Seaside at Limassol

Before Aunty Mary left yesterday, she organised for Ian to swing by and take me with them to the beach. To go off without a guilty conscience, I got up ultra early and got into the corrections. To my utter suprise, the year 9s had written some decent poetry. Having got through the correction and comment, I retyped some of them and sent them off to Lakeside for the next newsletter. As I was on a roll and Aunty Mary was not expected until 11 or so, I also got a chance to get into the year 11 Macbeth essays. They needed quite a bit of editing before being uploaded to the Open Mind blog: http://lillianleptos.blogspot.com/
Helen had a job to do with Dox after the school run...no, not the supermarket..a visit to the local monastry to get some gifts for Dox's friends back in Aust. Apparently the priest who sold them the religious trinkets was the same one that christened Danae.


Aunty Mary and Co arrived soon after and whilst Helen flew off to the municipal office with Ian, Aunty Mary got to work breaking open a bagful of pommegranate.
It was about lunchtime before we set off. Helen doesn't like the beach so she stayed home to do jobs (yes, and the school pick-up) whilst we headed off to Lady's Mile beach. It is a very stony beach and you do have to drive through some very industrial territory strewn with container trailers to get to it, but once you are down there, and have settled yourself into the lounges, its very pleasant. We could see the old Limani where our cruise ship will depart from next monday.
Di, Ian and I took a long wander along the stone jetty, and then when we got back to the cafe, we all stripped off for a plunge into the most lovely warm, clear water.

There is a real character down on the seafront. Pelican Pete is very tame. He has his own surfboard that he climbs on top of and has free range of the deck chairs. There is a little pen for him to go into when he's had his fill of pats from tourists. He does this wonderful trick. If you throw him a little pebble, he catches it in his beak and very deliberately places it in a neat little pile. If the pebble falls from his mouth or the placing is not just-so, he persists until he gets it just right.

Aunty Mary was a sight in her floatie ring. She loves the sea, but is afraid to go in without a couple of girls close by. We stayed in for about an hour, then towelled off before having a lunch of calamari, chips, salad and dips on the waterfront. Very nice indeed. What a shame Helen wasn't with us.
Danae had wanted to be dropped off at her dad's work after she had been picked up from school. By the time we got home, Helen was exhausted with doing housework and driving about. All she wanted to do was to lie down. This is Helen's night for going to a talk at the church. I wouldn't mind just vegging out at home. Oops it doesn't look like that might happen. Con (Lefky's godmother's son) has just rung up. He is in the army (?) and in Cyprus for a week. He wants to catch up with Helen...
I'm getting into the pool thing...no, not swimming in it, cleaning it. I keep going down and checking whether there is any debris to be scooped out or seeing if the filter traps need emptying out. I have it pretty clean now, but I'm working at getting the cloudiness out of the water. Ian says that the filtration system is a bit ancient. the new ones have much more straightforward management features. Today I learnt how to backwash. the first purge came out black so I'm assuming that it hasn't been done for some time. Good on Ian. Without him the pool would have still been full of silt.
I don't seem to have done much but I'm really feeling like a siesta. Off I go for a nanna nap. I'll keep you posted, Love, Lily

Having a day in

Hi everyone.

There was no plan today other than Helen helping Di with a bit of business. In preparation for buying a property, Di has to get a local "identity". This involves presenting yourself with a lot of ID to some administrator and jumping through all sorts of hoops. Last time she tried it, she took along Christo, a solicitor from the family. It took a lot of brown-nosing and a half a day of hanging about in govt offices, and in the end, nothing happened. When Di told Helen, Helen said she'd handle it. You can imagine there was a lot of scoffing, but to everyone's utter amazement, half an hour after Helen went into the office, the emerged with 3 copies of a local birth certificate and all the ID application completed and processed. Di spent the whole afternoon elated and aghast at what she'd managed to achieve. We all agree that Helen should set up a bureau for doing this sort of thing. She has great personal contacts and is a fixer par excellence.

Aunty Mary had been parked at Aunty Lito's house for the morning and when the business was over, she was picked up and brought over. We had a lovely lunch under the pergola...a chicken curry with rice. While the business of selecting tiles for the terrace at Aunty Mary's house was being undertaken, Stella and I stayed at home. Apparently, this selection process involved visting various houses and a church where the tiles had been laid. While Helen, Di, Ian and Aunty Mary were fighting it out with the traffic, Stella and I were cleaning the silt out of the pool, scrubbing it with a brush and constantly unclogging the filter which was filling up with the seeds and leaves that had blown in. In another life Ian had installed pools and was well aware of all the intricacies and idiocyncracies of the creepy crawly. By the time they returned, we'd improved it 100% and well deserved the swim.

Once the guests had left Helen and I got to work with jobs. She dealt with inside cleaning and I wrestled the sucker-blower out of the shed and gave the terrace a going over. It's still hot even though its nearly 6pm now, but we've both had a shower and are ready to wind down and put our feet up. I'm feeling guilty about not having done the year 11 correction yet, so that may be on the agenda tonight.

Well, must go now. Keep you posted. Love, Lily

Digging up the past

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.

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

All in the family

Ok , I'm going to dazzle you with my genealogical knowledge gathered from a day deep in the trenches of recent family history. Today, we met up with all of uncle Andrew's crew.

We went to church just down the road from the cousins' apartments. They all had a floor in the same building, but Roulla has moved out to some other, hyper luxurious pad. They asked us to go and bring Aunty Pola so she could catch up with everyone as well. It was a terrific day.

Andrew and Lito have 4 daughters (Lito a pharmacist, Roulla a doctor, Maro a dentist and Lefki another dentist).

Lida is married to Christo (solicitor), and have 2 children (Petro and Lito, both lawyers, with Lito married recently to Mario, also a lawyer)

Roulla is married to Christoforo (an orthopaedic surgeon) and they have 2 children, Emilia who is studying business and Andrea who is studying music and business.

Maro is married to Andoni (a dentist) and they have three children, Andrea, Alexandro and Dimitri (a doctor).
Lefki is married to Harri (a dermatologist) and they have two children, Electra and Nichola.

Well all that is pretty impressive I think (no, not all that academic success..I'm talking about the fact that I, a person with a sieve for a memory, remembered all that information. But seriously, these guys set the bar pretty high, don't they! The best thing is that they are very nice to boot. There is a positive tidal wave of success but there is not a whiff of arrogance or pride. I think real class is about being talented but unassuming.

The day began with morning tea after church at Maro's . It began a high calorie day, and quite frankly it continued the same way. We stayed on variously chatting until the full clan could assemble in the early afternoon for lunch. We moved from Maro's apartment up to Lida's to a spread that could only be described as a scaled down wedding feast. There were so many of us that we had two long banquet tables set up: one in the kitchen and one in the dining room.

Roulla and Lida are identical twins with the same hairstyle. They are both terrific people, very keen to please and set us all at ease. They took pity on me as I am covered (seriously covered) in a massive carpet of bites that have swollen into welts. They are as itchy as buggery. Lida gave me various creams to tackle the itching and to stop them getting infected.

Roulla is dropping in tonight with some pills to help the welts to subside.
Maro is different both in appearance and I think in nature to her twin sisters, but just as nice. the sister that I think is quite different, is Lefki. In general stature she is very like Ginny (but dark haired rather than blonde). Lefki looks only about 5 years older than her teenage daughter and has a high fashion edgy apperarance. In her direct, take me as you see me approach, she reminds me of me.

As it happened, it was Stella's 60th birthday today and so we took the opportunity to celebrate that at the same time. There was impromptu cake and candle (one was enough as 60 might have necessitated a visit by the fire brigade). Helen was hacking at the cake with a carving knife when Christoforo's cool professional eye could see that a more precise surgical approach was required. Yep, he did carve up the cake but seeing his concentrated deliberation as he dissected it into small sections left me with an uneasy feeling. Suddenly those glistening chocolate balls started to develop anatomical qualities.."do you mind if I have the palooze (grape custard) instead?"


Having everyone there was an opportunity to watch Lito's and Mario's wedding DVD. We piled into Petro's room, thinking that only a handful of us would be watching, but in the end it was like fleapit cinema with bodies squeezed in everywhere. It looked a very happy affair. We saw Helen dancing up a storm. Christo, the bride's dad watched from the doorway, and it was wonderful to see on his face the same loving pride he had on his face on the wedding day, as he sang to his daughter about how beautiful she was.

We finally left sometime after 3 and delivered home a very happy and beaming Aunty Pola. Like the rest of us she'd had an excellent day. Aunty Mary's clan came over to Helen's so that I could help Ian with the downloading and saving of his digital images. We are striking up a real friendship. While he was there I showed him how to resize images for easy emailing. In return, he got the creepy crawly going as a lot of silt has ended up in the pool and it does not look very welcoming. One hand washes the other as they say.


Tomorrow we are off to Trimiklini (again with Aunty Pola). The plan is to catch up with the sights and sounds of the village..yes, and maybe a few rellos too. I am seriously going to try to go without eating tomorrow..I feel I have enough reserves to last a month.

Roulla has just come by with the pills and some more cream, so I'm off to the shower to try to take the fire out my bites. Helen is downstairs with Dox and her children. Ela the cat is driving me insane. He is deperate for cuddles and scratches. If I don't give them to him, he bites my toes under the desk.

The latest on the bites is that I look like the calomine kid (covered from top to toe). As well, I have antiseptic cream on all angry spots. I'm wearing a topcoat of insect repellant. Helen has plugged in a mozzie killer and the aircon is on to drive the little beast out. The final precaution is the mozzie coil which is smoking away in the corner...oops, I've also taken an antihistamine pill. Overkill I hear you say...well you haven't had to suffer two days of incessant scratching!
Well, must go now. keep you posted. Love, Lily