Day 8...

Well I am sat here this evening feeling nice and fresh and clean after a shower, just about to do some serious damage to one of Dad's brandy sours, listening to bee eaters singing outside.  This isn't one of my photographs, I have yet to get near enough to catch one, but they are beautiful and their song is very distinctive so you know when they are around.  (If you double click on the picture it will enlarge).

Today John and I had earmarked as an admin day - we are still very niaive about the ways in Cyprus because it had to be an admin morning because if you want to speak to anyone in authority you have to be there bright and breezy because they aren't about in the afternoon! 

We started out with the granite man as we had to pay for the worktops that were fitted.  John asked whether they would be able to make chopping boards out of the offcuts left from cutting the holes for the sink and the hob.  They are going to do that as a 'gift' - can't imagine that happening in the UK!  We have also decided to go for a granite splashback about a couple of inches high between the worktop and whatever tiles we choose and they confirmed that was a good idea and just needed the measurements. 

From there we went to the Citizens Advice Bureau to find out what we needed to do to register now that we are here permanently.  We were directed to the Immigration Office and we are booked in on 16th June, we have a list of documents we need to take with us so we hope to god that they come over safely in the container or we are going to be snookered.  We are 40 and 41 on the list for 16th and were given a time of 10.00am which we think is very optimistic and bearing in mind that the Brits are the only ones who queue we will need to take a book to while away the time and sharpen our elbows to make sure we dont miss our slot.

From there we found the insurance company so that we could get a cover note for the car which we pick up tomorrow and to arrange for our contents to be covered when they arrive.  It was all very civilised with Olga (an English speaking South African Cypriot) making it easy for us as she filled in all the paperwork whilst we sat drinking coffee.  John was very pleased to learn that his SP30 collected when picking Mum and Dad up from the Airport at Chrismas was 'nothing' - my misdemeanour of shooting a red light at the bottom of Westfield was viewed as much more serious but fortunately fell outside the three year limit!

We then ventured on to the Electricity Board to try and get some sort of timescale for having our own electricity supply (although as electricity is expensive maybe we wont push it too much whilst someone else is paying for it!!!).  They were queuing outside the door and I hadnt realised that the queue was for paying bills so was somewhat embarrassed when John marched straight in - well when in Cyprus I guess...  Actually he was heading for a different department and spotted the girl who knows about our case.  She directed us to the engineers in a building further along the road.

I think I made a good impression in the engineer's office because at one point the man we were speaking to picked up the phone - I thought he was ringing the electrician Savvas who had been up to our house last week - but realised he was ringing the man in the office behind me asking him what coffee he wanted.  I didn't understand much of the conversation but recognised the word Skerto so I asked for a Metrio and he was somewhat taken aback but quite impressed!  Anyway it is all progressing "siga siga" (slowly slowly) as they have to make sure that the electrics comply with the new 14-16 standards (whatever they are!).

Final stop was at the gasman to check on the progress of the part required for the gas fire.  It is on order and will be with us at some point - we wait to see when...

We picked up Mum and went to meet up with Dad and his walking group who had been walking around the Droushia area and were eating at the Taverna called Karithea which is just down the road from our house.  Dad belongs to two walking groups and these are the younger ones!  It seems that everyone had a good meal.  John tucked into a pork chop Desperate Dan would have been proud of whilst I went for a vegetarian option of stuffed peppers.

We did a quick trip up to the house via the WI post box and were so excited that we had four envelopes.  The pension people have found us which is a comfort and we had three lovely New Home cards, a really beautiful one from my sister (the one on the right) which will probably be recycled at some point in the future - the other two equally lovely in their own way from Soroptimist friends Lorna (and Tim/Jim) and Thringy (Sue Thring) - it is so lovely to know that people are thinking of us.  Whilst at the house we took the time to prepare some walls ready for painting on Wednesday and John picked up the granite offcuts which we took back for shaping and finishing - these and the splash back pieces should be ready on Thursday.

Final picture for today is the view from our garden down to the bay... are you jealous yet?

Back at home we emptied the Vitara as it is being traded in tomorrow.  Having checked the laptop we had a number of emails from people at home.  It is lovely to hear from you all.  Once we are in our own home I promise to reply individually and with more than just a one-liner. 

John has just been down the road to pick fresh lemons to go in our Brandy Sours - they are the size of the grapefruits you have in the UK and smell absolutely wonderful.