Almost exactly a year ago, the amazing water pipeline between northern Cyprus and Turkey opened. Since then the reservoir has been filling, the pipes have been rolling out (literally) across our part of the island, the politicians and councils have been arguing about who was in control of the water..... yes, well..... some things are the same the world over. It's been a bad year for water in Cyprus. A very dry winter last year left the traditional cisterns and reservoirs very very low. In the summer, our village ran out of water and we had to have tankers to the house for July and August, there just wasn't enough to run the house without it. Then there was.... none.... This is unimaginable to someone coming from the UK or from northern Europe or the USA. But, the southern and eastern Med. knows that water is the new oil, a precious, precious commodity to be cossetted, treasured and never wasted. When we arrived in September, the situation in our village was better but not by much. We had water 3 days a week and the pressure was low. Perhaps, I should clarify! The house has constant water supplied from a massive (20 tonne) tank situated under the swimming pool. This tank is attached to the main, and it is this "main supply" that was only on three days a week. House users don't even notice there is any difference between the supply here and the constant pipeline they are used to back in the UK. However, the short supply of water means that our garden tank and the swimming pool top up tank had to be supplied by tanker. Mains water was too precious and in too short a supply to be used for plants or swimming! It wasn't a question of paying for it - our water is all metered. There just wasn't enough water on the island to make this a viable solution. Until..... the new water arrived!!!! Yes, a couple of weeks ago, the unmistakeable signs of a new supply were noted. First, a gang of men arrived and stared at our water cistern (a large tank that supplies our four houses from the village supply). They then announced that new pipework was about to be put in place that would deliver "unimaginable water flow and pressure"!!!! This was a bit alarming. Would this "unimaginable pressure" result in our rather pathetic looking plastic water main rupturing in numerous fountainous leaks???? Would our existing pipework be overwhelmed???? Our anxieties weren't exactly relieved when we saw the workmen deploying said new pipework a few days later. they dragged huge rolls of it up the hill behind their vehicles, allowing the plastic rolls to gyrate and swirl like demented pythons in their wake. Heaven help the hapless hiker coming down from the mountain at that point.... it could have resulted in a nasty one way trip down the ravine!!! However, we are now all connected up and it's wonderful! The pressure is much higher, although hardly likely to rupture anything. We have water on supply to the house 24 x 7 and that is unheard of. Bob has reworked the pipework from the mains outlet so that once more we have mains delivery to our garden watering tank and to the swimming pool topup pool. We haven't had that in place since 2007! The belief is that we will never need tankered water again! It's going to make a huge difference to the garden which will now be able to grow year round instead of going into a sort of heat hibernation through the summer months. We will of course still urge our guests to be cautious with water and not waste it. We ourselves use a washing bowl in the sink and use that water to water pot plants. But.... cliche or not.... water is a miracle.... and we are very thankful that a miracle of engineering has brought it under the sea to our house. |
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JA very exciting day because we had a call from Mermaid Fabrics to say that our curtains, chair and cushions were all ready for delivery. That was quick! I couldn't believe it. So we drove out to their showroom to see them and settle up. Really delighted with the work and with the price. They do a fantastic job and even deliver it all free of charge too. I think we had the whole lot done (including 6 cushions for the outside dining chairs which I haven't taken a picture of for some reason!! for what it would have cost to re-upholster the armchair at home. And I can't stress enough what first class work they do. The terrace furniture cushions are not only covered but they have changed the filling in them to be more "full". I must admit they had got a bit "squashed" over the 4 years since we shipped them out. The armchair is covered in a green material that feels like suede but is apparently very hard wearing. And the curtains match the ones in our living room and are all fully lined and weighted. Just hope our guests like everything as much as we do.
After the delivery, we set to hanging the curtains and deploying the cushions. Had to take some pictures. Next spring when we come out I am going to change the blinds in two bedrooms and also the kitchen too. Just because our holiday home is in a holiday location doesn't mean it's not subject to the same update needs as a house back in the UK. In fact it seems to have more needs than our house back in the UK. The standard of Cypriot build, the weather, holiday use all mean that we find ourselves with a host of diy and update jobs waiting for us whenever we visit. This autumn one of our jobs is to update some of the soft furnishings. Our terrace sofa cushions need recovering with new weather resistant fabric, the terrace dining chair cushions also need this, we need new curtains in the formal dining room and our favourite reading armchair in the lounge needs re-upholstering. So we have had a run out to our favourite fabric and sewing shop, Mermaid Fabrics, in Catalkoy, to get everything chosen and ordered. The shop is an amazing, huge Aladdin's cave of all sorts of fabrics and trims and it is run by a Turkish Cypriot family who hail from London. There are a couple of senior ladies in charge who are just so helpful and know all there is to know about re-upholstery, curtain and blind making. As well as selling the fabric they have a workshop to make everything and it is a fraction of the price it would cost in the UK. Even with the falling pound. They were their usual helpful selves and we had a great time choosing. They will send their van to pick up the chair and cushions on the 7th November after our last guests have departed and then about 10 days later we should get it all back again, recovered in spanky new fabric. Plus our new curtains of course. Can't wait to see that, so expect pictures. When we come back next May (probably) we'll update curtains and blinds in two bedrooms and also the kitchen and that will mean we've done the whole house in the last couple of years. Who wants to do laundry when you're on holiday????? Well, you might if you are holidaying with babies, children, sporty types or hikers... So, of course we have a washing machine for you to use. Or not. As you like! But it does give you the choice. It's one of the advantages of staying in a villa rather than a hotel. You have access to a machine and it's free of charge. It also gives you the option of washing all those dirty socks before you travel home rather than face the festering and depressing pile on your first day back. We don't have a tumble drier because quite frankly for 10 months of the year it would be totally redundant. Instead we have a portable clothes drier and a line under the car port. You have to dry in the shade out here. Drying in the sun would result in faded, board hard clothes. It's not the UK. So, this week our 14 year old washing machine finally gave up the ghost and we bought a new one. The old one certainly didn't owe us any corn and I hope the new one goes on as long with so little trouble. We are rather excited with the new machine. Quite apart from all the modern features, it comes with an instruction manual in English and also all the buttons and controls are in English. This is just sooooo much better than the old one which was only available in Turkish. We had to translate the controls and then leave a translation for guests. Not terribly convenient. The nice men from Vestel installed it this morning and it is currently underway with its first load. One of them carried it in strapped to his back in a harness rather reminiscent of a Sherpa climbing Everest. They delivered and installed as all part of the service with no extra charge and even took the old one away FOC. There was no sucking of teeth or veiled hints of tips for any of this. So, we gave them one anyway. I know it's not as exciting as telling you we have installed a 60 inch curved screen tv. But on the other hand, faced with that suitcase of dirty laundry.... you might just disagree!
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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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