Hope
Showing posts with label Cyprus. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cyprus. Show all posts
9 Jan 2008
7 Oct 2007
We're baaaack....
...but I wish we weren't!
We spent an amazing week with the Wades, in a beautiful villa, perched on top of a hillside, overlooking an infinity pool which seemingly spilled into a canyon below and the Mediterranean ocean in the distance.
The weather was fantastic the whole week. It only rained once, and that was overnight. The temperatures were in the low 30s Celsius the entire week, but because we were close to the ocean, the air wasn't sticky.
The days were spent either lounging around the pool watching aquatic high jumping (a future Olympic event, no doubt):
...or at one of a couple of beautiful, sandy beaches within a short driving distance from our villa, building sand castles in an ever more heated competition between the girls and the boys (please don't forget to take the poll to your right):
Occasionally we would give the swim wear a rest for a quick excursion to one of the many antiquities around the island:
...before we'd return home to watch the sun set over the ocean from our villa:
As soon as it got dark outside, we'd hit the restaurants for a different flavour every night. We had Asian, Italian and even British pub food (Benjamin's favourite, because they had chicken nuggets!), but mostly we enjoyed local Cypriot dishes with a couple of fantastic meze dinners:
In sum, we had a wonderful week, and we returned to Norway late last night, relaxed, fairly tanned (especially those of us of non-Scandinavian origin) and happy.
[In retrospect, I now see that things had gone too smoothly. I mean, c'mon - all flights on time? That never happens. The Universe was not in balance. The pendulum was about to swing the other way.]
So this morning, we wake up to an email from our house sitting friend Cyril containing the following pictures (sadly with no pointing fingers this time):
Remember our leakage problem? Before we left for Cyprus, we had arranged for our insurance company to have an assessor visit our house, review the damage and provide a quote for any required repairs. We were still debating whether to even make a claim, because we were unsure of whether the cost of the repairs would be sufficiently high to warrant the resulting increase in our premium (don't you love that about insurance companies?).
Evidently, the insurance company decided to make that decision for us and take matters into their own hands! Without any efforts to contact us, and without consulting our friends staying in the house, walls have been torn down and plans are apparently being made to replace the kitchen cabinets?!
Excuse me, Mr. Insurance Agent and Mr. Contractor, I realize you are both...ehem...men...but how many women do you know who'll just let you redo their kitchen without any input?
So now I've done what I do best: I have instructed Mike to tell the insurance agent off! Big time! I have given him a play-by-play description of exactly what he should say when. The conversation has been scripted with no room for error.
Knowing full well that he will do it his own way anyway. Which will clearly be the wrong way, and my - untested - way infinitely better.
My plan (and Mike's, too...I think) is to ask the insurance company to halt all work (with a few pointed questions about why the work was started in the first place without a little something called permission ) and provide the quote that we requested.
Then we will decide what the next step should be. Our poor friends are now living in a construction zone with missing walls, which is hardly what they signed up for. We may just get the walls fixed in the dining room and bedroom, and then get the missing wall in the kitchen drywalled temporarily, until we get back to Canada in the spring. These are all things we will have to figure out in the next few days.
This has been a rude awakening after a week in Paradise. So right now, I am going to pour myself a very large glass of red wine, sit on the couch and wish myself back to...
We spent an amazing week with the Wades, in a beautiful villa, perched on top of a hillside, overlooking an infinity pool which seemingly spilled into a canyon below and the Mediterranean ocean in the distance.
The weather was fantastic the whole week. It only rained once, and that was overnight. The temperatures were in the low 30s Celsius the entire week, but because we were close to the ocean, the air wasn't sticky.
The days were spent either lounging around the pool watching aquatic high jumping (a future Olympic event, no doubt):
...or at one of a couple of beautiful, sandy beaches within a short driving distance from our villa, building sand castles in an ever more heated competition between the girls and the boys (please don't forget to take the poll to your right):
Occasionally we would give the swim wear a rest for a quick excursion to one of the many antiquities around the island:
...before we'd return home to watch the sun set over the ocean from our villa:
As soon as it got dark outside, we'd hit the restaurants for a different flavour every night. We had Asian, Italian and even British pub food (Benjamin's favourite, because they had chicken nuggets!), but mostly we enjoyed local Cypriot dishes with a couple of fantastic meze dinners:
In sum, we had a wonderful week, and we returned to Norway late last night, relaxed, fairly tanned (especially those of us of non-Scandinavian origin) and happy.
[In retrospect, I now see that things had gone too smoothly. I mean, c'mon - all flights on time? That never happens. The Universe was not in balance. The pendulum was about to swing the other way.]
So this morning, we wake up to an email from our house sitting friend Cyril containing the following pictures (sadly with no pointing fingers this time):
Remember our leakage problem? Before we left for Cyprus, we had arranged for our insurance company to have an assessor visit our house, review the damage and provide a quote for any required repairs. We were still debating whether to even make a claim, because we were unsure of whether the cost of the repairs would be sufficiently high to warrant the resulting increase in our premium (don't you love that about insurance companies?).
Evidently, the insurance company decided to make that decision for us and take matters into their own hands! Without any efforts to contact us, and without consulting our friends staying in the house, walls have been torn down and plans are apparently being made to replace the kitchen cabinets?!
Excuse me, Mr. Insurance Agent and Mr. Contractor, I realize you are both...ehem...men...but how many women do you know who'll just let you redo their kitchen without any input?
So now I've done what I do best: I have instructed Mike to tell the insurance agent off! Big time! I have given him a play-by-play description of exactly what he should say when. The conversation has been scripted with no room for error.
Knowing full well that he will do it his own way anyway. Which will clearly be the wrong way, and my - untested - way infinitely better.
My plan (and Mike's, too...I think) is to ask the insurance company to halt all work (with a few pointed questions about why the work was started in the first place without a little something called permission ) and provide the quote that we requested.
Then we will decide what the next step should be. Our poor friends are now living in a construction zone with missing walls, which is hardly what they signed up for. We may just get the walls fixed in the dining room and bedroom, and then get the missing wall in the kitchen drywalled temporarily, until we get back to Canada in the spring. These are all things we will have to figure out in the next few days.
This has been a rude awakening after a week in Paradise. So right now, I am going to pour myself a very large glass of red wine, sit on the couch and wish myself back to...
2 Oct 2007
Hello From Cyprus!
Limestone creations rising up from the blue Mediterranean ocean
Smooth, white pebbles perfect for a stone skipping lesson
Sand castles struggling to withstand the gentle waves
Ancient amphitheatres with stories of Greek gods and goddesses
Cicadas in citrus trees happily singing songs of summer
Whitewashed buildings with dark wooden shutters reflecting the sunset
Creamy chocolate ice cream melting quickly in a child's hand
Fresh feta cheese and olives in luscious Greek salads
Red wine and tsatziki in a winning combination
Am I in Heaven?
I guess not; not here
Where there's no reliable Internet connection
27 Sept 2007
Packing Up!
No, we are not returning to Canada just yet.
Next week is fall break for the boys [c'mon altogether now: I LOVE Norwegian school], so we are packing our bags and heading south...
... to Cyprus!!
One final airing out of shorts, tees and swimsuits before we pack away our summer clothes for good.
I've never been to Cyprus, but you can't get much further south in Europe, so we should be guaranteed good weather and warm ocean water. Which is a nice thought now that we are starting to wake up to temperatures in the low single digits here in Norway.
Today I'm doing laundry, counting socks, underwear, swim stuff - the usual when travelling with kids.
And discussing with Mike the pros and cons of bringing just hand luggage. His idea. Of course, I see the benefits of travelling light, especially when we have a very short layover in Vienna, thus increasing the chance of lost luggage. With our luck, that chance is exceptionally high to begin with.
He stole this idea from friends of ours, who managed to travel to Italy for a 10 day holiday with only carry-ons. [You know who you are! Look what you've started!] And he feels very strongly that if they can do it, so can we.
I'm sure we can, but I just hate the idea that I can't bring all the stuff I want to, just because we have to squeeze into four rolling Samsonite carry-ons! And the thought of doing laundry daily on holiday is also not thrilling me to bits.
Because I won't have time to do laundry, as I'm going to be extremely busy lounging next to our villa's private pool. Not to mention catching up with my fabulous in-laws, who are spending this holiday with us.
Next week is fall break for the boys [c'mon altogether now: I LOVE Norwegian school], so we are packing our bags and heading south...
... to Cyprus!!
One final airing out of shorts, tees and swimsuits before we pack away our summer clothes for good.
I've never been to Cyprus, but you can't get much further south in Europe, so we should be guaranteed good weather and warm ocean water. Which is a nice thought now that we are starting to wake up to temperatures in the low single digits here in Norway.
Today I'm doing laundry, counting socks, underwear, swim stuff - the usual when travelling with kids.
And discussing with Mike the pros and cons of bringing just hand luggage. His idea. Of course, I see the benefits of travelling light, especially when we have a very short layover in Vienna, thus increasing the chance of lost luggage. With our luck, that chance is exceptionally high to begin with.
He stole this idea from friends of ours, who managed to travel to Italy for a 10 day holiday with only carry-ons. [You know who you are! Look what you've started!] And he feels very strongly that if they can do it, so can we.
I'm sure we can, but I just hate the idea that I can't bring all the stuff I want to, just because we have to squeeze into four rolling Samsonite carry-ons! And the thought of doing laundry daily on holiday is also not thrilling me to bits.
Because I won't have time to do laundry, as I'm going to be extremely busy lounging next to our villa's private pool. Not to mention catching up with my fabulous in-laws, who are spending this holiday with us.
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