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.

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.

A Room with a View

Earlier this week we were walking up in the hills not far outside Larnaca.

The reason for the hillside trek is a post for another day but while we were there we stumbled across the ideal property for us …

… quiet location … no neighbours … good views … potential for improvement … room to expand …

What more could we possible want from our next house?

Ok, a door and a roof would be good and more than one room might be an advantage but still, just look at the views!

Looking south towards Larnaca & the coast.
The light area in the distance on the right is the dried Salt Lake

Looking west into the hills

While we were looking a pair of eagles soared above, presumably checking up on what we were doing in their neck of the woods. A friend saw them a week or two ago and thinks they are Imperial eagles, sadly they didn’t come close enough for us to confirm that.

Maybe next time :-)

Health & Safety be damned! #2

The house next door has been part-built for at least a year and a half now. A father is building it, on weekends only, for his daughter as part of her dowry. From time to time she turns up to inspect the latest work, or to deliver boxes of tiles she has selected for the bathroom, or to compare paint colours for the outside of the house.

Over the last few weeks things have been getting a little busier particularly with regard to the external electricity box.

It has been made, measured, removed, extended and measured again. Then someone appeared on Saturday morning to chip out the concrete directly above the box – it seems the measuring might have been an important part. Next someone came along to measure out the newly chipped section, and noticed that it was neither square nor straight. He was followed by someone to fix a holding piece of timber to the back before the frame was fitted and then removed, and then re-fitted by someone else before the door was finally hung.

Surely, in the whole history of house-building, an electricity box has never had such attention?

Aradippou’s most pampered electricity box

We saw a dozen people on eight or more occasions working on this. Then we decided life was too short so we stopped counting and went to the beach instead.

Anyway, with all this activity we knew that it was only a matter of time before the electricity board appeared to connect the house to the local supply. On the plus side this would mean that the builders would no longer need to ask to plug their kango drill into our supply – yes, we were a little surprised by that one too. On the negative side we expected to lose our power supply while they hooked the other house up and since we didn’t expect to get any notice we envisaged problems in that the washing machine or something would be bound to be on when that happened.

Well, it turns out we were wrong. Why bother turning off the supply when you can just shimmy up the nearest electricity pole and add a new connection. Why fuss when you have all the protection that three pairs of gloves can supply?

Putting on the second pair of gloves. Are they marigolds??

When we saw the palm-tree trimming going on we thought that was mad. Obviously it was just a warm-up for the main act.

Safe to go with three pairs of gloves protecting him against electrocution

Earthquake Update

The US Geological Survey say it was magnitude 4.3, approx 6 miles below ground with the epicentre about 10 miles from us. The European Mediterranean Seismological Centre originally stated 4.1 magnitude but have downgraded that to a 3.5. They put the epicentre less than 5 miles from us.

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsww/Quakes/us2007gpbw.php

http://www.emsc-csem.org/index.php?page=current&sub=detail&id=54334#

Earthquake maps, generally, seem to make for scary reading! Click on the thumbnail for a larger map showing local activity.

Earthquake

Just had a minor earthquake here, at a little before 11pm our time, 9pm BST. Still waiting for the official numbers but it felt smaller than the one last autumn which we think was about 4.5 magnitude.

All OK, no sign of any damage. Still, a very odd experience.

How Green is My Island?

We are continuing to realise that Cyprus is a place of contrasts. One small example …

Take the following rooftop photograph – representative of pretty much all of all rooftops in Cyprus. It is incredibly, and wonderfully, Green!

The large white object is the main water reservoir for the property. We are told it holds a Ton of water although the supports don’t look strong enough to do so. The smaller grey-ish tank is the hot water supply for the house and the two rectangular black plates are solar water heating panels.

By 9:00 am in the summer, courtesy solely of the sun, our hot water is scalding and stays so until well after dark – and then it doesn’t cool much. This situation lasts for around 8 or 9 months of the year. Even across the late autumn and early spring months months the water will slowly warm during the day. All houses come with an immersion heater for hot water but even in our first winter we used it for about 30 minutes in the morning – and this was probably only for two months in deepest winter.

All in all, very Green, and environmentally friendly.

The opposite end of the scale, which we will not illustrate, is the penchant of the populace to dump unwanted household items anywhere in the countryside where they won’t be caught in the act. For sure this by no means the exclusive preserve of Cypriots, but this is an island which is about the size and population of Norfolk: and the countryside is heaving with abandoned rubbish.

In truth the bin men come three times a week, but they will only take away bagged up household waste – not your dead fridge. So far we have found no organised way to dispose of such items – maybe this is the root of the problem?

It’s not only the general populace either. A recent newspaper article concerned an open Council rubbish dump which is located about 200 yards from a spectacular piece of coastline: a key tourist attraction. Four years ago the Government recognised the inappropriate nature of this and committed to close and green over the dump. So far, the press report, there isn’t even a plan to do this.

Decidedly non-Green.

Heatwave

Right now we are in the middle of a heatwave. Mid morning today it is 40 degrees celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) outside, and a fairly warm 36 (97 degrees Fahrenheit) inside the house with all of the doors and windows wide open.

We are now on about day 5 of this with the temperature not due to drop for another three days, and only then by about 4 degrees. For us the killer is that we have no air conditioners. Last week, as the temperature started to rise we gave in and bought ceiling fans for a couple of the bedrooms. We hoped that these would move the air and keep the bedroom cool at night. Well, last night it was 37 degrees just before midnight as we headed to bed. Overnight the outside temperature didn’t fall below 30 degrees all night.

The weather is being talked about with a mixture of bafflement and outrage. This is August weather! seems to be the chant of the moment. August holds a special place in the hearts of all Cyprus residents. The temperature and humidity are significantly higher, no surprise there, but people change much of their behaviour to deal with the heat. For some it is just too hot and they leave the island. Many offices and government departments close for a large part of the month. All building work stops and all tradesmen down tools. The end of July is a time to get jobs finished off, or cross your fingers if your new-build house is close to completion, because if it’s not done by the start of August then it’s going to be a long wait.

The locals cross the road to walk in the shade. People get up early to get shopping and other errands done by 10am, before it gets really hot, and then siesta for a few hours in the afternoon. Normally quiet and peaceful neighbours, including some of ours, invite family round and sit outside on the balcony or patio in the spot with the best breeze and drink coffee until 2 or 3 am when the temperature drops. Whole families head to the beach for a day, or the whole weekend, complete with the obligatory plastic chair. The chair is essential … it is taken out into a foot or two of water and positioned carefully. Granny, fully dressed in her ankle-length black widow’s dress, is then led out into the water and sat on the chair. She will sit there quite happily all the day, cool at last.

But that is August weather and this is still June! According to the press one person died on Monday and a number more ended up in hospitala yesterday. We retreated to the beach – not to get a tan but because the sea breezes usually drop the temperature a few degrees. We spent the day alternating between enjoying the shade of the beach umbrella and the light wind and swimming in the sea.

At six pm we finally came home and wilted on the breezeless patio just waiting for this to break. Our entertainment for the evening was watching our, Cypriot, neighbour installing an air-con unit for the master bedroom – at 11pm. While he was perched on a step ladder on the upstairs balcony measuring and drilling fittings for the brackets his wife sat downstairs in the garden, tapping her foot with impatience.

Reading the reports of the weather in England just makes our weather seem even more strange. Hopefully only a few more days of this, for us and for them.

Contrasts

We had visitors from England last week. For one it was their first time on the island in about eight years, for the other it was their first ever trip. We managed to cram a fair amount into the week, including a good amount of beach time. For the time of year the weather was ok, but not great. In fact their last day was overcast and a storm was threatening. They flew back to England on Bank Holiday Monday, to some of the worst May weather in years.

Late Monday afternoon they emailed to say that they were home safe, had unpacked and had been to the supermarket for groceries. On Sunday, their last day, here we had a picnic on the beach. On Monday they were at home having soup for lunch and wearing sweaters to keep warm!

Sorry guys, the weather has improved since you left – 33 degrees C today but looking a little cooler for the rest of the week. Thanks again for coming over.