Cyprus-Forum.com

[bill cobbett]

In this "Third World Shanty Town" the exiled Bill refers to, we live in detached houses of over 200SqM with swimming pools. We also drive to work in our Merceds and BMWs.

In the "CY Republic of North London" on the other hand they live in little boxes all stuck together of less than 80SqM and they can't go swimming because the local council has closed the municipal pool. As for going to work they have to crowd on to buses or into the underground, that is if they are not benefits cheats who only need to walk to the nearest pub.

Reh Gounelloui, our local counci here in the CY Capital City of North Londonl has just built us a lovely new indoor, heated pool and it's ... let me see .... back in a mo .... yes, fifty yards from our front door ...

Agree with Skipreo - far and away the best bit of Nic is, of course, inside the walls. Recall times (not so long ago) when it was a treat to walk up Lidras with its shops, which included those, now gone, hand-made in CY, shoe-shops and that huge dept store (Mavros??). Strolling near the divide, with its abandoned buildings was hauntingly eerie and memorable.

Oh and Katie, I don't rate CY poetry, but there is a very old and traditional and very popular CY form of spontaneous "rapping" or limerick-like verse known as "tsatisto" you may want to look up.

[weerezivy]

Thank you all for the responses! I am intrigued and thankful! I wasn't expecting that quick of feedback! I am so grateful!

Could you guys maybe elaborate on the walls? What is it like inside of them? What about outside of them? Is there any violence going on? I'll never experience it first hand (at least not any time soon, Cyprus seems to have GORGEOUS skies- I'd love to visit. and I am fascinated by art history/mythology (Aphrodite)).

I will definitely check out tsatisto. That is certainly something I wouldn't be able to find out about while surfing around Google, lol!

The walls definitely seems to be the most common topic brought up. I found a poet named Mehmet Yashin. I'm fond of this poem by him: "Our Cat’s Tale
When I was a child I used to wonder
if our Greek neighbour’s cat
was also Greek.
One day I asked my mum
and she said cats were Turkish
dogs were Greek
and dogs attacked the kittens.
Much later one day
what should I see?
Our cat was eating
her own kitten."

I think I may incorporate that into the text, but the pictures can show the walls and the seperation. There are beautiful photos on Flickr that show bits and pieces of the walls. But I haven't found the perfect photos yet.