Last brick in the wall ...

 Well, we have done it ... we have crossed the final bureaucratic hurdle to ensure we can continue to live here in Cyprus. We acquired our MEU3 documents, joined GESY, registered for tax (and to add insult to injury I actually had to pay tax last year), and now have bright, shiny Cyprus driving licences to replace our UK ones. We have a Cyprus bank account, pay car tax, our MOT certificates are up to date, and our car insurance is always paid. This is not a virtue-signalling exercise on our part. It is more an illustration of the hurdles you face - nothing insurmountable but it can be time-consuming.

At the moment we are in something of an Indian summer (if one can coin that phrase in winter in Cyprus), but it is all change from the middle of next week with single figure daytime temperatures. If you are under feet of snow in the UK, that probably sounds a little insignificant. But after eight years here, it will come as a bit of a shock to us. To be on the safe side we have ordered some more logs from “The Professor”, and they are due to be delivered this weekend.

You cannot imagine the delight we felt when we visited our local supermarket and found items we had been searching for ... and it seems like forever. Rapeseed oil, frozen short crust and puff pastry, frozen hash browns and a pink cleaning fluid that was recommended and works like a dream. We bought a great deal of stuff, and have a delivery this afternoon for other essentials. After that the cupboards will be full, the freezers stuffed with food, and we shall then not have to venture too far once the temperature drops.

Vaccination of the very elderly is slowly taking place, but the number of vaccines is small - well played the EU. I suspect we shall be offered one eventually but I am not holding my breath. Infections have fallen under the current restrictions but not far enough in my opinion. Driving through Polis or Paphos it is noticeable how few people are obeying the government decrees, and there is a sense of how fed up people are becoming. But as a friend of mine wrote on Facebook recently, “If you don’t like wearing a mask, imagine how you’ll feel on a ventilator.”