Sunny and warm - normal in other words. So we head to the centre to reacquaint ourselves. Also to acquire some money as first instalment of the rent pretty well wiped out our euro supply. Refilling the wallet didn’t in the past (as in three and a half years ago) mean much of a walk. There seemed to be banks on every second corner. Definitely at least three between the Sunflower and Lidl, all with external cash points. The one nearly across the road from us used to provide food and drink in a serious way Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve. Not only for long term patrons either. I went in one Christmas Eve merely to inquire about a missing printout from the cash point and was urged to partake. Nuts, dried fruit, crisps, wine, whisky. Staff highly amused by my saying that Canadian banks would regard coffee and biscuits as a treat. Now it and the others all closed as are several between us and the city centre. Frequently used bank across from tourist information centre still open and doing a brisk business, unsurprisingly given the lack of competition.
So many places have changed. Gone upscale. May appeal to the “better [read richer] class of tourists Cyprus is always yearning for. Clearly does appeal to the affluent young locals. But where have the old men with the backgammon boards and folded newspapers among the coffee cups gone? Away from the main squares and into the back streets and lanes? That little shop where we used to buy our food the first year long closed. Easy to romanticise the past though - and forget J having seen a rat outside the second story window there.
Need a new watch strap but the watchmaker near St Lazarus, whom we have dealt with for years seems to have closed shop. He was across from our regular coffee spot, now also closed, replaced by a place with purple chairs and featuring ice cream, though in all fairness they do serve coffee - but would they remember that we drink it sketo, without sugar. So how about George’s, our other coffee spot, round the corner from the animal shelter charity shop? Restaurant there, but it’s no longer George’s. So maybe you can’t go home again.
We’re nearly home when we reach the new shop we’ve spotted from our balcony, just across the road. Was obvious it was a food shop, but we see it’s an Asian grocery. And a surprisingly good one. Tons of different pulses as well as a good variety of spices and grains and Indian pickles. Fair little collections of grains and Indian pickles. OK basic beer, wine and liquor. Pretty decent. Some change is for the good.
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