Cyprus seems like a ghost island - like everyone decided to build stuff here a few years ago and just left it all part done. It's very unusual.

It's amazingly warm and the first night we were put in a "room" which had two matresses with grainy sheets, a filthy carpet, water that ran brown when you first turned it on (i've only ever seen that in movies..) and NO AIRCONDIONING. For that reason I was not refreshed and prepared for the concert that evening, which didn't go so well for me, especially when someone's phone went off during the first woodwind solo. Anyway, the unlucky few of us have been relocated to a lovely quaint traditional sort of place, and last night we had a good time - Jill slept over so we had three in the bed! We also had a lovely breakfast (so much watermellon here! Hayden I'm thinking of you).

Today we went on an excursion to the beach in Lanarca, and spent ALL DAY there! A few of us walked for an hour and a half into the "town centre" to see St Lazarus church, which was pretty lavish, but the town didn't consist of very much. The beach was great - the water was so warm and it was nice to get some sun, but it was a bit creepy being right next to the airport and seeing all these military planes and helicopters coming and going, and some menacing looking navy ships out at sea. I felt like such an innocent tourist.

Tomorrow we're off to Limassol, where we play a concert outdoors in Hero's Square, then have ANOTHER free day to get a feel for the place! Before we came, we had an incredible 2 days in Barcelona where Jordi (my flute-partner/tourguide) gave us some amazing whirlwind tours. I can't wait to spend a week there - there seems like so much to explore.

So, all in all I'm very happy because we're being given time to get a feel for the place we're in, and we're also bonding really well because of it. I can't even imagine going back to "normal life" in England at the moment...