June 1st: Today felt rather oppressive,
and we all seemed lethargic. It was hard to be motivated to do
anything, although I did manage to water both front and back
gardens early in the morning. I expect to have to do this at
least once a week now for the next three or four months.
To our surprise, by lunchtime
the sky had clouded over, and there was a pleasant breeze. We
started to hear thunder - presumably over the mountains. Then
a few drops of rain! We didn't suppose it would last long, and
indeed the first shower didn't. But then we had some serious
rain - about half an hour of it, sufficient to leave large puddles
in the street, and to wash all the dust off the plants and trees.
This must be a 'first' for June. The sun came out afterwards,
and the air felt clearer, although there was the first hint of
the humidity that we'll soon expect every day, as the water started
to evaporate.
In the evening we went
to a goodbye party in Nicosia. People come and go here frequently,
and it's hard to make long-term friends. This was a Finnish family
we'd met through our home education gatherings; they are shortly
returning to Finland.
June 8th: On Monday I debated whether to
get out my shorts or stay yet another week in jeans. I decided
to try the shorts - it's June, after all, and I've delayed them
a month longer than usual. It was a good decision. Through the
week the temperatures rose a degree or two each day, so that
by today it's nearly 30C outside in the shade, and the house
is feeling extremely warm. Again I watered the garden thoroughly,
early in the morning, but we have no expectation of rain today.
I found the second cockroach
of the year this morning; again it was dead, thankfully. I hope
we're not going to have a major infestation this year: I can
no longer find the shop that sells the poison we're supposed
to pour down our drains, into the septic tanks, every three months
to kill them. Our landlady told us that if we didn't use that,
we would be overrun with them. I really hope she's wrong. I never
much liked using this vicious poison which is covered with warnings
of danger ('no antidote') but it certainly killed cockroaches,
who would crawl out of the cracks in the concrete over the septic
tank and then die.
As for home education,
we're winding down for the Summer. The boys are still working
on some of the NCSC
coursework, but probably won't start any more new workbooks now
before the Summer. The big advantage of this system over some
of the other American curricula I've heard about is that there's
no particular time limit, and no set requirements for each year.
At one point we had thought Daniel might complete level 1 (equivalent
to 5 GCSEs) by this Summer; now it seems more likely to be Christmas,
and by then he will have made a good start on the level 2 work
as well.
16th June: Back from the home educators'
camp! At one point it looked as though all seven of the tents
would be occupied, but in the few days beforehand, three families
had to cancel, for various reasons, then one more cancelled on
the day, as a child had a high fever. So in the end there were
only three families at the camp - however we had a good time,
and enjoyed getting away from the towns for a couple of nights.
Four of the very old and rather mildewy tents had been replaced
this year by brand new ones, even including mosquito netting
at the doors and windows. In fact mosquitoes are not too much
of a problem at camp, as it tends to be cooler; instead we were
somewhat plagued by tiny 'no-see-ums' (as they're colloquially
known), tiny black insects that leave a very itchy bite.
While the children were
mostly happy to play on the swing, or in the sand, or go for
walks, or simply relax with a book, we did have three organised
activities: on Saturday afternoon we did some country dancing;
on Saturday evening we had a camp-fire, with songs, Daniel's
now famous 'Thethil was a caterpillar' adapted for Cyprus, and
toasted marshmallows. On Sunday morning someone organised an
excellent nature workshop.
25th June: The weather seems to have settled
to a steady 30-32 in the shade during the daytime, down to 20-22
overnight. Not too terrible, but we're using the a/c in the living
room for a few hours eachday to cool us down and keep the computers
working. It isn't yet too humid... apparently 74%, but it only
feels slightly sticky. By the end of July it's usually nearer
94% and most unpleasant. The grass of course is now brown and
withered, as it's not rained since June 1st, but the weeds keep
growing, unfortunately, so Richard cut the back garden with the
mower
yesterday evening - it was too hot for me but he likes this weather.
It made quite a difference - I hadn't cut it since the last week
of May. I hope now it will stay reasonably neat for another month
or so. I'm watering the fruit trees about once a week, but watering
the rest of the garden would take hours and consume far more
water than we're supposed to, even though there is now officially
plenty of water for all, with reservoirs at 57% and the desalination
plant working. But we're still encouraged to be reasonably careful.
Daniel has a lot of rehearsals
for the play now: about three last week, then nearly every evening
this week. He generally goes there on his roller blades, the
fastest and simplest form of transport for him! Yesterday was
the official public holiday for Kataklysmos - Greek Orthodox
Pentecost - so Richard took a day off and there were no play
rehearsals. At the weekend the boys were both away camping with
the youth group and some American Bible college students who
are here for a few weeks. So life is as busy as ever even though
most activities have closed down for the Summer. I don't think
I've quite taken in that it's only just over 10 days till we
fly to the UK, although I've been spending a lot of time researching
travel options around the UK. To our surprise, trains (on Virgin
Lines) seem to be cheaper than coaches now. So as the drama group
will be travelling into London from Heathrow, it may be best
for Tim and me to do the same, then catch a train from Euston
to Birmingham.
30th June: At the end of each month I go
out early to pay the various utility bills (phone monthly, electricity
bi-monthly, water tri-monthly!) and post a cheque to our landlady.
However this month when I got to the electricity authority building
- less than five minutes' walk from our house - I saw to my amazement
that it was shut. Not just closed, but empty - rubbish on the
floor, and a notice outside saying that it had moved! I went
to pay the phone bill, wondering if we'd missed an announcement
in Greek - perhaps something that had arrived with the electricity
bill, and I had assumed was junk mail? But no.. on my way back
I saw quite a crowd of Cypriots gathered outside the electricity
authority building, gesturing and talking loudly, obviously just
as puzzled as I was! I went home, and phoned the number on the
bill; several people tried to describe to me where the new building
was, but it didn't sound like somewhere that I could walk, particularly
in June. Eventually I was given a postal address where I could
send a cheque, so I did that.
This past week the boys
have finished the last few workbooks they were working on, and
put them away thankfully for a couple of months. At the end of
each one is a test, which I have to mark; once a year we send
completed tests, with a list of results, to the NCSC board in
the UK. So I've packed up all completed modules for this year,
updated the record sheets, and got them ready to post when we're
back. I've also sent a large order for most of the workbooks
we'll need next year, to be delivered to my parents in the UK,
since that will save considerable postage, taking advantage of
their 10% off discount offer during June and July this year for
large orders.
Last night there was an
inter-church beach picnic at McKenzy beach, the beach next-door
to the aiport. There was no drama rehearsal for Daniel, so we
all went. This is an annual event which usually attracts a fair
number of people from all the English-speaking churches of Larnaka.
It was a pleasant evening - several people went swimming early
in the evening, and the water was lovely and warm. Someone had
brought several trestle tables, which were soon piled high with
vast quantities of food, and we all enjoyed a protracted meal,
chatting to various people from our own and other churches, finally
leaving about 9pm when it was getting dark.
times since 7th June 2002