Cyprus-Forum.com

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Good place to live. Inland/mountain village life where there are no other foreigners beats any other I've tried in the UK, Cyprus or the US, further from the beach but compensated many times over by the people and the sceanery. Better to be the token Englishman (insert your own nationality) in a Cypriot village than just another of them bloody foreigners in one of the areas now almost taken over by expats.

Internet connection. I'm still on Cytanet dial up and it's painfully slow at 31.2Kbps most of the time. So what! abandon technology and interact with other humans. Seriously though, I've got to consider a satellite system connection as broadband appears unlikely to be available too many of the villages for some time to come.

Supermarkets pretty good. I can find Marmite and PG Tips almost anywhere, everything else I eat and drink exactly as the Cypriots. Caution only shop in Carrefour Larnaca if your a fan of Bob Dylan as his Greatest Hits album seems to be all they ever play.

Prices. It aint a cheap place to be anymore but it's still cheaper than living in the UK. Falling pound, Euro hikes may be something to winge about but before any expat or returning Cypriot starts crying into his or her beer they should consider how the Cypriots manage on salaries comparatively lower than most of the rest of Europe.

Safety. If you can overlook the small matter of two opposing armies staring at each other over the barrel of a gun, the thousands of displaced persons and those who have not been seen alive from both sides of the great divide since the 60's and 1974 its very good. There might be rising crime in the towns and some fairly dangerous driving practices but on the whole it's a very safe place to live. Where else in Europe could you go through the whole process of locking your front door behind you only to leave the ground floor windows open when you go out.

Language. Best not assume that everyone speaks English. Put yourself out a little and make an effort, providing you try the Cypriots can be very forgiving of mistakes, after all if my mother-in-law could forgive me for telling her that her cooking was crap in Greek as taught to me by one of my wifes brothers you should be able to get away with making some mistakes.

Comparisons. In conversation dont compare Cyprus with the UK or anywhere else, it's irritating to the Cypriots who not surprisingly wonder what the F... you are doing here if it's so good where you have come from. You've left wherever you are from to live in Cyprus for your own reasons, that should be enough to cover most differences.