MEDITERRANEAN MEANDERINGS
14TH JANUARY 2010
The week marking my second month in Kapparis has been a very quiet one. After being covered in mosquito bites last week I thought I had contracted malaria! I spent last Thursday night shivering uncontrollably and then slept on and off for about 36 hours. I gave myself a reiki treatment when I awoke and have been fine since. I think it was just a winter bug.
I have been able to get back on the buses this week. I have missed the scenic trip to Agia Napa. The only blight on the journey is Protaras, but as this is where most of the passengers come from there probably wouldn’t be a bus service without it. There are only two or three hotels open there at this time of year, so I am dreading what it will be like in mid-season. However, I expect I will not be travelling so far at that time of year anyway. There have been rumours that a real and proper bus service will be starting in June. This means that the public transport would be island wide. This would be amazing. I will be keeping my fingers crossed on this one. There has never been such a thing in Cyprus before and so there are obviously detractors from this plan. It is worth noting that all the detractors drive and therefore have no need of public transport. You see so many old ladies struggling with their shopping because there is no way for them to get around. Children have to start driving motorized bicycles very young because they have no other way of getting to see their friends. I am happy with donkey carts if they don’t want buses, as long as I can get around! Ecological awareness is also not high on the agenda here and because of the state of the roads most people drive 4x4s – so the buses would be a big improvement on all that individual gas-guzzling, but this is not an argument many Cypriots are ready for yet.
On the other hand all credit must be afforded to them as they are doing brilliantly with the smoking ban. When I went in the post office a few days ago even they had a No Smoking sign up – mind you it was empty in there! Most bars in Cyprus have an outdoor terrace and so the smokers can all sit in comfort rather than huddle under awnings like they do in the UK. Admittedly it is chilly in the evenings here, but nothing a hardened smoker can’t manage. I, meanwhile, can come home from the pub without having to dive straight in the shower to get the smell off my hair. So I am very happy with it – although it has to be said I am probably in a minority of one!
I was inordinately pleased by a very small occurrence on Monday. I was walking through the streets of Agia Napa and as the bus went past the driver smiled and waved at me. Having sat on his bus often I know this is something he normally reserves for his Cypriot friends, so it made my day. I felt accepted suddenly and, although I have a long way to go to build up my life here, I had a sense of belonging. I have been accepted by the ex-pat community, but it meant infinitely more (whether this should be the case I do not know) to be acknowledged by the locals.
It is raining here today and the black storm clouds are menacing in their intensity, so I am staying in the flat in the warm. It never ceases to amaze me how my energy dissipates with the sun. I lose all excitement and interest when the sun isn’t warming my veins. Maybe I am a reptile. Yet, what is brilliant here is that the rain or greyness is the unusual weather. You don’t have a conversation here about how sunny it has been again today, but it is cause for comment when it rains. The month or so of winter that happens in this part of the world has begun and it is windy and comparatively chilly. Compared to the weather currently being experienced back in the UK and the months of greyness that bring me to despair there, this is as nothing. I also know that the sun will be back, whereas whenever it went in in the UK I was never totally convinced I would see it again.
The other constant joy of my life here is the sea. Yesterday I caught myself smiling as I walked round the corner and came in sight of the sea. Thinking about it I realised that no matter how often I see the sea it lifts me every time. The first thing I see when I open my eyes in the morning is the sea and I can see it whenever I lift my head and look out of the window. I love it in every mood; there is never a time I am sorry to be by the sea. Before I left the UK I caught the bus up to Bude so that I could watch the Atlantic breakers as I didn’t think I would get to see such dramatic seas here in the Mediterranean and I wanted to savour it. Obviously I saw the sea when I was back with my family in Mile Oak, but the Atlantic always has a more dangerous feel to it and I wanted huge waves crashing against the rocks. Saying this I have seen some choppier seas than I expected here, especially in the high winds we have had recently. As I look up from the laptop I can see that the sea is gunmetal grey today. It is fairly flat, but you can see the white crests as they make their way towards the shore. It doesn’t sound very exciting and indeed it isn’t but I love the sea like this too. As much as I love Totnes, and it is a wonderful place to live, I hadn’t realised until I moved here just how much I missed being by the sea. Totnes actually counts as being on the coast as the Dart is still tidal there, but it is the very fact of seeing the sea all the time that makes me feel secure. After all, if we can’t see the edge, how do we know we can get off?
So, as I say, a quiet week here so I will shut up and let you all go back to your lives. Look after yourselves in the ice and the snow and keep living on the edge!
14TH JANUARY 2010
The week marking my second month in Kapparis has been a very quiet one. After being covered in mosquito bites last week I thought I had contracted malaria! I spent last Thursday night shivering uncontrollably and then slept on and off for about 36 hours. I gave myself a reiki treatment when I awoke and have been fine since. I think it was just a winter bug.
I have been able to get back on the buses this week. I have missed the scenic trip to Agia Napa. The only blight on the journey is Protaras, but as this is where most of the passengers come from there probably wouldn’t be a bus service without it. There are only two or three hotels open there at this time of year, so I am dreading what it will be like in mid-season. However, I expect I will not be travelling so far at that time of year anyway. There have been rumours that a real and proper bus service will be starting in June. This means that the public transport would be island wide. This would be amazing. I will be keeping my fingers crossed on this one. There has never been such a thing in Cyprus before and so there are obviously detractors from this plan. It is worth noting that all the detractors drive and therefore have no need of public transport. You see so many old ladies struggling with their shopping because there is no way for them to get around. Children have to start driving motorized bicycles very young because they have no other way of getting to see their friends. I am happy with donkey carts if they don’t want buses, as long as I can get around! Ecological awareness is also not high on the agenda here and because of the state of the roads most people drive 4x4s – so the buses would be a big improvement on all that individual gas-guzzling, but this is not an argument many Cypriots are ready for yet.
On the other hand all credit must be afforded to them as they are doing brilliantly with the smoking ban. When I went in the post office a few days ago even they had a No Smoking sign up – mind you it was empty in there! Most bars in Cyprus have an outdoor terrace and so the smokers can all sit in comfort rather than huddle under awnings like they do in the UK. Admittedly it is chilly in the evenings here, but nothing a hardened smoker can’t manage. I, meanwhile, can come home from the pub without having to dive straight in the shower to get the smell off my hair. So I am very happy with it – although it has to be said I am probably in a minority of one!
I was inordinately pleased by a very small occurrence on Monday. I was walking through the streets of Agia Napa and as the bus went past the driver smiled and waved at me. Having sat on his bus often I know this is something he normally reserves for his Cypriot friends, so it made my day. I felt accepted suddenly and, although I have a long way to go to build up my life here, I had a sense of belonging. I have been accepted by the ex-pat community, but it meant infinitely more (whether this should be the case I do not know) to be acknowledged by the locals.
It is raining here today and the black storm clouds are menacing in their intensity, so I am staying in the flat in the warm. It never ceases to amaze me how my energy dissipates with the sun. I lose all excitement and interest when the sun isn’t warming my veins. Maybe I am a reptile. Yet, what is brilliant here is that the rain or greyness is the unusual weather. You don’t have a conversation here about how sunny it has been again today, but it is cause for comment when it rains. The month or so of winter that happens in this part of the world has begun and it is windy and comparatively chilly. Compared to the weather currently being experienced back in the UK and the months of greyness that bring me to despair there, this is as nothing. I also know that the sun will be back, whereas whenever it went in in the UK I was never totally convinced I would see it again.
The other constant joy of my life here is the sea. Yesterday I caught myself smiling as I walked round the corner and came in sight of the sea. Thinking about it I realised that no matter how often I see the sea it lifts me every time. The first thing I see when I open my eyes in the morning is the sea and I can see it whenever I lift my head and look out of the window. I love it in every mood; there is never a time I am sorry to be by the sea. Before I left the UK I caught the bus up to Bude so that I could watch the Atlantic breakers as I didn’t think I would get to see such dramatic seas here in the Mediterranean and I wanted to savour it. Obviously I saw the sea when I was back with my family in Mile Oak, but the Atlantic always has a more dangerous feel to it and I wanted huge waves crashing against the rocks. Saying this I have seen some choppier seas than I expected here, especially in the high winds we have had recently. As I look up from the laptop I can see that the sea is gunmetal grey today. It is fairly flat, but you can see the white crests as they make their way towards the shore. It doesn’t sound very exciting and indeed it isn’t but I love the sea like this too. As much as I love Totnes, and it is a wonderful place to live, I hadn’t realised until I moved here just how much I missed being by the sea. Totnes actually counts as being on the coast as the Dart is still tidal there, but it is the very fact of seeing the sea all the time that makes me feel secure. After all, if we can’t see the edge, how do we know we can get off?
So, as I say, a quiet week here so I will shut up and let you all go back to your lives. Look after yourselves in the ice and the snow and keep living on the edge!
Thank you, Catherine. Your words actually make me feel I am there with you, seeing the sights and beholding the sea. I am so glad life is good for you there. I think it must particularly suit your Scorpio Moon, to live on an island!
ReplyDeletePlease keep up the good work/words!
Love
Evelyn xxx