An early start today for the golf . However just as I thought, the beers from last night did not do anything for my game, 2 balls lost in the 1st 5 holes, I took the hint early and packed up after 6 holes. Back to the hotel and a swim with Michele who has now recovered from her head cold.
Early evening we visited our friends Colin and Linda's new build to see how it was progressing, all I could tell them was that it hasn't even been staked out yet. On the way back we went past a local farm and Michele just had to stop and take this picture
We stopped of at Ezic for a chicken dinner which as always was very tasty, its a good job you can go there dressed up or casual as Michele had her flip flops on.
Up early again this morning 6am went downstairs to the foyer to update the web page and let Michele carry on sleeping (so considerate) After breakfast we will visit the hospital for our medical tests which is part of the application for residency criteria.
We had expected this to be a rather long day. We were going to the hospital for medical tests in order to stay in the country. How it goes, is that, you turn up on an appointed day, pay your money and have blood and stool samples taken then along to x-ray to have your chest zapped, wait a month, go back to hospital for the results then take them along to immigration at the police station. Easy as that. We have heard that many people pay a large sum of money to have a Turkish speaking person with them. But we were in for the experience of a lone ride.
Now for how it actually went..... Arrived at the hospital at 10.00 fought our way through about 50 people who were just hovering at the cash desk waiting to be seen and probably catching up on local gossip and was then issued with two numbers 105 and 121. Umm Shell, wonder what happened to No's 106 to 120. Took a seat and waited, during which time we found a man with number 120 and swapped our 105 with him. At least we would now be called together. Still with me? At 12.00 our numbers were called and we returned to the same desk to pay our fees (£158 each) Then back to taking a seat and waiting till they called out our numbers a second time. Now 1pm and three hours later we heard our numbers called again (called out in Turkish I hasten to add, luckily, Michele had only last week memorised the Turkish from 1 to 999) This time all our documents were being checked and yes, it was back to playing the waiting game. The third time they called our numbers was to collect our documents and specimen bottles and yippee, off to start the tests. Blood and stools completed, we had now learned that x-ray was closed and would have to return on Wednesday...
During our waiting game, I found an administrator who spoke English (probably the only English speaking person in the hospital) "Surely all these people weren't immigrants like us" I asked, Yes, he retorted. The hospital processes approx 250 per day, 6 months ago it was 10 a day and yes they were all immigrants, the reason the figures have jumped up is that there were many illegal workers from Turkey and the government were now doing spot checks. He was annoyed that we couldn't get x-rayed after our lengthy wait and made several phone calls but could only apologise for the hospitals total lack of organisation. No worries, we'll come and have another chat with you on Wednesday.
Back to the hotel for a swim, a few games of backgammon and a well deserved long cool beer.
Early start for the golf today didn’t play too well. I had been diving into the pool and larking about yesterday and had earache. Heard the sound of waterfalls all day, that’s my excuse anyway. Michele had a nice easy morning by the poolside and we met up later for a swim and our now, traditional game, of backgammon.
Early afternoon, we were visited by our IT guru, Paul. As you will have noticed in the Photo Album, not all pictures are clear, we now have new software and a difference should be noticed from now on. Just a little technical hiccup, sorry folks. I'll make all the changes tomorrow so that future pics will be clearer.
Didn’t fancy eating in the hotel tonight so took a walk along to the Pegasos for a drink and a bite to eat only to discover that food wasn’t on the menu for tonight. Ah well, the G&T’s were good. Walked along to a pizza bar, found it shut and eventually found an Indian restaurant, delicious food and great service. 1 G&T, 3 beers, poppadums, 2 starters, 2 main courses, Irish coffee and a large brandy came to £28.
Today was back to the hospital in Lefkosa for our chest x-rays. We were told the department opened at 9am so arrived at 9 and sat in the waiting room. 9.45 the x-ray room door opened and to our surprise we were in and out within 15 minutes. All that remains now is for us to receive a phone call telling us to come pick up our results which should be in about a months time…..Watch this space folks, bets are on as to if we will hear in a month or that results have been lost.
Medicals over, it was now time to visit the Post office in Girne to get a PO Box number so we can start receiving UK mail. Unfortunately no box’s available and we have to try again in the New Year.
Back to the hotel so Jim could work on the web, I caught up on the UK gossip by reading Saturday’s paper. Poor Posh & Becks are receiving a hard time. Will they last?
Sitting on the balcony with afternoon coffee watching the world go by, no it's not a rally, just vehicles taking a short cut during peak hour traffic.
As we're staying close to the Pegasos we decided to call in for a pre dinner drink then took a slow walk back to the hotel for dinner.
