Precious moments

The man outside the waterfront café in Girne greeted me warmly and insisted he had spoken to me last night. I averred. I was not in Girne last night. He then insisted that I had a twin sister in Girne, a woman also from Australia. I sat in the café and ordered tea. A few minutes later the man (Boston) waved to me and pointed to a woman walking along the quay. She was similar in build and colouring to me, and Boton insisted that we must meet as we were long lost twins. We laughed and I invited her to join me – or did she invite herself – it’s irrelevant. Her name is Ruth, she too is from Melbourne, but lives in Beirut and works at the Australian embassy. We spent a delightful hour together in the café, swapping travel stories, talking about Istanbul, Beirut, my conference, books, culture and Cyprus. The we paid the bill and walked a little way along the quay together before we parted company. As I write this, I am sitting in a delightful sunny courtyard Italian restaurant listening to the Muslim call to prayer from the ancient mosque next door.


Italian restaurant in Girne.