Long legged birds

Sorry blog followers, that we haven't done a blog for a while. Some of you thought that was it all over with. Well we're happy to say it ain't. We're still living and working in Cyprus and life is very good indeed. But we have a plan. And that is we're now going too ............................................ Ah, you'll have to "watch this space" to see what we do next.

In the meantime here is a little update on our wonderful life in Cyprus.

Chris and Tony from Beverley came over for a couple of weeks. Great to spend some time with them. We took a little road trip down to Paphos and Polis. We've got a great book of places to visit in Cyprus that are a little less touristy and maybe off most peoples radar. A kind of "a road less travelled" type of guide book. So on our way we stopped off at a couple of wonderful little, out of the way places. The above photo is from a little ancient village called "bugger can't remember the name" ("bugger can't remember the name" is a strange name for a village hey?). Anyway it's a world heritage site and was worth the effort of getting there. A small place with about 40 old houses, some habitable others in need of refurbishment. It looked as though only 2 or 3 of the house were occupied so it would be ok for those kind of folks that can't get on with their neighbours! There was a bar though. In the picture are some old pots. We're still "on a mission" to find out what these were for and how you used them. They don't have a hole in them or a lid. So how do you get stuff in and out? Answers on blog please.

Our friends Chris and Tony outside one of the houses in "bugger can't remember the name" village.

Now this was funny. We had another friend (Chris Ryall) staying with us for few days. So we took off on another little road trip. We've now only got a 2 seater car, so challenge number one was getting 3 of us in it. Fortunately Chris is tiny, so we squeezed in and took off to the occupied north. It's actually correctly referred to as The Democratic Republic of Northern Cyprus (a country only recognised by Turkey). Anyway enough of the background stuff. How did this little fella get in the picture? Well, we were driving East from Kyrenia and missed a turning we were looking for. So we found a place to turn round and there we see a very interesting looking, but abandoned, building site. It looked as though this place was going to be a hotel. Garry climbed over the wall to explore. Fab looking place. The hotel had been cut into the cliffs and the rooms would have had spectacular sea views. Then, this guy (the one in the picture above) makes an appearance. This was his patch and he was not happy that some random stranger had wandered in (Garry did wonder why the walls and fences around the site were so high) so he got his angry face on and made a charge. Fortunately Garry being the athletic type was able to out run the beast and get back over the wall before it all kicked off. Also, fortunately, Alison being a bit of a happer snappper was able to get picture of big bird showing his angry face and flexing his muscles.

Cool hey. Having a big pigeon as a security guard.

On the same road trip with Chris. You pay your money and make your choice. For 1 Euro you can have a dodgey video or an even dodgier moggy.

Blimey this picture goes back a few months. Right now it's too hot for mountain biking but this was a while ago. We were following the route of a hash (a walk/run route of course) round some mountains near the small town of Agros. This is the area where they grow roses and make a very popular rose water drink. Again a lovely day out but somehow we got it wrong as we couldn't find any of the hundreds of acres of roses that are supposed to be in this area. At this point in the photo, Alison had gone off on foot to reccie the route. Garry (still being the athletic type) had had to carry both bikes up a steep, narrow, un-rideable path and in the picture is riding up hill and pushing Alison's bike. Is he hard or what?

Easter BBQ with our neighbours. Angelos (the one on the left of the picture) and his wife, Maria, are the most fantastic neighbours. They're very generous and are regularly feeding and entertaining us. Thanks Angelos and Maria.

Same BBQ, Maria is on the right of the photo and is just threading a little Souvlaki. Angelos and Maria make the best Souvlaki (pork Kebab) on the island. Just a pity Alison is veggie. But then they always do something magnificant for her as well.

We've now got Television. This is the guys putting the cable in for it. A very sophisticated high tech set up. You want TV? Well you just get in touch with one of the many providers (well any 1 of 3) wait 5 or 6 weeks and then they show up, lob a cable up from the telegraph pole and plug it into the TV. Simple hey. Who needs all this digital nonsense?

Some countries are little over regulated and get hung up on minor details. This is just an example of why we love Cyprus so much. You see on this road there's double yellow lines so you can't park on the road. Never mind just park on the pavement instead. You see Cypriots don't get hung up on minor details like parking regulations.

Just to prove the above isn't a one off. Just further along the same road this guy has done the same thing. I reckon this would work a treat in England. What do you guys think?

On the road trip with Chris and Tony we visited the Tomb of The Kings just outside Paphos.
Garry decided to check out one of the tombs for size.

Kolossi Castle near Limassol - would make a great party venue. Must remember to buy a lottery ticket.

Is this the photo that explains the title of the blog "Long legged birds"? Well possibly, but no it isn't actually. This is Wednesday night, girlie night, in the Royal Standard in Beverley. Alison was back in the uk for a few days and was able to catch up with some friends. All beautiful birds but "Long legged" could be stretching it a bit. The average height round this table is probably 5' 3" and 7/8ths.

This is where, if you're brave you dive in, if you're not, you jump in. Lovely water in the sea caves.

More long legged birds. These are the ones that explain the title. They are really shy (unlike the birds in the Standard) and we only get to see them early in the year on the salt lake. Amazing colour!

For keen cyclists, this is one of the targets to aim for. Stavrovouni Monastery, right at the top of a hill. 45 minutes to cycle up and 7 to come down. For some reason, our brakes seem to have worn out. Yes, it's really steep.

WOW. NOW FOR THE HILITE OF THE YEAR. NO SORRY, HILITE OF THE DECADE OR MAYBE EVEN THE CENTURY.

A note from Garry below.

Kenny Quinn, a good friend of mine had a birthday with a 0 (thats a o or a zero) on the end. His wife Mariann very generously organised tickets for Kenny and I to go to the British Formula 1 Grand Prix. Now these were no ordinary Formula 1 tickets, oh no, they were the full monty. We were in a hospitality unit, with champagne and food etc etc right on the pit lane entrance. It would have been impossible to get any closer to the action. On the Saturday we had Johnny Herbert (an ex formula 1 driver and a real nice guy) spend some time with us. He was very surprised to see his old mate Kenny Quinn there and commented on how nice it was to bump into him again! Sunday, race day was just fantastic. The best day at the track ever. So a big

THANKS to Mariann.

Kenny, thanks for being patient and listening to my boring stories about living and working in Cyprus. I really enjoyed catching up with you after such a long time. Now, when Mariann has a birthday with a zero on the end if you want to get her tickets for the Grand Prix I would be very happy to escort her.

Thanks again to you both. It was a very special weekend indeed.

Remember I did say we were very close to the action. This is Jenson Button walking away from his car, at the end of the race, having just parked it outside our hospitality unit.


And this is Heikki Kovalainen getting out of his car after the race. Close to us or what hey?

The man himself. My good mate Kenny Quinn with a brace of Bugatti's. He was trying to decide which one went best with his hair colour. Was it the polished metal one or the blue one. I told him he should just order one in tartan and be done with it.

Good bye for now.

Garry and Alison

We're loving it!

Hope you all had a great Christmas and New Year and the weather did not disrupt your plans too much. We have been having a good time and still enjoying life in Cyprus. A couple of little examples of what it is like here :

one day out shopping it decided to throw it down. Not being equipped with brollies or waterproofs, we were in danger of getting a good drenching, when a lovely lady (complete stranger), stopped her car and gave us a lift right up to our door step.

another time, in similar circumstances, ie loads of rain, Alison's bus driver took her off his route, all the way to the petrol station where she was being picked up. The lady at the petrol station sat her down and provided a nice cup of coffee whilst she waited.

So, there are some fab people around.



Here are two of them! This is Garry and Santa in the toy shop that Garry works in. He wouldn't let him sit on his knee so he had to sit next to Garry. We both worked very hard on the run up to Christmas in the new shopping mall and it was good fun.

Christmas Day was a welcome day off. We had the Full Monty on Christmas morning, including champagne, smoked salmon, scrambled eggs and presents. Garry's mum will see Garry is wearing her present and smoking Alison's.

We spent Christmas Day with Angelos (centre) and his family, who had invited us to Nicosia with them. We had the most marvellous Christmas dinner and they sent us home with the hugest doggy bag ever.

Here is Angelos sat on his mummy's knee, like a good little boy!

This was Boxing Day at the sailing club. Everyone contributed to the food and gave a present for a raffle. The sun was shining, it was nice and warm (although not warm enough for us to take a dip) and a lovely day out.

Sunset on Boxing Day at the Sailing Club. We spent New year's Eve in a local bar and bumped into some friends and had a good night. We cooked our own Christmas Dinner on New Year's Day (another day off!!) with port and stilton and fell asleep in front of the telly in true Christmas day style.

Anybody ever seen one of these before - white peacock. We were out cycling for the day when we came across this.

Another day out - Alison making the jump?

We have used the mountain bikes as much as possible and they have been tested on some very difficult terrain. Great fun - makes you smile! Thanks Liz and Kate for sending the bikes.

Another day out cycling and we found some guys playing with their new toy. It is a home made radio controlled truck and could climb the most amazing boulders.

We had a day out up on Troodos Mountain. Chris and Tony may remember the tennis courts at the visitor centre. Well this snowman is on the tennis court.

As you can see, it was a lovely blue sky with plenty of snow. It was even quite warm. It was a bit weird seeing snow where temperatures average in their 30s.

We even managed to do some cycling in the snow up Troodos. regular readers of the blog may remember the phrase "we got it all wrong". Well, we did this day with the cycling, as we cycled downhill on the tarmac and uphill off road. Still, it was lovely to be up in the mountains, with the snow, the blue sky and the push bikes.

From having no transport at all, we now have 4 bicycles (we sold one), one motorbike, one scooter and we need a pink carnation to go with our latest vehicle. Can you guess what it is? A big thank you to Angelos and Maria for providing us with this much needed transport. We promise to look after it!!

Things have moved on bit with work and Alison is now a lady of leisure, or "resting" if she were an actress, anyway she is on the dole.

We are currently thinking about our future and starting our own business along with some other options. Any suggestions are very welcome.

Bye for now

Garry and Alison