Month: September 2009

Mal and I were gardening during the day and then in the evening I went to girlie Pizza night. There didn’t seem to be many people in there, maybe the tourists have all left.

Ingrid has started a petition to “GIVE US OUR AMBULANCE BACK” (LINK HERE) So many people here talk about doing things and little else but Ingrid has organised all this and distributed copies to shops all around the area…well done Ingrid! The petition is demanding the reinstatement of the ambulance emergency services at Lapta Health Centre. Please add your name to the petition. One day it may be YOU who needs it!

Mal and I did some gardening in the morning and then Sue came and stayed for lunch. I haven’t seen her for a while so it was nice to catch up.

In the evening we went to see ‘The Dance of Cyprus’ at the Amphitheatre in Girne. We went to Peanuts first to have dinner because we had heard rumours that the show was cancelled….NO it wasn’t! If anyone is going to see anything at the amphitheatre…take a cushion, although they do have limited numbers they hand out as you enter. It is a great setting and well worth going and the dance was very good. It was just a shame that the attendance was so poor. I am sure this is down to lack of advertising and people not knowing where to buy the tickets. For future events I understand that Deniz Plaza , near Garanti bank always sell them and we also discovered when we were given the programme that tickets had been on sale at Pegasus, Carpenter’s and Lambousa. Very poor advertising. There is another performance in Girne on 6th October and one in Salamis on 25th September. Well worth seeing.

Mal and I did some gardening. There is a distinct drop in temperature.

We played cards under the terrace in the evening and Mal thought it was hysterical that I felt cold and put my woollen wrap on. He even took a photo of the temperature to show what a woos I was.

Mutlu Bayramlar (Happy Bayram)!!

Ramazan is over and today is the first day of Şeker Bayram. Translated this means ‘sweet bayram’ and is the celebration after the fasting month of Ramazan. One of the traditions is for the children to go around to their neighbour’s doors wishing them a happy Bayram for which they are rewarded with sweets or a small amount of money. I guess our drive is too long and so they don’t bother.

I had to laugh on reading Cyprus Today “Bypass will be 5 years late”. It is doubtful that it will be finished before the end of 2012. I don’t think that will surprise anyone. I think the article I was most appalled by was the expats who decided to strip off and they were outside a mosque on a Sunday afternoon during Ramazan. So little respect and if that is how little you have then bog off to where ever you came from. They were arrested.

We watched a very good Manchester derby, Man U winning but the timing was controversial.  After this we spoke to the boys who were very excited at the win. They are all fine. River’s football team won again and Sol is in the top set for maths.

More rain and in the evening we sat under the terrace and watched the lightning show around the mountains.

Mal came with Rosie and I for our early morning walk, for the first time in 2 weeks, since he injured his leg. Rosie loved it as Mal can throw her ball much further than I can. We couldn’t believe how much rubbish has accumulated along our road, things being thrown out of car windows and also a lot of broken bottles and cans. Mal came back and decided to do an article on it in his www.northcyprusfreepress.com

Later in the morning we had thunder rumbling around the mountains and then the rain started, only about an hour but enough not to bother watering the garden for a few days.

I went into Atakara to buy Cyprus Today and a few other things. The cashier didn’t put three items through the till and just told me the total. I told her I wanted my receipt, so she took the three items out of my bag and scanned them. WHY wasn’t she putting them through the till? I am making no comment; the total came to the same so why wasn’t she entering them through the till?

In the afternoon/evening we watched back to back football, the best match Hammers v Liverpool. Just a shame Hammers lost.

I went shopping in the morning and also drew money out of the bank. Ramazan finishes tomorrow and the banks will be shut on Monday and Tuesday (and the government offices) so I am guessing the cash card may run out!

The shops are full of sweets for Seker Bayram, which follows Ramazan.

It was cloudy in the afternoon and some areas had rain but we didn’t. Mal and I went swimming and we must have become soft as the water felt cold! It was 26 degrees.

In the evening Mal and I waited for the water to come on. Success, after half an hour of air coming through the pipe, which yes it does turn the meter round, we finally got some water.  Mal took Rosie for her evening walk, the first time since he injured his leg, it must be improving.

Two of our relatives are going through chemo at the moment and although we would rather not say who, we just want them to know we are thinking of them.

Gwen came up in the morning. We haven’t seen her for quite a long while, so it was really nice to have her visit. It seems she has been having problems with a builder who has been doing her roof. Never ending!

Later we had the water tanker up again and Rosie got so excited, she just loves playing with the water. It is now a week and we have had no mains water.