Saturday, December 5/2015

Bakeries and supermarkets here still reminiscent of the village market square. Few Cypriot women can resist squeezing every loaf on the shelf, despite signs decrying the practice in English (and presumably same in Greek) before leaving with one, or perhaps none. Lidl, with Germanic cleanliness and order, supplies disposable gloves as well as metal tongs but no polizisten, so normal Cypriot practice prevails. At the Discount grocery, where there are no concessions to hygiene on the bread racks but scoops in the fruit and nut bins, J expresses his displeasure to a middle-aged woman who is taking handfuls of dried cranberries, ramming fist into mouth, and returning for more. Not only unabashed, she seems to have no idea what is distressing him. A problem no doubt compounded by lack of a common language.