On The Island

Easter Holiday 2003

 

 

 

Saturday 12th April

We drove up to Stansted and stayed the night at the Hilton.  Had a really nice meal there in the evening.

Sunday 13th April

Up early and got the Hilton bus to the airport.  We checked in at 8.45 am as our flight was due to leave at 11 am.  Had some breakfast, did some duty free shopping which included us taking back the JVC camcorder we’d bought in February and changing it for a Sony one which seemed much easier to use and to be much better yet with the same picture quality.  We will try it out this holiday and see how it goes.  The guy in Dixons seemed a bit perturbed that we hadn’t returned it to our local branch (it comes off his takings!)

So, we wander through to the gate at about 10.45am and board the plane.  We then proceed to sit on the plane for another hour and it transpires that someone hasn’t turned up so they have to offload his luggage.  I think they made up some of the time during the flight and we only stopped in Antalya for a record half hour.  We arrive in Geçitkale airport (Ercan is still not ready, in spite of the ‘three months’ quoted about 9 months ago!!) at about 7pm (local time).  We are lucky this time as we were the first drop off!!  This meant we were in our villa by about 9pm.  We are staying at the Olive Tree and have a really nice 2-room place, right by the pool but away from the casino – its so quiet!  We unpacked, had a drink, went for a wander around.  They have built an indoor swimming pool since the last time we were here (about 6 years ago!)  We were both very impressed.

Monday 14th April

Awake about 7am, in spite of the time difference.  We discovered we can’t lock patio door.  At breakfast we discovered that we had masses of choice and, unlike Riverside, if you wanted ’full English Breakfast’ you did not have to pay an extra £1.50. They had everything there, including stewed fruit and a selection of about 6 different breads.

After breakfast, we saw Pat (Cyprus Paradise rep) who welcomed us back again! We scrounged a new map off her and booked a car with for three days this week and decided to see how it goes for the rest of the holiday.  We also booked a Lefkosa shopping trip on Friday. We told her about the patio door and Mr Fixit was at our villa by the time we got back and had fixed it.  Not much ‘yarin, yarin’ here!  Having said that, there don’t seem to be many people around, probably the war has put them off coming to the Middle East, but we have seen no scuds yet.

Then it poured down with rain, we were a little disappointed when we watched BBC world weather and discovered it is 21^oC at home.  However, the rain only lasted about ½ hour and then it cleared away.  Mal played with his new camcorder and was very impressed. The sun came out by midday but its still a bit cloudy over the mountains but just when we thought it might get brighter the rain returned. It was a pretty gloomy day.  In the evening we decided to walk down to Both Worlds restaurant, where they do Thai, Turkish and English food.  We have been there before, a few years ago but we have to say that we were both unimpressed.

Tuesday 15th April

We hired a car through Pat and it arrived about 9.30am, so we drove straight into Girne.  Still pretty rainy weather.  We went into Korinia’s office and saw Gurays secretary.  She informed us that the kocan was ready and she only had to collect it from the land registry and then it would be ours but Steve was out of the office and so could we come back later.  We wandered around Girne and returned about an hour later……………there it was after all this time and we couldn’t quite believe it, it was a bit of an anti-climax, Mal had psyched himself up for an argument. We thanked them very very very much and then drove to Stringers to tell them the good news, but neither Tracy nor Phil were in, so we just called Hakan to let him know.  He said he would come to the hotel at 2.30pm today and so we went for a drive up to the land and was pleased it is was still there despite enormous waterfalls in the surrounding areas because of all the rain. Hakan had tried to send his workmen to the land on Monday but it was raining too much!!

So, at 2.30pm we handed over the Kocan to Hakan so he can apply for planning permission (having already photocopied the document, it has taken us long enough to get it!!)  On Thursday they are going to start something, so we will be up there on Thursday afternoon. I don’t think either of us can explain the relief of now holding the kocan in our hands. It still doesn’t seem real.  We have heard all sorts of stories about recent restrictions and also that there is a 3,000 backlog of applications!  Hopefully we have made it just in time.  Hakan now projects that the bungalow will be complete by the end of the year.  He has been really good throughout all this.

In the evening we went out for a celebration meal and chose Mirabelle’s and quite honestly we couldn’t have chosen a better place.  The food was excellent and so cheap, that we left a big tip. Three courses finishing with Turkish coffee for the princely sum of 15 million each (about £6). I had sea bream and it really was so tasty and obviously very fresh.

A momentous day….now undoubtedly the real troubles will start! We envisaged problems with the build itself but we never thought we would take so long to get the kocan (everyone says it must be the longest in history.)

Wednesday 16th April

Up early and at last the sun is out. Had breakfast and then we drove to Kyrenia Animal Rescue. It is along the Famagusta road about 6 miles from Çatalköy, past the two turn offs to Arapköy. As Mal wanted do some filming we only took two dogs for a walk, Peggy and Iris, lovely little shaggy mutts, one brown and one white. They loved their walk.  With there being about 160 dogs in the rescue, I doubt their turn comes around very frequently. The only problem was that there seems a shortage of leads and so they had very short ones, which meant that we were bending over most of the walk, discovering later that we should have let them off.  The scenery was spectacular and so we all benefited. We were given these two who obviously hadn’t been out for a while, otherwise how on earth do you choose from so many dogs.   When we returned Jill showed us round and we saw all the other dogs, very tempting but we have to be sensible here!!  I have to say I fell in love with a little dark brown bitch with bloodhound ears that had just been spayed.  We will come again next week!

Back to villa and lunch and then we spent the afternoon in the garden at the rear of the villa.  In the evening we decided to eat fish and so we drove to Gülers fish restaurant. We then realised that it was just across the road from Yelkens, where he had a fantastic meal once before. However we decided to be adventurous, more is the pity.  The food was not that good, definitely NOT ‘the best fish in Cyprus’ as they advertise! You win some and you lose some.

Thursday 17th April

We drove to Kyrenia in the morning and withdrew more money from the cash machine (in preparation for Lefkoşa shopping tomorrow). Lunch and then we drove up to the land.  True to his word, Hakan and co. had been up there.  We now have 2 drives into the property.  Great as they both seem to have captured more government land (wrong!). We are not complaining (yet).  The bungalow is staked out.  Mal took the long tape measure and checked it was all the right size.  Yes, Hakan had done a good job of it and also within the wooden perimeter of the house markings, holes had been dug for the foundations.  In fact it all looked a bit like an archaeological dig and I got really excited.  At last, after all the discussion I now know what I will be looking at from my kitchen window and where the sun terrace will be and where our bedroom is. The front door (looking to the mountains) seems mighty near the boundary but I am sure Hakan knows what he is doing (mostly!).  No one can overlook the pool side of the house (only just as it turned out), perfect.  I think we got so carried away that Mal left the tape measure up there!

So, we are very happy and decided to eat out at the Laughing Buddha tonight as there’s always good food there and it was.  Ange and Rhys rang when we got back and told us it is 27^oC at home (hotter than here!)

Friday 18th April

Up early as we had decided to go on the trip to Lefkoşa.  We had done it before by car but there is always the problem of parking and then finding the car again! We thought this was an easier way to do it. It was worthwhile because Clive, the rep, gave us a lot of history and facts on our journey there.  We were then left to our own devices – we had chosen not to go on the organised march around Lefkoşa. We managed to find Büyük Khan.  It is an old Inn that has been refurbished to house a craft market.  Muzaffer Pasha, the first Ottoman Governor General of Cyprus, originally built it in 1572.  We found a really nice material shop in there, the woman who owns it has invited us for drinks next week (until she realised we were common). Amazing materials, original Turkish designs from years ago.  Then disaster, we found an artist and all his paintings.  We had to buy one but really couldn’t decide, as they were all so good including the original painting that had been used on a TRNC stamp.  We were really very tempted to buy that one but it was so big, we would have had problems getting it home. Maybe if it is still there next time.  We did choose one though as Mal said he would buy it for my birthday.  Next stop was Envers Jewellers, where I found a really unusual pendant, so Mal bought that too for my birthday (holidays are the only time Mal ever has to shop for my birthday!)  We seem to have spent so long chatting to people that we just had time for a glass of fresh orange and then back on the coach.  The huge glasses of orange incidentally were 40p each.  Much cheaper than touristy Kyrenia despite Lefkoşa being the capital!

On the way back the driver took us past ‘check point Charlie’ – the gate between the south and the north. If you visit from the south you have to return by 5pm the same day and (apparently) any goods you have bought in the north will be confiscated!  We drove a little way along the Green Line and saw some of the devastation left from the 1974 war.  We also drove past the barbarism museum, where a family were killed in their homes (by the Greeks of course) and evidently they even left the blood on the walls up until last year! Interesting!

The weather was very dull with low cloud and it was raining when we got off the coach. It seems more like British weather!!

In the evening we decided to go to Erol’s in Ozanköy. Every night there have been taxis by the hotel entrance but of course tonight there were none.  The receptionist in the casino ordered us one and we felt we were ripped off a bit with the price, as it is only the next village but too far to walk.  It was a nice meal but Ozanköy seems to have a surplus of Brits moving in and the prices have risen since last time we went there. After the meal Mal said there would be taxis at the mosque as there always was.  I seem to remember last time was peak summer and not this time of year and I was right, no taxis around, in fact the village was very quiet.  So, we went back into Erols and one of the customers ended up giving us a lift.

Saturday 19th April

A fairly dull day, so we sat in the back garden of the villa and lazed most of the day, reading books and Mal perfecting his animation on the laptop.  This is all very well, all the techniques he is using but he won’t have time to do anything once we get home!  We couldn’t decide where to eat and so we decided to try Has restaurant which is just down the road.  It was like walking into his living room. There were 5 tables around the outside of the room.  We managed to get the last table.  I had chicken şiş and Mal had lamb şiş , both with salad and chips. Wine and water and then Turkish coffees to finish and all this for the grand total of £6.40!  This is more like it, good Turkish food at Turkish prices.

Sunday 20th April

Much brighter today and in fact the sun, when it is not hiding behind a cloud is really hot. Had breakfast and then sat in the back garden. We thought it would be a good idea to go down to the Harbour in Girne for lunch.  It used to be very expensive down there but I suppose the lack of tourists because of the war, has brought their prices down.  So, we had a very cosmopolitan Easter Sunday lunch.  It is so nice down there, very relaxed and I think if you wanted to you could just sit at the waterside at the tables all day. We decided to eat Cypriot and so we both had moussaka with a Brandy Sour each.  At least it was shaded from the wind in the harbour, which by now had got quite brisk. It also rained a bit but the sort that is gone in 5 minutes.  We just sat and reflected how nice it will be when we live here, to come down to the harbour restaurants for lunch and watch the world go by and see the boats going in and out.  At least now it all seems a bit more real now work has started on the house.

Monday 21st April

Another lazy day when we just wandered into Girne and had our lunch at Chimera Restaurant, right next to the harbour and we had delicious sword fish.  Brandy sours were good too.  Sat there for quite a while in the sun and then went to the jewellers and bought a chain for my pendant and some other bits.

Tuesday 22nd April

 

Sunny and hot today, typical now that we have a car again.  Drove up to the land and there were two workmen up there.  This is when it starts getting really exciting and really real. We said ‘merhaba’ to them and they carried on cutting the metal support rods.

Took some photos and also Mal used the camcorder to get some really good footage, on the site (see, don’t call it the land anymore, overnight it has turned into the site!!)

The ‘site’ is the flat bit straight up from the hut, at the bend of the road. We then climbed up the mountain to the side and managed to get almost aerial shots.  Why didn’t we think of this before, puts it all much more into perspective?

After we had got over all the excitement we drove down to Peter and Gwen’s.  Gwen was doing a stint at the Kyrenia Animal Rescue shop but Peter asked us in for coffee.  Mal had done some genealogy for him, for the Cassell family.  He was really pleased with progress Mal had made and gave him more information to extend it further. Must have stayed there for about 2 hours.

We also stopped in the furniture shop, the Bamboo Shop and priced up a three-piece suite and an additional bed settee of the same quality and the same fabric, hand built and got a quote for about £1,200.  A very good price we thought.  Of course he tried to sell us it there and then but we explained that the house isn’t built yet and so said we would return in August if we decide to order it.

On the way back we stopped at Vusay Estate agency.  We have been looking for a new restaurant that Tanner was opening but couldn’t find it but we know he told us that his daughter had opened up the estate agency.  She was really nice and got her dad on the phone for us.  We couldn’t find the restaurant because it hasn’t been finished being built yet!  However we now know where it is going to be, just down the road from Cesme and nearer the beach.  Should be finished about June so we said that we would go and see him then.

Went into the Green jacket bookshop and bought some books and they were all talking about the ‘Wish You Were Here’ programme at home on North Cyprus.  It is on tonight and evidently the Greeks are up in arms about it, saying that it shouldn’t be shown as the TRNC is not recognised. We also had a discussion abut the relaxation of the crossing of the Green line once the ‘Republic of Cyprus’ is in the EC.  How can they stop us from going?  The Greeks’ line at the moment is that you have entered the country illegally when you land at Erçan airport.  That will be interesting in 2004. Peter sounds as stubborn about it as Mal and I have visions of the pair of them standing at Ledra Palace (the crossing point) and insisting that as they are members of the EC they want free passage to another EC country.  It will be interesting to say the least.

In the evening we went to Henson’s Restaurant and saw Maggie and Bob and as usual had an excellent meal, Mal’s of course being a T- bone steak.

Wednesday 23rd April

 

 

Drove off to Kyrenia Animal Rescue, where I put in my subscription and application form for Life membership.  We asked for 2 dogs to walk and they gave us Olivia and Nessie.  Olivia seemed quite nervous but they both loved their walk, even though Nessie started galloping when we got near to the kennels.  Mal went running off after her!

We returned the two dogs after a very long walk and then I asked if could see Nutmeg, a dog I took a fancy to last week.  I had asked to walk her but she’d had one recently.  So, they got her out of kennels for me and she really was a bit of a crazy dog, only a pup but she had been spayed last week. A bit sad leaving all those dogs behind. As Mal said if we were living here already, some would be living with us!!

In the evening we returned to Mirabelles Restaurant.  Quite busy in there tonight and the food again was excellent especially the fish.  Mal was a bit disappointed that they had run out of Kleftico.  Came back to the hotel and watched the Man Utd – Real Madrid match. Boo Hoo!

Thursday 24th April

Drove into Girne and returned Mals computer discs that we bought last time (copies), they changed them straight away, no problem.  We then went into to a couple of furniture shops to get prices and then on up to the site.  It was so funny, we didn’t think anyone was there and then presumed that they were having ‘lunch’.  When they saw us, they went into action, including waking up the third member of the gang.  There seems to be more progress even over the last couple of days.

 

There you are, three men working!  The progress may not seem obvious by this picture but we could see it.

 

Mal enjoying his steak!  Well, we must have sat there a lot of the afternoon and then went for a wander around the Abbey.

 

We then went up to Bellapais Abbey (the abbey of peace) and that is just what it is.  We had decided to eat in Kybele Restaurant as the ambiance and the classical music playing is really lovely.

 

We did comment that we remembered coming here in the height of summer a couple of years ago and there was about two other couples here.  Quite a few more people here today but it is still not what you would call crowded.  So there we sat for a couple of hours eating excellent food and listening to the music.  It has a special sort of magic to the place.

Mal spent the rest of the day capturing the video he has made and incidentally, I have given up taking the digital camera with me as all these pictures we are taking off the camcorder (mainly because we forgot to bring the other wire with us!!)  It has been overcast all day and it felt really stormy but was still warm. About 9 in the evening, the wind started up and the heavens opened!

I forgot to say on Wednesday, the border was open at the green line and now the Turkish Cypriots are allowed to cross into the South, as long as they return by midnight.  We believe this to be a cunning ploy to get the Turkish Cypriots to spend their money over there and then of course, in the south of Nicosia (Lefkoşa), they could employ cheap labour from the north as long as they return by midnight!!  The more people we speak to, the more we are convinced that this will continue for a very long time to be a divided island.

Friday 25th April

Well, it seems to have rained for most of the night and amazingly we didn’t surface until 9.30am and it seemed everyone was into late breakfast, not just us.  Just let them say that there is a drought when we come in the summer! Raining again this morning and we don’t feel too bad as we received a text from Ange saying it is raining at home too.  A good thing we brought so many books with us, even if our baggage was labelled ‘heavy’ and that was before we filled it for the return journey with all the extras we have bought.  A good thing that CTA aren’t too fussy about the extra weight. They say 25kg each but ours were 55kg combined. Hopefully they just turn a blind eye on the way back too.  Having said that if you saw the mounds that the Turkish Cypriots take back and forth.  At least it looks promising that we can stuff our suitcases with bedding etc when we do want to bring some things when the villa is complete.

We have been trying to think of a name to call the homestead. Originally it was going to be Çisme, as the land was shaped like a boot. We have since learnt that with the government land (some of which we have acquired and some of ours they seem to have taken when they widened the road), it seems to have taken on the appearance of a boomerang. We are thinking now of the Halfway House, halfway between Incesu village and Malatya, or even halfway between this life and the next (well, it is our idea of heaven anyway!) But then we have to get the correct Turkish translation. Yarim is half and house is ev but with a lot of their dual meaning translations perhaps we ought to seek Turkish advice first. It’s all a bit irrelevant anyway as they don’t use addresses here.

Mal has spent the whole morning editing his filming, taking the best clips and doing all sorts of fancy things with them so when we get home he will have a 20 minute CD to show instead of the usual lengthy boring films!!

By the afternoon the sun was out again.

In the evening as neither of us could be very bothered to go far, we decided to go back to Has restaurant, just down the road. This time we decided to have a light meal and ordered lahmacun (Arab style pizza with mince).  Well, the conversation got so confusing with the owner that we ended up with a large lahmacun each to start and then came an enormous pide with salad and chips.  We had been trying to decide between one or the other and ended up with one as a starter and one as a main course. So much for the small meal.  This happens every time.  We just order a main course and suddenly a couple of dozen mezes appear, that are included with the main course. Well, I got the giggles and told Mal he would have to eat most of it as we didn’t want to offend him and they do get offended.  Well, that is Mal’s excuse for stuffing himself silly anyway.  We also had a coke each, as I’m a bit wined out, still having three bottles in the fridge and only one day left.  We finished with Turkish coffees and the whole lot came to 15 million (roughly translated £6!!!)  At this rate we will be eating out very night when we move here!

Saturday 26th April

Lazy day in fact quite a lazy holiday.  We tried to get hold of a Cyprus Today to get the low down on the border opening but didn’t get one.  We will have to wait until it is delivered to home.

We went back to Has’s restaurant in the evening and had chicken sis, Turkish coffees etc, as usual spending very little money.  Went to bed around 11pm as we have to get up at 2.30am!! They are collecting us at 3.15am.  The plane is leaving at 6.00am

Saturday 1^st March

Sunny – we woke up and handed our car key in, had breakfast and decided we would sit by the pool in the sun, but by the time we had finished breakfast, the clouds appeared so instead we opted for a walk. Having said that, we still went out in T-shirts. We walked through Riverside and up towards Old Milos. This is a restaurant we went to about 5 years ago and later, when we were looking for land, we were taken up there and found that Old Milos had been flooded and ruined. Although the land we looked at then was in a lovely position we really didn’t like the road up to it (very narrow and even then it was crumbling). A wise decision, more of the road had dropped away and we really don’t know how we would have got furniture up there – on the back of a donkey perhaps. We continued our walk back through Alsancak village and onto Riverside. Mal was completely lost by now. A good thing I have a good sense of direction. It was quite chilly by the time we got back to the villa, so all heaters went back on again. The weather may not have been marvellous but at least we feel as though we have achieved something this holiday.

February Freezing Holiday!

Sunday 23^rd February

Plane left on time from Stansted. We had a small plane this time with the benefit that we had plenty of legroom. About an hour stop at Antalya and eventually we reached Riverside (we were the last drop as usual) at about 11.15 pm. We were shown to our upgraded villa and told that we had a sandwich waiting there for us. Not a bad villa, right next to one of the pools and close to the restaurant. Went to bed about 1.30am (2 hours ahead of our time). Mal spent ages rigging up the PC to speakers so we could play music he had loaded on to it.

Monday 24^th February

It rained and rained during the night and we woke up to rain, no, not just rain, it was pouring down and that was the order of the day. We ventured to breakfast and although we had macs on we got soaked and later in the day we went to the shop in the Riverside but it was shut so we had to ring reception and to open it for us! We bought our milk, wine and other essential things. and about 4 o’clock the rain stopped and so we were considering going for a walk, lucky we didn’t as 10 minutes later it started again. So, most of the day was very relaxing, reading and staying out of the rain, with all the heaters up full in the villa!

Mal rang Guray to check on the land progress. He said it was all in hand and that all the paperwork has gone through and Selcuk is doing all the legal paper work on it… and it should happen this week, forgive us if we didn’t get excited. It was pointless ringing Hakan yet as we would all need wellies to get on to the land so we decided to leave our visit to the land until hopefully things had dried out!

Went to the Ranch Bar in the evening for Happy Hour and when Mal went to sign for the bill they said it was now after Happy Hour (half price drinks) and so they were full price. Of course Mal wouldn’t sign the bill until it was amended to half price, after all we had all the drinks during Happy Hour!! Went to the restaurant and had soup, meze, fish and then a dessert, piggies as we are. Quite good considering. There enormous lakes (puddles) were everywhere and when we sat in the bar, Ali was saying this is the most rain for 10 years and for 9 years there has been 5 days rain a year max (global warming I presume) AND it was cold. Nice to hear from Rhys that it is sunny at home!! It seems this is exceptional weather and the amount of snow in Turkey is exceptional. Everyone talking about the decision being made on Friday about the EC and Cyprus joining it. Denktas seems to be on every channel on the TV but unfortunately it is all in Turkish. Hope for a dry day tomorrow BUT they say it isn’t changing until Thursday.

Tuesday 25^th February

Woke up to a bit of sun. Had breakfast and decided to make the most of the dry weather to walk up to the land. It wasn’t until this morning, when the mountains weren’t totally covered in cloud, that we saw all the snow on the mountains!!! That is the first time we have seen any snow in TRNC.

We walked up to the land and had a few hailstones on the way but at least it wasn’t more torrential rain. Having said that, we almost had to wade through the water on the road just below the land where it has rained so much. Got to the land to find nothing, not even stakes, some nice flowers growing but no stakes, no foundations. So, OK we know that bulldozers couldn’t even go on the land because they would just sink in. Walked back down to Riverside and went in the Estate Agency there just to have a look at ready built houses (very tempting at this stage!!) Had a long chat with Tanya and her husband who said she would help us with getting Barney over here if need be. . That was useful.

Back to the villa and Mal rang Guray. Seems the papers now have to go to Guzelyurt and at the moment they are with Selcuk. So we have to go and see Selcuk tomorrow. This is getting to be the same old routine each visit. Then we called Hakan. He re-confirmed that he couldn’t submit the plans until he has the kocan confirming our ownership. However, we will meet him on Friday to get our copy of the new plans. Whilst all this is going on, the heavens have opened again and it is pouring down. Thunder and lightning too. At least we are under no illusion that TRNC is always perfect weather. We have seen it at its worst hopefully). We are just a bit annoyed because if we don’t get any nearer to getting the kocan this holiday then we could have gone on holiday somewhere warmer instead! Still, we are determined to take a ‘cypriot’ attitude this time and let things run their course, with just a bit of nudging along, hopefully. The last holiday was full of stress and we aren’t going to do that again, are we, we’re not stupid.

In spite of saying that we did get stressed and decided to ring Selcuk. Of course the office had shut. We went to dinner and tried to forget it all.

Our minds kept returning to the idea of a camper van touring Europe to find a ‘ready built’ house anywhere but here.

Wednesday 26^th February

Woke up to sun, we went to breakfast and then picked up our hire car. Drove into Girne and waited to see Selcuk who was ‘busy’. Eventually he came down the stairs. We were waiting there with a planned speech asking him to explain why he was incapable of doing this work and should we get someone who knew what they were doing, to take over, and then to tell him that this was the third wasted trip over here and we may as well have stayed home etc. However, he walked towards us, shook hands and said we are to meet him tomorrow at 11am and he will have the papers. This rather took the wind out of our sails, so we said fine see you tomorrow at 11am. So, for the time being we will believe him, what else could we do – he’s a solicitor and has to tell the truth.

We then went and handed over the new compass we bought with us to the man in the watch shop who had kindly given us his when we were here last. He seemed quite amazed that we had remembered and was very grateful, if a little bemused. Perhaps we should toy with the idea of opening a compass shop!! We then went to the hole in the wall and started drawing out millions of Turkish Lira; in the hope that we will be paying the land tax this week, then on to the supermarket and then back to the villa. A bit cloudy this afternoon but at least we have seen some sun and we can go out without getting drenched through. We have decided that if this does go through this week then we will go out for a celebration meal. We are not booking anything yet!!!!

Thursday 27^th February

Woke earlyish and went to breakfast early and got all excited in anticipation of the drive into Girne to see Selcuk and to at last collect the kocan. We were sitting in his reception area in plenty of time for our 11 o’clock appointment, along with eight other people. Four of them gave up and made an appointment for this afternoon. The guy Mal was sitting next to, called Peter, got chatting and he seemed really nice. Then the phone call came from Selcuk and the phone was handed over to Mal. Well, what do you know the concluding part for our paperwork could not be completed today as all the government office staff, along with most of the population of TRNC had all shut shop and joined a demo in Lefkosa. The demo is for the TRNC joining the EC. In a nutshell, the population want to join and Denktas (President) is saying no so the peasants are revolting, this was to coincide with the talks with Kofi Anan in Lefkosa. The decision should have been made tomorrow but now we understand that there is now another week’s grace.

So, we now have an appointment for 12pm tomorrow with Selcuk, after all this is not his fault that they have all left their desks for the day, its just our bad luck. The upside of this is that we bumped into Peter again outside and he gave us his telephone number and him and his wife Gwen invited us to visit. They had already given us lots of info but were offering more. They have lived here for two years and so know all there is to know about their local ways and how to get round things. They told us where they lived on the outskirts of Alsancak and so they will not be too far away when we move here. Anyway, we did a bit of shopping and then went back to the villa. We have now been told that Tuesday was the coldest day in TRNC’s weather history, it was typical that we should be here now to experience it, something we would have preferred to miss. We watched a bit of the demo on TV but found it very difficult to translate what they were chanting but presumed it was something like ‘get Denktas out’!!

Later on in the afternoon we decided to go for a walk along where Gwen and Peter live, just to see where it was. As we walked along the road, we saw Peter coming out of one of the Australian built houses and ended up back at their house!! Well, we had a few cups of coffee and found out lots more about how to get the builder to channel in for the phone line, to transport dogs through Stansted, which is much cheaper than Heathrow and lots more besides. They were really nice people and we suddenly noticed it had got dark and we had walked a long way, including through what was now a river (because of all the rain). That was fine in daylight but we did have our doubts about crossing it in the dark, Mal is a very weak swimmer. So, Peter very kindly offered to drive us back. We thanked them for their hospitality and are invited to go and see them again on our next visit. Mal came away with part of their family tree, which he said he will investigate on the net when he gets back home. So, although we don’t have the documents yet, a very rewarding day in other ways.

Friday 28^th February

Sunny today, shame we have things to sort out. Arrived in Girne for our appointment with Selcuk. In fact by now we had managed to get into the Cypriot way of doing things and we were late so Mal jumped out of the car while I went and found somewhere to park the car. Proceedings had already begun by the time I reached Selcuk’s office. It seems all the paper work has been sorted out at long last and so all we had to do was hand over the land/property tax money to Selcuk. They have had the land valued at £10,000, so our tax was £600 (6% of value). This is not bad as land prices have shot up and you can now expect to pay about 20K-25K a donum. Seeing as we have one and two thirds donums and only paid 15K for the lot, we are feeling pretty chuffed. Selcuk is then going to pay it for us at the land registry and then he will prepare the new land ownership certificate. All this should be complete by next Thursday (March 6th) but to be on the safe side we said that we would arrange for Hakan to collect it from him next Friday. Well, that is the nearest we have been but neither of us will be content until we see our names and the official stamp on the Kocan. It was with a feeling of relief that we left his office.

We then decided to go for some lunch before meeting Hakan at Stringers. So, we went to Serenity in Karaglanalou. A big mistake. Our ‘snack’ turned into a full blown meze followed by chicken, chips and salad and Mal had a mixed grill. We also had a bottle of water and two fresh orange juices. He then wanted to give us Turkish coffees but we said that we didn’t have time as we had to meet Hakan. Trouble was that we left 2 hours for lunch but because there are very few people eating out this weather, he had to fire up the barby!! The whole lot was around a tenner!!

Drove along the road to Stringer’s and chatted to Julie, then Phil came in, followed eventually by Tracy who had been on site with Hakan. It was nice o see them again and we said we had stayed away because we always seemed to be ‘popping in’ to see them. It seems trade is still brisk for them, more and more Brits trying to escape the UK.

When Hakan arrived we told him the good news and asked when he could start. Obviously because of all the recent rain, there has been no building. He tried taking diggers up to Catalkoy and they ended up getting stuck. Seems as though they have had record rain too, 4 inches in Girne. He seems to think he can have it done by the end of October but we are being much more cautious on this one! We did make him promise that we will see something on the land when we come back in April. He said ‘of course’.

Although it has been warm this morning, the temperature started dropping about 5pm. so we decided to go to Henson’s restaurant. Maggie and Bob opened this last April when we were one of their first customers. They remembered us and Maggie said ‘oh yes, you sat at the bar drinking Baileys all night!’ (Me not Mal!). Good memory. They made us very welcome and Mal had a ‘special’ T Bone that they had ‘got from the other side’!! I had delicious fish in garlic. We promised to go back and see them in April and then we went back to the villa.

January 2003
We are now living in rented accommodation, Birchcroft in Minster. We still own St Paul’s in Margate but Rhys & Ange intend buying that within seven years. It will be our official UK residence once we move to North Cyprus, whenever they might be.

Friday 27th December
After a very  hectic time of moving and Christmas etc, we left Birchcroft at around 9.15am.  I thought it was far too late, considering the Christmas sales were on. We got stuck in a jam on the M2 with a 4 mile queue to Bluewater but with a bit of welly we managed to reach Stansted at about 11am. We parked the car, caught the bus to the airport and checked in straight away. We then did a bit of shopping before going through to our boarding gate.

Mal bought a PC notebook to try out.  Perhaps I should mention at this point that you can purchase an item from Dixon’s at Stansted (tax free), if it is not satisfactory then you can return it to any branch of Dixon’s within 90 days and you will be given a full refund.   This is the third time we have tried this, the first was a world radio that really did not work well in TRNC and the next time a palmtop, which Mal decided this was no good because the keyboard didn’t work and the version of word was not good.  Duly, we returned them to Margate and they refunded our money. However I digress, Mal had with him his USB key Christmas present.

Didn’t have too much time to spare as the plane left on time. Stopped at Izmir.   North Cyprus is 2 hours ahead of us in time. We arrived at Getikele at about 10pm, local time. Bought cigarettes, £7.50 for 200.  Lira is about 2.64m=£1.  It seemed a long journey to the Hideaway but when we got here we were taken to our Connoisseur garden suite, room number 1.  Really nice and all the heaters were on ready for us.  We didn’t even unpack but went straight down to the bar and had a brandy sour and an Efes and were given toasted sandwiches. Back to room, unpacked and got to bed about 1.15 am.

Saturday 28th December
We didn’t wake up until 10 am so, in frantic rush, we threw some clothes on and caught breakfast before it finished at 10.30. We also had to hand our tickets to the rep (should be 10 am).  We managed it, as our rep was sitting in the bar.  Good breakfast with a choice.

Booked in at reception and met the co-owners Alf and Oya (?).   Said that if there was anything we needed just to let them know.  Back to the room and played with the laptop a bit, bathed, showered etc and lazed for a bit!

Mal then decided to get the real show on the road and start things moving as soon as possible.  He called Guy who had some fairly good news (but we never hold our breath).  The executors have now paid their death duties (apparently is the word that Mal is using). Guy is going to Nicosia on Monday to get the final piece of paper, which is the proof of the payment of the duties and Guy is going to pay the rates (which had previously been paid by John Torris!), they are £3 (oh no they weren’t and oh no he didn’t), and we are going to reimburse him.  We will see Guy on Monday.  Next the phone call to Hakan.  We explained what Guy had said.  He told us that once the paperwork has been received and we have paid the tax, then Selcuk fills in the forms for change of ownership and the transfer of the deeds into our names.  This should take about 7 days but Hakan knows people in the Land office and he may be able to speed this through (!!!). We have to ring Hakan on Monday morning to arrange to meet him in the afternoon to sort out the orientation of the land.  So, at least now we have (apparently) got things moving. Perhaps Sunday can now be an easy day.

Mal suggested that we went to find a rental car but I thought it was better to leave this until Monday (or we will never walk anywhere)  So, we decided to walk down to Karalanawhatsit where we bought some food and drink and then walked back.  The walk was fine until we got to the last little bit uphill when it really pulls on the muscles on the back of your legs.

Later we ate in the poolside bar and then had a few drinks, pretty good Brandy Sours.

Sunday 29th December
We seemed to spend most of this day just spacing out, I think the last few weeks, with moving and phone calls over here chasing the documents caught up with us a little.  We did have a short walk behind the hotel and managed to find somewhere to have dinner but that was about it.  The pair of us kept nodding off, recharging our batteries for the onslaught ahead.  It was a cloudy, rainy day anyway, so we felt we hadn’t lost much.  We did speak to Alf to see if he could get us a hire car.

Monday 30th December
Batteries recharged and ready to go, out hire car arrived at 9:45am, from Pine Bay.  A new Corsa for £15 a day, including CDW.  Then went to have breakfast just as the rain came down with a vengeance.  As we left the restaurant Manuel (our name for him, so use your imagination) came chasing after us with an umbrella, courtesy of the hotel, but we were assured that the sun will be out tomorrow!

We called Hakan and mutually agreed owing to the weather, that Thursday would be a more favourable day to go on the land for the orientation.

So, we drive into Girne and to see Selcuk. He just says he is waiting for the ‘piece of paper’, yes we all are but, having spoken to Guy on Saturday, this should have been in our hands by this afternoon at the latest so the next step was to go and see Guy.  His office has now expanded since our last visit, obviously the volume of prospective purchasers!  Guess what? He hasn’t been to Lefkosa with ‘the man’ to get the piece of paper we need as ‘the man’ was too busy doing a job.  This we could understand had we not been waiting since September 26^th for this piece of paper. A ‘debate’ then ensued between Mal and Guy, trying to establish why he has not yet paid the death duties on the land.  According to Guy he is an ‘untidy man’ by which we understood to mean that his affairs were no way in order and after all what incentive was there for him to sort this out, he has our money so what is the rush. Guy then told us they would be going to Lefkosa tomorrow.  At this point, Mal said he didn’t believe that the man had any intention of going and sorting it out and in fact he was now thinking of calling it all off and getting our money back and £5,000 compensation before it all drags on for another 2 years or so.  I was a little taken aback by this but what can we do?

We then went along to Stringers and talked to Julie, who was astounded at what had happened, saying that it usually took 2 weeks (that is what we thought too). Julie then asked us if we had held any money back, no we hadn’t, were advised by Guy and our (his) solicitor, that you pay the money and then checks are done and then the land is yours.  Simple. We then started looking at what ready built properties they have on their books, some of which Hakan was building for them.  This now has to be considered.  Julie very kindly said that she would speak to their solicitor this afternoon as she was seeing her anyway and see what options we have.

A little disheartened we drove up to the land and remembered why this patch was our dream, we clambered up the muddy ‘driveway’ and even in the rain it looked lovely.  All we could hear was the birds singing and nothing else, OK there were clouds at the top of the mountains and we were getting wet but we are still holding on to that dream.  What do they say?  Nothing worth waiting for ever comes easy but having just gone through a 5 day gap between exchange and completion (on Sevenscore) the week before Christmas and threatening three times to pull out, we had hoped for a little more luck with this.  Our October holiday was wasted with visits here there and everywhere and we are really hoping we are not going to have the same happen again.  Well we won’t, something will have to be done this time.   We will be seeing Stringer’s entourage tomorrow as they are all here at the Hideaway and we have already had a disclaimer from Julie for what she may say or do or the way she may behave (New Years Eve).  We will just have to catch her at the beginning of the evening to see what the solicitor said. Let’s hope that the New Year brings us the news we want to hear.

Mal  has just got the contract out to check it and is says ‘it is a condition of this contract that the property is freehold and at the time of completion is free of any encumbrances……a breech of this condition will constitute a breach of this contract……………….giving effect to clause 7 of this contract. (clause 2).  Clause 4 says ‘Within 14 days from the date of decision of the council of Ministers granting permission for the purchasers to buy the said property, the transfer of the title deeds shall be effected’. Clause 7 says ‘if any of the parties to this contract fail to comply with their obligations (they) will pay to the other party £5,000 as agreed damages as well as the court expenses.’  Our conclusion now is that the fella is refusing to give us the paperwork and he is now in breach of contract (but we discovered later that taking him to court would take years, and probably would still fail – makes you wonder why we bothered with a solicitor).

Friday 1^st November
Our rep called and said that we were on the earlier plane going home… no we are not! She has already checked our tickets and returned them to us.  We know CTA overbook their planes but they can find another mug to change planes because we aren’t!!!  She then arrived to take our tickets and we wouldn’t give them to her and a full row ensued with us saying that we are not going on the later plane.  She left saying we would have to get the earlier plane, and that was that.  So, we ended up calling Osman in London who said he would sort it out for us.

Arranged to meet Hakan at the land at 1pm and he said he was bringing the main tapu man who had just retired but he knows every bit of land on the island.  Yes, did he (or so we thought).  He looked for one of main markers (marked by a stone????? Or some old relic!)  He could not find the one on our land, he said it had probably been destroyed by the bulldozer levelling the land. He did find another marker on the land next to ours and then measured from there.  He was excellent (or so we thought he was) but every time we saw his tape measure cutting away a bit more of our land where we planned to have the house, I felt more and more miserable (if only we had realised at the time that he’d added a bit of next door’s land).  Yes, we were right, the ledge is part of our land and pretty useless at that!  We have decided now the land looks more like a boomerang than a boot so will have to change the name from Cesme.  Having said that it looks as though we may own a bit of the road as well so I suppose we could always put a tollgate up!  Hakan assured us the house would still fit in where we want it but we won’t have quite so much garden. This isn’t so bad as we have had second thoughts about maintaining so much garden.  We still have room for a large enough hard stand for cars (oh no we haven’t) and have access (may or may not be ours, if not it is the governments and they have stolen some of ours for the new road, so we see it as quits and were told the Turkish Cypriots see it that way too – unfortunately we found out later that the access belongs to someone).  Both of us are totally exhausted.

Back to hotel where we received a phone call from our rep, yes we would be on the later flight (good old Osman… from Travel world that is, a good company.)

Saturday 2^nd November
Really hot, and so we sat by the pool. Returned the jeep about 1.00pm and bought Turkish delight to fill our cases.  Caught the dolmus back.  I love it, all the locals cramming on and anywhere you want to go, just shout and they stop and all for about 40p!  Great system.

Spent our last evening talking to Sam.

Sunday 3^rd November
Alarm call at 4am. Taken to the temporary airport.  Back on the plane.  Awful journey.  For some reason the plane took 4¾ hours to travel from Turkey to the UK, and that was without the stopover time at Antalya and the flight from Cyprus.  We were both knackered and felt we had achieved very little.  Better luck hopefully in December.

Monday 2nd September
We met Hakan again and he had amended the contract which we then signed, with Phil as witness…….phew!!!!!!!!

We are hoping that our permission to purchase will come through when we return on the 27^th October and the land and the house positions will be staked out ready for the footings to go in while we are still there… if you are still with me well done!!!!!!!  We did actually enjoy ourselves although it was hard work and stressful, but I am sure there is far worse to come. We will have to visit every available holiday in order to keep a check on the progress of the house.

Wednesday 25th September
We have been told that we now have permission to purchase. This is a strange system where you wait 6 months just to find out whether you are allowed to buy! The contracts are written so that if permission is refused then your deposit is returned, or alternatively you could put the property in trust with your solicitor acting as trustee.