Some updates - 10th April 2007

A slice of good luck

One of my Romanian friends is Nicu. The other Romanians tease him because he comes from an rural area of Romania that is between Transylvania and Moldavia. The Moldavians have a reputation in Romania for their simple and bucolic life. He has the distinction of being the only person I know who fell asleep while riding his motorcycle. This happened late one night and the other Romanians say it is because he forgot he was on a motorcycle and thought he was back home on his horse. He takes all the teasing with good grace.
A few nights ago Nicu had a visit from another Romanian husband and wife. There had been some slight between them and in the ensuing fracas the woman stabbed Nicu in the arm with a broken glass and severely wounded him. The apartment was soaked in blood across the floors and up the walls. Nicu had to be taken to hospital for sutures and had lost a couple of pints of blood. When asked about it later he said he had been lucky. He was quizzed by what he meant. He said that the guy had brought a chainsaw with him and it was lucky that he could not start it.

More spirit activity

Hilary and I were in a restaurant in the next village with two friends and, as the fates would have it, the lady 'psychic, palmist and angel reader' was also there . See(http://thethreestatesofcypriotcats.blogspot.com/2007/03/from-home-of-xenon-of-kition-27th-march.html)
A further coincidence was that our two friends happened to know the psychic lady very well. Perhaps not such a coincidence was that the lady was once again in free touch with the spirits. When she noticed our two friends she came over to our table to declare her undying affection for them both. At that very moment there was a knocking sound on the underside of our table.
Unfortunately the lady was on another plane and missed the message but I received a kick under the table.

Birdwatching in Cyprus

At this time of year there are many more birds around. During the hotter summer months they are not to be seen and I suspect they either migrate of move to cooler locations higher in the mountains of the island. Encouraged by a friend I have started a very amateurish interest in birdwatching. It is a hobby that I find immensely frustrating. My modus operandi is as follows

1. Adopt relaxed position in chair on the veranda
2. Wait for a bird to appear on a bush or neighbouring rooftop
3. Use binoculars and attempt to memorize the subject (size, colouring)
4. Rush to the computer and lookup subject on the internet.
   

Even with the entire global resources of the internet at my disposal I have failed to identify anything that was not a sparrow of a pigeon. I have decided that the answer is to adopt the Japanese scientific approach to tghis kind of research. Find it, shoot it, eat it then make a decision about what it was.

"Bang...."
"Mmmmm... that duck was delicious"
"That wasn't a duck it did not have any feathers. It was enormous and grey. It had a tail and lived in the sea. I think it was a whale"
"Are you sure? Ducks have tails and live in water"
"Yeah you are right....and it was delicious"
"Tell you what lets shoot another one and eat it just to check"
"Bang...."
"Mmmmm... that duck was delicious"