Two weeks out of Cyprus

 Earlier in the year, we had talked about the possibility of flying to the UK early in April, so that we could see Richard's mother on her birthday. She's living in a very nice care home now, in Sussex and they make quite a thing of birthdays. 

We then pondered going first to Carlisle, to spend Easter with our older son and his family. We checked with them that they weren't going anywhere else, and we started idly looking for flights.

Then I spotted flights from Larnaka to Glasgow on March 31st at just 27 pounds per person. It was with EasyJet: a budget airline that we have used many times, and which we generally like.  That price doesn't include any luggage, of course, other than an under-seat bag. We tend to upgrade to what they call 'easy boarding' which gives us an overhead carry-on as well, but even so - the price was excellent. 

We know from experience that prices vary all the time, and can be extremely high over the Easter period, so we booked at once. Then we filled in the details - a rental car, accommodation when not staying with the family etc - and finally booked a flight back on April 15th. 

We were all packed and ready at least half an hour before our friend Sheila came to pick us up to take us to the airport on March 31st. 

The flight wasn't until after 9.30pm, which is when I usually like to be getting ready for bed.  So I was delighted to realise that it was an almost-empty flight. This meant that once we had taken off, we could have three seats each, and lie down to rest. I didn't get a lot of sleep, but I think at least a couple of hours.  So when we arrived at Glasgow in the early hours, I wasn't as tired as I might have been.

Out of Cyprus

Yes, I'm still around. I haven't abandoned this blog, despite the longest gap between posts that I can remember. Part of the reason was my excessive sadness about the loss of our cat Alex. I started to write about him in March, and updated as draft off and on - I dated the post at the end of April, but only just recently remembered to publish it.

Another part of the reason was that I spent the end of March and first couple of weeks of April in Carlisle, being a full-time Grandma during the school Easter holidays. I hadn't seen my grandchildren (or their parents...) for many months. Video chatting is wonderful, but not as good as being with them. 

We played games, read books, went for walks, visited the library, had some outings... it was awesome. 

By the time I got back to Cyprus, the weather was already warming up. We've had the hottest months on record several times in the past year. And I don't do well in heat. 

Our bird of paradise plant had seven different blooms this year, after none at all for the past seven years. There are many theories about how often they produce their stunning flowers; it will be interesting to see if there are more next year, or whether we have to wait another seven years....

May, thankfully, was (unusually) a tad cooler than April. We had quite a few visitors in our guest flat, and did more entertaining than we had done for a while. We continued, of course, to play regular board games with friends, and I went on my early morning walks with my friend Sheila. Three of our young friends were baptised (on separate occasions) this year. I knitted, and wrote book reviews, and cooked and baked... we've often been told that time goes by faster as one ages, and I'm finding this more and more true. 

By early June the temperatures had started soaring and we knew it was time to clean the air conditioners. It's not a lengthy or difficult process, just a bit tedious. The priorities were our studies, where we have computers which become unreliable at more than 30 degrees Celcius. And our bedroom. We had discarded even the thin duvet in favour of a cover, but it was beginning to get humid. 

I abandoned the oven, in favour of making salads only for our evening meals (in conjunction, at times, with the air fryer or microwave). 

But only for a couple of weeks. In the middle of June, our younger son was ordained as a full Anglican priest in London, so we flew out for the ceremony.  Not a great photo: this image is from the livestream, as we weren't allowed to take any pictures during the (lengthy) service. Our son was one of about twenty who were ordained. 

We spent a couple of days with our son and his wife, then drove to Cardiff to see my sister and her husband for the first time in about eighteen months. Then up to Carlisle to stay with our other son, his wife and our two grandchildren.  

Richard had a long weekend with lots of board games, books, and hugs. Unfortunately our grandson wasn't well, so despite really quite good weather, we couldn't all go out anywhere. 

On the Monday he drove south again, leaving me behind, so I could have another six weeks or so away from Cyprus and the excessive heat. And it has been hot in Cyprus! June this year was apparently the hottest on record. I suspect the same will be true of July when they do the calculations.

In the past month, while the children are at school I've walked into town a few times to get some exercise. I've also done a lot of updates on my book review blog, after Amazon changed the way they provide affiliate links. I'm doing a bit of editing too, and making the posts look more similar so it's not a bad thing to do, just time-consuming. My book blog has more than 2500 posts, written over the past 25 years.  

Another thing I've been doing during school hours is tidying up my computer files. I had rather a muddle of folders, with some things in Google Drive, some duplicates, and a lot of confusion. That's also been time consuming, and a bit complicated at times, but I'm pleased to have it almost all sorted now. Just as well since tomorrow is the last day of school, and it's a half day. So time to myself will be more limited. 

Sadly one of my aunts died recently after a brief illness, so I'll be heading back to Cardiff by train for the funeral, then a few days later, in early August, returning to Cyprus via Glasgow Airport. Yes, it will still be hot, but the days will be getting a little shorter, and by September the humidity should start to drop. 

Twelve days out of Cyprus

In my last post, I wrote about some of the things we do to prepare the house (and ourselves) for Summer in Cyprus. July and August are always hot, and usually humid. Computers don't like temperatures higher than about 28-29 Celcius, and this human doesn't either. So it was important to have our air conditioners clean and ready to be used.

We did all this towards the end of June because on the last day of the month we flew to the UK for a 12-day visit. Sometimes I stay for rather longer, but it wasn't really going to work out this year. We needed to be there for July 1st as our younger son was ordained as deacon in the Anglican church. It had been his dream for most of his life and we were thrilled to be at the service, where the Bishop of London was presiding.

Not that we could see very much; there were nearly 50 ordinands, and about 2,500 people in St Paul's Cathedral, but we could hear - and were then able to see the live-streamed service afterwards, which gave a rather better view. Our other son came down for the day, one of my brothers came to the service too, and we were also pleased to see a friend from our early days in Cyprus, who had known our sons well when they were children.

Being in London, staying a couple of nights at the Heathrow Premier Inn, we didn't rent a car at first; instead we either walked or used the Underground. I don't much like it, and find it difficult to understand; but Richard's familiar with it as he worked in London (albeit nearly half a century ago).

I did like the new 'Elizabeth' line which runs from Heathrow, and I quickly got used to the payment system: one taps a credit or debit card going into the underground area, and again on exiting, and the full amount is debited at the end of the day. However it won't deduct more than the cost of a day-saver travel card.

On the following morning we travelled back into London, this time to attend the morning service at the church where our son will be working for the next couple of years.

Afterwards we had a Subway lunch, which we ate outside in a nearby park area. We were surprised to see how tame one of the squirrels was, running around near the benches, evidently hoping for some crumbs. And when it found something, it sat there in full view, nibbling. 

After this we went to look at the flat which our son and his wife will be renting for the next year or two - they had only just been given the keys, so it was still empty. The cost of renting in London is horrendous, and the flat is tiny; part of a converted Edwardian style terrace. But the ceilings are quite high and the living area looked surprisingly spacious.

We had left most of our luggage at a nearby station, so we collected that, and then got the train to Cambridge for a few days. Our son and his wife will be renting out their house - a small but very nice 'starter home'- so our task was to help them fix a few problems (such as a rusty access chamber cover) after the movers had collected their things on Monday.

It was a full and active few days; not that I was able to do much to help in practical terms. Richard was happy to help our daughter-in-law learn to use some power tools, and although there were more things to do than expected, and - inevitably - it all took longer than planned, our task was finished by early afternoon on the Wednesday. 

Two of us took the train to London while the other two packed all the remaining bits and pieces into a rental van, and drove to London - which took considerably longer than the train journey.  So we moved and even unpacked a few of the boxes from the movers, in order to make space for the extra things still to come. 

As we ate a cold supper, perching on boxes, we realised that it was only five days since we left Larnaka...

Richard and I took the van back to Cambridge that night, and in the morning went to exchange it for the rental car which we had booked for the next week. We used Enterprise Car Rental, which we hadn't tried before. Their prices were good - significantly better than our usual choices - and their staff were friendly, and helpful... but clearly over-worked. Although we arrived in good time to pick up our car we had to wait over an hour before it was ready. Someone else, who arrived before us, was waiting even longer.

Then when we had only driven for about two hours, an engine warning light came on, and the car lost most of its acceleration. We were perhaps 15 miles away from the village where my brother and his wife live, and we were due there for lunch. So we kept going, puttering along, struggling on the hills, very thankful this had not happened on the motorway.

One excellent lunch later, Richard spent a considerable amount of time on the phone to local Enterprise Car rental places, only to be told - eventually - to speak to the one in Cambridge. They were most apologetic, but after some research told us that our only option was to have a much smaller car than we wanted to get us up to Carlisle, and then exchange that for a bigger one the following day.

We had hoped to arrive at our older son's house in Carlisle by about 5pm, in time for an evening meal with the grandchildren. But it was about 8.30pm by the time we finally reached our destination, and our granddaughter was already asleep.

However, we had a very enjoyable 'long weekend', relaxing in the family environment, with lots of hugs, and books, and games, including 'Meeple Land', which reminded me of the old 'Theme Park' computer game which we played a couple of decades ago. 

The weather wasn't ideal, but among other things we did manage to go out for a walk, taking the grandchildren roller-blading in the nearby park:  

We went to their local church service where I was very moved by our grandson answering the question, 'Who would you most like to invite to a meal at your house?' (real or imaginary, living or dead) by saying, 'My Great-Grandpa, because I had such a good time with him when he was alive.' 

And we also helped our granddaughter with some school homework: compiling a bar chart of her extended family's preferences for different zoo animals, with a choice of eight: 

But all good things, as the saying goes, come to an end. So, after walking to school with the grandchildren on Monday morning, we said our goodbyes and set off down the M6. The car acquired in Carlisle was comfortable and, Richard said, very pleasant to drive. 

We had a brief break in Birmingham, having lunch with one of our oldest, closest friends, and then a couple of hours with my step-mother. The next phase of our journey was to the Gatwick Travelodge. We hadn't been there with a car before, and were a bit shocked at the parking charges, but we needed the car for the following day when we drove even further south to spend the day with Richard's mother. 

We returned the car to Gatwick that night, not wanting to get up early the following morning (or pay for another night's parking!) so we got the friendly 'Gatwick Hopper' shuttle-bus to our accommodation. 

After breakfast on the Wednesday Richard finished all the packing - he is much better at this than I am. Our flight was not due until 15.25 but we didn't see much point remaining in the Travelodge, so we got the shuttle-bus back to Gatwick shortly after 10.00. We should probably have waited longer as it was hard to find anywhere to sit, at first, and we couldn't check in our luggage until three hours before the flight was due. 

We had flown out with two full-size cabin baggage cases and two backpacks - which is still the free allowance on BA flights. We had not used BA for some years, as they don't fly to any of the airports we generally use, and they tend to be pricey. But since we needed to fly to Heathrow, and the only other choice was Wizz Air - which charges vast amounts for any luggage other than a small carry-on bag - we used BA on our outward flight. They weren't too expensive, their luggage allowance was generous (by today's standards) and even their boarding procedure seemed quick and efficient. 

However, returning from Gatwick, the only option was EasyJet, an airline we've often used and which we quite like. We had booked their 'speedy boarding' category which costs a bit more than the basic flight, but includes full-sized cabin baggage. And we had booked an extra piece of checked luggage, since Richard had ordered a large piece of equipment that came in a big box. 

We had also bought a few extra things, as one does in the UK, from Amazon and elsewhere. In Cyprus we can't easily find things like Roomba replacement parts, or filters for our cats' water fountain; getting them posted from the UK costs more than the items themselves. Sometimes we ask visiting friends to bring out items we've ordered, but this time we were able to bring them ourselves.

We used an airport trolley for the first time in many years:

The flight was a couple of hours late, but managed to catch up some time due to a useful tailwind. Our friend Sheila met us at the airport; our cats were very pleased to see us; and we finally got to bed about midnight. 

It had only been twelve days. It felt like we'd been away for at least a month....

Back in Cyprus after six weeks away

 A week ago we were at Gatwick Airport, a tad frustrated and rather bored because our flight back to Cyprus from the UK was delayed by a few hours. Apparently there had been a major storm in the area the night before, meaning that some incoming flights had been diverted, and they were still running late. Gatwick is a perfectly acceptable airport, but there's not a great deal to do there.  

However the flight eventually took off, and was shorter than normal due to good tailwinds, so we arrived back just under three hours after our expected arrival time. Our luggage came through quickly, and our friend Sheila met us outside; we were home, with our cases, and slightly disgruntled cats wanting to know why we were up in the middle of the night, by 2am. 

I haven't felt as brain-fogged as I usually do when flying back to Cyprus, just very tired. I've done five loads of laundry so far, and cleaned fairly thoroughly on Saturday, but not a lot else. 

I flew out of Cyprus towards the end of July, to the Midlands. It was a late evening flight, arriving at nearly midnight so I'd booked a room in a nearby Premier Inn. It was clean and comfortable, and I had a good breakfast before continuing my travels.

I took a train to the city centre, then a taxi to visit relatives who recently moved to a 'retirement village'. There was a comfortable guest apartment, and we had a quiet few days, which I very much appreciated, winding down after a busy time getting ready to travel. Then on the train to Cumbria to spend four weeks with my son, daughter-in-law and grandchildren. 

Although we did visit the family briefly last year, and chat to them regularly via the Internet, they change so fast and it was wonderful to spend time with them. There was a nearby park where they regularly rode their bikes or used their scooters. The weather was pleasantly warm, with only occasional showers of rain. 

We also read books - lots of them! - and played games, and went for walks in some of the gorgeous local countryside.

A special treat while I was there was what my granddaughter referred to as my 'holiday within a holiday' - a visit to one of the Scottish Hebridean islands.  We went to stay at a holiday home owned by the parents of some of their friends (all of whom were there too). The beaches were gorgeous:

The airport on the island was tiny, the return flight on a plane smaller than I had ever been on before, but surprisingly not at all scary. 

Four weeks after I left, Richard arrived - he had been very busy in Cyprus while I was away, with work and other activities, and looking after the house and cats too. 

Towards the end of my stay was the culmination of the trip, our younger son's wedding. We arrived a few days beforehand and there were some things that needed doing, but nothing major. He and his bride-to-be had organised everything.  

Having said that, we did spend one afternoon thoroughly cleaning the chapel:

We also watched the marquee going up on the lawn (which was brown and hard after quite a long drought). We were surprised how many people were involved in the process, which took well over an hour:

The day before the wedding, my extended family arrived; we were all staying in a nearby Travelodge.  One of my sisters-in-law had a birthday, so my brother had arranged a family meal together, which we all enjoyed thoroughly. I had a kind of halloumi fajitas, which was delicious. 

The wedding was small - with Covid still in people's minds, it was limited to family and a small number of very close friends (eg godparents) - and awesome. Afterwards there was lunch at tables on the lawn, under the marquee:

All was finished by about 6pm, but it wasn't the end of the family celebrations. One of my brothers was just a couple of days away from a milestone birthday, so we had another meal together, the day after the wedding, to celebrate that.  

Our last few days were spent near the south coast, with another relative (who was unable to come to the wedding). And then to Gatwick, and home. 

The weather here in Cyprus is not as hot as it sometimes is in September, and we learned that there was quite a heavy downpour of rain the day we flew back.  This morning for the first time since the end of June I went for an early walk with Sheila and I was quite surprised to see that there's still some water in the Salt Lake: it didn't dry out at all this summer.

I've had a wonderful summer, one of the best ever. We're now looking forward to the arrival of some friends in just a few weeks, followed by some family members mid-October. 

Travelling to the UK from Cyprus (continued)

I wrote in my last blog post about our complicated preparations for travelling to the UK this summer, with about ten days to do considerably more than is normally needed. Not that the pre-pandemic 'normal' applies any more. But as I said at the end of that post, it wasn’t until we boarded our mainly empty flight, late on a Thursday evening just over a month ago, that I finally started to allow myself to believe that we might see our family again. 

I'm very thankful to live in an age of modern technology. Whatsapp, Facebook and Zoom have enabled us to stay in touch, to share photos, to see each other’s faces and hear each other’s voices. My brother instituted a fortnightly (now monthly) family Zoom and it’s been one of the highlights of the pandemic, as far as I’m concerned. Just half an hour or so catching up with news and trivia has made all the difference to my feeling of being isolated from my relatives for so long. 

But it’s not the same as being together, and I hadn’t realised how much I had missed it until we were, at last, en route, and a little frisson of excitement started to rise in my chest. I was tired - our flight wasn’t until after my usual bedtime - and quite stressed; it had been a hectic week making all the arrangements necessary. I dozed once or twice, but can never really sleep on flights. 

We arrived on time, and found a taxi to take us to the nearby Travelodge. Previous experiences with waiting for the shuttle bus had persuaded us that it was worth paying a few extra pounds for the comfort and convenience of a taxi when arriving at 1.30am. 

Gatwick Travelodge is a familiar place, but we had never before booked two nights there. This was necessary for various reasons, including the lateness of our flight. We had decided to have a day to ourselves - to pick up our rental car about noon on the Friday, so we could take it easy after the substantial Travelodge ‘all you can eat’ breakfast.

Collecting the car was not stress-free. This is an example of British understatement. We had opted for a different rental company this time, as our usual preferred one was charging extortionate amounts. But we should have known that it wouldn’t be easy. We did eventually get the car (which was fine, thankfully) but we left feeling irritated, having had to leave a very large deposit with the company, who did not trust our excess insurance. It was not a good start to our break.

When we arrived at the nearby shopping centre where we had decided to eat lunch and make some necessary purchases, I felt oddly nervous on seeing so many people milling about, many of them not wearing masks, and with little observance of any social distancing. We had N95 masks, and while I prefer the more comfortable cloth ones, we wore the more protective ones as we had no wish to acquire the virus and potentially pass it on to our vulnerable relatives.

There are always a few things we buy in the UK, that we can’t easily find in Cyprus. Solid deodorant, for instance. It's quite pricey, but each one lasts over a year, and can be taken in hand luggage on a flight. I usually buy a selection of inexpensive birthday cards, too. Richard was looking for a new backpack, I was looking for some new sandals. And he always likes browsing shopping centres. 

I had got beyond exhaustion into a kind of dazed auto-pilot, but we found lunch, and looked in shops, and then returned to the Travelodge. We had talked about finding a nice restaurant for our evening meal, but were so tired we decided to eat there and were pleasantly surprised at the choice and the quality, even if we had to wait rather longer than we would have liked for the meal to arrive.

On Saturday we spent a very pleasant day with Richard's mother. Then to a nearby AirBnB, where the hostess had kindly agreed to take in our 'Day Two' PCR test packs, which had to be used on Sunday morning. That was a bit stressful - the instructions were not entirely clear, so we hoped we had taken suitable samples. Then, as we had not ordered courier-collection ones, we had to find a place to post them. We tracked down a priority mailbox, made a note of the tracking numbers, and photographed them going into the letter box - since it was Sunday, none of the Post Offices were open.*

We had lunch at a service station en route to our next destination, in the Midlands, which we reached at about 5pm. It was very good to see my father again after such a long time. 

We stayed at a nearby Travelodge, and then spent the whole of Monday with my father and stepmother. One of my brothers came for the day, with his wife and her granddaughter, and there was also a brief visit from my nephew and his wife. It was a lovely family day and I tried to appreciate every moment. 

On Tuesday we drove north again, and spent a couple of hours with my other brother and his wife. Then on to our last destination, the one I was looking forward to most: a whole week with our sons, daughter-in-law and grandchildren. Our younger son was staying with the family, having moved out of his last flat in the south. So we had all our descendants together, for the first time in eighteen months. 

Spending time with the grandchildren was wonderful - we went with them to nearby parks, read them books, played board games, and chatted in ways that just aren’t possible when video chatting. We saw places they had talked about, so we can imagine them for ourselves.

We relished every moment. Children change so rapidly during these early years, and they have such different, delightful personalities. 

Richard had been talking about sailing with them, on our video calls, and both children were excited at the idea. Since we have no idea when they might manage to get to Cyprus, he decided to rent a boat for an afternoon at one of the lakes in the Lake District. We had lunch there together, then three of us went to find hot drinks and some peace to read, while Richard took our older son and grandchildren out for a couple of hours. The boat was was apparently very like the boats in the book 'Swallows and Amazons', which the children have enjoyed listening to more than once. 

Since there wasn't room for all of us, we stayed for the week at a nearby AirBnB. It was a lovely place to stay, with a huge attic room, beautifully decorated with an ensuite bathroom, and some of the friendliest hosts we have met. 

Knowing how short the time was, I tried to make the most of every minute.  I knew I would find it difficult to leave, and would have liked to stay longer. But we had decided that I would return to Cyprus with Richard rather than rely on public transport to get to the airport, or to make further visits to other relatives. Twelve days in the UK felt like a huge adventure after such a lengthy period when travel was impossible.  It was never going to be long enough for me anyway. I think, in the circumstances, it was both the right time to go, and the right length of time to stay.  

To return to Cyprus from the UK, we didn't need to do any tests, as we're fully vaccinated. But we had to apply for and fill in the Cyprus Flight Pass, and download the EU Digital Covid Certificate. Richard had his computer with him, so did everything on that, as well as checking in at the airport. So with the boarding pass and the other two certificates, we each had three QR codes on our phones, to be scanned and validated before flying. 

On August 25th we drove to Newcastle Airport. Returning the rental car was, thankfully, straightforward, and the lady who dealt with us was a great deal more helpful and friendly than the guys at Gatwick. The airport is quite small, and many of the shops and eateries are still closed. but we found somewhere to eat lunch and bought sandwiches for the return flight. 

While it always takes me several days to feel myself again after a flight to Cyprus - and it was still hot and humid on our return - I felt refreshed and rejuvenated. And it's so lovely to have seen where our older son and his family are now living; last time we visited them, they were in Scotland. 

I have no idea when we will return to the UK, or see any of the family again, but it was a wonderful trip, appreciated all the more after the difficulties encountered in getting there. I'm hugely thankful to all who hosted us, and for every second we were able to spend with our loved ones. 

*PS It took three days for our PCR tests to reach the destination and another day to be processed. We did eventually receive notification that they were negative, but by that time we had visited four different households (six if we include the AirBnBs), and been out and about in the community.  We can see the point of tests before flying, but when we no longer needed to isolate, a 'Day Two' test, with results on about Day Six, doesn't seem to have any useful purpose. 

Preparing to Travel from Cyprus to the UK

We usually - in the pre-pandemic days - travelled to the UK at least once per year, sometimes twice. All our immediate family members live in England now, scattered around the country. Last year we had to cancel the week we had booked with our sons and grandchildren in Scotland, as travel was impossible. I kept hoping to be able to visit, all through the Autumn of 2020, but it wasn't to be. Our younger son didn't even manage to come out to Cyprus for Christmas, for the first time in over a decade. 

I say this not as a complaint, but to give some context. Many are much worse off than we are from the family visit point of view; some, sadly, have lost loved ones during the past eighteen months. 

Cyprus has done fairly well as far as vaccination rate goes, though it was awhile before we were eligible to be jabbed. I had my first Astra-Zeneca dose in May, the second in July. Back in May when I booked it, I was somehow hoping that it might be possible to travel in August, and that being fully vaccinated might help. 

By the end of June, I was beginning to think we might have to wait another year without seeing any of the family, and that vaccination status was irrelevant. But in early July, realising that my passport would expire in November, I applied for a new one anyway. I knew that if any chance of travelling did come up, I would need at least six months' worth of validity... so I thought I might as well apply rather than potentially leaving it to the last moment if a travel opportunity came up.  

The site for applying online was surprisingly easy to navigate, clear in its instructions, and even allowed a digital photo taken on a phone. I had to send my old passport to the UK via recorded delivery, but was pleasantly surprised that, rather than it taking 11 weeks, as the site suggested, I had my new passport back before the end of July.

But the Covid case numbers in Cyprus were very high, and it was in 'Amber' status as far as the UK went. That meant that in addition to having to do a pre-flight antigen test, visitors to the UK had to book two PCR tests after arrival, and self-isolate for ten days. An annoyance for Brits returning home, but really not an option for tourists, nor for visiting the family, unless the family lives somewhere isolated already and one is not trying to see a large number of different people.

Then it was announced that, from August 2nd, fully vaccinated tourists from 'Amber' countries would NOT need to isolate on arrival in the UK.  My heart beat a little faster. Maybe we would be able to see the family after all..

We started putting out feelers, wondering whether to fly at the end of the first week of August, Richard staying for ten days or so, while I might stay longer.  But nothing quite came together, and I never felt 'right' about it. 

Then, gradually, another plan evolved. I wouldn't stay longer than Richard- I wasn't entirely happy about using public transport - and we would play to stay at Travelodges or AirBnBs instead of with family members. That would reduce contact time at night and breakfast and would be less hassle for those we wanted to see.

This time, our suggested dates worked for everyone. Flight prices were surprisingly low (although car rental wasn't!) and we were able to find suitable accommodation in all our planned locations. 

Of course it's not that simple, this year. We had to book pre-flight tests. The UK government website makes it clear that they don't have to be PCR tests, they can be the rapid antigen tests, but must have paperwork saying they meet certain criteria. We also had to book PCR tests - just one each - to use on Day Two in the UK.  That was quite complicated to arrange, and a tad pricey, but the AirBnB host for that day was happy to receive them on our behalf. 

On August 11th, the day before we were due to fly, we went out to get our antigen tests. The first two pharmacies we went to were closed for most of August. We looked at a suitable lab, but there was a long queue in the hot sun. We eventually found a pharmacy with rapid tests being done outside, with no queue. The people involved in the testing looked at our printed list of UK government requirements, and said, 'Yes, yes, we do that'.  

'Is it okay for flights to the UK?' we asked. 

'Yes, no problem,' they said. We would have a printed form, they told us, and a text message on our phones. Eight euros each, which seemed reasonable. And while we were there, we bought some high quality masks to wear on the flights.

It was the first time either of us had had a Covid test, and it felt like a slight tickle in the nose. I was surprised they got anything at all. The results (negative, thankfully) appeared in about two minutes. Then we were given our forms, which looked very scrappy, and were mostly in Greek:

We were assured that everything was fine, that there were no other forms or paperwork they could do, and that the government would send us a text message with more information. 

A while later we did indeed receive text messages from the government, confirming that we were negative. This would be fine if we were just wanting a 'safe pass' to go to a big shop or church service. But since we're both fully vaccinated, we don't need those.  I didn't feel entirely happy about it, but hoped it would be all right. 

After that, we had to fill in the UK passenger locator forms, which must be done online. I don't know what people do if they don't have access to a computer.  It was reasonably straightforward, with options to check and edit every field if necessary, but a lot of information was required. We printed them out... more paperwork. 

In the evening we discussed our pharmacy antigen tests with a friend, who pointed out that the pharmacy hadn't even put our dates of birth on - and that's a requirement. Nor did they have any phone number to contact them. Perhaps, our friend suggested, we could go back and ask them to add this information, and give us a contact card. 

But on Friday morning, the day we were due to fly, we decided that, rather than get into a possible argument/debate with the pharmacy, and - more importantly - risk being turned away from the flight in the evening, we would go to a lab, even if we did need to queue for half an hour or more. Thankfully we didn't need to wait more than a few minutes, and it all seemed much more professional. And they only cost five euros each. 

Best of all, they gave us printed forms that included all the necessary information (I have, of course, cropped parts with personal details from this photo - but it shows how much more professional it looks than the first one)

Having said that, there was a slight glitch when Richard saw that they had spelled his name wrong, and they initially gave me someone else's form. So they had to re-check and find mine, and edit his name to print another. But at last we had what, we hoped, we needed. 

When we got back, we sorted out clothes to take, and worked out that we wouldn't need to book an extra bag, as Richard had feared. So we wondered if we would be able to check in online. Most people we know of who have flown in the past couple of months have said it was impossible - the airport staff want to check every document. It's not unreasonable, since they have to check certificates etc, and apparently doesn't take much longer.

But he tried anyway, and to our surprise we succeeded in checking in. Boarding cards appeared, not to be printed but for our phones. Just as well I have a smartphone now. We were only flying with hand luggage - on a slightly upgraded kind of ticket that allows two full-size cabin bags, and two smaller under-seat ones. 

So the boarding pass was paper-free, but the amount of paperwork we had to print was considerable: 

That included information about all the locations where we were staying, the rapid test results, details of the ordered PCR tests, car rental... and details of the flights too, although we knew we probably wouldn't need those. 

When we arrived at the airport, we went straight through security with our phone boarding passes, and the various checks - passport, luggage scans etc - were much quicker than usual. The airport looked almost empty - we had never seen it so quiet. We had quite a wait, and were wondering if we'd have to show the antigen test paperwork to anyone - but we did, at the boarding gate. A man there asked to see our vaccination certificates, and also the negative test results. Thankfully everything was fine, and we finally boarded the emptiest flight I can remember.

At last, I allowed myself to hope that we really would soon be seeing our family!

Three months slipped by...

I knew it was a while - too long - since I last wrote on this blog. I'm shocked to find that it's almost three months. I've thought, more than once, about a blog post in recent weeks, but no one topic stood out as blog-worthy.  However,  the longer I leave it the harder it will be to get back into it... so I've grabbed a few of my photos for a whistle-stop tour of life in Cyprus, from my perspective, since the end of February.

Immigration and Citizenship
My last post was about our visit to Immigration, and the successful granting of yellow slips. That was a huge relief. They demonstrate that we are living here legally as European citizens, and - in theory, anyway - there are no expiry dates. What will happen after the UK leaves the EU is still unknown, so Richard is still hoping to acquire Cyprus citizenship.

The next stage in that process was to get a criminal record bureau check, something that is fairly common around the world now, for people working with children or other vulnerable folk. Neither of us had needed one before, but in the event it was straightforward. We drove to Nicosia, found the correct police department, submitted paperwork (and twenty euros), then went and had coffee.

I was mildly amused by this sign we spotted as we walked back to the office, suggesting we might want 'criminal record certificates'.  Happily everything was straightforward, and Richard now has a piece of paper stating that he has not committed any crimes.  This wasn't just backdated a few days to the granting of our yellow slips, so we still don't know why we needed them!  Our Alien Registration Cards, which we have had for over twenty years, have the same ID on them.

So we scanned and printed this document, and the yellow slips, and added them to the enormous pile of paperwork necessary for Richard to apply for citizenship.  We had to pay 500 euros just to submit it all; someone glanced through the paperwork and at first said that it was no good because he only had the yellow slip for a few days. So he came home, and wrote a note explaining why we didn't have them for our first twenty years here, and the following morning a different official accepted it. They didn't need all 1000 sheets of documentation, but they glanced at some, and took copies of all they required, plus of course the application form itself.

The next step will be an interview, but that could be anything from six months' time through to about six years.

Meze
Our guest flat has been very busy this year, with friends, friends-of-friends, acquaintances, and (currently) acquaintances of local friends. At the start of March, four friends came out for a week; one of them worked hard trying to get Richard's work accounts in order for last year, and the others relaxed and had a holiday. One evening they took us out for a meze at Kura Georgina, which is probably our current favourite restaurant, with the added bonus of being within walking distance.

One thing we particularly like about it is the fresh fruit platter offered 'on the house' as dessert:

In the background are some candied fruits, also part of the dessert, and a few minutes later we were given some loukomades, but were so full we could barely eat them.

Plants
I usually post photos of yellow wild flowers in Cyprus in March. There were, indeed, many of them. But for a change, here's rather a pretty pink plant that was also in bloom around the Salt Lake trail in March:

Long-term readers of this blog (if there are any...) might remember that last October we employed our teenage friend Jacob and his worker Mike to transform our side yard into a little garden, complete with artificial grass and some custom-built wooden planters.  We bought a random selection of small shrubs and other plants at local places, and were given a few extras by a neighbour.

We're not great with plants in general, and most of them weren't labelled so we didn't know what kind of watering or sun/shade situation they would need... nor do we know whether they will survive the summer, even supposing we manage to give them sufficient water.  But this is how one part was looking at the start of April - the rest of the plants, likewise, seem to be blooming.  So far, anyway.

Fresh air and walking
We're both quite keen on fresh air where possible, and during the last couple of months have sat outside in the garden swing to drink our after-lunch coffees.  I'm still walking three mornings a week, first thing, with my friend Sheila. When we get back, we sit in the swing to cool off a little, and chat.

Richard was beginning to feel a lack of exercise, but he is not, in any sense, an early bird. So we thought we might try a few late afternoon or evening walks.  I think we've managed three so far.  More than once we have been put off - or forced to return after only a short walk - due to increased levels of dust in the Cyprus air.  This usually happens during one weekend each spring, but this year has happened several times.  It was particularly bad one Sunday when we planned to walk... so we didn't get far:

National Days
25th March and 1st April are always public holidays here. If they fall on weekdays, schools have days off, and banks and some other institutions are closed. There are parades along the sea front and some of the side streets, and we used to go and watch - over twelve years ago now! - when our older son was in the town band.

We never can remember which of these dates is Greek National Day and which is Cyprus National Day. 1st April this year was also the Western rite Easter Sunday, so we went to the local Anglican church for morning service. All the other churches we know of, including other Protestant ones, celebrate Greek (Eastern rite) Easter, which this year was on April 8th.

Walking back from the service, we had to pause while part of a parade went past:

Since the Greek flag is clearly in evidence, and there was blue and white bunting, we assumed that it must have been Greek National Day.

We were wrong. Apparently that was a week earlier, and 1st April is in fact Cyprus National Day.

UK trip
We managed to miss Greek Easter entirely, since we flew to the UK for ten days on April 5th. It was an early flight, via Blue Air, which landed mid-morning. That meant we were in plenty of time to have lunch with some close friends, before driving to stay with my father for a few days.

Our main reason for going, however, was a very special birthday celebrated by Richard's mother. Twenty-four of us gathered in a restaurant for the main party, a few days after the actual birthday. Since all our photos contain people, who might not want to appear on a public blog, I won't illustrate it.

It was a busy ten days, catching up with quite a few family members on both sides, and seeing some friends we hadn't seen for a long time. Richard spoke at two church services and we bought various things we can't easily get hold of in Cyprus.

Although we flew out to the UK with just one suitcase, we had to fly back with two. That's partly because of various things we had bought, and partly because my generous family had given me a lot of birthday presents in advance, to save on international postage. Happily, my father had a large-size suitcase in excellent condition, which he no longer used, so he gave it to us.

Knitting
After completing a knitted nativity scene in 2016, and knitting several toys for family and friends in 2017, I wanted a new project. I find knitting relaxing, and it's supposed to be good for cognitive functions... so I was delighted to find a Facebook page which coordinates knitted blankets, 'bonding squares' and other items for premature babies at hospitals in the UK.

I had some yarn in stock and bought a bit more locally, and by the time we were in the town where there's a collection point for knitted blankets, on our UK trip, I had completed five.

If anyone wants to know in more detail how this works, and what patterns I used in these blankets, I have a separate blog about knitting. The most recent post describes what I did. I've completed another one since returning to Cyprus, and several 'bonding squares' and am over half way through another large blanket.

(Bonding squares, in case anyone was wondering, are pairs of small knitted squares, identical in colour, size and pattern. When a baby must be separated from the mother, each takes one square to sleep with. Every six or eight hours, they are switched.  This enables the baby to breathe in the mother's scent, and become used to it; it also enables the mother to breathe in the baby's scent even when she cannot be near him or her, and that can aid in her milk production). 

Jam making
I usually make strawberry jam in March, and apricot jam in May.  But although strawberries started appearing in the local shops in February, as usual, they weren't all that great, and were quite expensive.  During March I watched out for special offers, but it appeared that strawberries were late this year.

Since we were away for ten days early in April, I wondered if I would miss out entirely on this year's jam-making. But a week after our return, I saw this at the local fruit stall:

3kg strawberries for 2 euros seemed like a very good deal. I used the sugar tongs that used to be my mother's to hull them quickly, and made just over eight pots of jam:

Rose
In the evening of my birthday we had our usual Friday meal with our local friends, and they gave me this lovely miniature rose, which we planted out on a balcony near our 'garden':

Oven
It's almost twelve years since we moved to this house, so it's not surprising that some appliances have started to misbehave. I wrote in October last year about having to replace our freezer.  About a month ago I turned on the knob for our oven... and the electricity went off. I thought at first it was a power cut, but went to check the power trip thing and found it had tripped off.

So I turned it on... and then, when I tried to turn the oven on again, the same thing happened.  It wasn't urgent to use the oven that day, and Richard wasn't there. So I used other methods to cook, and looked online to see if I could work out what the problem might be.

It was an Ariston oven, so I knew from TV advertisement indoctrination in the 1980s that it would go 'on and on and on and on'... which, indeed, it has.  It wasn't new when we bought the house in 2006; at a rough estimate, we think it was probably at least ten years old then.  It's worked well, on the whole, although a few times the glass front fell out and was complicated to put back. At Christmas our son Tim commented that it didn't seem to be heating as well as it should... and I had noticed it was taking much longer to warm up than it used to. 

Google told me that the most likely cause of the power tripping was that the heating element would need to be replaced.  When Richard came home, we discussed it, and - taking into account the age of the oven - decided that it would be more sensible (and not THAT much more expensive) to replace the oven.  

So, a few days later, courtesy of George Theodorou (from whom we buy all our white goods, and who offers free delivery and installation as well as pretty good prices and excellent service, when needed) our new oven was installed:

We didn't want anything fancy, and I definitely didn't want a touch screen. It had to fit exactly in the space given, and we wanted a rotary fan at the back, as well as easy-cleaning... so once we'd narrowed it down, we chose what looked like the best value.  So far, we've been very pleased.

Reducing plastic
At the start of the year, Cyprus was supposed to introduce a one-cent charge for plastic carrier bags, in preparation for the requirement to implement a higher charge in July. Most of Europe did this some years ago, but as happens in so many situations, Cyprus lags behind. We have used cloth carrier bags - when we remember - for a couple of years, now. But the locals, who don't necessarily travel outside Cyprus, are used to the free plastic carriers . Until recently, we haven't seen any real encouragement to reduce them.

But a couple of weeks ago, on what has become an every-other-month visit to Metro Supermarket, we saw an advert for trolley bags. I'd seen this idea in a catalogue and it had seemed ingenious: different sized bags, joined by velcro, which could be used in a supermarket trolley, then separated for putting into the car and carrying into the house. Metro were selling them - although they weren't easy to find! - at a better price than I had seen before.  So we decided to get some.

They would be ideal in supermarkets with self-scanning, but that hasn't come to Cyprus yet, and I doubt if it will any time soon. Still, they were fine to pack things into after they were scanned at the checkout; the blue one at the end is a cool bag but we had too much cold/frozen stuff for it to close:

I wasn't sure if these bags would fit in other supermarket trolleys, but this week we went to Lidl (also an every-other-month exercise) and they worked well there.

I was going to write even more in this post - about theatre productions, and macaroni straws, and heatwaves, and a new (to us) boat... but I've been writing for over an hour, and it's well past my bedtime.  So perhaps, if I get back in the habit of blogging, they'll be mentioned in my next post.

Out of Cyprus: ten days in the Midlands

It's over a month since I last wrote. Being a hands-on Grandma has been thoroughly enjoyable and far from full-time; but still tiring in the heat of a Cyprus summer. David is lively, talkative and energetic from the time he wakes up - usually not long after I do - until the time he falls asleep, not long after the evening meal. If I found an hour or two during the day, when David was out with someone else or playing downstairs in the guest flat with his family, I would either catch up on household jobs, or write emails, or perhaps try and put a few photos on Facebook. After he went to bed, I would usually start to clean the kitchen, and then curl up with a book for an hour or so to myself...

I write this somewhat in the past tense because I've been in the UK for the past ten days. I'm very much looking forward to seeing the family again at the end of the week, for a few more weeks until they leave Cyprus for their next adventures in Central and South America.

It was with very mixed feelings that I set off, on the evening of July 20th. I looked forward to getting out of the Cyprus heat and humidity, and I was so exhausted that I knew I needed a rest. The trigger for choosing this particular period was an invitation to my younger goddaughter's wedding in Birmingham, and I also wanted to spend a few days with my father, including helping him finish an ongoing project to write and publish his memoirs.

But although I needed a rest, and some cooler weather, I hated saying goodbye to the family. They were also struggling in the intense heat, with all usual children's activities closed for the summer, having to stay indoors for at least five or six hours during the hottest part of the day: not something appreciated by a lively and energetic three-year-old.

However, when I checked for flights on the day I wanted to fly, only about six weeks earlier, there was one direct to Birmingham for under sixty euros. It seemed to be a confirmation that I should indeed go. We didn't know, at the time, how long the family would be staying in Cyprus, and I needed to make a definite decision in order to make other arrangements.

My good friend Heather, who lives in Birmingham, suggested staying with her for three nights, and my father contacted my three siblings who live in different parts of the UK, and determined that the only day they could gather at his house for a family reunion was the day after the wedding. So, gradually, arrangements fell into place.

I arrived at Heather's via taxi from the airport shortly before 2am UK time, very tired indeed as I can never sleep on flights, but slept well and then spent a wonderful and relaxing day with her, including a visit to my other goddaughter - Heather's daughter - and her one-year-old son.

On the Saturday I caught a bus into town, where I met Tim, and we then got on another bus to take us to the wedding, which was in a small and friendly Methodist church.

All went well, the bride looked radiant, and the reception was in a lovely place set in the middle of the countryside:

I was extremely impressed by the cake, baked by the bride's mother, who had never done this kind of thing before:

I was at a table with other godparents and neighbours of the family. I didn't know any of them beforehand but they were all friendly and it was a very enjoyable day. The evening party was due to go on until midnight but I was tired, and the music was quite loud, so Tim and I left around 10pm.

On the Sunday morning I packed my case (I had travelled with hand luggage only, using a cabin bag as large as is allowed) and got on the bus to Selly Park, where I went to a pleasant service at Christ Church, which still feels like 'home' to me, even though there were only a handful of people I knew there. Tim had been staying with other friends and was there too, and afterwards we were collected by my father and driven to his house, where my siblings and families had gathered for an excellent lunch:

Tim stayed overnight and was able to help with various computer issues; on the Monday we were taken out to lunch at a nearby Carvery.

Then Tim was dropped at New Street so that he could get the train back to Surrey.

The subsequent week has raced past, and I have thoroughly enjoyed being a 'lady of leisure'. The weather has been quite rainy and not particularly warm, but we've managed a few short walks, and even some blackberrying nearby.

On Tuesday my two young step-nieces (if that's the correct relationship) were here for the day and we all went out to lunch at a garden centre. On Wednesday afternoon one of my secondary school friends came over for a couple of hours. On Thursday we went to a charity lunch organised by the local church.

My father's wife is an excellent cook, and in between the outings we have eaten some delicious meals. I've helped a bit with food preparation, but find myself much happier in the sous-chef role than being in charge of a kitchen. I don't like the word lazy...but I do appreciate an easy life! It was enjoyable, too, experimenting with one or two different things, such as these breadcrumb-and-parmesan coated courgette sticks which we had seen online, and which used up a couple of the courgettes from the garden produce:

One thing I wanted to do while staying here for a week was to help my father finish his memoirs. This project has been ongoing for at least a couple of years, and in the weeks before I arrived, he wrote a few extra chapters to fill in some gaps. I've been through the whole thing (nearly 70,000 words) editing and proof-reading and compiling into Kindle-readable versions so we and other family members could check for inaccuracies, omissions and errors.

I finished the second draft yesterday evening, with a sense of satisfaction; we hope to publish via CreateSpace later in the year.

In a few hours I will be travelling down to Surrey to spend a few days with Tim before returning to Cyprus on Friday.