Intellectual vacuum ...

 Waking up this morning to the news from the UK that hospitality venues are to close at 10.00 pm from Thursday. And then the moronic Health Secretary, when asked, could not definitely say whether pubs and restaurants might be closed by the weekend. Left hand, right hand, joined-up thinking, strategic planning - all are absent in the intellectual vacuum that is the British Government.

One only needs to cast one’s mind back to the end of July when Boris was urging people to return to their offices, spend till you drop and then the Chancellor unveiled a package which encouraged people (but only people who could afford it) to “Eat out to help out”. This particular initiative took my breath away. Here one had the tax payer subsidising those who could afford to eat out to have cheaper food ... whilst at the same time food banks were reporting record demand from people on the breadline.

And then, after a month or six weeks of such largesse, with summer receding - the number of infections start to rise and keep rising. With schools and universities restarting, and people beginning to return to the office (in order to stop Pret A Manger and other over-priced sandwich sellers from going bust), it was revealed that testing in some areas was being rationed, as nobody had realised that infections might rise in the autumn.

If it wasn’t so tragic, it would be laughable. I don’t doubt for a second that our lovely dog, Daisy, could manage things better.

Cricket without the crowds ...

 Now that cricketers have stopped all the Black Lives Matter nonsense (at least the England and Australia teams have) I decided to watch the one-day international match on Thursday. It was good to get televised sport again - given our month-long exile from the internet - but what a strange experience. You could hear the gentle hum of conversation from the crowd, but there was no crowd.

I am watching another match this afternoon from a deserted Old Trafford and, in the background (ever so faintly) I could hear the gentle rhythm of a steel band. Someone at Sky was playing the wrong background noise. It made me appreciate how much live sport (when watched on television) relies on the atmosphere generated by the crowd.

Back on Fantasy Island (as I now think of the UK) and the dear old government have indeed lost the plot with both Brexit and the Covid-19 crisis. They are ruling by ministerial diktat without the Commons being allowed to participate. Ten million tests a day (compulsory, perhaps) and digital passports which will allow people to return to work, and be monitored all the time. I can just imagine a Covid Marshall (think John Wayne in a hi-vis jacket) confronting people and “Let me see your papers”.

A totalitarian nightmare awaits without a return to the Rule of Law and government by consent.

“Bye, Bye, Cyta, Goodbye”

 Well after eight years with Cyprus’ national telecoms company, it was time to say goodbye. Weeks and weeks have gone by and we have been fobbed off, lied to and ignored - and all the time they were collecting our direct debits. I pointed out to them that we had a contract with them. It was simple ... they connected us to the internet and we paid them. Well no more.

I contacted a local firm, highly recommended, and within a day they arrived, sorted out WiFi internet (a very steady 35 Mb download speed) and were done and dusted within an hour.  Cyta ironically emailed us to say that they “may” be able to get a team out to us next week, and once service was restored, they would investigate my complaint.

That was the final straw. The only problem we have is that our tv provider needs to fiddle about in Switzerland so that we can stream our programmes.

News from the UK amused us today with the announcement that “Covid Marshall” would patrol the streets to disperse groups of more than six people. They will have no powers of arrest, no powers to fine people and you can just imagine the indignation of people as yet another version of “Plastic Policemen” stride amongst them ...

Jesus wept ...

Bloody Cyta

 After twenty days we still have no internet, thanks to Cyta. Looking at alternatives tomorrow and shall be back online soon.

Dreams and nightmares ...

 What a strange and uncertain world we live in - even in the glorious isolation of a Cyprus summer. We still self-isolate, although we occasionally leave the bubble for a change of scenery. I belong to an expat online forum, where information and opinion is shared, and where the vast majority of members are sensible and thoughtful - with exceptions. Many of the members are retired and came to the island “to live the dream”, and quite a number are thoroughly frightened by the virus. It is the invisible nature of the beast which makes it so frightening.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 87 years ago, put his finger on the problem.

So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is...fear itself — nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.

Never were words so apt in their wisdom.

We dream of a future where the virus is under control (through vaccines or treatment) but the nightmare continues with every article in the MSM. Conspiracy theorists arise and the volume of fake news, or even worse - where opinion is published as fact - confounds even the most thoughtful. It gets to the point when you literally do not know what is factual.

We are grateful to live here as I would hate living in the country I was born in, under a government I detest. So we hope that dreams become the reality and the nightmares are cast into the outer darkness.

Losing the internet ...

We have been offline since 23rd July and were finally reconnected yesterday. Cyta, our service provider - with whom we have been happy for years - did not cover themselves with glory on this occasion. An engineer arrived the next day and proclaimed that the “internet was not working”, and that the “Underground Team” would need to resolve the problem. They worked on Saturdays (this was Friday) but might not be able to attend until Monday. Monday came and went, but no internet.

This was when I had one of my many calls to 132, their technical helpline. Each day I was told something different but the outcome was always the same - no internet. Eventually I went down to the Cyta shop in Polis and spoke to the lovely Leonides, who tried to contact the “Underground Team”. They did not answer. He phoned someone else in Paphos and - lo and behold - the “Underground Team” telephoned him. They would come and sort out the problem on Friday (this was Thursday). On Friday some called and told me, apologetically, the “Underground Team” could not repair the problem but would return on Monday to replace the cable.

Eventually two guys arrived and opened up the box on the side of our house, pulled out a bit of cable and spliced in a new piece. It took them two minutes. Not for one second did they go underground ... he then showed me the damaged cable and told me it had been chewed by a mouse. We checked and all was working. Off they went with my thanks.

To add insult to injury we checked our bank account online to find out that Cyta had called the direct debit for the full amount, despite the fact that we had had no internet for twelve days. No doubt another conversation is called for.

We love living here but every now and again we despair about things like this. It also showed us how essential the internet is - no radio, no television, no music, no email, no online newspapers, and no “I’ll just check that recipe”.

Poor Cyprus

A whole raft of problems is affecting this country, and there are conflicting views as to what to do for the best. The root of the problem is that an enormous proportion of Cyprus’ GDP (35% and possibly more) is generated by tourism and hospitality, and the tourists are not coming in any numbers, and are unlikely to do so until the virus dies out, or a vaccine or treatment is proven to work.

This summer season has been a disaster, and the unemployment and hardship felt by the people who work in hospitality is obvious and very distressing. There has been some support for workers who have been laid off, and who have lost their jobs. The Employment Minister fears unemployment will grow rapidly in the autumn, when support and benefits finish - and she was honest enough to say that (with the current state of the economy) the government would not be able to afford to help all those who would become destitute.

Thousands of meals have been prepared by restaurants and bars to try at least give people in need one good meal a day. One café bar in Coral Bay has so far produced over twelve thousand meals for people in that area. How long such volunteer efforts can stem the tide is open to question? Other countries borrow money (or “create” money like the UK) but Cyprus is locked out of the money markets after the “haircut” in 2012/3. The only hope is that financial aid will come from the EU and that will need to be repaid in due course.

There is great pressure on the Cyprus government to open the doors to mass tourism, particularly the British and Russian markets, but this would be an enormous risk. If the virus numbers rose and there was a second lockdown, the economy might implode. Any decision is likely to have dreadful consequences for the people ...