Kibkom North Cyprus Forum

Did the routine visit to Lamboussa this morning and in a way wish I hadn't.

Access and subsequent parking was its normal self with cars parked all the way up the access road and the parking in the actual car park was nothing short of abysmal and totally inconsiderate...... however this is TRNC and parking will always be imaginative but not really the source of my gripe........ having jarred my ankle on the uneven car parking surface (if it even even qualifies as surfacing) and then as a result getting a piece of glass in my shoe, my gripe is when are Lamboussa going to tackle some safety measures? Problems that I would like addressed are:

1 Provision of traffic attendants to improve access / egress and control parking
2 Get rid of the glass, rocks & rubbish to the car park and access ways and provide decent footpaths into the market to include consideration for wheelchair and frame users (this is 2013 after all and it appears this lot that run the market don't really care)
3 Build some proper steps between the upper / lower level and get rid of that dangerous temporary step made of old wooden pallets and scrap wood which is just so rickety and dangerous

It would be good to see some positive reaction and investment from Lamboussa management and perhaps some indication to a timetable for implementation of improvements............. of course they may even elect for silence which will speak volumes

As a goffer for wife who has a stall then I can say that improvements have been happening although too slow. This is North Cyprus and not western Europe and as someone I would guess you either live here or regular visitor you know disabled access is not top priority.

Why not use the other car park??? Instead of turning right when you get to hotel go straight through gates, has café sign on one gate. You will find ample parking on tarmac.

Do not worry the stall holders are concerned about the slow progress and do regularly make their points to Da Management.

I agree some safety measures need to be taken quite urgently, you only have to look at what happened to what happened to that poor lady in Girne (Cyprus Today) to see the consequences of poorly maintained walkways.
The issue of parking attendants is interesting but it all has to be paid for. I don't think in fairness the stall-holders can be asked to pay more for a pitch, especially when takings are down, and if you introduced an entrance fee customers wouldn't bother going.

Perhaps Gordon Kent would like to make a comment here - I think he should have a right to reply. Even if it were wanted to have all these things, one must remember that everything costs money as well as time.

For my part (and I don't go to Lamboussa because him downstairs cannot cope anyway but I have to say that one ofg the things I love about this place and lways have is that it is just like the good old days of my youth, where one took risks, took responsibility for whatever happened (such as my breaking a tooth in the playground cos I fell off a swing - shouldn't have gone so high!) looking where I was walking, Playing in places that here highly dangerous with the result that I am fitter than any of my offspring. I personally don't like Nanny states, and Big Brothers and in any way would not expect or want to find them here. And before someone says 'go find it elsewhere' I cannot think of anyway other than the outback in Australia, Thailand or India, and I like it here(and can't afford to move anyway)_. I like so many things about Cyprus, and do not relish Elf and Safety rushing in.

O.K. shoot me, but let's face it, no one is compelling anyone to go anywhere. Life is choices and consequences of those choices.

Well said Marions.

Here here Marions.

I agree too with Marions,

Well said Marions...totally agree.

Well said Marion, if you don't like it don't go. I don't.

[quote="Owl Lady"]Well said Marion, if you don't like it don't go. I don't.

So if you have reduced mobility, are disabled or partially sighted then you cannot expect to be able to enjoy a visit to the market, totally unacceptable. I don't want to see H&S running riot here but surely some consideration for prospective customers is not too much to ask, I am shocked at some of the responses to the original comments.

I'm with you on that one, Elizabeth, because I have some mobility problems and, while I now go to Lambousa occasionally, it's far less than I used to. No-one wants to replicate the Smother Mother sydnrome of the UK or Australia where everyone has to go out in swaddling clothes and cotton padding, but if you're not sure-footed the current situation at Lambousa is a nightmare. Even good steps between the two levels would be appreciated. If you're healthy, it's fine but don't forget those of us who do have mobility problems, we shouldn't be denied access to what is easily available to the more sure-footed. Some compassion and understanding for those of less able, thank you.

Us DISABLED PEOPLE SHOULD NOT BE TREATED WITH CONEMPT I have been there is little or no respect or services for the disabled PROFIT PROFIT PROFIT is the only thing there ( imho)

Improvements to the market were always scheduled to occur over phases. Phase 2 is currently awaiting planning permission (including the upper-level access ramp).

Handicapped and disabled access and facilities have always been incorporated into our designs. There is a disabled lavatory (EU Spec) and access to there from the Trojan Horse area is, as you may have noticed, via a slope and not stairs. Too, access between the Bar area and the Planter and Pavilion areas is also, should you have noticed, via a ramp as opposed to stairs. As mentioned above the steps and ramp between the Planter and the upper or Pavilion areas are awaiting planning approval.

Only Car-Park 1 (Chateau Lambousa) was ever to be an asphalt car-park. Car-Park 2 will remain gravelled. The rubble (and construction steel) is awaiting transfer as materials for the wheelchair ramp.

Re car-parking: We provide about 10 donums of parking. We have had two attendants and a map directing people where they are able to park. Regrettably, some persons have demonstrated a rather inappropriate raj-like attitude towards our Pakistani / Turkish / Cypriot attendants and ignored their requests to move on.

Ian and I are at the market most days and every Saturday and you are free to ask for any more details about the rather substantial investments we are making. Many already have, themselves, in person.

Britain was not exactly fast moving in terms of helping the handicapped. It takes time. But my Alan is handicapped and he accepts there are places he cannot go. He doe snot take it so p0ersonally (even though he is one of those natural moaners. The village where we live has no concerns for handicapped at all. Alan could never use a wheelchair, or any kind of vehicle. ~That's the way it is.

PERSONALLY I don't feel anyone has a right to expect things their way. Life is not like that. Most people have high hopes and standard,s but it is not possib le to have everything at once. And as anyone who has lived here for a while knows, things are inclined to move more slowly in the Med than other parts of Europe and the world.n Although TRNC is leaps and bounds in front of other parts of the world.

Thanks for the info about Lambousa Market, nice to know what's going on in the background. Have to disagree with you, Marion, those with disabilities shouldn't just put up and shut up, they have the right to go to the same places as able-bodies people. Sure things go more slowly here and certainly no one wants the insanity of health & safety nutters in the UK or Australia. But if people put up and shut up, women would never have had the vote.

Rights and duties. Now there is a real curly one, Mo. Nowhere near as simple as it should be.

I am definitely happy to accept that there are things I cannot do and things that Alan cannot do, and come to that there are things that youngsters cannot do based on age, and that older people cannot do baser
d on age. In one sense we all have a right to do whatever we want to do, but the snag is that to have that right it is someone's duty to let me.

Complicated innit!

I sincerely apologise to anyone I upset with my posting, it was unintentional, I just personally don't like the market. Having said that it is several years since I went.

Don't think you have upset anyone. It just shows the different colours of opinions over the matter. Yours is one colour, but there are others. No need to apologise I reckon.

WEll, wait for it........
My lovely, beautiful nephew joined the forces and was sent to Afghanistan.
He had his leg blown off at 21 years of age. He had his whole life ahead of him, young, fit, handsome, polite,
considerate.....well,, I could go on and on.

Not once have I EVER heard him moan about anything. He has got married, fathered a child, he now races cars,
there is no end to the achievements I'm sure he will make.

21 years of age !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!, as we get to a riper age, I'm sure we all expect to get a bit doddery. Me included.
I do not expect the whole world to cater for that. My poor old Nana, was a bit, well, bless her , she loved her grub.
Best cook in the world, she got by. Would never consider going far from home, because she didn't feel safe.
Why, in this age, do people think that the whole world has to cater for us old folk, who many years ago, wouldn't even be here????
I say spend the money preventing the children being abused, we've had our lives, now we must endure our in capabilities, and thank God we've reached our ripe age.
I really don't mean to offend ayone, but I just had to say this.

Bravo flowerfairy, and to your brave nephew.

I am 64 and still working and, thank God, able to be fairly active.

I go where I am able to, but, because of breathing difficulties, I accept that there are places that I cannot go, I don't whinge because I cannot climb up to St Hilarion, or take a walk up to beautiful Bellapais.

We must learn to accept our limitations and enjoy what we can do.

Well good for you blue butterfly. Bless you. I feel for you. Do you not have a friend who could drive you to the Abbey? If not, let me know when yo,d like to go. I,'ll take you,xxx

Thanks girls! My Alan would love to climb Ayers Rock again in Australia but as it is, he cannot even fly there! We have to accept eht things we cannot change. If good things happen to make life easier that is a bonus. And we would love to travel again, but he can't and we don't have the money. So we accept it. We give thanks for all the good fun we had , and realize it can be no more.

It strikes me the 21 year old can teach many of us a thing or two. And I have known people in car accidents ending up in wheelchairs in their 20's through no fault of their own. but they adapt to it all.

Or maybe we should all realize that he who expects nothing is never disappointed. So I never am (well, not much)

Flowerfairy, thank you for your very kind offer.

When I first came here, 12 years ago, I could and did walk up to Bellapais and I have been round the abbey.

What I was trying to say is, don't sit and regret and cry about what you can no longer do, enjoy what you can do.

Sometimes I just sit on the balcony of my little studio flat and enjoy the scent of the pakistani night flowers and watch the sun go down, it takes no effort, and it is free.

No matter how limited we think we are there are always ''small mercies'' out there if you look for them.

And people who care, thank you flowerfairy