We decided, before the Cyprus government made its lockdown decision, that we would self-isolate as we are in the age group that is deemed vulnerable. Since that time we have shopped twice (larger shops than we normally do), been to the pharmacy once to collect medication, and I have walked Daisy most days. We have also made a couple of visits to our local nursery, which Ann decided were essential. In order to legally leave the house, we text a government service and receive permission about twenty seconds later. When we are out, we must have the mobile phone with the text message on, and our passports.
Do we feel this is draconian? Not a bit ... if the virus is to be survived then certain freedoms need to be temporarily removed. Are we bored? Not really. When the sun shines, and we sit outside by the pool, then that’s what we would normally be doing. Our cookbooks are scoured for all sorts of dishes we have not tried before, and YouTube videos are devoured - which makes us hungry.
We listen to music most of the time and have dipped into all sorts of tv programmes. The bar has been known to open at odd times of the day. A friend in the UK posted something which suggested half the people would become much better in the kitchen and the other half would develop a drink problem. How true.
Sunday, 29 March 2020
Sunday, 22 March 2020
What can I add?
I have thought long and hard about blogging, with the COVID19 pandemic circling the world. I grieve at the news from countries I have visited and loved, and always have to keep an eye on what is happening in my homeland - the UK.
I watch the news broadcasts and YouTube videos of (in the main) younger Britons behaving badly in foreign lands. They congregate and get drunk, they disobey the rules of the country they are in - and bring shame on the rest of us. London and the big cities are under the spotlight and I watch with incredulity at the behaviour of (mainly) young people who are acting as if this is all some sort of game.
Panic buying seems to be a particularly British phenomenon. The long queues from early in the morning, the storming of the supermarkets and the stupid, inane, stockpiling going on beggars belief. I can see martial law, and rationing, and a host of other draconian restrictions being imposed by a “liberal” Tory government. And these people will have brought this on themselves.
Cyprus remains calm, with the government closing our borders, all flights have stopped and everyone has had a text message from the Ministry of Health forbidding unnecessary travel. Almost everything has closed down and only essential stores remain open - supermarkets, kiosks, petrol stations, pharmacies and business selling takeaway food which can be delivered. Self-help groups have sprung up all over the place, pledging to deliver food and medication to those who should not or cannot leave home.
What have we done? Nine days ago we decided to self-isolate for the sake of our health. We shopped well but sensibly (no shortages here), and locked our gates. We had to let our lovely Filipino cleaner go, but have maintained our pool man. We leave the house to collect medication and to buy fresh vegetables, milk and other essentials. We are isolated of course and it is easier to be content with our lovely house, garden and pool (once we get to May). For the rest we have always been happiest with each other’s company, but miss our friends and social life.
I can’t see matters improving until this time next year at the earliest and trust you all remain safe and well.
I watch the news broadcasts and YouTube videos of (in the main) younger Britons behaving badly in foreign lands. They congregate and get drunk, they disobey the rules of the country they are in - and bring shame on the rest of us. London and the big cities are under the spotlight and I watch with incredulity at the behaviour of (mainly) young people who are acting as if this is all some sort of game.
Panic buying seems to be a particularly British phenomenon. The long queues from early in the morning, the storming of the supermarkets and the stupid, inane, stockpiling going on beggars belief. I can see martial law, and rationing, and a host of other draconian restrictions being imposed by a “liberal” Tory government. And these people will have brought this on themselves.
Cyprus remains calm, with the government closing our borders, all flights have stopped and everyone has had a text message from the Ministry of Health forbidding unnecessary travel. Almost everything has closed down and only essential stores remain open - supermarkets, kiosks, petrol stations, pharmacies and business selling takeaway food which can be delivered. Self-help groups have sprung up all over the place, pledging to deliver food and medication to those who should not or cannot leave home.
What have we done? Nine days ago we decided to self-isolate for the sake of our health. We shopped well but sensibly (no shortages here), and locked our gates. We had to let our lovely Filipino cleaner go, but have maintained our pool man. We leave the house to collect medication and to buy fresh vegetables, milk and other essentials. We are isolated of course and it is easier to be content with our lovely house, garden and pool (once we get to May). For the rest we have always been happiest with each other’s company, but miss our friends and social life.
I can’t see matters improving until this time next year at the earliest and trust you all remain safe and well.
Sunday, 16 February 2020
Wood, wood, wood ...
We have been well-served with firewood for our log burner over the last fourteen months and Andreas would arrive at out house with one or two cubic metres of lemonwood, stack it all beautifully and at a good price. Imagine our surprise when I asked him for a delivery and he told me he was out of stock until September. In the end he managed a final cubic metre and we were set for the cold weather forecast.
To be on the safe side we decided to order wood from another source, only to be told they were out of stock as well. Our local pub, which has a log burner, were also told their local supplier was out of stock. It has been a long winter.
And so, eventually after some research, we found that the supplier of our log burner sold wood. It turns out that they sell “kiln dried” oak logs. Slightly more expensive but we determined we would not be cold. Delivery took a couple of hours and a large builder’s bag of oak arrived and was placed delicately on our drive.
You cannot believe our experience with this wood. It burned hotter and hotter (so much more than the seasoned lemonwood we had been so pleased with), it burned more slowly and - by the end of the evening - we had burned about half of what we normally use
So two things for those who follow our great adventure. Cypriot houses in winter are cold and damp, so install a good log burner. And buy kiln-dried wood ... and you will be as warm as toast. Roll on the summer.
To be on the safe side we decided to order wood from another source, only to be told they were out of stock as well. Our local pub, which has a log burner, were also told their local supplier was out of stock. It has been a long winter.
And so, eventually after some research, we found that the supplier of our log burner sold wood. It turns out that they sell “kiln dried” oak logs. Slightly more expensive but we determined we would not be cold. Delivery took a couple of hours and a large builder’s bag of oak arrived and was placed delicately on our drive.
You cannot believe our experience with this wood. It burned hotter and hotter (so much more than the seasoned lemonwood we had been so pleased with), it burned more slowly and - by the end of the evening - we had burned about half of what we normally use
So two things for those who follow our great adventure. Cypriot houses in winter are cold and damp, so install a good log burner. And buy kiln-dried wood ... and you will be as warm as toast. Roll on the summer.
Saturday, 8 February 2020
Windchill ...
It has been ever so slightly chilly in the last few days, and it has actually been quite a cold winter so far. With overnight temperatures forecast to fall to 1°C this weekend we are not actually planning to go far. This morning when we woke up I got out of a warm bed (electric blanket on overnight setting, and with the heavy duvet on the bed) to do one or two things. Additional heat was supplied by Daisy, who had snuggled up between us and Honey (who thought lying on my feet was quite the thing to do). I came out of the bedroom and it was cold. As regular readers of this blog know, Cypriot houses tend to have poor or no insulation, and the marble tiles on the floor don’t make things any warmer.
A plan of action was required ... and it involved heating the house and snuggling down. Food and drink were plentiful, the Six Nations’ Rugby was on television and we had plenty of wood with which to feed the log burner. So an expedition out to the log pile was decreed, whilst Ann sorted out kindling and cleaned the filter on the “ash vac”. And then into action to clean up the log burner, lay the fire and set it alight. Fifteen minutes later we were feeling warmer and are set for the day.
Breakfast was sliced avocado (from the avocado grove at the end of our track), toast (we are quite the millennials, you know) with a poached egg on top. A protein feast if ever there was one, and ClassicFM on the radio, and it’s only 10.30 in the morning. With “freezing” weather forecast we shall stay in the bunker until the “All Clear” is sounded.
The world seems to have gone quite mad with the news that Coronavirus has emerged from China, and a few hundred people have died. Desperately sad, but I read in the New York Times recently that ten thousand people died last winter in the USA from influenza. So a sense of overkill seems to be prevalent at the moment. I know Spanish Flu killed fifty million people after the First World War but there is a world of difference from that disaster to this event.
As my 67th birthday accelerates towards me, the death of Kirk Douglas (aged 103) made me stop and think. I have always joked that I intend to live forever, but then I considered what life must be like when you are that age. A friend of ours years ago commented on the fact that there were so many elderly expats on Cyprus, and that he saw another one every time he looked in the mirror. Food for thought methinks.
A plan of action was required ... and it involved heating the house and snuggling down. Food and drink were plentiful, the Six Nations’ Rugby was on television and we had plenty of wood with which to feed the log burner. So an expedition out to the log pile was decreed, whilst Ann sorted out kindling and cleaned the filter on the “ash vac”. And then into action to clean up the log burner, lay the fire and set it alight. Fifteen minutes later we were feeling warmer and are set for the day.
Breakfast was sliced avocado (from the avocado grove at the end of our track), toast (we are quite the millennials, you know) with a poached egg on top. A protein feast if ever there was one, and ClassicFM on the radio, and it’s only 10.30 in the morning. With “freezing” weather forecast we shall stay in the bunker until the “All Clear” is sounded.
The world seems to have gone quite mad with the news that Coronavirus has emerged from China, and a few hundred people have died. Desperately sad, but I read in the New York Times recently that ten thousand people died last winter in the USA from influenza. So a sense of overkill seems to be prevalent at the moment. I know Spanish Flu killed fifty million people after the First World War but there is a world of difference from that disaster to this event.
As my 67th birthday accelerates towards me, the death of Kirk Douglas (aged 103) made me stop and think. I have always joked that I intend to live forever, but then I considered what life must be like when you are that age. A friend of ours years ago commented on the fact that there were so many elderly expats on Cyprus, and that he saw another one every time he looked in the mirror. Food for thought methinks.
Tuesday, 28 January 2020
The Return of ...
Well I’m stunned ... our oven has been repaired and is being returned this afternoon. It’s only been five weeks. We have become masters of the gas hob, the slow cooker and the microwave. I just hope we haven’t forgotten how to use an electric oven.
What a palaver! Ann and I almost said “Sod it” and went off to buy a replacement oven. This oven is about fifteen years old and parts were almost impossible to come by but Andreas, the man who apparently can repair anything electrical, has eventually found the parts. It will certainly make cooking easier - scouring recipe books to find things to cook in a slow cooker was fun to begin with and then just a bit of a bind.
The weather is grey and dull at the moment, although not as cold as last week. We cheer ourselves up with the guarantee of months of blue skies and sunshine (when no doubt we shall find it too hot), but we wouldn’t be British if we didn’t talk about the weather.
We have been back and forwards to Paphos recently (hospital trips and shopping for things we cannot find in Polis). I suppose it is a good thing that we have a large shopping centre forty-five minutes away but I’m a country boy at heart and would hate to live there. Kamikaze drivers are lurking around every corner (and they are not all Cypriots by any means) and it is marvellous to be driving out of town and heading for home.
We are both in rude good health, thank heaven, and long may that continue. The dry, warm weather for most of the year must help. In 2008 I was in hospital for a serious operation, and the cretinous nurse “looking after” me forgot to lock the bed. I sat down, the bed skated away and I hurt my knee badly. There was a bit of a fuss and doctors appeared mysteriously from all sorts of places. Scans and X-rays were ordered and then a very senior doctor came to tell me that the pain in my knee was not the result of my accident but early-onset arthritis. What a load of utter bollocks. I suppose they were terrified that I would reach for my lawyer.
Twelve years on there is no sign of the alleged arthritis. And this was at the hospital where I developed MRSA and spent a month there, not being aware how close to death I was. The NHS is lauded all over the place but not by me. To be fair the plumbing they did (coronary triple bypass) has worked brilliantly. But when I was returned to the coronary ward I was surrounded by familiar faces - all of whom had picked up an infection of one sort or another.
And Boris wants to shovel untold millions into the bottomless pit ...
Monday, 20 January 2020
Single figure temperatures ...
Well I suppose it had to happen ... the weather, which has been very wet, is drying up and the forecast is for evening temperatures to be in single figures. In fact on Friday of this week the temperature will fall to 2°C. It is reported that snow in the Troodos is 79 cm deep. Brrr!
I saw a lovely “meme” on Facebook which said that Christmas was now over and I’m ready for summer. Well it’s not quite the same for us. Of course we get fed up when it rains and the temperature drops, but know that months and months of blue skies and sunshine is only a few weeks away. But we wouldn’t be British if we didn’t talk about the weather.
I’ve been watching the South Africa v England test matches on television and it is a perverse pleasure watching cricket under blue skies whilst we have the log burner on. And to make matters even more confusing the Six Nations’ Rugby Championship starts in February. We have often commented that it is not always clear what day of the week it is (and that isn’t the early stages of dementia) but that it really doesn’t matter what day it is, unless you want to go to the bank (which we don’t).
We are still without an oven (and that is a long, long story) but hope that it will return in full working order this week. We have become expert in creating food in the slow cooker, aided by a number of cookery books we have acquired recently. Ann, in particular, has produced some marvellous dishes with the help of Jamie Oliver’s “Veg” cookbook. If you want to cut down on eating meat (which I suspect everyone does from time to time) then this book is highly recommended. We were initially put off as Amazon wanted to charge us as much for shipping as the cost of the book itself. But a kind member of our expat forum ordered it to be delivered free to his address in the UK (as he was going back there) and then brought it back to Cyprus with him. We had a clandestine meeting outside of Lidl in Paphos where the goods were exchanged for cash. The goods were, as you might expect, in a plain brown paper bag.
I saw a lovely “meme” on Facebook which said that Christmas was now over and I’m ready for summer. Well it’s not quite the same for us. Of course we get fed up when it rains and the temperature drops, but know that months and months of blue skies and sunshine is only a few weeks away. But we wouldn’t be British if we didn’t talk about the weather.
I’ve been watching the South Africa v England test matches on television and it is a perverse pleasure watching cricket under blue skies whilst we have the log burner on. And to make matters even more confusing the Six Nations’ Rugby Championship starts in February. We have often commented that it is not always clear what day of the week it is (and that isn’t the early stages of dementia) but that it really doesn’t matter what day it is, unless you want to go to the bank (which we don’t).
We are still without an oven (and that is a long, long story) but hope that it will return in full working order this week. We have become expert in creating food in the slow cooker, aided by a number of cookery books we have acquired recently. Ann, in particular, has produced some marvellous dishes with the help of Jamie Oliver’s “Veg” cookbook. If you want to cut down on eating meat (which I suspect everyone does from time to time) then this book is highly recommended. We were initially put off as Amazon wanted to charge us as much for shipping as the cost of the book itself. But a kind member of our expat forum ordered it to be delivered free to his address in the UK (as he was going back there) and then brought it back to Cyprus with him. We had a clandestine meeting outside of Lidl in Paphos where the goods were exchanged for cash. The goods were, as you might expect, in a plain brown paper bag.
Thursday, 2 January 2020
As promised ...
2020 is here and we embrace the future with relish in this golden land. This our eighth New Year in Cyprus and, although there have been some hiccups in the last eighteen months, we survived and intend to prosper.
With the political turmoil in the UK seemingly arrested for the moment I would imagine all British citizens living in the EU will be considering their options. Do we trust Boris Johnson to protect our interests? Not at all. Like health in Cyprus, you must ensure you take responsibility. Don’t expect the all-embracing care of the NHS. Will the U.K. abandon its citizens and no longer take responsibility for expat healthcare? Nobody knows and I suspect nobody trusts the government to honour its obligations.
To counter this, we applied for and received “permanent residence” here with the MEU3 form. The Cyprus government makes this available to EU citizens after five years of residence. It cost us some money to get it all sorted but worth every cent. We are also registered with GESY, which is the new health system here. At the moment the U.K. government pays for that (via the S1) but, if not, we can still remain in the system if we pay 2.7% of our income - which is considerably cheaper than private health insurance.
Of course it may all turn out as hoped but we are prepared for the worst. Tory, Labour, Lib Dem - they are all equally untrustworthy and we go ahead on that premise.
Onwards and upwards.
With the political turmoil in the UK seemingly arrested for the moment I would imagine all British citizens living in the EU will be considering their options. Do we trust Boris Johnson to protect our interests? Not at all. Like health in Cyprus, you must ensure you take responsibility. Don’t expect the all-embracing care of the NHS. Will the U.K. abandon its citizens and no longer take responsibility for expat healthcare? Nobody knows and I suspect nobody trusts the government to honour its obligations.
To counter this, we applied for and received “permanent residence” here with the MEU3 form. The Cyprus government makes this available to EU citizens after five years of residence. It cost us some money to get it all sorted but worth every cent. We are also registered with GESY, which is the new health system here. At the moment the U.K. government pays for that (via the S1) but, if not, we can still remain in the system if we pay 2.7% of our income - which is considerably cheaper than private health insurance.
Of course it may all turn out as hoped but we are prepared for the worst. Tory, Labour, Lib Dem - they are all equally untrustworthy and we go ahead on that premise.
Onwards and upwards.
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