by Bananiot » Wed Nov 05, 2008 12:43 am
This is what happened to me in the UK round about 1975. I remembered the incident and I wrote about it in Chris's web site.
A medium size, migratory bird makes the huge mistake of visiting the island, during the height of the short Cyprus winter period, in the midst of the shooting season. We call it "Yiannis" (The accent on the last i) probably because it is foolish enough to pay its respects at such an inappropriate time. (No offence to Yiannides, the accent on the first i). Apparently, the same bird dwells in England, however, for some reason I have never understood, it is a protected bird. So, one Sunday morning, me and my friend Chris, set out from London to go shooting in the countryside and try to end the miserable lives of some nasty four legged animals such as rabbits or even better, hares. (Have you realised, hares seem to have a mysterious fascination to Cypriots for some reason, but that is another story).
The sun had barely set out above the horizon when Chris fired the first salvo and sure enough a blackish-looking bird came tumbling from the sky. Yes, you've guessed right, it was a "Yiannis" and memories from the old country came flooding back as the unfortunate beast was proudly strapped to the waist.
Returning to our car for breakfast we found, waiting patiently for us, a jolly-looking, blue uniformed man, who came towards us. He was a policeman, specialising in game keeping and a keen hunter himself, as he later confided to us. "Hello, hello ... what's this?" he beamed as he realised that he was about to make a "catch".
"It's a John!", answered Chris, "at least this is what we call it in Cyprus".
"Did you know it is a protected bird?"
Chris kept his cool in the face of an adverse situation that was rapidly getting worse.
"Officer, in my country, they pay you 10 shillings when you shoot one of these (What a liar!), how was I to know that you ... protect it here?" Anyway, to cut a long story short, the cop duly reported Chris despite his moaning and groaning about him being a poor student (he was indeed) who had a craze for shooting and spent all his spare time washing dishes to make ends meet. Years later I was informed that the policeman never filed his report and Chris was let off the hook. Thinking back, may be he found the "it's a John" line very funny, yet, I doubt it whether he really understood the insinuation.
Personally, I grew weird of shooting helpless animals and years after the incidence I began to see things from the animals' point of view. Later on, I sold my shotgun and made my peace with the fauna. However, as the shooting season approaches every year, I find myself making a wish to an imaginary Gennie. "If only birds could shoot back ...!"
P.S. Chris became a succesful businesman some years later, after graduating with a degree in Economics. This is the same Chris who run for President in the February elections. I tried to disuade him when he asked my opinion, but he told me "I have 100 000 pounds to waste".
He still goes hunting.
