Month: August 2009

In the evening we went to Robin and Christa’s as Robin had 2 kilos of king prawns and asked us to help him eat them! We then found out Christa didn’t like them, so they were shared amongst three of us……delicious.

We had a really good evening. Thank you Christa and Robin.

It was another lovely day but as the morning went on, the wind got up, a warm wind but it was strong. We had to start bringing things in before they landed in the pool or over at Willy and Lena’s or even down in Incesu.

I received more pictures of my niece’s twins, Layla and Jude. Late afternoon we went to Lena’s and Willy’s for drinks along with Carol and Steve who have bought a house just up the road. Willy and Mal were on form with their stories and jokes.

I went shopping in the morning and also bought Cyprus Today. There didn’t seem to be too much interesting in it, only quotes of things people have ‘supposedly said’!

We watched the Chelsea game in the afternoon and later Man U, who were extremely lucky to win 2-1, one a penalty and the other an own goal from Arsenal. In the last few minutes of the game, Arsene Wenger was sent off! It was so funny because he didn’t seem to know where to go!

We ordered another tanker of water. For some reason today he gave us 5 tons for 40tl when it is usually 4 tons for 50tl. Mal gave him the 50tl note and he gave him 10tl change. Perhaps we now have a ‘regular’s rate’.

Christa and Robin came round for a meal in the evening. Poor Christa had intended taking a feral tom cat to the vets to be neutered as she has been feeding the mum and kittens. She tried to get it in the carrier to take him to Pertev and the tom didn’t want to go and took his revenge out on Christa, biting and clawing her arm and leg. Eventually they dropped the tom off with Pertev and next stop the hospital for Christa. She has her wound on her arm bound and has to have the dressing changed daily, also antibiotics and a tetanus jab, which has made her arm swell and become painful. Hopefully the nice evening took her mind off it a little.

Mal launched his second edition of North Cyprus Free Press (www.northcyprusfreepress.com), with an interesting letter from Robin about his builder, goodness the money he has had to spend.

The continuing saga of our ticket overcharge from CTA. Whilst Barclaycard added £10 to our account, the ticket amounts remain the same! We tried ringing CTA London office again and this time they could not have been more helpful and put us through to their accounts department where we were told “this is happening to a lot of people”. So, BEWARE if you are booking tickets online with them and check your statements. I was even told they would ring me back and they did, 10 minutes later when they had checked all the details. If anyone else has had similar problems please contact me and I will pass on the direct line number to the accounts department and the name of the most helpful member of CTA’s 600 staff.

In the evenings we often sit under the terrace and for the last three years we have had a lizard of a very strange colour coming out from behind one of the light fittings at night. We christened her Lizzie. Well this year we have discovered Lizzie has a friend and also there are a couple of Lizzie-ettes. They are so tiny and one had the misfortune of going along the floor in Rosie’s sight but we think she got away! We never have to clean the cobwebs or spiders away from under the terrace as they do it for us. But they only come out at night. They are also very difficult to try and take a picture of them as most of the time they are on the ceiling, the best place to stay when Rosie is around.

Mal went on to Cyprus 44 and it was back there minus all his threads about North Cyprus Free Press and also Dutch’s thread had been removed. No explanation, nothing. It appears they had to be taken off because they were receiving thousands of hits in what is called a DDoS attack. So much for free speech. He tried to post and the first two attempts took it offline again. Mmmm! If this were a scandalous newspaper I could understand but Mal makes sure he has facts or direct quotes from the Press, so whose cage is he rattling?

I got a bit fed up with Mal sitting permanently in front of a computer screen sorting problems and writing articles, so I went shopping. It is quite amazing the price difference in some of the shops, even branches of Starling seem to vary. I am buying Del Monte tuna in the Alsancak Starling at 1.50tl, different price in the other Starling (maybe an error). I have made the most of it and if there is a general strike, we will be able to live on tuna throughout!! Mmm, something fishy there says Mal. I have also discovered a shortage of white lasagne source and I can’t be bothered to make my own in this heat. I tried 6 supermarkets this morning… yok. BUT I am pleased to report I found carrots this morning so Rosie is pleased. Yes, raw carrots are good for dog’s teeth and she loves them.   By the time I came back ‘ontheisland’ was up and running again, so can now be updated.

Two new pictures of our grand twins Scarlet and Jack (sent courtesy of the other Nanny, thank you Margaret). I wish I didn’t miss them so much, they are growing so quickly when we are not there. I guess they will be getting on a plane soon and Scarlet (the first grand daughter) will reap the delights of our Fairy house in the garden.   In the evening we went to our girlie Pizza night and Christa joined us.

Hot off the press a picture of Layla and Jude.