Här på Cypern börjar semestrarna ta slut men sommaren har varit fylld av aktiviteter som fortsätter ett tag till. Denna månad börjar med en 14 dagars fasta innan den stora helgdagen den 15 augusti som firas till minne av Maria, Jesus moders död. Därefter har vi festligheter som vin festivaler, uppträdanden av kända Grekiska artister, Sabaton, ett grammis-nominerat power metal band från Falun kommer för första gången till Cypern den 28e augusti, Armin Van Buuren från Holland som är en känd DJ kommer till Mackenzie Beach in Larnaca och höjdpunkten är Pafos Aphrodite Festival som bjuder på La Bohème av G.Puccini den 3,4,5 september. http://www.pafc.com.cy/ Operan är full av tragiska men också komiska ögonblick precis som i verkliga livet, och vi i Pafos får njuta av denna unika musik upplevelse under bar himmel i hamnen med fortet och havet som bakgrund.

This year's opera will be La Boheme

At Minthis Hills (www.minthishills.com), we try to keep abreast of the latest competitions .  The results have come through for the Pairs – Pick your Partner Competition, which took place on 18/8/2010 at Minthis Hills:

1^st Winner           Alan Colquhoun – Tom Bestford               45 pts

2^nd                        Linda Jones – Pam Shire                               44 pts

3^rd                         Jim McBeth – Gary Owens                           44 pts

Bunker shot at Minthis Hills

It must have been quite hot, but I believe there was a bit of a breeze as well, which helped , as well as the height above sea level.

Congratulations to the winners and to everyone who took part, we look forward to seeing you at the next competition.  Good luck!

Minthis Hills Golf Club is very busy and sociable.  There are plenty of tournaments throughout the year to pit your skills against your fellow members and then relax in the clubhouse afterwards.  We haven’t announced the results for a while, so below you will find the winners of the last few competitions.  We’d like to thank them for taking part and hope they enjoyed themselves.

Making a putt near the monastery

 Stableford Competition – 20/06/2010

Winners Men

1^st               Lech Dziewulski                41 pts

2^nd              Peter Taylor                       40 pts

3^rd               Lou Cunningham              39 pts

4^th               Keith Lawrence                 35 pts

5^th               Ron Dicks                           34 pts

Winners Ladies

1^st          Pam Shire                              39 pts

2^nd         Linda Jones                           36 pts

3^rd          Maura Lourier                      36 pts

Captain’s Charity Day – 23/06/2010 

1^st        J. Smith                T. Duggan                           B. Hibbiard          M. Laurier           118 pts

2^nd      G. Turton             D. Cornthwaite                 L. Jones                J. Heap                 114 pts

3^rd       C. Parr                  A. Whitbread                    J. Holland             L. Jones                113 pts

Red White Yellow Competition – 04/07/2010

Winners               Graham Jackson – John Holland – Keith Lawrence             90 pts

Runners Up         David Copp – Paul Jones – Michael Gorman                         87 pts

Stableford Competition – 20/07/2010

Twos. Winners:

P.Taylor                @ 15^th

L. Jones                @ 15^th

J. Wake                @ 8^th

L. Dziewulski      @ 15^th

R. Wortley           @ 15^th

Division I

Winner                 Roger Birkett                     39 pts

2^nd                        Alan Colquhoun                38 pts

Division II

Winner                 Keith Laurence                  47 pts

2^nd                        John Thompson                39 pts

3^rd                          Peter Taylor                       39 pts

Ladies

Winner                 Elaine Wall                          37 pts

2^nd                        Pam Shire                            37 pts

3^rd                        Gwen                                    35 pts

AM/AM Competition – 28/07/2010

Winners

1^st           Lou Cunningham/Paul Skinner/John Thompson

2^nd          Jimmy McBeth/Gary Owens/Doug Whetlor

3^rd           Paul Williams/David Hudson/Dorothy Hudson

If you’ve got what it takes to be really creative and are a fully qualified graphic designer, then you may be the person Pafilia are looking for.  We need someone who believes their work stands up to the best in Europe, someone with graphic design experience who can use current graphic design software and ideally has some basic knowledge of html.  Excellent knowledge of English required.

The successful applicant will become a key part of the company’s marketing team working on a broad selection of materials.  There will be plenty of opportunities to be creative, as well as working within branding guidelines.

For more information, contact human.resources@pafilia.com.

If you’ve got what it takes to be really creative and are a fully qualified graphic designer, then you may be the person Pafilia are looking for.  We need someone who believes their work stands up to the best in Europe, someone with graphic design experience who can use current graphic design software and ideally has some basic knowledge of html.  Excellent knowledge of English required.

The successful applicant will become a key part of the company’s marketing team working on a broad selection of materials.  There will be plenty of opportunities to be creative, as well as working within branding guidelines.

For more information, contact human.resources@pafilia.com.

Gordon Miller, a freelance property and environmental journalist, was a bit surprised to learn when he came to visit Minthis Hills that he would be worked hard.  He wasn’t fazed though and helped the team plant a 50-60 year old olive tree in the garden of the soon to be completed showhouse.

Gordon Miller plants tree at Minthis Hills

Stelios Patsalides, general manager of Minthis Hills Golf Club, Monika Noppa, landscape architect for Minthis Hills, and Andreas Antoniou, tree surgeon at Minthis Hills, were on hand to help.  According to Andreas, “We have already planted a few olive trees that are around 5-600 years old and there is at least one that we believe may be around 2000 years old!”

Andreas is a qualified tree surgeon, having studied at the Democritus University of Thrace in Greece, and joined Minthis Hills to practice what he learnt.  According to him, he is gaining so much knowledge now working day to day on the tree planting programme at Minthis Hills, “It’s so much better than learning it in a book.”

Minthis Hills would like to extend a big thank you to Gordon and hope to see him here again.

I love Cyprus property, but I also do other things.  One thing I enjoy is cycling.  This year, along with my brother and a few friends, I have decided to take part in the London to Paris cycle ride starting on the 24^th June and arriving on the Champs Elysee on the 26^th.  Three days will see us cover 330 miles or 528km and the ride will take in some wonderful countryside and the odd challenging climb!

Chris Gardner with his bike

We registered for this event at the end of November 2009 and promptly started experiencing one of the coldest winters the UK has seen for a long time.  Outdoor riding became a serious challenge and we had to abandon early morning rides for after lunch fast paced/let’s dodge the ice patch type rides.  Also, the indoor “turbo trainer” came out and a few hours of football was watched in the playroom sitting on the bike dreaming of warmer weather.

During the week I started to commute on the bike into the office. 

There are a few such organised rides and most of them raise money for a number of worthwhile charities.  I have decided to raise money for Autistica which is a large UK based charity raising funds for medical research that will  improve diagnosis, advance new treatments and discover the causes of autism.  I would greatly appreciate any contribution upon your part.

JustGiving sends your donation straight to Autistica and automatically reclaims Gift Aid if you’re a UK taxpayer, so your donation is worth even more. I hope you’ll join me in supporting Autistica.

Please click on the link below to get to my JustGiving page.

http://www.justgiving.com/Chris-GardnerL2P

The below links provide additional information on Autistica and the actual cycling event.

http://www.autismspeaks.org.uk/

www.londres-paris.com

Kataklysmos eller Flood Festival äger rum 50 dagar efter den ortodoxa påsken och firas i flera dagar.  Denna dag är också känd som den Helige Ande, och hyllar nedstigningen av den Helige Ande till apostlarna. I Cypern har firandet också anknytning till Gamla testamentets berättelse om Noaks Ark, och uråldriga ceremonier anordnas för att hedra Afrodite och Adonis.

Pafos harbour & castle

Alla kuststäder anordnar konserter och spel nära vattnet och på strandpromenaden hittar du massor av kiosker som säljer leksaker och traditionell mat. Det finns tävlingar i vattnet samt en tävling för chatista eller rimmade låtar på den cypriotiska dialekten. Vatten är ett nödvändigt tillbehör och invånarna, särskilt barn fyller ballonger och vattenpistoler med vatten för en bra “splash”. Så var redo att bli blöt vid Kataklysmos!

Semester tider nalkas även här, många byggen och kontor stänger igen helt under augusti månad och siestan blir längre och längre. För några år sedan kunde vi som bor här endast flyga reguljärt, man har suttit många timmar i Amsterdam, Prag och Wien. Sedan Cypern gick med i E.U år 2004 kan vi köpa enkla resor med de flesta charterbolagen till ett överkomligt pris.

A beach in Pafos (Paphos)

I år kommer Norwegian att ha direktflyg mellan Stockholm och Larnaca varje fredag och måndag  f.r.o.m. 28 juni t.o.m. 13 augusti.  Går man in och tittar på www.norwegian.se så finns en lågpris kalender med enkla biljetter från 399 kr. Min resa till Sverige i sommar kostade mig 2053 kr tur och retur sedan betalar man 90kr för varje kolli, max 20 kg vilket innebär att jag kan köpa 40kg till hemresan då jag oftast brukar ha övervikt, även runt midjan efter allt smågodis.