Two picture perfect days to round off Mick and Maureen's stay. Temperatures set firm at 30C, cloudless blue sky very light breeze. Yesterday we spent mostly around the pool relaxing and then in the evening we went up to Bellapais as the sun set and enjoyed the traditional Brandy Sours they serve up there and claim to have invented. Final dinner at Efendi which lived up to all expectations with wonderful food and atmosphere. I had the lamb shank again and it was superb. Today we had a leisurely omelette breakfast and then packed the car for the drive to Larnaca. They are very sorry to go and I know wish they could have stayed longer. The only remedy is to return again........... The journey south was very smooth, minimal border formalities and we arrived at the airport in good time. It took about 75 minutes at an unhurried pace. After we waved them goodbye we headed back up into Larnaca and had a look around. Had hoped to pick up some Filfar, the delicious orange liquer available down there but couldn't find any. We came across a LIDL though and went in for an explore. Obviously, being in the euro zone it was nowhere near as cheap as the north, but we couldn't resist a few things unavailable around Kyrenia: a large tub of taramasalata, some other salads, large packs of salami and ham (small packs in northern supermarkets), a massive tub of feta cheese. Wended our way home and got back about 2. Such a lovelly afternoon, I kept turning my washing around but just lazed around reading and enjoying the lovely weather. Tonight I decided to have a stab at making Brandy Sours. WOWEEE!!! They were so good! I print my recipe below. The name does not do the drink justice. They are not actually very sour at all. Belly pork for dinner, cooked in the oven and then a catch up on English TV played on the large screen via our IPAD. We have satellite services but as it is a Smart TV we can also download nearly anything or stream it via a computer and HDML cable. Not SKY though. :( The Brandy Sour 2 measures Cypriot brandy 1 measure sour lemon squash a few drops of Angostura Bitters Soda water or Lemonade Method: add ice cubes to glass add a few drops of bitters generous measure of brandy lemon squash top up with soda water or lemonade for a sweeter drink stir Drink and Enjoy! |
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So.... this is the difference between a holiday in Villa Rockheart and our stays in the villa :) Yesterday we had to run off and spend the morning doing admin things..... Today, we had to do housework and clean ready for new guests arriving tomorrow night. I have a large store of bed linen and towels so first of all a complete bed change, towel change, bathmats etc. When I'm here I can wash the towels in the washing machine. Bed linen goes off to the laundry. Not because I couldn't wash and dry it, but because I draw the line at the ironing :) Everyone likes nice crisp ironed bedding but it's a pain to do. There are lots of laundries here who do a much better job of it than me so...... Then vacuumed and mopped through. Bob emptied the bins, swept the terraces, tidied the loungers and pool toys. Rick, the pool guy came up and did his Tuesday clean and treat. It was hot so we had a lot of breaks in between all of this. And swims. And reads.... but by about 4 everything was ship shape.
Our nice man from Gunray car rentals came up and dropped us off the letter we need to take the hire car over the border tomorrow. We have to buy a special insurance at the border and this letter is necessary. It gives us permission basically. The insurance will be good for a month so we will have a few trips south to make it worthwhile. Downloaded more from BBC and ITV tonight and watched on the tv. Great to be able to keep up to date. Can't get Sky programmes. To get SKY in Cyprus you need a 1.8m dish and frankly I draw the line..... Houses that have them look like Jodrell Bank. So tomorrow we are driving south across the border and will visit ancient Kourion and have a day around Limassol before picking Mick and Maureen up at Larnaca in the evening. Now we are on our own again, it is time to attend to some admin jobs that needed our attention. First and foremost was to go down to Kyrenia and pay our tax on the rental income on Villa Rockheart. We have to do this every month, in person, (Marion does it generally), and there is much filing in of forms, printing of large receipts on triplicate paper and the visitation of different counters to complete the transaction! It really is like revisiting the sort of system we had in the UK back in the 1970s. As an IT person, I look around the room and my fingers itch. What a sweet project it would be to automate and network, webface these tax systems. Believe it or not, it has only been the last couple of months that you could pay with a plastic card. Before that you had to bring wads of cash. And everything runs on old computer terminals and many - many - dot matrix printers chuntering away. But of course, the whole place is a job creation scheme really. To bring in efficiencies would be to somehow miss the point. The TC government, like that of the Republic of Cyprus, and also Greece employs a huge percentage of the population and there really isn't enough for them to do.... so there is no incentive at all to make things run better. Anyway, we paid our tax which has just gone up to 13% of earnings with no deductions for maintenance or upkeep.
After that we went to see our lawyer. He was so pleased to see us. Maybe we were bringing him some business??? No.... Nothing new to report. All is well. Then we had breakfast down near the harbour. It was more like lunch really. Food just kept coming and coming. There was no need for lunch and probably dinner after that. This afternoon we swam in the pool and read and Bob filled in the cement around the new lighting box for the pool. Tonight we are watching various programs downloaded onto BBC Player and fed through to our tv. Strictly of course and also a new crime thriller. We still have a mass of dvds to watch. Our chap thinks he will have the Martian and then Spectre very soon!
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AuthorThe Boler family love travel, food and drink. Not necessarily in that order! The villa is our home from home which we love to share with our friends, old and new. Archives
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