A Matter of Choice

I've been looking through piles of old photos for inspiration for a Flashback post, and between my Mum and I we have A LOT of them.  I love old photos and they provide an almost endless supply of blog inspiration when I get round to it. Scrolling through the photos (yes they are ALL scanned, backed up, dated and organised in folders) saving a few that caught my eye and I decided these were the most appropriate for today. The first photo was taken when I was 17, I was about to leave for the annual Black Tie Ball at the rugby club I played lacrosse at,   well, I say 'played'  it was more that I used to turn up and stand in a field holding a stick trying not to run anywhere but it was close enough! My friends and I were technically too young to attend the ball but for some daft reason they decided we would be sensible enough to go. Hmmm,  the stories from the evening are probably best left unsaid,  but it was a memorable night and the start of my love of...

When I started this blog I had the vague idea that it would be a kind of diary of my move to Cyprus, capturing my first thoughts and experiences of a new beginning and life in a new country. That didn't really happen due to being here for over 3 months before we managed to get out internet connected. When we finally got online it seemed silly to backtrack as I felt there was far too much to catch up on and I felt the moment had passed. I blundered on regardless, not really knowing why but just because I fancied doing it. We had no decent TV, having only Arabic satellite which had few English channels and nothing I ever fancied watching, Leo slept well (early evening at least) and Aaron was often out playing pool. I rarely wrote about Cyprus as I didn't get out much to anywhere that was interesting enough and I didn't write about settling in as I had once planned to, it was not as perfect as people often imagine and although I was ok I didn't want my friends knowing...

Several years ago I used to regularly join in with a blog 'linky called 'Dear So and So'   where participants got the chance to talk, rant, thank or express themselves however they wished to people, or random things.  Recently my blogging friend Michelle has breathed new life into 'Dear So and So'  and as my blog could also do with some new life I decided to join in once more.  Dear Readers,  Are you still there?   Thank you for sticking around even though it's not as busy here as it once was. I'm spreading myself a bit thinner than I used too but you can also find me blogging at Klik Photo CY now for all things photo related and on my other site the Famagusta Parents Network for all things 'Cyprus' related.  I love all three of my little bits of the internet and like three very demanding and high maintenance kids I try to treat them all whilst loving them all the same amount! xxx Dear Blog, I nearly left it a wh...

Just over five years ago, several months after moving to Cyprus we finally got an internet connection and I eagerly jumped online to to find out more about everything - places to go, things to do, people to meet, etc and even google let me down.  Time and time again I found, if anything at all old and out of date information, half finished website and broken links,  and it was frustrating to say the least. I often wondered why there couldn't just be a website which had useful information on it, upcoming events and links to relevant sites.  In time I found some good sites, Mums in Cyprus and the Larnaca Parents Network being two of them, but they were both focused on other areas more so than the one I live in.  After setting up a small facebook group and spending more time than was probably healthy on facebook and the internet, and of course this blog I gradually found out more about what was going on around me, people would sometimes ask me what was happeni...

Last year I became aware of a fantastic charity by the name of KEPA 'St Christopher's Centre for Offering and Love'  after being involved in the Daxi Magazine Easter Collection.  I chose to donate all the money raised at the Famagusta Parents Network fun day to the collection, and was kindly invited to the foundation for a tour. The centre, based in Paralimni is run by volunteers and does a huge amount of work for so many members if all ages in the community. From the well equipped special needs school which helps more than 100 children with qualified teachers helping them to walk, speak, write and more, to the nursing home for the elderly it really covers everything. The centre provide 'Baskets of Love' and this is mainly where the Daxi Easter collection was able to help out. By the donations the centre receive they are able to distribute essentials of food and drinks for families in desperate need. Since 1998 they have been delivering food parcels to the sur...

People have asked me why I blog and it's a question I still struggle to answer, I like to create a record of things we've been up to, but of course I could have started a scrapbook or even just not hit publish and shared it with everyone. Maybe it  because I like to think that maybe I can make a difference, that is the reason I have run the ' Discovering Cyprus' , ' Birth in Cyprus and ' All Greek to me ' sections on this blog, and why I love running the FPN - I hope it can do some good for the area and help people along the way. I spend a huge amount of time online, between the two blogs, and the other places I write for,  as well as the other things I seem to get myself into to - being on the social team at Slimming World, setting up facebook pages, arranging coffee mornings and fun days, and nearly all of it is of no financial benefit to me  - considering we need to eat and stuff it's sometimes a wonder why I do it all.    But I do, and I love ...

Many years ago I sat with Cyprus guidebook excitedly flicking through the pages dreaming of all the places I would visit when it became our new home, no need to pick the best few things to fit into a 2 week holiday, I was anticipating going everywhere and doing everything. Of course, when we first signed our 'UK' lives away and made the decision to move we were yet to have children - footloose and fancy free with no consideration to driving distances, nap times, pushchairs or little toddling legs on uneven ground or whining children. Five years on and I still feel I am yet to see the 'real' Cyprus, or even the 'real Cyprus' as portrayed in the guide books,  the museums, archaeological sites and traditional villages. With absolutely no intention to do so, most of our friends seem to be fellow British expats and on the still rare occasions we go out we end up in 'expat pubs' as that's where our friends are which doesn't really help in...

People always say that you never get something for nothing but Tiny Acorns recently proved otherwise with their first Childrens’ FREE activity day.   Sam, the creator of Tiny Acorns Creavtivity Centre wanted to provide the children with something completely different to do that all the parents could get involved in without worrying about the cost, twelve weeks school holidays is a long time and it can get very expensive trying to occupy the kids as they get bored and restless towards the end of the holidays. The aim was to offer the children the experience to try something new, and in the process generate some awareness of the creative businesses that we have in the local area. Many companies were involved in providing activities for the day, along with the craft table, junk modelling and drawing stations set up by Tiny Acorns.  There was tile painting with the staff from ‘I Parea Mikron Filon' nursery    with donations from The Pottery Place, fa...

There's no passports or plane tickets involved, I'm not going back to those roots but I am planning to get back to where I started back in the blog world and revitalize this poor neglected blog of mine! Back in September 2009 I started my blog on a whim with my first post ' Do you want to move to Cyprus?'   and a few more surprisingly short posts following it up, Our first trip to Cyprus  ' What if?,  and 'Not long to go'   I think they were probably so short as I didn't really expect anyone to read them!   Another thing then on my ever increasing 'to do' list, I'd love to have a more detailed account of the biggest thing I've ever done, especially why it's still recent (ish) enough to remember it! There was a big break from November until January when I announced we were ' All settled (pretty much)'   and it wasn't until the May of that year that I managed more than 2 posts in one month.  At that point I was yet ...

I've been to many events here in Cyprus, some good, many bad but usually leave muttering how easy it would be to improve them in some way. So when I was was offered a venue to hold my own just after I had set up the Famagusta Parents Network I jumped at the chance to do just that! As a child I loved the school fetes, Brownie fairs and enjoyed getting involved in them. (I helped at Brownies for many years after I actually left!) and my ideas for the event I guess were based on those. I knew I wanted to have things for the children to do, and that if they were happy, the parents would be happy.  I knew I wanted to promote and support local businesses and I wanted to raise money in the process for a local charity. From the idea it might happen to the day itself was just 6 weeks, some people mentioned this wasn't very long - I shrugged and said it would be fine! And it was! The support I had from the community was quite amazing both in the run up to the day, with busi...