My Swan Song from the UK

Right before I left the UK,  I saw some swans on my way to church and stopped to take some photos.  The ground was uneven and my left leg fell in a small hole–just enough to unhinge something in my hip.  The swan didn’t seem to notice. I thought, well, I’ll do some yoga and deal with it.  Was able to somehow move to Cyprus the next week.  In Paphos, I met a wonderful ex-pat lawyer, Jeanette Truscott, who invited me to ancient St. Paul’s Church. But as I went upstairs on Sunday morning to take a shower and picked up a dust bunny on the stairs–POW!  Something disconnected and I was in paralyzing pain.  I could only crawl to bed.

Checking the Ex-Pat forum, I saw recommendations for a certain physio-therapist called Herodotou Nicos.  His features somehow reminded me of portraits of Mozart, and he looked at my body with dismay as if it were a damaged Stradivarius. He worked his magic on my hip like an artist.  Within three sessions, I was walking without pain.  Now I can finally enjoy the village of Tala where we now live.

 

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What Big Countries Can Learn from Cyprus

After three and a half years in the UK, we are back in a sunny land:  this time we are in Tala, a suburb of Paphos in Cyprus.  We have been here less than a week.  So far we have found a raw honey source, fresh fish, but unfortunately only skimmed goat milk.  We have been told by our local shepherd, Marius, that we can’t get raw goat milk until January when his goats will give birth.

Today in Cyprus it is quiet because it is a national holiday. Banks, shops, and schools are closed. There are parades in Nicosia and all the larger cities. Today is ‘No Day’ or ‘Ohi Day’. Just 75 years ago, the Greeks said no to a bullying Mussolini and resisted the Italian invasion. This changed the course of World War II.  Read about it here in Wikipedia. For the Cypriots, Ohi Day (pronounced oxhi, the xh like the ch in Bach) is a day to celebrate independence and freedom from oppression.

Perhaps other countries could learn from the Cypriots, and start an Ohi Day of their own–a day to say no against invading ideologies that tear apart the fabric and morals of a country.
Cyprus is just a little country, but one with big ideas.