slowly bouncing back

Reportedly Cengiz was hit by whatever virus hit me, so we must have picked something up at one of our stops the other day. The main symptom, for me at least, was fatigue and apathy.

I started to pull out of it around lunchtime today. Towards late afternoon I decided to walk over to the Syrian Arab Friendship Club for lunch. Lonely Planet’s online customer base rates it the #1 (!) thing to do in Nicosia, and in any case it’s said to be the best place for vegetarians in the city. (I tried and failed to find it on my second night here, but had since located it, and so knew where I was going.)

While I wouldn’t call it the #1 thing to do in the city, it’s good Middle Eastern food, pretty cheap, with friendly waitstaff, and above all– what a nice concept to have a Syrian Friendship Club serving food in nearby Cyprus.

At that point I was halfway to the old city, and just walked all the way. And for the first time, I walked back as well. It’s about 45 minutes each way, but that’s not the issue; the issue is that it’s not really a route designed to be walked, and there are a couple of perilous crossings, especially after dark.

However, far more perilous would have been to rent a car here. I really don’t trust myself to drive in any country that uses the “wrong” side of the road. Everyone tells me the adjustment is easy, but I’m pretty sure I’d be stuck in my native mental space and crash by turning into the incorrect lane. I do not aspire ever to drive a car in any British or former British lands, or Japan, or wherever else they drive on the side I’m not used to. I mean, I can barely walk across the street in the UK without getting killed. I’m always looking the wrong direction. 6 or 7 of my top 10 near-death experiences were probably attempts to walk across a street in London. (Actually, 1 of those 6 or 7 was in Dublin, and the rest were in London.)