Trev in Cyprus.

[trevnhil]

Ha ha, I don't somehow think that it will ever happen. And if we tell him what people are paying in Morecambe and other areas he may want to increase the charges.

We guess that the average that people pay in the UK now would be about £1,250 for a C band. A very big difference. I also believe that the water rates in the UK are quite a bit more than ours. Re water rates. Do remember that most places here are on septic tanks and therefore there are no mains drains to upkeep nor any treatment works.
But of course although some things here are cheaper, there are many things that are quite a bit dearer.

Regards. Trev..

[trevnhil]

Regarding food cost here I have reproduced a supermarket leaflet so that you can make comparisons.







Some of the things that are dearer are.. Milk, about a pound a litre. HP sauce about £3-50 for a large squeezy bottle. Frozen goods are also expensive.

Cheers. Trev..

[WillowTheWhisp]

We were quite shocked at how expensive the day to day cost of living is in France while we were there - mind you the exchange rate at present fro £ to € didn't help. Not sure how it compares there regarding your big expenses like water and council tax etc though. I reckon I could cope with higher food prices if the utility bills were so low!

I really do fancy all that lovely warm weather you get in Cyprus though.

[trevnhil]

Willow said..

"I really do fancy all that lovely warm weather you get in Cyprus though. "

All you have to do is go to the travel agents or book on line. I would even stand your family a round of drinks.

Cheers. Trev..

[WillowTheWhisp]

We'd need a little thing called money in order to do that Trev and after a fortnight in France at the current exchange rates we're a bit skint!

[trevnhil]

Yes, I know what you mean about the current exchange rate. We get our pensions paid into the Nationwide in Lancaster, and then we have to draw it out of an ATM over here. We also use our debit cards regularly and that comes out of the same account. We are getting at the moment €1.17 to the UK£.

It has been as low as €1.06. so at least we are getting about 10% more now. There was talk of it going to Parity... now that would have been drastic.

Keep saving the pennies ;D

Trev..

[WillowTheWhisp]

I think I have about €5 left from our hols - will that be enough?

[trevnhil]

Errrr, maybe not. But save it for when the UK change to a stronger European currency ;D ;D

Cheers. Trev..

[trevnhil]

Hi all Bay Webbers.

I jut thought I would add a few words as my last post on here was a few days ago.
To follow on from what willow was saying about the exchange rate not being too good. I think when Cyprus joined with the Euro currency on the 1st of Jan: 2008 the rate was about 1.36 Euros for each pound. I steadily went down from there and we became very worried as our money in the UK bank became less and less in Euros. So we changed a large amount to Euros at a rate of 1.23, and thought how awful that was. The rate has been as low as about 1.05, but has recovered from there to be 1.17 today.

Things are still getting dearer here. Milk is around €1.10 litre and a village (rounded) loaf is about €1.25.

Petrol has also risen in price recently, a little more than the UK I believe.
The picture below (sorry a bit blurred) shows the current prices.



The unleaded 95 price is the same as 0.84p £UK
The diesel price is the same as 0.77p £UK.
Heating oil is the same as 0.59p £UK.

I don't know why Diesel is so cheap here or dear in the UK. And I believe our heating oil is a good bit dearer than the UK. Although the government do knock off 10cents in the winter.
So it is swings and roundabouts again.


We are still getting full sun each day It is 34c out in the shade and 31.5c inside with a fan going. We still have had only one day with any rain since before my UK visit last June.

Enjoy your weather there. I'm off to get my lunch outside now.

Best wishes. Trev..

[WillowTheWhisp]

We paid up to €1.35 a litre for sans plomb 95 in France. A lot depends there on where you buy it. Here in Accy it's £1.02 (ish).

[trevnhil]

Willow said.... "We paid up to €1.35 a litre for sans plomb 95 in France."


Now I have never tried any of that brand of wine. But I believe '95 was a very good year in general. ;D

Seriously, that seems very dear by anyone's standard. So I suppose we here should be thankful that we are getting it at a cheapish price.

Cheers. Trev..

[trevnhil]

Hi All.
Well there has been some excitement and danger here in the hills above Paphos in Cyprus. You have perhaps seen the fires that are / have been raging in Greece. Well we have had our own fires today but thankfully not as bad as Greece. They have almost been extinguished now but have been burning fiercely since around Noon. They were about 5 miles from us so we went to see how bad they were. There were many fire engines there maybe about 10. So they must have been bringing them from many areas of the island,
We decided to go and see how bad it was, and it was not good. It covered an area of a few Kilometres, ant lots of villagers were helping with water tanks on their pickup trucks.
One thing that my wife Hilary pointed out is that because the water pipes here are laid o the ground, and made of plastic..... they burn through.

Here are some of the pictures that I took this afternoon.






















Hopefully no one was injured and no property was damaged. Fires like this (but not as bad) happen weekly here. Not surprising really when there has only been one day with rain since the end of May.

Regards. Trev..

[WillowTheWhisp]

I've seen the fires in Greece on TV and it looks horrendous. I hadn't realised you were having problems in Cyprus too. It does seem rather foolish to have the water pipes made of something that can easily melt when there's a fire so reducing the water supply to put the fires out.

I share your hopes that no-one has been hurt.

[trevnhil]

Thanks for your good wishes Willow. As I say at least not as bad as Greece where they must at least have lost some property.

BUT...... on a lighter note. I also took these pictures today on our back patio.





Nature is Brilliant.

Regards. Trev..

[mpprh]

Actually most of the Med has forest fire problems when it has been hot and dry for many weeks. The other problem is winds that can spread
the fire very rapidly.

My version :



More info : www.midilibre.com/articles/2009/08/23/A-LA-UNE-Un-engin-incendiaire-provoque-un-feu-de-90-ha-a-Generac-893292.php5



More info : www.midilibre.com/articles/2009/08/23/A-LA-UNE-Un-feu-detruit-80-hectares-de-pinede-entre-Roquefort-et-Sigean-893282.php5

Peter