This morning we were up quite early to go to a meeting in Kyrenia held by the British Residents Society to update members on recent changes to property laws and residency procedures here in Northern Cyprus. It was held at the Arkin University of Creative Arts and Design Corporate – ARUCAD and we – like the other attendees – were all stunned and wowed by the truly beautiful campus and the facilities on offer. Just a lovely place and equipped to the highest standards, no expense has been spared.
The meeting was addressed by 2 eminent lawyers here in the TRNC on both new sets of laws and it was an interesting and informative meeting. We felt very fortunate that we are not adversely affected in either area but were very saddened to hear the plight of others who clearly are. The government are trying – and probably have – to improve the procedures for all going forward and to stop unscrupulous builders and huge tracts of land being sold off to foreign investors but the effects of the laws on some people who have had historic issues is quite severe. It is surprising perhaps that the laws have not been grandfathered in but instead have been applied retrospectively. Maybe this will change…..
It was another boiling day. We came back and spent the afternoon in the pool or floating on the pool. Lovely.
In the evening we had been invited to attend a Pool Party held in aid of the Royal British Legion at Sammy’s Hotel in Kyrenia. We got picked up by mini coach at about 615 from the bottom of our hill and transported in with about 20 friends. All the usual gang, Pamela, Debora, David, Ann, Roger and others. Hadn’t been to Sammy’s before but it has a lovely pool area with a swim up bar and they’d set the tables out all around it.
Music was provided by Ska’d For Life, a…. ska….. band. They were good but our table was in full on blast of the speakers and at times it was painfully loud. I resorted to ear plugs made of paper napkins which I wish I had a photo of!!!Food was a full meze served over about 2 hours and the food was good if not special. Our waiter was the Turkish equivalent of Manuel in every way including strange mannerisms. He was terribly nice though and actually gave good service. We had a lovely evening with great company and a lot of good chat and laughter. There was a raffle at half time and as usual we didn’t win but both Pamela, Ann and Deborah did. Good prizes too donated by businesses. We raised £500 for the charity and had a thoroughly nice evening to boot. Quite a few people went in the pool, possibly willingly, others less so. Luckily we all escaped this privilege!! One of the things we enjoy most about holidaying here are the many such charity dinners and fun social activities. They are advertised publicly so anyone can generally attend, often non members, like us, pay just a little more.
