MEDITERRANEAN MEANDERINGS
22ND JANUARY 2010

Winter has definitely begun here in Cyprus, although it is still quite mild. It is 16° today, but we are due a temperature drop to about 8° on Monday, so any donations of jumpers you want to quickly knit and ship out to me would be very welcome!

On Monday the skies were as grey as an elephant that has just been told the ivory dealers are in town, but I had to get into Paralimni to pay various bills and some other bits and pieces, so I thought I would go before it rained. As I have said in previous blogs it is about a forty – fifty minute walk to Paralimni from my flat and I had only managed about half an hour before the rain began. I had gone too far for it to be worth turning back and I thought that a little bit of rain wouldn’t hurt. As I reached the main drag of Paralimni I was already looking bedraggled, but Zeus, in his role of Rain God, was keeping the best for my homeward travail. I came out of the Electricity shop and realised that this was not just rain – monsoon may be a more accurate term, but I don’t know what the local equivalent would be. Within 10 yards I was so ridiculously wet that I might just as well have lain down in the nearest puddle and wallowed. However, at this point I was still in town. What was worrying me was how I was going to walk back across the fields and wasteground that lead to my flat. As I carried on down the hill I was trying to work out why the roads had flooded so quickly. I know the rainfall was astronomical but two inch deep puddles in just twenty minutes of rain, surely an impossibility. It was as I was walking down a newly constructed road watching the water literally cascade past me at speed that I realised that none of the roads have drains. Surely in a country with such a huge water shortage as Cyprus there would be call for gathering the rainwater somehow? I understand that there are only on average 25 days of rain a year, but if the volume of rain on those days is as high as it was on Monday there must be gallons and gallons of water just wasted. Very few people in Cyprus walk anywhere when the weather is congenial to it and so it was without surprise that I met no other idiot walking in the rain. The cars too dwindled almost to nothing, although the ones that went past couldn’t help but splash me from head to foot – there was no way to escape the (puddles seems such a small word to describe them so I will opt for...) lakes, but I was so drenched by this time that it made not an iota of difference! I finally arrived at the point where I had to cross the fields. My trainers were already squelching and my feet were sliding about inside with each step. The water was streaming into the fields and the mud was just waiting for me to slip. I had to make my way across treading on what undergrowth I could find as a grip, but it took me twice as long as my balance is precarious at the best of times and I had to step gingerly (no pun intended) looking before I placed each foot. By the time I came out the other side my trainers were no longer just squelching, they were excreting water with every pace. Blisters had formed on the bottom of my feet where they were rubbing about in a couple of inches of water. I finally made it back – without you will be amazed to hear ending up on my backside – and I had to wring my shoes out before getting in the lift. My socks left soggy footprints all over the corridors anyway so that was a waste of time. I then had to have my jeans surgically removed as they had now become so tightly adhered to my skin there was no other way out of them. Anyway, it was quite exciting – if exhausting. The rain continued at that level for the next twelve hours or so and it was quite snug hearing the rain lashing against the windows. My flat is on the corner of the complex, so I had it from both sides. Zeus added in a bit of thunder and lightning as a garnish and got Aeolus to contribute a good hard gust or twenty. It has taken until today for my trainers to dry out!

I haven’t been out a lot this week, except to the shops and back – it’s not really been that inviting out. At the end of last week though I finally tracked down the Holistic Shop in Agia Napa that I had been looking for since I arrived. I had been told about it on my second day here, but try as I might I could not find it. I must have walked past it so many times. Sitting on the bus last week I happened to look up as we passed the Museum and there it was – obvious as anything. I thought perhaps they had been reading too much Harry Potter and that maybe I had finally met their Secret Keeper (or maybe it’s me that has been reading too much Harry Potter – surely not!), but whatever the reason I got off the bus at the next stop and went in. I met some absolutely lovely people and we sat round and chatted for hours. It was just like being back in Totnes. We had a great esoteric and philosophic conversation and we agreed on many points, but what was even better was that we disagreed on some too and that is the way to learning, rather than everyone just sitting around saying ‘no, I agree with you’. The upshot is they are coming round this evening, which I am looking forward to immensely.

Yesterday I had babysitting duties. Three month old Louie had to come and stay with me while his family went to Nicosia for the day. Luckily Louie is the sort of three month old with floppy ears and a wet nose (although I know so little about babies that that could describe all of them I suppose!). He is a Cyprus Terrier, but they look like very short Labradors. His ears are liver coloured and his sandy body has little liver spots on, which I suppose should be a sign of age really! It was bright enough for us to go out for a little walk, but his legs are still so small and he is so excited about everything that he doesn’t need to go far before he is tired out. So we had a pleasant day pootling around the flat together playing ball and fighting with his piece of rope. Originally I had been asked to go to Nicosia with them, but there was going to be girly shopping involved and I can cope with the dog better than I can wandering around looking at stuff you can’t afford and definitely don’t need all day.

Today saw me making the trek to Paralimni again. Luckily although the sky is slightly overcast today it stayed dry. On my walks before I have noticed little dome shaped brick structures (usually painted cream or white) dotted here and there and paid very little attention to them, but today I passed one just as people were coming to take their bread out. They are communal bread ovens. The patronising British part of me is desperate to say ‘how quaint’, but really what a fab idea. I had not realised that these were still in use. The most delicious looking round loaves came out of the furnace and they smelt wonderful. Yet we were in more or less the town centre at this point and I (my own prejudices I know) just didn’t expect to see them.

As I managed to get everything done quite early I thought I would just catch the bus to Agia Napa and back –just to wallow in the scenery for a bit. The bus was already at the main bus stop in Paralimni and there were people all waiting impatiently to get on. This is quite unusual; there is normally a fast turnaround. The fares are €1.50 wherever you are going, so no one has to mess about and you don’t have to specify where you want to get off, you just get up when you are ready. As I reached the stop I saw the driver coming out of the Bus Offices with a glass of water. He got on his bus and proceeded to throw it all over an exceedingly drunk man. He had got on and fallen asleep, and all previous attempts had failed to rouse him (I realised I had typed arouse here – but that would have been a whole different story!). He staggered off the bus, his bag of bottles (the purchase of which had been his reason for going out) clanking against his legs. He looked around him blearily and then rejoined the queue when he realised he had no idea where he was. He got off in Protaras after gesticulating at the driver every couple of stops and muttering in a mixture of Greek, German and English, when realising that they weren’t his stops either. Finally, he found one he liked and left, which was a shame as he was most entertaining. A little while later when we reached the outskirts of Agia Napa the driver suddenly stopped the bus and got off. He walked up to some people we had just passed eating strawberries as they were strolling along and presumably asked them where they had got them because he wandered off in the direction we had just come from and we sat there for ten minutes until he got back on the bus with a punnet of strawberries. Brilliant! Not one person looked angry or made a fuss. He didn’t say a word, didn’t explain – just started driving and off we went. I do love it.

Walking back from the bus stop I noticed that what I thought was just some sort of mould on the ground – it had been there since before Christmas, just a web-like covering on the ground every so often that looked like the stuff you see on bread when it has been left for way too long – had suddenly turned into thousands of caterpillars. Now I know I am known for my hyperbole, but really I have an urge to say ‘Look Sir, Zulus - fowsands of ‘em’ They were everywhere. I am waiting with baited breath to see what sort of butterfly (or indeed moth) they will turn into. Another thing there are suddenly ‘fowsands’ of is frogs. As soon as it gets dark they are off chattering away all night. People have been complaining about it, but I love it. It reminds me (along with the cicadas that always seem to be around) that I am living in the Mediterranean and not Suburbia. Maybe I won’t be saying that in a month’s time (if they last that long) but at the moment I think it’s lovely.

I realise I have been rambling for quite long enough now – especially in a week where nothing has happened – so I will stop now. I hope that you all have an amazing week and that you all get off at the wrong bus stop now and then to keep you on your toes!