Househunting in the snow

Today we’ve been househunting in the snow.  Hmmm, doesn’t make a huge amount of sense to us either.  

 

A friend sent us details of a house he thought might interest us, and on paper it did.  Perhaps a little on the small side, perhaps a little further out than we intended, but on the positive side it was on a large plot and was keenly priced so perhaps there was the possibility to extend it a little.

 

So, today we drove out Lefkara way to find the village to get a feel for what it was like and how easy it was to get to and from.  These villages are up in the hills and can be disproportionally tricky to get to.  They also tend to have their own micro-climate, more so the higher up they are.

 

Anyway, we hoped, but didn’t assume, we’d be able to find the house and see what it’s location was like.  Since it’s only being used on weekends at the moment we thought we might even get a chance to get close without disturbing the owners.

 

Well, we found the village and then spotted the house.  

 

Our first surprise was the lack of formal road.  There’s a mud/gravel/concrete-in-parts track which, considering the hillside is around a 1 in 6 slope, could be challenging at times.  

 

Surprise #2 was the water supply.  The entire supply appears to be laid above ground in flexible piping.  The piping extends through the outside area (it might be a little much to call it a garden!) to water the weeds and fruit trees.  

 

Surprise #3 came in response to a lighthearted joke.

 

Hey, it is connected to mains electric, isn’t it?

 

No prizes for guessing the answer to that one.  It turns out the closest telegraph pole sits in the garden of the next house down the hill.  It looks like the folks selling bring a generator with them when they come to stay. 

 

And finally, surprise #4 was the weather.  

 

We expected it to be colder in the hills … this would actually be an advantage in the summer … and we’d even mentioned here that there was a bizarre forecast for snow this week.  We just didn’t expect to end up in the middle of a little snowstorm in sunny Cyprus.  

 

Very light, very fast moving snow, but snow all the same.  Oh, and we don’t think the house is really built on a game reserve, but who knows?

 

 

 

So, should we buy the house?  Needs a new road, connecting to the electric board, replumbing, solar panels, a small extension, and a small herd of goats to keep the weeds down.  

 

Oh, and we haven’t even seen inside the house! 

The Salt Lake II

More photos of the Salt Lake, this time on a grey and windy January day.  

As in England, the weather is a regular topic of conversation here.  The last week has been warmer with a few bright sunny days.  On days like that it’s possible to sit outside, protected from the wind, in just a t-shirt.  Once the sun drops though, the temperature falls quickly.

Earlier today the Cyprus meteorological service were predicting snow on Tuesday but we think they were just having a mad moment.  They’ve now updated the forecast to showers and thunderstorms.  Less interesting, but much more likely.

Meanwhile, the Salt Lake photos.  Both were again taken from the high ground on the south side.  The first looks east towards Larnaca, the second towards Tekke Mosque and Stavrovouni in the far distance.  Still only a couple of hundred flamingos in residence.

This linked page has photos taken from similar positions in previous months.

26 January 2008 

 

Weird Rumour of the Day

Pink Floyd to play in Cyprus?  In the middle of the UN buffer zone??

 

The Cyprus Mail are reporting this as a real possibility.  

 

“Although no definite confirmation can be made, it is now looking more than likely that the group will be arriving to give a concert in the Nicosia buffer zone on May 9.  As one of the most successful rock bands of all time, the London boys achieved worldwide success in the 1970s with the progressive psychedelic rock of The Dark Side of the Moon, followed by the albums Wish You Were Here, Animals and The Wall.

 

The organisers of the upcoming event are trying to make sure that details are finalised before they make any official statements. They do, however, confirm that negotiations are currently underway, and that the band should hopefully be playing on the Green Line in a show similar to the one given in Berlin in 1990, less than a year after the destruction of the Berlin Wall. Played to a live audience of 250,000 and a television audience of 500 million in 52 countries across the globe, the show took on historic proportions.”

Yet more oranges

The orange-fest continues.  

 

To date we’ve been gifted around 40 Seville oranges by friends who have a tree outside their house.  They are happy that they have finally found people willing to take them, in previous years this has proved to be a challenge.  This year another friend is making marmalade and we have sent a bag of empty jam jars in her direction and are hoping for a filled jar in return.  With the rate at which we eat marmalade a single jar should last us a year!

 

This week, since it is Ian’s birthday, we had offered to take something food-wise to a regular gathering of people.  What on earth could we make/take that would feed fifty, could be eaten standing up, in a field, probably in the dark and without making a mess?

 

Yeah, we got rid of some of the oranges ;-)

 

Syllabub for 50, garnished with slivers of zest and served in small plastic cups was the order of the day.  

 

Generally it went down well although there was a slightly odd reaction from a brand new member of the group.

 

The male of the couple was busy helping himself to a second portion when his wife screeched at Mands …

 

That’s my pension you are jeopardising!

 

Apparently she was concerned that the double cream would cause a heart attack, kill him and then rob her of a stable financial future aka access to his pension.  Not a bad day’s work for 100mls of cream really. 

 

She then went on to say that we should have added oats to the mix as it would have “improved the flavour” and that raspberries would have been better than oranges because then “it would have been more Scottish”. 

 

Since we are in the middle of the Med and overwhelmed with free Sevilles neither of her suggestions made an ounce of sense.  However when we pointed this out she became distracted by the notion of Seville oranges and demanded to know where they had come from.

 

She would very much like some, she said, because “they are so wonderful and sweet and so much tastier than normal oranges!”. 

 

For those of you who have never tasted a Seville orange there is a reason why they are used for making marmalade.  Using the same volume of sugar as oranges goes some way to offsetting the overwhelming sourness.   

These oranges were, at some time in their evolutionary history, crossed with lemons … or perhaps battery acid.  We nibbled on a small piece of zest a couple of days ago and are still waiting for the sensation to return to the taste buds involved.

 

Anyway, new rude mad Scottish woman thinks they are sweet!

 

Meanwhile we’ve been finding other uses for the remaining oranges.  A friend suggested that she’d made an orange version of Limoncello … which got us thinking.  Wouldn’t it be lovely to be sitting on a sundrenched patio sipping a tiny glass of chilled orange flavoured limoncello equivalent?  A little searching established that such a drink existed, called Arancello.

 

So, we spent a happy afternoon paring the zest from some of the oranges and stuffing placing it gently into bottles of Zivania - the local fire water.  Only time will tell whether it is any good … more news in due course!

Meanwhile, feel free to learn from our experience.  There is a knack to zesting and paring.  Once you have the knack it isn’t too hard (note orange on front right of plate).  Until you acquire the knack it seems to be an awful lot of effort for little return (back right!).

 

 

 

 

 

Cold … but Orangey

These first few weeks of 2008 have been cold. Very unlike the rest of the year, but not entirely unexpected for the coldest and darkest months here in the northern hemisphere.

But Cypriot houses aren’t always built for warmth and, often, have little in the way of insulation. Since our rental house is built of concrete blocks and finished in plaster the wind not only whistles through gaps around the doors and windows but through the walls themselves.

Oh, and we have no heating.

Actually, that’s not true. There’s no heating installed in the house. Theo, the landlord, had some interesting ideas as to what was necessary and what wasn’t when finishing a house.

On the “Not Necessary” list was things like … heating … air conditioning … curtain poles.

On the “Necessary” was … a fitted kitchen shipped out from London because his wife was bored with it and wanted a new one … fitted wardrobes shipped out from London because his wife was bored with them and wanted a new ones. Hmmm, is there a theme there do you think?

Of course, the detail-orientated among you will realise that fitted cupboards and wardrobes are unlikely to fit in more than one location. So the fitted things …well … they don’t actually!

And, to add to the interest, it seems Theo forgot to mention to the electrician that these things would be arriving. Had he know it’s possible that he’d have put light switches and the like in different locations. No matter, there’s always a practical solution if you look hard enough.

And really, we’re getting used to opening kitchen cupboards to turn on the lights.

Anyhow, back to the heat. Theo didn’t install any so we’re making do with a portable gas heater downstairs. Most folk here have them to suplement their regular heating. Not sure we’ve found anyone who has just a heater to heat a 2,000 sq ft open plan house though.

We’ve given up trying to heat upstairs, particularly since it is often colder inside, than out. In the height of the summer we couldn’t get the heat in the bedroom below 37 degrees (99 degrees Fahrenheit). Right now, the bedroom is about 11 degrees (52 degrees Fahrenheit) and is unlikely to get any warmer until the weather changes. Thank goodness for thick fluffy duckdown quilts!

On an entirely different note remember the comment about getting more Seville oranges? Well, on Monday we saw the givers-of-the-oranges for the first time this year. Mands had hardly finished thanking them and saying how wonderful they were when she was handed another carrier bag full.

We’re starting to get the impression that they are looking for folks daft enough to be able to think of uses for yet another couple of dozen Sevilles.

Not to worry though … it wasn’t really dozens … when we counted them there were only 23!

Luckily we have a cunning plan. We just need to track down a local supply of Everclear or similar …

The Salt Lake I

The Salt Lake is a major landmark in Larnaca and is also a great reminder of just how much the environment and landscape here changes through the year.

Apparently the lakes are fed by seawater – which is why they are salty – but when the weather is too hot the water evaporates and the lakes dry up, allowing the salt to be harvested. Today the salt is no longer harvested and, instead, the lakes are a haven for local and visiting birdlife. Most well known are the flamingos, who arrive with the first rainfall and leave as the last of the water disappears, but other birds make it their home too.

Below are a couple of photos from late December. Both were taken from the high ground on the south side of the lakes. The first is looking eastwards across the lake and towards Larnaca proper, the second shows Tekke Mosque on the right and Stavrovouni in the far distance.

This linked page has photos taken from similar spots during previous months, we will try and update it as the year goes on.

Clicking on the photos should give a slightly larger and wider view

26 December 2007

26 December 2007