Our guest flat in use again

I'm glad I took the pictures for the previous post, showing how very cluttered and messy our downstairs flat was! I'd almost forgotten how bad it was, in just a few days. Our guest arrived in the early hours of this morning, so we worked hard to make the flat presentable again.

First, Richard made 14 of the fibreglass panels, covering them with the bright coloured material from Egypt. I gather they're for sound treatment, not sound proofing, so they won't cover the entire room. There are still several more to make, but he's put up these, matching the patterns where possible:

A lot brighter than I would have chosen, but Tim loves them. I think we're going to paint the wall underneath in a very dark green - eventually!

Richard had the ingenious idea of stapling the frames together rather than using screws. Inspired by some of our photo frames, since these panels are very light and hang on the wall rather like pictures. It made the job considerably faster, but it was still getting a bit tedious by the time he got to the last few. And there are still more to do, but not this week.

As for the rest of the house... well, we moved the rest of the fibreglass, all the painting tools and other general clutter into the front bedroom, which is still awaiting its plumbing and new doorframe:


We gave four boxes of no-longer-wanted books, clothes and other bits and pieces to the jumble sale [which, incidentally, is roughly equivalent to an American 'rummage sale', I believe]. People were sorting yesterday, and the sale itself was today. For the first time since we've moved here, I had no inclination to go to the jumble sale. Perhaps because, now our main living area is mostly decluttered, I don't want to end up with more clutter!

I sorted the downstairs books, somewhat, too. The one currently functioning guest room now has all the children's books - about eight large shelves of them. The living room has other books we don't want or need upstairs, but don't want to get rid of.

As for the rest of the downstairs, I spent most of yesterday cleaning. And wow, it was dirty! Cyprus gets pretty dusty anyway, and I don't suppose I'd dusted or mopped the floors for at least three weeks, as there was so much stuff everywhere. Then all the woodshavings made it worse. Richard swept, then I dusted and swept, then I mopped everywhere twice.

Tim put the 'guest' computer back together, and Richard put up a shelf unit which made a useful place to store CDs for the computer. This is one end of the kitchen:


The kitchen/dining area really is pretty big - we've moved all the downstairs board games into one of the kitchen cupboards, and there's still plenty of space.


Then last night Richard adapted the TV shelving unit he built for our old TV at our other house. The new one he bought inexpensively for downstairs was 2cm too tall and 2cm too wide, so he had to take the shelving apart and redesign it. It took a while, but the TV looks a lot better than it did when it was balanced precariously on the coffee table.


The weather site is predicting thunderstorms and rain for the next few days. If so, it will be the first rain since about May, and will be very welcome. Today is quite cloudy, and a bit muggy. It's slightly cooler than it was, but not significantly.

Downstairs in chaos again!

Nearly two months ago, I wrote this post about how we just about got the main part of our new house organised, when we learned that we were having unexpected guests from Lebanon to stay. So over a couple of days we tidied away the vast amounts of clutter that had accumulated in the guest flat part of the house. One of the guests stayed for about two weeks, and then just over a week later we had another guest.

So far so good.

But in the past month, clutter has somehow started appearing downstairs all over again. Firstly it was the painting tools, since we've finished painting upstairs.


Then some boxes of Tim's books which he's decided he doesn't need in ihs room. And so on. The music studio has been used by Tim and some of his friends a few times, but is fairly untidy, with wires and rugs and equipment fairly randomly arranged.


Other than that, we haven't really used the flat at all.

This would all be fine, since we do plan to decorate and finish organising the flat during the Autumn, once the weather cools a bit. But on Friday Tim will be 18, and he's having a party on Saturday to which he's invited the entire youth group. Potentially up to 30 people, though they probably won't all come. And he wants the party downstairs.

We might have persuaded him that upstairs would be easier, but then on Richard's recent trip he learned that one of our July visitors wants to come back for a week. Arriving this Wednesday. She doesn't at all mind that there's going to be a teenage party in the flat on Friday, but it does mean we need the place tidy and clean by the end of Tuesday. And we can't just shove all the clutter in the one current bedroom as we might have done if it had just been for the party. The other bedroom still needs the plumbing and doorframe finished, something we've been waiting for since the end of July, as explained in this post.

Just to add to the confusion, a few weeks ago we were given some fibreboard pieces to use in the studio for sound treatment.


While in Egypt last week, Richard bought some very brightly coloured cloth to cover them with, and on Thursday he bought some wood to make the panels. On Thursday evening, despite being pretty tired, he made the first two, to see how they would look:


A lot brighter than I would have chosen, but then I won't be using the studio - and they'll certainly make it more interesting.

This morning Richard went sailing with our friends who've been in the UK all summer, and this afternoon he's having to get ready for some recording he's doing at the office tomorrow... but at some point he hopes to make some more panels, and perhaps fit some of them. And tidy up. The painting stuff, I suppose, can go in the not-yet-ready bedroom. The books need to be sorted, and I was delighted to learn that there's a jumble sale coming up on Wednesday at St Helena's Church. A good opportunity to pass on some of the educational and other books that we will never use, and various other unwanted items discovered in the past few months that are too good to throw away.

General updates

Richard's been away for a week, with a heavy round of meetings in Cairo and Tunis. He got back this morning, pretty tired but otherwise fine. He's brought some rather bright material from Cairo to use in the studio room downstairs, which he's going to soundproof. Possibly this weekend since there's a stack of fibreglass padding lying in the kitchen, and a load of other clutter, and we have someone coming to stay next week...

We told him about the new Argos and decided to go and peruse the catalogue in the shop itself. It really looks nothing like a British Argos store - no little booth things to check catalogues, no obvious system for ordering or for products to be produced. Just a table in the corner with a couple of ladies chatting in Greek, and a friendly dog roaming around the store. Then there were a few stacks of merchandise, some of which didn't look at all like Argos products.

But the catalogues were the new Autumn/Winter 2006 ones, and they said we were welcome to sit at another table and browse. We asked if they could get all the products easily, and they said that they had some here, and there are more at their main store in Nicosia. But if we want items that aren't already in Cyprus, it will be a 4-6 week wait, and if we want furniture it will be a two-month wait.

Ok....

We found some lightshades we liked, and decided to order those. We looked at mirrors but didn't see any we really liked. We browsed various other things - the catalogue is so much nicer than the online search facility - but decided in the end just to start with the one small order, and see how long it really does take.

Having made the order, we were given a free catalogue to bring home, so we can browse more at our leisure. They also gave us a free sunshade thing for the car windscreen (something we'd been looking out for but hadn't found) - advertising some completely different company.

I'm not sure that Argos will catch on at all in Cyprus .. but it will be interesting to see what happens.

Next we went to the Thrift Store to see if there was a suitable bedside table for Tim. We'd seen several last time we were there. This time there were only a couple of possibilities, and he didn't really like either of them. He says he doesn't really need a bedside table. However we did find a nice mirror and also a much better watering can than the one we had already. That's how shopping often seems to work here: we go looking for one thing, and find something completely different that we couldn't find when we were looking for it.

Argos in Cyprus!

Note: I see that this post is still getting results from search engines. So I should mention, perhaps, that the Argos in Larnaka apparently closed down at least a year ago. It probably wasn't economically viable in Cyprus.  The notice on the window says 'Enoikazetai' - to let. 

I went to the Post Office this morning, and on the way back walked on the shady side of the main road. I noticed a newish shop, one I'd glanced at before, with a sign outside saying 'Argos'. A Greek-sounding name, so I hadn't thought too much about it, but today I realised that the sign is exactly the same as that of the British Argos stores.

I noticed, moreoever, that behind the smoked glass windows there was a variety of merchandise - kitchen appliances, garden equipment, and other random bits and pieces that looked remarkably like the kinds of things sold in the familiar Argos.

Intrigued, I went and had a closer look. There, by one of the windows, was a whole pile of green catalogues. And yes, printed on them was the Argos UK web-site address!

Alas, the store didn't open until 8.30am and it was only eight o'clock. So I came home and told Tim about it. He decided to go and look for himself - it's only about ten minutes' walk from our house - and set off. He hoped to pick up a catalogue, but when he returned half an hour later he had only a single sheet of paper. The catalogues, apparently, cost £4 each although a discount of the same amount is then given on the first purchase from the store. He didn't take any money with him, and we don't know if we want to use it anyway. But he had a chat with the lady in charge, and she told him that the prices will be related to the catalogue prices - only we'll have to pay in Cyprus pounds rather than sterling. An increase of about 20% on current exchange rates, but that takes into account the shipping from the UK.

They have a warehouse at the back, but as they're relatively new, they won't hold all stock and so goods may need to be ordered. And they hope to give away free catalogues eventually, but at present can't afford to do so as they have to bring those from the UK too.

Argos isn't the cheapest place for many items in the UK, but it's considerably better value than many stores in Cyprus. Moreover, it has some things that simply can't be bought anywhere else. So we'll be having a good browse of the UK website, and may well return...

Sad plant

A few weeks ago we were given a lovely house plant by some friends. One of those frondy palm-like ones, with soft rather than prickly leaves. They said they had one themselves, and it was almost impossible to kill. Good news, I thought. House plants and I don't have a good relationship, unfortunately. Either I over-water them, or I forget about them entirely.

There were no instructions with this plant, or even a label telling us what it was called, but our friends assured us it liked shade, so we put it on a ledge by the stairs, which looked like the perfect place. It got some natural light from a high-up window, but no direct sunlight. We were careful not to over-water it, but since we went past it several times each day, it was difficult to forget about it.

For the first couple of weeks, it appeared to thrive.

Then we noticed the odd leaf yellowing and falling off. I didn't worry too much. After all, it's technically autumn... although I had a feeling this kind of plant should be evergreen. But it started to happen more often, and then we noticed healthy-looking green leaves falling off too.

Yesterday one of the stems seemed a bit fragile, almost bent over. And this morning, when I got up, I saw this:



Or, on closer inspection, this:


The larger stem still looks all right, although several of the leaves had fallen. But the smaller one looks distinctly sorry for itself.

With no idea what kind of plant it is, I don't know what we've been doing wrong. But it suddenly occurred to me that this plant is very like one which was left behind by the previous owners when we bought the house. It looked almost dead, but we set it outside the downstairs kitchen, in a mostly shady area, and it now looks alive and well.

So I picked up our sad-looking house plant, and moved it downstairs and outside. I hope it will recover. If any plant experts happen to be reading this, and know what it's called and/or what we should do with it, please let me know in the comments!

In the meantime, I think we'll concentrate on outdoor plants, which mostly seem to be doing well.

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness....

... not in Cyprus, though. Although I feel that September is the start of Autumn, the temperatures continue at 32-33C today and predicted for the next week, as they have been through August. No great heatwave, thankfully, but no sign of cooling either, although it's a bit less hot at night.

I think the Greek-speaking schools must have started back today after their three month break. I walked to the Post Office this morning to collect mail, at about 7.30am, and saw crowds of children in new-looking uniform, all congregating on a local school. I was pleased to see that many of them were pulling along the wheelie-style backpacks which look more like carry-on luggage than traditional school bags, but are so much better for their backs.

It was chaos at the school when I passed it. A few adults (teachers, I presume) were looking around, calling children, trying to gather them together. Some very small children were looking a little nervous, holding hands with their mothers. Older ones milled around in groups, shouting greetings to their friends. Perhaps they don't sort out the classes until school actually starts. No doubt the children were all sitting in their rather sad rows, with their new text-books, by the time I got home again. School here is only in mornings, so it starts early and goes on until past 1pm. Then they have vast amounts of homework, even the little ones. I'm glad we opted out.

In the mail was a package of photos from Directfoto, where I order all my prints from digital photographs, a couple of items from the excellent Play.com (less of a selection than Amazon UK, but free postage anywhere in Europe) for upcoming family birthdays, and also some information for Tim from the Open Theological College, where he's starting a degree course by correspondence in a few weeks. He actually received two info packs. They had sent one at the start of August, but it hadn't arrived by last week so Tim emailed the college, and they sent out another. Both arrived this week. The postal service here is mostly good, but every so often we receive something that's taken a month or more to arrive from the UK.

It occurred to me that life for ex-pats is a great deal easier with the Internet and online ordering. While basic requirements of life in Cyprus - such as rent, food and utilities - are relatively inexpensive, books and DVDs are highly priced, and (not surprisingly) although there is an increasing selection in English, the majority is Greek. Photo processing is a little less expensive than it was, but still significantly more than in the UK, and not such good quality. Of course, for someone wanting prints in a hurry, online ordering is no good: its one disadvantage is that it's usually at least a week before the order gets here. But that doesn't worry me.

Later in the morning Tim went out to get some passport-sized photos so he can send off his application to OTC tomorrow. No instant photo booths here, but the photographers' shops - the ones we don't use for processing of prints - do a good service: four prints for £3, and the quality isn't bad. Better than UK photo booths, anyway.

This afternoon I've been browsing the recommended OTC booklists. Alas, we can't use the library service from Cyprus, but then again, if a book's worth reading, I'd rather own it than borrow it, for future re-reading. I expect I'll read most of the books Tim's going to study too, as they all sound interesting. But searching through the huge number of 'recommended' books and choosing just a few in addition to the one or two compulsory ones per module is going to be quite a task.

Sitting here with the air conditioning on in the study (since computers don't function well over 30C, we run it at 28 - that's 82F) it does feel pleasantly cool and dry. But we're still going around in shorts and tee-shirts, sweltering any time we go outside, and will probably continue to do so for at least another six weeks.

Um....

This afternoon Tim offered to make a chicken and mushroom pie for supper.

He has always had a slightly bizarre sense of humour:

Goodbye, Banana Island!

Last week seemed to rush by, after the first couple of days. It was quite a shock when Friday rolled around. Every morning 40 children started arriving at 9.30, went through 'passport control' and then into their little groups. My group were the 'Star Fruits', age 5-6. Most days we did some kind of craft related to the main theme for the day - such as this tree, which was used later in our drama about Zacchaeus:


Of course, the Bible tells us that Zacchaeus climbed a sycamore tree, but we used a bit of artistic license and created a banana tree instead.

At ten o'clock, when everyone had arrived, we went into the main hall where we heard a flight sequence taking us to Banana Island. There we had a sketch from the Banana Boys, Ripe and Rotten. These were two lads from the youth group, who were excellent:


We sang the Banana Song and other children's worship music, and we played silly games - a popular one (repeated on subsequent days, by request) was for each group to create a 'mummy' by wrapping one of their members in toilet paper:


Then we had a refreshment break, with time to chat in our small groups, and finish the craft activity from earlier.

When we returned to the hall, we heard sounds much like the TARDIS from Dr Who, and the 'time-shed' shook before a strangely dressed character emerged. Actually most of them were dressed in the same clothes... and each of them represented a Bible character who 'went bananas' for God. Noah arrived on the first day. Building a huge ship in the middle of a desert would certainly have seemed crazy to his neighbours, until the rain started.

On Tuesday our visitor was Gideon, who cut down his army from over 30,000 to about 300 - not the kind of military tactic that would go down well these days:


On Wednesday our visitor was Elijah (who poured water over the altar before praying for fire), on Thursday it was the unpopular tax collector, Zacchaeus, who - after meeting Jesus - gave away four times the money he had taken under false pretences. And on Friday, we had the lady who poured a large jar of expensive perfume over Jesus' feet. Each visitor was interviewed by Ripe and Rotten.

We sang a few more songs, did other activities, heard a short talk about the day's theme from 'The Navigator' (a local church leader), and then went back to our groups to talk about God, and to write 'postcards' to relatives.

The children LOVED it. The main leaders were wonderful - full of enthusiasm and energy, despite the heat. Thankfully it wasn't quite as hot as the previous week, and the humidity was much less, but it was still at least 30C in the shade, and the hall has no air conditioning.

Then on Sunday we had a celebration in the evening, outside the church hall, with the children and their families invited, and also people from the local English-speaking churches. It was fairly chaotic - people arrived late, some children didn't turn up, an electric guitar string broke, and Richard - who took his PA system - didn't have much clue what was going on or what the order was. But still, it went well and was a nice ending to an exhausting but satisfying week: