The Price of Coffee

NOT the Head of Seismology in Greece!

Cyprus is back on the map again for me. I hear ominous rumblings of ‘peace’ echo through the sticky night air like strange mumblings of the Hodja calling the faithful to prayers from the minaret. I turn on the radio to an announcement that American Vice President Jo Biden is heading to the Island, just like me, we arrive hours apart to smiles and cups of coffee at Larnaca Airport. He via Airforce 2, me via national carrier Cyprus Airways, glory days long gone, now smellier and more expensive than Ryan air.

Touching down on this sacred ground, I quickly discover that much has changed for the worse since being here 18 months ago. Half the city I knew and enjoyed seems to have crumbled under crippling austerity measures ordered by the dreaded ‘Troika’. A relative warns me, ‘Make sure you lock your doors, crime has increased now!’ A quiet anticipation of danger in the air, those strange mumblings through the midnight hour’s prelude to a rude awakening.

God bless you all!

I feel at moments as if I’ve stepped back in time 20 years. I’m that time-traveller again? Much the same feeling I had when I returned to my old home town back in the UK. That place too, crippled by recession and poverty, but at least you could find a Poundshop for all your requirements. Here in Cyprus there’s plenty of coffee, no jobs just coffee, any-which-way you like it. Avoid Starbucks to be frugal; a frappuccino is €5.00 plus!

I hear the Pope is also traversing worm-holes, across the water Jerusalem bound. Amazing, historic moments seem to be all around. I bumped into the last Pope Benedict right here on the island not too many years ago. It was a surreal but poignant moment at the traffic lights, on his way to the Presidential Palace.

Hey, I always wanted to be a Soprano!

Of holy men, the last time an American Vice President visited this island was in 1963. Apparently, Lyndon B Johnson talked peace back then and still Jo Biden talk’s peace now. He also continually praises the island’s beauty and says, ‘God Bless Cyprus and God Bless America!’  He says that a lot but a lot has happened to the world since the early 60s… those ominous rumblings continue.

Today a few scared people jumped from the balconies of high-rises across the water in Turkey, not because of Erdogan’s policies, or the on-going EU financial crisis, or the up-coming EU elections, but because a mag. 7 earthquake hit the middle of the Aegean. Nothing really unusual about this I say, blinking at the synchronistic T-shirt of the Head of the Institute of Seismology, she seemingly unaware of her inappropriate attire, complete with shiny bling logo spelling out ‘Juicy Rocks’.

Aftershocks they say could last for months and be as strong as mag. 6. On the radio, a student was abruptly cut-off when he brought up the subject of anti-fracking on a ‘Let’s talk politics programme’, about why the USA wants to strike a deal with Cyprus. The disgruntled student was pointing out that a highly volatile quake region might become even more unstable if explorations continue.

Ifestos Airport, Lemnos Island, Greece

Those hydrocarbon reserves located off the coast sure have drawn in all sorts of attention. Soon I am told there will be further visits from various international VIPs. All of them promising one thing or another, in exchange of course for a piece of the oil and gas action. The island has one ‘show-home’ oil platform sitting in the middle of the Mediterranean. The pipe line might join it from Israel, or Turkey, or even Syria, if VIPs in certain quarters get their way.

All the while the country slowly tries to rise from its knees while simultaneously digging holes. It not so much tripped and fell in one, but rather was pushed over by the bullies; face down, when it wasn’t looking!

It’s funny how things do move in cycles. The day after Jo Biden leaves we have ‘crisis exercises’ taking place off the Mari naval base in Limassol. The very same base that in 2011 housed the confiscated Syrian weapons that blew up in a suspicious explosion causing utter destruction of the country’s main power plant, which brought the island to a standstill, and ushered in further political turmoil, and financial ruin, as the announcement of huge hydrocarbon reserves hit the international news… followed by a call for the pro-Russia president to resign. He eventually lost the subsequent election to his pro-USA/Turkey rival… Weird circles… ominous rumblings….

Un-PreZidented!

Jo Biden made a point of singling out Turkey, and Erdogan’s regime, for not being co-operative in finding a solution to the Cyprus problem, although he didn’t use those exact words. A very weird and out of character statement for a US official to make against a beloved ally such as Turkey…. ominous rumblings…..

Cyprus is now, as he put it, ‘A strategic partner of the US’… Helping with confiscation of Syria's chemical weapons. He even went as far as to say that Cyprus backs the US over Ukraine independence from Russia, upsetting all of the local team-Putin. Of course it’s great to talk peace with America, fingers crossed behind your back, but they still can’t do anything about the price of coffee!

Five Euros and 90 cents?????