Tim went off to the inter-church youth group camp in the Troodos mountains this morning. He was using an old rucksack of Richard's which is big enough to hold sleeping bag AND clothes. I'm not sure what else he had packed, as it was so heavy I couldn't lift it off the ground! Tim assured us it was fine, as he heaved it onto his shoulders, then leaned forward several degrees to ensure he didn't overbalance backwards...
We persuaded him to have a lift in the car to the church car park, where the group were leaving from. He was insistent that he could walk, but it seemed a bit silly to start a camping weekend with backache.
As they were leaving, Richard had another phone call from the estate agent. The local tax people, she said, cannot get the necessary documents ready for Monday. So she asked if we could do the completion and deed exchange on Wednesday.
Nope. Wednesday is when we're doing the main moving. We have several friends with trucks, and some students, and the team who are leading the youth group, all willing to help on that morning. So he said that Thursday would be better. It seems odd to think of moving in fully before we've completed and paid the last of the money, but ... this is Cyprus.
It has the advantage that Richard didn't need to go to the bank this morning to get bank drafts ready for Monday (banks don't open till 8.30am and our appointment at the Land Registry will be at 8.00am) and he also doesn't need to defer delivery of the items he had ordered for Monday morning. Sometimes it's good to put things off until the last moment!
A friend brought us some more boxes this morning, and at lunch-time Richard packed up yet more kitchen bits and pieces. A little more enthusiastically than I would have hoped, because he has now packed the citrus juicer and the yogurt maker. I hoped to make more yogurt this afternoon, and I squeeze fresh orange juice most mornings. Ah well. He's also packed away even the pyrex dishes I used last night, so we'll have to be a bit creative about serving our meal tonight. At least there are a couple of saucepans still in the kitchen, also the breadmaker, the electric kettle, and the coffee maker. And we're still eating up frozen leftover meals, so that's easy.
Tomorrow we should get the keys at 8.30, and can then start painting! I can't quite believe it at present. I think we might load a film into my old camera, since Tim took the digital camera to camp. I'd like to record our progress for posterity, and also of course to send to Daniel who has never seen this house.
Friday, June 30, 2006
Thursday, June 29, 2006
Six days to go
This morning, Richard had a phone call from the estate agent at 8.30am. She said we needed a lawyer's stamp on the contract for the new house. Richard phoned the lawyer, who said the contract was stamped. He has one of the originals (I can't remember how many we signed - I think it was at least three) and we have photocopies. Sure enough, there's a stamp on our copies.
So Richard called the agent back. Apparently the vendor, who was trying to sort out the capital gains tax on the house, had an unstamped copy. So Richard had to rush down to the estate agent, so she could make a copy of our copy to pass on to the vendor, so the tax people would know the contract was valid. We've heard that sometimes people here try to cheat the tax office by having two different contracts, one with the amount being paid for the house, and another with a significantly lower amount to show to the tax people!
I can quite understand why folk here don't move very often. It's such a hassle, having to sort out all their debts and other papework prior to completion, and then the fee for the deeds transfer is enormous (we have to pay that one). I didn't realise that capital gains tax was also payable by a vendor. In the UK, it's only on second properties, or those bought solely for rental. But here, we gather, it's on all house sales.
We just hope and pray that all his paperwork does get sorted before our planned completion on Monday!
Next, Richard went to the Electricity Board, to get our name registered for the new house from July 1st.
But... simply knowing the address was no good. Their database is not searchable by address, or so they said!! They wanted to know the meter number, which of course he had no idea about. So they asked for the current owner's name. He had that, on the contract, and they can search by name. But the house wasn't registered in her name at the Electricity Board.
However... they did find her name listed at another property. Perhaps the one they're now renting, or the new one they're having built. Attached to her name was her mobile phone number. So the Electricity Board called that number, and asked her for the name of the people paying the bills at the house we're buying. I guess it must be her parents, as they lived downstairs. Once the Electricity Board had their names, they were able to find the property on their database, and register Richard as the new owner.
He went to the office for an hour, then as he was coming home for lunch, he met a worried-looking person who asked him if he knew where the Water Board was, and was very relieved that Richard spoke English. This man said he had recently moved to Cyprus, and had just received a water bill for £2000!! Since our normal bill is about £10-15 for three months, it sounds as if the previous owners must have run up a debt over many years. I don't know why they didn't get cut off, if so.
Alternatively there might have been some mistake or problem with the water meter. But it did remind us that when we go to collect the keys of our new house on Saturday morning, we must ask the vendor where the electricity and water meters are, and also make a note of the readings.
As for packing, we did a bit more in the kitchen last night. All the recipe books, most of the plastics we're not using, more glassware... Richard did most of it, as ever. Dan's room is about three-quarters full now. There still seem to be a lot of bits and pieces lying around in every room, but since we'll take several days to move, it doesn't really matter.
So Richard called the agent back. Apparently the vendor, who was trying to sort out the capital gains tax on the house, had an unstamped copy. So Richard had to rush down to the estate agent, so she could make a copy of our copy to pass on to the vendor, so the tax people would know the contract was valid. We've heard that sometimes people here try to cheat the tax office by having two different contracts, one with the amount being paid for the house, and another with a significantly lower amount to show to the tax people!
I can quite understand why folk here don't move very often. It's such a hassle, having to sort out all their debts and other papework prior to completion, and then the fee for the deeds transfer is enormous (we have to pay that one). I didn't realise that capital gains tax was also payable by a vendor. In the UK, it's only on second properties, or those bought solely for rental. But here, we gather, it's on all house sales.
We just hope and pray that all his paperwork does get sorted before our planned completion on Monday!
Next, Richard went to the Electricity Board, to get our name registered for the new house from July 1st.
But... simply knowing the address was no good. Their database is not searchable by address, or so they said!! They wanted to know the meter number, which of course he had no idea about. So they asked for the current owner's name. He had that, on the contract, and they can search by name. But the house wasn't registered in her name at the Electricity Board.
However... they did find her name listed at another property. Perhaps the one they're now renting, or the new one they're having built. Attached to her name was her mobile phone number. So the Electricity Board called that number, and asked her for the name of the people paying the bills at the house we're buying. I guess it must be her parents, as they lived downstairs. Once the Electricity Board had their names, they were able to find the property on their database, and register Richard as the new owner.
He went to the office for an hour, then as he was coming home for lunch, he met a worried-looking person who asked him if he knew where the Water Board was, and was very relieved that Richard spoke English. This man said he had recently moved to Cyprus, and had just received a water bill for £2000!! Since our normal bill is about £10-15 for three months, it sounds as if the previous owners must have run up a debt over many years. I don't know why they didn't get cut off, if so.
Alternatively there might have been some mistake or problem with the water meter. But it did remind us that when we go to collect the keys of our new house on Saturday morning, we must ask the vendor where the electricity and water meters are, and also make a note of the readings.
As for packing, we did a bit more in the kitchen last night. All the recipe books, most of the plastics we're not using, more glassware... Richard did most of it, as ever. Dan's room is about three-quarters full now. There still seem to be a lot of bits and pieces lying around in every room, but since we'll take several days to move, it doesn't really matter.
Wednesday, June 28, 2006
A week until we move (we hope)
I'm beginning to feel a bit overwhelmed about moving. It always happens as we approach a moving date. No matter how well we seem to be doing with the packing I come to a stage where I find it hard to think at all, let alone do anything constructive. All I want to do is curl up and sleep. Of course it doesn't help that Sophia has got back into her noisy wake-the-family-up-at-5am mode. For a while she stopped and I got a full night's sleep a few times, but not for the past few days. All the cats are a bit disturbed by the house gradually being packed away, but it's only Sophia who complains about it loudly. Unfortunately, if I'm woken at 5am there's no way I can get back to sleep as it's almost daylight.
This morning - several hours after I got up! - we went out to look for paint and mattresses. I'm not sure why we bother to explore other shops, since we nearly always return to the tried-and-tested old favourites. Demetrius Pavlempeus (which looks much better in Greek letters) is a lovely furniture store down-town, with many items made to order. Lovely real wood bookcases and cupboards, a wide variety of sofas and chairs, a few appliances, a selection of beds, and lots of mattresses. It's a large old-fashioned showroom and things are somewhat higgledy-piggledy but the staff are helpful and nearly all the stock is attractive. It's where we bought our sofas last year after looking at dozens of other shops and finding nothing we liked anywhere else.
When we cleared out the last of our things from our UK house last October, we brought out the pine bed we had as a wedding present, and also Dan's pine 'cabin bed' created and constructed by Richard. All in pieces, of course, so we hope they'll go back together without anything missing. We didn't bring mattresses for either, however, as they were old and not very comfortable. We don't need one for Dan yet, since he won't be back for 18 months, and we're not entirely sure of the measurements. But we ordered a good quality sprung mattress for ourselves. Eventually we'll order one for our current bed, which will become our main guest bed, but again that's not urgent.
The two single beds which Dan and Tim have used since we came here match and are in good condition, so they're going to be put in our second guest room. Which means that Tim needed a new bed. He wanted one to match his bookcases, approximately, and found an endboard that was just what he wanted. So we ordered that too, plus a new mattress. These will be delivered next Tuesday morning to the new house.
We had a look at dining room chairs, too. So many variations on wooden chairs, with or without built-in cushioning, lots of different prices. The ones we currently have are getting very scruffy, but it's not urgent to replace them yet. We'll wait awhile and think about it.
As I looked at them, I suddenly felt as if I were in the middle of TheSims buying furniture for a newly-created house! I haven't even played the game for about four months...
Then we went to CYTA, the phone company, to ask if we could transfer our phone number to the new house. No problem, said the girl. Whether or not it's a problem apparently depends on who you see, since we've heard from other people that numbers can't always be taken to different districts. Perhaps it's because we're only moving a kilometre away, although it's not technically in the same area of Larnaka.
Could they do it next week, we asked? Preferably Tuesday. Yes, said the girl. What happens is they'll disconnect us on Monday, and then we'll be reconnected in either one or two days. No problem as far as the phone is concerned - we don't use it much anyway, and since we'll be doing the house completion and deeds transfer on Monday, and more decorating and receiving deliveries on Tuesday, it doesn't matter at all that there won't be a phone working. Richard and Tim have mobiles anyway.
The only problem is that our Internet connection will also be closed on Monday, for up to two days. Gulp. Of course I wouldn't expect to have much time for email or anything else, while moving, but it's nice to sit down for half an hour to read and write. Ah well. I expect we'll survive. If withdrawal symptoms are too much, we could always go to Richard's office.
Whether or not we will correctly be connected by Wednesday remains to be seen. CYTA are not renowned for either speed or efficiency in such matters.
Finally we went to our favourite paint shop, a Crown dealer. We needed a set of stepladders (the one in this house belongs to the landlady, and is rather rickety). There were three possibilities, so that was easy. Then we looked at paints. So much choice. Dan hadn't let us know what he wanted for his room, so we left that for now. We would like to paint everywhere before moving the furniture in, but it may not be possible.
So we chose a pale blue for our room, a very pale apricot for the living room, a darker version of apricot for Tim's room, and a kind of pale golden yellow for the dining room. I doubt if we'll do that much in one weekend, and we can always choose more on Monday if we do. Tim won't be here to help - he goes away with the inter-church youth group for their annual camp in the mountains on Friday morning, and gets back Monday evening.
If only it were as simple as TheSims... an instant click with the chosen colour, and the wall is complete!
This morning - several hours after I got up! - we went out to look for paint and mattresses. I'm not sure why we bother to explore other shops, since we nearly always return to the tried-and-tested old favourites. Demetrius Pavlempeus (which looks much better in Greek letters) is a lovely furniture store down-town, with many items made to order. Lovely real wood bookcases and cupboards, a wide variety of sofas and chairs, a few appliances, a selection of beds, and lots of mattresses. It's a large old-fashioned showroom and things are somewhat higgledy-piggledy but the staff are helpful and nearly all the stock is attractive. It's where we bought our sofas last year after looking at dozens of other shops and finding nothing we liked anywhere else.
When we cleared out the last of our things from our UK house last October, we brought out the pine bed we had as a wedding present, and also Dan's pine 'cabin bed' created and constructed by Richard. All in pieces, of course, so we hope they'll go back together without anything missing. We didn't bring mattresses for either, however, as they were old and not very comfortable. We don't need one for Dan yet, since he won't be back for 18 months, and we're not entirely sure of the measurements. But we ordered a good quality sprung mattress for ourselves. Eventually we'll order one for our current bed, which will become our main guest bed, but again that's not urgent.
The two single beds which Dan and Tim have used since we came here match and are in good condition, so they're going to be put in our second guest room. Which means that Tim needed a new bed. He wanted one to match his bookcases, approximately, and found an endboard that was just what he wanted. So we ordered that too, plus a new mattress. These will be delivered next Tuesday morning to the new house.
We had a look at dining room chairs, too. So many variations on wooden chairs, with or without built-in cushioning, lots of different prices. The ones we currently have are getting very scruffy, but it's not urgent to replace them yet. We'll wait awhile and think about it.
As I looked at them, I suddenly felt as if I were in the middle of TheSims buying furniture for a newly-created house! I haven't even played the game for about four months...
Then we went to CYTA, the phone company, to ask if we could transfer our phone number to the new house. No problem, said the girl. Whether or not it's a problem apparently depends on who you see, since we've heard from other people that numbers can't always be taken to different districts. Perhaps it's because we're only moving a kilometre away, although it's not technically in the same area of Larnaka.
Could they do it next week, we asked? Preferably Tuesday. Yes, said the girl. What happens is they'll disconnect us on Monday, and then we'll be reconnected in either one or two days. No problem as far as the phone is concerned - we don't use it much anyway, and since we'll be doing the house completion and deeds transfer on Monday, and more decorating and receiving deliveries on Tuesday, it doesn't matter at all that there won't be a phone working. Richard and Tim have mobiles anyway.
The only problem is that our Internet connection will also be closed on Monday, for up to two days. Gulp. Of course I wouldn't expect to have much time for email or anything else, while moving, but it's nice to sit down for half an hour to read and write. Ah well. I expect we'll survive. If withdrawal symptoms are too much, we could always go to Richard's office.
Whether or not we will correctly be connected by Wednesday remains to be seen. CYTA are not renowned for either speed or efficiency in such matters.
Finally we went to our favourite paint shop, a Crown dealer. We needed a set of stepladders (the one in this house belongs to the landlady, and is rather rickety). There were three possibilities, so that was easy. Then we looked at paints. So much choice. Dan hadn't let us know what he wanted for his room, so we left that for now. We would like to paint everywhere before moving the furniture in, but it may not be possible.
So we chose a pale blue for our room, a very pale apricot for the living room, a darker version of apricot for Tim's room, and a kind of pale golden yellow for the dining room. I doubt if we'll do that much in one weekend, and we can always choose more on Monday if we do. Tim won't be here to help - he goes away with the inter-church youth group for their annual camp in the mountains on Friday morning, and gets back Monday evening.
If only it were as simple as TheSims... an instant click with the chosen colour, and the wall is complete!
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
Eight days until we move...
.. we hope!
Over the weekend we looked at our Cyprus bank account online, and discovered that the money from the UK had been transferred. So yesterday, Richard went back to the places we had decided to buy appliances from in Larnaka, and ordered a dishwasher, a new washing machine for upstairs (our current one will go in the downstairs guest apartment), a large upright freezer for upstairs (so we can leave that to get cold for 24 hours before moving things from our freezer here, which will go in the guest flat) and a television. To be delivered on Monday.
Since we saw that the vendors have already moved out, and could probably clear the last of their bits and pieces in a day or less, Richard also phoned the estate agent to ask if they wanted the completion date to be earlier than Friday, since we'd like it as soon as possible. We had originally planned to do the major move on Saturday 8th July, giving us a week to paint the house, but Richard has been asked to provide PA for a wedding that day. When we asked various friends who had offered to help, Wednesday 5th suited them just as well. Tim and some of his strong youth group friends will be here then (they're away camping in the mountains for the next two weekends) and as the weather gets hotter we're anxious to move as soon as possible into somewhere air conditioned!
Last night we made a start on packing the kitchen. Not easy, since there are a lot of breakable things (like glasses) and the crockery is pretty heavy. So large boxes - all we have left - are not much good. We did manage to pack one box with baking pans and other bits and pieces, and another with plastics, and general clutter from the top of the fridge. We also threw out some junk that was hiding at the back of a cupboard, including an ancient metal toaster with an old-fashioned cable and plug, which neither of us can remember ever having seen before!
This morning the estate agent phoned.
She said the vendor doesn't yet have the last piece of paperwork he needs to prove he has cleared all his debts, so completion will have to be on Monday. In Cyprus, instead of lawyers dealing with this final stage, the procedure is that both buyer and seller go together to the Land Registry office, where the solicitor has already lodged the contract. The seller then had to give proof that he is solvent and has no outstanding debts, and that he is the legitimate owner of the house and deeds. We then have to give a bank draft with the balance of the house payment to the vendor, witnessed by the land registry people; we have to give another bank draft to the land registry office, and they will give us the deeds.
Some people go ahead and move in without this final stage, either because the vendor has difficulty getting rid of all his debts, or because there's a problem with the deeds, or because they don't want to have to pay the extra sum for deed transfer (it's nearly £5,000 on our house, more on an expensive one, so it's a big amount). Then sometimes they wait months, even years for the deed transfer to happen. Until it does, they're not the legal owners. Our lawyer here advised us not to pay anything more until we got to completion date, including transfer of deeds, and the vendor was happy with that as he wanted to do it all properly.
He knows that we want to paint before moving, so he's said he will give us keys to the house on Saturday moring at 8am and from that point it's ours to do with whatever we like. So that's encouraging; we just hope the delay until Monday for the deed transfer won't go on even longer. I'm sure the vendor hopes the same!
Of course it means we'll have to delay our appliance delivery which was due to come on Monday morning. We're told it could take half a day for the land registry people to sort out the paperwork, and we have to wait there until it's all done.
We thought it was all going remarkably smoothly. I suppose there had to be SOME snag here. If this is the only problem, we shall be very thankful!
This afternoon we bought yet more items for the new house. Some friends, who arrived in Cyprus the same time we did (October 1997) are returning to their home country in just under a month. So they're selling their furniture and household items. We enquired about two dark wood bookcases on the list, and went over to look at them. They were exactly what we wanted, a type difficult to find in Cyprus. Our friends bought them from some other folk, who bought them originally at Ikea in France. There is rumoured to be an Ikea starting in Cyprus next year, but we don't want to wait that long for nice wooden bookcases, so were delighted to find some readily available, and inexpensive!
We also bought four ceiling fans from our friends, a small desk that Tim wants for his room (since his current heavy desk will go in the 'music room'), an American style 'hide-a-bed' (sofa bed) which will be perfect in our guest flat, and a nice-looking coat rack, which will replace the ancient and ugly one we have now. They'll bring these things to our new house some time next week.
We're trying to use up some of the leftovers from the freezer this week - it's so hot and sticky I don't feel like serious cooking anyway. Tim is busy every evening as a visiting team is organising activities every evening for the youth group. So he's eating early on his own - and simply heating up something from the freezer is quick and easy.
Over the weekend we looked at our Cyprus bank account online, and discovered that the money from the UK had been transferred. So yesterday, Richard went back to the places we had decided to buy appliances from in Larnaka, and ordered a dishwasher, a new washing machine for upstairs (our current one will go in the downstairs guest apartment), a large upright freezer for upstairs (so we can leave that to get cold for 24 hours before moving things from our freezer here, which will go in the guest flat) and a television. To be delivered on Monday.
Since we saw that the vendors have already moved out, and could probably clear the last of their bits and pieces in a day or less, Richard also phoned the estate agent to ask if they wanted the completion date to be earlier than Friday, since we'd like it as soon as possible. We had originally planned to do the major move on Saturday 8th July, giving us a week to paint the house, but Richard has been asked to provide PA for a wedding that day. When we asked various friends who had offered to help, Wednesday 5th suited them just as well. Tim and some of his strong youth group friends will be here then (they're away camping in the mountains for the next two weekends) and as the weather gets hotter we're anxious to move as soon as possible into somewhere air conditioned!
Last night we made a start on packing the kitchen. Not easy, since there are a lot of breakable things (like glasses) and the crockery is pretty heavy. So large boxes - all we have left - are not much good. We did manage to pack one box with baking pans and other bits and pieces, and another with plastics, and general clutter from the top of the fridge. We also threw out some junk that was hiding at the back of a cupboard, including an ancient metal toaster with an old-fashioned cable and plug, which neither of us can remember ever having seen before!
This morning the estate agent phoned.
She said the vendor doesn't yet have the last piece of paperwork he needs to prove he has cleared all his debts, so completion will have to be on Monday. In Cyprus, instead of lawyers dealing with this final stage, the procedure is that both buyer and seller go together to the Land Registry office, where the solicitor has already lodged the contract. The seller then had to give proof that he is solvent and has no outstanding debts, and that he is the legitimate owner of the house and deeds. We then have to give a bank draft with the balance of the house payment to the vendor, witnessed by the land registry people; we have to give another bank draft to the land registry office, and they will give us the deeds.
Some people go ahead and move in without this final stage, either because the vendor has difficulty getting rid of all his debts, or because there's a problem with the deeds, or because they don't want to have to pay the extra sum for deed transfer (it's nearly £5,000 on our house, more on an expensive one, so it's a big amount). Then sometimes they wait months, even years for the deed transfer to happen. Until it does, they're not the legal owners. Our lawyer here advised us not to pay anything more until we got to completion date, including transfer of deeds, and the vendor was happy with that as he wanted to do it all properly.
He knows that we want to paint before moving, so he's said he will give us keys to the house on Saturday moring at 8am and from that point it's ours to do with whatever we like. So that's encouraging; we just hope the delay until Monday for the deed transfer won't go on even longer. I'm sure the vendor hopes the same!
Of course it means we'll have to delay our appliance delivery which was due to come on Monday morning. We're told it could take half a day for the land registry people to sort out the paperwork, and we have to wait there until it's all done.
We thought it was all going remarkably smoothly. I suppose there had to be SOME snag here. If this is the only problem, we shall be very thankful!
This afternoon we bought yet more items for the new house. Some friends, who arrived in Cyprus the same time we did (October 1997) are returning to their home country in just under a month. So they're selling their furniture and household items. We enquired about two dark wood bookcases on the list, and went over to look at them. They were exactly what we wanted, a type difficult to find in Cyprus. Our friends bought them from some other folk, who bought them originally at Ikea in France. There is rumoured to be an Ikea starting in Cyprus next year, but we don't want to wait that long for nice wooden bookcases, so were delighted to find some readily available, and inexpensive!
We also bought four ceiling fans from our friends, a small desk that Tim wants for his room (since his current heavy desk will go in the 'music room'), an American style 'hide-a-bed' (sofa bed) which will be perfect in our guest flat, and a nice-looking coat rack, which will replace the ancient and ugly one we have now. They'll bring these things to our new house some time next week.
We're trying to use up some of the leftovers from the freezer this week - it's so hot and sticky I don't feel like serious cooking anyway. Tim is busy every evening as a visiting team is organising activities every evening for the youth group. So he's eating early on his own - and simply heating up something from the freezer is quick and easy.
Sunday, June 25, 2006
A Midsummer Night's Dream in Kourium
Kurium is one of the best-known tourists spots in Cyprus, complete with an ancient amphitheatre and some quite well-preserved mosaics and parts of old temples. When we first moved out here, nearly nine years ago, there was an annual Shakespeare performance in the amphitheatre, and we went to see a couple of them.
A few years ago Kurium was closed for a lengthy time, for renovations. I'm not sure when it re-opened, but for various reasons we had not been back since the re-opening, partly because it's around an hour's journey away and many of our guests have been already.
But this year, our church house group decided to go and see 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' which is this year's production, and booked tickets for Saturday night. Trying to sort out the logistics of getting twelve people there in the minimum of cars took an unbelievable twenty minutes of our group on Friday.. but we all got there, about half an hour before it was due to start.
We were impressed to see that it seemed very well-organised, with stewards telling us where to park, and a shuttle bus taking car passengers up the hill. The amphitheatre isn't that far from the entrance - about a ten-minute walk - but at 7.30pm it was quite warm and humid, and we didn't want arrive hot and sticky.
There's a new visitor centre, the mosaics have been covered to keep them away from the sun, and there are safety guards at the edges of the amphitheatre. All very tastefully done. We were impressed.
We found seats, armed with cushions (sitting on stone for lengthy periods is NOT recommended so we had brought our own - but could have hired some at the entrance) and immediately loved the look of the set: mainly green, with a trampoline disguised as a pond.
The tickets said that the play would begin at 8.00pm prompt... we wondered if it really would, but were not surprised that it started at 8 o'clock Cyprus time, ie about 20 minutes late. A couple of people were adjusting lights at the last moment, so perhaps there were technical problems.
When it started, the amphitheatre only seemed around half-full, but more people drifted in even after the opening. It probably seats around 3,000 or more at full capacity, so even half-full there was still quite an audience.
The acting was not as brilliant as that in the play we saw on Thursday, but then it was not a professional cast. The main characters did well, including some who did not have English as a first language, and we thought the costumes excellent. It was certainly much more colourful and visual than 'As you Like it'.
After the opening scene in which Hermia is ordered to marry Demetrius, or die, there's humour in the form of some village workmen planning a play. Bottom the weaver was superbly cast, and really carried much of the show. The man cast as Thisbe in the workmen's play was also very good.
It's a story I know well - we must have studied it at some point in my secondary school days, since there were three or four speeches which I found I could recite in my head almost word perfectly along with the cast, much to my surprise. The amphitheatre setting meant that sound carried well, so even the more quietly-spoken members of the cast could easily be heard.
Some children from a dance and theatre school played the parts of fairies, well-choreographed and confident, using the trampoline effectively to give the impression of flying on and off stage. Unfortunately by the time they appeared, it was getting dark and photographs of movement from a distance, with longish exposure don't really work.
Oberon and Titania, King and Queen of the fairies, were clear and quite imposing, but perhaps the star of the show - or sharing the honours with Bottom - was Puck, played by someone who looked and sounded like a teenager. He gave exactly the right impression of a slightly mischievous sprite, with constant movement and a lot of humour.
All in all, very impressive.
Apparently 24th June is Misummer's Day, or so one of our friends told us. I thought it was June 21st, but she told me that's the first day of summer. By that reckoning, June 27th should be the last day of summer, but while the UK sometimes has little more than a week of true summer weather, we're only just at the start in Cyprus. By the time the play finished, around 11pm, the air temperature was pleasantly cool (around 20C/68F) although rather sticky. This time we did not wait for shuttle buses - we could have queued for hours - but walked back to the cars. Downhill at night was no problem.
I was almost asleep on my feet by the time we finally got home, and almost freaked when I discovered I was sharing the bathroom with the first live cockroach of the year. Ugh. I had seen three dead ones in the house in the last couple of weeks, but those are easily dealt with. This one must have got in the window while we were out. Thankfully, Richard dealt with it.
A few years ago Kurium was closed for a lengthy time, for renovations. I'm not sure when it re-opened, but for various reasons we had not been back since the re-opening, partly because it's around an hour's journey away and many of our guests have been already.
But this year, our church house group decided to go and see 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' which is this year's production, and booked tickets for Saturday night. Trying to sort out the logistics of getting twelve people there in the minimum of cars took an unbelievable twenty minutes of our group on Friday.. but we all got there, about half an hour before it was due to start.
We were impressed to see that it seemed very well-organised, with stewards telling us where to park, and a shuttle bus taking car passengers up the hill. The amphitheatre isn't that far from the entrance - about a ten-minute walk - but at 7.30pm it was quite warm and humid, and we didn't want arrive hot and sticky.
There's a new visitor centre, the mosaics have been covered to keep them away from the sun, and there are safety guards at the edges of the amphitheatre. All very tastefully done. We were impressed.
We found seats, armed with cushions (sitting on stone for lengthy periods is NOT recommended so we had brought our own - but could have hired some at the entrance) and immediately loved the look of the set: mainly green, with a trampoline disguised as a pond.
The tickets said that the play would begin at 8.00pm prompt... we wondered if it really would, but were not surprised that it started at 8 o'clock Cyprus time, ie about 20 minutes late. A couple of people were adjusting lights at the last moment, so perhaps there were technical problems.
When it started, the amphitheatre only seemed around half-full, but more people drifted in even after the opening. It probably seats around 3,000 or more at full capacity, so even half-full there was still quite an audience.
The acting was not as brilliant as that in the play we saw on Thursday, but then it was not a professional cast. The main characters did well, including some who did not have English as a first language, and we thought the costumes excellent. It was certainly much more colourful and visual than 'As you Like it'.
After the opening scene in which Hermia is ordered to marry Demetrius, or die, there's humour in the form of some village workmen planning a play. Bottom the weaver was superbly cast, and really carried much of the show. The man cast as Thisbe in the workmen's play was also very good.
It's a story I know well - we must have studied it at some point in my secondary school days, since there were three or four speeches which I found I could recite in my head almost word perfectly along with the cast, much to my surprise. The amphitheatre setting meant that sound carried well, so even the more quietly-spoken members of the cast could easily be heard. Some children from a dance and theatre school played the parts of fairies, well-choreographed and confident, using the trampoline effectively to give the impression of flying on and off stage. Unfortunately by the time they appeared, it was getting dark and photographs of movement from a distance, with longish exposure don't really work.
Oberon and Titania, King and Queen of the fairies, were clear and quite imposing, but perhaps the star of the show - or sharing the honours with Bottom - was Puck, played by someone who looked and sounded like a teenager. He gave exactly the right impression of a slightly mischievous sprite, with constant movement and a lot of humour.
All in all, very impressive.
Apparently 24th June is Misummer's Day, or so one of our friends told us. I thought it was June 21st, but she told me that's the first day of summer. By that reckoning, June 27th should be the last day of summer, but while the UK sometimes has little more than a week of true summer weather, we're only just at the start in Cyprus. By the time the play finished, around 11pm, the air temperature was pleasantly cool (around 20C/68F) although rather sticky. This time we did not wait for shuttle buses - we could have queued for hours - but walked back to the cars. Downhill at night was no problem.
I was almost asleep on my feet by the time we finally got home, and almost freaked when I discovered I was sharing the bathroom with the first live cockroach of the year. Ugh. I had seen three dead ones in the house in the last couple of weeks, but those are easily dealt with. This one must have got in the window while we were out. Thankfully, Richard dealt with it.
Friday, June 23, 2006
An afternoon in Nicosia and a cultural evening
It started when we learned that the Bristol Old Vic theatre school were doing a tour in Cyprus, showing Shakespeare's 'As you like it'. Their Larnaka performance is this Saturday, at Theatre Antidote and we would love to have gone to see it. However we had already booked with our church house group to go to Kourium, to see - oddly enough - Shakespeare's 'Midsummer Nights' Dream' on Saturday night.
But, since there was a Thursday night performance of 'As you like it' in Nicosia, we decided to go to that. Tim likes Shakespeare but hasn't seen many live performances (well, neither have we...), the Old Vic company have a great reputation, and Richard and Tim wanted to visit a couple of other places in Nicosia anyway. The prices weren't even particularly high. So after lunch yesterday, we filled up with petrol and drove to Nicosia.
The car air-conditioning is just about working, but it's not very effective and I was partially in the sun all the way, so it's a good thing that it only takes about 40 minutes to get to the outskirts. We wanted to look in the Super Home Centre store first and reckoned it was big enough that it would probably be open all day, rather than closing for a couple of hours over lunchtime for siesta, as most shops do. Sure enough, it was open so we spent half an hour wandering round. Unfortunately there's something about the lighting in that shop that makes me feel queasy after more than about twenty minutes, so we didn't hang around.
We were hoping they might have some good beds - we've promised Tim a new bed when we move house -but the choice was limited. Nor did they have any bookcases other than veneered plastic-looking ones, and rattan - attractive, but not very big, and the cats love to sharpen their claws on rattan. They didn't have any widescreen TVs, and their general choice of kitchen appliances etc was slightly worse than those in Larnaka. Nor did they have any curtains. We did see some quite nice rugs that were machine washable, and may consider those when we've actually moved, but we didn't buy anything.
Then we went across the car park to another store called Mega-Mart, which turned out to be not very mega at all, although quite interesting. It had an eclectic mixture of ornaments, lighting and furniture, plus kitchen bits and pieces, crockery, and so on. There were some very attractive country style wooden bookcases, but the prices were unbelievably high.
Tim wanted to visit a couple of music shops, as we're considering getting an electronic piano rather than buying the piano we've currently borrowed. He would really like something at concert pitch and has been impressed with some electronic pianos recently. They'll never be quite as nice as a good quality real piano, but then we don't want to pay several thousand pounds! His keyboard is actually good enough for him to do future exams on (it's a full keyboard, fully weighted, touch sensitive, etc) but that's going to live in the 'studio' room in our guest flat, and we'd like a piano of some sort in our main living room. Behringer are apparently bringing out a new electronic piano in a couple of months, which is excellent value, and has an action which Tim particularly likes. However as it's new, he doesn't know what it will sound like or whether he will like the feel of it, so he's considering other options too.
We hunted for the Kawai shop in vain. The address was from a three-year-old Yellow Pages, so perhaps they've moved. We did find Nakas, [NB most of their web-site doesn't work in Firefox, unfortunately] but they were closed for siesta, re-opening at 4pm, and it was only quarter to four when we arrived. We didn't plan to sit around outside in the excessive heat (despite Nicosia being distinctly less humid than Larnaka, it's usually even hotter) so we went on to look for the Mitsubishi showroom to check what they had second-hand, since Richard's looking for a four-wheel drive car to use for work, and also to have a rather better vehicle than our current 17-year-old Lancer.
By then I had already had enough of shopping, so I stayed in the car and read - thankfully I had remembered to pick up the book I was currently reading - while Richard and Tim had a look at what was available. They were pleasantly surprised to find prices much better than they had expected, although there isn't a huge choice of used cars. Once we've moved and settled in to our new house, they may return for a test-drive.
We returned to Nakas, and Tim tried out their least expensive Clavinovas, but wasn't impressed. The better specification ones cost several thousand, so we're not considering those.
Since we still had plenty of time, Richard suggested we look at one of the new indoor shopping centres. After some driving around (Nicosia is a sprawling city, very confusing for visitors) we found it. It looked just like a British indoor shopping centre, even down to a multi-storey car park. Rather a good idea in Cyprus since it meant the car was parked out of the sun! There was a big Orphanides there, where we bought some juice and water, although as it was all on one floor it seemed huge. I prefer the Orphanides in Larnaka where there are three storeys.
Most of the other shops in the centre seemed like typical shopping centre places... SockShop, various small clothing boutiques, a stationer, and so on. Boring. Next-door to Orphanides there was a home furnishings shop, but I couldn't face another shop by that stage. Richard loves shopping even when not planning to buy things (I know this is supposed to be a female trait, but in our family it's the other way around) so he wandered around that, while I sat on a convenient bench and read some more.
The only two places to eat in the centre were McDonalds (which we never go to - ugh) and Pizza Hut, which was tempting - but as Tim is not eating any dairy products, that was no good. So we left and drove for half an hour (how can any city be so huge?!) and found a Goody's. Richard and Tim had club sandwiches with chips (Tim carefully removing his slices of cheese) and I was pleased to find there was a salad bar, so I had a large bowlful with quite a variety including an excellent tuna/pasta salad.
Then we drove to the Russian Cultural Centre, which we found very easily as it's marked on the map, after slight confusion when we saw that it's Greek name was the Russian Political Centre. There was a large foyer with a lot of paintings on the walls and some comfortable chairs. The doors to the theatre opened at 8pm and we were glad to be early, as it meant we could get good seats near the centre. By 8.30, it was pretty full and it only started about five minutes late - not bad for Cyprus!
There was a minimalist set, no backdrop and no curtains at the front of the stage. Twelve actors were involved, most of them taking more than one part. We were entranced almost immediately, and very much enjoyed it. The seats were nowhere near as comfortable as those in Antidote Theatre, but there was a break of about half an hour in the middle, when about half the audience rushed outside to smoke! We were horrified when we first came to Cyprus, to realise how prevalent cigarettes are, but at least they're now banned inside theatres and cinemas.
The second act didn't begin until about ten o'clock, by which time I was pretty tired - I usually get up about 6am, and am NOT a night-owl - but I managed to stay awake. I was somewhat irritated by two people behimd me who started chewing gum during the second act... a disgusting habit, with loud chomping and smacking of lips. So rude in a theatre! I thought it must be teenage boys, and was quite shocked when the play ended, and the house lights came up, to realise it was two nice-looking American ladies who must have been in their sixties! However by covering one of my ears I managed to block out most of the chewing noises and concentrate on the play, which continued to be excellent, including some very well-performed songs and a couple of short basic dance routines.
All in all, highly recommended. There's only one more performance in Cyprus (the one at Theatre Antidote on Saturday) but they may be touring elsewhere. Advance booking recommended.
By the time the play had finished, it was 11.15pm and I was nearly asleep on my feet. I sat in the back of the car and must have dropped off almost at once, since it felt to me as if the journey home took no more than ten minutes!
It occurs to us that we've been out more in the evenings in the past week than we have for many months. Youth group variety night last Friday, music school concert last Saturday, Famagusta service on Sunday, theatre in Nicosia last night, and theatre in Kourium (just beyond Limassol) on Saturday. When we arrived back, Sophia greeted us very noisily, informing us in no uncertain terms that she was NOT impressed at our being out so often, or so late!
But, since there was a Thursday night performance of 'As you like it' in Nicosia, we decided to go to that. Tim likes Shakespeare but hasn't seen many live performances (well, neither have we...), the Old Vic company have a great reputation, and Richard and Tim wanted to visit a couple of other places in Nicosia anyway. The prices weren't even particularly high. So after lunch yesterday, we filled up with petrol and drove to Nicosia.
The car air-conditioning is just about working, but it's not very effective and I was partially in the sun all the way, so it's a good thing that it only takes about 40 minutes to get to the outskirts. We wanted to look in the Super Home Centre store first and reckoned it was big enough that it would probably be open all day, rather than closing for a couple of hours over lunchtime for siesta, as most shops do. Sure enough, it was open so we spent half an hour wandering round. Unfortunately there's something about the lighting in that shop that makes me feel queasy after more than about twenty minutes, so we didn't hang around.
We were hoping they might have some good beds - we've promised Tim a new bed when we move house -but the choice was limited. Nor did they have any bookcases other than veneered plastic-looking ones, and rattan - attractive, but not very big, and the cats love to sharpen their claws on rattan. They didn't have any widescreen TVs, and their general choice of kitchen appliances etc was slightly worse than those in Larnaka. Nor did they have any curtains. We did see some quite nice rugs that were machine washable, and may consider those when we've actually moved, but we didn't buy anything.
Then we went across the car park to another store called Mega-Mart, which turned out to be not very mega at all, although quite interesting. It had an eclectic mixture of ornaments, lighting and furniture, plus kitchen bits and pieces, crockery, and so on. There were some very attractive country style wooden bookcases, but the prices were unbelievably high.
Tim wanted to visit a couple of music shops, as we're considering getting an electronic piano rather than buying the piano we've currently borrowed. He would really like something at concert pitch and has been impressed with some electronic pianos recently. They'll never be quite as nice as a good quality real piano, but then we don't want to pay several thousand pounds! His keyboard is actually good enough for him to do future exams on (it's a full keyboard, fully weighted, touch sensitive, etc) but that's going to live in the 'studio' room in our guest flat, and we'd like a piano of some sort in our main living room. Behringer are apparently bringing out a new electronic piano in a couple of months, which is excellent value, and has an action which Tim particularly likes. However as it's new, he doesn't know what it will sound like or whether he will like the feel of it, so he's considering other options too.
We hunted for the Kawai shop in vain. The address was from a three-year-old Yellow Pages, so perhaps they've moved. We did find Nakas, [NB most of their web-site doesn't work in Firefox, unfortunately] but they were closed for siesta, re-opening at 4pm, and it was only quarter to four when we arrived. We didn't plan to sit around outside in the excessive heat (despite Nicosia being distinctly less humid than Larnaka, it's usually even hotter) so we went on to look for the Mitsubishi showroom to check what they had second-hand, since Richard's looking for a four-wheel drive car to use for work, and also to have a rather better vehicle than our current 17-year-old Lancer.
By then I had already had enough of shopping, so I stayed in the car and read - thankfully I had remembered to pick up the book I was currently reading - while Richard and Tim had a look at what was available. They were pleasantly surprised to find prices much better than they had expected, although there isn't a huge choice of used cars. Once we've moved and settled in to our new house, they may return for a test-drive.
We returned to Nakas, and Tim tried out their least expensive Clavinovas, but wasn't impressed. The better specification ones cost several thousand, so we're not considering those.
Since we still had plenty of time, Richard suggested we look at one of the new indoor shopping centres. After some driving around (Nicosia is a sprawling city, very confusing for visitors) we found it. It looked just like a British indoor shopping centre, even down to a multi-storey car park. Rather a good idea in Cyprus since it meant the car was parked out of the sun! There was a big Orphanides there, where we bought some juice and water, although as it was all on one floor it seemed huge. I prefer the Orphanides in Larnaka where there are three storeys.
Most of the other shops in the centre seemed like typical shopping centre places... SockShop, various small clothing boutiques, a stationer, and so on. Boring. Next-door to Orphanides there was a home furnishings shop, but I couldn't face another shop by that stage. Richard loves shopping even when not planning to buy things (I know this is supposed to be a female trait, but in our family it's the other way around) so he wandered around that, while I sat on a convenient bench and read some more.
The only two places to eat in the centre were McDonalds (which we never go to - ugh) and Pizza Hut, which was tempting - but as Tim is not eating any dairy products, that was no good. So we left and drove for half an hour (how can any city be so huge?!) and found a Goody's. Richard and Tim had club sandwiches with chips (Tim carefully removing his slices of cheese) and I was pleased to find there was a salad bar, so I had a large bowlful with quite a variety including an excellent tuna/pasta salad.
Then we drove to the Russian Cultural Centre, which we found very easily as it's marked on the map, after slight confusion when we saw that it's Greek name was the Russian Political Centre. There was a large foyer with a lot of paintings on the walls and some comfortable chairs. The doors to the theatre opened at 8pm and we were glad to be early, as it meant we could get good seats near the centre. By 8.30, it was pretty full and it only started about five minutes late - not bad for Cyprus!
There was a minimalist set, no backdrop and no curtains at the front of the stage. Twelve actors were involved, most of them taking more than one part. We were entranced almost immediately, and very much enjoyed it. The seats were nowhere near as comfortable as those in Antidote Theatre, but there was a break of about half an hour in the middle, when about half the audience rushed outside to smoke! We were horrified when we first came to Cyprus, to realise how prevalent cigarettes are, but at least they're now banned inside theatres and cinemas.
The second act didn't begin until about ten o'clock, by which time I was pretty tired - I usually get up about 6am, and am NOT a night-owl - but I managed to stay awake. I was somewhat irritated by two people behimd me who started chewing gum during the second act... a disgusting habit, with loud chomping and smacking of lips. So rude in a theatre! I thought it must be teenage boys, and was quite shocked when the play ended, and the house lights came up, to realise it was two nice-looking American ladies who must have been in their sixties! However by covering one of my ears I managed to block out most of the chewing noises and concentrate on the play, which continued to be excellent, including some very well-performed songs and a couple of short basic dance routines.
All in all, highly recommended. There's only one more performance in Cyprus (the one at Theatre Antidote on Saturday) but they may be touring elsewhere. Advance booking recommended.
By the time the play had finished, it was 11.15pm and I was nearly asleep on my feet. I sat in the back of the car and must have dropped off almost at once, since it felt to me as if the journey home took no more than ten minutes!
It occurs to us that we've been out more in the evenings in the past week than we have for many months. Youth group variety night last Friday, music school concert last Saturday, Famagusta service on Sunday, theatre in Nicosia last night, and theatre in Kourium (just beyond Limassol) on Saturday. When we arrived back, Sophia greeted us very noisily, informing us in no uncertain terms that she was NOT impressed at our being out so often, or so late!
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
Encouraged about the new house
We're sure there will be snags of some sort with the new house, but so far things have been encouraging. We set the financial transfer going on Friday when the exchange rate was about the best it has been in the past few months. The money should arrive in our Cyprus account tomorrow or Friday. Our solicitor here said that we now have the official approval to buy (basically a rubber-stamp for Europeans, but the application still has to be made) and he was collecting the paperwork today.
This afternoon we went to see the house again, to take measurements for curtains, and so that Tim could decide which bedroom he wanted. We were also interested to know if the owners had made a start on packing! We were pleasantly surprised to see that they've already moved out - all the main furniture has gone, there are just odd bits and pieces lying around, recognisable anywhere in the world as the detritus of moving. They could probably finish in a couple of days if necessary, so the end of next week should be fine. They've had problems with their new house - difficulties with planning, and - as ever in this country - everything taking much longer than promised. The guy was feeling very frustrated about it. His English is basic, but we were impressed at how well he managed to communicate in the absence of a translator. He showed Richard all the technical parts of the house - power points, the gas that powers the central heating, the arial sockets for the TVs and satellites, the pump that enables good pressure in the upstairs bathroom, and so on. He's clearly done everything to a very high standard.
With no furniture, the house did look much in need of painting, but we had planned to do that anyway. We're not entirely sure where all our furniture is going, since when studying the plans we had quite forgotten about the central heating radiators in every room! However we won't need to use those for a few months.
It feels very odd to think we'll soon be making our home in a new neighbourhood. The upstairs two storeys are less than 20 years old, so it's probably the most modern house we've ever lived in, and potentially one of the nicest. Tim thinks it's quite amusing that at this stage in our lives we've moving to a seven-bedroomed house... although one of the rooms he's counting as a bedroom is going to be my study, and another will be the music studio. Of course he has a point, but we'll only really be using the upstairs house, which has three bedrooms (plus the study). Also we hope to have more guests when there's the entire downstairs two-bedroomed flat available.
It all seems more real, somehow, and a little scary.
This afternoon we went to see the house again, to take measurements for curtains, and so that Tim could decide which bedroom he wanted. We were also interested to know if the owners had made a start on packing! We were pleasantly surprised to see that they've already moved out - all the main furniture has gone, there are just odd bits and pieces lying around, recognisable anywhere in the world as the detritus of moving. They could probably finish in a couple of days if necessary, so the end of next week should be fine. They've had problems with their new house - difficulties with planning, and - as ever in this country - everything taking much longer than promised. The guy was feeling very frustrated about it. His English is basic, but we were impressed at how well he managed to communicate in the absence of a translator. He showed Richard all the technical parts of the house - power points, the gas that powers the central heating, the arial sockets for the TVs and satellites, the pump that enables good pressure in the upstairs bathroom, and so on. He's clearly done everything to a very high standard.
With no furniture, the house did look much in need of painting, but we had planned to do that anyway. We're not entirely sure where all our furniture is going, since when studying the plans we had quite forgotten about the central heating radiators in every room! However we won't need to use those for a few months.
It feels very odd to think we'll soon be making our home in a new neighbourhood. The upstairs two storeys are less than 20 years old, so it's probably the most modern house we've ever lived in, and potentially one of the nicest. Tim thinks it's quite amusing that at this stage in our lives we've moving to a seven-bedroomed house... although one of the rooms he's counting as a bedroom is going to be my study, and another will be the music studio. Of course he has a point, but we'll only really be using the upstairs house, which has three bedrooms (plus the study). Also we hope to have more guests when there's the entire downstairs two-bedroomed flat available.
It all seems more real, somehow, and a little scary.
Tuesday, June 20, 2006
Heat, more packing, and music exams
Summer really does seem to be here now. Over thirty degrees in the shade, mid-morning, and (worse) becoming sticky too. I'm very thankful that we seem to be well over half-way through our packing, even though Richard has done most of the work! I think we're going to be doing an hour per day now, rather than two, and I've quite lost track of which day I'm on. I suppose the plans and the first ten days were the most significant, anyway.
Yesterday Richard cleared some of the grey metal shelving in the corridor outside our kitchen, where we keep tools, gardening stuff, the vacuum cleaner, painting equipment, barbecue bits and pieces... and, of course, other random clutter which has nowhere else to go. We threw out an entire bin-bag of almost-empty paint tins. Yes, I know, if we were in the UK they'd have to go to a special paint-tin collection place, but such a thing doesn't happen here. Recycling and separation of waste is almost unknown.
We also packed a box with Tim's winter clothes - or most of them, anyway. He did remember to keep aside sufficient for the youth group camp at the end of the month. This takes place in the Troodos mountains, where temperatures can be quite chilly in the evenings.
I sorted out another three medium-sized boxes of unnecessary old paperwork for our friends to take to the paper recycling in Dhekelia (the British army base.. hence why recycling is popular there) and this morning Tim and I sorted out the large collection of stuff which had accumulated in the base of his sofa. Initially it was knitting wools and sewing materials, but he seemed also to have acquired outgrown underwear and pyjamas, and tiny scraps of material that could never be used for anything. There was also a fair amount of Lego, a few pencils, and other bits of random clutter. We rescued the useful items and the rest went in a couple of large black bin-liners to be thrown.
Tim took his first singing exam today. Only Grade 1, but then he only started singing lessons in November last year. As a child he sang in a children's choir but it's taken a long time for his voice to settle as a teenager, and he's really enjoying learning to train it. Currently his range is 'baritone' although he hopes to sing tenor eventually. He wasn't particularly nervous about the exam, since he had already been doing Grade 3 level sight-singing, and Grade 5 level aural training, and knew his pieces well. He does sometimes have trouble with 'glue ear' which impairs his hearing, but has given up dairy products in the past couple of months, with remarkable results. He's been particularly conscientious about avoiding every trace of cow's milk products for the past fortnight, and his hearing was fine today.
He said, when he got home, that he was probably the most relaxed person in the building! All the teachers were stressed, knowing their students would be examined and having to calm them down or cheer them up as appropriate. The schedule was running late by the time Tim got there, and after a few minutes a girl with a saxophone emerged in floods of tears. He eventually discovered that there had been some mistake: she was expecting to take Grade 4 classical saxophone, and the examiner was expecting to test her in Grade 6 jazz saxophone! There had been some mix-up in the UK (where the examiner comes from) so this poor girl had to cancel the exam. The next girl, a pianist, also emerged from the examining room in tears, so Tim began to worry that the examiner was strict and unfriendly, or asking difficult questions.
However, he said it was fine. His teacher (who accompanied him) apparently made a few mistakes on the piano but said that Tim was note-perfect on all his three prepared songs, so that's encouraging. Obviously they don't just judge on the accuracy of the notes, but it's a start. He said his sight-singing question was very easy (basically just a scale!) and he thinks he got most of the aural questions correct, other than fluffing the last one - which he realised, as he finished, but didn't mention.
So now he's at the piano, practising scales (which he finds tedious) as he's doing the Grade 5 piano exam tomorrow. He plays several pieces at a higher level than this, but the discipline required for exams is quite exact, and he's not the most disciplined of people. Indeed, as I typed this last paragraph he got completely distracted from exam preparation and started playing some of his favourite John Rutter music...
Yesterday Richard cleared some of the grey metal shelving in the corridor outside our kitchen, where we keep tools, gardening stuff, the vacuum cleaner, painting equipment, barbecue bits and pieces... and, of course, other random clutter which has nowhere else to go. We threw out an entire bin-bag of almost-empty paint tins. Yes, I know, if we were in the UK they'd have to go to a special paint-tin collection place, but such a thing doesn't happen here. Recycling and separation of waste is almost unknown.
We also packed a box with Tim's winter clothes - or most of them, anyway. He did remember to keep aside sufficient for the youth group camp at the end of the month. This takes place in the Troodos mountains, where temperatures can be quite chilly in the evenings.
I sorted out another three medium-sized boxes of unnecessary old paperwork for our friends to take to the paper recycling in Dhekelia (the British army base.. hence why recycling is popular there) and this morning Tim and I sorted out the large collection of stuff which had accumulated in the base of his sofa. Initially it was knitting wools and sewing materials, but he seemed also to have acquired outgrown underwear and pyjamas, and tiny scraps of material that could never be used for anything. There was also a fair amount of Lego, a few pencils, and other bits of random clutter. We rescued the useful items and the rest went in a couple of large black bin-liners to be thrown.
Tim took his first singing exam today. Only Grade 1, but then he only started singing lessons in November last year. As a child he sang in a children's choir but it's taken a long time for his voice to settle as a teenager, and he's really enjoying learning to train it. Currently his range is 'baritone' although he hopes to sing tenor eventually. He wasn't particularly nervous about the exam, since he had already been doing Grade 3 level sight-singing, and Grade 5 level aural training, and knew his pieces well. He does sometimes have trouble with 'glue ear' which impairs his hearing, but has given up dairy products in the past couple of months, with remarkable results. He's been particularly conscientious about avoiding every trace of cow's milk products for the past fortnight, and his hearing was fine today.
He said, when he got home, that he was probably the most relaxed person in the building! All the teachers were stressed, knowing their students would be examined and having to calm them down or cheer them up as appropriate. The schedule was running late by the time Tim got there, and after a few minutes a girl with a saxophone emerged in floods of tears. He eventually discovered that there had been some mistake: she was expecting to take Grade 4 classical saxophone, and the examiner was expecting to test her in Grade 6 jazz saxophone! There had been some mix-up in the UK (where the examiner comes from) so this poor girl had to cancel the exam. The next girl, a pianist, also emerged from the examining room in tears, so Tim began to worry that the examiner was strict and unfriendly, or asking difficult questions.
However, he said it was fine. His teacher (who accompanied him) apparently made a few mistakes on the piano but said that Tim was note-perfect on all his three prepared songs, so that's encouraging. Obviously they don't just judge on the accuracy of the notes, but it's a start. He said his sight-singing question was very easy (basically just a scale!) and he thinks he got most of the aural questions correct, other than fluffing the last one - which he realised, as he finished, but didn't mention.
So now he's at the piano, practising scales (which he finds tedious) as he's doing the Grade 5 piano exam tomorrow. He plays several pieces at a higher level than this, but the discipline required for exams is quite exact, and he's not the most disciplined of people. Indeed, as I typed this last paragraph he got completely distracted from exam preparation and started playing some of his favourite John Rutter music...
Sunday, June 18, 2006
A trip to the North
Since we seem to be over half-way through the packing, we didn't do much more on Sunday. Instead we sorted through a lot of old paperwork, retrieving the few important receipts and other items which we needed to keep, and putting all the rest for recycling. Richard packed some more of his tools, and I packed a box of empty box files and jiffy bags.
In the afternoon the three of us had agreed with some friends from our housegroup to drive to Famagusta, in the North of Cyprus, to attend a lively mostly African Anglican church whose (English) minister we know. The service starts at 5,30 approximately (African time is even more flexible than Cyprus time!) and the journey is about 45 minutes, so we left in a convoy of three cars at 4.30pm. Despite living here over eight years, I had never before been to Famagusta. It's only in the past few years that it has become relatively easy to visit the North, but as the closest checkpoints are three-quarters of an hour away, it's quite a drive, so not something we would tend to do often.
Unfortunately there was a lengthy stretch of road on which we were all stuck behind a rather slow driver, so by the time we reached the border it was 5.20pm. There was no queue, but since we don't go regularly to the North we had to buy car insurance for the day - a hefty £15! A whole year's insurance for travelling in North Cyprus is only £45; the two other cars with us go more often, and had taken out annual policies. Had we thought about it, we could have squashed into one of the other cars for the extra five minutes' drive on the North side. Oh well. It only took a couple of minutes.
I was interested to see two flags waving at various places around the checkpoint. One was white star and moon with a red background, the other red with white background, exactly the same but in reverse. Apparently one of them is the Turkish flag, the other the flag for North Cyprus.
At least the visas were free - just a routine stamp on a piece of paper for Brits. Although as we bought the insurance, a coach pulled up with 35 passengers, and the driver got in front of us to get all the necessary stamps. Moreoever there were four students who had come in the other cars with us, one from Cameroon and three from Nepal, and their visas took slightly longer. So by the time we finally left the checkpoint, it was about 5.35.
Still, we only had a few minutes' more driving to get to the church, and then a couple of minutes' walk. We got there just before quarter to six. The church was originally Greek Orthodox, and was comandeered when the invasion happened in the North in 1974. It's now owned by the Anglican church, and is a peaceful place. Not that it seemed peaceful when we went in, since there was a fairly loud African singing group accompanied by keyboard and drums, heavily amplified, singing some worship songs for which I simply couldn't work out either the rhythm or the words. Tim wished we had arrived earlier since he loves that kind of music, but as the volume was almost at my pain threshold, I was rather glad we didn't! There was about ten minutes remaining of this music - and then an informal fairly typical Anglican service, with the singing group leading quieter songs from 'Mission Praise'.
We spoke briefly to a couple of people we knew there on the way out, then went with the friends we had come with, to a restaurant, about five minutes' walk away. I was interested to see that Famagusta looks like any tourist resort, with a mixture of old buildings and modern shops and banks. The Northern part of Nicosia (where I have been previously) looks very run-down.
I had expected the restaurant to be inexpensive - where we had been previously in the North, food was extremely good value. We hoped we could buy a sandwich or something, as Tim had cooked us a full roast meal at lunch-time. But, alas, this restaurant had discovered tourism and the ability to charge high tourist prices. It looked lovely - very modern and with good service, and I was impressed that glasses of fresh water were given to everyone at no cost. But we decided to eat when we got home rather than pay over the odds for a large meal we didn't want. Some of our friends had ice cream or other drinks but we didn't stay long.
Returning was quicker - just a couple of minutes at the checkpoint to show our visas and passports, and no slow drivers to delay us. An interesting experience, but I don't think we'll be going often. Some of our friends in Larnaka go to this service a couple of times a month, but driving for nearly an hour to get to church seems rather extreme to us.
In the afternoon the three of us had agreed with some friends from our housegroup to drive to Famagusta, in the North of Cyprus, to attend a lively mostly African Anglican church whose (English) minister we know. The service starts at 5,30 approximately (African time is even more flexible than Cyprus time!) and the journey is about 45 minutes, so we left in a convoy of three cars at 4.30pm. Despite living here over eight years, I had never before been to Famagusta. It's only in the past few years that it has become relatively easy to visit the North, but as the closest checkpoints are three-quarters of an hour away, it's quite a drive, so not something we would tend to do often.
Unfortunately there was a lengthy stretch of road on which we were all stuck behind a rather slow driver, so by the time we reached the border it was 5.20pm. There was no queue, but since we don't go regularly to the North we had to buy car insurance for the day - a hefty £15! A whole year's insurance for travelling in North Cyprus is only £45; the two other cars with us go more often, and had taken out annual policies. Had we thought about it, we could have squashed into one of the other cars for the extra five minutes' drive on the North side. Oh well. It only took a couple of minutes.
I was interested to see two flags waving at various places around the checkpoint. One was white star and moon with a red background, the other red with white background, exactly the same but in reverse. Apparently one of them is the Turkish flag, the other the flag for North Cyprus.
At least the visas were free - just a routine stamp on a piece of paper for Brits. Although as we bought the insurance, a coach pulled up with 35 passengers, and the driver got in front of us to get all the necessary stamps. Moreoever there were four students who had come in the other cars with us, one from Cameroon and three from Nepal, and their visas took slightly longer. So by the time we finally left the checkpoint, it was about 5.35.
Still, we only had a few minutes' more driving to get to the church, and then a couple of minutes' walk. We got there just before quarter to six. The church was originally Greek Orthodox, and was comandeered when the invasion happened in the North in 1974. It's now owned by the Anglican church, and is a peaceful place. Not that it seemed peaceful when we went in, since there was a fairly loud African singing group accompanied by keyboard and drums, heavily amplified, singing some worship songs for which I simply couldn't work out either the rhythm or the words. Tim wished we had arrived earlier since he loves that kind of music, but as the volume was almost at my pain threshold, I was rather glad we didn't! There was about ten minutes remaining of this music - and then an informal fairly typical Anglican service, with the singing group leading quieter songs from 'Mission Praise'.
We spoke briefly to a couple of people we knew there on the way out, then went with the friends we had come with, to a restaurant, about five minutes' walk away. I was interested to see that Famagusta looks like any tourist resort, with a mixture of old buildings and modern shops and banks. The Northern part of Nicosia (where I have been previously) looks very run-down.
I had expected the restaurant to be inexpensive - where we had been previously in the North, food was extremely good value. We hoped we could buy a sandwich or something, as Tim had cooked us a full roast meal at lunch-time. But, alas, this restaurant had discovered tourism and the ability to charge high tourist prices. It looked lovely - very modern and with good service, and I was impressed that glasses of fresh water were given to everyone at no cost. But we decided to eat when we got home rather than pay over the odds for a large meal we didn't want. Some of our friends had ice cream or other drinks but we didn't stay long.
Returning was quicker - just a couple of minutes at the checkpoint to show our visas and passports, and no slow drivers to delay us. An interesting experience, but I don't think we'll be going often. Some of our friends in Larnaka go to this service a couple of times a month, but driving for nearly an hour to get to church seems rather extreme to us.
Music school concert
Although we've been here over eight-and-a-half years, and the boys have done a lot of music in that time, we had never been to a teacher's end-of-year concert or recital. This is because they learned piano from friends, Dan's clarinet teaching was attached to the Larnaka Municipal Band, and Tim's guitar teacher, although attached to a music school, taught him privately. The same was true of Daniel's drum teacher. We went to some municipal band concerts, as well as seeing them marching several times, and also had a few mini-recitals at church or home educators' events, but we thought our days of listening to dozens of students from beginner to advanced, in a lengthy programme, were over.
We were wrong. When Tim started taking singing lessons last September, he did so at a music school. Last night was their end-of-year concert, held at the Municipal Theatre. Not just a random set of music, either, but themed around music performance and musicals through the ages. Tim was singing - of all things! - 'The Hippopotamus Song' by Flanders and Swann (also known as 'Mud, Glorious Mud') as a represenative of the 20th century/jazz era.
We were presented with a very nice-looking printed programme when we arrived, in English and Greek. We did notice a few unfortunate typing mistakes, and were amused to see a beginner pianist billed to perform Beethoven's 'Joy to the World'... which, of course, should have been 'Ode to Joy'. Nevertheless, the overall effect of the programme was very professional.
So was the start of the concert. Chairs and footrests were in place for guitarists, and the curtain drew back to reveal children in appropriate costumes for the baroque/classical era. Adults dressed equally grandly walked in, two by two, and walked around the stage eventually settling in different places awaiting their turns. The first performance was a brilliant violinist playing 'Ave Maria' - possibly the best item of the evening, but then the violinist was in fact the violin teacher, not a student. A piano student was accompanying her.
There was then a nice mixture of beginners and more advanced students, with the vast majority being either guitarists, singers or pianists. Strangely, all the pianists and most of singers were girls, while nearly all the guitarists were boys. As each performer finished, he or she bowed and moved off, then another was announced and moved quickly to his or her place. We were impressed.
Unfortunately, this planning only seemed to go as far as the first half hour. The second section, supposedly romantic/impressionistic music, included - bizarrely - a song from 'The Sound of Music'. Students were no longer dressed in period costume, and no longer on stage in groups, so there were sometimes lengthy gaps between pieces. The curtains seemed to take on a life of their own, opening and closing apparently at random, and there was a computer projected onto the backdrop, showing classic bits of film (without sound) to accompany some of the performances. During the 'Sound of Music' song, part of the film was showed. Unfortunately, although the singer was singing the title song, the film showed the von Trapp children singing 'So long, farewell'. Then there were several times when the Microsoft logo was projected onto the backdrop, even less relevant!
The highlight of the evening was two little girls, who could not have been more than about six years old, dressed in brightly-coloured Russian peasant costumes, doing a little hankerchief dance and song in Russian for the start of the '20th century' section. They were delightful, and one in particular turned around and waved her hanky to the audience on the way out. They probably attracted more applause than any of the other acts!
Tim sang his song confidently, although I doubt if the mainly Cypriot audience really appreciated the words:
We stayed about half an hour longer, particularly enjoying a choral trio and a couple of items from 'Oliver'. However we decided not to stay to the end, and since people were coming and going all the time, and we were at the end of a row anyway, it wasn't difficult to get up and leave.
We were wrong. When Tim started taking singing lessons last September, he did so at a music school. Last night was their end-of-year concert, held at the Municipal Theatre. Not just a random set of music, either, but themed around music performance and musicals through the ages. Tim was singing - of all things! - 'The Hippopotamus Song' by Flanders and Swann (also known as 'Mud, Glorious Mud') as a represenative of the 20th century/jazz era.
We were presented with a very nice-looking printed programme when we arrived, in English and Greek. We did notice a few unfortunate typing mistakes, and were amused to see a beginner pianist billed to perform Beethoven's 'Joy to the World'... which, of course, should have been 'Ode to Joy'. Nevertheless, the overall effect of the programme was very professional.
So was the start of the concert. Chairs and footrests were in place for guitarists, and the curtain drew back to reveal children in appropriate costumes for the baroque/classical era. Adults dressed equally grandly walked in, two by two, and walked around the stage eventually settling in different places awaiting their turns. The first performance was a brilliant violinist playing 'Ave Maria' - possibly the best item of the evening, but then the violinist was in fact the violin teacher, not a student. A piano student was accompanying her.
There was then a nice mixture of beginners and more advanced students, with the vast majority being either guitarists, singers or pianists. Strangely, all the pianists and most of singers were girls, while nearly all the guitarists were boys. As each performer finished, he or she bowed and moved off, then another was announced and moved quickly to his or her place. We were impressed.
Unfortunately, this planning only seemed to go as far as the first half hour. The second section, supposedly romantic/impressionistic music, included - bizarrely - a song from 'The Sound of Music'. Students were no longer dressed in period costume, and no longer on stage in groups, so there were sometimes lengthy gaps between pieces. The curtains seemed to take on a life of their own, opening and closing apparently at random, and there was a computer projected onto the backdrop, showing classic bits of film (without sound) to accompany some of the performances. During the 'Sound of Music' song, part of the film was showed. Unfortunately, although the singer was singing the title song, the film showed the von Trapp children singing 'So long, farewell'. Then there were several times when the Microsoft logo was projected onto the backdrop, even less relevant!
The highlight of the evening was two little girls, who could not have been more than about six years old, dressed in brightly-coloured Russian peasant costumes, doing a little hankerchief dance and song in Russian for the start of the '20th century' section. They were delightful, and one in particular turned around and waved her hanky to the audience on the way out. They probably attracted more applause than any of the other acts!
Tim sang his song confidently, although I doubt if the mainly Cypriot audience really appreciated the words:
We stayed about half an hour longer, particularly enjoying a choral trio and a couple of items from 'Oliver'. However we decided not to stay to the end, and since people were coming and going all the time, and we were at the end of a row anyway, it wasn't difficult to get up and leave.
Packing, day ten
With Friday as a 'day off' packing (sort of...) Saturday was day ten. Amazingly, we seem to have done over half the necessary packing and there are still two weeks to go. What's more, it is taking up less than half the floor space in Dan's room. We won't move furniture, of course. But the boxes are remarkably neat and tidy, and rather less than we had expected.
We were going out in the evening, so spent some of the morning packing yet more book boxes. The majority is now done: all the books on Richard's shelves, and the rest of the family fiction. Only Tim's left to do now. We probably have about 3,000 books altogether so it's been quite a task. No doubt we should get rid of some, but books are the one thing we keep collecting and rarely throw out. Friends borrow them, and we all read them, so I don't think it's a problem.
Richard also packed some of his tools - an ongoing and complex task as they don't really have places to live even in this house, and he's not sure (a) which he might need before moving and (b) which he might need in our first week when the new house is available, before the major moving-day.
He had also decided that we really needed carrying bags for Daniel's drums, to stop them getting damaged and also to protect them from dust etc while they're not being played. Those arrived Saturday morning, and Sophia, naturally, wanted to know what they were after we had put the drums inside:
We were going out in the evening, so spent some of the morning packing yet more book boxes. The majority is now done: all the books on Richard's shelves, and the rest of the family fiction. Only Tim's left to do now. We probably have about 3,000 books altogether so it's been quite a task. No doubt we should get rid of some, but books are the one thing we keep collecting and rarely throw out. Friends borrow them, and we all read them, so I don't think it's a problem.
Richard also packed some of his tools - an ongoing and complex task as they don't really have places to live even in this house, and he's not sure (a) which he might need before moving and (b) which he might need in our first week when the new house is available, before the major moving-day.
He had also decided that we really needed carrying bags for Daniel's drums, to stop them getting damaged and also to protect them from dust etc while they're not being played. Those arrived Saturday morning, and Sophia, naturally, wanted to know what they were after we had put the drums inside:
Youth group variety night, and fun with floodlights...
On Fridays we usually have our church house group here in the evening, so Friday is allocated a non-packing day. However this last Friday the house group was cancelled as the inter-church youth group had their fund-raising variety night. In the past this has been held in the Community Church hall, but it's been crowded and hot, so they decided this year to have it outside on the basketball court.
Richard was providing and running the PA system, so he had to be there by about 4.30:
Since the PA system is sharing Daniel's room with our ever-increasing packing, Richard did tidy up some of the bits and pieces still lying on the floor, and we threw out some junk (yes, real junk like empty boxes which once contained computer software, now defunct...) that we found in Dan's sofa. But we didn't do any real packing on Friday.
Tim was involved (on keyboard) in about half the acts, and singing in three. For some reason his keyboard didn't work properly half an hour before the show started, but (thankfully) began working again eventually. Possibly a problem with one of the cables.
Tim also spent most of the week trying to get the floodlights to work, since it gets dark here shortly after 8pm, even at this time of year, and the event was supposed to start around 7pm with a two-hour programme. The floodlights use halogen bulbs, and last time they were replaced they only lasted about two weeks. Richard thought that perhaps the electrician had touched them with his fingers (even the smallest amount of body oil is apparently death to halogen bulbs) rather than installing them carefully using the wrappings, and tissues to hold them.
Since several requests from other groups to have them fixed got nowhere, Tim got permission to change them himself. He bought one bulb (they're about £3 each so he did want to check that it was the right size before buying six of them) and tried to arrange to meet people who had agreed to help him. The floodlights have to be lowered before they can be changed, and of course it's never a good idea to do electrical work on one's own.
One person had to work unexpectedly, another had to look after a younger sibling, another had to go out... in the end Richard went with Tim on Thursday afternoon, to attempt to change the bulb. By this stage, Tim was very stressed, since the variety night relied on having outdoor lighting available!
Alas, they could not get the cover off the lights. It appeared that the screws were cross-threaded, or perhaps rusted in place. Tim phoned one of the Community Church elders, who said he would get the electrician there to replace the bulbs on Friday morning. The electrician, after all, was the person who should have done them months previously.
By the time the electrician arrived on Friday, it was nearly 5pm. Two hours before the show was due to start. He said the main problem was with the switches, so he replaced some of them. Then he replaced one of the bulbs, and it worked. Alleluia! It wasn't fast, but at least there would be something. He got down the second light. By then it was about 6.30, and he kept stopping to chat to friends. He replaced that bulb too. The show started about 7.15 (which is, of course, 7pm Cyprus time) and the second light was up shortly afterwards.
Then during one of the acts, a third floodlight was lowered, only just missing the backs of some of the audience. Richard watched in bemusement as the electrician put a new bulb in, correctly holding it with some tissues, but WITHOUT switching the electricity off. It lit up and burnt his finger. He noticed that it wasn't in quite correctly. But instead of switching the light off, the electrician grabbed the nearest item to hold the bulb with to move it. Unfortunately, what he grabbed was the plastic that it had been wrapped in. As the bulb was on, and very hot, the plastic melted onto the bulb. So he removed it, and when it had cooled down, started scraping at the plastic with his fingernail!! For some reason he thought that it was only when connected that halogen lights should not be touched....
Around 8pm there was a break for refreshments (in the church hall). We assumed the electrician would lift the third light back when the audience were not around. But no... he came into the hall too and enjoyed sandwiches and cake too. Fair enough, but then he carried on chatting and had to be asked to put the light back and switch them all on since by about 8.20 it was almost pitch dark.
Still, despite all this, the show went extremely well and raised nearly £300 in donations towards the youth camp. There is a lot of emerging talent in the group, who are from 12-18 in age, and from quite a mixture of backgrounds.
Richard was providing and running the PA system, so he had to be there by about 4.30:
Since the PA system is sharing Daniel's room with our ever-increasing packing, Richard did tidy up some of the bits and pieces still lying on the floor, and we threw out some junk (yes, real junk like empty boxes which once contained computer software, now defunct...) that we found in Dan's sofa. But we didn't do any real packing on Friday.
Tim was involved (on keyboard) in about half the acts, and singing in three. For some reason his keyboard didn't work properly half an hour before the show started, but (thankfully) began working again eventually. Possibly a problem with one of the cables.
Tim also spent most of the week trying to get the floodlights to work, since it gets dark here shortly after 8pm, even at this time of year, and the event was supposed to start around 7pm with a two-hour programme. The floodlights use halogen bulbs, and last time they were replaced they only lasted about two weeks. Richard thought that perhaps the electrician had touched them with his fingers (even the smallest amount of body oil is apparently death to halogen bulbs) rather than installing them carefully using the wrappings, and tissues to hold them.
Since several requests from other groups to have them fixed got nowhere, Tim got permission to change them himself. He bought one bulb (they're about £3 each so he did want to check that it was the right size before buying six of them) and tried to arrange to meet people who had agreed to help him. The floodlights have to be lowered before they can be changed, and of course it's never a good idea to do electrical work on one's own.
One person had to work unexpectedly, another had to look after a younger sibling, another had to go out... in the end Richard went with Tim on Thursday afternoon, to attempt to change the bulb. By this stage, Tim was very stressed, since the variety night relied on having outdoor lighting available!
Alas, they could not get the cover off the lights. It appeared that the screws were cross-threaded, or perhaps rusted in place. Tim phoned one of the Community Church elders, who said he would get the electrician there to replace the bulbs on Friday morning. The electrician, after all, was the person who should have done them months previously.
By the time the electrician arrived on Friday, it was nearly 5pm. Two hours before the show was due to start. He said the main problem was with the switches, so he replaced some of them. Then he replaced one of the bulbs, and it worked. Alleluia! It wasn't fast, but at least there would be something. He got down the second light. By then it was about 6.30, and he kept stopping to chat to friends. He replaced that bulb too. The show started about 7.15 (which is, of course, 7pm Cyprus time) and the second light was up shortly afterwards.
Then during one of the acts, a third floodlight was lowered, only just missing the backs of some of the audience. Richard watched in bemusement as the electrician put a new bulb in, correctly holding it with some tissues, but WITHOUT switching the electricity off. It lit up and burnt his finger. He noticed that it wasn't in quite correctly. But instead of switching the light off, the electrician grabbed the nearest item to hold the bulb with to move it. Unfortunately, what he grabbed was the plastic that it had been wrapped in. As the bulb was on, and very hot, the plastic melted onto the bulb. So he removed it, and when it had cooled down, started scraping at the plastic with his fingernail!! For some reason he thought that it was only when connected that halogen lights should not be touched....
Around 8pm there was a break for refreshments (in the church hall). We assumed the electrician would lift the third light back when the audience were not around. But no... he came into the hall too and enjoyed sandwiches and cake too. Fair enough, but then he carried on chatting and had to be asked to put the light back and switch them all on since by about 8.20 it was almost pitch dark.
Still, despite all this, the show went extremely well and raised nearly £300 in donations towards the youth camp. There is a lot of emerging talent in the group, who are from 12-18 in age, and from quite a mixture of backgrounds.
Friday, June 16, 2006
Packing, day nine
Yesterday a friend lent us 24 boxes for packing books. They were a bit smaller than we had expected: each one only took less than a shelf of books. However they were light enough when full that even I can carry them easily. I even packed some of them, and Sophia tried to help. Or hinder... we're never entirely sure which:
We had already packed about six bookcases, and last night's effort did about another four. So that's over half-way with the books now - only another five or so bookcases to go. Today we've borrowed some larger boxes, although as it's the Youth Group variety night, and Richard is doing the PA for it, today is a non-packing day.
Just packing 24 small boxes of books took over an hour. We also did the 'sewing stuff', and combined that with a few other bits and pieces in a largish box. Plus a few random items from our tool shelves. Dan's room is beginning to look rather full:
We had already packed about six bookcases, and last night's effort did about another four. So that's over half-way with the books now - only another five or so bookcases to go. Today we've borrowed some larger boxes, although as it's the Youth Group variety night, and Richard is doing the PA for it, today is a non-packing day.
Just packing 24 small boxes of books took over an hour. We also did the 'sewing stuff', and combined that with a few other bits and pieces in a largish box. Plus a few random items from our tool shelves. Dan's room is beginning to look rather full:
Thursday, June 15, 2006
Busy, busy, busy...
.. no, not me but Tim! He's trying very hard to finish his home education coursework, and has arranged his three final tests tomorrow. Next week he'll have to do some art and watch some science lab-tests on DVD, and he's doing two music exams, but at least there won't be any more written academic tests. In the Autumn he hopes to be starting an 'open learning' theology degree by correspondence, from the University of Gloucestershire, so he'll still be educated at home, but with the end of his high school correspondence course, it's the end of an era. Odd that the end of his school-age home education should correspond with the end of renting this house. And that it's happening only five months after Dan finished his home education and left for a couple of years on the Doulos.
However this isn't all that Tim's doing currently. The inter-church youth group has a camp in the mountains at the end of June, and tomorrow night is doing their annual 'variety night' in aid of some funds towards the camp. For some reason, Tim has ended up the main organiser of this. One of the adult leaders will be the MC, but he's been out of the country until this week. Another of the adult leaders is organising the refreshments. But Tim has been working out the schedule of acts, and seems to be taking part in at least six different items. Simply drawing up a programme on the computer doesn't sound too hard, but he's had to negotiate, and advise. Last night Tim and one of his friends spent about two hours working out what exactly they would be doing. Today one of the younger members of the group was here checking that his song would go with the sound-track (which Tim did something technical to, to enable it to work).
Then there's been a problem with the floodlights in the Community church grounds, where the variety night will be held. Previously these have been replaced by electricians at vast cost, and have then broken again soon afterwards. Probably because the electricians didn't realise that these (halogen) bulbs mustn't be touched by the hands. So Tim has found out where to buy them locally and how to change them. This afternoon he's sorting that out, after going with one of the youth group leaders to order tee-shirts for camp (Tim offered a week or two back to find out where tee-shirts could be printed inexpensively... ) then after doing the lightbulbs, which he hopes will work without problem, he has a singing lesson. Rather important, since his singing exam is next Tuesday. Oh, and the music school where he learns singing is having their summer concert/recital on Saturday evening, and Tim's singing a solo item in that. So that also means a couple of extra rehearsals.
Then this evening, he has the chance of practising for an hour or so on the piano at the music school. He learns privately with a friend at our house, but is taking a piano exam on Wednesday through the music school where he learns singing. It's a good idea to try out an exam piano before the actual exam, and this is the only time he could schedule it.
I feel exhausted just thinking about him out and about in the heat, but although he's rather stressed he seems to be coping. I think he'll be so relieved when the variety night is over that he'll find the music school concert relaxing, and barely worry at all about the exams next week!
However this isn't all that Tim's doing currently. The inter-church youth group has a camp in the mountains at the end of June, and tomorrow night is doing their annual 'variety night' in aid of some funds towards the camp. For some reason, Tim has ended up the main organiser of this. One of the adult leaders will be the MC, but he's been out of the country until this week. Another of the adult leaders is organising the refreshments. But Tim has been working out the schedule of acts, and seems to be taking part in at least six different items. Simply drawing up a programme on the computer doesn't sound too hard, but he's had to negotiate, and advise. Last night Tim and one of his friends spent about two hours working out what exactly they would be doing. Today one of the younger members of the group was here checking that his song would go with the sound-track (which Tim did something technical to, to enable it to work).
Then there's been a problem with the floodlights in the Community church grounds, where the variety night will be held. Previously these have been replaced by electricians at vast cost, and have then broken again soon afterwards. Probably because the electricians didn't realise that these (halogen) bulbs mustn't be touched by the hands. So Tim has found out where to buy them locally and how to change them. This afternoon he's sorting that out, after going with one of the youth group leaders to order tee-shirts for camp (Tim offered a week or two back to find out where tee-shirts could be printed inexpensively... ) then after doing the lightbulbs, which he hopes will work without problem, he has a singing lesson. Rather important, since his singing exam is next Tuesday. Oh, and the music school where he learns singing is having their summer concert/recital on Saturday evening, and Tim's singing a solo item in that. So that also means a couple of extra rehearsals.
Then this evening, he has the chance of practising for an hour or so on the piano at the music school. He learns privately with a friend at our house, but is taking a piano exam on Wednesday through the music school where he learns singing. It's a good idea to try out an exam piano before the actual exam, and this is the only time he could schedule it.
I feel exhausted just thinking about him out and about in the heat, but although he's rather stressed he seems to be coping. I think he'll be so relieved when the variety night is over that he'll find the music school concert relaxing, and barely worry at all about the exams next week!
Packing, day eight
It's getting a bit repetitive, really. We packed another box of clothes last night, sorted out old clothes for painting (which can then be thrown afterwards), and allocated some for a charity shop. We also threw out some ancient and very tatty clothes which Richard had kept for painting already. Like three pairs of holey trainers... he did keep the fourth and least holey to paint in but doesn't need them all. We should really throw out ancient and tatty clothing a little more often!
I sorted and packed some magazines, then went through my 'Sunday School' drawer and put aside most of it for recycling. I seem to have kept everything that wasn't used, much of which isn't relevant at all other than for the specific lessons.
Richard created another box for bits and pieces, then he got down several boxes and other stuff that was on top of our built-in closets. That included a large pile of oil paintings (inherited from my grandmother, who was an artist) which we wrapped in bubble-wrap and then packed in another couple of boxes, along with some large size photographs.
It never seems like we achieve very much, but I suppose it's all progress towards the goal. Eight evenings of packing means we've done at least 16 hours of work, and it's much less stressful to do it over several evenings than two days full-time. Or, more likely, one day at the end!
I sorted and packed some magazines, then went through my 'Sunday School' drawer and put aside most of it for recycling. I seem to have kept everything that wasn't used, much of which isn't relevant at all other than for the specific lessons.
Richard created another box for bits and pieces, then he got down several boxes and other stuff that was on top of our built-in closets. That included a large pile of oil paintings (inherited from my grandmother, who was an artist) which we wrapped in bubble-wrap and then packed in another couple of boxes, along with some large size photographs.
It never seems like we achieve very much, but I suppose it's all progress towards the goal. Eight evenings of packing means we've done at least 16 hours of work, and it's much less stressful to do it over several evenings than two days full-time. Or, more likely, one day at the end!
Wednesday, June 14, 2006
Packing, day seven, plus general moving planning
Richard took the day off yesterday. Monday was actually a public holiday here for Kataklysmos, a kind of hybrid celebration of Greek Orthodox Pentecost (which was on Sunday) and Noah's flood. The sea-front is packed with booths selling junk and people buying it. The weather, thankfully, is a not-too-hot 28-29C (lower 80s in Fahrenheit), much better than the extreme heat of a week ago.
However he couldn't take the day off on Monday, as he had some meetings planned including one with someone about to fly out from the airport. So he took Tuesday instead.
We made a list of things that need to be done related to our move, and items we need to buy for the new house. One vital thing is a freezer. There's no way we can run down the contents of our small freezer before moving, or fit it all in the top of the fridge-freezer. Since our house has a guest flat with its own kitchen, and we always seem to be short of freezer-space, we decided we'd get a large upright (eight-drawer) freezer for the new house and relegate the small (four-drawer) freezer to the guest flat.
So, if we order the new freezer to arrive in the new house after we've bought it but before the main move, we can switch it on to run for 24 hours, then pack all the stuff from our current freezers into cool-boxes with ice packs and drive it all to the new freezer to keep. An advantage of moving only a kilometre away!
So we went to check prices and availability of freezers yesterday afternoon, as well as flat-screen televisions (Richard wants one that's labelled 32 inches, which is apparently 16 inches high and 28 inches wide .. I've no idea why they don't come metric!) and dishwashers, since the main kitchen will have space for one. First we went to Kleima, a huge (by Cyprus standards) showroom with all kinds of random stuff including large and small appliances. We wrote down prices, not really helped by staff who didn't really know what they were talking about.
Then we tried to go to Dalco, a smaller showroom that's mainly electrical appliances. Unfortunately it was closed. We had forgotten that most shops close during the early afternoon in the summer for siesta time. However as Dalco have a good web-site, that didn't matter too much.
Finally we went to a small shop where we've previously bought 'white goods'. Friendly, helpful, and - to my surprise - prices much better than those of Kleima. Only problem being they didn't have any 8-drawer freezers since the demand is apparently very low. However when we got home we discovered that Dalco do have these freezers, and their prices are also much better than those of Kleima. Odd. I would have expected Kleima to be the cheapest.
Richard phoned our solicitor to check if we need to do anything else prior to completion. We don't, so that's good. He tried to phone the estate agent, but she wasn't there. We checked the exchange rate, which we're hoping will get slightly better before we transfer a vast amount of money from the UK to Cyprus. It was up by a small amount. Some day soon we will have to make a decision to go ahead with the exchange... the company we're using, Foreign Currency Direct, were recommended to us by two different people we know and our previous exchange was done efficiently and quickly. They don't charge any commission on large amounts, but they do give slightly less than the day's exchange rate according to Oanda. At present we're holding out for their rate to be better than 0.84, at which point they will do the transfer. But if it doesn't get that good at some point we will have to decide to exchange anyway, and hope it's not the worst rate for a while!
We can't imagine how anybody can 'play' with currencies and the stock exchange, it's so stressful trying to decide what to do and how to get the best rate.
And the packing... again we (mainly Richard) did a couple of hours in the evening. Actually rather more than that, we think. He packed up 'bits and pieces' from the dining room and living room, and two boxes with most of the books from my study. He also packed away the last bits of the hi-fi system, and our airbeds and other camping gear, and various small bags. Then we sorted out the boys' old chemistry set, which is still in very good condition with a fair amount of chemicals remaining, and offered it to a family we know with younger children.
It doesn't sound like much but it took that amount of time. Our friends took the eight boxes of paper we had collected for recycling, so that was good. We wandered around the house wondering why we have so much clutter, and yet it seems to be packing down into a relatively small space. Considering. Richard thinks that everything ought to fit into Dan's room. Not the furniture, of course, but everything we're boxing.
However he couldn't take the day off on Monday, as he had some meetings planned including one with someone about to fly out from the airport. So he took Tuesday instead.
We made a list of things that need to be done related to our move, and items we need to buy for the new house. One vital thing is a freezer. There's no way we can run down the contents of our small freezer before moving, or fit it all in the top of the fridge-freezer. Since our house has a guest flat with its own kitchen, and we always seem to be short of freezer-space, we decided we'd get a large upright (eight-drawer) freezer for the new house and relegate the small (four-drawer) freezer to the guest flat.
So, if we order the new freezer to arrive in the new house after we've bought it but before the main move, we can switch it on to run for 24 hours, then pack all the stuff from our current freezers into cool-boxes with ice packs and drive it all to the new freezer to keep. An advantage of moving only a kilometre away!
So we went to check prices and availability of freezers yesterday afternoon, as well as flat-screen televisions (Richard wants one that's labelled 32 inches, which is apparently 16 inches high and 28 inches wide .. I've no idea why they don't come metric!) and dishwashers, since the main kitchen will have space for one. First we went to Kleima, a huge (by Cyprus standards) showroom with all kinds of random stuff including large and small appliances. We wrote down prices, not really helped by staff who didn't really know what they were talking about.
Then we tried to go to Dalco, a smaller showroom that's mainly electrical appliances. Unfortunately it was closed. We had forgotten that most shops close during the early afternoon in the summer for siesta time. However as Dalco have a good web-site, that didn't matter too much.
Finally we went to a small shop where we've previously bought 'white goods'. Friendly, helpful, and - to my surprise - prices much better than those of Kleima. Only problem being they didn't have any 8-drawer freezers since the demand is apparently very low. However when we got home we discovered that Dalco do have these freezers, and their prices are also much better than those of Kleima. Odd. I would have expected Kleima to be the cheapest.
Richard phoned our solicitor to check if we need to do anything else prior to completion. We don't, so that's good. He tried to phone the estate agent, but she wasn't there. We checked the exchange rate, which we're hoping will get slightly better before we transfer a vast amount of money from the UK to Cyprus. It was up by a small amount. Some day soon we will have to make a decision to go ahead with the exchange... the company we're using, Foreign Currency Direct, were recommended to us by two different people we know and our previous exchange was done efficiently and quickly. They don't charge any commission on large amounts, but they do give slightly less than the day's exchange rate according to Oanda. At present we're holding out for their rate to be better than 0.84, at which point they will do the transfer. But if it doesn't get that good at some point we will have to decide to exchange anyway, and hope it's not the worst rate for a while!
We can't imagine how anybody can 'play' with currencies and the stock exchange, it's so stressful trying to decide what to do and how to get the best rate.
And the packing... again we (mainly Richard) did a couple of hours in the evening. Actually rather more than that, we think. He packed up 'bits and pieces' from the dining room and living room, and two boxes with most of the books from my study. He also packed away the last bits of the hi-fi system, and our airbeds and other camping gear, and various small bags. Then we sorted out the boys' old chemistry set, which is still in very good condition with a fair amount of chemicals remaining, and offered it to a family we know with younger children.
It doesn't sound like much but it took that amount of time. Our friends took the eight boxes of paper we had collected for recycling, so that was good. We wandered around the house wondering why we have so much clutter, and yet it seems to be packing down into a relatively small space. Considering. Richard thinks that everything ought to fit into Dan's room. Not the furniture, of course, but everything we're boxing.
Tuesday, June 13, 2006
Packing, day six
Yesterday I spent a lot of time sorting paperwork, finding old magazines to recycle, and then going through our vast amount of music with Tim so he could discard photocopied sheets from past carol services and the like, also for recycling. And their old home education coursework, dating back about five or six years - never looked at since completed, certainly not needed now.
Then I went through a desk drawer filled with old church bulletins, information for the church directory, and other related paperwork. I cut out all surnames, phone numbers and email addresses (and shredded them with scissors for the dustbin) then added the rest to the boxes. We filled four small containers, two medium and two large.
The evenings are beginning to merge together in my mind, and I'm losing track of what's been packed. Last night Richard packed more boxes of books, our Christmas decorations, the remainder of Dan's clothes, and more 'stuff' from the living room. Then we moved all the empty boxes into Dan's room, so at least the house doesn't look quite as cluttered as it did.
Then I went through a desk drawer filled with old church bulletins, information for the church directory, and other related paperwork. I cut out all surnames, phone numbers and email addresses (and shredded them with scissors for the dustbin) then added the rest to the boxes. We filled four small containers, two medium and two large.
The evenings are beginning to merge together in my mind, and I'm losing track of what's been packed. Last night Richard packed more boxes of books, our Christmas decorations, the remainder of Dan's clothes, and more 'stuff' from the living room. Then we moved all the empty boxes into Dan's room, so at least the house doesn't look quite as cluttered as it did.
Monday, June 12, 2006
Packing, day five
Yesterday we were invited to lunch with some friends, which was very pleasant. We got home about 4.30, I suppose, not at all inspired to continue with our packing.
But we thought we'd do a bit more of Daniel's 'stuff'. We packed the rest of his books (two more boxes) and yet more clutter which we discovered around his room. Richard then moved all the boxes packed so far, in order to access Dan's wardrobe where he discovered a few clothes hanging up, a huge pile of magazines, and yet more clutter, which we packed.
Perhaps we should have waited, since this morning I got an email from him, saying:
Oh well. Three boxes of random junk belonging to Dan are packed. But if we come across yet more, we'll chuck it.
Richard also packed our videos - mostly from the boys' schooldays in the UK, these are VHS copies of concerts and assemblies they took part in - and the old family films we had in a top cupboard. I gather it's now very inexpensive to get some equipment for the computer which enables videos to be converted to DVD. When we're settled in the new place, we will probably do this - borrowing a VHS machine from Richard's office - then we'll have everything we might want to see easily accessible on DVD.
It didn't seem like we did very much (I did considerably less than Richard), but we were both exhausted after a couple of hours.
Today I'm sorting out paperwork and old magazines. I was delighted to learn that there are paper recycling facilities at the Dhekelia army base, and that some friends from church go there once a week and would be happy to collect any paper we want recycled. For eight years I have felt bad every time I've thrown out a lot of paper, but I'm much happier knowing it will be recycled. It's inspired us to get rid of all kinds of old magazines, newsletters and personal letters dating even from the 1990s, and other random paperwork which has been accumulating in folders.
I just hope our friends don't freak when they see the amount of paper we're going to produce for them...!
But we thought we'd do a bit more of Daniel's 'stuff'. We packed the rest of his books (two more boxes) and yet more clutter which we discovered around his room. Richard then moved all the boxes packed so far, in order to access Dan's wardrobe where he discovered a few clothes hanging up, a huge pile of magazines, and yet more clutter, which we packed.
Perhaps we should have waited, since this morning I got an email from him, saying:
Anything which your or dad wouldn't keep, chuck. I'll start collecting random junk again anyway once I get back, and so don't need any head start. :-)
Oh well. Three boxes of random junk belonging to Dan are packed. But if we come across yet more, we'll chuck it.
Richard also packed our videos - mostly from the boys' schooldays in the UK, these are VHS copies of concerts and assemblies they took part in - and the old family films we had in a top cupboard. I gather it's now very inexpensive to get some equipment for the computer which enables videos to be converted to DVD. When we're settled in the new place, we will probably do this - borrowing a VHS machine from Richard's office - then we'll have everything we might want to see easily accessible on DVD.
It didn't seem like we did very much (I did considerably less than Richard), but we were both exhausted after a couple of hours.
Today I'm sorting out paperwork and old magazines. I was delighted to learn that there are paper recycling facilities at the Dhekelia army base, and that some friends from church go there once a week and would be happy to collect any paper we want recycled. For eight years I have felt bad every time I've thrown out a lot of paper, but I'm much happier knowing it will be recycled. It's inspired us to get rid of all kinds of old magazines, newsletters and personal letters dating even from the 1990s, and other random paperwork which has been accumulating in folders.
I just hope our friends don't freak when they see the amount of paper we're going to produce for them...!
Sunday, June 11, 2006
Packing, day four
On Fridays we usually have a house group here, so we'll take that as an evening off packing. As it happens, hardly anyone was able to come so we and one other couple went out for a drink and some ice-cream at a local restaurant, which was a very pleasant way to spend the evening.
But on Saturday, we were back to the packing business. In the afternoon, Richard clambered over various items stored in our garage, and extracted a vast number of boxes which we had stored for just such an occasion. Some folded in flat-pack form, some just as boxes. I'm not convinced we'll need them all - there must have been at least thirty or forty, some of them huge - but they all came in the house anyway:
First Richard packed away the boys' old computer (which will become our 'guest computer' in the new place) padding the box with some cushions, and coiled up and packed several computer cables (which were rather dusty). Tim sorted out various CDs which were lying around, and a large box of 'computer bits' was added to the collection.
We had also brought in several suitcases which have been stored in the garage. We don't use most of them when travelling, but they're still useful albeit rather old. So the first thing we did in the evening was pack some of our winter clothes. Richard's and my Sweaters, fleeces, sweatshirts, etc went in two large cases. We even found about half a dozen which were old and/or we didn't like them, and decided not to keep them. The better one can go to a charity shop.
Then we packed the clothes Daniel left behind in another large case. Most of them, anyway.
That was easy. Much more difficult was trying to gather up his general 'stuff'. He had done a lot of de-cluttering before leaving, and of course took many things with him. He packed old shoe-boxes with ornaments and other items he wanted to be sure we would keep. But his desk had various clarinet-mending items on it, a couple of lamps, and some stationery. One of the drawers in his chest-of-drawers was packed to the brim with juggling equipment, and other random bits and pieces that may at some point be made into juggling equipment. Dan is quite a hoarder!
Oh, and there were also random bits and pieces on his bookcase: behind the books, hung over the ends, on top of the books. Richard started packing one of the large-sized boxes and I kept finding more and more things to pass him. There's still quite a bit but it's not as bad as it was.
Dan's room is looking fuller and fuller, and we've hardly started:
But on Saturday, we were back to the packing business. In the afternoon, Richard clambered over various items stored in our garage, and extracted a vast number of boxes which we had stored for just such an occasion. Some folded in flat-pack form, some just as boxes. I'm not convinced we'll need them all - there must have been at least thirty or forty, some of them huge - but they all came in the house anyway:
First Richard packed away the boys' old computer (which will become our 'guest computer' in the new place) padding the box with some cushions, and coiled up and packed several computer cables (which were rather dusty). Tim sorted out various CDs which were lying around, and a large box of 'computer bits' was added to the collection.
We had also brought in several suitcases which have been stored in the garage. We don't use most of them when travelling, but they're still useful albeit rather old. So the first thing we did in the evening was pack some of our winter clothes. Richard's and my Sweaters, fleeces, sweatshirts, etc went in two large cases. We even found about half a dozen which were old and/or we didn't like them, and decided not to keep them. The better one can go to a charity shop.
Then we packed the clothes Daniel left behind in another large case. Most of them, anyway.
That was easy. Much more difficult was trying to gather up his general 'stuff'. He had done a lot of de-cluttering before leaving, and of course took many things with him. He packed old shoe-boxes with ornaments and other items he wanted to be sure we would keep. But his desk had various clarinet-mending items on it, a couple of lamps, and some stationery. One of the drawers in his chest-of-drawers was packed to the brim with juggling equipment, and other random bits and pieces that may at some point be made into juggling equipment. Dan is quite a hoarder!
Oh, and there were also random bits and pieces on his bookcase: behind the books, hung over the ends, on top of the books. Richard started packing one of the large-sized boxes and I kept finding more and more things to pass him. There's still quite a bit but it's not as bad as it was.
Dan's room is looking fuller and fuller, and we've hardly started:
Friday, June 09, 2006
Packing, day three
So, last night Richard packed three boxes with books from one bookcase in the dining room, and I packed a box of ornaments. We didn't have much newspaper for wrapping, so I used jiffy bags. Every time I order DVDs from Play.com, they arrive individually in jiffy bags and I never throw them away so I have dozens - more than sufficient for the relatively small number of ornaments we put on display.
Richard then attacked the TV/hi-fi shelving. We packed a box of DVDs and a box of CDs. Since the TV died a few weeks ago, and the video player about a year ago, he put them out by the dustbins. We also decided to get rid of the two non-working scanners, so they too were put out for the dustmen. Along with an old satellite receiver thing that never really worked. Alas, there is no useful recycling centre here where we could deposit the items knowing they would be taken to pieces, and any valuable parts re-used.
I wasn't actually sure if the dustmen would take any of them, but we thought it possible some passer-by would acquire some or all of our cast-offs. Nobody seems to break into houses here - burglary is very rare - but anything left out on the driveway, other than cars, is considered fair game for picking up. People sometimes lose bikes that way, and years ago when we discarded a broken microwave, it vanished before the dustmen came. A few nights ago we left out an old and broken fan, and that too had gone by the following day.
This morning all the equipment was still sitting there (rubbish is collected on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays so we knew the dustmen wouldn't have taken anything yet) but when we got back from our weekly supermarket shop, the TV, video player and satellite receiver had all vanished. The two scanners are still sitting there. Possibly we should put the power supplies out too, rather than putting them in a bin-liner, to encourage someone else to acquire them. Of all the equipment, the small scanner is the most likely to be able to work although it was increasingly unreliable.
I suppose this is the nearest we get to recycling in Cyprus.
Richard then attacked the TV/hi-fi shelving. We packed a box of DVDs and a box of CDs. Since the TV died a few weeks ago, and the video player about a year ago, he put them out by the dustbins. We also decided to get rid of the two non-working scanners, so they too were put out for the dustmen. Along with an old satellite receiver thing that never really worked. Alas, there is no useful recycling centre here where we could deposit the items knowing they would be taken to pieces, and any valuable parts re-used.
I wasn't actually sure if the dustmen would take any of them, but we thought it possible some passer-by would acquire some or all of our cast-offs. Nobody seems to break into houses here - burglary is very rare - but anything left out on the driveway, other than cars, is considered fair game for picking up. People sometimes lose bikes that way, and years ago when we discarded a broken microwave, it vanished before the dustmen came. A few nights ago we left out an old and broken fan, and that too had gone by the following day.
This morning all the equipment was still sitting there (rubbish is collected on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays so we knew the dustmen wouldn't have taken anything yet) but when we got back from our weekly supermarket shop, the TV, video player and satellite receiver had all vanished. The two scanners are still sitting there. Possibly we should put the power supplies out too, rather than putting them in a bin-liner, to encourage someone else to acquire them. Of all the equipment, the small scanner is the most likely to be able to work although it was increasingly unreliable.
I suppose this is the nearest we get to recycling in Cyprus.
Thursday, June 08, 2006
Sophia and Jemima having a chat...
When they're walking they don't look alike at all, despite being twins. Sophia is a sleek and elegant short-haired tortoishell , and generally moves fast. Jemima is fluffy, gentle, has much darker longer fur, and has a tendency to waddle. (She was named after Mrs Puddleduck).
But looking at them sharing the study window-sill earlier, I could see the resemblance.
But looking at them sharing the study window-sill earlier, I could see the resemblance.
Wild life in Cyprus
Yesterday morning, when I got up, I noticed a large dead mouse deposited near the front door.
Ugh.
No doubt one of the cats caught it, brought it inside, and then decided not to eat it. Perhaps it was a gift. Perhaps it was a hint that we should go out and catch food rather than buying it from the supermarket. Thankfully Richard is now back from Egypt, so he dealt with it.
Later in the day, I heard Tim rushing around the house shutting all the windows and outside doors. He said he had seen Sophia with a large snake, wrestling in the geraniums. He did NOT want her bringing inside. I was happy to agree, and felt a bit nervous about going outside to bring in the laundry, since the geraniums are close by. However most snakes in Cyprus are harmless, and I assumed Sophia would probably have dealt suitably with the snake.
This morning, when I opened the kitchen window to let in some fresh air, I saw a dead snake outside.
The markings are like those of an adder, but I think it's a Cyprus cat-snake, as the head is fairly narrow. So it's harmless. Particularly when dead. I was greatly relieved, and went out to do some gardening.
Then Tim got up, took a look, and said that wasn't the snake he saw yesterday. Apparently the one he saw was much bigger. Uh-oh. So if there were two near the house, I wonder how many more there might be?
The prospect of moving to a house without a large garden is becoming more appealing all the time!
Ugh.
No doubt one of the cats caught it, brought it inside, and then decided not to eat it. Perhaps it was a gift. Perhaps it was a hint that we should go out and catch food rather than buying it from the supermarket. Thankfully Richard is now back from Egypt, so he dealt with it.
Later in the day, I heard Tim rushing around the house shutting all the windows and outside doors. He said he had seen Sophia with a large snake, wrestling in the geraniums. He did NOT want her bringing inside. I was happy to agree, and felt a bit nervous about going outside to bring in the laundry, since the geraniums are close by. However most snakes in Cyprus are harmless, and I assumed Sophia would probably have dealt suitably with the snake.
This morning, when I opened the kitchen window to let in some fresh air, I saw a dead snake outside.
The markings are like those of an adder, but I think it's a Cyprus cat-snake, as the head is fairly narrow. So it's harmless. Particularly when dead. I was greatly relieved, and went out to do some gardening.
Then Tim got up, took a look, and said that wasn't the snake he saw yesterday. Apparently the one he saw was much bigger. Uh-oh. So if there were two near the house, I wonder how many more there might be?
The prospect of moving to a house without a large garden is becoming more appealing all the time!
Packing, day two
Yes, I am going to write about every detail of the packing process! I hope we won't have to do it again, but if it works without too much pain and stress, I want a record for the future. Besides, it might motivate us to keep going if I write every day about what we've done:
We decided to start on the dining room last night. Some things must be left, of course, but we thought we could pack the contents of the dresser, most of the two bookcases which are in there (non-fiction) and maybe the boys' old computer.
The dresser has a cupboard at the bottom with two shelves, one of which contained board games. We decided to discard three of these, and packed the remaining thirty or forty, even though we haven't played many of them for years. But since we'll have a guest flat, we want to equip it with useful things and board games are ideal. We'll keep a few favourites (Rummikub, Mah-jong, Scrabble, Balderdash etc) in our living room of course.
Cleo, our nervous oldest cat, has always liked boxes. So she thought we were making a new space for her. Richard had quite a battle to get her out!
The other shelf in the cupboard had lots of random stuff: discarded computer parts, about four boxes of computer discs (yes, the old so-called 'floppy' type), four or five bottles of wine, a couple of bottles of paint, and about 20 jars of jam made in the past few months. Richard and Tim sorted through the discs, and threw out a load of rubbish. We then packed one box of discs (the ones containing original software which we've upgraded, mostly). Richard put aside a few computer bits (a keyboard and a couple of mice) to be used elsewhere..
Then there was the top part of the dresser. A shelf with: lots of computer manuals and guides, a box of chocolate bars, and some random chemistry bits and pieces. And a glass-fronted cupboard section containing: jigsaw puzzles, boxes of folders, and a vast assortment of stamps and stamp books, from the days when Tim was interested in stamps.
The chocolate went in the fridge. That was easy. It should have gone there a couple of weeks ago, really. The computer manuals - which used to take up the entire shelf - were sorted, a few discarded, and the rest packed. We're not entirely sure what to do with the stamps, since Tim has rather lost interest but there might well be some valuable ones in the collection, so those got packed too. And we've no idea what to do with the chemistry bits.
Anyway, the dresser is now mostly empty:
Just a few things still sitting on it, their fate to be decided: two old scanners (not working, but they might do...), an anglepoise light, the random chemistry bits, and a few bottles left from parties.
Daniel's room doesn't look too different, but here it is for the record:
We didn't even make a start on either of the bookcases, nor the computer. Just sorting the dresser took a couple of hours, and that's quite enough in this kind of heat.
We decided to start on the dining room last night. Some things must be left, of course, but we thought we could pack the contents of the dresser, most of the two bookcases which are in there (non-fiction) and maybe the boys' old computer.
The dresser has a cupboard at the bottom with two shelves, one of which contained board games. We decided to discard three of these, and packed the remaining thirty or forty, even though we haven't played many of them for years. But since we'll have a guest flat, we want to equip it with useful things and board games are ideal. We'll keep a few favourites (Rummikub, Mah-jong, Scrabble, Balderdash etc) in our living room of course.
Cleo, our nervous oldest cat, has always liked boxes. So she thought we were making a new space for her. Richard had quite a battle to get her out!
The other shelf in the cupboard had lots of random stuff: discarded computer parts, about four boxes of computer discs (yes, the old so-called 'floppy' type), four or five bottles of wine, a couple of bottles of paint, and about 20 jars of jam made in the past few months. Richard and Tim sorted through the discs, and threw out a load of rubbish. We then packed one box of discs (the ones containing original software which we've upgraded, mostly). Richard put aside a few computer bits (a keyboard and a couple of mice) to be used elsewhere..
Then there was the top part of the dresser. A shelf with: lots of computer manuals and guides, a box of chocolate bars, and some random chemistry bits and pieces. And a glass-fronted cupboard section containing: jigsaw puzzles, boxes of folders, and a vast assortment of stamps and stamp books, from the days when Tim was interested in stamps.
The chocolate went in the fridge. That was easy. It should have gone there a couple of weeks ago, really. The computer manuals - which used to take up the entire shelf - were sorted, a few discarded, and the rest packed. We're not entirely sure what to do with the stamps, since Tim has rather lost interest but there might well be some valuable ones in the collection, so those got packed too. And we've no idea what to do with the chemistry bits.
Anyway, the dresser is now mostly empty:
Just a few things still sitting on it, their fate to be decided: two old scanners (not working, but they might do...), an anglepoise light, the random chemistry bits, and a few bottles left from parties.
Daniel's room doesn't look too different, but here it is for the record:
We didn't even make a start on either of the bookcases, nor the computer. Just sorting the dresser took a couple of hours, and that's quite enough in this kind of heat.
Wednesday, June 07, 2006
Packing, day one
All being well (and, it being Cyprus, there's no guarantee at all...) we should have access to our new house on July 1st.
Since it's likely to be hot, and we're moving ourselves - albeit with help from friends - and there's nobody moving into the house we're currently renting, we plan to spend at least a week moving. Maybe longer. At first we'll probably do a bit of painting in the new house, since it's white everywhere (typical for this country) but we prefer a bit of colour here and there.
People have been asking us for weeks if we had started packing, and I had to admit we had just done a little de-cluttering. Not even much of that. Until we had a date, it all seemed rather pointless. Then about ten days ago Richard announced that we needed some parcel tape before we could do anything. I bought some while he was away (on a not very successful trip - details on his blog).
Yesterday I told him I had bought the tape. Perhaps a mistake on such a hot day (it was still 35C - 95F for those in the USA - by about 5pm) but he was immediately enthused. He went to collect several flattened packing boxes from the garage, and brought them in. In the evening, he started taping them together.
'Where are we going to put them?' I asked, with visions of boxes scattered randomly about the house for the next month, with the cats climbing over them, clawing them to pieces....
'In Dan's room,' he said. 'Until it's full. Then your study. Then Tim will have to move out of his room....'
Dan's room, we pointed out, was fairly full already with his drum kit, and Richard's PA system. So Richard re-organised it. He is brilliant at packing suitcases, shopping trolleys, and car boots, and last night demonstrated that he's also gifted at packing rooms. He thinks three-dimensionally. Within less than an hour, there was more floor space than I have seen in Dan's room for a long time. The PA was stacked neatly at one end. The drums were taken down, and moved out of the way.
'How are we going to pack?' I then asked. 'Should we think about it? Have a plan of some sort?'
No, it appeared we were going to decide what could easily be packed now, ensure each box was labelled and the contents listed elsewhere, and just go for it. So we put all the duvets and the spare pillows into one very large box. That was easy. Richard cleared one shelf of our random junk shelves, threw out various things we had kept in case they might come in useful, and packed barbecue tools, and some other random objects in another box. I dutifully listed them all.
Then we paused. He phoned our landlady to confirm that we're hoping to move in the first week of July. He made a couple of other phone calls too. Then he said perhaps it would be a good idea to have some kind of plan... how many rooms do we have?
I made it eight, including the bathroom. Nine, if we count the living room and dining room as separate. But then for packing purposes we also have to count the garage, the single basement work-room, the corridor where the random shelves are, and the garden. Thirteen in all. OK, said Richard, we need to completely pack three rooms per week, including this week, and since there's not much in the garden we can just take that stuff after we've done the house.
Gulp.
Then we realised there's not much we can do in the garage - it's mainly in boxes already, so no point moving them in the house. Nor do we have much in the basement. And the bathroom only has one large cupboard, with towels and loo rolls and so on, which is probably the last thing to be packed before we move out, and won't take long anyway.
Still, ten 'rooms'. We went through them, listing what packing needs to be done. Most of them read something like this:
No single item will take very long - we hope - but adding them all up gives rather a lot of packing in the next three-and-a-half weeks. Most rooms have at least two or three full bookcases, for instance. And 'stuff in bureau' is a fairly major amount of clobber to be sorted and packed.
By the time we had finished it was 10pm, and still hot. We were tired, so he quickly moved the various boxes to Dan's room, and gave up for the night.
Since it's likely to be hot, and we're moving ourselves - albeit with help from friends - and there's nobody moving into the house we're currently renting, we plan to spend at least a week moving. Maybe longer. At first we'll probably do a bit of painting in the new house, since it's white everywhere (typical for this country) but we prefer a bit of colour here and there.
People have been asking us for weeks if we had started packing, and I had to admit we had just done a little de-cluttering. Not even much of that. Until we had a date, it all seemed rather pointless. Then about ten days ago Richard announced that we needed some parcel tape before we could do anything. I bought some while he was away (on a not very successful trip - details on his blog).
Yesterday I told him I had bought the tape. Perhaps a mistake on such a hot day (it was still 35C - 95F for those in the USA - by about 5pm) but he was immediately enthused. He went to collect several flattened packing boxes from the garage, and brought them in. In the evening, he started taping them together.
'Where are we going to put them?' I asked, with visions of boxes scattered randomly about the house for the next month, with the cats climbing over them, clawing them to pieces....
'In Dan's room,' he said. 'Until it's full. Then your study. Then Tim will have to move out of his room....'
Dan's room, we pointed out, was fairly full already with his drum kit, and Richard's PA system. So Richard re-organised it. He is brilliant at packing suitcases, shopping trolleys, and car boots, and last night demonstrated that he's also gifted at packing rooms. He thinks three-dimensionally. Within less than an hour, there was more floor space than I have seen in Dan's room for a long time. The PA was stacked neatly at one end. The drums were taken down, and moved out of the way.
'How are we going to pack?' I then asked. 'Should we think about it? Have a plan of some sort?'
No, it appeared we were going to decide what could easily be packed now, ensure each box was labelled and the contents listed elsewhere, and just go for it. So we put all the duvets and the spare pillows into one very large box. That was easy. Richard cleared one shelf of our random junk shelves, threw out various things we had kept in case they might come in useful, and packed barbecue tools, and some other random objects in another box. I dutifully listed them all.
Then we paused. He phoned our landlady to confirm that we're hoping to move in the first week of July. He made a couple of other phone calls too. Then he said perhaps it would be a good idea to have some kind of plan... how many rooms do we have?
I made it eight, including the bathroom. Nine, if we count the living room and dining room as separate. But then for packing purposes we also have to count the garage, the single basement work-room, the corridor where the random shelves are, and the garden. Thirteen in all. OK, said Richard, we need to completely pack three rooms per week, including this week, and since there's not much in the garden we can just take that stuff after we've done the house.
Gulp.
Then we realised there's not much we can do in the garage - it's mainly in boxes already, so no point moving them in the house. Nor do we have much in the basement. And the bathroom only has one large cupboard, with towels and loo rolls and so on, which is probably the last thing to be packed before we move out, and won't take long anyway.
Still, ten 'rooms'. We went through them, listing what packing needs to be done. Most of them read something like this:
books
stuff in bureau
pictures on walls
random stuff on shelves
No single item will take very long - we hope - but adding them all up gives rather a lot of packing in the next three-and-a-half weeks. Most rooms have at least two or three full bookcases, for instance. And 'stuff in bureau' is a fairly major amount of clobber to be sorted and packed.
By the time we had finished it was 10pm, and still hot. We were tired, so he quickly moved the various boxes to Dan's room, and gave up for the night.
Monday, June 05, 2006
I spoke too soon
Since lunch-time, it has got warmer and warmer. Tim went round the corner to do some photocopying, and said he was almost melting when he got home. He's had to go out again, to his singing lesson. It usually takes him five minutes to walk there, but he left quarter of an hour early, planning to walk very slowly.
I checked the weather site, which tells me it's 39C at present, in the shade. Ugh. That's over 100F, apparently. Our house isn't THAT hot but according to the kitchen scales it's 30C in there. Probably about the same in here. So in a moment I'll switch off the computer, as they don't do well at these kinds of temperatures.
Here's how the cats are trying to stay cool:
Sophia's stretched out on a windowsill. It would be hotter if the window were open.
Jemima's on top of a rattan bookcase. It's quite a good place in hot weather as there's circulation of air all round.
Tessie's on my in-tray, on top of a low bookcase. Doesn't seem to be helping much. Maybe she thought it would work like a rattan bookcase.
Cleo is frankly miserable. She's outside, where by rights it should be cooler than inside. when I took her picture, she attacked me. I expect she was telling me I should switch the heating off.
Richard has been in Egypt for a week, and returns tonight. He likes hot weather, but this heat would be a bit too warm even for him. Still, it should cool down a little by the evening. Since I started typing, the weather site has reduced the temperature by one degree. Better than nothing. It says that tomorrow it will 'only' be 31C, but then it said today's maximum would be 33C.
I really hope we're not going to have an excessively hot summer.
I checked the weather site, which tells me it's 39C at present, in the shade. Ugh. That's over 100F, apparently. Our house isn't THAT hot but according to the kitchen scales it's 30C in there. Probably about the same in here. So in a moment I'll switch off the computer, as they don't do well at these kinds of temperatures.
Here's how the cats are trying to stay cool:
Sophia's stretched out on a windowsill. It would be hotter if the window were open.
Jemima's on top of a rattan bookcase. It's quite a good place in hot weather as there's circulation of air all round.
Tessie's on my in-tray, on top of a low bookcase. Doesn't seem to be helping much. Maybe she thought it would work like a rattan bookcase.
Cleo is frankly miserable. She's outside, where by rights it should be cooler than inside. when I took her picture, she attacked me. I expect she was telling me I should switch the heating off.
Richard has been in Egypt for a week, and returns tonight. He likes hot weather, but this heat would be a bit too warm even for him. Still, it should cool down a little by the evening. Since I started typing, the weather site has reduced the temperature by one degree. Better than nothing. It says that tomorrow it will 'only' be 31C, but then it said today's maximum would be 33C.
I really hope we're not going to have an excessively hot summer.
Summer lethargy
It seems summer's started earlier than usual. We hoped the very hot temperatures (over 35C - which is 95F) at the end of May were just a freak heatwave, and sure enough it's a little cooler since then. 'Only' 32C or thereabouts. But it's getting sticky, too, and that's worse.
We're not ready for summer, however. Nor did we expect to have another summer in this house. Our one air conditioning unit isn't working - we had a lot of trouble with it last year, and the engineer who came several times did get it working, but said we probably need a new compressor. Which is almost the cost of an entire new unit, so there's not much point getting it mended for just a few weeks. Indeed, we'd probably have to wait at least a couple of weeks for a new compressor to be available, and the engineer is likely to be rushed off his feet with the early arrival of summer.
So my usual summer programme - so to speak - of spending about ten hours a day in the air conditioned room is impossible. We're going to need to spend the next few weeks packing, ready to move, anyway. But I don't do well in heat. Everything seems to take at least twice as long as it usually does, and I have little energy or motivation to do anything much.
The cats are having a hard time, too. They had started moulting in May, but when the temperatures went up ten degrees overnight, they weren't ready. We're combing them when they allow it, and fur seems to be flying all over the house, but they're very hot. Lying on the top of rattan bookcases, or outside on marble steps. At least I'm thankful I don't have to wear a fur coat in this weather.
We're not ready for summer, however. Nor did we expect to have another summer in this house. Our one air conditioning unit isn't working - we had a lot of trouble with it last year, and the engineer who came several times did get it working, but said we probably need a new compressor. Which is almost the cost of an entire new unit, so there's not much point getting it mended for just a few weeks. Indeed, we'd probably have to wait at least a couple of weeks for a new compressor to be available, and the engineer is likely to be rushed off his feet with the early arrival of summer.
So my usual summer programme - so to speak - of spending about ten hours a day in the air conditioned room is impossible. We're going to need to spend the next few weeks packing, ready to move, anyway. But I don't do well in heat. Everything seems to take at least twice as long as it usually does, and I have little energy or motivation to do anything much.
The cats are having a hard time, too. They had started moulting in May, but when the temperatures went up ten degrees overnight, they weren't ready. We're combing them when they allow it, and fur seems to be flying all over the house, but they're very hot. Lying on the top of rattan bookcases, or outside on marble steps. At least I'm thankful I don't have to wear a fur coat in this weather.
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