Month: September 2011

Rain and storms overnight, we certainly need the rain.

I went to see the Prof (vet) to see if she has any Rymadil in yet for Rosie. She hadn’t actually arrived so I waited. As she saw me she was on her mobile phone.  I then asked if she had any Rymadil in yet and she told me that was who she was on the phone to, ordering some! ” Maybe mid day”, so I told her I will call again tomorrow.  I then went to Ileli and bought Cyprus Star see link as we have given up on the news-less Cyprus Today at 3 tl. It had much more news in it and along with Marion’s musings which I enjoy, even though this week was about cancer. I was so sorry to hear that Maureen Hutchinson is receiving treatment in hospital in the UK, we wish her well.

I like shopping in Ileli because the staff are so friendly and they gave me a copy of Living while I was there. One of the adverts in Living was for The Rocks Hotel, their business lunch which seems to have taken a sudden jump – three courses for 28tl to around a 35% price hike to 38 tl!! If this should be a printing error perhaps someone could let me know but I think not!

In the evening Mal and I went to the concert at the Amphitheatre in Girne. It is the most amazing place to hold concerts, with the sea as a backdrop. The Serdar Band was the best act, only my personal opinion and I think most people wished they had played for longer. But it was a good night and for charity and the tickets were only 25tl. Drinks and food were very reasonable prices too. It was a pity that more people weren’t there and perhaps it should have been advertised in the Turkish local press.

We did meet one of my readers (who was there with somebody else’s husband, perfectly innocent you understand!) I loved the T shirt in one of the pictures!

Thought for the Day – “Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.” ~ Berthold Auerbach

I took Rosie out for her walk and for the last few mornings she has had a friend joined us. I don’t know where he comes from but he does have a collar on so presume he belongs to someone but this morning he came back home with us. I didn’t let him through the gate though!

Rain and storms were forecast. We heard a couple of rumbles of thunder but that was it.

I chopped back a hedge in the garden, at least it is a little cooler. The pool temperature is down to 28 degrees.

 

Thought for the Day – “No matter how little money and how few possessions you own, having a dog makes you rich.” ~ Louis Sabin

Mal and I went shopping, mainly to buy some new seat cushions for the outside chairs. As everyone will know, things fade and rot here in the sun. We went to Stormax in Karaoğlanoğlu. Typical, the ones I really liked, only two of them and we needed four. In the end we found some, a set of four for 69tl. We popped into Lemar and whilst I was shopping Mal had a quick look through the midweek Cyprus Today, which I hasten to add has also gone up in price to 3tl. Nothing worth reading, so we are correct, not worth the 3 tl price! I have the feeling many will feel the same as we do. If it were genuinely newsworthy I am sure we would all spend the money but it is not.

On the way home we stopped in Hur Deniz to buy some fresh levrek (sea bass). Mal has a really good way of cooking it stuffed with ginger and spring onions. We also stopped at the vets to buy some more Rimadyl for Rosie. The Prof  had run out! No problem, we would go to the pharmacy that sells them. When we arrived there, they didn’t have any either and she told me it would be two weeks before any more would come in! I even went into Garfields vets to be met with a “finish”.  Luckily I have 7 days worth left, so hopefully someone will be able to get some soon.

We just finished lunch when the log man arrived. We thought we may as well buy the logs now, even though we had a few left. We paid 300tl for I am not sure how many. It gets so confusing here because it is ‘cubic’ rather than tons but a good thing Mal has a mathematical brain and worked out it was about the right price.

So, he dumped them all off his van and then Mal realised rain was forecast for the following day, so he had to move them all to the log store to keep them dry. The weather forecast for Thursday and Friday is rain and storms. Because of this the Bex Marshall concert that was to be held in the Amphitheatre, the venue has now been changed to Jasmine Court.

 

 

 

I was gardening and collecting some of the dropped leaves with Rosie right by me. I have a very delicate plant in the front garden. While I was removing leaves from underneath I broke a couple of bits off it which of course I transplanted in a pot. The next minute I looked and Rosie had jumped right in the middle of it, obviously she had jumped on a lizard! I think we have a lot of tail-less lizards in our garden (and a few broken plants!)

Later I cleaned out the guest bedroom. It never ceases to amaze me here, the views we have.

Thought for the Day – “For in the true nature of things, if we rightly consider, every green tree is far more glorious than if it were made of gold and silver” ~ Martin Luther

I felt a lot better and so we went for a long beach walk. It’s a shame that Rosie isn’t up to it but I think most beaches now, at least where we went, don’t allow dogs on them in the summer anyway. It was nice to feel a bit of sea breeze.

My niece Julie completed the Great North Run yesterday and also managed to get her photo in the paper. Well done Julie for all the charity money you raised. She is the ‘squaw’ on the left!

Thought for the Day – “The Mediterranean has the colour of mackerel, changeable I mean. You don’t always know if it is green or violet, you can’t even say it is blue, because the next moment the changing reflection has taken on a tint of rose or grey.” ~ Vincent Van Gogh

I still didn’t feel marvellous, so didn’t eat much or do much. In the afternoon we watched a very good Spurs game. Adebeyor has certainly made a difference to their team. He scored two of the 4-0 result against Liverpool.

This was followed by Man U v Chelsea, another good game with both Torres and Rooney making two howlers. I felt quite sorry for Torres having scored one goal and then missing an open mouth goal until Torin said £50 million for him! That’s football.

In the evening we spoke to all the grandchildren in Cardiff. Oscar seems very impressed with nursery school and told me he has been doing lots of painting.

Thought for the Day – “Do what you can with what you have where you are.” ~ Theodore Roosevelt

Cyprus Today had had a 50% price increase! see link

I don’t know what it was but I had a bad stomach all the previous night and spent half the night in the loo! I don’t think it was anything I ate as Mal had eaten the same. So, I spent some of the day in bed and dosing myself with Imodium. We had arranged to go to Cratos Casino in the evening, so another Imodium before we left!

We met Robin and Christa and went to Cratos. Impressive, perhaps TRNC is catching up with Turkey in the quality hotel stakes! see link  Hadise was perfroming there, she evidently represented Turkey in the 2009 Eurovision song contest.

We went into the casino where you take your passport and put money on your card they give you. The stakes are high on the tables but we just played the machines. Mal was once banned from a casino for card counting at blackjack and winning too much so the machines were safer! Whilst you are gambling your money away the staff bring you drinks, peanuts, fruit, cigarettes (no charge). There is also a restaurant there where you can eat (no charge again) but there seemed to be a shortage of tables which you had to wait for. Having had a bad stomach I had little to eat or drink! But I managed to come out quits and Mal doubled his money. Quite an entertaining evening.

As we left Cratos all the Press and TV cameras were there, obvioulsy waiting for Hadise, not us!

Thought for the Day – “It’s the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting.” ~ Paulo Coelho