Paphos People

This happened about seven or eight years ago I'm pleased to say that it has got more efficient now.
Fantasy

The man from the Transport Department welcomed us with a hand shake. “Come with me and I will deal with your application personally”.
My wife was exchanging her English drivers’ licence for a Cypriot one.
“Would you like a coffee or a cup of tea?” he gestured to a young girl who came over and took our order.
“You will need this form, two copies of your passport size photograph, a utility bill to prove where you live and of course the fee which is twenty five Euros.” he said smiling.
Unfortunately the forms were all in Greek so we asked him for assistance.
“Of course, I realise that it is very difficult for you English, it is very thoughtless of us with these Greek documents but I am here to help”.

Less than five minutes later we came out of the office with a temporary licence and assured that the brand new plastic credit card size Cypriot Driving Licence, correct in every detail would be delivered in one week.
We were both very impressed with the efficiency and politeness of the Department.
One week later the phone rang, it was the man at the Transport Office, the licence was there and he could bring it to us immediately. Sure enough the man arrived within ten minutes carrying the item that my wife so desired.

Pure Fantasy I’m afraid.

In reality we turned up at the office at nine in the morning and queued for twenty minutes only to be told curtly “Room seven”. So we went to room seven and sat waiting for ten minutes until a man motioned for us to approach his desk.
“Fill in this form” he said.
We looked - it was in Greek
“Do you have any English forms?” I asked.
With a big sigh he said “Go to reception somebody will help you.”
Back to reception and approached an available window. I started to ask for help but was cut short with
“Queue please” and then ignored.
To cut a very long story short we were variously ignored or sat waiting until twelve thirty when we finally got to the issuing counter only to be told that we had to have two photographs not one and that the office would close at one.
There was a hectic drive back home to collect another picture. Arriving back at the desk at five minutes to one and the licence was issued by a sour faced lady.
It consisted of a photocopied sheet of A4 paper folded into four with my wife’s picture stapled to it, her birth date was incorrect but no matter. We had beaten Cypriot bureaucracy and obtained a Cyprus Driving Licence in more or less one visit of only four hours so we won!
Sorry Rant over. Now back to Fantasy.

Have you ever wondered why you never see a dead penguin on all those wonderful David Attenborough documentaries? Well it is a very little known fact that Penguins have a very close social environment. If one of their number should die, there is much grieving and mourning. A squad of large males start digging a grave in the ice with their beaks until it is deep enough. Exhausted, they then undertake to bring the body to the grave for the burial. All the Penguins stand solemnly around as the deceased is rolled into the ice grave. The birds then start to push the ice into the grave until it is full. Then the most amazing thing happens, the penguins, who normally only squawk, begin to sing -- ‘FREEZE A JOLLY GOOD FELLOW’.............
That is real fantasy (I'm sure i heard that one from Tanny - thanks)