A couple of quiet, pool days, not much to report. It is slightly cooler – back to around 33C – which is very welcome indeed. We have taken to having night swims every night which is a fabulous way to cool down before turning in.

Have changed our return date from the 27th July to the 17th July. We are coming home via Larnaca (not our favourite choice tbh) and we want to get through before the next UK review date, just in case. It’s a shame because it seems – or at least it is strongly speculated – that the UK will remove quarantine and a Day 8 test for the doubly vaccinated and children returning from an Amber country from 26th July which will make Cyprus very attractive. But we have to be back in the UK for August for various events and we just didn’t want to take the risk there could be a sudden change on the 19th from the UK gov at which time of course prices of flights would rocket upwards. At the moment a BA flight from Larnaca is about £100 with a bag.

We will of course be very, very sorry to leave this lovely place. It is so peaceful and serene and we feel very safe here and quite out of the whole Covid daily news panic and hype. Numbers in northern Cyprus remain extremely low despite a lot of testing and only 35 deaths since the pandemic began. Basically here if you test positive, you are immediately whisked off to hospital/quarantine hotel free of charge and treated. Your contacts are traced and they must be quarantined too, mostly at home or in their rental place. It has kept a tight lid on the virus. Easier to do, of course, with a small population who are quite well vaccinated.

Spent most of the day in and around the pool. It was a pleasant 33C today with quite a breeze. Lovely after all the heat of the past week.

Tonight we had lovely fat sausages from the Ozankoy butcher with mash and onion gravy…..groan…… yum…… then we settled down to watch the match: England vs Ukraine….. And what a triumph! For the first time in a long time, our players actually looked skilled, moving fast with the ball, turning and dribbling… shades of the sort of magic we used to see in players like Best. So much better than all that long passing past teams went in for.