Life in Cyprus


Sally and I arrived in Cyprus around lunch-time on the 29th March 2005, after a four-and-a-half hour flight from Gatwick Airport. We had flown into the U.K. from Tenerife the previous evening and had stayed over-night at an hotel, so we were still a little jet-lagged, but now we had more important things to concern ourselves with, for our three animals, Sam, the golden retriever and Sooty and Tyson − our Spanish cats, were also flying into Paphos Airport within the next few hours − and we would have to be ready to meet them! Sally and I had already done this journey two weeks ago, when we came over to sort-out our accommodation, organise a hire-car and to see the holiday resort which we would be working from for the summer season, so this time there would be no going back − well at least not until around Christmas-time anyway!


As soon as we had settled into our temporary home with the animals, Sally and I proceeded to set up our ‘showroom’, which was no more than two small, round tables and half-a-dozen chairs, located in one corner of a landing, perched up above the reception area – and our office was actually a spare ‘luggage-room’, which the hotel used for the over-spill of guests’ suitcases during the busy summer months! After a week or so of settling in the technical experts arrived from the U.K. and over the next few days we would boast having such facilities as a computer, a printer, a fax machine and even a photo-copier at our disposal – although the telephone line would take a few more days to sort-out of course! Officially I was in charge of everything, but it was Sally who took control of the running of the office, while I concentrated my efforts on looking after our guests − along with the two representatives who had been sent over to assist me in my efforts.



Unfortunately, due to personal circumstances my female rep’ had to return home to the U.K. and shortly afterwards my male rep’ decided to go back to work in Gran Canaria, so now Sally and I were well and truly on our own. Rather than advertise for two more rep’s to replace them, we decided that Sally would continue running the office while I concentrated my efforts on keeping the clients happy. Two ‘welcome meetings’ a week had already been organised, on Monday and Thursday mornings, to coincide with the Wednesday and Sunday arrivals and we both agreed to open the office from 10am in the morning until 6pm in the evening, every day, except Wednesday (our day off!) To make our guests feel welcome, Sally organized a ‘Cyprus Night Out’, where every member of the club was invited to congregate together, to meet and to chat with their new friends about the places they had been to – and also to enjoy lots of Greek music, a table-full of extraordinary food and extremely potent wine − and an amazing show of traditional dancing. Over the next few months Sally and I would get to know the island quite well, as we set off in our car to discover some of the many historical places of interest, a handful of the islands fabulous beaches and one simply cannot visit Cyprus without having a drive through those amazing Troodos Mountains. We also visited all of the major towns and cities, including Nicosia, Limassol, and Larnaka -and dozens of other smaller towns and villages, too numerous to mention. Jim (Sally’s son) arrived with his girlfriend, Chloe in June and stayed with us for the summer and in August Sally’s sister, Karen got married in Paphos, so half of the rest of Sally’s family joined them (and us) for a major celebration on the island.


Discovering the Turkish half of Cyprus was awe inspiring and visiting the city of Famagusta, which the Turks had invaded 30 years earlier, and seeing the bombed-out buildings, which have remained untouched in over three decades was pretty spooky-stuff. For my birthday treat Sally booked a ‘trike’ for me to ride around the island on and I gave her a balloon ride for her birthday present. We also shared the delights of a sunset cruise along the Akamas Peninsula on the west coast of Cyprus, a five-day cruise around the Turkish coast and the Greek Islands and also a fabulous three-day cruise to Egypt – the land of the Pharaohs.


All was well in Cyprus, but back in Tenerife there was mayhem as everything which we thought that we had left in safety, began to fall apart − and being over 2000 miles away we were powerless to stop it! We had no alternative but to get back home and sort-out all of these problems, but we would soon return back to Cyprus for another year of adventure. However, little did we know then what would happen back in Tenerife during the second year?