Hi everyone. Today the plan was to go to Trimiklini and spend the day with Aunty Mary and the crew. It was a reasonably early start, but we got there in about half an hour along roads that have been much improved since my last visit 20 years ago. Helen's car only just made it as it was horribly overheating again. I guess that tomorrow we will be visiting Perry the mechanic (again!!!) bright and early.
We had planned for all 6 of us to go to Omothos in Helen's car but with the overheating engine necessiated us using Ian's (Roulla's) car and it was too much of a squeeze for us all to fit. Aunty Mary insisted that she would stay at home and get lunch ready for our return.
We had planned for all 6 of us to go to Omothos in Helen's car but with the overheating engine necessiated us using Ian's (Roulla's) car and it was too much of a squeeze for us all to fit. Aunty Mary insisted that she would stay at home and get lunch ready for our return.
Aunty Mary's house is the first house in the village and situated by the road into Trimiklini. Apparently for the last 50 years, the mayors have all been from the one family and they have essentially neglected the needs of the village, using funds for personal little projects and some official grandstanding (yes, the ubiquitous new Merc etc). Well on the death of the last mayor, the new mayor has swept in with a new broom and begun a range of improvement projects like the building of the road retaining walls with that wonderful, local yellow-white stone. He has remade the footpaths in the main street and there are 2 community halls. He is dragging Trimiklini into the modern world. Ian took advantages of the piles of white rock that has been quarried for the municipal projects to rebuild a retaining wall. This is one of the many improvement projects (cutting down trees to reveal the mountains, planting hedges, roses and oleanders, fitting shelving......). The house looks very comfortable indeed and there are plans for a second storey with additional bedrooms, bathroom and a balcony, as well as a plan to buy another property in Pissouri, which is closer to the sea. With retirement looming and ian already semi retired, they plan to spend 6 months in australia and six months in Cyprus.
After a quick drink, we left Aunty Mary with the meal preparations and headed off for Omothos, a postcard village 15 minutes away. It has the same tortured, winding streets and lanes as Trimiklini, but where much of Trimiklini looks derelict or at least neglected, Omothos looks dressed and ready to welcome the tourist dollar. Lanes wind seductively up and down hills. Every second shop has a vine shaded courtyard with a scattering of the traditional wood and rattan village chairs to tempt the weary visitor. every other shop is like an open glory box with home-made laces and other handicrafts just begging to be taken home. When we can try on no more bangles and beads, when we have had our fill of icons and hand made glassware and laces, it was time to head for a cafe for Frappe (iced coffee) or my new favourite, chilled grapefruit.
Soon we were heading back to Trimiklini, but not before stopping to see a couple of donkeys tethered by the side of the road. do you remember yesterday's promise not to eat?.., well I forgot too. Aunty Mary had a meditteranean smorgasboard ready for us and we tucked in for all we were worth. Under the new verandah with a beer in hand was the perfect way to sit out the hottest part of the day.
Helen and I succunbed to the local tradition of the lunchtime siesta, but not before going down to the local shops to complain about some shoddy goods that Stella had bought. She had bought a 6 pack of Cds, only to find that 5 were missing when she opened the pack. The local shopkeeper tried to reason that now that we had opened the packet, we could not return them. Well you can imagine, that we were less than impressed, and argued our point with some insistance and not a little volume. Being a relative seemed to make no difference to the bozo behind the counter.
Aunty Mary had an appointment with her tennant at about 4pm, so when he and Uncle Andrew arrived, Stella, Helen and I took the opportunity to make ourselves scarce and take a tour of the village. Yes, we really are related to everyone in the village and Stella and Helen made me stop and meet every one of them. Stella took us by to see her Dad's house and it's hard to believe that 55 or so years later, a primary-school friend would recognise her, but a white-haired man did. stella still remembers playing in the street outside the house only to be suddenly confronted with a small herd of cows being driven up the hill and terrified, taking refuge from their horns behind a gate.
We hiked up the road behind Aunty Mary's house to our house and took the opportunity of the tennant being at work to have a look at it. Helen did a great job of managing the urgent repairs with the money she had, but there is still a huge amount to do. I was green with envy when I saw the stunning renovation being undertaken a few doors away...The building is being totally reconstructed with moorish arches and vast rooms. The walls are bristling with electrical wiring and insulated water pipes ready to be hidden.The whole roofspace is a vast terrace that gives glorious views to the nearby hills. In keeping with the rustic luxury of the design, a vast open fireplace nestles into what will become the living room. This is truly a grand design. Maybe some day we...
We wound our way through the back blocks, finding the houses of distant relatives, stealing cactus fruit (ouch, OUCH..yes Helen did warn me not to touch them, but when have I ever listened to cautionary tales), and finally ending up back on the main street. We went through the old church and saw the ancient icons, and found ourselves in the cemetary where Grandmother Stella and Grandfather Efklidi are buried. Helen and Stella stopped to dutifully tend the buriel plot. then we cut through the kentro which was overflowing with people of all ages. in the middle of the throng was the local priest (who everyone insists on telling us, has a hand with six fingers). Yes, even he is related to us. We swing past the local shops and call hello to the mayor's wife. She is sitting outside, hand shelling wallnuts harvested from the tree behind her. These she sells at the roadside market fringing the road in front of the Kentro.
Feeling very dusty and thirsty we arrive back at Aunty Mary's house. The negotiations for the next 2 years rent have been concluded and everyone looks happish with the outcome. Ian has refilled the radiator and we are ready to head for home. Helen checks her phone to make sure she has the number of the tow-truck...with all that has gone wrong with the car recently, she is on first name terms with the guy that hauls the car away (and his wife).
It's almost dark by the time we get back to Limassol, but we only stay at home for a minute as we have to deliver to Aunty Pola the purse she left in Helen's car yesterday. This is no quick affair as she is visiting a neighbour who isists we must go in and have some desserts (yes, plural). We stay there until cousin Xenia arrives. She has spent the day to and fro from hospital as a friend has been taken ill. Xenia, her husband Evtho and children are very lovely people..warm, welcoming and generous...yes, we must eat something and have a drink. Savva their son is a great playful bear of a guy. He is quite an actor from all accounts, but a realist, he is off overseas to study refridgeration mechanics. It's always good to have a second string to your bow. He horeseplays with Aunty Pola, and we look on terrified as she is quite an elderly woman.
Evtho is an ambulance driver so we take the opportunity to take some further advice about my spots. As we sit and chat, an ambulance wizzes past bristling with lights and sirens.. people shout hello to the driver, a mate of Evtho's. It must be interesting to be on first name terms with all the ambos. It's an hour and a half later before we leave. Luckilly it's not too far from home, and a shower, and more calomine lotion.
Oh my God, its well after midnight and I'm still writing. I have to go to sleep...Good night everyone. Love, Lily
