Recycling in Cyprus

It's just over ten years since the 'Green Dot' company introduced recycling in Larnaka (and elsewhere in Cyprus). We were a little dubious at first, but it's been extremely efficient. Every Monday evening, two large and noisy trucks drive around our neighbourhood, collecting the two different kinds of roadside recycling: the paper and card (in a brown bag) and the PMD (plastic-metal-drinks) recycling, in an almost clear bag.  Sometimes they come as early as about four o'clock, sometimes as late as eleven o'clock, but they come by every week. Even on public holidays. 

It took us a few years to work out an efficient method of storing the things we planned to recycle, as we don't generate nearly enough to put out a bag every week. But in the autumn of 2014 we started using a chest of drawers in the kitchen rather than simply piling things in an overflowing trolley behind the freezer: 

It's been moved since then, but the principle of putting the PMD and paper recycling in two separate drawers has worked so well that we still do that over six years later. 

A few years ago we also placed two different coloured dustbins outside, one for PMD and one for paper. This enables any guests to put out recycling easily, and means that if our PMD drawer starts to overflow before there's enough to fill one of the sacks, I can put some of it in the blue bin. It also means that some of the advertising junk mail can go straight into the brown bin without ever entering the house.

Then a year or so ago we bought a crate to take the glass recycling. That isn't collected from the roadside; we have to take it to one of the green containers that can be found in various places. We usually remember to take it when we go to Metro, but not always. It generally takes a couple of months to be anywhere near full. 

I now put out recycling for collection on the last Monday of each month. So this morning, in between rain showers, I filled the two bags from the kitchen drawers and the outside bins:

The PMD sack contains tetrapaks (squashed to almost flat), cans, a few plastic containers and some metal trays or lids.  Putting it out once a month means the bag is fairly full, but not overflowing.  The paper one is fuller than usual, but I don't think I put any out at all in October, so that's probably two months' worth. 

A few glass items had found their way into the PMD drawer, so I moved those down to the outside crate.  This is what we've used in November: 

It looks as if there's plenty of room for December's bottles and jars, which is just as well as we forgot to take the crate when we went to Metro last week. 

And if anyone is wondering whether our roof repairs held in this morning's rain - the answer is a resounding 'yes'!  Most of the rain was quite light, but there was a heavy downpour for about five minutes, and although I watched carefully, not a single drop appeared on our stairs.  It remains to be seen whether that will stay true in high winds, or in rain that lasts longer than five minutes. But it's a great improvement and we are extremely relieved. 

Repairing the Roof

Anyone who has followed or popped into this blog over the course of the past decade and a half will probably have come across mention of our roof leaking. It's not uncommon in Cyprus to have areas where heavy rain leads to dripping through the roof, and we're thankful that it's only ever been above the stairs. Since stairs don't generally have carpets here, it's annoying but it doesn't take long to mop it up afterwards.

And if you haven't come across any of those posts, and/or are interested in seeing some, this post from 2009 was all about rain, with a photo at the end of our cool box and a yellow bucket strategically placed to catch the drips. In our first few years here, we had two or three people come to look at the roof.  One or two broken tiles got fixed, and suggestions were made, but in the end the regular response was along the lines of, 'This is Cyprus. Roofs leak.' 

The problem was that it got worse each year, or so it seemed. Then in 2010, a couple of Richard's sailing friends took a look at the roof, and discovered a hole, and also a large amount of pigeon mess which was making the rain bounce in an odd direction. I wrote in this post about how they cleaned the mess away, and sealed the hole. And it definitely helped the problem that winter.  

But a year later, there was more torrential rain, and once again our roof leaked. I wrote this post, illustrated again with a photo, except that by then we had moved from a yellow bucket to a blue one. In 2014, we had some loft insulation installed, and another hole in the roof was fixed. And so it went on... each year, we expected rain through the roof when the wind was high and the rain was heavy.

So it wasn't any surprise that it happened this year, when it rained - except that it seemed considerably worse than last year's. Out came the cool box again, although this time it was accompanied by a large empty paint pot. 

But I had to remove photos from the walls, something I hadn't had to do for some years. And it seemed that the rain was coming through in more places than previously. We realised it had been a while since the roof was last cleaned, and we knew there was a lot of bird mess up there. So we called our friendly roofing guy, who eventually came at the end of last week, with another guy, to check the roof and fix whatever problems they could find.

It was important that they came on Friday, as heavy rain was predicted for last weekend, and our roofing friend told us he'd been asked, urgently, to look at two other roofs as well that morning. 

It turned out that there were more problems than just an excess of bird mess. Richard had asked if something could be done to make the problem less severe in future, possibly by moving some of the pipes on the roof. Since I didn't go up there (and have no wish to do so) I didn't entirely understand, but it all sounded like a good idea. 

However, when they moved the pipes, they discovered an entire area of the roof that had never been sealed, with some wood that was rotting away. 

And when they'd replaced the wood and sealed the area, they went over the whole roof carefully. They discovered a couple of broken tiles which they removed and replaced. Here are the broken ones:

I think the roofing guys expected to be here for about an hour, but in the end it was nearly three hours. Thankfully it hadn't started raining, so after cleaning up they hurried off to the next job, hoping to fix another roof before the predicted rain.

Except that it didn't rain. There was a bit of lightning and thunder in the distance, but not a drop of rain. On Saturday evening we had maybe five minutes of light rain, but not the kind that would have leaked through. On Sunday it stayed fine and sunny. 

I don't think I have ever before heard Richard express a wish that we could have some really heavy rain - not because he likes rain, but because we would really like to know if this latest repairwork has actually fixed the problem, at least for this winter. 

There's rain predicted for later this week, and Saturday, so maybe we'll find out then:

Or maybe it will be another fine weekend.  Perhaps fixing the roof is the equivalent of going out with an umbrella, and ensures that it won't rain after all. 

Roof holes and loft insulation in Cyprus

It has been a recurring theme of this blog that, when it rains (mostly in the winter in Cyprus), the roof leaks. Not over anything that matters too much, thankfully, but a steady stream over the (uncarpeted) stairs. It had almost become a way of life - when the sky turned grey, I went to fetch a bucket and the cool box to catch the worst of it.

A little over a year ago, after some other leaks had developed, Richard and his sailing buddy Tim P (The P distinguishes him from our son Tim) went on the roof and mended some of the holes they found. They stopped the bathroom leak; but, sadly, their efforts did not fix the one problem we have had ever since moving into our house - the leak over the stairs. Tim P did comment that there was a huge amount of bird mess on the roof, and he wanted to clean it off. We could not imagine how it would help; if anything, I thought that it would help to plug holes in the tiles!

Richard has kept studying the roof, off and on, and we - like a few others who have crawled on our roof - could not understand where the hole could be. And, while there is some loft space above our bathroom, where Richard did manage to spot one of the holes a year ago, the area where the leak was happening was inaccessible.

So, early in December, Richard decided that the only way to solve the problem was to cut a hole into the loft area that he could not reach. If nothing else, he thought that perhaps he could affix some kind of membrane inside the roof, to channel the water out when the next heavy rain happened. Here's the area - beautifully panelled - above our stairs, which he decided to cut into:

He had not been sure how to do it without making a mess; but Tim P had bought a useful tool for the boat, which enables holes to be cut without first cutting into the piece to be removed. So Richard borrowed it, and set to work:

It made such a dreadful noise that there was no way I could stay and take further photos. Even Richard, who tolerates loud noises better than I do, went to fetch some ear defenders. But the eventual access hole looked like this: 

To his surprise, he found that there was already a membrane inside the roof - unusual in Cyprus, but then the guy who built our house did it very well, on the whole. That cast a whole new light on the leak problem. The hole in the roof could be anywhere - it was being channelled down to the lowest point, which was, indeed, where our leak was happening. 

Richard also noted that it was very cold up there, and thought that it might be a good opportunity to put some loft insulation in - also not common in Cyprus.

The hole remained for a week or two, then he bought some hinges and other fittings, and made a very tidy job of turning the removed panel into a door: 

A couple of weeks ago, after a few dry days, he and Tim P went back onto the roof again. They searched thoroughly, but simply could not find any holes. They talked about using some special sealant to pour over the tiles, which would plug any small leaks, but Tim said, while they were there, he wanted to clean away the awful bird mess. So they borrowed the hose from the boat, and attached it to ours, and cleaned away a vast amount of - mostly ancient - bird mess, bits of bird nests, and other gunk.

The following day, it rained torrentially. I put out the bucket to catch the leak... and there was no leak.

It rained overnight, steadily, for several hours. We were not awoken by drips on the stairs... and when I got up, they were completely dry.

Apparently, the bird mess had formed some kind of dam on the roof which was catching water that then dripped through the tiles. Getting rid of this meant that the rain simply slid off the tiles as it was supposed to, and any small cracks did not cause problems.

It was like a miracle!

So, Richard found somewhere that sold loft insulation - the pink fibreglass stuff that we've used in the UK - and last weekend, they cut and fitted it. It didn't take all that long, but left a lot of dust which I've swept away and mopped.. but at night my throat seems to get scratchy and tickly even now, a week later. It's so cold that we don't want to leave windows open... so I've suggested that they don't do any more insulation until the spring.

Has it made the house any warmer? Hard to tell, really. On a cold day, houses in Cyprus just do feel cold... I'm sitting here wearing two sweaters and a fleece, and while not as cold as I was at our old house (we do have good double glazing here, and central heating that we run for a couple of hours, at about 14-15C morning and night) I'm still not warm. 

Ups and downs in Cyprus..

I don't really know what happened to last week. It was quite a shock to discover, on Saturday, that I hadn't taken a single photograph since Epiphany, nine days earlier. I suppose life was back to normal after the Christmas break, with the addition of a new colleague for Richard staying with his family in our guest flat.. but evidently nothing worthy of recording with my camera.

So on Saturday morning when we went out for a walk with the new colleague and his toddler daughter, and I enjoyed the blue skies, and warmth (for January), I did manage to remember one picture of the Salt Lake, taken from the park area:


I reflected on how pleasant it is to live in Cyprus at this time of year, free from snow and bitter temperatures. It's cool enough to need a duvet at night, and a bit of heating evening and morning, but warm enough that in a sweater and fleece, I felt almost too hot by the end of the walk.

In the evening, Tim suggested another game of Settlers-by-Skype. And even though Richard was rather tired - he had gone back to the office Friday night after the house group meeting, and did not get home until nearly 6.00am!! And then got up four hours later - it seemed like a good idea:


Tim totally creamed us both. For those who know about Settlers of Catan, this was the final board:


Tim played white, and won with 12 points. I had six on the board. Richard had five on the board, and a victory point card. So Tim's score alone was the same as ours added together... a resounding victory.

Late Sunday morning, as with the previous Sunday, I joined my friend Sheila and her three youngest at one of the local parks. Katie (five-and-a-half) is very good with Elisabeth (seven months):


Here they are on video a few minutes later, when Elisabeth was more safely anchored in the swing by her sling:

And here's my youngest-best-friend Helen, who was two in September, also enjoying the swing:


A while later, Sheila handed Elisabeth to me, so that she could climb a tree. I think she hoped I wouldn't be able to get my camera out while holding a wriggling baby, but I did:


Katie and Helen, on a nearby roundabout, were rather worried about this turn of events. And when Sheila reached the top, Katie explained how she could get down again...

... then went a little way up herself. Evidently a tree-hugger:


Little did I know that the spell of pleasant weather would come to a close. It must have rained for most of the night, and most of today too:


I did manage to walk down to the PO Box in a dryer patch this morning, where I found:

- six Christmas cards, some of which had taken a month get here
- the cover for my Kindle, ordered from Ebay on Christmas Day. So that took three weeks to get to Cyprus.
- my Holland and Barrett order, very well packed, all in excellent condition. That only took a couple of weeks to arrive.

There were also a pile of bills, and our Barclaycard statements for December. I can see why today - particularly given the grey skies, chilliness and almost continual rain leading to more leaks over our stairs - is considered 'Blue Monday'. Still, if today is the most depressing day of the year, the next few days should get better...

Disclaimer: I am well aware that compared to the vast majority of people in the world, I am very well off. A slight leak in the roof is nothing, compared to serious flooding in parts of Australia and elsewhere. Grey skies and rain are decidedly preferable to snow, and we desperately need rain in Cyprus. Even bills aren't too bad when we're able to pay them... and yes, I am thankful for my family, for good friends, for living in Cyprus, and - today in particular - for knowing that six more people thought of us around Christmas time, not to mention the safe arrival of my ordered goods.

But I reserve the right to use a bit of hyperbole...

Mending the roof

I have mentioned before, many times, that when it rains, our roof leaks. Not in the bedrooms, thankfully, but over the stairs. It's been doing so for four years, although last winter it seemed to be worse than before, but I was pretty much used to it. A nuisance, but the stairs are hard tiled - no carpet to wreck - and it's easy enough to put buckets to catch most of the leaks, and mop up the rest later on.

We did have a builder come and fix something, the first winter we were here. The leak was slightly better subsequent to that, but then gradually got worse again. Richard spoken to one or two other builders since then, but they're all very hesitant even to come and look at a roof that isn't flat.

It began to worry me last winter that the leaks were so bad - or maybe it was just that we had more rain. We found we had to take photos of the walls by the stairs, as well as placing buckets. And the last couple of times, there was a rather unpleasant smell which lingered several days after the leaks had dried up.

So, Richard's sailing buddy suggested they take a look at it. Not during the summer when it was far too hot to be out on the roof in the middle of the day. I wasn't too keen on the idea - it's a long way to the ground, but they thought it would be safe enough. And today, with pleasant temperatures but no threat of rain, they decided to come and take a look. Two sailing friends came. They promised that if there was any danger at all, they'd go and fetch some ropes from King Malu. However, Richard was pretty certain that the worst of the problem was right over the balcony attached to Daniel's room, and pointed out that the angle of the roof is very slight.

So they crawled into the space above the bathroom, where Richard had seen some light. They crawled onto the roof, and discovered the hole, as well as some cracked concrete, and a couple of cracked tiles. And large amounts of pigeon dung, much of which had spilled over onto Daniel's balcony in the last few months.

They had some coffee and cake, then went away, and returned armed with various bits and pieces. Something to mend the hole, some special sealing paint and canvas to seal the cracks, another kind of mixture to mend the cracked tiles (since replacing them would have been a huge amount of effort, and would have required a specialist roofing person).

I suppose it took about an hour. Everything should have dried by now, and tomorrow Richard will put on another coat of the sealing solution. He'd like to find some way of scaring the pigeons away too, since it seems that part of the problem was that the rain was splashing down onto the piles of dung on the roof, and towards a cracked tile, then leaking through. That probably accounted for the nasty smell, too.

We won't know if all the problems are fixed until we have some heavy rain, and there's none predicted at the moment. But I'm very thankful to know that several holes and cracks are now sealed and watertight.

Richard and his friends have now gone out for a short sail.