Monday, January 18/2010

Umbrella day. The worst of rain in Cyprus - or Larnaca at least - is that there is nowhere for the rain to go except in sheets down the pavements and deep puddles at the corners. The country is chronically short of water but a shocking amount of the rainfall is simply taken down to the sea in the storm sewers. The problem is coompounded by Cypriot drivers, many of whom are pedestrian blind and feel compelled to race up to the intersection spraying widely before waiting for a light to change. So a ten block walk is a minor obstacle course, dodging gutter hoses jetting onto the sidewalks, jumping metre wide puddles and aiming for the least flooded paving stone in a passage. A fair workout.