Onasagoras
We’ve reached the finale of one of the longest-running soap operas on our little island. The much-ballyhooed, shocking, twist-filled telenovela titled Al Jazeera, or as it’s sometimes called, This is Cyprus, wrapped up its thousandth episode yesterday, surpassing even Foskolos’ Lampsi, with an ending that was, honestly, about as surprising as your morning coffee. In recent years, we’ve been tuning in more out of habit than curiosity, scared, perhaps, that asking too many questions might summon a demon.
It was a drama brimming with promise; Netflix could’ve taken notes, launched with impressive ratings, and yet it quietly faded away, because viewers, watching the same plot yet again, finally realized the writers weren’t mentally equipped to go the extra mile. So, naturally, we got the classic, and safest, happy ending. And of course, they lived well and we… not so much.
After the verdict on Syllouris, I have complete faith in the courts, and I’m heading straight back to Cyprus. – Annie Fotiou Alexoui
Everyone was acquitted on all charges, confirming, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that we are indeed the island of saints. And as everyone knows, saints never sin; they just take short breaks before heading back to glory.
The acquittal also fits nicely with the dove in the emblem of the Republic of Cyprus, symbolizing that we are all, some more, some less, innocent doves. Even if those innocent doves occasionally poop on our cars, we still love them.
A viral image created with AI shows Annie Fotiou leading a carnival float in Limassol because, as we remember from the haircut era, nothing, not a thing, distracts us from the carnivals. We were born for them. Fotiou herself said that after the Al Jazeera verdict, she has full trust in the courts and “is heading straight back to Cyprus,” with plans, perhaps, to catch up with Fytiris.
Historian Eleni Glykatzi-Arveler passed away just shy of a century, at 99, after a tumultuous academic life. She was one of the rare figures who could talk about history without ever needing Google; she was, in many ways, a living search engine. A Google before Google.
In parallel stories, 99-year-old APOEL, just about the same age as Glykatzi-Arveler, and just before celebrating its “centenary” (quotes very much intentional), Mr. Petridis decided to step away from the team. His tenure, much like a Greek tragedy disguised as football, alternated between absolute glory and utter disaster. I can’t help but think of Kazantzidis:
From the heights to the lows
From the many to the few
Ah, how I’ve fallen in life
From the first step
To the last I’ve gone…
