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A strange confluence
Aug. 16th, 2011 07:26 pmLast night was a rather surreal, but not unpleasant experience. I had a much-needed sleep during the afternoon (an experience repeated today -- the heat takes it out of you) and decided, parhaps foolishly, to wear my jeans in the evening. I had worn some white linen trousers during the day, with socks and slip-on shoes, and had been relatively comfortable. Monday night was some three degree3s cooler than Sunday evening, but not cool enough for denim! Some cooler slacks this evening, methinks.
But, I digress. I think that it's a long time since I have eaten in a restaurant with a set menu of three courses for 10 euros. And it's the first time I've eaten in a jungle-themed restaurant offering a karaoke night hosted by Pat and Mike from somewhere up north. This 50s-pair were actually good value -- definitely lovers of The Eagles school of 'rock'. And the karaoke performers were the predictable mixed bag. But kudos to the girl (13 or so) who got up to do an Eminem track, complete with rappy hand movements. And it was also nice to see and hear a rather attractive woman perform The La's "There She Goes". I think that I owned four or five of the songs performed all evening, one of which was a Billy Joel number. I averred that it would be gutsy to go up there and to do Joel's "We didn't Start The Fire".
But, a nice meal of Spare Ribs, Meatballs and ice-cream, in that order. The restaurants here compete ferociously on price, and that has an inevitable knock-on effect on portion control, but the sizes here were adequate without being overwhelming. And the staff and karaoke entertainers were good fun, including, I hazard a guess, a transsexual who did a couple of numbers, including "My Way" in German, in between a fair number of drinks at the bar. Clearly a resident!
Which, of course, makes one wonder, who DOES live here? In expat terms, that is? Without wishing to be to London-centric, there seems a distinct northern bias (but not Scottish). It's also cheap here. I mean, the basics such as rent or purchase. I could buy a flat here for not much short of cash, rent out my own flat and generally retire to live on rent from London. It would be a modest existence, and I wouldn't want to do it, but with plent of flats available at 400 euros a month or at 90 thousand to buy, you can see why quite a few people do. If only it were so easy to do the same for Nice!
This morning we trekked for four hours to three archaeological ruins, two cafés and hanging around outside several shops while complex things such as wallet-purchases and quad-bike hires were negotiated (this gave me the chance to look in the estate agents'!) The St Paul pillars are definitely impressive. It hadn't occurred to me (although it should have) that Cyprus, being so close to The Promised Land, would likely have been an early stop for the first Christian evangelists. Paul was (according to the commentary) a visitor to Cyprus en route from Antioch through Silesia to southern Turkey. Thus Cyprus became the first country to be ruled by a Christian.
The churches themselves are -- to my eyes -- significantly more Occidental when compared to Greek Orthodoxy and Russian Orthodoxy. And, although the outlook to arid scrubland reminded me inexorably of that view from Jerusalem out to the arid West bank (generating comments of 'fuck me, if this is the Fertile Crescent, I'd hate to see the other parts'), there seems little link otherwise to the sense of place in Israel. Indeed, architecturally, it's rather bland (in the modern buildings). Not very high (max of two storeys) and generally of 1970s design style. It works, but it doesn't make the heart soar.
There were also a number of cats.
We passed a number of restaurants and shops 'for sale or rent', but one doesn't get the feeling of a stone-cold recession (say, compared with Las Vegas in December 2001, when it was like a ghost town) . Cyprus has economic problems, but things seem to be ticking over. You get the feeling that the attitude of the population is more one of 'we'll get throug'. Certainly there is no evidence of a madness of consumption as was seen in Greece or Ireland. The cars still look rather beat-up. No-one is wearing Rolexes or designer clothes. The main shops in Paphos are Debenhams and Peacocks, not Ted Baker and Benetton. It's really an old-fashioned kind of place.
Will update this later. This internet connection doesn't ant to let me upload pictures. Have tried to hack into Facebook photo album. See if that works!
But, I digress. I think that it's a long time since I have eaten in a restaurant with a set menu of three courses for 10 euros. And it's the first time I've eaten in a jungle-themed restaurant offering a karaoke night hosted by Pat and Mike from somewhere up north. This 50s-pair were actually good value -- definitely lovers of The Eagles school of 'rock'. And the karaoke performers were the predictable mixed bag. But kudos to the girl (13 or so) who got up to do an Eminem track, complete with rappy hand movements. And it was also nice to see and hear a rather attractive woman perform The La's "There She Goes". I think that I owned four or five of the songs performed all evening, one of which was a Billy Joel number. I averred that it would be gutsy to go up there and to do Joel's "We didn't Start The Fire".
But, a nice meal of Spare Ribs, Meatballs and ice-cream, in that order. The restaurants here compete ferociously on price, and that has an inevitable knock-on effect on portion control, but the sizes here were adequate without being overwhelming. And the staff and karaoke entertainers were good fun, including, I hazard a guess, a transsexual who did a couple of numbers, including "My Way" in German, in between a fair number of drinks at the bar. Clearly a resident!
Which, of course, makes one wonder, who DOES live here? In expat terms, that is? Without wishing to be to London-centric, there seems a distinct northern bias (but not Scottish). It's also cheap here. I mean, the basics such as rent or purchase. I could buy a flat here for not much short of cash, rent out my own flat and generally retire to live on rent from London. It would be a modest existence, and I wouldn't want to do it, but with plent of flats available at 400 euros a month or at 90 thousand to buy, you can see why quite a few people do. If only it were so easy to do the same for Nice!
This morning we trekked for four hours to three archaeological ruins, two cafés and hanging around outside several shops while complex things such as wallet-purchases and quad-bike hires were negotiated (this gave me the chance to look in the estate agents'!) The St Paul pillars are definitely impressive. It hadn't occurred to me (although it should have) that Cyprus, being so close to The Promised Land, would likely have been an early stop for the first Christian evangelists. Paul was (according to the commentary) a visitor to Cyprus en route from Antioch through Silesia to southern Turkey. Thus Cyprus became the first country to be ruled by a Christian.
The churches themselves are -- to my eyes -- significantly more Occidental when compared to Greek Orthodoxy and Russian Orthodoxy. And, although the outlook to arid scrubland reminded me inexorably of that view from Jerusalem out to the arid West bank (generating comments of 'fuck me, if this is the Fertile Crescent, I'd hate to see the other parts'), there seems little link otherwise to the sense of place in Israel. Indeed, architecturally, it's rather bland (in the modern buildings). Not very high (max of two storeys) and generally of 1970s design style. It works, but it doesn't make the heart soar.
There were also a number of cats.
We passed a number of restaurants and shops 'for sale or rent', but one doesn't get the feeling of a stone-cold recession (say, compared with Las Vegas in December 2001, when it was like a ghost town) . Cyprus has economic problems, but things seem to be ticking over. You get the feeling that the attitude of the population is more one of 'we'll get throug'. Certainly there is no evidence of a madness of consumption as was seen in Greece or Ireland. The cars still look rather beat-up. No-one is wearing Rolexes or designer clothes. The main shops in Paphos are Debenhams and Peacocks, not Ted Baker and Benetton. It's really an old-fashioned kind of place.
Will update this later. This internet connection doesn't ant to let me upload pictures. Have tried to hack into Facebook photo album. See if that works!
