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Aug. 17th, 2011 06:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
peterbirksA bit of a disappointing meal last night. Mr Itsipakos, as I shall call him, dragooned us into his restaurant to eat his barbeque pork and chicken. At 13 euro apiece this could hardly be described as cheap, and Mr Itsipakos really does lay on the "you are my friends!" crap a bit thick. Mind you, I suspect he can see that I'm not falling for any of it, so he keeps a respectful distance. Anyhoo, as he decribed our 13 euro 'feast', which included roast potatoes AND rice (plus veg), two of us said "no rice", to which he said "I give you extra potatoes!" What actually turned up was no rice, and one (largeish) potato that had been boiled for about 15 minutes and then given 10 minutes in the roasting pan. "Roast potatoes" it was not. And the veg consisted of a cauliflower floret, five three-inch runner beans, and a couple of slices of small carrot. That said, my pork was bloody nice, but in terms of value it got slaughtered by our friends the previous night at Thomas The Jungle. In addition, we encountered our first accident of "fussy eater" syndrome. This is, of course, a syndrome widespread amongst the under 30s (and, indeed, among not a few of the over 30s), but normally it causes few problems. Unfortunately one of the many things Lee doesn't like is chicken on the bone. So not only was he dragooned into ordering this rather overpriced barbecue, but he also ended up with chicken on the bone (something which, to be honest, was to be expected, given that the chicken was roasting whole on the spit). I'm quite used to fussy eater syndrome, but occasionally something catches me a little bit by surprise, and an inability to eat chicken on the bone (and no desire so to do) was one of them. I once knew an Irish betting shop manager who couldn't eat any bacon which had fat on it. The surprise that I felt was on a par with that.
Previous to this disappointment Craig, Amanda and I had managed to get some sunset photos, which in my case also included a few pictures of some rather attractive Russian girls posing as the sun went down.
All very artistic, obv. There's definitely no shortage of attractive young Russian women here. That's not to say that they are intrinsically more attractive than the young English women -- there are just more of them. Indeed, the Russians seem to be taking over the island. All of the staff are Russian -- most of them friendly, but still giving me that old Soviet feeling that they would be much happier if we weren't there. There are a number of signs asking you not to do certain things (well, telling you, actually), but very few saying things like "we are here to help!" Laughably, they hand you a "customer satisfaction form when you leave asking "how did we do"? I saw two of these handed in and the receptionist immediately opened it and scanned it. I've twice told them in a rather friendly manner, that the system they operate really doesn't cut it in the world of modern hotel management (declining to point out that I'm sure it would have been top of the class in Soviet Russia -- since all of the staff are Russian).
After the meal we headed to the Green Corner café where Lee had some chips to make up for his uneaten chicken. The poor old owner Mr Itsipakos had sensed that something was wrong, but when asked, everyone said "it's fine". I kept my counsel on that one. The irony is that Lee had said that he would be there for his birthday -- a plan that I assumed would now be out of the window -- but he still intends to go because he has promised to! Oh well, up to him.
The Arsenal-Udinese game was on, although the stream broke a couple of time during the game. The owner explained that the picture was no problem, but the Internet was used for the code or something, so, if the Internet went down, the picture stopped, even though the satellite picture was still being received. Far too complicated for me. Then again, at half-time we got adverts from Ireland, so I'm even more puzzled.
This morning I went for another swim on the roof of the Roman II, where the most attractive girl of the holiday sat on the recliner next to Lee. Craig and I left while she was still lazing in the pool, and I haven't spoken to Lee since. I'll be interetested to find out whether he spoke to her. Update from Lee. She was Russian. Had no English.
Craig and I then walked into the main town, rather than the tourist coast part.
An entertaining misprint.
It was about a couple of kilometres to the centre. At the second attempt we discovered the Tourist Information Centre (we walked right past it the first time because of the Cypriot habit of leaving the lights off, even when open). Some free maps were gratefully pilfered. Then we walked up to a covered market, and a nice view of the coast.
The McDonald's sign in the photo below indicates about 100-300 yards to the right of where we tend to do our dining in the evening, on Tombs Of The Kings road. There was a traditional covered fruit market with fruit stalls that I assume the local villagers still use to sell their own produce. Everything else is tourist-orientated full-stop.
I was also surprised by the number of different banks - Hellenic, Emporiki, Laiki, Alpha, USB Bank and Bank Of Cyprus -- were six that I saw on the mile-and-a-bit walk into town. Three of these look to be rather small and vulnerable operations, given the Cypriot banking sector's exposure to Greece. These banks only accepted Visa cards and generally did not look like they could withstand a lot of financial pressure.
I then showered and changed (we had got a bit hot on this trek!) and we went back to the Green Corner for a snack. There was then the traditional bird invasion (for those of you who remember the Spanish peacock in 2008) No idea where this hen came from.
_____________
Previous to this disappointment Craig, Amanda and I had managed to get some sunset photos, which in my case also included a few pictures of some rather attractive Russian girls posing as the sun went down.
All very artistic, obv. There's definitely no shortage of attractive young Russian women here. That's not to say that they are intrinsically more attractive than the young English women -- there are just more of them. Indeed, the Russians seem to be taking over the island. All of the staff are Russian -- most of them friendly, but still giving me that old Soviet feeling that they would be much happier if we weren't there. There are a number of signs asking you not to do certain things (well, telling you, actually), but very few saying things like "we are here to help!" Laughably, they hand you a "customer satisfaction form when you leave asking "how did we do"? I saw two of these handed in and the receptionist immediately opened it and scanned it. I've twice told them in a rather friendly manner, that the system they operate really doesn't cut it in the world of modern hotel management (declining to point out that I'm sure it would have been top of the class in Soviet Russia -- since all of the staff are Russian).
After the meal we headed to the Green Corner café where Lee had some chips to make up for his uneaten chicken. The poor old owner Mr Itsipakos had sensed that something was wrong, but when asked, everyone said "it's fine". I kept my counsel on that one. The irony is that Lee had said that he would be there for his birthday -- a plan that I assumed would now be out of the window -- but he still intends to go because he has promised to! Oh well, up to him.
The Arsenal-Udinese game was on, although the stream broke a couple of time during the game. The owner explained that the picture was no problem, but the Internet was used for the code or something, so, if the Internet went down, the picture stopped, even though the satellite picture was still being received. Far too complicated for me. Then again, at half-time we got adverts from Ireland, so I'm even more puzzled.
This morning I went for another swim on the roof of the Roman II, where the most attractive girl of the holiday sat on the recliner next to Lee. Craig and I left while she was still lazing in the pool, and I haven't spoken to Lee since. I'll be interetested to find out whether he spoke to her. Update from Lee. She was Russian. Had no English.
Craig and I then walked into the main town, rather than the tourist coast part.
An entertaining misprint.
It was about a couple of kilometres to the centre. At the second attempt we discovered the Tourist Information Centre (we walked right past it the first time because of the Cypriot habit of leaving the lights off, even when open). Some free maps were gratefully pilfered. Then we walked up to a covered market, and a nice view of the coast.
The McDonald's sign in the photo below indicates about 100-300 yards to the right of where we tend to do our dining in the evening, on Tombs Of The Kings road. There was a traditional covered fruit market with fruit stalls that I assume the local villagers still use to sell their own produce. Everything else is tourist-orientated full-stop.
I was also surprised by the number of different banks - Hellenic, Emporiki, Laiki, Alpha, USB Bank and Bank Of Cyprus -- were six that I saw on the mile-and-a-bit walk into town. Three of these look to be rather small and vulnerable operations, given the Cypriot banking sector's exposure to Greece. These banks only accepted Visa cards and generally did not look like they could withstand a lot of financial pressure.
I then showered and changed (we had got a bit hot on this trek!) and we went back to the Green Corner for a snack. There was then the traditional bird invasion (for those of you who remember the Spanish peacock in 2008) No idea where this hen came from.
_____________
Pregnancy Symptoms
Date: 2011-08-18 04:05 am (UTC)xpyodlwcp wksjec sdm qxutshvxo scmehu idj
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[url=http://pregnancysymptomssigns.net/#81566971847421]Pregnancy Symptoms[/url]
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Bit chilly round here
Date: 2011-08-18 08:09 am (UTC)Keith S
*it wasn't that big