Latest Letters:

I dont normally like to complain but the recent recycling scheme is driving me nuts.

I read a letter from a Mesogi resident recently who claimed that the only way he would use the recycling bins was if they were immediately outside his house,. well he can have the ones that are outside mine as soon as he likes!

I think the idea of recycling is brilliant & am happy to take the few seconds extra to sort my rubbish & dispose of it sensibly. I am willing to look out of my window every day & see the bins starring back at me & can cope with the extra noise from traffic as people drop off their own rubbish at all hours night & day. What I cant deal with is the night time collections.

Since starting the scheme I have been woken up 4 mornings a week with the noise & lights from the lorry as it parks outside facing straight towards my windows at anytime from 12.30am-5am. We have had to replace our windows with new double glazed units to try to cut down the noise but that means we also have to have the aircondition running overnight as it gets too hot with the windows shut tight. It seems we may now have to buy a new front door as well as the existing one has glass panels & with the headlights blasting straight at it the light guarantees to wake us up even if the noise doesn't.

Unfortunately the Muhktar was unavailable when I tried to speak with him so I wrote a polite letter requesting the removal of the bins to a less densely populated area or rearranging the collection times. To date nothing has been done & my letter has gone unanswered.

The logical solution to me would be for the bins to be sited in the car parks of all the big supermarkets across town as every one of us has to visit these on a regular basis.

Sandra Banks
Tremithousa

Dear Sirs

I am writing to you on behalf of my father who wants to send you the following after my brother and his friend were attacked last week in Bar Street in Paphos. He recently read an article in a British newspaper of another family who have also been through the same trauma.

'We returned from Paphos very upset and disappointed after our son and his friend were beaten in robbed in Bar Street, Paphos by 15-20 men. This has become all too common for gangs to attack British tourists and Cypriot Police turn a blind eye and show no interest at all.

We had a phone call at 3am from my son's friend on 22nd June to say that they had been attacked. We found him, covered in blood from head to toe having walked the length of Bar Street with no Police or anyone to help him. We searched for a further 2 hours before finding our son laying unconscious in hospital on a trolley in a corridor. It was not until we told the nurses that he obviously had been attacked that he received any treatment. He is lucky to be alive.

We have owned a villa in Paphos for 5 years and have seen a deterioration year on year of the attitude of the local people to the tourists and crime is rife. We have been broken into twice since we have owned our property and once again, the Police showed no interest.

The Police and locals suppress reports of violence so as not to affect tourism. They would not even give us copies of the police reports generated after the attack on my son and his friend. The 'reports' that I mention are poor and they don't have crime reference numbers. One can only contact the Police person dealing with the case by calling a designated telephone number that goes to straight to answer phone.

I feel strongly that people travelling to Paphos need to be aware of the current gang culture there. Cyprus will only wake up to these issues when people stop going there'.

George Pothecary
 

Dear Editor.

I am a busy mother of 2. I have Harry who is 2 and a half and Joseph who is 17 months, so my hands are a little full. Anyway I read an article last issue regarding the recycling units!! Well FIRSTLY can I say HOOOORAY!!!! At last we have a chance to do something to try and help our fast dying environment, we have our energy saving bulbs and that was as far as you could take it, collectively as a country.

When I read your article, at first I could not believe that I had not heard about this before or from any other source, I was stunned that there was no advertising campaign to push the importance of recycling all that we can. Then as I read on I was even more astonished to hear someone complaining about not having it on their doorstep!! I have to admit this annoyed me enough to put the paper down. As busy as I am, I would find time and start my recycling bags!!

My husband came home and quizzed me over the said bags placed strategically over the kitchen table chair arms! I explained that at last we can recycle, he puffed at the idea and moaned about the kitchen being full of rubbish! So I said this!

Darling are you aware of how rapidly the forests around the world are being destroyed and how natural landfill sites can not naturally break up plastics and the like and how all this waste that we create by just living each day is effecting our planet. If it wasn't for us doing our bit as little as it may seem or insignificant, there would be little or no hope for our 2 boys future families. If we do not try and undo a little of the damage that has already been done by our forefathers. So no matter how little we can offer to help it is our duty to do so!

He then distastefully shrugged and ate his dinner.

The following day I put all the bags in my car and headed to Pafos. I live in Polemi, I headed straight to the municipality dumped my bags in the correctly labelled bins and went off to do my shopping at the mall, on my way home I went through Anavargos to find that they had bins there too!! To my dismay as the good I tried to do for our precious environment was tarnished via the extra unnecessary miles travelled to get into Pafos. Anyway that is by the by and All I want to say is Step up everyone!!!! Those bins are empty!!!!!!!!! Apart from my 6 bagfuls!!

Thank you
Tired helpless but forever hopeful.

 

June 2008 Letters:

Dear Editor,

As an ex-pat living permanently in Cyprus, I would like to make a comment on a frequently mentioned subject, namely the falling arrival rate of British tourists to the island. Without doubt the strong value of the Euro and poor exchange rates, combined with an economic downturn in the U.K. is making U.K. holidaymakers look at other cheaper European destinations, but I would like to add another as yet unmentioned factor into the equation. As the owner of the 'Petrino Bar' in Kato Paphos, I like many other bar owners am constantly being visited by the Police, who rigidly enforce what can only be described as antiquated licensing laws. Even in the high season (May to October) all music played in bars must cease at 2am, although you may remain open without any music until 3.30am!

Many tourists actually want to listen to music later than this, as they can in many other European holiday resorts, whose bars continue with music until 3 or even 4am. After all who wants to sit in a bar until 3.30am without music? Of course, not everybody wants to stay out this late, but there are many who do, but cannot here in Cyprus, as they are basically being told that at 2am you should go to bed! People come on holiday to have a fun time and for many that means enjoying the nightlife.

I personally cannot understand how Paphos Police are able to allocate so many Police Officers to the task of licensing enforcement, now referred to by the local bar owners as the "Music Police". Many of my customers are extremely disappointed when in the middle of a good night out, the police come and tell you to turn off the music! Many actually say that next time they will go to Spain or Tenerife. All music licences issued by the Municipality clearly state that music should only be audible inside the premises, and should not be heard outside, so I really don't see the benefit to anyone of finishing music at 2am, if it's not causing a nuisance.

In fact making all bars close their music at 2am means that in the "bar street" area there is a massive amount of people all leaving premises at the same time, surely this is going to create a much greater problem for the police. If bars could stay open with music later, people would leave more gradually. I don't think there is any other European holiday destination that operates these kind of licensing laws. Many bar owners employ "look-outs" who watch for the Police after 2am, turning off the music when they pass, only to turn it back on again after they leave.

This results in a ridiculous "keystone cops" situation with police hiding round corners trying to catch the bar owners! The Police now use plan clothes officers and unmarked cars to combat the issue. I appreciate that the Police are only doing their job, very often the Police officers who visit me say that they believe that the music should be permitted until 3am on Fridays and Saturdays during the high season, but the law says 2am, and that's what they must enforce. The Central Tourist Organization who issue licenses to bars and restaurants are constantly saying that they are greatly concerned by the steady drop in tourists visiting Cyprus, perhaps they should get together with government and take a look at the subject of music licensing.

It would create greater prosperity for the island if the tourists spent more money and save money on unnecessary prosecutions against bar owners. Come on Cyprus, the islands economy depends on tourism, and yet shops are still closed on Wednesday and Saturday afternoons and on Sundays, making it impossible for the tourists to spend their money, and we send them home to bed at 2am. Remember, it's all about supply and demand, and at the moments we cant supply!

Jamie Lambert



Dear Editor,

Those of us actively engaged in running the Friends' Hospice of Paphos were somewhat bemused by the advertisement in May's edition of Paphos Post concerning a Summer Bazaar for the Paphos Hospice of St. Michael. At no point in this advertisement did it mention that this is a hospice under construction. It read as though there was an existing hospice called St. Michael. This seems like deliberate deception to mislead the public into parting with their money.

A UK civil engineer estimated that it will be another five years before completion, and currently there has been no progress for some long time. We see from the said advert that Matron Ann Wailes will be on hand to answer questions about St Michaels' hospice and its functions. It would go interesting to know what functions this building site has. This suggests it already exists. It does not. The only working hospice in Paphos, offering palliative care and respite for life limiting diseases and receiving constant praise for the work done there, is the Friends' Hospice which occupies a wing in, but exclusive from, the Evangelismos Hospital.

Of course the public may make contributions wherever they wish but they need correct and not misleading information.

The Friends' welcome donations as well as support for their events. Call 26911641 to learn more.

Caroline Harman Smith
Anavargos Paphos



Dear Sir,

I am a resident in Paphos and I would like to make a complaint to The Municipality through your newspaper.

The roadwork in Kato Paphos took a very long time to be completed and although at last, the area which is for pedestrians is very nice, some areas are really not safe and certainly not inviting for tourists to walk along.

I am talking about Paphos Aphrodites. I was walking along this road with my family pushing my elderly mother in a wheel-chair intending to sit and have some lunch at the hospice shop cafe, but it was extremely dangerous to walk and very unpleasant to sit anywhere due to all the traffic going past. My grand daughter was almost knocked down by a speeding car. Also quad bikes which make such a deafening noise go roaring past, making the road extremely unpleasant.

After going to the expense of laying nice pavement tiles, surely this area should now be for pedestrians to be able to walk along in safety.

No one wants to risk their lives dodging speeding traffic on a narrow road that has no pavement.

The job should have been finished properly and bollards should be placed at the entrance to Paphos Aphrodites as they have in other enjoyable places.

I do hope the department in charge will resolve this situation now that the tourist season has started.

It does NOT encourage tourism. This island needs tourists to spread the word that Cyprus is a pleasant, safe place to spend their holiday and their money, which has turned Paphos from a fishing village to a popular holiday resort.

I hope someone is not injured or killed before action is taken about this problem. Maybe your newspaper can help influence 'the powers that be.'

Yours truly,

Diane Griffith
Peyia.