Time to write a blog post..............

When technology works it is a wonderful thing, however, when it doesn't Beccy is a grumpy girl!

I have sat down more than once to blog, the first time I had a camera full of photographs, I can't even remember what the photographs are of now.  I knew we hadn't blogged for a while and thought I had a good selection of pics.  I did the usual, made a cuppa, gathered the camera and lead while Andy watched the football. Then it happened................................One Moment.....................that is what the camera said, so I waited for a moment, I waited for many moments.  The huffing and puffing began, I tried using a different USB, switched it on and off (that always works), then came the familiar declaration, " I hate technology, why can't things just be simple, why can't they just work".  Up popped the head from the sofa and over he pootled and did all the things I had just tried (because of course switching the camera on and off and trying a differnet USB would work for Mr Reed if it hadn't worked for me!)

Well it didn't work, we tried the laptop, tried to put the memory card into the pooter, but it didn't fit, then much to my disgust the camera battery failed and we had to abandon ship!!! (OK so that is a bit dramatic, but I did feel it was time for a glass of soothing, relaxing wine).

After battery charging, which seemed to take an age, we tried again, and again ........................................One Moment........................moments later, and moments later, nothing happened........................except.................the flippin battery failed again!  It was way past time for another glass of wine and the whole blog attempt was aborted!

The man of the house decided a new battery was needed, and a card reader.  These had to be ordered from the UK, the camera is a little aged so attempting to buy the battery in Cyprus would probably involve travelling the width and length of the island only to return home empty handed.  The camera's age probably contributes to the enormous size of the memory card too, but I love my camera, or atleast I did love my camera so I aint replacing it until it well and truly doesn't work anymore, and it does still work a little.......................it does take photographs................................I just cannot get them off the camera!

I think my final comment of the evening involved me muttering something along the lines of "Why can't cameras be like they used to be, it was easy, take your piccies, trot along to Boots, hand over the film, pay some money and trot back home with my photos in a lovely little wallet.  there were always surprises in the wallet, " Oooooooooooooooooh, I can't remember taking that!............. Did I really look like that?" but then I suppose there was always the dread of all the photos being rubbish, blurred, or everyone having the dreaded red eyes! Perhaps the good ole days weren't quite so fantastic afterall? Atleast we had some flippin pics though!

Update.......................I typed and saved this post and then promptly forgot about it!  I should be awarded the most useless blogger award for October and November!

Another update......................new battery and card reader have arrived!  You never know, I may manage to blog again before the end of 2016 with photos!  I leave you now waiting in suspense for the next installment .............................

Is it cooling down?

It's all relative....................

We haven't used the air conditioning for three entire days, it must be cooling down I hear you say, so off I pootle to consult the thermometer - oh yes its cooling down, only 31 degrees now!!!!!!!  But honestly and truthfully to me it does feel quite pleasant and much less sticky than this time last week, now the only thing really to worry about is how cold I will feel when the thermometer reads 15 degrees?  So thats the obligatory British chat about the weather over and done with, now what? Well not a great deal really, we have had a steady month not a lot to report oh except three kittens (if I had a rolling eyes smilie I would post it here).

Abbie called, and it went something like this

"Mum, there are three kittens locked in the cleaners cupboard"

"Oh"

"We got the cleaners to unlock the cupboard and they say its has been locked for three days"

"Oh"

"There is no sign of mum and they are very tiny and hungry"

"Oh"..............big sigh!!!!!

"What shall I do?"

I turn to Andy and repeat Abbies tale of woe, he turns to me and says

"Tell her we ll be there in half and hour"

So of we go and arrive back sometime later with three additions to the family.

It turns out they weren't as young as we first thought, just under nourished, we were a little worried for a day or two and braced ourselves to loose atleast one if not all of them.  Gizmo, the black one was in the worst condition the other two marginally more healthy.  Fast forward four weeks and they are thriving and bouncing around like little bouncy things.  They have rapidly expanding waistlines and are just the cutest little kitties, they were litter trained within a couple of days, the only problem is that we really don't want three more cats! Two on island re-homing charities are advertising them and hopefully we can find homes, either in Cyprus or any part of Europe (actually EU countries, I wonder what will happen to our EU Pet Passports when we are no longer part of EU, will we be able to move our pets from here to France?  I digress.....................)  this has got me thinking now, how will the charities over here be able to send dogs and cats to the UK for rehoming? In theory they just won't be able to do that anymore, so what on earth will happen to all the dogs and cats so badly abused and mistreated which the Brits rescue and rehabilitate?  Best not to worry about that scenario just yet................... on to some photos of beautiful little bundles of fluff.

Kitty update.............I have to confess I started to compose this post a few weeks ago then got distracted........................since then Boo (tabby) has gone off on trial.  It all rests on how their adult cat accepts Boo, at the moment she has moved out and is only returning for food so we are hoping for a rapid improvement there.  There has also been some interest in Oreo (black and white) but the lady concerned is trying to persuade her husband.  Fingers crossed both these little kittens have found a permanent home, then only Gizmo left.

xx

Brussels

We arrived after a long car journey from Brittany and extensive security checks, but I guess that was only to be expected in Brussels at the mo!

We hopped on a particularly hot train to take us to the city centre.  Trying to find the hotel was interesting, google told us it was a short walk, and indeed it was, but we had arrived in a busy capital centre on a Saturday evening, it was hot and the streets were full of folks just milling about and generally getting in the way.  There were many many people begging with babies in their arms and quite frankly it was smelly, probably not helped by the extreme heat it was noisy and there were soldiers everywhere.  Eventually we found our gadgety hotel where there are no staff, just machines to check us in and issue keycards.  Andy particularly liked this bit though............I think his exact words were "not having to talk to people is always a bonus", not that he is antisocial at all!!!!!!!!:-)  We cooled off a little and showered and braved the crowds once again to get fed and watered, this was a needs must meal, not fine dining in any way, we wanted to eat then sleep it had been a long day.  The hotel was just what we needed though, clean quiet and the air conditioning worked well, so by morning we were feeling in much better spirits, especially when I wandered into a lounge area to find free coffee and pastries provided by the invisible staff, they were just there waiting to be scoffed, so scoff them we did.

We left the hotel and wandered off to explore, we saw some lovely architecture and there were considerably less people about, less noise and the temperature had dropped so we were beginning to think Brussels wasn't so bad after all.  Then all we did was turn left instead of right as we had done the night before and wandered into the Grand Place!!!!!!    WE WERE STUNNED AND AMAZED!  It was one of the most beautiful squares I have ever seen, and probably all the more stunning because we weren't expecting it.  The pics don't really do it justice but if you ever get the opportunity to visit Brussels, you must because it is beautiful.

Beccy has run out of words now so I've taken over!! As Beccy says Brussels turned out to be a real surprise after our first underwhelming impressions! We had planned on booking ourselves onto a beer and chocolate tour - only to be put off by the price, 150 euros for a two hour tour is just too much - it'd buy quite a bit of beer, but not as much chocolate as you'd expect. For 80 euros you could buy a 250g pack of hand made chocolates and get one pack free, now call me common if you like but give me a 2 euro bar of salted nut chocolate from Inter Marche in Callac and I'd be happy. Anyway I digress, as we wandered around Brussels, we went up past the Royal Palace, complete with the obligatory park with a lake surrounded by kids playing pokemon. I say kids, it wasn't really it was kids, toddlers and Grannies all staring fixedly into their phones. It's a weird thing, all these people clearly are there with their friends, they've chosen to go out for the afternoon with them and as soon as they arrive they stop talking to each other and try to catch a snorlax or some other strangely named computer generated thing. Contrast this with what we found up past the EU commission buildings - there's another park up here with a monument celebrating the anniversary of the creation of the kingdom of Belgium (the British picked it's King - ironic really when we say that Brussels has undermined our sovereignty), at this other park there was a vast array of tents with all kinds of people around, some dressed as characters from Lord of the Rings, others just enjoying what turned out to be the Brussels Games Fair. The tents were packed with people (kids, toddlers & Grannies) playing board games, together, with each other,talking and laughing as they did so. I be prepared to bet an expensive 250g pack of chocolates that those at the games fair were having more fun than those sat by the lake!
After leaving the games fair we walked back towards the centre, found an enormous church that looks barely used (the catholic cathedral we later found out) looking for some food and drink. In doing so I think we ventured into the "pink" part of Brussels, now the only reason I think this is that on one of the walls was a life size mural of Tin Tin in a very friendly embrace with Captain Haddock - now I certainly don't remember that from "Herge's Adventures of Tin Tin". Anyhow we found a decent pub - there's not much I can say about Belgian beer that hasn't been said many times before, but after living on a diet of Keo, Carlsberg and Leon for the past year a pint of Leffe was like manna from heaven. I tried several others, as did Beccy (for future reference she likes the fruit ones) before continuing our wandering. We ended the day fairly tired, a little bit tiddly and much more impressed with Brussels than we'd expected to be - that said we've done it now - not sure we'd make a special trip to go back!

Sante

You know it's hot when........

Your glasses steam up when you get out of the car!
AND
When after taking proper butter out of the fridge it takes two minutes to melt.

Enough of the heat, you are probably all thinking that you could do with some of it, but I did read a headline somewhere that summer sunshine is heading towards the UK just in time for the school summer holidays.

So where are we? Nearly half way into July, thats where! We have nearly been here a year! I think that deserves alot of exclamation marks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I can't believe how quickly time has flown.

Today Boris will be leaving us, who is Boris I hear you say?  Four weeks ago eight German Shepherd cross puppies were abandoned at one of the SBA checkpoints, a variety of folks fostered the puppies while Jo from AyNik Animal Welfare has been trying to find permanent homes either here or in the UK.  So Andy came home from work one day with a male and female puppy, subsequently named Boris (yes he is blonde, rather round and just a bit of a plonker) and Belle.

Four weeks on they are weaned and just about house trained and Boris is going to see his prospective owners today, if all goes well then he won't be coming back to us.  It is a little sad, but I have to remember we have done our bit, and now it is time for him to move on to his permanent home.  Belle will be having her home visit on Thursday so fingers crossed all goes well.  Just before Boris and Belle we had a Jura Hound for a couple of nights who we found in a desperate state.  We also had a female German Shepherd stay with us overnight while a suitable foster home was found, she is approximately 10 years old and spent her life chained in a yard.  We have helped Kayte at Bay Tree Rescue to get a few dogs and cats fit to fly and on their flights to new homes in the UK.  The situation here is appalling but also impossible to solve while the Cypriot government do nothing so to protect ourselves our mantra has to be  we can't save them all! 

On to other creatures now, Bees, the garden was singing with them this morning busy little worker bees collecting pollen to feed their Queen while she is busy laying more and more eggs.  There are bee hives everywhere in Cyprus and the honey is just divine.  We even talked about whether or not we might have a hive in the garden, we miss the smallholding life and thought maybe it might be little bit of something we could while we are here.  Those plans were cut short though when I got stung by a bee a couple of months ago, I m used to being stung, you kinda get used to it if you keep bees.  I was a little surprised though when I seemed to be reacting quite badly, anyway to cut a long story short I now have to carry EpiPen's with me wherever I go.  So I now have such mixed feelings about the bees in the garden, I love them being there, bees need the flowers in our garden and we need them, they are struggling to survive, a combination of disease and toxic pesticides are killing the bee population.  I am a beekeeper and really quite passionate about pollinators and their survival and now I have to be very careful about my beekeeping, Andy would say I can't get suited up anymore and open a hive, he is probably right.  I need a plan though because a smallholding isn't a smallholding without bees.

What else have we been up to?  There have been numerous functions, a garden party at the British High Commissioners residence, weekend away in Troodos, Officer's Mess Summer Ball, oh and a visit from Jim and Jill - it was lovely to meet you both.  There was also the Bi-Communal Football tournament in Pyla, played on the hottest day of the year so far, it toppled into the forties!!!!! We also dabbled in a little beach yoga.

It will soon be the end of term and we have leaving 'do's', another cocktail party, and Abbies boyfriend is over for a visit too and I'm sure I ve missed something?

I appear to have done much more talking than usual so I will end with a variety of photos and hopefully Andy will get a blog in before we leave for Hungary and Bulgaria to meet Sam and Matt for a little summer jaunt :-)

Above and below are two pictures taken in Troodos during our weekend there in June.  Tragically Troodos has been ravaged by forest fires this month so I ve no idea if this view still looks like this.

Jim and Jill

 Can you spot the number 9 shirt?

 Half time team talk

 Beach yoga and Maggie's little dog, Barney (another rescue)

 Miss Jo Scho's last Cyprus Summer Ball

 I just love this pic of Andy

Our partners in crime Ian and Anita

Time to go home - night night xx

New Beginnings....

So with every day there is the chance for new beginnings, challenges and opportunities.

I know there are a few of you out there that think I'm as mad as a hatter but you tolerate and humour me, you let me rant on about plastic, waste, recycling, the joy of seedlings, the smell of a freshly dug carrot and the wonder of a new born goat, the healing powers of calendula and lavender, my crochet creations.........the list is endless.  I am happy for this to be so because in my own little way I hope that maybe some of my ramblings might be heard and maybe considered, but if not thats fine too because you simple let me ramble. You don't try to change me you simple accept my opinions and choices.  I would like to think I do the same for you, because we are all human and we all have the right to our own opinions, to make our own decisions and to live as we choose to live.

I saw this poem online recently and it just seemed appropriate.  


IF
If you can keep your heart open when all about you in darkness
Are closing theirs and blaming everyone else,
If you can trust your common sense when all have lost theirs,
But make allowance for their confusion too;
If you can work for the change and for the good, for the people and for nature - and not be tired by the waiting,
Or being surrounded by the lies, media lies, propaganda lies, personal lies, never believe the lies,
Or being bombarded by the hate, of race, culture, class or creed, and not give way to hating,
And yet neither preen with pride, nor talk too humbly wise:
If you can still dream—but not let your dreams die in life's endless diversions;
If you can think freely—but not let your thoughts drown in the days urgent deeds;
If you can recognise from afar the coming of Triumph and Disaster
And set your course calmly between their bright lure and their dark threat;
If you can acknowledge that the truths you have spoken
Will always be twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools, to betray you - yet still you speak truth,
Or watch the causes you have given your life to, of human rights, civil rights, environmental rights - all broken by greed,
And patiently build them up again with love and with a light in your heart:
If you can talk with the people, listen to their hopes and their fears, yet keep your kindness ever near, your compassion share with good cheer;
Or walk beside the Mighty — but not loose sight of all that is right,
If you call none foe but see that all are friends - tho some lost in their pain
 seek to hurt you,
If all creatures and every people matter for you, but none to the cost of the other;
If you can dance in the Infinite joy of this moment
With your heart ever caring, sharing and shining, singing your song for the life of the world,
You are a true citizen of Earth and a brother to everything that’s in it,
And—which is more, my friend —you’ll be forever free.

c.Titus. L 2016
Inspired by Rudyard Kipling's poem of the same name.

Bugger!

As you all know I've not posted for a while, Beccy has been admirably steering the blog along while I've been wrapped up in dealing with migrants, miscreants and general rubbish stuff at work. I will get onto what we've been up to in a bit but first I'm going to take this opportunity to have a bit of a rant about events this week - and if you don't like it don't read it - it's my blog!
I always used to be for the right of the general public to be given the opportunity to be able to say whatever they want, to have a say in their future etc etc. But that was before Football radio phone ins when the Great British public ring up and say things like -
"Wey they should just sack the board and appoint Jose Morinho", and when asked by the radio person how exactly that could be done, reply "Ahh divven kna but they should dee it like." I decided that perhaps it maybe wasn't ideal to ask some people how the future of the country should be decided.
That view was confirmed when I watched the news last night. Britain has voted to leave the EU - OK that's fine if it's based on a reasoned argument with a clear plan on what happens next. I'm sure many people have a clear idea and vision of what the country will be like in say 5 years time - but please hurry up and tell us what it is. But back to the news - an interviewer asks two old biddies on the street what they thought - we think it's great they replied, we want to go back to "the good old days."
 Now had I been the interviewer I'd have asked "What good old days are they then? Before or in between the wars, maybe when rationing was still around, perhaps it was a bit later on, when maternity/paternity leave was pretty much unheard of or when workers rights weren't enshrined in a European wide rule. Maybe it was in the days of the 3 day week, when electricity was cut off or maybe in the deeply divisive decade of the 80's when we stopped making stuff and it was all me me me." I'm not saying that the EU did or didn't make any difference to all of that, it probably didn't (except to workers rights), because in truth I really don't know - I just want to know when those good old days were?
 Then the BBC cuts to a market in Sheffield and asks two stallholders what they thought. They both voted leave, but didn't expect it to happen. One is now scared and the other worries if he did the right thing - if you weren't sure with a decision of this magnitude and which affects so much - why did you vote that way? Oh let me guess it'll have been because of those immigrants who come and take our jobs. I reckon the job centres will be full on Monday with people desperate to take those jobs picking potatoes, processing chickens and cleaning old folks home that those selfish buggers from Eastern Europe have been claiming for themselves. By the following weekend I fully expect all the car wash places that have sprung up because people can't be arsed to wash their own -"I'll just get the Poles to do it for a fiver" will be inundated with new white British workers whistling Land of Hope and Glory as they polish your alloy wheels!

You may have sensed I'm a tad pissed off - you'd be right.

On a purely personal level this decision will have monumental effects on how the rest of my life is to be lived. Moving to France in a couple of years is no longer a certainty, me and Beccy can no longer plan on being able to go to live in Brittany as simply as we could before. The right of movement goes two ways. Yes we probably will be able to go and live there, but we won't simply be able to turn up one day and just not go home. If we won't automatically accept French people into our green and pleasant land - why would they automatically accept us. I have no skills that are of any use to anybody not involved in Customs & Immigration work - so would fail miserably on any points based system. Our only hope is that we become like Switzerland and accept freedom of movement in order to accept free trade - but then if you voted on the basis of " keeping those bloody job stealing immigrants out" that would have been a bit of a wasted vote then wouldn't it!

Like I said normal service will resume when I'll tell you all about the Whittle's trip, the summer ball, dog & kitten rescue and all the frivolities of Cyprus. In the meantime I'm off for a beer and a lie on the sunbed

Its been a while......

So May arrived and departed in what felt like a nanosecond, Jess called in for a month or so before departing for Sydney - she is having a ball and loving every antipodean moment and is currently traveling from Sydney to Byron Bay and hoping to find work.  Then we had a couple of free days before mum arrived for a visit.  The latter part of April and most of May have involved trips to Famgusta, Lefkara, Protaras, and Kyrenia, meals out in a variety of touristy or traditional restaurants both in the north and the south, a spot of diving (thats Jess not mum!), sightseeing, donkey spotting, a little football (although we aren't mentioning that!), a few beers, wine, a couple of dance shows and encounter with the Blues Brothers and in between all of that we actually show our faces at work. 
Oh and ofcourse there was Duncan and Candace's wedding in Las Vegas - we didn't attend (think we may have needed a time machine to fit that in too) but we did watch the nuptuals via the internet.

Now for the photographs another glass of wine a some relaxation.

 Jumpin' Jessie

 Donkey Sanctuary

 Famagusta Old Town

 Kato Paphos

 Aphrodite's Rock

 Yet more drinking in Kapparis

 Dipkarpaz

The Pool is open....

The water temperature guage hit the magic 20 degrees this week just in time for the Corsair girls arrival so the inflatables were inflated and lots of hysterics and screaming ensued just as girls do whilst falling off rubber rings and lilos.  Abbie has been deposited in Protaras with lots of other summer entertainers, she lives next door to Elvis and in the apartment above Lady Gaga!  Jess is here busy trying to get a tan although I don't think her legs have ever been out of a pair of jodphurs hence they do have a slight blue tinge which is turning a little pink at the mo.  Watch this space for  reports on Jess' incredible colour changing legs.

There are many tales to report from SBA Customs but you may have to wait a while, Andy is very low on UK staff, still has a variety of migrants to deal with in addition to wonderful Cypriot staff who are proficient at causing headaches - I m sure they don't mean to, its just a talent they have.  There is also the small matter of being seriously outnumbered by female family members to keep him occupied too.

Last weekend Andy and I decided we needed to embrace the peace and quiet before the arrival of the girls and pootled off to the Troodos mountains.  The weather was quite hot so a drive to Mount Olympus at a height of 1942 metres meant we could enjoy some cooler temperatures.  During Winter skiing is possible on Mount Olympus so in theory you could ski in the morning then drop down to Paphos and sunbath on the beach in the afternoon.  We trogged through the forests and looked at waterfalls and did lots of ooing and aarghing, the rivers and streams here reminded us of Brittany.  Once on the mountains the views were spectacular, we learnt all about the geology of the area,the copper and asbestos mines.  After the closure of the asbestos mines in 1988 the whole area fell into decline, thousands of local Cypriots worked the mines and moved to the coast for work, the area needed to redevelop and they are rising to the challenge.  There there are maps, accurate signs (very unusual for Cyprus), information centres, walks, campsites and ofcourse the skiing and yet it has still retained its rural charm this is a beautiful part of the island and I can see us pootling up the mountains regularly.

Isn't the bark on this Oriental Plane fantastic?

The black pine trees smelt heavenly!

We ended the day at Platres with eating souvla, potatoes, bread with dips and salad.  We love Cypriot food, it is very simple, usually cooked over charcoals and just delicious.  Andy generally finishes off my meat and I eat his salad - a match made in heaven!

Whilst typing this our lovely little kittens brought us a present..........................we no longer get mice, oh no, these kittens are much more exotic than that, they bring us praying mantis!  It certainly gave Jess a shock, and don't think she was too impressed to find out that Dusty likes to bring lizards into the house!.

Toodlepip til next time xx