And a good night’s sleep and waking up to a beautiful Sunday morning brings a more sanguine view. After advice from 2 different Expat organisations here, there is clearly a gap of interpretation of the arrival rules that we have fallen into. The Council of Minister’s decisions and orders pronouncement from May 3rd clearly states at article 28 that the quarantine period for the UK is reduced from 14 days to 10. And there is no “from date” attached to that clause so taken to be the date of the order ie 3rd May. The Notam (notice to airmen) was not signed until the evening of 7th May and Notams are not retrospective. And in that gap lies our entry and the dilemna…. the company administering the wristband system is going by the Notam not the Gov. Order. Now, we could contact the Ministry of Health and get a judgement on this but…. the timing is off. Eid has just finished. Today is Sunday, everything is shut. So, the earliest we could ring them would be Monday. Let’s say (optimistically) it was resolved on Monday, the earliest the wristband company could probably get us a PCR test at the hospital would be Tuesday, so the results and our release would be Wednesday. 1 day earlier. We have decided that for all the angst and the cost of telephone calls (we haven’t got our local sim yet obviously), 1 day is not worth it. We shall just lie back and accept our home quarantine and celebrate all the more on Thursday night!
Until May 27th, Sunday is a curfew day here. You are not meant to move about or leave home except for a tiny selection of reasons. Consequently it’s even quieter than usual. But not for my Bob! He did more moving of water lines and piercing of holes in said water lines today. He has moved three of the main water feeds that run together (Mains, Watering Lines 1 and 2) into plastic coving to protect them from the elements where they run behind the pool terrace. Not much we can do about the lines once they are actually in the beds watering. I made a loaf of bread. Am now firmly convinced my yeast is dead!!!! I checked it after mixing and it only has one date on it so not sure if that is use by or what it is but it was 2020….. I had it on the shopping list that was put in for me so not sure what happened there but I will be checking further boxes very carefully. It isn’t quite dead but it isn’t by any means active. Having to ration jobs a bit now till we can get out.
Very clear today – we could see Turkey again so clearly on the horizon. There are such lovely views in all directions and this time of the year, the island is still so very green. By the end of the summer it starts to look a bit drier. We can’t wait to get out and explore a bit.
This afternoon we spent by the pool. Had a lovely Whatsapp call with Daisy and caught up on all her news. Looking good for a return to Cineworld in July. Hoping that she can come out here for some weeks before that as a break between going back to Cineworld and her temp job in the labs. Also exchanged chats with Lucy who was on a dive boat from Sharm el Sheikh diving the wreck of the Thistlegorn. What a brilliant day’s diving! 2 dives on the Thistlegorn and one on Shark Reef, Ras Mohammed. Just a bit jealous….. especially as it’s so unusually quiet there, like back in the 80s.
And the usual pattern…. g&ts at 5pm… Music, reading etc on the covered terrace. Dinner about 7pm then tv. Catch up more on Homeland and a few other things.
Ah… and to put all your minds at rest…. our lovely neighbour, Alan, read about our tonic issues last night and poked a large bottle through the hedge for us!!!!! Marion bringing more supplies tomorrow when she can get out and about again. First world problems eh?