Disappearing acts

I was hoping to see the Turkish flag on the Pendadaktilos Mountains disappear under the snow just for a bit. But that didn’t happen.

What did happen was that my local grocer shut down overnight. It may be somewhat outdated to bring up the issue of dozens of shops closing down here and there across the island. I’m not that distressed about commercial entities closing down on high streets.

If I were to take it to the next extreme, I’m not even bothered by the fact that Cyprus Airways has closed down… Although I do think about the hundreds of people who are now out of a job.

The grocer I’m referring to offered more than merely a place to shop. I remember I had one day managed to go shopping without my purse, something I realised as my bags were nicely packed on the exit side of the counter.

The owner had teased me and immediately told me to come back when I could to pay him but to go ahead and take the groceries home.

On Sundays, he would secretly leave the back door open, and for those of us who were aware of this, we would leisurely have fresh produce when everything else around us was closed. I’ve lost count of how many times he saved me from missing that one item to perfect my culinary whims.

This, of course, was out of order, but at the back-end of our neighbourhood, we all treasured this luxury, and we all knew him personally.

His closure was abrupt and although he may know where we walked off to after we did our shopping, I have no idea where he has gone. And I never got the chance to thank him for his offerings over the years. Just like that, he disappeared.

Like so many other habits we seem to be shedding due to the financial downturn. Such a pity.