Episode III: Playing Chicken

Not yet

Trying to cross the road, also known as taking your life in your own hands, in Nicosia, is one of the most stressful things about living here. A lot of the time there are no lights for pedestrians but even if there are, they probably don’t work and in the unlikely event that they do work, it’s 50/50 as to whether the cars will actually stop. I mean a red light is only a suggestion, right? But even when there’s a green man and the cars have stopped, you’ve got all of 5 seconds to cross the road. To be honest it’s quite surprising that Cypriots don’t feature more in sprinting at the Olympics, but then again you rarely see a Cypriot walk more than about 100 meters (plus cars have A.C.).

Still waiting

This is a country where driving is akin to Mad Max, this coming from the guy, who’s from the UK, where the drivers aren’t the best in the world. Cyprus is just something else, I’ve had bad experiences with older relatives, they drive through red lights, one almost drove me off a mountain, but none of that compares to here. I have two fears in life, one is heights, the other is the driving of my elderly relatives, but they pale in comparison to the Cypriot driving. Admittedly not all of the drivers here are bad, but I’d go as far to say the majority, enough at least for me to have a mental list of drivers that I refuse to get into a car with. In some cases I’m actually surprised as to how some of them passed their driving tests, but then again in the UK we weren’t, until a few weeks, allowed to go on the motorway until we had got our driving licence. This led to a modern day version of natural selection, where with absolutely no practice people were let loose on the motorway with only survival instincts to help them. After three years with a licence I’ve never driven on a motorway, so for all I know nature may take its course. But I do have the ability to stop at the solid white line, so as not to impede the area for pedestrians to cross, an ability which seems to escape the drivers here especially the mopeds, which don’t stop, they just move slowly until they’re so far across that they think “Screw this, I’ve got this far. I’ll just keep on going.”.

Maybe bridges could be an option? Or I should just walk in the road? Half the time the trees on the pavement just leave no other option. I’m grateful for the shade though and to see some greenery, but having to duck every twenty meters is not an ability that I care for. Anyway it could be worse, I’m not sure how. But it could be worse, I haven’t died yet, so I can’t complain too much. Let’s hope it stays that way. Wish me luck.