Now contrary to the belief of the Greek Cypriot majority on the Island, Nicosia isn't actually the centre of the known universe and the vast majority of the 7 or so billion of the World's population, don't go to bed at night worrying about whether the Cyprus problem will be solved by Christmas - in fact it's almost unheard of for Cyprus to be mentioned as the second news story on the BBC! But this week it was - this week 100 or refugees or migrants depending on what they are being called this week landed on Cyprus. They skillfully managed to navigate their way past the a huge chunk of coastline belonging to the Republic of Cyprus to by sheer chance end up on one of the little bits belonging to the UK. Good planning or just a fluke - I'll let you decide. Whatever their reasons for landing here it's caused bedlam at work. It shouldn't have been - the SBA have an agreement with the RoC for them to take refugees that land in the bases - but agreements are great in theory but if one side decides it doesn't like the agreement.......Anyway the refugees are still here - I have suggested that "Mr Jif" be called for - but I'm not sure there is enough money in the overtime budget.
Aside from the excitement of the refugees - which to be honest I've managed to miss most of by virtue of being on the other side of the Island - it's been a good few days. Our stuff has arrived and is now fully unpacked and is currently being moved about and put in a variety of different places to see how it goes. Why stuff which is neither new or particularly great causes so much excitement amongst people it doesn't belong to is a mystery to me.
When people here know your stuff has arrived they say things like - "it's like Xmas when your stuff comes" - no it isn't it's not new, it's not a gift and you know what it is! Or "you'll feel much better your stuff has come" - I kind of get that one, but only kind of - I didn't feel any better but it is nicer to have pictures of the kids around but I'd not missed much else. Except the computer and the telly - sad I know but I'm a bloke give me a couple of gizmo's and a big telly and I'm happy. I've managed to work out how to fix the computer to the telly and download a thing called Kodi and can now watch as much telly from wherever as I want, whenever I want. It's very cool - the only issue is that we didn't really watch telly at home - so have no idea what is good and what isn't - I had to ask Dave what was good telly. He was useless - only suggested Breaking Bad - that might be good I don't know - we've not really ventured past "Death In Paradise" yet!
The biggest emotion we felt when everything was unpacked was relief - Gladys has arrived in tact and nobody has asked why we have the ashes of somebody else's mother in our stuff. I believe witchcraft is still a crime in Cyprus so the importation could have led to an interesting interview with Cypol - "So Meester Reed why are you planning to resurrect this Gladees woman and who is she to you???" - Anyway she seems happy in her new home - that's her in the photo in her armchair - the bear is to keep her company when we are out. - Gladys by the way is Cathy Brown's mum (wife of the aforementioned "Mr Jif") - her ashes are to be scattered off Cape Greko at some point in the future when Jeff and Cathy come and visit.
Speaking of people who I thought may have been in need of resurrection, "Diver Dave" was on Island last week (diver Dave taught me and Mr Jif to dive last time I was here) - why might Diver Dave have been in need of resurrection - well because since deciding due to bad ears that he couldn't dive anymore he's decided that doing triathalons is a good idea - and he was in Cyprus to do one. I went to see him at the end of it expecting to be laughing and pointing at the daft old git barely being able to stagger over the finishing line. Imagine my disappointment to see that not only did he manage it without the need for an oxygen mask, he looked like he could do it all again! It was good to see him and Lynne - we'll hook up again when they move back out to Cyprus early next year.
Our car arrived this week, having completed numerous bits of paper and handed them to the RoC Customs officials who all looked like they had either just arrived from or were going to a nightclub - there it was in a container at Limassol Port barely wider than the car - so who did the movers send to drive it out of the container - a big fat bloke who couldn't get the door open wide enough to get in and had to climb in through the window - once in he tried starting it to find it had the flattest battery in the history of flat batteries and a tyre that was almost as flat. Eventually we got it out and running - it's a relief to be able to go where we want - being in an Official vehicle all the time does make trips anywhere further afield than Larnaca difficult.
Lastly and definitely the best bit - the boys arrive today - can't wait to see them.
Cheers
Andy
PS The title of this post translates as "My hovercraft is full of eels" (google it) - our Greek lesson was tough this week!
Good job you have a sense of humour!
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