From patched vrakas to disposable fashion

2010-09-27

FEW have described the massive economic changes that Cyprus has experienced in the last 50 years as evocatively as Costas Sophocles, the veteran politician and author who passed away a month ago.

“We lived in times when the vast majority of people wore boots in the winter and walked barefoot in the summer, in times when their vrakas and dresses were completely patched up. We have also experienced times in which all people throw away their shoes, their trousers and their dresses long before they need mending,” he wrote in the first volume of his book Struggle for Freedom: Internal Disputes.

Faces of Cyprus

2010-09-27

“They say that one photo is worth a thousand words. For me, 1,000 photos are worth one word: Cyprus.” And with this sweeping statement the captivatingly outspoken Doros Partasides sets out down memory lane, reciting animated tales about his life long “girlfriend” and all the things they have seen together in his beloved country.

His girlfriend is his treasured camera, and this well-known British Cypriot photographer makes it crystal clear from the moment we shake hands that he couldn’t live a single day without her.

The extremes of women only meetings

2010-09-27

I spent last Saturday at two ‘all-female’ gatherings that could not have been more different. The first was a coffee morning at my mother-in-law’s held to introduce Calypso to various relatives in one fell swoop and therefore avoid a succession of weekend visits from now until Christmas. Despite not particularly looking forward to it, I had a wonderful time. In a scene that could quite easily have been lifted from a clichéd Mediterranean vignette, I found myself sitting on a veranda with a group of 30 or so other women that spanned three generations, surrounded by olive trees while children of various ages played in the background. The ubiquitous assortment of delicious homemade cakes, pies and breads only added to the rather idyllic setting.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.