Stranded in Cyprus 2

Today is the day we should have been going home! However our flight has been cancelled indefinitely. At the meeting last night we were told that we can stay in the hotel and have been upgraded to full board so we're not exactly slumming it. We have been told to report for updates at 10am and 6pm each day to make sure we are in a position to move quickly if a flying opportunity occurs, though thee are not necessarily any planes or flight crews here to take us home anyway!

There is definitely a growing feeling of cameraderie amongst the people stuck here. Our hotel is mainly English, German and French people so we are all affected. In fact more and more people are being sent to our hotel from other hotels so it's getting pretty busy around here! People who had generally kept themselves to themselves are now chatting and swapping stories. There's a general feeling of 'all being in this together'.

However, despite the fact we are in receipt of a 'free' extended holiday there are various stressors and practical things to sort out. My husband is worrying about work commitments - he should be at an important meeting in London on Tuesday, he has deadlines to meet and lots of other commitments he cannot fullfil from here. The boys will not be able to return to school tomorrow. My eldest son has a GCSE Art exam to complete on Monday and Tuesday and a French oral exam a week on Tuesday - he has no revision materials with him as he was fully expecting to have 10 days to revise when we got home! So tomorrow I have to e-mail the school and ask if they will give him an extension for his art exam and e-mail some French revision materials to us here. Thank goodness for the internet and e-mail!

We have obviously phoned family to reassure them we are okay but I keep thinking of numerous other people I need to notify of things. I realised that our milk delivery was due to recommence tomorrow so I've had to text my neighbour and ask her to put a note out for the milkman. Then my sons reminded me that they won't be able to do their paper rounds next week so I've had to text a friend  and ask her to pop into the paper shop and notify them about that. I've also had to e-mail another friend to tell him I can't give him his usual lift on Wednesday.

It's a strange feeling - my holiday is extended but I'm having to arrange to put my normal life on hold!

I'll try and update you again tomorrow. However, there are only 2 computers available in the hotel and a lot of people wanting to use them so I can't hog one for too long. This is the reason I may not be able to respond to individual comments at the moment - computer time is precious here!

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