This is Cyprus

It's nearly eight months since my good friend Joan and I, in the temporary absence of our husbands, held a five-hour 'games fest' evening. It so happens that this week, once again, our menfolk are away at the same time. So we thought we might try a re-run.  Not that it was quite the same... for one thing, I knew I would not be able to walk even as far as the local Souvlaki Express.  I thought I had bruised my toes badly three weeks ago. The advice and observations of various...

Two and a half weeks ago, we went to Immigration and made an appointment for today. I explained in that post what our situation is, and why, despite having lived here for 14 years (and owning a house) we need to apply, again, for permits. They gave us a check-list of documents we needed. We had most of them with us - and the required photocopies - but not everything. So in the intervening time, we sorted out basic medical insurance - time-consuming, and an extra expense we really didn't...

Somewhat predictably, for Cyprus, it's quite warm today. Around 27-28C in the shade outside, according to the UK Weather site. Then again, that site claims that we're having wall-to-wall sunshine today, which isn't true. The sky, right now, is decidedly grey. I don't think it's going to rain, but it looks as though it could.  The forecast is for a few degrees cooler over the next ten days or so, and that's fine with me. I know that in another month I will probably be feeling uncomfortably...

Anyone stumbling on my post, a week ago, about our upcoming immigration appointment might be vaguely wondering what we did about the requirement for full medical insurance. Indeed, depending on your viewpoint, you might be wondering why we do not already have full medical insurance in Cyprus, or - at the other extreme - why, as British citizens, we need anything at all other than the European health card. To answer the second part: we moved here before Britain was in the EU, and before...

On Sunday afternoon, had you chanced to call by our house, you would have found me, if not sitting down, doing something like a hop-shuffle.  I was not practising tap dancing. Far from it. No, I had been oddly clumsy, about an hour before we had lunch... But first, I should backtrack some more, to Monday last week. We were on our way to play a Settlers game with our friends, walking our usual route after dark when, to quote Dr Seuss in one of my favourite children's books, 'I...

When I wrote about the busy day we had on my birthday last Friday, I mentioned in passing that I wasn't going to have a cake this year, since Tim was not here.  So imagine my surprise and delight when, having supper with our good friends Mark and Joan last night, they produced this as a slightly belated birthday cake for me: It was beautiful, although Joan said that the icing (frosting) was a little runny. It was also extremely delicious - a carrot cake, with pineapple and...

Although we've been 'empty nesters' for nearly four years now, I've managed to spend the last three birthdays with at least one of our sons. I wasn't entirely sure what one does for a birthday with just the two of us - but in the event, it was a pleasant and relaxing day. I had a pile of presents that had already arrived or been passed to us from various relatives, first thing in the morning:  They were DVDs and books - mostly from my wishlist - and a new webcam as my previous...

When we first moved to Cyprus, at the end of October 1997, we had to apply for permits to live here. Cyprus was not in the European Union, so although we could come for three months as visitors, we couldn't stay any longer without permission.  We had to prove that we had enough money in our bank account, that we had a regular source of income from the UK, and that we had a rental contract. Queuing at Immigration was a nuisance - one just turned up and waited, possibly for hours, until...

Most years, there are two different dates for Easter. One is celebrated by Protestant Churches in the West, and the other is celebrated by the Greek Orthodox, and those in the East. In Cyprus, where East and West meet, we usually take note of them both. For the last couple of years, they have coincided. This year, Western Easter is today, and Eastern Easter will be next Sunday. Last year we were in the UK for Easter. I loved going to a church service there, in the congregation where we...

It's strange how, sometimes, life seems to go by quite slowly. The winter seemed endless, although it was only a couple of months .I know that the summer is likely to drag too. But now that spring is here, a couple of weeks appear - if it's not too much of a cliché - to have flown by. I had to look on my calendar, and then my camera to see what we'd done.  There were the usual two public holidays on March 25th (Greek National Day) and April 1st. Since both those dates fell on a...