Taking Back Their Island

[Mike J]

We drove into to Paphos yesterday for the first time since we picked up our turkey from Butcher Boy , yes that long ago ! What a joy it was. I know the economy is wrecked etc but to park outside M&S and then saunter about peaceful non traffic ladened streets , to glance in to local cafes filled to the brim ( Cypriots really don’t get social distancing ) with locals whilst the tourists joints remained closed was such a pleasure .
It seems for a brief time the local Greek Cypriots have got their island back from the hoards that normally descend on the place in June and boy are they enjoying it .
Last night on our small beach there was a Summer Solstice party , just local Greek Cypriots on the beach watching the sun go down on the longest day. A beach that normally would have been full of tourists at this time of year
If you haven’t this is clearly a great time to visit other spots on the island and enjoy them tourist free especially the beaches. But you’ll probably have to hurry . With Spain’s announcements welcoming Brits back from Today it won’t be long before the “air bridge” will be established here . But for now we should join the locals and enjoy the moment .
Just on social distancing it was fun to see in M&S yesterday what I call an “ Aphrodite Hills “ lady clearly a retired General’s wife taking “command” of the till area . In fluent Greek she asked the lady on the till to step back two paces whist she put her PIN number in. Told the other till lady they were too close to each other. Asked a local Greek Cypriot to stay on her allotted spot until she had finished her own transaction before switching back to English to tell an English lady clearly intent on a flanking movement to back off. In a moment she had the entire store organised and correctly social distanced and it took several minutes after her departure for it to return to its normal more chaotic state !

[Lincoln]

My wife is just like that lady. She takes command and gives people around her strict but gentle words of where they must stand. It works every time and we get smiles back.

[Dominic]

How do you know they are all Greek Cypriot? Some might be Turkish Cypriot. Far friendlier, I think, to just call them Cypriots.

[Kili01]

Its funny you say that. Because several occasions over the years I have talked with some more elderly local Cypriots. They had very good English and when I complimented them on it
I was told that when the British were here everything worked properly...
It seemed that in the occasionally chaotic way that encounters with civil servants make everything seem more difficult and time consuming, they wished that the Brits were still here supervising things!
But the age group who remembered colonial govt here are gradually dying out. The younger generation are sometimes quite diferent.
Dee

[WHL]

Its funny you say that. Because several occasions over the years I have talked with some more elderly local Cypriots. They had very good English and when I complimented them on it
I was told that when the British were here everything worked properly...
It seemed that in the occasionally chaotic way that encounters with civil servants make everything seem more difficult and time consuming, they wished that the Brits were still here supervising things!
But the age group who remembered colonial govt here are gradually dying out. The younger generation are sometimes quite diferent.
Dee

Dear o dear, why dosnt this post suprise me thers always one, that yearns for the good old Raj days

[Kili01]

I was only recounting what I had been told sometime later after I returned in 1999.. It came to mind having watched the old Pathe film about life in the 60's. It was unfortunate that the island was going through a turbulent time then as the film depicted very well. The first time I arrived here was in 1968, The film brought back old memories.

Dee

[WHL]

Yes , who can forget Pathe news, good old, Bob Danvers-Walker, and his crisp Etonion voice, lovingly talking about how the local fuzzy wuzzys, are sad beyond belief, that the Sun was finally setting on the Glorious Empire,

[Jim B]

WHL
I'm no lover of the old Empire but I remember chatting to some old Indians when I was working in (then) Bombay in the early eighties and they were lamenting the loss of the Raj, saying how there was less corruption and the trains ran on time; a bit like on here with all the Brexiteers hankering over the good old fabulous fifties.
Nostalgia ain't what it used to be

Jim

[emgee]

I was the last employee of British Pathe News before it was taken over by a National Newspaper and others.

Alan

[WHL]

WHL
I'm no lover of the old Empire but I remember chatting to some old Indians when I was working in (then) Bombay in the early eighties and they were lamenting the loss of the Raj, saying how there was less corruption and the trains ran on time; a bit like on here with all the Brexiteers hankering over the good old fabulous fifties.
Nostalgia ain't what it used to be

Jim

Did they also lament the divide and rule by the Raj, pitting Indians against Muslims? did they lament horrors by the Raj, such as the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre. where hundreds of Innocent people were slaughtered,....lets not go down the, but the trains run on time

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jallianwala_Bagh_massacre

[Dominic]

And how come the trains don't run on time in the UK?

[Jim B]

WHL
I'm no lover of the old Empire but I remember chatting to some old Indians when I was working in (then) Bombay in the early eighties and they were lamenting the loss of the Raj, saying how there was less corruption and the trains ran on time; a bit like on here with all the Brexiteers hankering over the good old fabulous fifties.
Nostalgia ain't what it used to be

Jim

Did they also lament the divide and rule by the Raj, pitting Indians against Muslims? did they lament horrors by the Raj, such as the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre. where hundreds of Innocent people were slaughtered,....lets not go down the, but the trains run on time

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jallianwala_Bagh_massacre

I already knew about the Sikh Jallianwala massacre as I knew about the famines inflicted by the Raj on the Indian people so we could feed our armies during the war. The point being is nostalgia of a particular era is what makes people yearn for a past that when put under a microscope wasn't as good as people believe it was.

Jim

[WHL]

WHL
I'm no lover of the old Empire but I remember chatting to some old Indians when I was working in (then) Bombay in the early eighties and they were lamenting the loss of the Raj, saying how there was less corruption and the trains ran on time; a bit like on here with all the Brexiteers hankering over the good old fabulous fifties.
Nostalgia ain't what it used to be

Jim

Did they also lament the divide and rule by the Raj, pitting Indians against Muslims? did they lament horrors by the Raj, such as the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre. where hundreds of Innocent people were slaughtered,....lets not go down the, but the trains run on time

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jallianwala_Bagh_massacre

I already knew about the Sikh Jallianwala massacre as I knew about the famines inflicted by the Raj on the Indian people so we could feed our armies during the war. The point being is nostalgia of a particular era is what makes people yearn for a past that when put under a microscope wasn't as good as people believe it was.

Jim

Exactly

[Jamboal]

I have a few elderly Cypriot friends who consistently tell a different story about when the British ruled in Cyprus, as children they tell of the bad treatment including being beaten by the rifle butts of English soldiers, for whatever reason Scottish soldiers came across as friendly and kind. Not sure why this was the case but it is quite a consistent story.

[josef k]

No doubt the old Cypriots reminisce about the good old days when the British executed teenagers on the basis of flimsy evidence. The last executed was Evagoras Pallikarides, who was 19. One poor soul was only 15, so was imprisoned until he was 18, then hanged.
The British never handed the bodies back to the families. They didn't get them until after independence.

The plain fact is, there were never any good old days anywhere. Just faulty memories.

[Devil]

Was there, saw it. 1952-3, before the "troubles". The Cypriots were treated like dirt by the squaddies.

I was back here in 1956 as a civilian telecoms employee. That was worse, as I was treated the same as a Cypriot. Have you ever looked down the muzzle of a rifle while the guy at the other end loaded it with a round up the spout? I have also been herded with a rifle butt, albeit not too violently. I was glad when my six month tour with C and W ended.

[Meri2]

How do you know they are all Greek Cypriot? Some might be Turkish Cypriot. Far friendlier, I think, to just call them Cypriots.

I agree, call them just Cypriots !
Living between Greece and Cyprus, there is a BIG difference
between the Greek people and the Cypriot people

[Jim B]

Because they see themselves as Greeks first and then Cypriots second as do the Turkish Cypriots see themselves as Turks first.
I was reading an article yesterday that suggested Cypriot Greek language is closer to Ancient Greek than modern Greek is. The Cypriot Greek language is a vernacular of Greek witn many Turkic words, my wife who speaks a Turkic language recognises many words that are used in her home country language in Central Asia.

Jim

[Kili01]

Even among the Cypriots themselves there are big differences in the way that they speak..Greek as spoken by a Nicosian sounds different to the loud, guttural sound of the Paphiot dialect. When I was learning Greek in Paphos the teacher told us that there are a number of Archaic words used in the Paphos dialect.
As to the difference between Cypriots, in many ways they look alike, a shared ancestry and intermarriage over the centuries have something to do with that. Isn't their main difference religion.Thats if you try to forget politics..
Dee

[Lofos-Jan]

Because they see themselves as Greeks first and then Cypriots second as do the Turkish Cypriots see themselves as Turks first.
I was reading an article yesterday that suggested Cypriot Greek language is closer to Ancient Greek than modern Greek is. The Cypriot Greek language is a vernacular of Greek witn many Turkic words, my wife who speaks a Turkic language recognises many words that are used in her home country language in Central Asia.

Jim

Well I can say that in my husband’s large family they certainly see themselves as Cypriot first as would never say they were Greeks. Yes they have Greek heritage and Greek language but you’d get a response if you called my husband a Greek instead of a Cypriot!

Jeanne