First week of August in Cyprus

Apparently my unexciting post with a few photos from July was appreciated by others, and of interest to some people who are not in Cyprus. So I thought I'd write a week-by-week summary of August. Assuming I remember to do so, that is. 

In that post, I spoke too soon about the lack of nasty insects. When I was getting ready for bed on the night of July 31st, I opened my closet and saw (shudder....) a roach sitting amid my tee shirts.  Thankfully Richard was close by, and he was able to get rid of it.

Saturday 1st August

August started, as so often happens, with increased humidity. I went out for a shortish walk first thing, around 6am. Although it was only around 26 degrees and I stayed mostly in the shade, I was dripping when I got home. I sat down and did a few puzzles, then - slowly - organised Richard's breakfast tray of fruit and nuts, squeezed oranges etc. I made some oat milk for his coffee and my frappé. Then I had my breakfast, hoping it would give me some energy.

It didn't.  

Summer in Cyprus. Again.

 I have probably written about summer in Cyprus more than anything else in the past twenty years since I started this blog. And while I've started another couple of posts in the past few weeks, both are awaiting further developments before I can finish them. 

So, in the absence of anything else which I can write about today, here's yet another post about how summer crept up on us this year...

During May, I switched from jeans to shorts. I stopped wearing sweatshirts. We moved from our thin duvet at night to a duvet cover only, and then, by the end of the month were using just a flat sheet as a cover. I started using 'cold' water for showering; it doesn't really get cold in the summer, and the tepid, not-quite-lukewarm temperature of the water that has been in the outside tank is perfect for me. 

We cleaned our guest flat air conditioners at the end of May. We were expecting guests early in June, and wanted to ensure the air conditioners were available for them if they felt uncomfortably hot. We are at least somewhat acclimatised, and don't turn them on unless the room temperature exceeds 28 degrees. It had not, as yet, done so. 

However, by the first Friday of June, the forecast was for weather approaching that milestone. So we decided to go ahead and clean our upstairs a/c units. There are four on the main floor, and three upstairs; it took us perhaps forty minutes to complete the job. The house was pleasantly cool for a little longer, since they have to be run as cool as possible for ten minutes or so after using the cleaning spray.

Some of them, Richard said, looked fairly dirty inside. So next year we'll probably get them professionally cleaned. Assuming, that is, we remember before doing them ourselves...

Since the humidity was still low, I decided that it was an ideal day to start the annual curtain-washing. Up to 2013, this was an essential chore, and should probably have done more often than once a year. One of our cats, Tessie, used to spray. She was female, and spayed, but apparently it's not uncommon. Some of our books on lower shelves suffered, as did the curtains. As the weather got hotter, the smell in the curtains became more potent.

Tessie vanished twelve years ago, but I've continued washing the curtains almost every year in May or June. Cyprus is quite dusty, and I always like the fresh scent that permeates the house after washing curtains and drying them outside.  I say 'almost every year' because last year we flew out of Cyprus to the UK mid-June, and the curtains didn't get washed. After two years, they definitely needed doing. 

We have quite a few curtains, and I can usually fit three at a time in the washing machine. Everything I hung out on the line was dry within about an hour, so the washing machine was on almost continually, that day, and the following day too. 

With the curtains taken down, two or three at a time, I saw how dirty the windows were. It's unlikely to rain again until September or October, so I cleaned all the windows, inside and out. 

Along with curtains, I also washed the covers of our wheat bags, and the thin blankets we use when watching DVDs in the winter. When dry, I folded them to pack away in an airtight bag. We've learned from experience not to leave things like this unsealed, as they attract not just dust, but moths, and potentially other undesirable insects.

Since the weather wasn't yet too hot, I continued my early morning walks with my friend Sheila. On some evenings I went for short walks locally with Richard. In the middle of the month we went to Salina Park to an advertised 'Makerspace fair', which had a lot of booths showing what kind of things are done at the centre for youth.  We were surprised at how many people were there, given the minimal amount of publicity we had seen.

We were also interested to see that the café building, which had been empty since the park opened at the end of last year, was serving coffee. We didn't want coffee in the evening, but it was good to know that it was being used. 

I knew I wouldn't be using my oven much longer, and that we would start wanting ice cream. So I put the inner container for my ice cream maker in the freezer, in preparation. 

Regular June activities included a birthday lunch for one of our teenage friends, and the local Christian writing group last meeting of the season, followed by a potluck lunch. Richard has been assisting one of the members of the group with self-publication of her book. 

We were delighted to host some other friends for a leisurely lunch on June 20th. One of them was my most long-standing friend Anne, whom I met when we were both seven. We managed to stay in touch all this time, and even met up in the UK a couple of times, a few years ago. This time, my friend and her husband were in Cyprus for a wedding. It was the other end of the island, but they made the two-hour journey to visit us, which was very enjoyable.

As June progressed, the weather was slowly, inexorably, warming up. My last morning walk of the season with Sheila was on June 21st. She was going away for a week, and it was already approaching 25C at 6.15am.  My last use of the oven for the season was on June 22nd when we had our twice-monthly get-together with Sheila and her family, and I made a cake for dessert. 

And on Monday 23rd June, we started on our summer salads. Which doesn't mean we limit ourselves to lettuce, cucumber and tomatoes all summer.  In 2020, when we knew we would be here all summer, I scoured my recipe books for salad ideas. I checked the Internet, too. I jotted down some of the most appealing ideas, and - of course - adjusted them to our preferences, and the available produce. I try to make three or four salads first thing in the morning with a balance of ingredients. At least one will have some protein such as canned fish, air-fried chicken or legumes.  

On 23rd June I prepared a salmon (canned), cucumber and avocado salad; a peach, tomato and onion salad (with 'fake' vegan feta); and a wholemeal pasta salad with sundried tomatoes. 

This was our main meal, in the evening, but we only managed about half of it. So we had the same thing the following day, with the addition of some coleslaw with a lemon juice dressing rather than mayonnnaise. 

Another example is this, which we started a couple of days later:

The protein dish at the top is chopped boiled eggs with lightly boiled broccoli and leeks, the one next to it is mushrooms, new potatoes and green beans. Underneath the egg dish is a salad with lettuce, red grapes, avocado and walnuts, and the other one is the what remained of the coleslaw, which lasted us three days rather than two. 

There was rather a lot that had to be cooked in that second example, which is why I prepare these salads in the mornings, around 6.30 or 7.00 usually. The kitchen isn't too hot at that time, and there's plenty of time for cooked ingredients to be chilled in the fridge. 

There's enough variety in the salad recipes I use that I don't have to duplicate anything for a couple of weeks, but I might do so depending on what ingredients I can easily find. Our fruit shop has inexpensive, great quality avocadoes at present, so I've bought quite a few. They keep well in the fridge, for weeks, and give a nice smooth texture to contrast with the crunchiness of some other salad ingredients.

So we're all set for the summer, I hope. First thing in the morning I walk either to the fruit shop or round the block, to get a bit of exercise. Three days a week, I then prepare salads. I'll deal with laundry or whatever else has to be done before it gets too hot, then aestivate in my study with the air conditioning set to 28C. Not that I will actually sleep. I'll work on photos (I still haven't finished our 2024 photobook, and want to order it soon), and deal with any bills, and do some writing. I'll blog about the books I read, and perhaps work on my sites. 

August in Cyprus and a plumbing manifold replacement

When I got back to Cyprus on August 6th, Richard was supposed to be away, working with his PA kit at a conference elsewhere on the island. So it was something of a surprise to get a text message, after the plane landed, saying that he would be meeting me. It was nice to have a few unexpected hours together. But it was very stressful for him as he came up against bureaucracy and other problems. However, he eventually arrived at the conference venue the following afternoon. 

I had hoped for a relatively peaceful week. It always takes me a few days to get over the brain-fog and exhaustion that hits me when I return to Cyprus. The heat and humidity don't help, but in early August it wasn't as hot as it had been in July.  32-33 degrees in the daytime, rather than 37-38 (or more). 

I was delighted to find a 'Foody' voucher in my email, reminding me that I hadn't used their delivery service for six weeks. Not really surprising, as I hadn't been in Cyprus for that period.  So I ordered a  takeaway salad that cost me almost nothing by the time the voucher was used, and provided a good meal for me without any effort. Not just on the day after I arrived back; there was plenty for lunch the following day, too. Which turned out to be a good thing...

The following day was not my favourite of the week. In our guest flat, Richard had discovered a slow leak in one of the pipes in the bathroom. Someone had put a small plastic container at the back of the sink cabinet to catch the drips, but had forgotten to let us know that there was a drip. We didn't know how long this had been going on, but there was some significant rust and it was clear that the 'manifold' was rusty and needed replacing. 

I had no idea what a manifold was, so Richard sent me a helpful diagram:

Our young friend L had been in Cyprus over the summer and had done several jobs for us, in our bathroom and elsewhere. But this was not something he felt able to do. So Richard asked a plumber whom we know to take a look. He is very busy, and said he could slot us in on the Wednesday after I returned. Which would have been okay, except that there was a family staying in the guest flat: friends of friends, who have stayed before. They usually go out for most of the day, but were not happy at the idea of an unknown plumber and his mates being in the flat without anyone else there.

So I had agreed to be in the flat with the plumbers. 

They arrived about 11.30, an hour earlier than they had specified. So I wasn't prepared or ready for them. Thankfully they left again for a break around 12.45 saying they needed to get some extra parts. So I was able to get upstairs again to the part of the house where we live. I ate my lunch at speed, and made a frappe, and used the loo... something I could not have done downstairs with the plumbers working in the bathroom. 

Then I filled my water bottle and found a book to read. They returned about two o'clock, and told me that they would probably be another two hours. At half past three, they said they probably wouldn't be finished before five. At five o'clock, they still weren't finished... 

I managed to read an entire book that day. I had to sit in the guest flat without using the air conditioning, since the plumbers wanted the front door open - they were in and out constantly to their van.  It took me a few hours before I realised I could at least turn on a fan. 

It took over six hours in all, with three guys on the job. We still don't know why it took so long, but the result looked good:  

As a friend commented, a manifold a bit like an octopus. Although ours doesn't have eight 'legs'. 

But the day was so draining it took me another couple of days to feel myself again. 

Half-way through Summer...?

July passed, a day at a time, rather more quickly than I had anticipated. It was apparently the hottest July in Cyprus for nearly four decades. I was very thankful for our new, more efficient air conditioning units. We also bought a new fridge-freezer towards the end of May.  These were justified to some degree by our recent electricity bill. Despite using more air conditioning than we did last year, we used just over half the number of units. 

As I said in my last post, we should have flown to Scotland towards the end of the first week of July.  We were planning to celebrate our fortieth wedding anniversary with our sons, daughter-in-law and grandchildren at an AirBnB in St Andrews, the town where my family went on holiday every year when I was growing up. I was then going to stay with various relatives and stay out of Cyprus as long as possible during the heat and humidity of Summer. 

But the pandemic crisis ensured that didn't happen. We determined to celebrate next year, if at all possible, but in the event we had a very pleasant day.  It started the day before with a lovely basket of flowers sent by my sister:

Then on the day itself, several people at church congratulated us. Then we were surprised and delighted with a special cake afterwards (albeit with a minor spelling error - not unusual in Cyprus!) to share in the courtyard after the service:

We went out for lunch to our old standby Alexander's, as we could park not too far away.  In the afternoon our closest friends in Cyprus were coming over anyway. So in addition to thawing some more apricots and making some more ice cream, I made some tiffin [chocolate biscuit cake], to my grandmother's recipe, since I'm avoiding using the oven during the summer. 

We were given two anniversary cards on the day itself, and two more arrived in the post a week later. 

 

For a non-celebration, it was very enjoyable. Forty years feels like both a long time, and almost no time at all. Will we still be around in another forty...?  It's not impossible. 

Other than that, life has continued in aestivation mode. I've been for a few very short local walks, not even reaching 5,000 steps most days. I've watered the plants and looked after the house, and made a lot of salads. It's been interesting experimenting with different ingredients and combinations for salads, and we haven't yet become bored with cold food. 

Not that it's been entirely cold food. We had been talking about buying an air fryer for some time, having read some enthusiastic reviews. These aren't just a healthy version of a deep fat fryer, but can roast or bake smallish quantities of food too. For just two of us, it sounded ideal. 

We hadn't actually decided on anything, though I was looking at one from Lakeland in the UK.  Then we were in SuperHome Centre looking for something else, and saw that they were selling air fryers. I wanted to know what they looked like out of the box, and a very helpful assistant (masked, of course) showed us in some detail. 

The price was good. And it was ready to take home. And it was a reputable brand, with a two-year warranty - much easier to take back, if necessary, than one ordered from the UK. 

So this was our anniversary present to each other: 

I was a little anxious about using it at first, but tried it for re-frying potatoes in slices, and it was excellent.  I've made sweet potato fries in it, and baked potatoes. It's excellent for cooking frozen oven chips.  I've roasted a chicken breast to slice in a curried chicken, mango and cucumber salad, and yesterday cooked a small salmon fillet to flake for a lentil, pepper and salmon salad.  I've roasted peppers and even onions in the air fryer.  It doesn't heat up the kitchen like the oven does, and it's a great deal more efficient to use for just one or two items for two people. 

As for the salads... I've had to cook some ingredients over the hob, but again that's not really a problem. I've made - for instance - tomato/peach/fake feta salad, broccoli/leek/egg salad and avocado/mango/cashew salad.  We bought 500g farfalle pasta, something I wouldn't normally do as we eat very little pasta. A 500g pack of spaghetti usually lasts us around five months. But it's excellent in different salads to provide some carbs; 100g farfalle (cooked) gives us enough for two days' worth of salads. I made one with mushrooms, one with pesto and cherry tomatoes, and another which I've already forgotten.  Most days I make one new salad, and team it with at least one from the previous day, plus perhaps some extra lettuce or coleslaw or chopped cucumber. 

That's it for July, really.  

At least, it was until almost the end of the month, when the Cyprus numbers for Covid-19 positive tests suddenly went up from 0-3 per day to 10, then 13, then 25... big numbers, percentage-wise, for a small island.  

We breathed a sigh of relief when the numbers dropped to 5 over the weekend, but yesterday was another higher number.  Today they have just reported 15 cases.  Here's how the graph looks on the Worldometer site: 

It resembles what some countries are calling a second wave, although most of the cases are in Limassol and are being tracked with all contacts traced and tested.  Some are from airport tests of repatriations, too, not all of whom are self-isolating even when they come from 'high risk' countries.  But a few are appearing 'in the wild', which suggests that Cyprus hasn't eliminated the virus at all.

So as of last weekend, we must wear masks in all public indoor crowded spaces. They have spelled out what that means; the ones relevant to us are shops, banks, and churches. It refers to children over the age of six as well as adults. Limassol has had some extra restrictions and closures. 

I find masks unpleasant to wear, particularly in the heat and humidity. For ten minutes or so in a shop it's not a problem. For an hour in a church service last week, I found it increasingly difficult to breathe in properly and began to feel faint with the heat of my breath inside the mask. I will try sitting outside in the courtyard this coming Sunday, so long as we don't have another heatwave. And, of course, the church service will only happen if we're not back in lockdown mode.... 

Every time we see our friends, now, we wonder if it will be the last time for a while. The government had said there would be another lockdown if the cases rise too much. So far the experts seem to think it's under control, and that if everyone wears masks in public indoor spaces, it should gradually ease off again. But we're not taking that for granted.

We also know how well off we are in this country. It might be hot and humid but we have inexpensive and efficient air conditioning, with electricity that works all the time (barring very occasional power cuts).  There's plenty of food in the shops, it's safe to go out and about, albeit with masks on, and we have reliable, fast Internet. Cases of Covid-19 are rising, but they're mostly affecting younger people now so many are asymptomatic. Only four people are in hospital with it, none of them in Intensive Care. 

We have friends in Lebanon where there seems to be crisis after crisis. They aren't doing too well with Covid-19 either, and the whole country has been in financial chaos for weeks, getting increasingly worse.  Their electricity is off more than it's on.  Yesterday we heard - and felt - a loud bang which we quickly learned was from a huge explosion in Beirut, leaving devastation, serious injuries and over 100 people killed. 

Another 4k walk around the Salt Lake trail...

In last week's post about Summer in Cyprus, I mentioned in passing that I walked 4km of the Salt Lake trail last Saturday with my friend Sheila. In the interests of accuracy, I should say that it was actually a 2km stretch that we walked - to the Airport Road and back again - but I did, in fact, walk more than that since it's a little over half a kilometre for me to get to the trail - and, afterwards, I went straight to the froutaria since I knew I wouldn't get there later.

I didn't take any photos of this walk, which was enjoyable until my foot - the one where I broke a couple of toes nine weeks previously - started to ache. And I was feeling extremely hot and sweaty by the time I reached home... and, worse, despite mostly walking in shade and wearing a sunhat, I developed a migraine within an hour or so. I took some Solpadeine and was fine later, wondering if I might have done better to take some sunglasses.

I didn't think to take any photos last week, so when I decided to repeat the experience this morning (Sheila regularly walks at least 8km first thing, but I'm not that ambitious...) I started out, having reached the trail, by taking a picture:

(It looks a bit fuzzy in this size, but if you click on the photo the enlarged size is much clearer) 

We didn't get very close to the lake, and I forgot about taking any more, but it does at least show that it's still pretty full of water after the wet winter we've had in Cyprus. Sometimes it dries up completely by about May.

We walked the same path - it's shadier than going in the other direction, but it was getting quite hot by the time we returned to the entrance shortly before 8.00am. Sheila had walked 8km before I joined her, so did at least 13km today. Five total (including getting there and back) was more than sufficient for me, but I was very pleased that my toes did not bother me at all. Not even the slightest discomfort. Tomorrow it will be ten weeks since I broke them, and I was beginning to wonder if they would ever be completely better. I'm very pleased that they are.

I was, again, extremely hot and sticky by the time I got home; I had breakfast and plenty of cold drinks, then got in a cool shower. I've been using the air conditioning too, but despite all that (and despite remembering sunglasses) I started another migraine. I never have coped well with getting over-heated - this is the main reason I don't go sailing with Richard. Still, heat-related migraines do seem to pass fairly quickly, unlike the ones brought on by eating anything containing MSG or equivalent.

Now that July is about to start, with - pretty much - guaranteed heat and humidity for at least a couple of months, I'm very thankful for a relatively cool house, and that shops etc open early enough that I can usually be home well before 8.00 if I must go out.

I don't think I'll be taking any more walks, for the sake of walking, until the Summer has passed. Still, it was nice to be out and very encouraging to feel that my toes are better at last.

Cleaning our air conditioning units (in Cyprus)

Every year, we hope to wait until at least June before switching on any of our air conditioners. I've been pleasantly surprised at how (fairly) cool it's been during May - I don't think I've even been tempted to use any air conditioning yet. I shouldn't have been surprised - by the end of May last year, Summer was still a week or two away... and I enjoyed the long 'spring' then, too.  

Still, this is Cyprus, and a hot, humid summer is pretty much inevitable. That means that we'll want some air conditioning in the bedroom at night to keep the humidity down, and during the day in any rooms where we're using computers. Plus other odd times - when eating, maybe, or when cooking - when the heat and/or stickiness feel unbearable.

And yes, we know it's something of a luxury to be able to do this - and are very thankful for relatively inexpensive units and running costs. They're supposed to be cleaned every year, so one way that we economise is to do that ourselves. Or rather, I do it. This year, I decided to clean our air conditioners on June 1st.  Sometimes people ask me how to go about it, so here for your erudition is a photo-guide:

1. Open up the units to reveal the filters. Usually, that just means pulling gently at the cover, and lifting it, like this (in our dining room): 

Under the cover should be some kind of filter. This photo doesn't really show clearly how very dusty they were after a winter without use - but does at least show the filters:

Each kind of air conditioner is a bit different - this is the one in my study, which had even dustier looking filters:

2.  Remove the filters. That's easy enough - just lift and pull out. Take them to a convenient sink. 

3. Rinse the filters under running water to remove most of the obvious dust: 

4. Spray the filters lightly all over with special anti-fungal air conditioner spray. It really does have to be this stuff, although you don't want to breathe it in. Hence why I use an outdoor sink. 

You can buy the spray at DIY shops, hardware stores, and bigger supermarkets.  It costs around ten euros - and each container lasts us about two years. That's much better value than paying, probably, around 25 euro per unit for a service... 

5. Leave the filters for ten minutes or so, during which time you can dust the units behind where the filters go. A feather duster is useful, but a paintbrush can work too. Just swish it around to remove any obvious dust.

6.  Now, spray the units themselves, behind where the filters were. This is the bit I found a bit worrying at first - I don't like spraying any fluid inside electrical appliances. But it's necessary, so that mould and other nasties don't grow during the humid conditions during the summer: 

Note that some air conditioning units might not open up - the one in our living room has filters that have to be slid down like this to remove them:

7. Take the sprayed filters, and rinse them again in plenty of water to remove the spray and any remaining dust and grime. Leave them to dry. 

8. Return them to the units, then switch on for a few minutes, to make sure that all is working as it should, and to blow the spray through, along with any remaining dust. 

We have eleven units in all. I didn't do our guest flat ones - those will have to wait. And I didn't do the one in Tim's room, since (a) it's oddly difficult to open - much more so than any of the others - and (b) he's not planning to come to Cyprus at all this Summer. But still, six of our air condtioning units are now clean and, I hope, ready for the onslaught of summer. 

NB: I find it a good idea to keep as many windows open as possible during this process as the smell of the spray is quite strong - and it's another reason for doing the cleaning BEFORE actually needing to use the air conditioning! 

September in Cyprus - the first two weeks

As I said in my last post, about the end of August in Cyprus, September doesn't usually herald the beginning of Autumnal weather.

And yet, I wondered if I was going to be proven wrong for once. On September 1st, to my surprise, the day which started warm and sunny grew increasingly cloudy by lunch-time. Some visitors who had been in our guest flat for the previous fortnight, sometimes struggling with the hot temperatures, left to fly home. Richard was away in Egypt for work. I was in the house alone... and was convinced I heard thunder rumbling in the distance. I assumed it was on Troodos - even in the summer, there is usually at least a little rain in the mountains in Cyprus - so was quite startled when I heard a few drops of rain outside.

I was even more surprised when, a minute or two later, we had quite a substantial downpour.. for about four minutes. Not enough to do more than settle some of the dust, but the road did look fairly wet by the end of it:


I heard later that in the villages only a few miles away there was as much as an hour of rain, with large puddles left by the end.

After the rain, there was extremely high humidity for an hour or so as it evaporated, and then a light breeze which was almost cool.

Since then, it hasn't been quite as humid as it was during August. And the early mornings feel very pleasantly cool, although daytime shade temperatures are still up to 32C or thereabouts, with unremitting sunshine.

A few days later, when Richard had returned, we attended a very important birthday party. My youngest best friend Helen had her second birthday:


Four days after that, our friend Mick arrived from the UK to stay for a week. Richard took a couple of days off... not to visit any tourist attractions, but so that they could work on King Malu, and instal the outboard motor which had arrived. On Sunday they were delighted to do some sea-trials.

I spent Sunday with our friends - Helen's family. Four of them went to St Helena's Church with me in the morning, then came back here for a couple of hours. We went to lunch at the bilingual house church, then back here for a game of Seafarers of Catan.

Then we ate a cold meal together... and Helen, who had not taken a nap all day, fell asleep with her head on my plate:


Other than that... the Friday night cell group has started again - and is now meeting weekly. We've played several other games with our friends. Last night we (with Mick) were invited to a meal at the home of some friends, and sat out on their penthouse balcony. There were two or three spots of rain, although not enough to force us inside. By 9.30 it was almost beginning to be chilly. Perhaps it was as cool as 24C.

More significantly, it didn't feel humid at all and we managed without any air conditioning at all last night for the first time in some months. I haven't turned it on today at all, even in my study.

So, I hope, the worst of this summer is over. Temperatures of 30C+ are predicted for the next ten days, still, but the nights are a little cooler and the days are less humid.