Profound (but weird) logic

A friend recently had trouble with her internet router. It went, very quickly, from working fine to being non-operational. Having tried the standard re-booting and had no joy she called Cyta, the local phone company. They ran through some diagnostics on the phone and then agreed it was a sickly router and offered to send an engineer out.

Said engineer arrived promptly, listened to the explanation of the problem, ran some more diagnostics and pronounced the router dead and needed to be replaced.

While the swap was taking place she commented to the engineer …

“It was working fine. Then the lights flickered and went out”

His response?

“Yes. Just like with people. Why would it be any different for a router?”

Ochi Day

Welcome on this bleary Sunday morning.

In common with most all of Europe and much of the world today is the day to wind the clocks back an hour. Autumn is officially here – fortunately no one has told the sun in Cyprus yet. Temperatures are due to hit around 26 degrees this afternoon.

No doubt most of us go to bed on Saturday evening thinking how nice it will be to have that extra hour in bed on Sunday morning …

But today is also the 28th of October and here it is Ochi Day.

Ochi is Greek for No so Ochi Day is, literally, No Day or but is often described as the Anniversary of the ‘No’.

This dates back to Mussolini’s march across Europe in 1940. Apparently the Italians issued an ultimatum demanding passage through Greece and the right to occupy key strategic locations. The official Greek response, so the story goes, was Ochi, No. In response the Italians stationed their troops in Albania and then attacked Greece, bringing the country into WWII.

There is a suggestion that the response of Ochi is an urban myth and that the actual response (in French for reasons that escape us right now) to the ultimatum was Alors, c’est la guerre (“Then it is war”).

Either way Greece, and Cyprus, still recognise Ochi Day and it now a national holiday. And logically (yes, that is sleep-deprived sarcasm that you can hear) the local Boy and Girl Scout company get to parade – complete with a marching band.

At least this year we knew what was going on as we were woken by the massed drums and bugles at the end of our sleepy street at 7.30am as they marched through the village to lay wreaths on the memorial.

Sadly it took a full ten minutes to realise that, because of the clocks changing, it was actually 6.30am. Somehow that makes it all feel a little earlier than it really is!

For the rest of the day it seems we are doomed to re-set clocks. A quick tally suggests that we have over 30 across the house … and one of us doesn’t even wear a watch ;-)

Yet more contrasts

One of us has been rather sickly with an unknown illness. After (too much) prevarication the sickly one finally agreed that a medical opinion was needed. You may be getting the impression that neither of us are much good at being ill. You would be right.

Anyhoo, the easy solution was a trip to St Raphael’s, the local private hospital in Larnaca. Two minutes with reception secured an appointment for the following day with one of the founders of the hospital. A specialist, not a general practitioner. Standard appointments are 30 minutes, as opposed to the UK standard of 10 minutes.

The appointment started on time, with pleasantries and then a conversation about why we’d moved to Cyprus followed by a lengthy discussion about relative costs of things such as transport, housing and eating out. Essentials, you understand?

When we finally got around to the purpose of the visit the doctor asked a series of questions and subsequently decided that a diagnostic test was needed to get to the bottom of the problem. The sickly one had had exactly the same test a few years ago courtesy of very expensive company-provided medical insurance in England but it had taken a week to arrange, even via BUPA. Here the doctor had the equipment in his consulting rooms and carried out the test there and then. Within five minutes there was a diagnosis, a treatment plan, a follow-up appointment and an escalation plan for if things didn’t work as expected.

We’d have to dig through the records but we think that last time the cost for the diagnostic test (paid for by the insurance company) was about £180. This time the consultation and the test came to … £30 CYP. An earlier consultation at the hospital (when Mands hurt her leg swimming during rough seas) cost £20 so we assume the test cost a princely £10.

Hmmmm, £10 CYP (£12 GBP) and no waiting time vs £180 and a week’s wait even with medical insurance. Tough call eh? A quick trip across the road to the pharmacy got the prescribed drugs, for about £7 CYP. The downside there is that they come with no English instructions and little concern for contra-indications but hey, what do you expect for that price?

The Government of Yorkshire (or Delaware)

Not unsurprisingly we sometimes find ourselves drawing comparisons between Cyprus and England. Often this happens when we stop to consider the way things are done here or how issues are dealt with. If we’ve gone as far as comparing the two then it’s probably not in a good way and the levels of frustration are likely to be high.

Stepping back, and looking at Cyprus in context, sometimes helps to understand why things are as they are sometimes.

OK, the basics: Cyprus is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. The island area is just over 9,000 sq km (3,500 sq miles in old money) and has a population of about 800,000. Since the Turkish invasion in 1974 about 30% of the island, and most of the resident Turkish Cypriot population, are separated from the Greek Cypriot side by a demarcation line manned by UN troops. The capital, Nicosia, is the only remaining divided capital city in the world.

The island is located some 50 miles south of Turkey, and has Syria and Lebanon about 70 miles to the east and Egypt about 240 miles to the south. The mainland of Greece is some 800 miles away although many of the Greek islands are significantly closer.

To put Cyprus into context, it is comparable in size and population to the English county of North Yorkshire. In the US context it sits midway between Delaware and Connecticut in size. Delaware has a similar population, but Connecticut has four times the population of Cyprus. It is an island steeped in history, with a mediterranean climate, and in the main, a population very welcoming and tolerant of outsiders. It is a sovereign state (illegally occupied in part) and a European Union (EU) member which is joining the Euro currency zone in January 2008.

And the beef is? Too often it seems the political and government processes are ill thought-out or inefficient. Being kind they could perhaps be described as having a relaxed Mediterranean feel. And so it is that we sometimes read the local press recounting the latest piece of government decision making and think, based on our experience, that it looks crazy. We shake our heads in bemusement.

From a world perspective the country is hugely important in geopolical terms and as such is of interest to a whole number of global players yet the management team doesn’t necessarily have the level of experience that is commensurate with the challenges that brings. Should North Yorkshire be in a position to decide nuclear policy? Does Delaware have the experience, talent and knowledge to be able to decide what main battle tank to buy?

Maybe we shouldn’t be bemused, but just recognise the context and be happy the Cypriots are making a half way decent attempt at running this relatively new self-governing state. It may not always be world class Government, but there are too many other good things about life here to make us think of leaving … we’ll just need to remember that the independent State of North Yorkshire would, most likely, be an even bigger source of bafflement.

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Migration!

Recently we had a few days in the north of Cyprus on a sort-of walking trip with a group of friends. Putting aside the politics of living on a divided island it was, as always, fascinating to compare and contrast the two ‘halves’ of Cyprus.

As we crossed the border all signage switched to Turkish, place names changed to their local equivalents (which can make for interesting map reading), the main religion became Muslim rather than Orthodox Christian (with all the associated differences that brings) and the culture altered distinctly.

To some extent the cultural differences are always going to be there on moving from one country to another but here it is so stark because of the hard division of the two areas and the deliberate separation of the two cultures. Of course we use the word country with reservation. Still, the only people who recognise the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) as a country are Turkey themselves and North Korea.

That aside, it was our first time in the far north-east end of the island. Officially it is known as the Karpas peninsula, colloquially it is known as the Panhandle due to its shape. The area boasts some of the best beaches on the island, many of which are completely undeveloped. Turtles nest on a number of them and other wildlife is abundant.

Just how abundant that wildlife is became fantastically clear while we were there. The group had just set out on a walk up into the hills when we became aware of a bird migration event taking place above us. The sky on the horizon was suddenly full of moving black dots and they were coming our way.

Within a few minutes it became apparent these were flocks of birds – coming in from north of Cyprus, and heading pretty much directly south. Over the next two hours we saw countless V formations of birds flying overhead. A simple count put about 40 to 60 birds in each V , and dozens of V formations. A calculated guess put the count at over 2,000 birds.

Some basic bird-watching skills and knowledge within the group identified the birds to be Demoiselle Cranes. If so they would have been en-route from their northern summer location somewhere around the Black Sea to their wintering area in the midst of Africa. Demoiselle Cranes are the long legged, long necked, smallest members of the Crane family, weighing in at about 4 to 7 pounds.

During their passage overhead we were all in awe – there wasn’t a member of the group who wasn’t moved by this sight. As each new wave appeared the walk was forgotten and people stood and watched and marvelled. This was nature in action – forget us humans – ‘we are programmed to move from North to South, and we are on our way.’

Once they had passed there was a noticeable drop in conversation as we all pondered on what we had seen. From the things we just don’t understand – just how do the cranes know to do this? – through to the overwhelming majesty and how lucky we were to be in place to see part of this annual event – followed by a worrying wonder what man might be doing to destroy the habitats these beautiful creatures seek to use…….

The Saving Cranes website has some good photos (some of which are reproduced here) although sadly not of the V formations in flight. A couple of people in the group had cameras so we may be able to get copies of their photos in due course.

The ‘white van’ equivalent

In England builders are notorious for driving (often badly) in white transit vans. Here in Cyprus they seem to see no need to have anything more than a regular car. Of course that gives much less storage space … but as long as they load carefully that doesn’t seem to be a problem.

One of next door’s builders gives a perfect example ;-)

Who knew that a regular car held so much? How he ever finds anything is quite another question!

How Could They?

This is just too depressing for words.

Here we are in one of the world’s most important crossroads for migrant birds. We are lucky enough to have the most amazing range of both local and ‘visitors’ passing through. Only a couple of weeks ago the bee-eaters arrived and were the talk of the island. Mandy was quick enough to get a photo of one while we were up in the hills.

And then this … hunters shoot over 50 falcons for target practice. Not just common-or-garden falcons, if that’s a fair term, but endangered red-foot falcons. Shot for fun.

Independent: Endangered falcons shot as ‘target practice’ in Cyprus

Earth Times: Rare falcons shot in Cyprus

In season hunting days are, officially, Sundays and Wednesday. Strange then how people report being woken by the hunters guns on all days of the week rather than just the official two days. Odd also how we come across dozens, no hundreds, of spent shotgun cartridges when we are out walking. More often than not this is within designated nature reserves.

The Sovereign Base Area police have offered a cash reward for information saying;

THE SOVEREIGN Base Area Authority announced yesterday that a £1,000 reward was being offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the perpetrator(s) of the illegal shooting of 52 endangered Red-footed Falcons last week in the Fassouri Area.

“This is a tragedy of unprecedented scale in the SBA and is not only a crime against the birds but a crime against nature itself,” said Dennis Barnes, official spokesman for the bases.

“The SBAA is committed to preservation of the environment and nature and takes this crime extremely seriously. This type of crime committed against highly threatened species will not go unpunished and the SBA Police Force are conducting inquiries with the firm resolve of apprehending the perpetrators,” Barnes continued.

The SBA Police Force have made considerable progress in combating poaching, he added: “In the last 18 months, 17 people have been arrested and convicted for illegal poaching within the SBA by our Police Force. The SBA Police Force have put in 1,100 man hours work in order to stop illegal poaching. They have confiscated 500 mist nets, 82 loudspeakers and 42 cassette players, seven shotguns, 350 lime sticks and 3,500 metres of cable,” he said.

Anyone with any information concerning the falcon shootings should call Chief Inspector Andreas Pitsillides of the SBA Police Force at 25-967202. All calls will be treated with utmost confidentiality.

Hopefully someone will provide some useful information soon.

In the meantime, to close with something more cheerful, those photos of the bee-eater.

Banking, Cyprus Style

On the list of errands this week was a trip to the bank. They called – on one of our cell phones, while we were at the beach (really!) – to tell us that our new Euro cheque books had arrived and could we please stop by to pick them up. On 1 January 2008 Cyprus has chosen to switch currency from the Cyprus pound (CYP) to the Euro (€, EUR) as is their right as a European Union (EU) member.

The trip into the bank was a reminder of how frustrating bureaucracy can be, how different things sometimes are, and how we still get tripped up occasionally despite our best efforts. It was also a timely reminder of how cheap it is to bank in the UK, although it’s likely that we didn’t appreciate that while we were still living there.

In England as long as we didn’t spend more money than we had in the bank or go beyond an agreed overdraft limit then banking was absolutely free. No charges for cheque books or statement or online access and, in most cases, a small amount of interest was paid on credit balances.

In England it looks like that might change as banks reconsider their position, partly as a result of the legal action to reclaim penalty bank charges. Last year the top six High Street banks in the UK made an estimated £4.5bn from penalty charges. These are charges that are incurred for unauthorized overdrafts, bounced cheques and clearing Direct Debits when there are insufficient funds in the account. Consumers are now going to court to claim back these fees on the grounds that they are ‘unfair’ in the legal context and therefore can not be charged.

Whilst they might be successful in reclaiming these charges there’s a real chance that banks may change their business model as a result and that may well result in the end to free banking as enjoyed by many at the moment.

Anyway, having picked up our two new cheque books (one for each account) we can expect to see a charge of around £6CYP (£7.20GBP, $14.50) on our next bank statement. The statements themselves will cost us £2CYP (£2.40GBP, $4.80) and the direct payment of our rent will be another £3CYP (£3.60GBP, $7.20).

In addition the bank keeps 10% of all of the interest they pay to us. That gets sent to the government to pay for defending the island. Since you ask, yes we were a little surprised to see that on the bank statements too.

Only now do we appreciate quite how cheap it was to bank in England.

So, having picked up the cheque books we then broached the slightly difficult matter of the debit cards. When we opened the accounts we were given debit cards but they were only good for one year. A month before the anniversary new cards arrived, with a three year expiry. Obviously we had proved ourselves worthy of the trust of the bank. Actually that’s not too hard here, bouncing a cheque is a criminal offence and, as well as a conviction, will result in the individual being added to a black-list which is shared with all banks on the island.

Sadly, the new debit cards failed to work. When we tried them in an ATM they were rejected, and eventually kept by the machine. Each time the card was kept we went into the branch and explained the problem. The member of staff then opened the ATM, removed the card and returned it to us there and then. In England, and probably in many other parts of the world, the staff would have to wait until the bank was closed before opening the ATM. At the very, very least they would have to wait for the branch to be empty of customers.

Here such safety-measures are laughed at. Tony M, we often think of you when we go to the bank ;-)

After several rounds of having Ian’s cards retained by the machine we headed back to the bank. It turned out that the cards had been cancelled because the wrong PIN had been used too many times. But, said we, it’s not the wrong PIN. After much frowning and tapping away on the computer the bank clerk looked even more baffled. Eventually she asked

“You didn’t change the PIN when it was first issued, did you?”

This was asked in a tone of voice which implied that such behaviour would be truly strange. Of course this is exactly what we had done, what we always do, what everyone does, surely? When we confirmed that we’d changed the number from the bank’s randomly-assigned 7813 to something more memorable she then asked

“And you have been trying to use the new PIN? Aha, then I see the problem! That is the wrong PIN. You must use the PIN that the bank issued, not the one you have chosen!”

All of this was said in such a way as to confirm, if it were needed, that everyone knew this and that we were obviously mad. Surely it makes sense for the bank to reset the PIN to their original choice when they issue new cards, overwriting any changes we had subsequently made. Really, the mind boggles.

Now we know to keep a note of the original PIN so that in three years time, when these cards expire and are replaced, we will know what PIN to use access the account to change the PIN back to one we can remember.

But none of this can happen until we can use these cards again which won’t happen until the bank is issues a PIN reminder, which they are happy to do for the princely sum of £10CYP (£12GBP, $24)!

Pragmatic Cyprus

There is, often, a pragmatic side to people here and it pops up in the oddest places.

A while back someone sent us a cheque. It was from the Laiki Bank, the second largest bank on the island.

As in the UK the account number, name and the like were printed on the cheque along with the branch name … which is where the pragmatic nature shines through.

The branch in question is in Larnaca, on the ring road that loops around much of town. It’s actually at one of the main junctions – with traffic lights – which is known locally as the Fire Station junction because that’s where the town’s big fire station is located. It’s often used as a landmark when giving directions.

Ok, you know the fire station on the ring road? Well, if you are driving into town from the motorway then turn left at the fire station lights and it’s the first block on your left sort of thing.

So guess what the branch is called. Go on, have a go!

Yep, that branch of Laiki bank is named, by Laiki Bank themselves, as the Fire Station Traffic Lights branch.

Rain

It’s raining for the first time this season. Yes, ’season’ is a daft word to use but it’s not the ‘first time this year’ since we had rain back in Spring. This is the first rain, well, since it stopped raining back in about March. So, the first in around six or seven months.

It started with a lightning storm a few miles north while we were out this evening. By the time we were home and had finished dinner there was fantastic sheet lightning around the house and now, an hour later, thunder and heavy rain. We’ve popped the fly-screens and closed the windows part-way (again, for the first time since late Spring) and are now enjoying the sound and smell of the rain on the garden.

Not sure we ever expected to miss the rain but this is lovely.