Hi, there!
That time is on us again, when we try to take time off work and maybe even enjoy ourselves.
As nearly always, we have attached our Christmas message to let you know what we've been doing (not really much) over this year. It has a link to a very short video with a vaguely Christmas connection.
Margaret and I wish all our friends the traditional Merry Christmas and Happy New Year; enjoy your holidays!
All the best,
Brian and Margaret Ellis
CY-7647 Mosfiloti
Christmas Greetings from the Ellis clan
That time of year has come round again and Margaret and I, in sunny Cyprus, send all our friends (and maybe others, as well) our best wishes for a great Christmas and may 2020 be the Best Year ever.
In the past, we've sometimes offered a video in lieu of a Christmas card. This year, you can find it at
It is somewhat different from our usual contributions because of the subject matter and it is very short (little risk of boring you!). In keeping with the season, it has a religious overtone (no apologies) as it shows the place where Mary, the mother of Jesus, may have lived and died, after leaving Nazareth.
Life here, in Mosfiloti, has been very quiet this year. In February, daughter Catrina and partner Malik paid us a short visit. They were very helpful, changing all the lightbulbs for the LED type, in the hope that the power stations here will reduce their carbon dioxide emissions by a tiny, tiny, amount! This was a great help because we both have mobility problems in our dotage. Catrina visited us again for Easter and in October. We hope to see her again with our grandkids, Faye and Robin, this coming February.
Our personal highlight was our 60th (diamond) wedding anniversary in October, when Catrina was here. We celebrated it quietly, en famille. Of course, we've had our ups and downs over the years but I guess we chose each other quite well!
Those of you who know us well are aware that we try to respect the environment as much as possible. With this in mind, our latest project over the next few months is to install a photovoltaic system to essentially make us as free as possible from the electricity supply, which is generated here to about 90% from carbon-rich mineral oils.
Our main weather measuring system broke down recently after about 15 years of hot summers and wet winters and it was replaced just today with a new one, which has already shown an improvement in its accuracy. Our very regional forecasts can be seen at https://weather.bnellis.eu/forecast/ but this is likely to be of use only to our local friends. Even older was a DV video editing system, at about 25 years, and this is also being replaced, having gone for recycling. Seeing how old our techie stuff is makes us sit up in fright! Our electrical supplier told us that even our TV set, in the living room, is a venerable 14 years. It is good to see that modern electronics don't have to be chucked out (for recycling, of course!) every few years, mobiles excepted.
As for many years now, we send our greetings every year by email only. They are every bit as
sincere as mailing you a card because the money we thus save gives the single mothers and their children in this village something a little bit special for Christmas.
At risk of repeating ourselves (a trait of us old 'uns with poor memories), have a delicious meal for Christmas and celebrate Hogmanay in the traditional way.
Brian and Margaret Ellis
Andrea Miaouli 8
CY-7647 Mosfiloti
Seasonal Greetings
Re: Seasonal Greetings
I look forward to your Christmas felicitations Mark & sometimes short has more impact. Just a couple of things. I found out many years ago that we were both using Davies Weather Stations. What have you replaced it with? Secondly my disappointment in 2019 was you did not respond to my suggestion for a song from you on the song chain. Can't win them all but seasons greetings from a far away place
Norv
Norv
Re: Seasonal Greetings
A) Who is Mark?jagwheels wrote: ↑Sat Dec 21, 2019 4:14 pm I look forward to your Christmas felicitations Mark & sometimes short has more impact. Just a couple of things. I found out many years ago that we were both using Davies Weather Stations. What have you replaced it with? Secondly my disappointment in 2019 was you did not respond to my suggestion for a song from you on the song chain. Can't win them all but seasons greetings from a far away place
Norv
B) Our Greetings are both short and long (with video).
C) Against my will, I've just had to buy a new Davis weather station. https://www.weather-watch.com/smf/index ... 775.0.html
D) I can't sing!
Re: Seasonal Greetings
I knew the word Mark would get your attention Brian so now I have it, your excuse "I can't sing!" is not a good scientific reason for not responding
There are plenty of songs for scientists
There are plenty of songs for scientists
