Lovely morning ....

17th August 2025 (Sunday)     11.30 .... I went up to Elie, on 'The buggy' to get the paper, and

chatted to Cath before going down to the Toft;  I wanted to find out how the buggy coped with the Toft hill, coming up from the harbour.   I didn't go to the harbour, because of the sand just beyond the Ship Inn.   Anyway I took a few photos from the Toft then bumbled up the hill 'nae bother'.   I wouldn't say it was fast coming up the hill but it coped with it.   I'm now thinking of the hill at Kinneuchar manse;  that's probably the steepest hill I'll have to cope with.    I think Balcarres would be a step too far.

20.00    It has been another lovely, sunny and warm, day.   the temperature got up to 24.1C on the patio thermometer.   I had afternoon coffee outside but it was really too hot.

My run out on the scooter went well, but the streets between Earlsferry and Elie are no not Mobility Scooter friendly.   However I got there and back without any traffic problems.   That said it was early in the morning.   The remainder of the day I spent watering the tubs, before the heat of the day, then doing the ironing and watching the Eastbourne Airshow.

Later in the afternoon I watched Ben Fogle visiting places along the 'Green Line' (Buffer Zone) established in 1974 after the Turks took the Northern part of the island of Cyprus because of ongoing persecution of Turkish Cypriots by Greek Cypriots.   The EOKA (a Greek Cypriot Terrorist organisation)  campaign was about freeing Cyprus from British rule, and uniting Cyprus with Greece ('enosis').    The EOKA campaign ended on the 19th February 1959 with the signing of the London and Zurich Agreements, that established the Republic of Cyprus.   At that time Turkish and Greek Cypriots were expected to live reasonably well together.   However some Greek Cypriots still wanted 'enosis' and made life 'difficult' for their Turkish neighbours.   This is what led to the Turkish invasion, and the United Nations Peace Keeping Force that mans the 'Green Line'.

Now I'm going back to 15 years before the Turkish invasion.   About 6 weeks after the Agreements were

Steve.

signed Steve (my buddy) and I decided we'd get a couple of
bikes that were available.    Our first trip was to Limassol about 14 miles by way of the old road.    When we arrived at the outskirts of Limassol we were surprised to be stopped by a Turkish Cypriot policeman, who told us he would escort us all the time we were in Limassol.   And he did;  we went into a Picture House (Turkish) while he went to the Police Station for a break: and was waiting for us when we came out at the end of the show.  If I remember correctly it was 'South Pacific'.  The film was in English.   Most Cypriots (Turkish and Greek) were fluent English speakers.   Steve and I never found out how the Turkish policeman knew we were coming into Limassol.    Anyway that trip went smoothly;  and the next time we went out we tried to stick to Turkish areas (though inactive EOKA terrorists were still around).... this time we'd visit the villages around Episkopi Cantonment;  including Episkopi village and Kolossi  Castle.   We found that, in most cases,  the villages had Greek areas and Turkish areas.   I can understand why the Turks invaded and most of Turkish Cypriots from the South moved to the North.... and the Greek Cypriots from the North moved south.   It's really sad, because Cyprus is a lovely island, but we humans can't live in harmony nowadays.    The Greek Cypriot dream of 'enosis' with Greece lingers on.

Iain is coming down next Thursday, but I don't need to 'flap', having done all the bedding.   All I have to do is make up the bed.   Loads o' time!    Tomorrow I'm going to visit Alice and go shopping;  got to get some bits and pieces of food for Iain.