On The Island

I enjoyed a peaceful day at home. The builders don’t work on Sunday. It has become so bad that Bev asked me if I wanted to join them at a BBQ they were going to but I didn’t want to give up the one day of the week that it is quiet! It was lovely, I swam and sat and read a book!

I had a visitor during the day. It was so funny watching him/her because every time I put the camera near him/her, their huge antennae kept following it around. I am presuming it is some kind of mantid but can’t find this one anywhere.

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A new day, a clean house and pool and a nice walk in the mountains to start the day!

I went shopping and took some pictures on the way back, they have even been digging up the side of the road…..welcome to Malatya! I bought Cyprus Today. Details are in Mal’s online North Cyprus Free Press but a lot of stories about the poor auction victims from Kulaksiz 5 and a reminder that another auction is being held tomorrow for appartments in Girne. This time it is not expats but “their own”….Turkish Cypriots and Turkish. I fail to see how the government are not taking immediate action to stop this circus. Do they not realise what effect this will have on any future buyers?  A clear message is now getting over to the public….NO KOCAN= NO MONEY, the only way to protect potential buyers. In Turkey it takes a week to obtain Permission to Purchase.  Some people in the TRNC have been waiting 6 years for their permission to purchase. WHY??!!

In the evening I watched England’s first World Cup game. Mal has given me a link for ITV, so I can watch all the matches. Not an impressive first game 1-1 against USA but we have to take heart that the first game in 1966 was also a draw. Come on England!

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It was quite a treat to walk Rosie to the mountains without being knee deep in dust! Of course the rain had compacted it down.  Because of the rain I decided I should really give the house a good clean. I washed all the floors and I just could not believe the amount of dirt in the water and I do brush the floors every day but it obviously gets everywhere.I also slipped on the wet when pulling the bed out and landed on my knees…..ouch! Bruises tomorrow no doubt.

I cleaned the pool, only to realise that it needed backwashing because of the dirt that the pool is collecting. I am always frugal with water and so backwashed only to realise it wasn’t clean and I had to do it all over again! The second time the hose split right in the middle.

Not one of my better days but at least I didn’t feel, for a day that I was chewing dust. Having said that the digging was going on most of the day. I had just finished eating dinner when Lena rang and asked if I wanted to go out for dinner with her and Margaretha. I declined, I just felt so tired, I couldn’t even be bothered to go with them for a drink. I had an early night and didn’t even watch any of the World Cup! As David and Kenny agreed the day before, it really does ‘get to you’ all the noise and dust. I really shouldn’t complain when Mal is slogging away in the UK.

In the morning Patti came round to see me. In the afternoon David and Kenny invited me over for a BBQ. It was a lovely afternoon with excellent company and excellent food. I think it was also reassuring to know that I am not the only one who is so fed up with the constant noise and dust that the bulding is causing. I understand that in the South they are not allowed to build between April and October, so as not to upset tourists. I don’t know how true this is but a brilliant idea. If only that applied here. Whilst I was over the road, we had about 15 minutes of rain which obviously helped to dampen the dust down.

Well, I arrived at 2.00pm and hadn’t realised how long I had stayed, may have been something to do with the amouint of wine I drank! It was 9.15! Thank you David and Kenny I really enjoyed myself, nice to know I am not on my own choking on dust and also to catch up with all the news ‘around us’, some quite eye opening!

I went to pay bills and do some shopping in the morning. I paid the electricity bill at the bank. My change should have been 20 tl 20 kurus. You guessed it, I was only handed 20tl, so I asked for the 20 kurus and she went to her till and got me 20 kurus and handed it to me! I truly can not imagine a bank in the UK short changing anyone, no matter how small. How much do they make in a day if they do this to every customer?

Someone is now digging huge trenches down the side of the road towards Incesu, as if we don’t have enough going on and enough dust.

In the evening I was invited to Lena and Willy’s as it was the 10th anniversary of the day they arrived in Cyprus. Lena made a very tasty, something Swedish which I have forgotten the name, it looks like a huge cake but is savoury and is cut like a sandwich. Delicious.  There were a lot more people there but my camera battery ran out!

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A day spent tidying more of the garden. The passion flower seems to have taken over, it is more like a weed trying to strangle everything in its path.

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It was a day of very high winds and so cleaning the floors in the morning was a totally pointless exercise. By the evening they were covered with dust, flower heads and goodness knows what else. I spent most of the day in the garden clearing up and trying to block out the sound of the crankey digger although I have to say we had a days respite on Sunday and it was bliss.  I spoke to Mal and it seems the highlight of his day was taking the rubbish to the bins as he plods on with the work. He does have a good friendship going with the man from DHL, who delivers and collects all his parcels!

I had downloaded Soccer Aid from Sunday night, so watched that in the evening. Sadly the ‘Rest of the World’ won, beating England on penalties, I hope that is not a sign of things to come. Having said that the real England team did beat the Platinum Stars 3-0.

I was moved watching Soccer aid by the clips of the children that Unicef help and so had to go to the ITV website and make a donation. Sometimes we forget just how lucky we are.

I found this stick mantis outside, a bit different from the many praying mantis that we have in our garden.

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