Watching recent footage of the flood situation in England, my family and I cannot believe that the scenes belong to the UK in 2014. The England I remember leaving for Cyprus has remained in my mind as a place of law, order, organisation, and preparation and readiness for such disasters. It is shocking to see that the weather has got so out of control that it is beyond the capabilities of the government to deal with.
Talking with my (English) husband, we both agreed that if it had been Cyprus in the same flooded situation, everyone's reaction would have been one of blame for Cypriots who are generally believed to be incompetent. Immediately, we would be hearing criticism and ridicule towards the people, the island and the government, along with distain at the way they were handling the situation or that they let it reach that point in the first place. In the case of England, although the government has come in for some flack, the reaction has been mainly one of sympathy, empathy and horror that people are suffering. I believe this is completely different to how the situation would be viewed in Cyprus, where many – including those who live here – see the country and its people as a joke.
Granted, it only takes a few hours of rain for our poorly constructed roads to start flooding, so we would be truly stuffed if we were in England's position, but that is not my point… I am sick and tired of people treating the island and its inhabitants as second-class yokels who have no idea what they are doing.
Naturally, there are many things in Larnaca – and the island – that can be improved, or that have not been thought out properly. This could be partly blamed on the culture of nepotism, whereby some positions are occupied through connections rather than merit, but if we were really that poorly managed and that useless, then how on earth would the country function the way it does!
Everywhere you go you will encounter people who are good at their job and people who are not. Every country has its good politicians and its bad. There isn't a nation that doesn't have a police force with its share of diligent cops, as well as corrupt ones. In every single corner of the planet you will find those who try to better the country through power and those who are so drunk on it that they abuse it horribly. So why are Cypriots always the ones to blame?
I have said it before in these pages, so forgive me for saying it again – this crisis is going to eventually be good for past grievances. If you believe that the country has been run on nepotism, you will find that people just won't be able to get away with it any more. If you felt the service you received in banks, government offices and shops was shoddy, then you will find that people will be humble and grateful to have a job and will work hard to ensure they keep it.
On top of that, Larnaca is undergoing a lot of changes to its infrastructure, so hopefully, our once-shoddy roads will be a thing of the past. Once that has combined with a generally more amenable workforce, I hope all those who have considered Larnaca and Cyprus to be the land of clowns, cowboys and incompetent fools will find that they can no longer make Aphrodite's beautiful island a scapegoat for all the world's woes!
