Ignite-Extinguish

My friend's illegal diplokampino was the weapon of choice. We loaded it up and brought everything to Nicosia. A new life fit into the back of the trusty Nissan. But there was more fun awaiting in the capital.

One of the first innocent victims of my return to Stravaraland was Apodimos Kypreos. He innocently suggested that he buy me a few drinks at Plato's. Either he wasn't counting or he was sidelined by the conversation we were having regarding Akamas - the movie. I was relatively well behaved as his lovely wife elevated our company with her presence. The rivers of Stella flowed and as he was about to leave, Apodimos made that ghastly mistake of picking up the entire tab. This is one of the reasons this blog will shortly feature a PayPal donation button. May the Ancient Gods of Stravaraland (mythical as well as legendary in their own minds) keep Apodimos Kypreos in perpetual good health and spirit.

And off I went to Primetel to get DSL-ed. Being told I'd have to wait 3 weeks did throw me. Yes, that pesky little monopoly which has yet to do anything about the bottleneck when the mama of all Internet backbones leaves the island wants to hang on to everything. Have others bake the cake, eat it and have it.

A few days later came a phone call from a Primetel operative:

"CyTA won't approve the line transfer because there has been a change in the company name"

OK, so what's the problem? Yes, well, Loukaniko Limited was registered in the 'phone book as Loukaniko Sausages Limited. Biiiig problem. Registration number? Same same.

After the runaround I parked myself at CyTA in order to plead my case. The charade was interesting as I did have the paperwork that showed the company had the same registration. A few days later that was all taken care of and Noullis is back on line. Excuse me for referring to myself in the 3rd person but Jimmy the Sheftali and the visiting EOKA B priest have been all over the TV lately.

So, when is the overfed monopoly going to do something about the umbilical Internet cord that connects us to rest of the world? When will we get speeds such as enjoyed in Sofia or Seoul? Should we make a contribution? How does CyTA get away with refusing to carry websites to those who use other providers? Why do they block ports? Why does my friend down the road get no support when he tells the monopoly folks that the wireless router that they supplied does not work?

It's all happening too fast, maybe?

Did I tell you the food aboard Austrian was almost as good as Cyprus Airways? Yep, it was.