Planes, Trains and Audis...

I was looking in my rear view mirror the other day, when I spotted a cute guy behind me eyeing me up through his sunshades. I was on a roundabout at the time. I thought, cool I must be looking good today. I got on the exit and suddenly revving forward he overtook me from the left in a rude and disrespectful manner. I beeped the horn in dismay.

This is a characteristic example of Cypriot driving. It's aggressive and out of control or just unbearably bad. You get the ones who want to go get to their destination in whatever means possible and if that means causing fifty traffic accidents, it doesn't matter. There's ones who go so tragically slow that you wonder how they got their driving licences in the first place, usually middle aged women whose heads can just be seen on the level with the steering wheel, sitting forward looking straight ahead. In this category you also get the van drivers and taxi drivers. Now if that is a war of nerves. One category who stick out like a sore thumb are the truck drivers. Some come down from the villages and have no clue how to drive in a town. Some just think they are driving a brand new Range Rover and have no consideration for other drivers. They believe they can do whatever the hell they want.

The boys driving their sporty Audis love to show what they can do. You see them at the traffic lights, sometimes on their own, sometimes with some Russian blonde next to them. They are the masters of the road. The Audi boy looks my way casually. My Toyota Yaris can never be compared to his shiny, barely paid for vehicle. Talk about arrogance of the first degree.

Cypriot driving is bad. It reflects our attitude, our recklessness, our disrespect for others. We're not the only country which boasts bad driving. Sudan is the same. Great we can compare ourselves to a third world country. Car accidents are heard about nearly everyday. Some really serious ones could have been avoided if they were wearing a seatbelt. The statistics tell their own tragic story. Lives are lost, families are broken. The police need to change things, but responsibility also lies in the driving schools and driving instructors who teach youngsters to drive in the first place. Everything starts from there. Harsher measures need to be enforced. They've said they're bringing back speed cameras but who will care? It all comes down to mentality.That's what needs to change.

It's time to party...

I've always wondered how Cypriots let their hair down, I mean really have loads of fun and dance till they drop. In most of the swanky clubs that boast high class experience dancing is considered an error. If you dance, you're considered an alien from outer space. There is a dress code and Cypriots love to dress up for these places. Men in their posh jackets, trendy shirts and shiny pointy shoes. Women alabaster faces, lipstick and blush to perfection, recently come out of the hairdresser's. But the question is do they really have fun or is it all one big show? In these places people love the glam and paying attention to themselves. It's getting boring.

I recently experienced another side to Cypriot fun where they do dance and let their hair down and there is never a dress code. The tunes are not David Guetta and Black Eyed Peas but believe it or not Grease Lightning. People young and old forget all their inhibitions and head to the dance floor. It's true that another class of people are emerging, ones which refuse to be labelled or put into a mould. They have their own characteristic style, eccentrics who actually have something to say. In fact this group always existed but in a very passive, low-profile way. Now they are coming into the spotlight. After all, what right does anyone have, to tell you what to wear, drink or say or what car to drive? What happened to individuality?

Limassol has upgraded its entertainment culture. There are abundant restaurants, bars and clubs to suit everyone. A diverse culture is emerging which is quite exciting and  people are actually starting to enjoy themselves. So bring on John Travolta and Olivia Newton John. It's time to party!

Pets R' Us

They say that how we treat our pets reflects how we treat eachother. If that is anything to go by then Cypriot society is a mixture of good and bad. To be fair treatment of animals on the island has improved in the last decade but not as much as it should. There are still animal shelters that house abused and neglected cats and dogs. What has been done to some of them is indescribable. 

Over the  last few years having a pet has become the fashion and a passion. Cypriots squander vasts amounts of money to obtain a pure breed, like a husky for example which considering our climate can only be kept in the air conditioning through the months of summer. The sad part is that most of these dogs are treated unfairly. They are seen as a trophy of some imagined status, like you would treat an expensive car or a designer suit, sitting in the garden on a leash. 

Parents make the mistake of buying their spoilt little brats a puppy as a Christmas present,  a puppy which is abandoned after a year, as an old toy, left tied behind the house on a short rope with little water and a ration of food with no love. That first elation of taking it for walks twice a day and giving it frequent baths has been forgotten.

Hunters are another group of abusers. They train their hunting dogs to do everything they need to do and then let the dogs loose to wander alone. Many are hit by passing cars on the highway or found scrounging for food, skinny and weak. That's how my dog was found anyway.We got her from an animal shelter in Paphos and she was the most nervous and frightened creature I have ever known. She is still shy of strangers and when she hears children screaming she panics. These are what have been left of her sad young years as a puppy and can never be erased.I do believe that things can improve but there is a long way to go.

 There is this village mentality of treating badly those we consider less important than ourselves, so we can feel like the masters. Every living creature has a right to a good and loving home. The owner of the animal shelter in Paphos once described having a pet as having a baby, but a baby that will forever be a baby.Would you not care for and feed a baby? Pets are not toys or trophies, they are something which give you companionship through lonely times and are always loyal. If you give them love, they will give it back a hundred fold.So we should think carefully before we pick that cute brown and white puppy from its cage at the local pet shop.It's a creature, not a toy or trophy.