has been extended beyond the end of June. Where possible, they find families for kittens. A truck comes to Larnaka once a week and can take any animals to the sanctuary. They even said we can borrow a large cat box (since the one we have is far too small for seven kittens) and I've provisionally booked a slot for some time next week. They're about nine-and-a-half weeks old now, pretty independent and starting to explore more and more.
Of course I'll hate to see them go, but I don't think it would be fair to send four or five of them away and leave the others here. No way can we keep all seven (eleven cats?? No way!) but keeping two or three would be quite nice...
A friend said that she MIGHT know of people who MIGHT take a kitten or two. Or maybe two sets of friends who might take four between them. If we can find homes for four (or five) then we'll keep three (or two). But I think it's unlikely, somehow, and part of me would rather keep life simpler with our four adult cats who are much less demanding.
Here are some of the kittens playing with a stick. They rarely stay still long enough to be caught on camera, though!
I went to talk to the Cat Protection League charity shop on Tuesday morning. They said that the Paphiakos animal sanctuary is still taking animals, it has official permission to build a new site, and the lease of its current location has been extended beyond the end of June. Where possible, they find families for kittens. A truck comes to Larnaka once a week and can take any animals to the sanctuary. They even said we can borrow a large cat box (since the one we have is far too small for seven kittens) and I've provisionally booked a slot for some time next week. They're about nine-and-a-half weeks old now, pretty independent and starting to explore more and more.
Of course I'll hate to see them go, but I don't think it would be fair to send four or five of them away and leave the others here. No way can we keep all seven (eleven cats?? No way!) but keeping two or three would be quite nice...
A friend said that she MIGHT know of people who MIGHT take a kitten or two. Or maybe two sets of friends who might take four between them. If we can find homes for four (or five) then we'll keep three (or two). But I think it's unlikely, somehow, and part of me would rather keep life simpler with our four adult cats who are much less demanding.
Here are some of the kittens playing with a stick. They rarely stay still long enough to be caught on camera, though!
Mobile Update
So last week went slowly... this one has flown past. I simply can't believe it's Thursday, and Dan will be flying to Tanzania tomorrow. Or at least to Dubai, the first leg of the journey.
I wrote in this post about the problems we were having trying to arrange a mobile contract for Dan with international roaming that would include Tanzania and Mozambique.
We thought we had a solution: Dan to take Richard's CYTA card and number, Richard to have a new Areeba card and number.
The Areeba number didn't get activated by 2pm Saturday, but we weren't too worried. However no offices work Saturday afternoons or Sundays here, and Monday was a public holiday for Kataklysmos (a special Cypriot occasion which combines Pentecost with the celebration of Noah's Flood. We hardly noticed it this year, life is so hectic. Perhaps I'll blog about it next year).
But by Tuesday lunchtime there was still no sign of the Areeba number working. So Richard called them, and after several unhelpful conversations it finally started working in Dan's phone. So far, so good.
So Richard unloaded the many phone numbers stored in his card onto Dan's phone, and then copied them onto the new Areeba card.
But the Areeba card didn't seem to work in Richard's phone. We wondered if it was too old, but it worked fine in Tim's ancient Nokia. So he tried again, but all he got was an endless 'searching for network'. By the time he had decided it really wasn't getting anywhere, it was 7pm and too late to call them. However he went online and found that his phone does sometimes have trouble recognising cards. The solution they suggested was downloading some new software, and completely resetting the phone. Rather like re-formatting a computer, I gather, so rather drastic. It's an organiser-phone in one unit, so much more complicated than a regular phone.
Anyway, Richard did the re-set, having backed everything up onto his computer. And downloaded the software, and waited.
And waited.
Wednesday morning, he tried again but there was still nothing. No network recognised at all. So he phoned Areeba again, and someone more helpful than most suggested that he might need a simpler card. It wouldn't have video conferencing facilities but he never uses that anyway. So he went down to the Areeba offices, and they tried a simpler card... and a simpler one still... but nothing happened. His card did eventually recognise the CYTA network, but not Areeba's.
By this time Richard was very frustrated and annoyed with the whole thing. He went into work. A friend who helps out one day a week offered to help: this guy is a Brit, but is a permanent resident of Cyprus who owns his own home. He said he'd go down to CYTA with Richard, if he wanted, and could then arrange one of their contracts on our behalf without the £1000 deposit problem.
So that's what happened. He met Richard there at 8.30 this morning, and by the time he got back again about 9.30, the CYTA card was working and recognised. It seems to be better value than Areeba too. The start-up charge was £10, and since Dan uses phones very little he opted for the 'light' contract, which costs all of £1 per month, including 30 free text messages. Any calls are on top of that, of course, but at only 4c (roughly) per minute for local calls it's hardly extortionate. It has full international roaming facilities, and after the first year will cost only 50c per year.
Which is all fine as far as Dan is concerned. However Richard had to spend several hours re-installing everything on his phone, which wasn't easy and wasn't entirely successful. Then he found that his charger wasn't working. He found a connection broken which requires some very complicated fine-detail soldering, so he's gone to get his soldering iron from the office to mend it. We hope.
As for the Areeba contract which won't work in Richard's phone... well, he does need an extra contract for an office phone, so he'll use it for that. But whereas he was quite keen on Areeba before all this started, he's now coming round to thinking they're less helpful than he thought, and also not such good value. Indeed the only thing significantly in their favour is that they allow contracts to people who are not permanent residents of Cyprus without a huge deposit.
I wrote in this post about the problems we were having trying to arrange a mobile contract for Dan with international roaming that would include Tanzania and Mozambique.
We thought we had a solution: Dan to take Richard's CYTA card and number, Richard to have a new Areeba card and number.
The Areeba number didn't get activated by 2pm Saturday, but we weren't too worried. However no offices work Saturday afternoons or Sundays here, and Monday was a public holiday for Kataklysmos (a special Cypriot occasion which combines Pentecost with the celebration of Noah's Flood. We hardly noticed it this year, life is so hectic. Perhaps I'll blog about it next year).
But by Tuesday lunchtime there was still no sign of the Areeba number working. So Richard called them, and after several unhelpful conversations it finally started working in Dan's phone. So far, so good.
So Richard unloaded the many phone numbers stored in his card onto Dan's phone, and then copied them onto the new Areeba card.
But the Areeba card didn't seem to work in Richard's phone. We wondered if it was too old, but it worked fine in Tim's ancient Nokia. So he tried again, but all he got was an endless 'searching for network'. By the time he had decided it really wasn't getting anywhere, it was 7pm and too late to call them. However he went online and found that his phone does sometimes have trouble recognising cards. The solution they suggested was downloading some new software, and completely resetting the phone. Rather like re-formatting a computer, I gather, so rather drastic. It's an organiser-phone in one unit, so much more complicated than a regular phone.
Anyway, Richard did the re-set, having backed everything up onto his computer. And downloaded the software, and waited.
And waited.
Wednesday morning, he tried again but there was still nothing. No network recognised at all. So he phoned Areeba again, and someone more helpful than most suggested that he might need a simpler card. It wouldn't have video conferencing facilities but he never uses that anyway. So he went down to the Areeba offices, and they tried a simpler card... and a simpler one still... but nothing happened. His card did eventually recognise the CYTA network, but not Areeba's.
By this time Richard was very frustrated and annoyed with the whole thing. He went into work. A friend who helps out one day a week offered to help: this guy is a Brit, but is a permanent resident of Cyprus who owns his own home. He said he'd go down to CYTA with Richard, if he wanted, and could then arrange one of their contracts on our behalf without the £1000 deposit problem.
So that's what happened. He met Richard there at 8.30 this morning, and by the time he got back again about 9.30, the CYTA card was working and recognised. It seems to be better value than Areeba too. The start-up charge was £10, and since Dan uses phones very little he opted for the 'light' contract, which costs all of £1 per month, including 30 free text messages. Any calls are on top of that, of course, but at only 4c (roughly) per minute for local calls it's hardly extortionate. It has full international roaming facilities, and after the first year will cost only 50c per year.
Which is all fine as far as Dan is concerned. However Richard had to spend several hours re-installing everything on his phone, which wasn't easy and wasn't entirely successful. Then he found that his charger wasn't working. He found a connection broken which requires some very complicated fine-detail soldering, so he's gone to get his soldering iron from the office to mend it. We hope.
As for the Areeba contract which won't work in Richard's phone... well, he does need an extra contract for an office phone, so he'll use it for that. But whereas he was quite keen on Areeba before all this started, he's now coming round to thinking they're less helpful than he thought, and also not such good value. Indeed the only thing significantly in their favour is that they allow contracts to people who are not permanent residents of Cyprus without a huge deposit.
Monday, June 20, 2005
Summer
I think I can safely say that Summer has now arrived. We can't complain, really; it's been very pleasant (other than a couple of days in late May) right up to last Thursday.
Since then it's been consistently hot, and getting humid. I suppose 32 in the shade isn't excessively hot [it's about 88F], but it's more than I can cope with easily. Thankfully our house always stays a degree or two cooler - it was designed for summer, not winter - so we haven't yet had to use the air conditioning. Just as well, really, because it doesn't seem to be working. We had trouble with it in heat mode all winter. The engineer came and fixed various things; he was always helpful and friendly, and didn't charge much. But he never managed to get it working. On his final visit he didn't charge anything, and by then it was getting warmer so we managed with small electric heaters, and hoped the cooling would work in the summer.
Yesterday we had friends from Limassol here for the day, and although we sat outside in the morning it was too hot in the afternoon. So we thought we'd try the a/c even though it wasn't entirely necessary. The room thermometer was showing 27.7 degrees so we set the a/c to 26. We could feel it blowing air, which seemed cool, and when Richard went to check the outside unit, it was certainly letting water and heat out. But half an hour later the room thermometer said 28.3, and as I watched it, it climbed to 28.4. Richard tried setting the a/c really low, to about 20 degrees, but it made no difference.
So we just used a fan which was quite effective in moving air about the room and cooling us, and realised we'll have to call the a/c engineer again soon. Or perhaps find someone else, as it's entirely possible he oozes confidence and friendliness without actually knowing what he's doing. This is Cyprus, after all...
My computer is still in the study/guest room where it lives most of the year round. I have a big fan which is pointed at the computer to keep it cooler, since computers become unreliable over about 30C. Once the a/c is working we'll move it into the living/dining room, which is where we have the a/c unit, but there's no point doing so now.
It's very windy outside but it's not a pleasant breeze, it feels muggy and tiring.
We're told that the UK has had a heatwave in the last couple of days, up to about 29C in the daytime. Not so different from here, but of course it won't last there. Whereas here it's set to stay at least 30C, probably more, until September. Overnight it drops to about 20-25, which isn't so bad; we haven't ever needed air conditioning in the bedrooms yet. We just sleep with quilt covers (no quilt) over us and fans running.
The humidity is the worst thing. I hate feeling sticky, but it's a fact of summer here. It seems to get worse in the afternoons, and more so in the evenings, even though it's fully dark by about 8.30pm. I miss the long evenings of the UK in summer - by this time of year back in Birmingham it's not really dark till about 10.30pm.
Since then it's been consistently hot, and getting humid. I suppose 32 in the shade isn't excessively hot [it's about 88F], but it's more than I can cope with easily. Thankfully our house always stays a degree or two cooler - it was designed for summer, not winter - so we haven't yet had to use the air conditioning. Just as well, really, because it doesn't seem to be working. We had trouble with it in heat mode all winter. The engineer came and fixed various things; he was always helpful and friendly, and didn't charge much. But he never managed to get it working. On his final visit he didn't charge anything, and by then it was getting warmer so we managed with small electric heaters, and hoped the cooling would work in the summer.
Yesterday we had friends from Limassol here for the day, and although we sat outside in the morning it was too hot in the afternoon. So we thought we'd try the a/c even though it wasn't entirely necessary. The room thermometer was showing 27.7 degrees so we set the a/c to 26. We could feel it blowing air, which seemed cool, and when Richard went to check the outside unit, it was certainly letting water and heat out. But half an hour later the room thermometer said 28.3, and as I watched it, it climbed to 28.4. Richard tried setting the a/c really low, to about 20 degrees, but it made no difference.
So we just used a fan which was quite effective in moving air about the room and cooling us, and realised we'll have to call the a/c engineer again soon. Or perhaps find someone else, as it's entirely possible he oozes confidence and friendliness without actually knowing what he's doing. This is Cyprus, after all...
My computer is still in the study/guest room where it lives most of the year round. I have a big fan which is pointed at the computer to keep it cooler, since computers become unreliable over about 30C. Once the a/c is working we'll move it into the living/dining room, which is where we have the a/c unit, but there's no point doing so now.
It's very windy outside but it's not a pleasant breeze, it feels muggy and tiring.
We're told that the UK has had a heatwave in the last couple of days, up to about 29C in the daytime. Not so different from here, but of course it won't last there. Whereas here it's set to stay at least 30C, probably more, until September. Overnight it drops to about 20-25, which isn't so bad; we haven't ever needed air conditioning in the bedrooms yet. We just sleep with quilt covers (no quilt) over us and fans running.
The humidity is the worst thing. I hate feeling sticky, but it's a fact of summer here. It seems to get worse in the afternoons, and more so in the evenings, even though it's fully dark by about 8.30pm. I miss the long evenings of the UK in summer - by this time of year back in Birmingham it's not really dark till about 10.30pm.
Saturday, June 18, 2005
Mobiles
It really is only a week since last Saturday. Amazing. It feels like about a month. I wrote this post mentioning how we were trying to get a mobile phone for Dan with international roaming, including Tanzania and Mozambique where he's going to be in the next couple of months. The new company, Areeba, doesn't include those countries and the older, bigger company, CYTA, didn't have its mobile section open on a Saturday.
Yesterday Dan didn't have any drama performance in the morning, for the first time in several weeks. So we went to CYTA to enquire about getting him a mobile subscription. Had he wanted an ordinary pay-as-you go, like Tim has, it would have been no problem. But monthly subscriber services are only easily available to Cypriots or permanent residents of Cyprus. We knew that was the case a few years ago: when Richard needed a phone with international roaming facilities, he had to take a Cypriot friend with him to vouch for him. Otherwise he would have had to pay £1000 (yes, that's right.. a thousand pounds. Which is about two thousand US dollars) as deposit.
The reason for this is that there were, apparently, problems with foreigners taking out subscriptions then vanishing from the country leaving huge unpaid bills. Requiring this huge deposit was a way of putting them off applying for subscriptions with their mobiles, so it makes sense.
However Cyprus is now part of the EU, and we have the right of residence here even though we don't have any paperwork to say we're permanent residents. And since Areeba don't require any kind of deposit from anyone (other than the initial £10 setup fee) we assumed that CYTA would be doing the same. We did check the web-site and there was no hint of any kind of discrimination between Cypriot and non-Cypriot.
Unfortunately, the rule is still in place. If and when we buy a house here (as is possible within the next couple of years) then we could have another subscription from CYTA without any problems. But while we're still renting, we can't. Even though we've been here nearly eight years, have plenty of utility bills - including phone bills - showing we pay everything regularly, and even though we're entitled to live here as Europeans.
So, over lunch we discussed what to do. Should we ask our Cypriot friend to go with us again, to vouch for us (even though we pay bills far more regularly than he does...) and have yet another subscription in his name?
Instead we decided on a more complicated solution. Richard would apply for a phone subscription with Areeba, since they cover all the Middle Eastern countries where he travels, and he's unlikely to want to go to Africa. Then we could simply buy a phone for Dan, and he could have Richard's CYTA number. So CYTA have lost a potential customer... and seeing the number of non-Cypriots in Areeba, I expect they'll continue losing them until they get rid of this ridiculous rule about the deposit.
So today Richard went to Areeba and has a new number. It was supposed to activate within an hour, although it's now six hours later and it hasn't yet. And he took the boys to Kleima, a useful discount store, where they found a small Nokia phone that Daniel decided wasn't as bad as most. Bizarrely, it has three dictionaries in it for predictive texting: French, German and Greek. No English!
So this week Richard will have to let as many of his contacts as possible know that he has a new number, in order that Dan won't be inundated with calls when he's away. Unfortunately Richard's managed to lose the writing thingy that goes with his phone (it's a phone-organiser and he writes texts on a screen with a pen-shaped object rather than typing) so we're hoping he manages to find it.
Yesterday Dan didn't have any drama performance in the morning, for the first time in several weeks. So we went to CYTA to enquire about getting him a mobile subscription. Had he wanted an ordinary pay-as-you go, like Tim has, it would have been no problem. But monthly subscriber services are only easily available to Cypriots or permanent residents of Cyprus. We knew that was the case a few years ago: when Richard needed a phone with international roaming facilities, he had to take a Cypriot friend with him to vouch for him. Otherwise he would have had to pay £1000 (yes, that's right.. a thousand pounds. Which is about two thousand US dollars) as deposit.
The reason for this is that there were, apparently, problems with foreigners taking out subscriptions then vanishing from the country leaving huge unpaid bills. Requiring this huge deposit was a way of putting them off applying for subscriptions with their mobiles, so it makes sense.
However Cyprus is now part of the EU, and we have the right of residence here even though we don't have any paperwork to say we're permanent residents. And since Areeba don't require any kind of deposit from anyone (other than the initial £10 setup fee) we assumed that CYTA would be doing the same. We did check the web-site and there was no hint of any kind of discrimination between Cypriot and non-Cypriot.
Unfortunately, the rule is still in place. If and when we buy a house here (as is possible within the next couple of years) then we could have another subscription from CYTA without any problems. But while we're still renting, we can't. Even though we've been here nearly eight years, have plenty of utility bills - including phone bills - showing we pay everything regularly, and even though we're entitled to live here as Europeans.
So, over lunch we discussed what to do. Should we ask our Cypriot friend to go with us again, to vouch for us (even though we pay bills far more regularly than he does...) and have yet another subscription in his name?
Instead we decided on a more complicated solution. Richard would apply for a phone subscription with Areeba, since they cover all the Middle Eastern countries where he travels, and he's unlikely to want to go to Africa. Then we could simply buy a phone for Dan, and he could have Richard's CYTA number. So CYTA have lost a potential customer... and seeing the number of non-Cypriots in Areeba, I expect they'll continue losing them until they get rid of this ridiculous rule about the deposit.
So today Richard went to Areeba and has a new number. It was supposed to activate within an hour, although it's now six hours later and it hasn't yet. And he took the boys to Kleima, a useful discount store, where they found a small Nokia phone that Daniel decided wasn't as bad as most. Bizarrely, it has three dictionaries in it for predictive texting: French, German and Greek. No English!
So this week Richard will have to let as many of his contacts as possible know that he has a new number, in order that Dan won't be inundated with calls when he's away. Unfortunately Richard's managed to lose the writing thingy that goes with his phone (it's a phone-organiser and he writes texts on a screen with a pen-shaped object rather than typing) so we're hoping he manages to find it.
Thursday, June 16, 2005
Exhausted!
I woke about 5am today which was really too early, but I couldn't get back to sleep so I got up at 5.30. Actually it's quite nice to have plenty of time to myself first thing in the morning when it's still cool. I had to wake Dan at 7am as he was leaving at 8 o'clock for a theatre performance in Nicosia, then I went to feed the kitties outside, and spent an hour or so weeding. It's amazing how the weeds continue to grow even without any rain.
During the morning I made some more lemonade, as we'd run out. I had to pick a few more lemons - we don't have many left on our trees so I bought some last Friday at the supermarket, but two or three of them had gone mouldy. I used the rake to pull them off the trees! I also made some more yogurt after I'd hung out a load of laundry. The yogurt-maker sits on the washing machine and shares its power socket, as does the steamer, since one of the problems with Cyprus is a distinct lack of sockets! We only have two in the kitchen. The other one powers the fridge, microwave, food processor, coffee machine, and lighting mechanism for the gas oven! Then its multi-way adaptor has one free hole which is used by the hand mixer and/or ice-cream maker and/or kettle and/or coffee grinder, depending on which is needed.
This evening after feeding the kittens I got the lawnmower out and did about three-quarters of the back garden. There's still a bit of grass here and there, and a lot of weeds which look much better when cut short. It wasn't too hot as the sun wasn't on the garden by then, but it was still quite tiring. Thankfully the kittens are frightened of the lawn-mower so they all rush to hide when it comes out, otherwise it would be quite a problem if they tried to get underfoot.
Richard and Tim had gone to the office to finish some wiring after supper. They got back about 8.15pm just as it was getting dark, and I was feeling I had done enough lawnmowing. So we sat and played with the kittens for a bit, then came in. One thing I miss about England is the long, light evenings; it's almost midsummer's day yet it's totally dark by about 8.30pm here.
During the morning I made some more lemonade, as we'd run out. I had to pick a few more lemons - we don't have many left on our trees so I bought some last Friday at the supermarket, but two or three of them had gone mouldy. I used the rake to pull them off the trees! I also made some more yogurt after I'd hung out a load of laundry. The yogurt-maker sits on the washing machine and shares its power socket, as does the steamer, since one of the problems with Cyprus is a distinct lack of sockets! We only have two in the kitchen. The other one powers the fridge, microwave, food processor, coffee machine, and lighting mechanism for the gas oven! Then its multi-way adaptor has one free hole which is used by the hand mixer and/or ice-cream maker and/or kettle and/or coffee grinder, depending on which is needed.
This evening after feeding the kittens I got the lawnmower out and did about three-quarters of the back garden. There's still a bit of grass here and there, and a lot of weeds which look much better when cut short. It wasn't too hot as the sun wasn't on the garden by then, but it was still quite tiring. Thankfully the kittens are frightened of the lawn-mower so they all rush to hide when it comes out, otherwise it would be quite a problem if they tried to get underfoot.
Richard and Tim had gone to the office to finish some wiring after supper. They got back about 8.15pm just as it was getting dark, and I was feeling I had done enough lawnmowing. So we sat and played with the kittens for a bit, then came in. One thing I miss about England is the long, light evenings; it's almost midsummer's day yet it's totally dark by about 8.30pm here.
Concern for Jemima
Having taken so many pictures of the feral kittens lately, I thought perhaps I should have some of our own cats for a change. Here's Jemima, whom I've written about a fair bit recently...
She went missing for three days last week, and reappeared on Wednesday looking unwell, but affectionate. She vanished again later, and came back on Saturday. So far so good.
Then on Sunday morning when I was getting out of the shower, Dan called out that Jemima was staggering around the kitchen. By the time I got there about three minutes later, it looked as if she was limping slightly, but then she was fine. A little while later I saw her sleeping on the window-sill with one leg poking out in the air, as she does sometimes... and thought, with relief, that she must have been doing that before, so her foot had simply gone to sleep for a few moments. Which would confuse a four-legged animal and make her stagger about.
Then at lunchtime we saw it happen again. She was on the floor, and suddenly appeared unable to walk. She crouched down low, looking rather miserable, and when I picked her up one of her back legs seemed a bit floppy. But when I stroked her, she purred affectionately and then jumped down about five minutes later, and was walking as normal. Strange. Daniel remembered that one of our neighbours had commented that he had seen our cats eating snakes. He wondered if one of the semi-venomous snakes had bitten her and paralysed her leg temporarily (which would have stopped her returning, of course) and that she had mostly recovered but was still having odd twinges. I didn't know if such a thing was possible, but it seemed like a reasonable theory.
She stayed in all day Sunday. She even used the cat litter rather than going out, and was very cuddly. She slept overnight in the kitchen and was affectionate again Monday morning. Then she went out... and once again we didn't see her for three days. This morning I heard her in the kitchen so went to see. She was by the food bowl, crouching down, but something was wrong with one of her front legs. She held it up strangely, and obviously couldn't walk on it properly. I picked her up, and she purred, so I brought her through to sit down for a few minutes. She looked fine in herself, just holding her leg awkwardly.
Then she jumped down, and started picking up her legs almost as if she were a horse on parade. She stamped her way through to the kitchen. It looked as if she had pins and needles... which made me wonder again if her leg had gone to sleep for some reason. Sure enough she was walking normally a few moments later. Then at lunchtime she started staggering and holding the front paw up awkwardly for a little while, and then was fine again. Since then she's had no problems although we've been watching her, and she's just gone out again.
Very strange. If she seemed ill or in pain, we'd take her to see the vet. But it's a traumatic experience for a cat going in the car, and then there would be a wait at the clinic (no appointments here - people just turn up and wait in order). If she's walking normally, then the vet wouldn't see anything wrong.
I've tried googling for advice but to no avail. She's only six years old so it seems unlikely she has any kind of arthritis, or that she's had a stroke. Besides, either of those would be likely to cause longer-term problems rather than five minutes of apparent paralysis two or three times per day. If it were a trapped nerve, then it would be the same paw each time - and again, probably more frequent. Perhaps her circulation is poor for some reason. Or perhaps Dan's snake-bite theory is correct and she's had a bite in a different place...
Tuesday, June 14, 2005
Anti-malarials
One of the requirements for Daniel to go to Africa and join the Doulos in ten days' time is that he takes anti-malarial tablets. He had an email saying that the medical advisor recommends either mefloquine or doxycycline as the drugs to take. The older ones aren't very effective in Africa as the malaria parasites have built up resistance (or so we gather). The newest drug, Malarone, is recommended too, but expensive.
Dan asked about these when he went to the hospital for his yellow fever and booster vaccinations last week, and they said the tablets can just be bought at a pharmacy. Online research suggested that they were supposed to be prescription-only tablets, and today Dan commented that some of them had to be taken two weeks before visiting a malaria-risk country.
So I did some more research and learned that malarone was no use as it's only been trialled for 28 days, and mefloquine isn't possible either, since that has to be started 3-4 weeks before going! What's more, mefloquine sounds like a horrible drug with all sorts of side effects: not only physical, but it can lead to insomnia, hallucinations and depression. Under its brand name Larium, it's even been reported as responsible for killings and suicides. Moreover 20% of people who start to take it decide it's not appropriate for them and have to change to a different drug... which seems rather pointless to me!
So doxycycline appeared to be the best choice. It's not supposed to be taken by anyone pregnant or breast-feeding, but that's obviously not a problem for Dan! It can lead to extra sun-sensitivity, particularly when taken with alcohol, but he doesn't drink, and certainly won't be on the Doulos. It can lead to heartburn if taken last thing at night, or stomach upsets if taken first thing in the morning.. so he'd have to take it after a meal, and with plenty of water. Moreover it's daily rather than weekly, which is much easier to remember.
But would the pharmany have this drug, I wondered. And would they sell it to me without a prescription?
I needn't have worried. This is Cyprus... as soon as I showed the pharmacist the chemical name, he went to a little cupboard and pulled out a box with brand name Vibramycin, and the correct ingredient. He told me it was an antibiotic and that all antibiotics of this sort are anti-malarial. I asked when Dan should start taking it, and he said a day or two before travelling. I said he would be away for two months, so he sold me eight boxes, each of which had eight tablets in. The cost was about ten pounds in all (roughly $20 US) which seemed very reasonable - I had thought it might have been considerably more.
A little further research revealed that this particular brand is indeed a recommended anti-malarial in the UK.
Of course two months on an antibiotic isn't exactly great health-wise, but it sounds better than the alternative suggestion. Dan knows he must try and eat as much yogurt as he can to restore healthy bacteria in his gut, but then it's always a good idea to eat locally produced yogurt in any new country, to accustom oneself to local beneficial bacteria.
Dan asked about these when he went to the hospital for his yellow fever and booster vaccinations last week, and they said the tablets can just be bought at a pharmacy. Online research suggested that they were supposed to be prescription-only tablets, and today Dan commented that some of them had to be taken two weeks before visiting a malaria-risk country.
So I did some more research and learned that malarone was no use as it's only been trialled for 28 days, and mefloquine isn't possible either, since that has to be started 3-4 weeks before going! What's more, mefloquine sounds like a horrible drug with all sorts of side effects: not only physical, but it can lead to insomnia, hallucinations and depression. Under its brand name Larium, it's even been reported as responsible for killings and suicides. Moreover 20% of people who start to take it decide it's not appropriate for them and have to change to a different drug... which seems rather pointless to me!
So doxycycline appeared to be the best choice. It's not supposed to be taken by anyone pregnant or breast-feeding, but that's obviously not a problem for Dan! It can lead to extra sun-sensitivity, particularly when taken with alcohol, but he doesn't drink, and certainly won't be on the Doulos. It can lead to heartburn if taken last thing at night, or stomach upsets if taken first thing in the morning.. so he'd have to take it after a meal, and with plenty of water. Moreover it's daily rather than weekly, which is much easier to remember.
But would the pharmany have this drug, I wondered. And would they sell it to me without a prescription?
I needn't have worried. This is Cyprus... as soon as I showed the pharmacist the chemical name, he went to a little cupboard and pulled out a box with brand name Vibramycin, and the correct ingredient. He told me it was an antibiotic and that all antibiotics of this sort are anti-malarial. I asked when Dan should start taking it, and he said a day or two before travelling. I said he would be away for two months, so he sold me eight boxes, each of which had eight tablets in. The cost was about ten pounds in all (roughly $20 US) which seemed very reasonable - I had thought it might have been considerably more.
A little further research revealed that this particular brand is indeed a recommended anti-malarial in the UK.
Of course two months on an antibiotic isn't exactly great health-wise, but it sounds better than the alternative suggestion. Dan knows he must try and eat as much yogurt as he can to restore healthy bacteria in his gut, but then it's always a good idea to eat locally produced yogurt in any new country, to accustom oneself to local beneficial bacteria.
Monday, June 13, 2005
Another Day
It's felt like a 'heavy' sort of day today. I woke about 6am, but instead of feeling lively as usual, I felt quite drained and exhausted. Dan and Tim were both up by about 7am, and also both said they were tired.
Most of the usual Monday activities were cancelled - no aural lesson as their teacher isn't well; no art lesson for Dan as the other students are doing school exams; no band for Dan this evening, although we don't know why. He used to have a music theory lesson on Mondays too but now he's done the exam, there won't be any more of those. He did have his drum lesson - the first for a while, as he's had wall-to-wall performances with Antidote Theatre in the last few weeks, and there will be another next Monday. After that he'll be on the Doulos until late August. So he spent much of the morning tidying his room and setting up his drums, as he used some of them last night in our church, for a rehearsal.
Richard went first thing to Mantovani Travel, his favourite travel agent locally. He confirmed the booking for Daniel's trip to Africa, paid for it, and collected the tickets. He also confirmed a mini-cruise to Greek Islands which he and I are going to take to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary, which comes next month. I still can't quite believe I'm old enough for a Silver Wedding...!
Tim said he felt too tired to do any of his NCSC coursework, but then he realised he was starting two new workbooks, so he could simply read them through to get an overview. After that he went in to Richard's office as he's helping out there with a few technical things which are rather beyond me! How he can concentrate on complex technical computer things but not academic books is beyond me...
I made some apricot jam. Last week there were bags of apricots very cheaply in the supermarket, which have sat in the fridge for several days. So I thought I should start using them. Unfortunately the jam burnt a little; I'm not sure why apricot jam tends to do that. I expect it will taste all right. Tomorrow I may make some more, or may simply make some lightly-sweetened apricot puree to freeze for desserts.
I have ignored our mulberries this year. We have two huge trees: one white mulberries, one purple mulberries. As a recent visitor commented, they're not unpleasant to eat raw... but they're nothing special. We found them very disappointing when we first tried them as the purple ones looked rather like blackberries. But the taste of mulberries is slightly sweet and rather bland. In previous years I've made apple and mulberry jam, but the only person who likes it is Richard. I did find a site with lots of mulberry recipes and thought I might try some - but we rarely eat desserts, and none of them leapt out at me as particularly inspiring.
Actually I can't quite ignore the mulberries, because they drop all over our patio and part of the 'lawn' - and when we tread on them, they stick to our shoes and make the most awful mess in the house. So most mornings I sweep them off the patio, and every time I go out to feed the kitties or hang out laundry, I remember to change my shoes. Usually, anyway! I shall be glad when mulberry season is over.
It feels rather a waste not to use any of them, but we've offered them to friends and nobody is interested. I expect they'll be useful as part of the compost heap anyway. Part of the problem is that they're ripe at just the time when lots of other fruit come into season, and are inexpensive in the supermarket. We bought a watermelon at 13c/kg last Friday, and my bagged apricots were 50c/kg last week*. Strawberries are still 60c/kg though we've actually managed to get bored of those, and there are cherries and peaches and plums all enticing and delicious. Grapes will be around next in great abundance. We don't have a vine, but think we might in future if and when we buy a property of our own.
Tim went back to the office again after lunch, and Dan went to Nicosia with the Antidote Theatre folk, who teach their on Monday afternoons. Dan wanted to visit his favourite music shop to buy a pack of ten clarinet reeds and some cork, to take on the Doulos. Then he caught a service taxi back. These shared taxis are hardly more expensive than buses, and go door-to-door, so they're very convenient.
This evening Tim had a youth band practice, Richard walked down to the PO Box and collected five DVDs and a book which had arrived from Play.com - and various bills and statements, but they're not so interesting! Daniel played his clarinet for 45 minutes, then the piano for about half an hour, and now he's doing his drum practice.
AS for me, I fed the kitties after supper and spent some time playing with them, decided I didn't have enough energy to cut the 'lawn', sat down to read email and catch up on some blogs, and am about to go and tackle the kitchen now...
* For those who think in pounds sterling, just translate the c to p, and it's roughly the same. The Cyprus pound is currently worth about £1.15 sterling, and divides into a hundred cents rather than pence. For those who think in US dollars, and imperial measurements, think of the c as American cents and the kg as pounds weight, and that too will be approximately correct. A kilogram is just over two pounds weight, and a Cyprus pound (money) is just over two US dollars. For those who think in other currencies, try the Oanda currency converter if you're keen to know how prices compare.
Most of the usual Monday activities were cancelled - no aural lesson as their teacher isn't well; no art lesson for Dan as the other students are doing school exams; no band for Dan this evening, although we don't know why. He used to have a music theory lesson on Mondays too but now he's done the exam, there won't be any more of those. He did have his drum lesson - the first for a while, as he's had wall-to-wall performances with Antidote Theatre in the last few weeks, and there will be another next Monday. After that he'll be on the Doulos until late August. So he spent much of the morning tidying his room and setting up his drums, as he used some of them last night in our church, for a rehearsal.
Richard went first thing to Mantovani Travel, his favourite travel agent locally. He confirmed the booking for Daniel's trip to Africa, paid for it, and collected the tickets. He also confirmed a mini-cruise to Greek Islands which he and I are going to take to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary, which comes next month. I still can't quite believe I'm old enough for a Silver Wedding...!
Tim said he felt too tired to do any of his NCSC coursework, but then he realised he was starting two new workbooks, so he could simply read them through to get an overview. After that he went in to Richard's office as he's helping out there with a few technical things which are rather beyond me! How he can concentrate on complex technical computer things but not academic books is beyond me...
I made some apricot jam. Last week there were bags of apricots very cheaply in the supermarket, which have sat in the fridge for several days. So I thought I should start using them. Unfortunately the jam burnt a little; I'm not sure why apricot jam tends to do that. I expect it will taste all right. Tomorrow I may make some more, or may simply make some lightly-sweetened apricot puree to freeze for desserts.
I have ignored our mulberries this year. We have two huge trees: one white mulberries, one purple mulberries. As a recent visitor commented, they're not unpleasant to eat raw... but they're nothing special. We found them very disappointing when we first tried them as the purple ones looked rather like blackberries. But the taste of mulberries is slightly sweet and rather bland. In previous years I've made apple and mulberry jam, but the only person who likes it is Richard. I did find a site with lots of mulberry recipes and thought I might try some - but we rarely eat desserts, and none of them leapt out at me as particularly inspiring.
Actually I can't quite ignore the mulberries, because they drop all over our patio and part of the 'lawn' - and when we tread on them, they stick to our shoes and make the most awful mess in the house. So most mornings I sweep them off the patio, and every time I go out to feed the kitties or hang out laundry, I remember to change my shoes. Usually, anyway! I shall be glad when mulberry season is over.
It feels rather a waste not to use any of them, but we've offered them to friends and nobody is interested. I expect they'll be useful as part of the compost heap anyway. Part of the problem is that they're ripe at just the time when lots of other fruit come into season, and are inexpensive in the supermarket. We bought a watermelon at 13c/kg last Friday, and my bagged apricots were 50c/kg last week*. Strawberries are still 60c/kg though we've actually managed to get bored of those, and there are cherries and peaches and plums all enticing and delicious. Grapes will be around next in great abundance. We don't have a vine, but think we might in future if and when we buy a property of our own.
Tim went back to the office again after lunch, and Dan went to Nicosia with the Antidote Theatre folk, who teach their on Monday afternoons. Dan wanted to visit his favourite music shop to buy a pack of ten clarinet reeds and some cork, to take on the Doulos. Then he caught a service taxi back. These shared taxis are hardly more expensive than buses, and go door-to-door, so they're very convenient.
This evening Tim had a youth band practice, Richard walked down to the PO Box and collected five DVDs and a book which had arrived from Play.com - and various bills and statements, but they're not so interesting! Daniel played his clarinet for 45 minutes, then the piano for about half an hour, and now he's doing his drum practice.
AS for me, I fed the kitties after supper and spent some time playing with them, decided I didn't have enough energy to cut the 'lawn', sat down to read email and catch up on some blogs, and am about to go and tackle the kitchen now...
* For those who think in pounds sterling, just translate the c to p, and it's roughly the same. The Cyprus pound is currently worth about £1.15 sterling, and divides into a hundred cents rather than pence. For those who think in US dollars, and imperial measurements, think of the c as American cents and the kg as pounds weight, and that too will be approximately correct. A kilogram is just over two pounds weight, and a Cyprus pound (money) is just over two US dollars. For those who think in other currencies, try the Oanda currency converter if you're keen to know how prices compare.
Feeding Time at the Zoo...
The feral kittens are now eight weeks old, or approximately so, and we still have them living in our back garden, although the tabby is trying very hard to get into the house. We keep saying we MUST contact the Cat Protection League shop locally, to arrange to have them all taken to the Paphos animal sanctuary, but somehow we don't get around to it....
They still like to drink milk, although what I give them is quite dilute: I fill a large plastic cup with 1/4 evaporated milk, 1/4 hot water and 1/2 cold water, then pour that into a tray to mews of enthusiasm. They all crowd around and drink about half of it in about twenty seconds. The large ginger tom is still the biggest of these kittens, and the little ginger tom - right next to his bigger brother in the photo - is the smallest, by quite a long way. However the one who started life as a runt, the white and orange kitten next to the little ginger one, is now bigger than his two little sisters (tabby and tortoiseshell).
They also eat kitten crunchy food - our vet told us years ago that dried food is much better for cats than canned, so long as they have plenty of liquid as well. Dried food doesn't go off in the warm weather (important in Cyprus!) and it's much better for their teeth and jaws as they have to crunch it. The kind we're buying is for kittens up to a year old, and it seems to suit them perfectly. Of course it's also good from a financial point of view since dried cat food is so much less expensive than canned!
The tortoiseshell is the closest to an Introvert out of all the kittens. I often see the others playing, while she sits washing - or goes exploring or climbing a tree on her own. Today she was the first to leave the milk and have some of the food.
Saturday, June 11, 2005
726 visitors
Although I started this blog early in March, I didn't instal the counter until March 11th. So it's been there three months, and I've apparently had 726 vistors in that time. Which is 242 per month. Amazing! That's more visitors than I get at our family site even though I've been directing people there for years now. Thanks to all who pop by...
Saturday
I don't feel as if I've sat down much today. I got up early to feed the kitties as usual, then we had to go to the supermarket to do our weekly shop since Richard was too busy yesterday, catching up with work and also going with Dan to the hospital for his vaccinations. Oh, and I had to print the church bulletin which I produce every week, and photocopy it at our friendly local stationer.
Daniel produced a list of things he thinks he'll need before going on the Doulos, so we then went out by car to look for some of them. We did easily find him a pair of trainers (not always easy as his feet are rather bigger than the average Cypriot!) and also some sandals, at a discount shop called the Shoe Emporium.
Then we went to try and find him a mobile phone with international roaming service, but that wasn't such a success. There are two mobile service providers here in Larnaka. The one Richard prefers is a newish one (new to Cyprus, anyway) called Areeba. But when we asked if their service would work in Tanzania and Mozambique, they went through a lengthy list of countries that weren't even alphabetical, and couldn't find them. I'm not sure the girls in the shop even knew where those countries are!
So we went over the road to CYTA, the main phone company who have been around a lot longer. Unfortunately their mobile shop was closed. Still, when we got home we had a look online and found that their service does cover the countries Dan's going to, so we'll try again on Monday. Of course we need to buy an actual phone first... up to now he's resisted having a mobile, but agrees that it would be very useful when travelling. He just wants something small and basic, that does ordinary phoning and texts... surely there must be something amongst the many hundreds of designs that would suit his needs.
Saturday's early closing day in Cyprus (or at least in Larnaka) so we couldn't continue shopping in the afternoon.
To my delight when we arrived back for lunch, my missing cat Jemima had reappeared again and was asleep on one of the bookcases. She looked much better than she did when we saw her on Wednesday, and then spent a lot of the afternoon insisting I carry her around and cuddle her. Which made it rather difficult when watering the garden, as I did this evening!
Daniel produced a list of things he thinks he'll need before going on the Doulos, so we then went out by car to look for some of them. We did easily find him a pair of trainers (not always easy as his feet are rather bigger than the average Cypriot!) and also some sandals, at a discount shop called the Shoe Emporium.
Then we went to try and find him a mobile phone with international roaming service, but that wasn't such a success. There are two mobile service providers here in Larnaka. The one Richard prefers is a newish one (new to Cyprus, anyway) called Areeba. But when we asked if their service would work in Tanzania and Mozambique, they went through a lengthy list of countries that weren't even alphabetical, and couldn't find them. I'm not sure the girls in the shop even knew where those countries are!
So we went over the road to CYTA, the main phone company who have been around a lot longer. Unfortunately their mobile shop was closed. Still, when we got home we had a look online and found that their service does cover the countries Dan's going to, so we'll try again on Monday. Of course we need to buy an actual phone first... up to now he's resisted having a mobile, but agrees that it would be very useful when travelling. He just wants something small and basic, that does ordinary phoning and texts... surely there must be something amongst the many hundreds of designs that would suit his needs.
Saturday's early closing day in Cyprus (or at least in Larnaka) so we couldn't continue shopping in the afternoon.
To my delight when we arrived back for lunch, my missing cat Jemima had reappeared again and was asleep on one of the bookcases. She looked much better than she did when we saw her on Wednesday, and then spent a lot of the afternoon insisting I carry her around and cuddle her. Which made it rather difficult when watering the garden, as I did this evening!
Friday, June 10, 2005
Bits and Pieces
Doulos:
It looks as though Daniel will be going! Richard has managed to book (provisioinally) flights with Emirates Air, going via Dubai, at reasonable prices. Dan's drama teacher took him to the hospital, negociated his way through the complex system of chaos to find the nurse who does vaccinations, and he has had a tetanus/diphtheria booster - which he was due around this age anyway - and also the vaccination against yellow fever which is compulsory for entering Tanzania. He also now has an official yellow international vaccination record. So far the cost has been £8.80 which I'm sure is less than traveller vaccinations in the UK would cost. He has to go back for a polio booster a couple of days before he flies, and his drama teacher's sister will get hold of the others he's supposed to have: typhoid, meningitis A&C, and hepatitis A. Oh, and we need to find some anti-malarial tablets too.
There's no Tanzanian Embassy in Cyprus so we just hope and pray he can get the tourist visa at the Dar Es Salaam airport when he arrives. That's supposed to be possible but it's a bit worrying not to have the visa in advance. It's too late to send his passport to the UK to get it there.
Jemima:
Well... after she reappeared on Wednesday, she spent about half an hour sitting under my desk, then she went to sleep on Tim's windowsill for a while. I gently wiped her eye and removed some dirt; it didn't look particularly bad once the dirt was gone, and she purred when we stroked her. After a couple of hours she went out again... and we haven't seen her since. I'm not so worried now; I guess she's just found a comfortable place to sleep and will pop in again when she feels like it. One of our neighbours commented that our cats like eating snakes, so perhaps she's found a good supply of food and is content without us.
Feral Kittens:
Still doing well. Eating just three meals a day, grooming themselves well. Unfortunately they have rather a lot of fleas and are too young for most flea treatments; I've sprayed the place where they sleep with Biokill and brushed some herbal non-toxic flea repellant into their fur, and manually caught and killed several fleas. I guess there's not much else I can do. We keep saying that we MUST get round to getting in touch with the sanctuary in Paphos but they're still no trouble and are so cute....
Photos
When we first came here, we were shocked to find that having a film developed and printed cost about £7. Sending a film back to the UK, by contrast, cost about £3 and included a free film returne with the prints. So for seven years we've used the Directfoto Express film service, which is reliable, good quality, and takes about ten days to two weeks to return photos to Cyprus.
A couple of months ago Richard found an old (but good) camera left by another organisation, which nobody wanted. Daniel has been getting more interested in photography, and had said he hoped he'd get some good pictures on the Doulos. So Richard suggested he have this camera, which has fully manual exposure and other complicated stuff which I don't begin to understand, and much better zoom than Dan's current camera.
So he's been taking a few photos, and we were going to send his film away to be processed, just to check that the camera was actually working. It hadn't been used for about fifteen years, probably.
But as he's now going on the Doulos in a fortnight, we didn't want to send the film back to the UK as we couldn't be certain it would arrive in time. So he took it in to a local developing place, and I thought we'd just have to pay the £7, or maybe more by this time.
To my surprise, the cost was only £5. What's more, he got not just the photos but an index print, a free mini photo album AND a free film. All that and four-hour processing....
So suddenly I think we might be getting our films developed here after all. Supporting a local firm is all to the good, and it's much nicer to have prints back immediately. Of course I take most of my everyday pictures on the digital camera now, but when I want prints I use my real one. If I can get them processed locally and inexpensively, I may take more in future.
It looks as though Daniel will be going! Richard has managed to book (provisioinally) flights with Emirates Air, going via Dubai, at reasonable prices. Dan's drama teacher took him to the hospital, negociated his way through the complex system of chaos to find the nurse who does vaccinations, and he has had a tetanus/diphtheria booster - which he was due around this age anyway - and also the vaccination against yellow fever which is compulsory for entering Tanzania. He also now has an official yellow international vaccination record. So far the cost has been £8.80 which I'm sure is less than traveller vaccinations in the UK would cost. He has to go back for a polio booster a couple of days before he flies, and his drama teacher's sister will get hold of the others he's supposed to have: typhoid, meningitis A&C, and hepatitis A. Oh, and we need to find some anti-malarial tablets too.
There's no Tanzanian Embassy in Cyprus so we just hope and pray he can get the tourist visa at the Dar Es Salaam airport when he arrives. That's supposed to be possible but it's a bit worrying not to have the visa in advance. It's too late to send his passport to the UK to get it there.
Jemima:
Well... after she reappeared on Wednesday, she spent about half an hour sitting under my desk, then she went to sleep on Tim's windowsill for a while. I gently wiped her eye and removed some dirt; it didn't look particularly bad once the dirt was gone, and she purred when we stroked her. After a couple of hours she went out again... and we haven't seen her since. I'm not so worried now; I guess she's just found a comfortable place to sleep and will pop in again when she feels like it. One of our neighbours commented that our cats like eating snakes, so perhaps she's found a good supply of food and is content without us.
Feral Kittens:
Still doing well. Eating just three meals a day, grooming themselves well. Unfortunately they have rather a lot of fleas and are too young for most flea treatments; I've sprayed the place where they sleep with Biokill and brushed some herbal non-toxic flea repellant into their fur, and manually caught and killed several fleas. I guess there's not much else I can do. We keep saying that we MUST get round to getting in touch with the sanctuary in Paphos but they're still no trouble and are so cute....
Photos
When we first came here, we were shocked to find that having a film developed and printed cost about £7. Sending a film back to the UK, by contrast, cost about £3 and included a free film returne with the prints. So for seven years we've used the Directfoto Express film service, which is reliable, good quality, and takes about ten days to two weeks to return photos to Cyprus.
A couple of months ago Richard found an old (but good) camera left by another organisation, which nobody wanted. Daniel has been getting more interested in photography, and had said he hoped he'd get some good pictures on the Doulos. So Richard suggested he have this camera, which has fully manual exposure and other complicated stuff which I don't begin to understand, and much better zoom than Dan's current camera.
So he's been taking a few photos, and we were going to send his film away to be processed, just to check that the camera was actually working. It hadn't been used for about fifteen years, probably.
But as he's now going on the Doulos in a fortnight, we didn't want to send the film back to the UK as we couldn't be certain it would arrive in time. So he took it in to a local developing place, and I thought we'd just have to pay the £7, or maybe more by this time.
To my surprise, the cost was only £5. What's more, he got not just the photos but an index print, a free mini photo album AND a free film. All that and four-hour processing....
So suddenly I think we might be getting our films developed here after all. Supporting a local firm is all to the good, and it's much nicer to have prints back immediately. Of course I take most of my everyday pictures on the digital camera now, but when I want prints I use my real one. If I can get them processed locally and inexpensively, I may take more in future.
Wednesday, June 08, 2005
Jemima returned :-) :-)
I had - sadly - given up on Jemima. Friends down the road had a cat simply vanish a while ago. He didn't turn up one day, and they never found out what had happened.
Ten minutes ago I heard a mew from the kitchen and thought it was Sophia (Jemima's twin) asking for something. Imagine my surprise and delight when I saw Jemima herself at the food bowl! I picked her up to cuddle her, and she felt very light, but then she's always been the lightest of the four cats.
However she's not happy. One of her eyes looks as if it's been in an injury: perhaps she was in a fight, or caught it on a tree branch or something. It's very weepy, but she won't let me go near it. She's sitting on the floor under my desk at the moment, and doesn't want to be stroked. What's more, I gave her some yogurt and she didn't want it, which is most unlike her.
Cats usually recover from injury or illness on their own; it could be, as Tim suggested, that she wasn't well and has been taking some time out comvalescing away from the family. In which case, she must be better to have returned. But of course if she's still miserable tomorrow, or if the eye looks infected, we'll have a visit to the vet.
I'm still smiling at her having reappeared, though.
Ten minutes ago I heard a mew from the kitchen and thought it was Sophia (Jemima's twin) asking for something. Imagine my surprise and delight when I saw Jemima herself at the food bowl! I picked her up to cuddle her, and she felt very light, but then she's always been the lightest of the four cats.
However she's not happy. One of her eyes looks as if it's been in an injury: perhaps she was in a fight, or caught it on a tree branch or something. It's very weepy, but she won't let me go near it. She's sitting on the floor under my desk at the moment, and doesn't want to be stroked. What's more, I gave her some yogurt and she didn't want it, which is most unlike her.
Cats usually recover from injury or illness on their own; it could be, as Tim suggested, that she wasn't well and has been taking some time out comvalescing away from the family. In which case, she must be better to have returned. But of course if she's still miserable tomorrow, or if the eye looks infected, we'll have a visit to the vet.
I'm still smiling at her having reappeared, though.
Doulos
Well.
A couple of times in recent years, the Christian floating bookshop MV Doulos has stopped at Larnaka. The first time, Daniel was able to go and work there for ten days, helping with uncrating and sorting out books, and also selling. It's a ship full of young people, mostly around 18-30 and he loved the atmosphere. Last year he went to meet them again when they stopped temporarily, and decided he would like to spend longer on board once he was eighteen. He applied for their STEPS program, which has a set number of participants for two months, learning about all the different jobs that are done on the ship.
The time he hoped to go was from the last week in June to the middle of August. However not long after he sent in his application form, he had an email saying that this slot was filled. I wasn't surprised: for many university students this is the only time they would be able to go. Instead they asked if he would like the slot from late August to the middle of October. Although it clashed with a short course in woodwind repair that he hoped to take in the UK in October, he felt the Doulos was more important. So we waited for them to take up his references, and let him know whether or not he was definitely accepted.
And we waited.
Apparently one of the programme organisers was on home leave, and then the ship was travelling.... but still we assumed it would probably be all right. The trouble was, all the rest of the family plans rather hinged on this, including dates when we hope to be in the UK seeing family and friends. We couldn't book anything until we knew for sure when and where Daniel was going.
Two evenings ago he had an email out of the blue, saying that a vacancy has just come up for the June to August stint, and if he wants it he can take it! The ship will be in Tanzania (Dar es Salaam), will visit Mozambique, and will then be in South Africa (Durban) in August.
The problem is, they would need him by 25th June, which isn't far ahead! Tim did some googling to investigate flights; rather discouraging at first when he discovered a direct flight costing £2000!!! But further searching revealed flights via Egypt and UAE which were a lot more reasonable, although considerably more complicated. Unfortunately Richard's away at present and he's the one who knows the travel agents, and can ensure they look at all possibilities and give a good deal. But he'll be back tonight. Either reasonable flights exist, or they don't...
Then there was a whole host of vaccinations they said Daniel would need to get. We don't even have a GP here and the last vaccinations Daniel had were his pre-school boosters. However his drama teacher has a sister who's a doctor, who can apparently do all that's necessary. I hope he'll find out today what it might cost. I don't like the idea of him having several vaccinations all at once - surely that would magnify any possible side effects - but some are certainly essential. For instance, a Yellow Fever vaccination certificate is compulsory for entering Tanzania. And he's due a booster for polio and tetanus anyway. Malaria tablets are highly recommended too, although they have varying side effects so it's hard to konw which ones would be best.
Then there's a necessary visa for Tanzania. The other visas can be arranged from the ship, but obviously not this one as he hasn't yet joined them. There's no Tanzanian Embassy in Cyprus, partly because - for some unknown reason - Cypriot nationals don't need visas to go to Tanzania, although British citizens do. A visa takes a week even when there's an Embassy nearby, and we certainly don't want to post Daniel's passport to the UK if he's hoping to travel in less than two weeks.
It looks as though visas may be available at the airport, although that sounds a bit worrying: he wouldn't want to do all that travelling, only to find he's turned down at the last moment.
So my mind is whirling. Dan's excited about the possibility and would much rather go now than in August. So we're hoping and praying it will all work out...
A couple of times in recent years, the Christian floating bookshop MV Doulos has stopped at Larnaka. The first time, Daniel was able to go and work there for ten days, helping with uncrating and sorting out books, and also selling. It's a ship full of young people, mostly around 18-30 and he loved the atmosphere. Last year he went to meet them again when they stopped temporarily, and decided he would like to spend longer on board once he was eighteen. He applied for their STEPS program, which has a set number of participants for two months, learning about all the different jobs that are done on the ship.
The time he hoped to go was from the last week in June to the middle of August. However not long after he sent in his application form, he had an email saying that this slot was filled. I wasn't surprised: for many university students this is the only time they would be able to go. Instead they asked if he would like the slot from late August to the middle of October. Although it clashed with a short course in woodwind repair that he hoped to take in the UK in October, he felt the Doulos was more important. So we waited for them to take up his references, and let him know whether or not he was definitely accepted.
And we waited.
Apparently one of the programme organisers was on home leave, and then the ship was travelling.... but still we assumed it would probably be all right. The trouble was, all the rest of the family plans rather hinged on this, including dates when we hope to be in the UK seeing family and friends. We couldn't book anything until we knew for sure when and where Daniel was going.
Two evenings ago he had an email out of the blue, saying that a vacancy has just come up for the June to August stint, and if he wants it he can take it! The ship will be in Tanzania (Dar es Salaam), will visit Mozambique, and will then be in South Africa (Durban) in August.
The problem is, they would need him by 25th June, which isn't far ahead! Tim did some googling to investigate flights; rather discouraging at first when he discovered a direct flight costing £2000!!! But further searching revealed flights via Egypt and UAE which were a lot more reasonable, although considerably more complicated. Unfortunately Richard's away at present and he's the one who knows the travel agents, and can ensure they look at all possibilities and give a good deal. But he'll be back tonight. Either reasonable flights exist, or they don't...
Then there was a whole host of vaccinations they said Daniel would need to get. We don't even have a GP here and the last vaccinations Daniel had were his pre-school boosters. However his drama teacher has a sister who's a doctor, who can apparently do all that's necessary. I hope he'll find out today what it might cost. I don't like the idea of him having several vaccinations all at once - surely that would magnify any possible side effects - but some are certainly essential. For instance, a Yellow Fever vaccination certificate is compulsory for entering Tanzania. And he's due a booster for polio and tetanus anyway. Malaria tablets are highly recommended too, although they have varying side effects so it's hard to konw which ones would be best.
Then there's a necessary visa for Tanzania. The other visas can be arranged from the ship, but obviously not this one as he hasn't yet joined them. There's no Tanzanian Embassy in Cyprus, partly because - for some unknown reason - Cypriot nationals don't need visas to go to Tanzania, although British citizens do. A visa takes a week even when there's an Embassy nearby, and we certainly don't want to post Daniel's passport to the UK if he's hoping to travel in less than two weeks.
It looks as though visas may be available at the airport, although that sounds a bit worrying: he wouldn't want to do all that travelling, only to find he's turned down at the last moment.
So my mind is whirling. Dan's excited about the possibility and would much rather go now than in August. So we're hoping and praying it will all work out...
Tuesday, June 07, 2005
Amazon speed!
We're slowly building up a collection of DVDs for family viewing, which I order either from the British Amazon, or Play.com. I have a lengthy list of films that interest one or more of us, and about once a month I check through the special offers. My limit is £6.50 for a movie, £10 for something like a TV series that's on two or three CDs. Mostly I pay less than £5 for a movie.
Anyway, last Friday I put in an order from each of the sites for three DVDs, and also ordered a cuople of books from Amazon and one from Play.com. It's well worth checking prices regularly as they vary so much with the various discounts and offers.
Play.com offers free postage anywhere in Europe, and I do hate paying postage charges! They also send items individually in jiffy bags, and are very quick. If something says it's available for 24-hour dispatch, I usually get the email telling me it's been sent within 12 hours of my order.
Amazon UK charges postage for Cyprus, and to my annoyance they don't count it as part of Europe - they specify Western Europe, and have Cyprus as part of the highest 'rest of the world' category. So for a while I only used them when we could get parcels sent to folk in the UK to bring out, since they do offer free UK delivery for orders over £19. But then a friend who works at the British Army Base (but lives locally) said we were welcome to send things to her BFPO box, which counts as part of the UK.
The disadvantage with the free delivery option is that it adds five working days days to the dispatch time. Not a problem at all since nothing is urgent. But to my surprise, they seem to waive the five-day wait when sending to the BFPO box. I've often had things arrive within a week. However this time must be some kind of record... this afternoon our friend rang the doorbell, and there was the package! It arrived first thing this morning... amazing.
Anyway, last Friday I put in an order from each of the sites for three DVDs, and also ordered a cuople of books from Amazon and one from Play.com. It's well worth checking prices regularly as they vary so much with the various discounts and offers.
Play.com offers free postage anywhere in Europe, and I do hate paying postage charges! They also send items individually in jiffy bags, and are very quick. If something says it's available for 24-hour dispatch, I usually get the email telling me it's been sent within 12 hours of my order.
Amazon UK charges postage for Cyprus, and to my annoyance they don't count it as part of Europe - they specify Western Europe, and have Cyprus as part of the highest 'rest of the world' category. So for a while I only used them when we could get parcels sent to folk in the UK to bring out, since they do offer free UK delivery for orders over £19. But then a friend who works at the British Army Base (but lives locally) said we were welcome to send things to her BFPO box, which counts as part of the UK.
The disadvantage with the free delivery option is that it adds five working days days to the dispatch time. Not a problem at all since nothing is urgent. But to my surprise, they seem to waive the five-day wait when sending to the BFPO box. I've often had things arrive within a week. However this time must be some kind of record... this afternoon our friend rang the doorbell, and there was the package! It arrived first thing this morning... amazing.
Jemima
Well the seven feral kittens are still fine, but one of our four adult cats has been missing for a couple of days :-(. It's Jemima, the one who considers herself to be my cat. I didn't worry much when we didn't see her yesterday - in the summer she often sleeps all morning, wanders in for a snack at some point during the day, and then goes outside again in the evening. Usually I get at least some glimpse of her, but it was entirely possible I'd missed her...
But today she still hasn't been around. I've been keeping an ear out, and called for her several times; Dan went out and hunted around the whole neighbourhood earlier this evening. The other three are fine, but no Jemima.
It's the first time this has happened to us, but of course cats do vanish. The worrying thing is that some Cypriots like to poison cats with a most unpleasant substance that's illegal in the rest of Europe. Or of course she could have been run over, but she's not a cat who wanders far form our house, and she has pretty good road sense. I now wonder if she's been jealous of the attention I've been giving the kittens and has run away - but where would a cat run?
All we can do is hope and pray and wait.
But today she still hasn't been around. I've been keeping an ear out, and called for her several times; Dan went out and hunted around the whole neighbourhood earlier this evening. The other three are fine, but no Jemima.
It's the first time this has happened to us, but of course cats do vanish. The worrying thing is that some Cypriots like to poison cats with a most unpleasant substance that's illegal in the rest of Europe. Or of course she could have been run over, but she's not a cat who wanders far form our house, and she has pretty good road sense. I now wonder if she's been jealous of the attention I've been giving the kittens and has run away - but where would a cat run?
All we can do is hope and pray and wait.
Monday, June 06, 2005
Seven-week old kittens
The seven feral kittens are now seven weeks old. They wash, they explore, they eat kitten food, they drink milk and water, they play, and they're really quite affectionate. I'm not sure when is the best time to take them to the Paphos sanctuary for animals - I thought about eight weeks, but they're still quite happy here and after all, kittens are supposed to be 12 or 13 weeks old before they leave their mother. I may go and talk to the Cat Protection League charity shop and see what they suggest. In the last magazine about the sanctuary, there were worrying reports of it possibly having to close if there wasn't sufficient funding as it has to move location by the end of June. So I'll find out what's going on.
This afternoon Tim decided to cut the 'lawn' which was looking a bit overgrown after our heavy rain last Tuesday. So I went to sit with the kittens - not that they would have gone near the lawnmower, they found the noise frightening, which is all to the good. But Tim didn't want to risk any of them getting underfoot. They were very playful and started to explore a little raised patio area above where they usually live, as well as the main patio and the steps up to the kitchen. So I took a load of photos... I did consider trying to combine them into one post, but I think they speak for themselves. We've still managed to avoid giving them any names and just refer to them by their colouring, other than the large ginger who is still sometimes called Darwin. They move fast but the photos below managed to catch all of them, including one shot when they were all still for a moment!
This afternoon Tim decided to cut the 'lawn' which was looking a bit overgrown after our heavy rain last Tuesday. So I went to sit with the kittens - not that they would have gone near the lawnmower, they found the noise frightening, which is all to the good. But Tim didn't want to risk any of them getting underfoot. They were very playful and started to explore a little raised patio area above where they usually live, as well as the main patio and the steps up to the kitchen. So I took a load of photos... I did consider trying to combine them into one post, but I think they speak for themselves. We've still managed to avoid giving them any names and just refer to them by their colouring, other than the large ginger who is still sometimes called Darwin. They move fast but the photos below managed to catch all of them, including one shot when they were all still for a moment!
Saturday, June 04, 2005
Shorts
The boys have been wearing shorts for weeks now but I've stayed in jeans or at least long cotton trousers. But today, I decided, was the day to move to shorts - probably for the next few months. I much prefer jeans but with temps of 29C (in the shade) and predicted to be over 30 in the next week, I may as well stay as cool as I can.
Ironically Tim did wear jeans today for the first time in a while, as he was going up to the Troodos mountains, to help put up tents for an organisation we're friendly with. It's much cooler in the mountains, though only about an hour and 45 minutes away. He was collected at 7.20am and got back about 4.30pm. Apparently it was pouring with rain over lunchtime; thankfully he and someone else had succeeded in getting all the electrics working, and the tents had been put up by the time it started. But rather than a brief shower, it was torrential and long-lasting, a bit like the rain we had here on Tuesday.
Daniel would love to have gone to help too, but had his Grade 5 music theory exam today, early afternoon. Actually the first formal exam he's ever sat in a school building, since his home ed tests have been done at home. He's done practical music exams and also drama exams, but those aren't so stressful. However he was fairly well prepared and is pretty sure he's passed. The pass mark is only 66% so it shouldn't be too difficult. His theory teacher - a very nice lady - rang round all the students after the exam for a chat, and said all the others were very stressed as they had made stupid mistakes. Dan wasn't stressed at all - there was one German word he didn't know, but he shrugged and said it was two marks, so not a big deal. The transposing was easy as it was for his instrument (clarinet) and he went through the paper four times checking for mistakes.
Meanwhile I did a bit of cleaning, produced and copied our church bulletin, fed the feral kittens, did some laundry, and it was lunchtime. A friend (whose husband had also gone to Troodos) came to lunch and we chatted till mid-afternoon. Then I went to check email and read a few other blogs, and suddenly it's supper-time. Time flies sometimes...
Ironically Tim did wear jeans today for the first time in a while, as he was going up to the Troodos mountains, to help put up tents for an organisation we're friendly with. It's much cooler in the mountains, though only about an hour and 45 minutes away. He was collected at 7.20am and got back about 4.30pm. Apparently it was pouring with rain over lunchtime; thankfully he and someone else had succeeded in getting all the electrics working, and the tents had been put up by the time it started. But rather than a brief shower, it was torrential and long-lasting, a bit like the rain we had here on Tuesday.
Daniel would love to have gone to help too, but had his Grade 5 music theory exam today, early afternoon. Actually the first formal exam he's ever sat in a school building, since his home ed tests have been done at home. He's done practical music exams and also drama exams, but those aren't so stressful. However he was fairly well prepared and is pretty sure he's passed. The pass mark is only 66% so it shouldn't be too difficult. His theory teacher - a very nice lady - rang round all the students after the exam for a chat, and said all the others were very stressed as they had made stupid mistakes. Dan wasn't stressed at all - there was one German word he didn't know, but he shrugged and said it was two marks, so not a big deal. The transposing was easy as it was for his instrument (clarinet) and he went through the paper four times checking for mistakes.
Meanwhile I did a bit of cleaning, produced and copied our church bulletin, fed the feral kittens, did some laundry, and it was lunchtime. A friend (whose husband had also gone to Troodos) came to lunch and we chatted till mid-afternoon. Then I went to check email and read a few other blogs, and suddenly it's supper-time. Time flies sometimes...
Thursday, June 02, 2005
June
Yesterday there was a bit more rain, though it wasn't very heavy, and today it's been pleasantly breezy, about 28C at most I guess, with yet more clouds around lunchtime. We were celebrating the fact that summer isn't yet here, and how unusual it seems, so I had a quick read of the June entries from previous years on the family home page. And what a surprise... last year, although we had no rain after early April, it wasn't too hot by early June. In 2004, we had half an hour's heavy rain on June 2nd and, again, the temps were still reasonable.
Why do we have this idea that by the end of May we'll be roasting in constant sunshine, I wonder? In our first few years here it was a bit hotter - there was a bad drought for a few years, and also we hadn't acclimatised. But in general it seems that other than a possible brief heatwave during May, summer doesn't really start with a vengeance until at least mid-June. Humidity doesn't get bad until early July. So although the summers are hot, they only really last about three months.
This morning I went out to pay the phone bill, and check our PO box. I didn't go till nearly noon since there seemed to be a lot to do beforehand, including a science test for Tim. Even at midday it wasn't too hot, and although I did feel a bit warm by the time I got home - at nearly lunchtime - I was wearing long trousers and had walked about three kilometres, so I'd be warm even in winter.
Why do we have this idea that by the end of May we'll be roasting in constant sunshine, I wonder? In our first few years here it was a bit hotter - there was a bad drought for a few years, and also we hadn't acclimatised. But in general it seems that other than a possible brief heatwave during May, summer doesn't really start with a vengeance until at least mid-June. Humidity doesn't get bad until early July. So although the summers are hot, they only really last about three months.
This morning I went out to pay the phone bill, and check our PO box. I didn't go till nearly noon since there seemed to be a lot to do beforehand, including a science test for Tim. Even at midday it wasn't too hot, and although I did feel a bit warm by the time I got home - at nearly lunchtime - I was wearing long trousers and had walked about three kilometres, so I'd be warm even in winter.
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