March 3rd: Daniel is involved in more activities
than ever, and currently out six nights out of seven usually,
as well as three or four afternoons. His drama group (Antidote
Theatre) is rehearsing a major production ('Nuts') which will
be shown in several locations around the island. He has quite
a big part - not that any of the parts are small - and they are
having three rehearsals per week at present. However he's enjoying
it it, and doesn't mind walking there and back if Richard is
busy or out. It's a good 15 minutes' walk across town, but Daniel
enjoys the exercise.
Yesterday, some of the musical Christian home educators had an
extra 'music' day in Limassol, with two other local musical couples.
Various people played pieces for the rest of us to listen to,
and then they had a lengthy period of 'jamming', hymns and other
Christian music. Tim was on the keyboard most of the time, and
did pretty well; Daniel played his clarinet. Tim now sight-reads
almost anything in 'Songs of Fellowship' and similar books. We
didn't get back till about 9pm.
It had been a busy weekend,
since on Saturday there was an inter-church film, following a
potluck tea. We saw 'Brother Sun, Sister Moon', the early life
of St Francis: an excellent film. As their school in Birmingham
was called St Francis, they'd heard quite a lot about him, but
not the whole story of his early life and conversion, and how
he started as a monk.
March 24th: My parents have been out for a fortnight that
went by extremely fast. The weather stayed pretty good on the
whole - not too hot, and only one day when it rained. About 18-20C
during the daytime, most days, though a little chilly at night.
As they've been here three times before they'd seen just about
everything of interest, and really wanted to have a bit of time
in the warmth/sunshine and to see the family.
One morning some men arrived
to look at the rusty water tank. They talked a lot in Greek,
then told me in faltering English that they would be back to
give us a new white tank 'maybe tomorrow'. This was early March.
Two weeks later, they still hadn't arrived! But then 'this is
Cyprus...'
We went to the little town of Lefkara one morning, home of the
traditional table linen made with beautiful embroidery - they
call it 'Lefkara lace'. It's expensive, but lasts a lifetime.
My mother bought a table runner; my father opted out as it wasn't
particularly warm in Larnaka, so we thought it might be colder
still, and possibly raining in Lefkara, which is some way up
in the mountains. In the event it was windy but reasonably sunny
- by the time we had missed the turning, driven almost into Limassol,
and turned back again!
One Saturday afternoon we drove into Ayia Napa, the seaside resort
that's infamous for nightclubbing and singles in the Summer,
but pretty much deserted at this time of year. We walked along
the beach for a while, then stopped for a yogurt ice cream. One
morning we went out to Kiti beach where my father and the boys
built a huge fort in the sand, with a moat, as they do each year
(so it's now a tradition!) and also did some kite-flying. That
was a beautiful morning - probably the best weather in the whole
fortnight.
Last night Daniel was playing in a band concert at the municipal
theatre, in celebration of the two national days (25th March
and 1st April, which celebrate various times that Cyprus threw
out oppressors). Unfortunately for us, the first 40 minutes was
taken up with speeches - all in Greek! After that the actual
concert part was only half an hour or so, with three very good
pieces by the band, and one or two where they were accompanied
by the municipal choir. Then there were a couple of choir pieces
without the band, one of which had a tenor soloist.
March 28th
After two weeks of pleasant
sunshine, we experienced one of the dramatic weather-changes
that are becoming more familiar. On Sunday it was grey and windy
by mid-morning. On Monday it was grey all day and distinctly
chilly, to the extent we got our our fleeces again. I had put
mine away for the summer, or so I thought! On Tuesday the sun
came out for an hour or two, then it was grey again, and still
chilly - no more than about 18C, I should think. On Wednesday
it rained all day - the British-style rain that's very good for
the gardens, but not very nice for our friends from the UK to
arrive in! And then, for some reason, the mains water went off
all day - for the first time in ages.
Then this morning it was sunny (though cold) until about 10.30am,
then it came on to rain torrentially, with hail for about ten
minutes - more than we'd ever seen here! The whole garden was
covered in white. We stood outside and watched for a few minutes
and it got cold enough that we could see our breath. There was
thunder almost continually so we had to turn all the computers
off.
By mid-afternoon it was still grey - most unusual, since usually
when there's really heavy rain it's followed by sunshine, but
not today. Thunder echoed distantly around the mountains long
after it stopped raining. We were going to cut the grass this
afternoon, having not done it for two weeks - but obviously couldn't!
Still, our friends exercised some creativity by building a snowman
out of hail in the back garden; something that not many of our
visitors get the opportunity to do! In the evening we even ran
the kerosene heater to warm the house up a bit, although we hadn't
used it since the end of February.
March 31st - Easter Sunday: Today dawned grey and damp
again. Most depressing. We didn't go to the early morning sunrise
service, but to the normal 9am service. The boys (and other teenagers
from the church) did a puppet show for the younger children during
the sermon, in the church hall, as there wasn't a proper Sunday
School.
Then at 11am we all went to the theatre in Limassol where Daniel's
drama group were staging the premiere of their play, 'Nuts'.
Daniel went in a mini-bus with the group, and the rest of us
followed their van in the car. It should have been easy, except
that by 11.20am the mini-bus hadn't arrived. It turned out that
the company had forgotten to change their clocks!!
Richard filmed the premiere,
and set up the video projector, with help from the friend who
is staying; the rest of us took of books to read and spent most
of the day in the little lounge area by the lighting control
panel. We ate lunch out at Goody's, not exactly our usual Easter
lunch, and took various things for snacks for afternoon and evening.
The play went extremely well although it was rather disappointing
that there were only about 30 people in the audience. It was
very well done, with the only problem being at the beginning
when the lighting operator - who had been there rehearsing with
them all day - popped out to eat about an hour before the performance,
and hadn't returned by the time it was due to start. When he
was finally contacted on his mobile phone, it transpired that
he too hadn't known about the clock change, and thought he had
an extra hour! Where else could this happen but in Cyprus?!
times since 16th May 2002