Moving on from winter

 It's usually some time in April when we start to feel a bit warmer, and as if winter has finally come to an end. Not that we experience 'real' winter here; there's no snow, rarely any ice, and the sun usually shines at some point. But the houses feel cold, with the high ceilings and tiled floors. 

At the end of March I was still wearing two warm layers in the house, sometimes three. I wore a knitted hat and sometimes gloves when going out for a walk, morning or evening. We were using our microwave wheat bags every night, the heating was coming on when the temperature dropped too low, and we were snuggling under our double thickness duvets at night. 

Then we spent just over two weeks in the UK, where it was chillier but mostly sunny. The houses, with carpets and better insulated walls, are rather warmer than those in Cyprus. We had heard that Cyprus had had a major dust storm and a lot of rain while we were away. But when we came back, it felt significantly warmer than it had at the end of March.

The first night back, we threw off the thinner part of the duvet, just using the medium one. We didn't even think of using wheat bags. In the morning, I only wanted one warm layer, and when we went out for walks I had no need of hat or gloves. We had turned the heating off before we travelled: we've seen no reason to turn it on again since returning. 

Chilly weather, central heating... and yet more about shopping

As I sit here, wearing three warm layers, with a cooling wheat bag on my lap, it seemed like a good idea to mention our current chilly snap in Cyprus. Among other things. 

Central heating

I don't remember, now, when it started to feel cold out. Maybe a week ago, maybe more. When we're in a cold spell, it somehow feels as if it's always been this way, and probably always will. I know, of course, that it will warm up again soon. We don't have long winters here. Summer - which lasts about six months - is much more difficult for me to deal with. So I'm not complaining. Truly. 

We have a large gas canister outside, and have to phone the company when it shows less than 25% full. At least, it appears to be a percentage, but we're not exactly sure what it refers to. We last had it filled in March last year, after a chilly period in February. If we weren't using central heating, it would probably last us several years as a supply of gas for the kitchen hob.

We finally replaced our old, inefficient boiler almost two years ago. The new one has to be serviced annually, ideally before we start using it. Because November was so warm, we hadn't got around to calling the engineer, but in December he came and did a thorough service. It wasn't very cold, but sufficiently cool that we wanted a bit of heating to come on in the evenings. 

We're very thankful that we have central heating. It's not normal here; houses are built for the summer, not for the winter. We have double-glazed windows, too. But with tile floors and quite high ceilings, it's not easy to stay warm when the temperatures outside drop below 15 degrees Celcius, as has been the case for the past week or ten days. It's been down to 5 or 6 degrees, sometimes less, overnight. 

When we checked the gas levels shortly before Christmas, it was still showing 55% full. We used the heating sporadically over the Christmas/New Year period. We kept checking, and it seemed to go down very slowly. It wasn't until about ten days ago that the levels were approaching the 25% level, so Richard got in touch with the company, and the truck came just over a week ago. 

And yes, the sky was blue, and the sun was out, so it didn't feel all that chilly outside. But the clear sky meant that the nights were very cold.  At least, very cold from our perspective, and cold enough that we needed to wear extra layers in the house. Yesterday the heating came on even during the daytime, when it has to be lower than 15C to click on. We haven't checked the level recently, but I expect it will be going down rather more rapidly than it did in December. I'm sure we'll need at least one more gas delivery this year.  Maybe more. 

Shopping, continuing from previous posts

Early in January, I wondered how long we could go without buying anything other than fresh fruit and vegetables. We still had quite a lot of food left from Christmas, several frozen meals from November and earlier December, and plenty of other things in the freezer. I quickly realised we also needed nuts, seeds and dried fruit, as well as packaged fruit juice... so changed to thinking about only buying unprocessed or minimally processed foods. Which is what I prefer anyway. 

However, until the end of last year, I would buy - without really thinking about it - products such as wholewheat pitta bread (from the fruitaria), and I regularly bought commercial coconut milk (both the drink and the canned versions) and oat milk. I wrote about starting to make my nut and oat milks at home again in my last post, as well as vegan 'cheeze'. 

While I mainly use fresh fruit and vegetables, there are some which (in my opinion) are a whole lot better when bought frozen. And we were running low on frozen peas. We have tried many different brands, and have come to the conclusion that it's well worth paying a bit more for the Birds Eye variety. The fruitaria stocks this, in their freezer section, rather less expensively than the supermarkets. 

So this was my fruit shop purchases on Friday: 

And yes, it does look remarkably similar to the previous photos, albeit with the addition of frozen peas.  Taking photos each time has been an interesting exercise, demonstrating that, although we do eat quite a lot of fresh produce, there's not a whole lot of variety from week to week. The large number of carrots is so that I could make carrot soup for guests on Sunday evening. 

Having said that, in the summer there are many more fruit choices than there are now; peaches, plums etc are quite seasonal. And although I've seen some early strawberries, experience tells me that they're usually a bit tasteless at this time of year. 

In addition, we were given a couple of aubergines by a friend. I do occasionally buy them, but don't often think about it. We had one, simply sliced and roasted, a week or two back. With the other, I made ratatouille, something I had not made in many years.

I had noticed that our supply of sweet chili sauce - bottled - was getting lower. This is something we've only discovered fairly recently. There are a few different brands available; obviously I avoid any with chemical-sounding additives. But even the best brands are, essentially, sugar water with a bit of chili and garlic. Surely, I thought, I could make some myself. 

I had browsed many different recipes before finding one that used apple cider vinegar, and which gave the option of using chili flakes or powder rather than small hot chili peppers. This was a good thing, as the fruitaria doesn't have any hot chilis. Cypriot food doesn't tend to be highly spiced, and even supposedly 'hot' food at restaurants or fast food places is, to our tastebuds, quite mild. 

So I experimented. The result was surprisingly good, similar to the bottled variety in texture. I was concerned about making it too hot - chili powder is a bit unpredictable - so erred on the side of caution. Next time I'll use a bit more chili powder. But as it's so quick and inexpensive, I don't suppose we'll buy the bottled variety any more. 

On Saturday I realised that we had run out of wholemeal pitta bread. We usually have that with our weekly curry - and I was still using up curry portions that I had frozen last year. So I decided to make naan bread, something our son used to do regularly when he lived at home.  The breadmaker deals with the mixing and kneading, so all I had to do was divide the dough into eight, rest it for a while, roll it out thinly, and then cook in a pan. 

Last time I made naan, I used a tortilla press instead of rolling, but it was a bit messy. Rolling was quite strenuous, but the dough was stretchy, and I could roll each one as the previous one was cooking. And they were pretty successful. We used two, and froze the rest in twos for future curries.

By Monday morning, I realised that we were getting very low on wholemeal bread flour, and also the lighter wholewheat flour which I use for cakes. I did have some white bread flour, and also white cake flour, but didn't want to have to make fully white bread, though I use a small amount of white flour in bread, and about 50/50 in pastry and cakes. I had started my reserve bottles of both sunflower oil and olive oil, too, and I hated the thought of running out of either. And I was craving Greek yogurt... 

So I before I went to the fruit shop in Monday, I went to the mini-market opposite. And here's the result of Monday's shopping:

Packaged flour and olive oil are 'minimally processed', as I understand it. And Greek yogurt is processed. The only additive is gelatine, which I would prefer to avoid - but this brand is, in my view, much the nicest. It's the only dairy product I have on a regular basis. 

And if anyone's wondering why I have some produce in plastic bags, it's because the fruitaria has a kind of colour code: the green bags are for their best quality products, the blue bags are for their mid-range, and the pink are for the ones which are either in excess, or which need to be used up quickly. I mainly buy blue-bag and pink-bag products (I have taken most of the fruit and veg out of their bags for the photos). And I re-use all the bags, for things like cat litter. So at least they're not 'single-use'. 

A cold February in Cyprus

 While January was apparently warmer than usual - and it certainly didn't seem particularly cold - February this year has been decided chilly. Almost from the start of the month, the temperatures dropped. We were very glad that we decided to replace our central heating boiler last year. It has a control system that allows us to set the maximum temperature without heating for different times, during the day. 

So overnight it won't come on unless the temperature drops below something like 14 degrees C. In the morning upstairs it comes on if it's cooler than 18C for an hour or so, which warms the towel rail in the bathroom and raises the ambient temperature.  Similarly, through the day, there are different states and temperatures which trigger it to come on.  

And it works perfectly. If we want extra heat, we can turn the thermostat up a degree or two. If we're going out, or not using one floor of the house, we can turn it down so as not to heat an unused space. Individual radiators can be turned up or down, too.  

In December and January, it barely came on at all. We did notice that the gas level was running low early in January, so we ordered more. We have a large tank outside our boiler room, and a man comes with a gas truck to fill it up when we request it. 

The winter of 2023/2024 was so mild that we only had to have it filled once. Our kitchen stovetop is powered by gas too, so we use small amounts for that through the year. And the heating was working in January, and more so in early February when the temperatures dropped. So much so that we had to order another refill of the gas tank around February 10th. 

We didn't think that was too bad. With our previous boiler, we sometimes had to order new gas every two or three weeks in colder periods. This time it had been over five weeks.

But it got colder. Gradually, day by day, I added more warm items of clothing to wear when I went out for an early morning walk. By February 20th, it was warmer in the UK than in Larnaka. Which was fortunate for Richard, as he had flown there for ten days.  There was even snow in some parts of the island, quite extensive in the mountains. 

I felt quite sorry for families who had come to Cyprus for the UK half-term break (either last week or this week, depending on location), hoping for a bit of warmth. 

Yesterday, I took this screenshot from my phone just after 6.00am, shortly before joining my friend Sheila for a walk around the Salt Lake:  

Yes, that says one degree Celcius, 'feels like' minus 3. Maximum of 14, and a note at the bottom saying that temperatures would be a little higher than the previous day.

Wrapped in scarf, knitted hat, gloves and an extra jacket, I still felt cold, although walking helped to warm me up. For the first time this year, there was ice in the park on some (though not all) of the wildflowers:

There was ice on the park benches, too, although in this photo it looks more like a kind of mould:

I had kept checking the gas - we have someone staying in our guest flat, so the heating is on there as well as in the main part of the house - and by yesterday it was quite low, so we ordered some more. It took not much more than two weeks this time, but then the heating has been on almost continually for the past four or five days.  With fairly high ceilings, tiled floors and poor insulation, Cyprus houses are not built for the cold. So the temperature never reached the figures we had set.

Strangely, though, when the heating is on, even if the thermostat only shows 14 or 15 degrees, the house feels warmer than when the heating is off and the thermostat shows 17 or 18. 

Then today it was six degrees at 6.00am. It felt so much pleasanter when I went out to the froutaria. I didn't even wear gloves, though I still put on my knitted hat. And the forecast is much more reasonable - and seasonably normal - for the next couple of weeks:

So perhaps we won't have to have the gas tank filled again until next winter.

A working boiler and other incidents

 I mentioned in my last post that the weather, at last, was beginning to cool down in mid-January. Our central heating boiler, which had been unreliable for many years, had another service just before Christmas. That is to say, Richard did the standard cleaning and checking valves, but nothing happened. So he called out the engineer - a local and friendly person. He arrived, checked everything, and then gave part of it a big thump. That worked, and the heating came on. 

But it wasn't all that cold, so we weren't surprised when it didn't come on the following day. On Christmas Day itself, we used our air conditioners set to heat. A few days later when it was quite chilly, Richard went to the boiler room and hit the system in the place where the engineer had shown him. He had to try two or three times, but it did the trick: the heating came on. For an hour or two...

A couple of days later, the same scenario was repeated. And Richard said he was a bit worried that he might break something. In previous years we sometimes had to run down and press a button to turn the heating on, but this was more serious. Perhaps, we thought, it was time for a new boiler. 

The heating engineer told us that a new one would be much more efficient - potentially saving us a fair amount in gas bills - and that our old one was so archaic, he didn't think it could be repaired. He came to the house and measured all our radiators (we have at least twenty, including those in our guest flat and some that we don't use), so he could calculate how much power was necessary. And then, after doing some research, he gave us a quote which seemed quite reasonable. 

And while it was a bit of a hassle for him, with just one assistant, to remove the old boiler - it was very heavy! - the installation of the new one was fairly quick, and everything was finished within one (long) day. 

There's a lot more space in the boiler room now. This new boiler looks remarkably like the one we had in our house in the UK over twenty-five years ago. And while it still hasn't been VERY cold, we've had chillier mornings and rain:

And the boiler has worked! We have a thermostatic system in the house so the heating only comes on for a couple of hours in the morning, and a couple in the evening (when it's cold enough) and it's done exactly what it should. It's much quieter than the old system, too. Rather surprisingly, when the heating is on it also heats our water, although we didn't expect it to have done that. Most of our water heating is solar, and we have an electric boost that we had been using when the sun wasn't out. There's a gas boost too, but we've hardly needed that, since the days when the sun doesn't come out are usually (though not always) the days when it's chilly enough for the heating to come on.

And if the steamer, the washing machine and the boiler weren't enough, the day after we had decided to replace the boiler, my stick blender stopped working when I was making some ketchup.  We had an excellent one which had worked well for about thirteen years. I was able to use my regular blender for the ketchup, but it was a bit of a nuisance having to decant everything into the large goblet, and then try to get it all out. Three weeks later and there's still a tomato stain on the cutting blades. 

But my main use of the stick blender is for soup, which I make every other week during the cooler months: usually from November until about March or April. Putting that in an ordinary blender means it has to be cooled quite significantly, then usually only half of it will fit even in the bigger goblet... so we decided to buy a new stick blender.  Unlike a decade or so ago, there were several options at a local DIY shop, so we chose a Bosch brand. 

Then I reorganised some cupboards to make space for the extra bits, and put the steamer away (but with easier access than before), so the new stick blender could sit on the work surface. And we bought a plug extension thing so I don't need to keep pulling plugs in and out for these appliances:

The cats, meanwhile, have very much appreciated the house being less chilly than it was before we had the new boiler. Lady Jane loves the radiators: 

And to my astonishment, our bird of paradise plant, which bloomed in October for the first time in eight years, has another bloom that opened out about a week ago:

Even more surprisingly, there is another one which is evidently going to open within the next week or two:

I hope this doesn't mean that it will be 24 years before it blooms again...

And finally, showing the mixed nature of Cyprus weather, where it's sometimes very sunny as well as quite chilly, we usually go for a short walk along the sea-front on Friday mornings, to check our PO Box. One one of those Fridays, we were feeling quite chilled with the wind (despite the sun) so stopped at Cafe Nero for some excellent hot chocolate, made with coconut milk. 

A few more Cyprus quirks...

Although we've lived in Cyprus for twenty years now, there are still occasions when we smile, or roll our eyes, and mutter, 'This is Cyprus!' It's a phrase used by Cypriots as well as ex-pats, often with a sense of pride in the way the island functions. Below are three recent examples:

1.  Central heating pump

Our main floor and the upstairs have separate pumps in our central heating system. About a year ago, we weren't getting any heat on our main floor. Not such a problem in Cyprus as it would be in, for instance, the UK; but some days are decidedly chilly. Our builder recommended a central heating engineer who came to have a look. He said we needed a new pump, so we asked him to fit one. However, instead of buying a new one, he found one that was being discarded by a school, and fitted that. The heating worked - mostly - for the rest of the winter.

But by the time it got cold again a few weeks ago, it was obvious we needed another replacement. Richard decided we would buy one ourselves, and then just ask a plumber to fit it, rather than risk another poor quality one. We went to a suitable local shop, where we were told that yes, they could sell us the exact same pump as our original one but that they recommended another which worked the same and was half the price. We would have bought the most expensive one if they hadn't been so insistent that their own brand was as good (and guaranteed). It was a positive 'This is Cyprus!' moment.

So we asked the shop if they had a recommended engineer who could fit it; preferably one who speaks English.  Yes, they told us, we should speak to George.  I don't know how many scraps of paper we've seen over the years with a phone number and the name 'George'.  Richard phoned him, and he said he would come later that day, or the following morning.

We waited, but nobody appeared. So Richard called, and he said yes, he would come later in the day.  He didn't.  He had many good reasons for not coming when he said he did, but after about the fifth day we were starting to feel rather frustrated. It was a not so good 'This is Cyprus!' experience that is all too familiar.

However, he did eventually come, fitted the pump efficiently and quickly, and even told us why the gas-powered part of our water heating has never worked.  He looked at a drip on the roof and said that one of our water tanks was faulty.  He then looked at a toilet which was very difficult to flush, and made a quick adjustment.  He was competent, quick (once he got here) and charged us just €30 for his time.

2. Curtain track 

Most of the curtains in our house have pull-cords.  And for about ten years or so, they worked just fine to open them in the morning, and close them at night.

Perhaps it's not obvious from that photo, so here's a close-up of the bit we pull:

In the past few months, however, first one curtain and then a couple of others started to jam. They wouldn't open - or wouldn't close - using the pull-cord.  We thought perhaps the cord needed to be replaced, as it looked a little frayed in places, so we bought some new cord. But quickly realised, when we took one down to try and replace the cord, that the problem is in fact with the mechanism at the end of the track that guides the cords:

There are two little wheels at each end, in a metal enclosure, and they were stuck. One of them broke off completely. We realised that the pelmets with the curtain rails have probably been here for thirty years or so... and the little wheel mechanism things needed to be replaced.

So Richard took the track off, and we went to a local shop that sells curtains and fittings.  The person on duty shook her head, and said it was a 'very old' fitting, one that could not be replaced. She said we would have to replace the entire metal track with a new fitting, and that each one would cost at least €25.  Since we have ten of them in all, which will need to be replaced eventually, this seemed a bit steep.  Moreover, the new track which the shop assistant showed us was exactly the same size as the one we have already. "Couldn't we buy just the new mechanism and fit it in the track?" we asked.  No, they insisted, it was too old.

Another oddity of Cyprus is that similar shops tend to congregate in the same area. So we thanked the shop assistant, and went to the next curtain shop, a couple of doors down the same street. We asked the same question.  They, too, said that our mechanisms were too old to be replaced, and that we would need a new track.

But they said it would only be €10 for the replacement.

We were startled at such a price difference, but thought we might as well pop into the third curtain shop that was in the same street, just another couple of doors down.

This time, however, the assistant assured us that yes, 'of course' we could replace the old mechanisms. They don't have them in stock right now, she said, but they could get some in. No, we don't need to make an order, just come back next Friday.  The cost?  €5 for two.

Yes, 'This is Cyprus!'

So, we'll go back there next week and see if they really can provide an exact replacement.

3.  Airport parking

Larnaka's old airport was replaced many years ago with a new, improved and mostly pretty efficient airport.

Unfortunately,  they have never really sorted out how the parking works.

At first, when dropping someone off or meeting a flight, there was twenty minutes of free parking in the short-term car park. If one parked for longer, there was a parking cost, but it wasn't too excessive. Of course, we, like many of our friends, would sometimes go back to the car after fifteen minutes, drive it out of the car park and then park somewhere else, so as to avoid paying - but in most cases, twenty minutes was plenty.

Then they started charging for all parking.  So people started not using the car park; instead they (and we..) would drive around while waiting for a call, or have one person get out to meet arriving guests, while the driver would find somewhere to stay temporarily, until a phone call alerted them of the arrival. But more and more people did this, and the roads around the airport became clogged, and then the authorities started putting up barriers, or cones, to stop even temporary parking.  They blocked off some of the car parks completely... but the main short-stay car park really isn't big enough.  So at times when we do want to park, sometimes Richard drives around for five minutes or more, just looking for a space.

On Wednesday morning we took Tim to the airport.  We decided to go in with him for half an hour or so, and were there in plenty of time. As usual, the car park looked absolutely packed. So Richard dropped Tim and me near the entrance while he went to look for a parking space.  We thought the airport would be heaving with people, as it often is, given the number of cars that were parked.

To our surprise, it was extremely quiet. There was no queue at all, so Tim checked his luggage in immediately.  Apparently the flight was almost empty.  We sat down and chatted for a while, and during that time saw very few people. Evidently December 27th is not a popular time for flying out of Cyprus. There didn't seem to be many arrivals, either.

So we were not just saying, 'This is Cyprus' in a frustrated way about the lack of parking spaces at the airport, we were genuinely puzzled:  why, with so few people in the airport, was the car park as full as ever...?

We wondered if it was long-term parking, for people who had gone away for a week or two over Christmas, but thought that was unlikely, as there's a separate covered long-term car park.  Could it be for staff?  No, they too have their own separate car park.

Then I discovered that instead of the long-term car park being better value than the short-term one for more than 24 hours of parking, it's more expensive. Indeed, the airport site actually suggests that people consider long-term parking in the short-term car park.

No wonder there's such a problem.  But... 'This is Cyprus!'

Almost Christmas Eve

I like it when Christmas Day is a Monday. Although many shops will open tomorrow, we try to avoid shopping on Sundays. So rather than rushing to the supermarket for last-minute bits and pieces on Christmas Eve, we shopped this morning and if anything is missing, we'll do without.

I updated our family website yesterday, including this year's newsletter.  If anyone reading this is interested (and has not already seen it via email), you can find it here: Family newsletter 2017. Observant visitors to the site may notice links to a couple of books in the right-hand sidebar. One is to the book Richard wrote a few years ago. The other is to my father's memoirs, which I edited a little and proof-read over the past few months. They were published via CreateSpace a few days ago.

I usually ice our Christmas cake on Christmas Eve, but decided to do it today, instead. I usually get terrible arm-ache making royal icing, gradually beating icing sugar into egg white or substitute (aquafaba is what I used today, and is my preference). This year I decided to use my food processor, ignoring the advice of purists who insist that royal icing must be beaten with a wooden spoon. It was quick, easy, and successful. I wish I'd thought of doing it this way years ago.

I also put a ribbon around the cake, which is much easier than trying to ice the sides. And since there was a little icing left over, I attempted to pipe a few roses on top. Not very successfully, and the puddle in front of the 'Merry Christmas' thing looks very odd in this photo, but I hope it'll taste all right.

The last few days have gone quickly; it's been great having Tim here. Tomorrow afternoon he will stuff and cook our turkey, so it can be carved and put in a roasting pan in the fridge, ready for re-heating on Christmas Day. We'll probably peel and chop potatoes tomorrow too, but almost everything else is ready.  There will be eleven of us sitting down to eat lunch on Christmas Day.

As always I'm aware that this season is a difficult, poignant and sometimes painful season for people who have lost or are separated from loved ones. We will very much miss Daniel and Becky and the grandchildren, who are thousands of miles away. But we're very thankful to have Tim here, and good friends to share the day with.

Having written this a day early, I may well decide not to switch my computer on at all for the next couple of days. I'm one of the few remaining people who doesn't have (or want) a smart-phone, so once my computer is off, I'm unconnected with the online world.

So, although it's a couple of days early, I'd like to wish everyone a warm, love-filled and blessed Christmas (or whatever you celebrate over the holiday period).

Winter and Christmas preparation in Cyprus

I have evidently been neglecting this blog recently. I've been busy with various things, and somehow blogging has slipped off my radar. My last post was early November, when I was writing about October. Since then, winter (such as it is in Cyprus) has appeared, and Christmas will be here very soon. So here's a brief summary of the past six weeks or so:

The temperature always takes a downward turn around the second week of November. So around that time I got out our two cat beds. I made one of them, a few years ago, and we bought the other one. To my surprise, the cats decided to sleep in them.  However, Alex, who is really quite a large cat, squashes into the smaller bed:

While Lady Jane, his petite sister, spreads out comfortably in the larger bed:

On November 20th, we went into the large and somewhat random shop Kleima. I forget what we were looking for, but we spotted some large poinsettia plants at just €4.99.  We usually pay more than that for much smaller ones.  It felt much too early for a plant we consider to be a Christmas decoration.  And I was dubious about buying it from Kleima; the shop isn't known for great quality. But somehow we decided to buy one anyway.  The pot was a little small, so I re-potted the plant:

In the process, a couple of the stems fell out. They didn't break off, or anything; they were stems that had apparently been pushed into the soil to bulk the plant out a bit. I trimmed them and put them in water.  Over the next few days, I noticed other stems starting to droop... and on gentle pulling, found that they, too, were just loose stems.

However, the actual plant, while considerably less voluptuous than it originally appeared, has survived well and is looking good.

Our closest friends here had been away for over two months, so although winter was approaching I hadn't done any early morning walks in October or November. But they returned at last, and I woke early enough to see a sunrise on November 25th:

A few days later, it was my turn to travel, though I was only away for a week.  My flight was quite early, though after sunrise; as I looked out of the plane window I spotted part of a rainbow:

My trip was to the UK, in order to help my father celebrate a special birthday.  While there, visiting a garden centre, we saw this display of mechanical toys:

They were delightful to watch, but then we saw the boxes. Each one cost at least £30, some of them more, and one alone would be rather dull. They're not toys, and they're the kind of thing one would only get out at Christmas. They were a great display for the garden centre, but I did wonder who might buy one!

At the weekend there was a family party, with twenty of us in all, and a magnificent cake made by my father's wife:

Since I was seeing my siblings and their spouses, with whom we still exchange gifts at birthdays and Christmas, I did all my Christmas shopping online before I flew out. I then wrapped everything, and distributed appropriately.  I also wrote all the Christmas cards for UK friends and relatives, and got our newsletters printed and posted too.  I even made this year's Christmas puddings and mincemeat before my brief trip.  I don't think I have ever been so organised, and it was a good feeling.

A week after my return to Cyprus, the Christmas season was well underway.  The Larnaka Christian Writers' group had our annual Christmas potluck lunch with lots of good food and enjoyable company:

Among other things, I took along some of my first batch of mince pies.

Then, the following day, Sheila's daughters helped me to decorate our Christmas tree, something which has become an annual tradition:

A couple of days after that, Richard and I celebrated the 40th anniversary of our first date.  We had a take-away lunch, had some professional photos taken, and saw some of the lights of Larnaka:

In the evening we went out to eat, and then - along with many other people - took photos of this rather strange giant bauble at the end of the small pier:

At the weekend, I hung up last year's Christmas cards, something else I do each year since so many don't arrive until January. And I sewed up another shepherd I had knitted for our Nativity scene:

I made the first of this season's lemonade on Saturday, after buying a crate of thirty lemons for a couple of euros. On Sunday I made the second batch of mince pies, and some veggie 'sausage' rolls for freezing.  On Monday I made some gingerbread and chocolate chip cake.  I also opened up and made up the sofa bed in Tim's room, which made Jane very happy:

Tim arrived last night and she was even happier. He has always been her human of preference.

Today I made marzipan and put that on the Christmas cake. I need to make some more mince pies, within the next few days, and ice the Christmas cake... but that's about all until we cook the turkey on Christmas Eve.

The house is not as warm as we'd like because one of our central heating pumps needs to be replaced. We've bought the new pump, but the central heating engineer recommended by the shop hasn't come to fit it, though he said he would do so yesterday evening or this morning. However it's not particularly cold out, so an extra jacket is sufficient, at least at present.

I hope to write another blog post on Christmas Eve, as I tend to each year, and will then make a 'resolution' to write at least one post per week in 2018. 

Does it ever get cold in Cyprus?

Before we moved to Cyprus, we had a vague idea that it might sometimes be 'a little chilly' at nights. So, as we arrived at the end of October, we did ensure we had a few sweaters, light-weight jackets, a couple of blankets, and our thin duvet.

Overwhelmed at what seemed, at the time, the exhausting heat of  ::shock horror::  26C in the shade, when the UK was about to experience the first frost of the season, I was pretty sure we weren't going to need even that light-weight warmth. When our landlady showed us how to use the kerosene heater, I couldn't believe we would ever need it.

Experience, and a measure of acclimitisation have taught us otherwise. We breathe a sigh of relief when the weather cools to a 'pleasant' 26C by the end of October. And while we don't get frosts at sea-level in Cyprus, the nights can feel really quite cold in the winter (approximately December, January and February) and since houses are designed, primarily, for the summer with tiled floors and high ceilings, it can often feel colder inside than out.

So we were very pleased to discover an effective central heating system when we bought our house seven-and-a-half years ago. I already wrote about how cold it suddenly became, early in December, when our heating unaccountably didn't work.  Thankfully it is now working, although the weather has become somewhat warmer; but the heating still comes on first thing in the morning, and during the evening. We set our thermostat to about 15-16C and wear several layers of clothes indoors.

Sophia, who has taken to sleeping in my beanbag much of the day, is always pleased when she finds it close to a warm radiator:

One advantage of winter is that there aren't too many mosquitoes, and we don't see cockroaches at all. A disadvantage is that we're much more likely to catch colds. Thankfully we only had minor ones over Christmas: a bit of a sniffle, a slight lingering cough. Nothing compared to the long flu-like colds and coughs we suffered from a year ago, thankfully. 

But in the past week we seem to have developed a different kind of cold; Richard wasn't well at night, a couple of times, and couldn't sleep. Tim totally lacked energy on Wednesday, and took a long siesta when he arrived home from work; he cancelled most of his commitments on Thursday, and is only really feeling like himself again today. I was coughing more yesterday, and felt exhausted and drained... not so bad today, but rather brain-fogged. 

An advantage of having a relatively mild winter with no frosts in Cyprus is that bedding plants do well during the winter months, and geraniums produce a terrific display:

I'm not a fan of pink in general, but I do like it on these amazing plants. 

Gas central heating in Cyprus

I'm pretty sure this past month has been rather warmer than usual, despite it beginning to feel a bit chilly. Last year, after a great deal of rain, we had started using our central heating by the middle of November, as we had during 2009. But in 2010, winter didn't really start until a week into December. [What a good thing I keep a blog, since there is no way I would have remembered any of these dates!]

Unlike at our old house, where we had small gas canisters that we had to change ourselves when they ran out - usually every three weeks, although they were only used for cooking - we have a large, static one here.  It's nearly as tall as I am:

During the winter months, a guy in a large truck comes around and fills it up, usually once a fortnight. He waits until the weather starts to get cold - and this year,  he didn't arrive for the first time until a few days ago. 

I'm not entirely sure how he managed to get through to the gas canister with the pipe that attaches to it, as there are rather a lot of Richard's tools and also some junk sitting in the way: 

But somehow he managed it. And charged me a little over €140, which is, I suppose, the gas we have used for cooking since March when he last came. For nine months of gas, that's not bad. 

Unfortunately, the central heating, once we switch it on, will use up a great deal of gas, no matter how much we try to economise. We usually run it at around 16-18C, which is why we haven't needed it yet as the indoor temperatures are still about 19-20C.  I'm sitting here in a sweatshirt and a fleece, and it's not really cold. Not yet. 

Our house is equipped with radiators in every room:

.. and there's a boiler system in a shed next to the gas canister, which Richard will need to service before we switch the heating on. He plans to do that at some point over the weekend.

[I was going to write an introduction to this post explaining how we were quite surprised to find that we needed central heating at all in Cyprus, but in looking back at other posts I made on the topic, I found that I wrote all about why we need warm duvets and heating, five years ago. Almost to the day.]

Unpredictable Cyprus weather in January

One doesn't, of course, expect warm weather in the Northern hemisphere during January. But Cyprus is renowned for having plenty of sunshine. We wear two or three layers of clothing during the daytime, sleep under a warm duvet at night, and run our central heating morning and evening, although sometimes it doesn't even cut in because the house is already warmer than 15C. I really don't mind January at all, in general.

Just over a week ago, it was a gorgeous day. Richard was out, and my friend Sheila suggested a walk, without any children. We went to the Salt Lake trail, and saw the flamingoes looking very pink:

After the amount of rain we've had, the Salt Lake is looking quite full this year. We walked for a little over an hour, and felt distinctly warm by the time we returned. I even took my fleece off during the walk, although I had to put it on again shortly after returning home. Even after fourteen years, I still find it odd that it's often warmer outside than in.

During last week, however, the temperatures plummeted. A couple of times it got as low as 3C overnight. It was no more than 12 during the daytime, and we had to run the heating a couple of times in the middle of the day just to stop ourselves from shivering.

Cleo is very much enjoying Richard's sabbatical, and keeps warm by sitting on him any time he's home. She likes his black chair, too, which nicely camouflages her - or so she thinks:

Sophia curls up in a tight ball wherever she happens to be sleeping, which is not very photogenic, but Tessie isn't quite so used to sleeping on beanbags, and was happy to pose when the sun came out:

There has been a lot more rain, too. The reservoirs are fuller than they have been for a long time, and some of the dams are even overflowing. Most of the island's water comes from the snow (in the mountains) melting in the spring, so it's very good news that we have so much water already.

But I was glad to wake up to some sunshine this morning, even though it's still a bit cold.

Water, water everywhere...

Our friends who stayed for a week left on Sunday night. The week of their stay had been fairly warm, with lots of sunshine. We had warned them that November in Cyprus can be quite chilly... and they returned to the UK just in time. On Monday, I woke to grey skies. I did manage to get out to the PO Box, the bank and the fruit shop, but by the time I got home again, around 10.30am, the sky was even greyer, thunder was rumbling around, and there was continual drizzle.

Unusually for Cyprus, the rain continued all day. Without a break. And got heavier and heavier, accompanied by some wind. Usually when it rains, it's torrential for an hour or so, and then the sun comes out. But we didn't see any sunshine at all on Monday. Rain came through our roof, and the wind was so strong that it also managed to come in a couple of other spots, in our bathroom ceiling and even in our bedroom. There must be more cracked tiles.

The sun did come out for about half an hour on Tuesday, but was followed by yet more rain. I don't think I have ever seen the street look so consistently wet:


The house was getting cold, too. Despite wearing four layers of clothing, I was chilly. So Richard decided that the time had come to service our central heating. That meant checking the pumps, basically, and making sure the boiler was working:


It didn't take all that long, and there wasn't much air in the radiators. So, happily, we now have the heating coming on both morning and evening when the house is less than 15C. As it has been.

It rained again on Wednesday. It's very good for the island, which so often suffers from lack of water. However, houses are not very well optimised for this kind of weather, and there have been flooded basements and leaking roofs all over the place. The Cyprus Mail reported that excessive rain caused problems - however, it IS good news that there has been so much rain so early in the winter, and that the reservoirs are now filling up rapidly.

We have our strategically placed bucket and cool-box as usual on the stairs to catch the worst of our leaks:


Today was dry, and even quite sunny in the morning, but tomorrow is supposed to be another day of continual rain...

Spring has, possibly, sprung in Cyprus

I'm not entirely sure where the past couple of weeks has gone, since I last wrote. Ten days ago we went to our friend Sheila's birthday dinner, taking some (home-mad) vanilla and also some toffee (caramel) ice cream:


- which went rather well with the cake her oldest daughter Marie had baked and decorated:


But my camera is rather devoid of photos since then, other than this one showing Sophia and Tessie, unusually, sharing the beanbag for a catnap:


I suppose nothing noteworthy has happened in our home or neighbourhood, which is all to the good, and a pleasant contrast to the world news which is currently full of terrible disasters and tragedies.

We've had some rain, off and on, which - to my surprise - has not come through the roof at all. And while we're still using our extra-thick duvet at night, and putting on an extra fleece in the evenings, the days are more springlike, the wildflowers are blooming, and our central heating comes on only rarely, when the house dips below the thermostat temperature. As I type, the sun is shining and the sky is blue, but only half an hour ago we had a brief rainstorm. At least I am not yet having to water the plants on the front patio.

We've had a visitor in our guest flat for the past week, and while she's out for most of the day, she's eating lunches and evening meals with us, so I've had to think about cooking for three, and (since our visitor is vegetarian) finding things a little different from our usual menus.

Right now, only just over two weeks after I tried my first experiment with making tomato ketchup, I'm making another batch. Yes, I've got through an entire batch (including some used in cooking) in sixteen days. Still, at a euro for about three kilograms of tomatoes, it's not exactly an expensive addition to our food bill...