In response to the article we published with entertainer Andy Reay click here on the subject of what do you do during Self Isolation, we have started to receive messages from many happy people as you will see.
We have another difficult case of Ralph and Sarah who are stuck in Australia and want their friends and family to know where they are and are desperate to know when they can come back to the TRNC.
For those readers who would also like to share their experiences please email kyreniacommentator@cyprusscene.com and we will try to publish them on our website and in our weekly online e-newspaper. Let’s try to make the world happy again by sharing good news.
For those people who are wanting to return from the UK to the TRNC or go from the TRNC to the UK please go to Facebook page “TRNC Residents trying to get home” click here and register your details as directed.
******
Readers Mail….
From Ralph Kratzer..
My partner Sarah and I left TRNC on 19th December 2019, first to visit her children and grandchildren in UK over Christmas and New Year. Covid-19 was a local epidemic somewhere in China back then… we didn’t have a clue what would happen not even 3 months later!
On 3rd January 2020 we got on a plane to fly from London to Sydney to start our “should be” holiday of our life…
After a wonderful and stunning time in Australia and New Zealand we were really looking forward to our flight back to our adopted homeland Northern Cyprus on my birthday, 16th March 2020, via Dubai and London.
However, everything worked out differently! On 12th March we got the news that TRNC had closed its borders for non-citizens and foreigners without residency. Our plan was, before we left, to get our residency sorted after our return, because as “over 60s” we had been granted to have time for the application until 23rd October…
We also were told that the borders should re-open beginning of April, so we rescheduled our flights to 6th April 2020 with the help of the airline’s office in Brisbane.
Now Emirates has cancelled all passenger flights out of Australia until further notice.
We follow the news about Covid-19 measures all over the world, but especially in TRNC and – of course Australia – on a daily basis, on TV and via social media, but they are either incomplete or misleading and contradictory… I think this is the biggest problem for all the people being stranded all over the world and desperately wanting to come home one day in the foreseeable future. This insecurity makes people sick… and, as you can see in some posts and comments on social media, more and more unfriendly and aggressive…
Coming back to our “temporary prison” Australia, I know there are a lot of people – including our families – who say “Aaah come on, there are worse places to be stuck…!” and indeed they are right! Australia has taken measures against the spread of Covid-19, e.g. to avoid any kind of social gatherings including the shut down of bars, restaurants, unessential shops and the ban of so called home parties, sport events etc. But at the moment we are still able to move around by car, have a bit of sightseeing here and there, go shopping, have a walk in the beautiful nature and so on.
And, most importantly, the overwhelming friendliness of the Australians (including New Zealanders) doesn’t stop and continues even in times of a crisis like this… for example, we moved to a little private bungalow a couple of days ago to have more space for us in case of a possible curfew, and the landlord has – of his free will – reduced the rental costs for more than 50% due to our situation! I wish landlords in TRNC would be so sympathetic…
But, being forced to stay in a foreign country for an unpredictable time – as beautiful and warm-hearted as it might be – is not the same as being at home!
We have started to become really homesick, but never moan about a situation you actually cannot change…
Regards
Ralph
