Like most newspapers, Cyprus Mail is a mixture of local (that is national) and world news. The world news is a sampling of what one might expect in any newspaper - international finance, Ukraine, etc. It’s the national captions that are, let’s say, unusual. So, “Pigeon Stealing Suspects Released on Bail”. OK, in all fairness there were 190 pigeons involved. This wasn’t a case of nicked two from the bloke next door who races them. Also, 51 of the pigeons were dead, which does imply a lack of due care. And, to raise the temperature a little, the driver of the car in which the pigeons were bengg transported proved to be a political asylum seeker - just the sort of reprobate most Cypriots assume political asylum seekers to be. No suggestion as to the intended fate of said pigeons. Pigeon pie? Have no idea what the market would be, but, sadly, there is a market for illegally trapped songbirds, used for ambelopoulia, an expensive traditional dish consumed at home or (secretly) in some restaurants. Legitimate hunting is quite popular, typically for partridge or rabbit. Although as an acquaintance in the North ruefully informed us hunters frequently wear camouflage. He’d lived in Canada and knew it was forbidden there for good reason.
Meanwhile, chez nous, borscht for supper. Made with a vacuum sealed package of cooked beats, imported from Germany or the Netherlands. It is possible to buy fresh beets here and very nice they are too - never wilted or spongy. And you might want to, if for instance you were grating them into a salad. And if you were happy with the red handed look. But the vacuum sealed packs have plump beets processed at their prime, they keep for weeks until the day you think we could be having borscht tonight, and I’d be quite happy never buying them any other way.