Another week over...

 Wasn't New Year just a few days ago...? How can it be nearly half-way through January already? Time has a way of racing past, faster and faster and I really don't know where the last week has gone.

Part of that, I acknowledge, is that I've had quite a bad cold. Which I'll come to later... 

On Friday January 5th, we went for a walk along the sea-front to check our PO Box. And there, as so often happens at this time of year, we found ELEVEN Christmas cards. All from the UK, posted on different dates between the 5th and 17th December. 

So much for official 'last posting dates'. It all seems quite random. 

That nearly doubled the number of cards we received for the 2023 Christmas season, so I put them up along with those we had already received:

 

We do appreciate the cards that arrive. If you happen to be reading this and are one of the people who still sends us a card each year, then thank you very much. But we have been rather shocked at the amount of postage necessary to send a card to Cyprus from the UK. So please don't feel that you must! Electronic greetings are also welcome. It's rather sad that, even if folk post cards early in December, they can take a month to arrive. This is why I always keep the latest cards in an envelope along with our tree and decorations, and put them up the following year. 

So these, which we displayed right through December, are actually the cards we were sent for Christmas 2022 (many of which didn't arrive until early or even mid-January 2023)

The traditional times for taking down Christmas decorations range from January 5th (Twelfth Night) through to Candlemas (February 2nd). But having had ours up since December 1st, I felt that it was time to take them down on January 5th... so we made sure the knitted wise men arrived at the manger even though it was a day earlier than Epiphany:

In the evening, Richard helped me take everything down, and packed it away much more neatly and efficiently than I can manage when I'm doing the un-decorating alone.

And so, that was Christmas. 

Winding back a few hours, on that same Friday, which felt like a very long day, one way and another, I went to hang out the laundry I had done in the morning, only to find it still rather wet. I put it on to spin again, and nothing happened. Well, the washing machine made a lot of noise, but the drum did not turn at all. 

Uh-oh.

The washing machine, which was eight and a half years old, had been playing up for many months: I could no longer select the programme I used the most, and had to use a different one. Sometimes it was hard even to find that. We wondered about seeing if it could be fixed, but thought it (a) unlikely and (b) probably expensive. 

With a second major thing not working, we realised the time had come to buy a new washing machine.  Our previous one lasted nine years, and ended dramatically by boil-washing some clothes that never really recovered. Eight-and-a-half isn't significantly less. And whereas we were happy to buy a used (and probably elderly) steamer at the thrift store, just a day earlier, we didn't even look for a second-hand washing machine.  A steamer might be used ten or twelve times in a year, and we can manage quite well without it if we have to. A washing machine is used at least 150 times a year, with just the two of us, and I would find it extremely difficult to cope without it. 

So we went out to our favourite local white goods store, George Theodorou, after perusing their website, and ordered a new machine. To be delivered on Monday. And while many things have become more expensive in the past decade, I was slightly surprised to realise that our new washing machine was forty euros cheaper than the one we bought in 2015. And it comes with a five-year guarantee.

Our washing machine is located on an outside utility balcony, inside a biggish metal cupboard.  It works well; it's right by the washing lines, and it's not taking up space in the kitchen. 

But also in the cupboard, next to the machine, we tend to accumulate things like old cardboard boxes, ends of cans of paint - particularly when they're still in use - and unused cat litter trays. I also had a large bag of polystyrene beads for beanbags. At one point we had four beanbags, but one of them was damaged by one of the cats, and we didn't really think we needed four.. so I rescued the filling, and thought it would be useful for topping up the three remaining beanbags. The fillings tend to get squashed, so the bags become less comfortable with time.

It was, I think, a good idea. But I did that probably five or six years ago, and had not done any topping up. I also hadn't realised that the large bin bag in which I put the spare beads was a biodegradable one. And it started to biodegrade. I had noticed a few beans leaking out but hadn't done anything about it... and the slight leak, just a week or two earlier, had turned into a major cascade...

I might have left this for weeks, even months longer, although a high wind could have caused beans to go flying all over the place. But knowing that a new washing machine was coming on Monday was an excellent motivator. So on Sunday I set to work with a jug and a new bin liner... 

Richard helped, and between us we managed to tidy up the inside of the cupboard effectively, getting rid of some almost empty (and dried up) paint containers, and throwing out some of the beans which had become very grubby. 

On Monday the new washing machine was delivered and installed, and the old one taken away. I hadn't realised that the door was so dark, I couldn't see the laundry going around inside. But I guess it doesn't matter. 

The programme names seem a bit random; I've tried three different ones so far, and they all work well. The cycles are rather quicker than those on the previous machine, which is a plus point. 

On Thursday, when I went out for a walk with Sheila first thing, the flamingoes were right on the shore. It had rained a bit, and evidently there were plenty of fresh little pink shrimp by the shore. 

We can't get too close, or they become frightened, and my phone zoom isn't great - but I was quite pleased with this picture. 

2023 broke all the records for warmth, at least in Cyprus, and December was no exception. As I said in a previous post, I don't think the overnight temperatures dropped below ten degrees (Celcius, of course) and the daytimes were mostly 20-23 in the shade. 

Early January remained warm, too. But on Friday, for the first time, my phone showed slightly cooler temperatures when I got up:

And, indeed, it rained - not much on Friday afternoon, but today has been very grey, with rain more than once. A report in the Cyprus Mail said that snow is falling in Troodos. 

Perhaps winter is, at last, arriving. 

Oh, and my cold...

I had a slight sniffle on Monday that barely affected me. I walked with Sheila as usual first thing on Tuesday, but felt exhausted when I got home and very 'coldy' for the rest of the day. It was  really quite bad on Wednesday, then started to improve. It's pretty much gone by now. I didn't test for Covid; mainly because most of our remaining free testing kits have dried up entirely. But I checked several sites to see if there were any clear differences. I was sneezing a lot (common with colds, very uncommon with Covid). However I didn't have a headache, other than slight pressure around my sinuses on Wednesday (headaches are very common with Covid), nor did I have any aches and pains anywhere else. I was a bit tired, but not in a debilitating way. And my coughs were productive.

All of which is probably far more information than anyone reading this cares to read, so I'll end here. 

Isolation and Testing Confusion

On Monday January 3rd, we went to look for a new small upright freezer for our guest flat. There are several people booked to stay there over the next few months, including some families. Our old guest flat freezer was very inefficient to run by today's standards, and likely to stop working at some point due to its age (close to 24 years). 

One of the shops we went into was in the Metropolis Mall. I was aware, while there, that people were not really distancing from each other, and many were rather casual about mask wearing. There were a few coughs and sneezes, too. We didn't end up buying the freezer there, but we did find one at our favourite white goods' shop, George Theodorou, where health protocols were correctly observed.

On Tuesday I walked first thing with my friend Sheila as usual. Later, she and her daughters came over to help me put the Christmas decorations away, and to play some games. In the afternoon I finished cleaning the guest flat and made up the beds.

On Wednesday I did some shopping first thing for the first guests, due to arrive in the evening, since Thursday was a public holiday. Later in the day, we put away Tim's bed, turning his room temporarily into a kind of sitting room, soon to be occupied by Richard's electronics projects and repairs. 

On Thursday morning, I woke about 4am for no obvious reason, and couldn't get back to sleep. I was a bit headachey, and felt as if I were starting a cold. I didn't worry about it particularly; Sheila's daughters have all had colds recently and since they have twice-weekly antigen tests for their 'safe passes', I knew they were 'just' colds. So assumed I had finally caught one of them. I took extra Vitamin C and manuka honey, dozed for a while, and hoped it would be short-lived. At 6.15 or so I went out to walk with Sheila as usual. 

Gradually, as the day progressed, I started sneezing and coughing more and more. The headache got worse, and I felt incredibly tired. Waking up at 4am would have contributed to being tired, of course. But in the current pandemic crisis, my mind was, unsurprisingly, on the possibility of Covid. 

In the UK, most people we know test themselves at home a couple of times per week. We haven't had that possibility in Cyprus (possibly because the rather more authoritarian government here doesn't trust the rather less obedient public...) until mid-December. But as Christmas approached, each adult was allowed to collect one set of five lateral flow self-tests, intended for use over the festive season. It was a good idea, so that people could make sure they were Covid-free before spending time with elderly or vulnerable relatives.

We hadn't used any of ours, so I thought it would make sense do so. I knew that cold symptoms and headache could be a sign of the latest Omicron variant. The instructions were lengthy and confused, but Richard worked it out, and I did my test.

Negative.

I was slightly surprised but highly relieved. However I was so tired that instead of playing a game with our friends in the evening, I went to read in bed with a warm wheat bag for company.  

On Friday morning I woke at 4am again, this time with an absolutely raging headache, right across the front of my head. There was no way I could get back to sleep. I got up, and took some Solpadeine (after eating an apple to ensure my stomach wasn't empty). It helped somewhat, but not nearly as much as I would expect. A few hours later I took some aspirin and it did get a bit better.

But I felt quite grim; so before we headed out to do our weekly shopping, I did another home lateral flow test. 

That, too, was negative.

So we shopped, and went through the day although I felt washed out, and in the evening we went to our friends' home as we usually do for a shared meal, though I could barely stay awake and we left well before 9pm. 

On Saturday, another raging headache woke me up at 4am. I did not appreciate what seemed to be turning into a new daily routine. This time I just took paracetamol and dozed in my study. It very slowly got better, so that by 6am I was able to walk with Sheila. And for the first time in ages there was rather an attractive sky, though as ever a photo can't really do it justice: 

As I said to Sheila, I thought a good walk would either make me feel better, or wipe me out for the rest of the day. It seemed that the former was the case. Though very tired by the end of the walk, through the morning I did start to feel more myself again. I put clean sheets on the bed, and cleaned the bathrooms, and put away Friday's laundry, and mopped the floors... I took breaks in between each burst of activity, but I felt less much less washed out than before. 

I still didn't feel up to playing a game in the evening, so when our friends came over, I went up for another evening with a book and a wheat bag. I was tired, but I also had a hunch that I really shouldn't be sitting close to folk and breathing on them. Even though my cold, as I thought, was almost entirely better.

On Sunday morning I woke early yet again... but only a slight headache this time, and getting out of bed eased it. I had a bit of a sore throat too, but more a tickle than anything. A glass of water helped that.

I went downstairs and since I felt quite wide awake for a change, I decided to finish a baby blanket I've been knitting off and on for the past six weeks or so.  I not only finished the knitting, I sewed it all together - much easier while the cats were still asleep in the dining room.  

Then I squeezed orange juice and made our breakfasts, and turned the water heater on. I planned to go to church at 9.30 so couldn't wait for the sun to warm the water. 

And then... being, basically, quite a responsible person (I hope), I thought that it would probably be a good idea to do one more home lateral flow test, before going out, just to be sure. There are some vulnerable folk at the church, after all, even though we are masked and distance. I had a busy day planned on Monday, too, with two different groups of people, and some of them are also vulnerable. 

I want to say I was surprised that this test proved positive, but I had a strong hunch that it might.  

Richard took one too, and his was negative, so he was able to go and set up the livestream at church. Vaccinated close contacts don't need to isolate here though tests are recommended.

Chatting online with my son later, I learned that with the Omicron variant it's not uncommon for lateral flow tests not to pick up an infection in the first few days. That's because it mainly replicates in the throat rather than the nose. This is why it's less likely to lead to lung problems, which is good; but it means that the home tests are less helpful in ensuring that someone is safe to visit vulnerable relatives.

Instructions are (we thought) clear: On receiving a positive home test result, we are supposed to contact our personal doctor who will arrange for a PCR test. And, indeed,  this article is a clarification that was published a couple of days ago, including: 

As soon as they test positive, the confirmed cases must:

• Go in self-isolation
• Inform their personal physician
• Inform their closed contacts, employer, school, military camp, and so forth
• Will get out of self-isolation only after the days, provided by the protocol, have passed

(There's also a rather mystifying comment that confirmed cases cannot use any mass media... I suspect this is a mistranslation of something, as I see no possible reason why I shouldn't watch television or read a newspaper if I wished to.)

However, as it was Sunday, we couldn't reach our personal doctor by phone. I sent a text to her mobile number, but had no response.

So I called the official hotline and a helpful man asked if I were vaccinated (yes, but not yet boosted), and if I had any symptoms (not really, I said, other than a slight sore throat and explained that I had symptoms the previous few days). 

Okay, the guy said, the best thing was to isolate for the day, and contact the doctor on Monday morning.  She would then give me a code to authorise an official PCR test, he told me. And then I would have to isolate for ten days, although possibly I could count Sunday as the first. 

I stayed in my study all day. Richard cooked, and did the washing up, and re-made Tim's room back into a bedroom so he could sleep there while I isolate, even from him. I had already contacted our friends - we had only seen members of this one family all week - and they went for tests, which were negative.  I let folk know I wouldn't be at any meetings on Monday. 

I read a book, and wrote emails and Facebook messages on the computer, and did a few bits and pieces... and then slept pretty well Sunday night. I don't like having to isolate from my husband but we're fortunate to have a big enough house that it's possible without my being stuck in just one room. When I go into the kitchen, or other shared space, I wear my mask. Also when I am with the cats, who totally refuse to isolate from me. 

On Monday morning Richard called our personal doctor. The receptionist said that since I didn't have any serious symptoms, I didn't need a PCR test. Instead, she said, I should just go for a rapid test, and if it was positive the result would get recorded in the system and my official isolation could start. When Richard queried this, the receptionist checked with the doctor who said that yes, that was correct. 

We drove to the underground carpark at the mall where the official free testing happens, but there was quite a long queue. So we decided to go to the lab we went to in the summer and pay five euros rather than waiting around for half an hour or more. 

And.... the lab test came back negative. 

But by this stage I was feeling as if I had a slight cold - and my intuition still told me that I probably did have Covid, even if so mildly that it couldn't be detected by an antigen test two days later. My intuition can, of course, be wrong. But I don't think I'm a hypochondriac, and besides, it's better to be over-cautious as far as Covid is concerned than to risk other people's health.

So we agreed that I would continue isolating for the rest of the day, and Tuesday too, as minimum. On Tuesday morning I would do another self-test, and - if negative - I would be careful for a couple of days until the slight cold was gone, and then go back into circulation.

But this morning's test was not negative. It looked even more strongly positive than the one on Sunday: 

What to do? There didn't seem to be any point contacting the doctor again, since the negative lab test yesterday effectively released me - I only took the one today to be certain. I would probably be told to ignore the home tests. I don't want to have to pay for a PCR test, which could take a few days to come through anyway, and I would then have to isolate for ten days further. 

A bit of research turned up this page relating to the home tests. The instructions on that, right at the bottom, are rather different from those quoted above: 

In case of a positive result, citizens must contact the Coordination of Public Health Clinics via email... by sending their identification details... as well as a photo of their positive self-test.

Okay.

So I composed a lengthy email (no, not as long as this blog post!) describing my symptoms and the tests, attaching the photo of the second positive home test as above. I said I have no more symptoms other than a mild cold; I haven't had a fever since Thursday, and then only a mild one (if at all). I mentioned the official negative test. I told them I have been isolating since Sunday.

I asked them what I am supposed to do. 

About half an hour later, I received a response. It said:

Your request has been received.

Should we require further information we will contact you.

I have done my duty. Indeed, I feel I have gone above and beyond, by taking the tests on Sunday and today, neither of which were required after the negative tests. I will continue to isolate for at least another couple of days but am not sure what else I can do. 

If anyone has any words of wisdom, please comment... 

(Continuation, official recovery and release in the next post: https://cypruslife.blogspot.com/2022/01/isolating-in-cyprus-recovering-and.html) 

Empty nest once more

A month felt like such a long time when the family arrived, in the middle of December. The weather was pleasant, and although their main aim was to relax and have 'family time', with a few walks and games, we had other plans, when opportunity arose: perhaps a first dip in the sea for David. Perhaps a day or two out somewhere other than Larnaka. Richard had a few household jobs to do which he thought would be more enjoyable with Daniel. And they had a list of people they wanted to see.

But there was plenty of time....

The first few days were spent settling in, letting David become accustomed to us, establishing some kind of loose pattern to the day. There were Christmas gifts to wrap, mince pies to make, and general shopping and cooking. We played a few games, saw our close local friends once or twice, and looked forward to a Christmas as a complete family.

Christmas was good. Boxing Day was relaxing, other than Tim getting to the airport for ten days in the UK.

Then suddenly New Year's Eve was upon us. We spent a few hours with our good friends but were all tired; none of us stayed up to midnight. On New Year's Day we had some other friends for lunch, and that was good too. But we couldn't figure out what had happened to the intervening days... did the end of December just vanish, wiped out by the history monks?

Never mind, we thought. There were still two-and-a-half weeks together. Lots of time to get things done, without the distraction of Christmas.

But the weather was bad, so rather than going out we stayed indoors. And the practicalities of life with a baby mean that more mundane things don't get done. I spent a lot of time shopping and cooking and cleaning the kitchen, and we sat around meal tables eating and chatting and enjoying being together. David progressed to eating three 'solid' meals each day: an adult-sized portion of porridge with a mashed banana at breakfast, and usually something like stewed/pureed apples and pears at lunchtime, carrots and sweet potatoes, or home-made soup for dinner. I enjoyed making his main meals and freezing increasingly large sized portions; but with that, and family cooking (both meat and vegetarian), and extra things like making ketchup, lemonade, granola, coconut milk (etc) the days filled up rapidly.

David is an absolute delight, but is quite an intense baby needing a lot of attention. He keeps his parents busy at night, still waking at least twice; more when he's teething. He's cut one good tooth and several others are about to poke through. We've seen him put on weight and a little chubbiness, we've seen his balance improving when he sits, and a determination to walk before he crawls. His babbling has turned into attempts at individual words. He loves to smile at Grandpa and play with Grandma (yes, that's me!) It's been the most amazing privilege to spend the past month with such a delightful little boy and see his progress.

A week ago, three of us (thankfully not including David) caught the flu. Mine was relatively mild; Daniel's was unpleasant but short-lived; Richard's was draining and left him with a nasty cough. So there were no trips out. Most of the planned household jobs didn't get done. Daniel and Becky managed to see a couple of people on their list, but no more. The sea was far too cold to think of David taking even a tiny paddle.

And then it was their last day.

I was about to text Sheila to arrange when to meet for our early morning walk when Daniel and David appeared in our part of the house. They decided to come with us, David in the 'ergo' carrier which Sheila has lent them. It was lovely to have them with us and they both enjoyed four kilometres along the trail, though it started to spit with rain by the time we got home.

We decided to go out to lunch, to a little cafe Daniel and Becky had been to on their own a couple of times,. We took his last container of fruit puree and David demonstrated just how much he liked it: 

We thought about ice cream afterwards but it was still chilly so we came home. Then the afternoon flew past while they packed. 

We had a sandwich at the airport before saying goodbye, and although I felt sad, we knew it was time for them to return home and to their own lives. Adult children have to move on and we were so thrilled that they had been willing to spend so long with us. We watched them go, and I remained dry-eyed. 

I got up this morning and determined to catch up with email, and photos, and write a blog post. And everything was just fine... 

... until I sat down for lunch. 

I caught sight of the empty high chair. 

And I broke down completely. 

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. 

Recovering from coughs...?

There have been a lot of coughs and colds around, this winter. Sometimes people assume that, living in Cyprus, we are immune to such things - but that's not the case at all. We seem to have had more bugs and viruses since living here than we ever did in the UK. They last longer, too. 

It doesn't make sense... we get plenty of sunshine here, and we eat more healthfully than we ever did in the UK, with the wide variety of locally grown produce available so inexpensively. I don't volunteer in a classroom as I did in the UK; I don't even teach Sunday School or help at Mothers and Tots any more. This year, with all the walking, I am fitter than I used to be. 

Yet it's only today, around eight weeks after Christmas, that I begin to feel as if I'm truly on the mend. 

Perhaps it's just related to getting older. Sigh. 

We caught the colds shortly before the New Year, when we were probably a bit run-down after the short but unpleasant norovirus bug just before Christmas. The colds didn't last long, but the coughs lingered... and lingered.  We didn't really slow down much, but felt constantly tired and decidedly under par. 

Richard seemed to have recovered from his cough in the last week of January, when he flew to Italy for a week. A couple of days after returning home, he started a worse cold which was possibly the flu for a couple of days. He is pretty sure he caught it from someone he spent time with while he was away. By then I had almost stopped coughing from the first cold.. but, unsurprisingly, caught the second one about a week after Richard did. And felt decidedly rotten for some time. 

I still managed my walks with Sheila, but when she and her family went away for a few weeks, it was a lot harder to feel motivated. I think I've been three times in a little over two weeks... and only once thought to take a photo:

We don't tend to visit doctors here. We could - we have insurance, and they're pretty good here, but we prefer to use home remedies wherever possible. So we've been drinking copious amounts of hot lemon and honey (lemons supplied by friends who grow them, so fresh and organic).  We've been eating a lot of onions and garlic, too. I did buy some herbal lozenges, and some liquorice ones too (for Richard), which seemed to help. But the coughs continued, and our energy levels have been decidedly low.

Oddly, the end of this particular bug seems to be worse than the beginning.  The cough seems to get better, only to be replaced by a horrible sore throat. And that subsides a day or two later, followed by a feeling of the throat having swelled, of swallowing being difficult and wind being trapped.  A couple of nights last week I was up at 2am coughing uncontrollably, and had to have a hot drink before it calmed down. 

I would have been more concerned, perhaps... but it was following exactly the same pattern that Richard's virus did a week or so earlier.

About a week ago I felt the need for something warm against my chest. I wished we had a hot water bottle. We did buy some, years ago, but they weren't great quality. Or perhaps they perished in the Cyprus summers. In any case, we had too many problems to bother with them again.  

But inspiration struck. I had a bag of 'wheat berries', bought ages ago and never used, and a lot of random material which, years ago, we used for making juggling balls. It was the work of a moment to cut out a suitable sized rectangle and hand-sew it together, filling with the wheat: 

Not exactly beautiful, but I'm hardly going to use that material for anything on display. 

Two-and-a-half minutes in the microwave (with a half cup of water next to it) and I have a warm and cosy bag to cuddle.  It feels very good indeed.  Cleo, our oldest cat, rather likes it too....

I did walk on Thursday, having read that exercise and early morning air were good for pretty much any infection, but on Saturday woke too late, and felt too tired.  Yet today, at last, the coughing has eased and I'm beginning to feel as if my full health is returning.  I hope so. It has been a very mild winter, even for Cyprus, and is rather a shock to realise that March will be starting this week. 

Happy New Year!

So, Christmas came and went. We got up - Richard and I feeling almost human after our tummy bugs (probably noro virus), and opened family gifts. Tim admitted to feeling rather queasy, but ate some ginger and walked to the Community Church where he was not just playing but leading the singing for the short Christmas Day service.

He made it, professional as ever. But not for much longer. Happily we were offered a lift home, and he then retreated to his bed.

Since we probably caught the bug from our friends, and had so much food prepared they came over anyway, although we very much missed Tim as we ate our Christmast lunch:

Richard and I didn't eat all that much as we were still being careful. We ate leftovers for a couple of days, then froze quite a bit of turkey for making future curries, pies and so on. 

I didn't go for my usual walk with Sheila on Christmas Day, and a couple of days later I was so tired I didn't feel that it was a good idea... though I was over the tummy bug by then, I had started a very nasty cold, with a hacking cough. However, by Saturday I felt almost human again, and was pleased to get out - even if I was a bit slower than usual - and to enjoy yet another rather stunning sunrise: 

I wasn't sure if the picture worked so switched the camera to manual setting, and tried again: 

Dark and brooding, but I have a feeling that when using 'manual' I should actually set something manually rather than just clicking... 

One of the unexpected and very nice gifts we were given was a new board game, by Tim. It's called Agricola, and has great reviews in many places. We've heard of several people who have played it, all of whom like it very much.

The only problem was figuring out how it worked, as the instructions are very long and somewhat convoluted. Perhaps they're simpler in the original German. One of our Christmas Day visitors had played before, and was able to give some guidelines, but it wasn't until a couple of days later that the three of us sat down to play it - in the shorter 'family' version - and see how it worked:

We decided that we liked it very much, and played it again yesterday. We look forward to many more enjoyable rounds in the New Year. 

We're still coughing and feeling tired, but are about to leave for a meal and board game evening with our friends, so I'll take this opportunity to wish a very Happy New Year to anyone who stops by.  Wishing every blessing for 2013. 

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.

Strawberries in Cyprus

Strawberries often start to appear in the shops in Cyprus in January, but are usually extremely over-priced. I generally ignore them until they're more plentiful and less expensive. So I was pleased - and a little surprised - to find strawberries in the 'pink bag' reduced aisle of our favourite froutaria about a week ago. They were still rather more expensive than they will be in a few months, but not unreasonable.. and they looked very good. So I bought a couple of handfuls.

I cut them up and we shared them after our evening meal:


They tasted almost as good as they looked. Though not quite. Strawberries are often just slightly disappointing in Cyprus. It's one of the things that the UK does a great deal better.

Why, you might ask, did I buy and photograph them a week ago, but am only writing about them today?

It's only today, for the first time in several weeks, that I begin to feel as if my cough is finally better. Or nearly so. It's been a strange three weeks, feeling physically all right, albeit extra-tired at times, but with no real energy or motivation for anything. And those horrible bouts of coughing, leaving me exhausted.

Still, I've managed to get out to the fruitaria two or three times each week - it's only five minutes' walk from our home, and I'm sure the sunshine is good for me, even though it's been cold enough to wear a jacket or fleece as well as a sweatshirt. I've kept a lookout for more strawberries, but there are only the over-priced punnets. So we probably won't have any more for a few weeks now.

Colder and coughing...

So, last week it felt a bit chilly, and I reported recovering from a cold. I did indeed continue to improve, other than continuing with the nasty cough. Just as Richard did over Christmas. I don't think mine is quite as bad, but it's lasted well over a week now, and kept me awake until very late on Wednesday night. There are a lot of bugs and viruses going around, it seems. Cyprus certainly isn't immune to them, as some people might assume.

Nor, indeed, is Cyprus immune from cold weather. Last week's 16C seems quite warm compared to today, when the weather site tells me it's only 12C currently, mid-afternoon. The sun was out this morning, but I had to walk briskly, wearing a fleece and a sweatshirt, to keep even reasonably warm when popping over to see our friends whose three youngest children are also suffering coughs and colds in varying degrees. Last night we were down to about 6C. I'm very thankful for the central heating that comes on, morning and evening, and which can be given an extra hour's boost if necessary (as it was at lunch-time today) to take the chill off the house.

I'm also thankful for fresh lemons, and reasonably priced honey, to make our favourite hot drinks in the evenings. Soothing for sore throats and coughs, and rather delicious too.

There were a few spots of rain earlier in the afternoon. The sky overhead is grey. I am reminding myself that I like winter a great deal better than summer in Cyprus... but it's still hard to get moving and motivated. According to the weather site ten-day forecast for Larnaka, we're supposed to have wall-to-wall sunshine tomorrow, with a high of 14C, then slightly warmer temperatures at the end of the week, and rain. We seem to have had quite a bit of rain recently, but apparently it's not yet enough. Every winter the officials worry about the state of the reservoirs; 49% full may be worse than this time last year, but it's a great deal better than it was three or four years ago.

For those wondering if we're affected by the riots in Cairo - the answer is: not really. We're not all that far away geographically speaking, but Cyprus is a different country entirely. There have been some evacuations from Egypt - about thirty Cypriots and a hundred and fifty Americans - and it's possible that one of Richard's colleagues and his family will get here, though we're not entirely sure where they would stay as the various guest flats we know (including ours) are all full.

So, if the demonstrations end reasonably peacefully, as we hope and pray, there is unlikely to be any real effect here.

Cold, and a cold

I just checked my camera. I haven't taken a single photograph since last Monday. The rain has cooled Cyprus - or our part of it - rather significantly, so we're using the heating a bit more than we were, and I regularly wear a fleece in the house as well as a sweater. It's not actually bitterly cold outside - the weather site tells me it's about 16C at present, but with the sky overcast it isn't exactly warm. Cyprus houses are not, generally, designed with winter in mind. It makes sense: one can always put on more layers in winter, but there's a limit to how much can be removed in the hot, humid summers.

The last week passed as most weeks do when we don't have guests or public holidays. At least, it started out that way. On Wednesday I felt quite tired and achey, for no obvious reason. I did my usual upstairs cleaning, washing sheets and towels, and generally organising the house as I do on Wednesdays, but it all seemed like a whole lot more effort than usual. I had to take regular breaks, and it was late afternoon by the time I'd finished. In the evening we went to play Settlers of Catan with our good friends who live nearby; we enjoyed their company and the game, but I was very, very tired by the end. And my throat was somewhat sore.

On Thursday I felt decidedly unwell. Wondering if I'd be worse by Friday, I did get various things done in the kitchen, about which I had been procrastinating. I froze another litre of lemon juice with some peel, for a future batch of lemonade; I also froze some apple slices in syrup, and made more applesauce, as I'd bought a euro bag of apples (about 3kg in all) earlier in the week, and didn't think they'd keep many days longer. I sorted out the fridge, too. But by lunch-time I was feeling shivery and extremely achey, and by mid-afternoon had a headache as well, and no energy at all. I assumed that after a month of fighting it off, I had finally caught the bug Richard had over Christmas.

As an aside: I've never much liked the idea of living each day as if it might be my last. If I knew for sure that I wasn't going to see tomorrow, I wouldn't spend today cleaning, or doing laundry - what would be the point? - or cooking. I'd want to spend most of my time with the people I care about the most, trying to appreciate every second. Possibly I'd also an hour or so curled up on my beanbag, eating chocolate (no point worrying about one's waistline in such circumstances), and finishing as many books as possible.

In other words, I'd get nothing constructive done at all.

However, it did strike me as that it might be quite a good idea to live each day as if I were going to be incapacitated by the flu for the next week...!

I did manage to organise our evening meal, including half a dozen cloves of roasted garlic each, and I must have had 3g or more of Vitamin C on Thursday, plus a couple of doses of echinacea. Richard made me some honey and lemon in the evening, which was very soothing, and I went to bed early with Olbas Oil on my pillow, and slept surprisingly well. So much so that I actually felt rather better on Friday. But, remembering how Richard's bad cold lasted far longer than it should have done, I determined to take it easy rather than doing the various housework I normally do on a Friday. So much for good intentions...

Thus I wrote a bit of email, and read some friends' blogs, and vegged out on Facebook. In the evening we went to the usual cell group meeting, which was good, although I was extremely tired by the end, and once again slept surprisingly well.

On Saturday, Richard went sailing, and I took it easy again. Some Facebook games can be very addictive. I have been regularly reassured by Philip Yancey's comment, "They also serve who only sit and click"... but he was referring to research and writing on the computer. I can extend the principle to blogging, website building, email, and doing the accounts on the computer. But I'm not serving anyone other than myself by clicking to harvest Farmville trees, or collect Cityville rent, or re-stock Ravenwood Fair games...

By the evening I'd had enough. No more computer games, I decided... except possibly on free evenings, or at weekends. A timely post by a friend in Paphos about her 'media fast' inspired me to switch the computer off, and think about having a day each week - Sunday, perhaps? - without turning it on.

Richard and I played a couple of board games on Saturday evening, although I found myself starting to cough rather badly, which was exhausting. Honey and lemon helped, and also some cough lozenges I bought recently, although they contain anise (which tastes like liquorice - ugh) so I won't be using those much.

On Sunday I went to a church service in the morning and sat with friends, taking my small friend Helen out to the crêche when she became too lively. I walked there and back, and popped to the PO box for mail too since I was nearby. I really felt much better. Then as well as lunch for Richard and myself, I made soup and bread and a dessert for the evening, and then played Seafarers of Catan with the same friends in the afternoon, and another couple. Later, we all shared a cold evening meal. I didn't switch the computer on at all until 8.00pm when they'd all gone home - and then only for forty-five minutes, since we played a game of Settlers-by-Skype with Tim after that.

Today I feel mostly like myself again, other than having lost my voice almost entirely. And I'm still coughing. But not as badly as Richard did a month ago, so perhaps it was good to take it easy for a few days. I am trying to remind myself that I like cold weather MUCH more than the hot weather of summer, but somehow it's hard to imagine July and August when sitting here in several layers feeling a bit chilly...

Warm and then wet in Cyprus

Hard to believe we were out, enjoying sunshine and a picnic only ten days ago. Indeed, I'm not entirely sure where those days have gone. As I type, it's pouring with rain. It's been doing that for the past seven hours, more-or-less. Yesterday was much the same. Grey skies, continual rain. And yes, our roof is still leaking over the stairs, as it has been for the past four years. I'm not sure if it's getting worse, or whether the rain is heavier. Thankfully we have no carpet on the stairs, and strategically placed buckets and cool-boxes usually catch the worst of it.

It's been quite a busy week, for someone like me who needs a lot of time alone. I've also had rather a lot of late nights.

Friday evening, a week ago, we went to the fortnightly cell group at our nearby friends' home. There were, I think, 18 of us sitting down to the meal, plus another baby too young to eat the same food as the rest of us. We didn't do a study, or anything formal; after the meal we chatted, and caught up with other people, and generally had a relaxing evening. But it was past 10pm when we finally left. It may even have been 10.30. I really like to be in bed by 10.30 at the latest...

I did have Saturday to myself. I got quite a bit done, too, while Richard was out working on King Malu. In the evening we arranged to play Settlers of Catan with our friends, and also some other friends who are staying in our guest flat. We were a bit late arriving, and a six-player game can take some time... particularly when chatting, and enjoying each other's company. It was 11.30 by the time we left. I was VERY tired.

Sunday morning I took our guests to the service at Larnaka Community Church. I then had the afternoon to myself, but was so tired I didn't get a lot done other than organising our evening meal, for which our downstairs guests were joining us. Then we played a game of Seafarers of Catan. It was 11pm by the time I got to bed.

On Monday morning I woke a bit later than usual, popped to the local shops, put on laundry, mopped the floors... then had about an hour at the computer where I did little more than check email. At about 11.15 I walked down to the PO Box to check mail, and then on to the Larnaka Community Church building for the memorial service for Maurice, one of the elders, who, sadly, died a week previously. The service had memories and eulogies included by several people, and lasted two and a half hours which was rather longer than I expected. There was some food afterwards, and I was so hungry by 2.30 that I had a couple of sandwiches for setting off home, since I was due, with one of our guests, at our friends to play yet another game of Settlers - this time with their children.

I was home by 5.30pm, just in time to organise our evening meal, and we spent the evening trying to write an 'update' about Richard's work for our various friends around the world. I had really hoped to get to bed early but it was nearly 11pm by the time I was asleep.

Tuesday I walked to Tots, as I usually do. It was quite busy, but thankfully not as noisy as it used to be when it met in a different building a year ago. I enjoy it, but it's somewhat draining and I can never get anything much done on Tuesday afternoons. We were asked out for a meal at 6pm, which meant I didn't have to cook (other than making some ice cream to take with us)... and after the meal we had, guess what...? Another game of Settlers of Catan. We actually did finish just before 10pm... but then chatted until nearly 11pm.

On Wednesday I woke up with a streaming cold. No sore throat, no sinus pain... just sneezing and nose-blowing. Followed by more sneezing. Wednesday was a busy day too, most of which I spent in the kitchen, except when I rushed away from the food to sneeze again. At lunchtime we had three people to eat bread and soup and cake with us. In the evening we had some other friends to a meal; they'd just moved house that day, so were exhausted and thankful to be asked out to eat. In the afternoon, a friend arrived to return some books she'd borrowed and take some more, and we had hot drinks together and chatted.

All of which was very enjoyable. I do like seeing friends, and particularly having people in our house. I'm very glad to be able to lend books to so many people. But by the end of the evening I was SOOOO tired I could barely climb the stairs. I don't suppose the cold helped.

Naturally, I took mega-doses of echinacea/goldenseal and Vitamin C on Wednesday, and by Thursday wasn't quite so sneezy. I had several much-needed hours to myself, but my brain felt rather fogged, probably by the cold. I didn't get much done. I did consider going out for a walk, since Vitamin D is also good for building up the immune system... then it started to rain.

Which is where this post began. It rained for several hours yesterday, and much of the night.

This morning dawned bright and clear; it was even a little sunny. I did my usual Friday jobs of changing the bed sheets, and putting on laundry, and cleaning the upstairs and fully changing the cat litter. Then Richard came back from the office for an hour, and we did our monthly shop at Metro.

There's supposed to be a petrol strike at present, although it seems to be over. Our bigger car was running very low last weekend, and Richard was going to fill up on Monday. Then he heard about the proposed strike... and when he went to try to buy some diesel, the queue at the petrol station was half-way down the road.

So all week he's been using our old car, which was about half-full. He noticed one garage which stayed open, but the queues continued to be long. Today, however, he was able to fill up the old car on the way back from the office, with no queue at all, so we drove in the big car to Metro, and filled that up too. One tankful (50 euros worth) usually lasts us at least a month, so we should be fine for a while.

We got back - taking a diversion to avoid the roads that were totally flooded from yesterday's rain - and unloaded. Shortly after we'd finished, the heavens opened and it's been pouring with rain ever since.

I think my cold is pretty much over; I only feel a little sniffly today and my mind isn't quite so fogged. But it's been a remarkably unconstructive week for me, one way and another.

Fighting a cold

I don't get many colds. The occasional sniffle, but it's usually gone within a day or two. At the first sign of a tickly throat or runny nose, I start taking echinacea/goldenseal drops in water (vile taste, but worthwhile) three times per day, and mega-doses of Vitamin C. Several grammes per day. I also cut out all dairy products, and sugar for a day or two, and increase my garlic intake. If I feel as if a cold is starting in the evening, I stir some honey and the juice of half a lemon into hot water, and drink that last thing at night.

It usually works well. Within 24 hours, the cold virus appears to have retreated into oblivion, cowed by my immune system and all that Vitamin C. Or so I imagine.

This usually only happens once or twice during the winter, at least since we've been living in Cyprus.

But this year, I've had to fight the battle at least three times already - and it's only mid-December. The worst of winter is yet to come. Indeed, one would hardly know it's Winter in cyprus, with daytime temperatures still around 20C, and almost continual sunshine.

But two weeks ago, I felt worse than usual. My assault on the cold virus did not seem to be working for a couple of days. I nearly gave in and went to bed late one morning, but then phone rang and I had to deal with something, and the moment passed. The following day, I felt fine again.

Then it happened again, on Sunday evening this week. I took some Vitamin C and one dose of echinacea/goldenseal. It seemed to be better, so I didn't take any more. I woke in the night with a tickly throat, and pondered going downstairs to get some more ammunition, but the night was chilly and the bed was warm... so I didn't. A foolish mistake.

On Monday, my throat was distinctly ticklish. But I had to get to the Post Office. So I took my drops and Vitamin C, and had some extra freshly-squeezed orange juice for good measure. I didn't put any yogurt on my muesli, and by the time I set out around 9am I wasn't feeling too bad. I had to walk rather further than I expected, but got home feeling as if I'd succeeded in throwing off the cold.

Alas for my expectations. By lunch-time, I felt shivery. Although my throat felt better, my nose felt worse. I continued taking the echinacea and Vitamin C, and eating clementines in between meals. I had some rather hot chili hummous at lunch-time. I ate three raw garlic cloves in the afternoon, as well as putting garlic in our supper. I had hot lemon and honey at bedtime. I even put some Olbas Oil drops on my pillow, to ease congestion and help me sleep.

I knew I had to be well for Tuesday morning, since it was the day of the toddler group Christmas party. And when I woke up, I did feel somewhat better. Still sniffly, but no longer shivery or achey. The walk there was fine. The party went well. The mothers has excelled themselves with the food, representative of their different countries. And the children ate barely half of it.

So, I gave in to the temptation to have a small piece of sweet potato cake, and a small piece of banana cake, and two totally amazing chocolate truffle balls. And then as I was clearing things away, I saw a Mr Kipling mince pie with the pastry top all broken. It called my name. I LOVE Mr Kipling mince pies. Then, when I asked the chocolate truffle ball maker what the ingredients were, she said 'chocolate and cream'.

So much for giving up all sugar and dairy products for the duration of the cold.

After the party, I walked down to the main Post Office, and it was packed with people. The queues were at least four or five people long, and there's hardly anywhere to sit. So I walked through the town, the reverse of Monday's route, to the small St Lazarus Post Office. Only one person in the queue there, so I got my stamps fairly quickly. Then I sat down at the table, where there was only one other person engaged on the same activity, and got all my stamps stuck in record time. I was greatly relieved to have everything in the post at last, even if they do end up being late.

Then I walked home. And in the afternoon, I felt achey, and tired, and decidedly brain-fogged. So I repeated all the cold-fighting procedures. Surely, I thought, the cold would have to give in sooner or later.

Alas, it still hasn't done so. On Wednesdays we usually have a colleague or two for lunch, and I tend to do some baking, and make some soup (in the winter). So I made some curried chicken soup in the slow-cooker, and some tomato bread in the breadmaker, and some gingerbread in the oven. Then I made another 24 mince pies. Every so often I left the kitchen to sneeze or cough somewhat, but I'd found some Ricola Honey and Lemon cough lozenges, so I sucked those off and on, and they helped suppress the cough (which was hacking and painful rather than productive).

In the event, nobody came home for lunch with Richard, which was probably just as well as I'd hate to give anyone else this nasty cold.

This afternoon, once again, I felt tired and very achey, and not really with it. And here I am, Wednesday evening, with a cold that has lasted three days. I don't remember ever having one that went on so long. It hasn't knocked me out, and I don't think it's turned into the flu, but it's distinctly unpleasant. I now have neck-ache so I think I'm going to make my hot honey and lemon drink, and get into a nice warm bed.