A bit of a change in the weather today.  Still very hot but a haze hung over everything (sand from the deserts to the east apparently) and even a few drops of rain fell in the morning.  It all cleared by lunchtime but definitely more humid today.

We went first into Kyrenia to visit a lamp shop I had heard about down near the harbour.  We wanted to buy an Ottoman style lantern electric lamp for our new pergola and we haven’t found them in any of the normal electrical shops.  Well, this shop is truly like Aladdin’s cave.  Every type of lamp, all brightly coloured stained glass, or intricate cut patterns in brass.  We fell in love with so many.  And the man that owned the shop was really nice.  He chatted away and took us round showing us different lamps and their features, made us tea… told us all about his new house and family.  We really enjoyed the visit.  We found a lovely lamp for the pergola, a stained glass one in the style of an Ottoman mosque lamp or the type they have at the Topkapi Palace in Istanbul.  Once it is hung, I will take some pictures and post them up here.  We also fell in love with some small table lamps in a similar style.  They run off battery powering LED light and are perfect for the dining terrace.  Put them out tonight and they really work well.  So pleased with them all.  I can see us buying other lamps from him.  He also sells pottery and rugs in the shop next door.  Fanus Lamp Shop

After that I had a mooch around the bag shops (more on them in another post) while Bob went off to the electrical component store to get all the bits and bobs he needed to install the lamp.  We met up in the George for coffee.  Then, on to a garden nursery near Alsancak.  I wanted to buy 4 oleander bushes to replace some gaps in our roadside border.  And two bougainvillea to sprawl across the tops of some fir trees out there that have had to be decapitated and now look really ugly.  It will soon all look pretty again.  Prices were really good.  The oleander are about 4 feet high and were £2.50 each.  The two bougainvillea were about 6 feet high and were £12.50 each.  He delivered them all up to us tonight free of charge which was very nice.

We went to get our curtains for the pergola but they weren’t quite ready.  Not quite sure what was going on but I think possibly the last one of the four wasn’t complete and there was quite a panic and then a bit of “please wait 30 minutes et etc” so we said we would go back tomorrow.  We can’t hang them till the chap comes tomorrow to put the canvas “roof” on….

Bob did more electrical setting up this afternoon.  He ran the cable from the hallway out to the lamps ready for connection.  I wallowed in the pool, reading!

Tonight we had homemade chicken curry and watched a bit of tv and tried out our new lamps.  The sunset tonight was spectacular, probably because of the dust in the air.