The hidden cost of being a ‘cat lady’ in Cyprus
I have books on Celtic archaeology sent to me by a dear friend that I read through and kept till I had leisure time to enjoy studying them. It never ...
Articles
On holiday with a ghost
Few relish holidaying alone. I met Freida, who did, at a mutual cousin’s home in Ireland, who was thrilled I was living among Greeks. A love of Greek and ...
What’s yours is mine, what’s mine’s my own
The original Little House on the Prairie (1974-1983) was based on the books of Laura Ingalls Wilder. The new Netflix adaptation pays closer attention to the realities of the period.
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Shock, awe and lessons lost
Language is one of humankind’s finest achievements. Its progression led to swifter understanding of the actions our species needed while hunting or escaping predators, for expressing emotions, understanding each ...
Time to remember, time to move on
A blue and white bus grumbled its heavy body through a warm spring Sunday in March 1989, blessed as our springs are with fields as green as the skin of an ...
Should I feel sorry for myself?
Are our complaints petty or real? A shoe mender I knew had a sign on his wall: I had no shoes and I felt sorry for myself until I met ...
Corrupt youth and productive ageing
Attitudes of misogynistic men have seeped like a virus from a fetid swamp to infiltrate the body of hard-won female equality. These men don’t see themselves as crude throwbacks ...
Arms and the men who lead us
Lara Marlowe has written on art and politics in France, a country she knows extremely well, she has reported from Washington, and covered wars in Lebanon and Ukraine, she knows ...
The cost of image
I wrote a story years ago, broadcast by the BBC World Service, in which a man is driving to Limassol for the results of a cancer test, worried that his ...
Artemis II and our warring planet
The courageous crew of the recent Artemis II mission felt what every astronaut before them has felt, awe at the fragile beauty of Earth, the desire to protect that spectacular ...
Wars, deceptive and personal
The Greek armada that sailed to Troy, supposedly to bring back the wife of a cuckhold, was a deception, and deception is still in vogue. Someone must have whispered Sun ...
In war, the ordinary people always pay the piper
Lebanon’s 1975 war saw refugees enter Cyprus; chaos in Syria saw more people seeking asylum. Another influx followed the Hamas-Israel war in Gaza. Cyprus had no involvement in these battles, ...
Take a breath in silence
I often find myself saying to stressed, overworked, younger friends, ‘Take a breath; take time for yourself.’ It’s an old saying – take a breather, and it’s one of ...
Things that get my goat!
A friend and I wondered in what cloud those who fix low-incomes live. Income tax ceilings are lifting, yet we, living alone, recycling, pay €200 for rubbish collection. Previously, as a ...
Cyprus then and now
The Citizens’ Service Office, Engomi, Nicosia is a gem in the government’s crown of inefficient public service thorns. Your appointment is made by phone, you receive an SMS reminder ...
Should we look gift horses in the mouth?
Never look a gift horse in the mouth. Anyone who loves horses wouldn’t worry about its teeth, but rather the loving care it needed when old. Cruelty to animals ...
An uncertain New Year
A friend whose daughter studied in the UK, told me ‘She’s staying there, what future has she here?’ She’s not alone in making that choice. The Cyprus government ...
Ghosts of Christmas past
Scrooge’s ghosts terrified him; I love mine. First, Bridget, my mother, and Aunt Emma, a child waking very early on Christmas morning finding gifts from Daddy na Nollaig (Santa). ...
‘I don’t care!’
Two of my favourite actors Tommy Lee Jones and Harrison Ford starred in The Fugitive. Ford’s character falsely accused of murdering his wife; Jones the lawman sent to catch ...
Fair distribution of stored surpluses?
Les Manison’s article last Sunday had sound financial advice. How marvellous if his suggestions could be applied locally, resulting in a fair and equally supported population.
Sadly, we non-wealthy ...
What an odd species we are
I’ve known a man for years, in great shape, great life, his own home, children settled, housed, grandchildren highly educated, he sailed through life. Yet he rattles on about ...
In whom do we trust?
Tributes following the death of Katie Cleridou showed respect and affection for her strong character, her honesty and sincerity. How many political figures in the world deserve that kind of ...
Where have all the children gone?
In Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet, under crime and punishment, I find ‘The righteous is not innocent of the deeds of the wicked.’ And, ‘Let he who would lash the ...
Are vegetarians killers?
A gentle friend has a small farm he loves, and one of his prime pleasures is talking about how he’s improving it, and the affection he has for the ...