Out of control ...

 As each day passes the number of infections rises in Cyprus, and a drive to Polis this morning was most instructive. Masks, indoors and out, seem to be optional extras - especially amongst the young. At the supermarket the anti-bacterial bottle was empty and, when I pointed it out to a member of staff, they seemed to be somewhat irritated. Social distancing - forget it. Cafés full to bursting (doesn’t anybody work on a Monday), and a general disinterest in trying to combat the spread of the virus.

Is it any wonder that cases are rising exponentially here? The old “Trumpian” excuse is bandied about. People actually use the excuse that the more tests you do, the more infections you find. Of course. Now think back to why people are being tested. It is to find as many people who are infected and then get them to self-isolate, which will stop them infecting others. Hardly rocket science, I don’t think.

We are not sitting back, feeling smug. To read the forums, and some Facebook pages, all retired expat pensioners don’t care about others who have to make a living. In our ninth year living in Cyprus we worry for the people and the future of the economy. 

The British press are wallowing in the reopening of hospitality venues. I was appalled by the behaviour and mob mentality of the “revellers” and “drinkers”, as they are called, towards the police, who were trying to enforce the unenforceable. One poor PC was mocked and ridiculed by the crowd as he tried to break up a trio who were openly disobeying the guidance. Where are the promised extra 20,000 policemen that Boris promised? One lonely policeman ... ignore and ridicule. Thirty big “coppers” another matter altogether. 

I don’t want to promote a police state but the way in which these mobs behave after drinking far too much is beyond the pale. Am I turning into a grumpy old man? I don’t think so. I would just like them to behave as they are expected to. With the mob mentality and widespread stabbings in certain areas, the UK is not a place I would wish to return to.

They walk among us ...

 And so, in the UK and Cyprus, we have the eternal tug of war between public health and the economy. All of it is perfectly understandable but somewhat misguided. As Arthur Stanton Eric "Arte" Johnson said in Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-in, “Verry interesting ... but stupid.”

The whole argument is fallacious and the greed of business (or perhaps the urgent need for survival) in both countries is astonishing. The CEO of EasyJet broadcast that Greece and Cyprus should be on the UK’s “Green List” and this was just a blatant statement of self-interest. WHAT! The rate of infection in Cyprus is rising and rising. Yet, and the influence of the Church must be behind this, there are no changes before the Easter Weekend. Unbelievable ... just wait until the spike of cases within a week of that holiday. By then, the Cypriot government will have an overwhelmed health service, the airports will be open and there will be infected tourists across the island. Lockdown, and the virtual bankruptcy of the state (remember 2013) will follow.

In the UK I read with utter disbelief that the moronic classes are celebrating as if it is VE Day. Down the pub, sink a few pints and a new demand that the clubs and “venues” are reopened for the rave culture, where these semi-human youngsters want to “rave”. In today’s Guardian, there was an article about reopening large venues ... and one young man expressed that “My whole life revolves around drinking, clubbing, taking as many drugs as I can, and sticking my tongue down the throat of anybody within range.”

As the podcast proclaims, “They walk among us.”

Our main concern is to ensure that we are protected from this virus. Ann has had both vaccinations whilst I wait until early June for my second vaccination. People we know, who are far more vulnerable than us, are legitimately concerned by the behaviour of so many people (both Cypriot and expat) who do not seem to care about people who may die from the virus.

With that, I close this entry to my blog ...

Gentleman’s Relish (Patum Peperium)

 Last Christmas, when we were discussing breakfast, the original suggestion was to have creamy scrambled eggs with anchovies. We love anchovies and the combination was very much to our taste. And then, from the darkest recesses of my memory, I remembered scrambled eggs on toast and the toast was “buttered” (but not with butter) with Gentleman’s Relish. The idea took hold and we searched for it in shops and online.

I posted on Facebook and the ever helpful Catherine Unsworth of https://www.spiceandeasycyprus.com/ came to the rescue. She offered to make a batch and let me be her tester. And so, like a drug deal in a multi-storey car park, we met and the brown paper bag was handed over. I have promised to do a review on this blog (and also on Facebook) with my findings. As I write this, my mouth is salivating.

This is one of the things you find in Cyprus. People, both expats and Cypriots, can overwhelm you with their kindness. In 2013, on Christmas Eve, our car returned home making strange noises and emitting steam. Not being a mechanic I suspected low oil, and rang around people I knew to see if they had any oil. One recently arrived Briton drove around all the petrol stations in Polis to try and source some, with no luck. A Cypriot friend of ours told me not to worry and he would sort things out. Amazingly he arrived on Christmas Day morning, with a mechanic.

They sorted out a temporary repair, decided the car was fit to drive for a few days until garages opened again. I asked Odysseas how much I owed him? He looked offended and would not accept a penny. A couple of days later he arrived in a car, and we took both vehicles to a garage so our car could be repaired. Amazingly generous.

Life in Cyprus can be very, very good.

Elephants ... can’t you see them?

 I have been astonished (not really) by the lack of foresight and forethought exhibited by politicians - and their advisers - in recent times. It almost feels as if they are clueless and, as Boris Johnson is often accused of doing, they do what the last “expert” they speak to tells them. Enormous publicity is given to the vaccine rollout - and the statistics of the dead, dying, infected and the like - but that’s where the elephant is.

The first elephant moment is the much-heralded immunity to coronavirus. The definition of the word is

: the quality or state of being immune especially : a condition of being able to resist a particular disease especially through preventing development of a pathogenic microorganism or by counteracting the effects of its products ...

The man on top of the Clapham omnibus, according to much of the popular press, believes that when he is vaccinated he cannot catch the virus. He also believes that he cannot infect other people, and that he cannot fall ill with the virus. All the preceding beliefs are, of course, not true. 

And so, what is the end result? The youngsters completely ignore the restrictions imposed on them by the government (see photographs of the Easter weekend in many of the newspapers), and everyone is agitating for the country to get back to normal. Vaccine passports are mooted by the government, and the idea rapidly recedes when a backbench resistance is apparent in the Tory party, and the mixed messages continue apace.

There is an understandable desire for people to take holidays in the sun. Cyprus, Greece and other desirable locations announce they are open for business and are bending over backwards to attract British tourists who are believed to want to unleash a torrent of money. The UK government, on the other hand, is unlikely to allow holidays to countries where the number of infections are rising (as they are here) and where vaccinations are proceeding slowly. Whether this is due to the EU’s inefficiency or not is debatable?

Ann has had both her vaccinations, for which we are grateful, and I have had my first but have to wait until June for the second one (a delay prescribed by AstraZeneca). In the following weeks we shall be benefiting from some “immunity” and we are told that if we are infected by the virus, we are less likely to be seriously ill. Open Cyprus to tourists, and that seems the inevitable path being pursued by the government here (under enormous pressure from the hospitality industry), with elections just round the corner, and by Autumn we shall be back into lockdown.

I had a conference with the elephant and he believed that the damage to the economy was a price worth paying. But, of course, he is eternally employed - sitting in on government briefings and laughing his head off. 

And so the cry goes up,

που είναι ο ελέφαντας τώρα

It’s now or never ...

 Has the time come? The age profile of those being offered vaccinations against COVID-19 is gradually getting lower. I read today that this week people over the age of 74 can apply. And then that age will fall and - eventually - we shall be the right age to be vaccinated. The question then is whether we want to be vaccinated or not. It’s such an individual matter. Ann and I, through age and medical history, would be deemed “vulnerable” and that’s good enough for me. I shall bare my arm, grit my teeth and “feel a little prick”. Ann is mulling all this over and I shall support whatever decision she comes to.

I read with incredulity that Cyprus is planning to welcome Israelis with vaccination passports as tourists from the first of April. Something of an appropriate date in my opinion. If that is to be the case then hospitality venues will open and the whole game will begin again. Already there is a sense that the vaccine  has freed people from the obligation of behaving sensibly. I despair of news reports and photographs from both the UK and Cyprus of people not giving a damn about others. “Me, me, me” is the message that is shouted from the tabloid press and the television stations.

Individuals seem to think that if they are low risk, then their lives and freedoms and inalienable rights are more important than anything else. Given that the western world (or at least those parts that are wealthy enough to purchase the vaccines) will be vaccinated by the end of 2021, it begs the question why life cannot be put on hold for a few months longer.

There is a moral question here of course - yet another elephant lurking in the room. It is something of a truism that “No one is safe until everyone is safe”. The wealthier nations have been buying up enormous stocks of vaccines, whilst the third world is being cast adrift. Someone in The Guardian this morning suggested this would result in wealthier nations (mostly with majority white populations) closing their borders to black and brown (and may as well include Asian) people who would not have the inevitable vaccination passports. Horrifying yet perhaps with a grain of truth.

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.”

Comme ci, comme ça

 The news that the Cyprus government is probably going to open the airports on March 1st, and start to relax restrictions at the beginning of February, hardly fills us with joy. The rate of infection is falling, but is this anything to do with the number of tests being taken? Ask any statistician and you won’t be surprised by the answer.

Vaccinations are few and far between on the island, and this can be linked to the EU’s rather slow start to ordering vaccines - especially when the French vaccine (so touted by their Mighty Mouse president) has proved to be not yet effective. He gives a whole new meaning to “Short Man Syndrome”, and come to think of it Boris is not very tall either.

So we do feel upbeat and downcast in equal measure. Hence the “Comme ci, comme ça” of the title. We are safe and as secure as we can be, but there is irritation in not being able to shop for non-essentials, and having to text for permission to leave the house. In the grand scale of things these are inconsequential when people are having to go to food banks and charity shops in order to survive. It reminds me of a comment made a few months ago about “It’s fine for you two with your fat British pensions.” This comment came from a British expat, who has lived illegally here for a number of years “under the radar” not paying into the Social Fund and not declaring his cash income for tax purposes. No doubt he was still using his EHIC for medical treatment. 

Quo Vadis? I have no sympathy for these cheats (and there are plenty of them) in this area, who willingly defraud the Cypriot economy upon which we all depend. When you fall foul of the inevitable restrictions on illegal residents, we’ll all shout out,”What a shame!”