War Horse:
Just got back from the film - everything I thought it might be - cliched, sentimental and essentially a children's film. Not bad, not great. Only one sequence stood out - when the horse, Joey, runs through no man's land and gets caught on the barbed wire. Otherwise not worth seeing - wait for it to come round on TV.

Tom and Viv

Trying to listen this morning to a strong play by Michael Hastings about T.S. Eliot and his first wife Vivienne Haigh-Wood, on BBC Radio 4, but am constantly interrupted by the central heating repair man, an Armenian who doesn't speak great Greek nor English. Bless him he has pitched out on Sunday morning, because the system has started a tympani of loud rhythmic banging each time it comes on. Probably needs bleeding for air or water, but we have no key and he can't find where his wife,   put his in his work van. She usually comes with him,a Chinese lady who is his working sidekick. So he and Costas keep tramping in and out with heavy sighs and manly grunts.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00g3ycd

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vivienne_Haigh-Wood_Eliothttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T._S._Eliot

Give me the radio anytime over the television - I spend too much time looking for something to watch, only to give up and settle for a re-run of comedy classics or the Good Food channel.
Radio 4 is a rich source of drama, arts, comedy, current affairs and factual programmes. It is my lifesaver.

Now for the less than happy news

It was also a year of sadness.

My darling father died in May, a dear friend, John Dyson, died in October and in December a close friend of Costas' since university, Michalis Mousxoudis, died. I don't have a picture of Michalis, but I do have of Father and John.
Lovely men who will be very much missed.

Away too long

It's been a momentous year for me - Sophie had the beautiful Alex in April and in October, Allan & Michelle did the big wedding thing here in Cyprus.
Now I am finally back to some serious writing and am in the middle of a novel writing course, which means I do have 'a work in progress' (WIP) which I am loving. My only question is why do I do my best thinking in the shower where it is really difficult to write the stuff down? The appearance of my dashing downstairs wrapped in towels and soap running down my legs is frightening the dogs. However, it is such a successful place for me to think that everytime I hit a snag - which is several times in any given day - I consider the shower and the inspirational power of a head full of shampoo.
I am starting another course, in tandem with this current one, in February, on 'Empowering Characters' Emotions' or something. I'm told by a trusted writer friend, the woman who runs these courses - http://www.margielawson.com/  - is well worth the effort as she loads you with work. But hey, at $40US it's a snip.

El Matador Restaurant

I'm trying to find details/info/memories of the El Matador Restaurant which was in Symonds Street. Anyone remember it?

Gregory Slui

http://www.endemicgallery.co.nz/galleries/gregoryslui/index.shtml

This is the Photograph I bought as my souvenir of New Zealand for Costas & me. It arrived today and is as beautiful as when I first saw it in the Endemic gallery in Roxburgh, South Island. I will get it framed and have also bought a print of Grahame Sydney's 'Auripo Road' to hang with it. Both images, one photo and one painting, resonated deeply with me and we were lucky enough, by sheer coincidence, to spend two nights with friends in Dunedin in what turned out to be Sydney's childhood home.
http://www.grahamesydney.com/index.htm
http://www.prints.co.nz/page/fine-art/CTGY/Artists_Sydney_Grahame

rail trail

Rail Trail

Here are a few pics from some of the trip - some are signs along the way which caught my eye, the naked one is how I hoped I would look after 4 days but definitely didn't. me at the highest point of the trail, the group (4 riders and 2 support crew), the Postmaster's House is where we slept the last night on the trail and where Freddy surprised us with a wonderful rose champagne to drink to our achievement.

dolphins, Kaikoura, NZ

This is in Kaikoura in the South Island, New Zealand where we went to see dolphins. Stunning day.

I will post other bits from the trip, as and when I get to them.

Nelson, NZ

L-R: Clancy, Mary, Sue, Jane &

Me L-R: Same but with Frederique

Frederique and Clancy

Roger & Alannah

Clancy & Father

Father & me at Jesters.

Frederique and I arrived in Nelson last Friday evening after a long trip from Cyprus. But we made it more bearable by drinking champagne every chance we got.

Nelson, at the end of the summer is lovely and the full moon hangs into the morning like a celestial eucharist wafer in the blue sky.

This week is about catching up with the sisters, Alannah & Clancy, and my Father. There is a noticeable difference in his general condition since I was here last year. Although quite well, he is more fragile, forgetful and has much less stamina.

The morning of the Tsunami warnings we were all on high alert. Clancy filled the CRV with essentials for a quick get away - passports, water and chocolate covered Anzac biscuits. But by late morning it was clear that warnings of waves up to 3m had downgraded to 'suges' then down to big tides. So we set off for Jesters Cafe for a spot of lunch.

http://www.jesterhouse.co.nz/jester.html

There Frederique fed the eels but thought they would be better feeding her - on the charcoal and served with a red wine sauce.

On Monday, we were meant to drive into see my father and go with him for coffee, but Clancy & Mary had gone off about their business and we could not find car keys. So we walked the 5 km into town and felt virtuous for the rest of the day.

We are getting ready for the big trip down south - lists of essentials for the first aid box, high energy snacks, water bottles, padded cycling shorts and all the leads & chargers technology demands these days. On Monday Frederique and I cooked for the cycling team so we could have our final pow wow.

Today we will meet Alannah & Roger at the Grape Escape for lunch:

http://www.thegrapeescapecafe.co.nz/INDEX.HTM

Tomorrow, Frederique and I will leave early to drive to Kaikoura for our dolphin watching boat trip. We will continue on down to Christchurch to stay the first of two nights. I will meet up with my Kiwi friends from Cyprus, Rebecca and Karl, to catch up with them, their babies and our lives.

Toulouse Lautrec in Limassol

On Saturday we went to Limassol and Frederique (my partner in crime for our trip to New Zealand) took me to the Old Town to see a rare and wonderful exhibition of the works of Toulouse Lautrec and the Belle Epoque. The exhibition was housed in part of the old carob mill museum and opposite the medieval castle. After we walked through the old town as night was approaching - quite magical. Later that evening we all went for sushi. Not really my cup of tea but I had a lovely rare beef dish with asparagus and mild wasabi sauce. The rest ate raw fish. Yuck.

Frederique at the museum of the Carob Mill. Cyprus in the Middle Ages was the world's prime exporter of carob.

http://www.limassolmunicipal.com.cy/castle/eng/index.html

Opposite the museum and exhibition is the medieval castle.

Inside the carob mill.

Pictures from the Toulouse Lautrec exhibition on in Limassol.

http://www.cyprusevents.net/events/toulouse-lautrec-limassol-2010/

After visiting the exhibition which was wonderful, Frederique and I walked through the old Turkish town of Limassol as dusk was falling.

Green Monday

Traditional sweet that you can't even buy in the shops. A pasta like dough rolled into tiny rings and cooked in the must of grapes. They are called Terzteluthkia, named after the metal ring behind the door pull of the old houses.

Papousosika meaning little shoes but we know them as prickly pears.

Our friends olive trees where the geese and turkeys run.

Eating, laughing, tale-telling and talking. One old lady when asked what she wanted to drink replied 'The water of God'.

Outdoor cooking area with traditional stove which gets sealed with mud and the meat and vegetables cook long and slow in the heat. An above ground Hangi for those Kiwi readers.

The octopus looking for space on the bench. In the foreground the white vegetable with spring onions is kolokassi, taro to us or Jerusalem Artichoke.

Pithari, still used for storage as well as decoration.

Breads with sesame and linseed, all made with oil and no dairy.

Kalamari, aubergines, salads, taramosalata.

Kolokassi, fassolada - bean soup

As promised more pictures.

Heroes

Hero is such an overvalued (or is it undervalued) word these days. But on Monday we were invited to eat with this family on the first day of Lent, officially known as Green or Clean Monday. No meat, fish or dairy permitted however octopus, squid, shrimps etc are. The old lady Kyria Alexandra was a patient of Costas and she adores him to bits. The house, outside of Nicosia belonged to one of her daughters who is married to a physician and they are friends of ours. Now the old lady and her husband are true heroes. They come from a tiny poor village high in the Troodos mountains. No money, no education. They had 7 or 8 children. These two worked and worked and worked to give each of those children university educations both at home and abroad. The old man worked his whole life in the mines. Kyria Alexandra did every job available to her, often several at once and including road digging. Every child is a professional, loving and well balanced and adore their parents. These are true Cypriots. The day was filled with laughter and love. No pretension, no airs, just simple good traditional food, everyone mucking in. The highlight for me was when we began toasting with a remarkably good village wine out of a plastic container. Eleftheria (meaning Freedom - the daughter in the picture with her mother) started to toast in the old style and it was carried on by others and the old man. The toaster charges his/her glass and makes up a poetic, often humerous ditty on the spot. And so it moved around the table.

I will post the rest of the pictures in the next post.