And another thing

When I moved here from Germany I was determined to see the good in everyone.

All the people here (well, nearly all of them) are so pleasant and go out of their way (really) to help you and befriend you and and and.  And compared to Germany where the people are often distrusting, I find it an incredible haven here for genuinely NICE people.

So?

Things don’t always get done when you think, people turn up a day late for an appointment, you queue for half an hour every time you need to go to the bank...but I never cared - things like that sincerely DON’T matter when you live here and have all the benefits of living on the most beautiful part of the Mediterranean.

And I’ve been doing SO well in seeing the good in everyone and everything, (cos I’m a miserable git and that’s not my natural state I can tell you) - oh well, apart from the incident at the supermarket…
And even then I was as polite as a polite thing...it’s only in my blog that I said all the things I wanted to say!
At the time I said - no of course you’re right, yes sir, no sir, see you on Monday sir etc.

But yesterday the little inefficiencies and disappointments sort of culminated in Turk Bankasi.

You see it wasn’t really their fault.

So, I’d queued for 40 minutes this time - only 10 minutes longer than normal.
And I’d filled in all the forms in triplicate to deposit a cheque into my account.
And signed the back of the cheque and watched the teller write all over the cheque...only to have it handed back to me.

You see I bank with Turk Bankasi in Girne...and the cheque was from Is Bank in Nicosia. 
Both banks and towns are in North Cyprus…
But it seems that makes for a problem anyway.
My bank couldn’t accept the cheque after all.
Now this is like going into HSBC in the UK with a cheque from Barclays bank...nothing more sinister than that.
But Noooooooo.

We can’t deposit this cheque, it’s not from our bank. 
You have to take is to Is Bank.
But I don’t have an account with Is Bank.
Well maybe they’ll cash it?
Can’t you cash it?
We can’t give you that much money.

Whoa there - how much is this cheque for?
£200
Yes £200
A nice sum of money I’ll grant you - a very tidy sum.
But not exactly going to break the bloody bank!

So, how about you cash it in theory and deposit the theoretical number of pounds into my account?

No - get out please...next please.

So…
I swore…
Loudly…
Just one word…
But it was the F word…
And it all went quiet…
And then I left.

I still have the cheque and I am now in the process of psyching myself up for a show down in Is Bank.
Wish me luck