Inside This Month's Magazine: Issue 21, August 2008

On July the 27th, the first batch of sportsmen and women from the Cyprus National team left Larnaka, headed for Beijing and the Olympic Games. Altogether, there are 18 team members seeking those ever-elusive Gold Medals.

An impressive number of athletes from a country which is small in both land area and population, according to the Chinese ambassador to Cyprus, Zhao Yali, [who incidentally speaks fluent Greek, having completed his university studies in Greece!]

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Twelve years of pain, but no bitterness.

We all know we’re not immortal. But most of us have the basic expectation that our children will outlive us.

To lose a younger family member to illness is tragic. To lose them to senseless violence could all too easily lead to bitterness and calls for revenge.

But there are people who can rise above that. And who continue to abhor inter-communal or intra-communal strife. Who look to reconciliation and what’s best for the future. Even when the long-term effects on the family and the community have been immense.

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Take a 1,000 year old village, preserve its quaint narrow streets and old stone built houses, add a venerated and spectacular monstery, sprinkle it all with star dust and you have OMODOS!

Nowhere in the Troodos Mountains offers the attraction that Omodos can and does.

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Henrietta had been busy all day and now she was tired and dragged herself wearily up the ramp to the henhouse. She poked her head in and all was quiet as her companions dozed after a hard days laying, scratching and scraping. Tip-toeing to her box she jumped up onto the front, shuffled the straw around until it was to her liking and lowered herself in. She wriggled around to get comfy when a tiny voice with a Scottish accent shouted from underneath her.

‘Oi, can ya stop doin’ thaat!’

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Hello dear readers! It ain’t ‘alf hot and in our household we have committed ourselves to a summer of stewing nicely in our own sweat as we decided to forgo installing air-conditioning downstairs and go on a break to Vienna instead! Those who have been reading my diary for a while may remember that we have a knack for having disastrous holidays, but I am pleased to report that Vienna was a success and I would highly recommend it as a short break – especially if you enjoy making out in public as everywhere you look there are couples, both straight and gay, in passionate clinches – on the tube, in the parks, in the cafes – I suspect anywhere but the bedroom by the looks of it!

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Some time ago you answered a question about the return of VAT on property. Can you let me know how we apply for a VAT refund? more..

The mind is incredibly powerful and every mental image which we allow to take full control of our mind tends to affect us. This can be in many areas of our lives including health, the way we feel about ourselves and our wealth. Some people have the ability to leave a conversation and move on whereas others will go over and over what has been said, they also tend to be very visual and see the replay in pictures.

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he rising role of health and fitness in our island lives is well evident from the recent influx of fully qualified instructors, experts and therapists, and the consequent broad diversity of classes, treatments and services. However if you don’t know what’s going on in your area, the promising world of health and fitness is not a great deal of use. Fortunately one entrepreneurial businesswoman has taken our little island a giant step forward by developing her unique Paphos dance shop into an on-line information point that features dance and fitness classes island-wide.

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"Wish your brother was collecting your Uncle from the airport" I grumbled to Maria, my wife. "Can't we phone him and ask? The cloud is so heavy and low, it's obvious we are in for bad weather and you know how dodgy these mountain roads are!"

Maria was already in the car, ready and waiting. "Don't be ridiculous, he lives in Agros, we are so much closer and besides, Uncle is expecting us."

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I hope that, like me, you are reading this on your sun-bed by your pool or at the great big swimming pool that surrounds this beautiful island. Take some time off from the normal ‘I must do this and that by a certain time’ routine and enjoy the reasons that you came to Cyprus. Sun, sea, weather and the time to enjoy yourself by relaxing a bit more so the article is being kept simple this month – no heavy reading while you relax.

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Weddings in Cyprus is an ever-growing industry. Important issues like costs, locations, weather and guests play a prominent role in the final decision.

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Here’s the choice. Would you rather contribute 10% of your earned interest each year to the Cyprus Government for defence, or earn a much higher return each year saving the planet?

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A Sight Hound

This magnificent hound is everything in what is apparent as glamour. He portrays elegance with his graceful long front striding movement. An eye catching dog, his sheer beauty has been captured in movies, and much sought after to have lying around the home as a possession to add sophistication to the décor.

The Borzoi dates from the 16th century, and was referred to as a Russian wolfhound. Developed in Russia by the Czars and nobility, his aetiology probably stemmed from Egypt, when the Greyhound was taken to Russia. more..

“A young man was arrested yesterday following a Drug Squad sting that uncovered 11.5 kilos of cannabis. The bust began on Tuesday night and spanned the Larnaca, Paphos and Limassol areas…” (Cyprus Mail, 17 July 2008).

This appears to be another small achievement by law enforcement agents in a recent spate of highly publicized successes in the quest to control drug taking and trafficking. Of course, this information about winning some battles against the “smack culture” (we use the phrase to mean not just heroine use but all illicit drugs) is, for most law-abiding citizens and particularly the administration and enforcement of criminal justice, much encouraging news.

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I should confess at this point to three significant flaws in my character.

I own a caravan

A lot of my best friends are Morris dancers

I am, and have been for close on 50 years, a plane spotter

I could go on at some length extolling the benefits of (a) - I get to see lot of different people and places and (b) - good ale, good company and good music, but I will confine myself to justifying ( c ) with a certain smugness having just returned from the Plane Spotters’ Paradise of St. Maarten in the sunny Caribbean where it is possible to do any one of several things.

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Our next project was going to be a "tied necklace". I couldn't fathom out how that would work, I knew it would have to be on cord, or ribbon or even leather, but how did you get the beads in the right order and tie knots as well? more..

Don’t you just love your swimming pool? The joy of rising on a spring morning, the sun beginning to shine through the trees; the birds singing at the prospect of a wonderful day; and of sliding into the cool still water (no need for a pump at this early hour to disturb the neighbours or wake the wife). To leisurely dog-paddle a few lengths, easing the tensions of yesterday, cleansing the body and mind ready for whatever today has to offer, and then just to float for minutes on end in the benison of clean, clear water.

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Very Good News for Beginners

As I write this month’s (August 2008) article on a new, free, professional quality word processing program called ‘OpenOffice.org _Writer’ it struck me that here was my topic for this month. I know that most of us when we beg, borrow or even buy our first computer can barely afford to pay Mr Gates for the full blown ‘MicroSoft Office suite which is the global standard ‘Office’ software. more..

Why are some Cameras better than other Similar Ones?

This is a good Frequently Asked Question (FAQ). I ask it myself all the time – for part explanation of the reason read the following:

Photographic Quality – Pixel for Pixel

There will be times when, comparing results of your photography with other people’s, you will question why photographs taken in the same conditions on the same outing are much better from one person than another although the cameras appear to be similar. They both may be 6 MegaByte compacts with 4 times optical zoom lenses set to landscape, autofocus, and white balance correction and yet one set of pictures can be clearly seen to be better than the other. Why should this be?

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Some of you may be old enough to remember the music hall ditty ‘I’m a lonely little petunia in an onion patch’. It always comes to mind when I am dead-heading my ‘Million Bells’ petunias. I am not really a fan of petunias but do realise their worth in planters and hanging baskets. ‘Million Bells’ are something else! I have a pink one which has been flowering since mid-April. It is a single plant in a large terracotta pot and has grown to at least a meter wide. It has had literally thousands of flowers since then. When I potted it up straight from the garden centre, I put it into fresh compost with some slow release fertiliser mixed in to it and I try to water it a little every day. more..