Year: 2004

Cabaret owner arrested on suspicion of pimping

Vladimis has sent me this link to the Cyprus Mail article which describes the conflict, or rather misunderstanding, that a guy had with some cabaret staff.

I don’t know how is it in other countries, but in Cyprus cabarets are actually the places where prostitutes work. They are called a million different names with dancers and actresses being the most common, but I have yet to see one descent show. None of those I saw could dance or entertain. Everyone knows it. Sex is the reason people go to the cabarets in Cyprus. That, of course, invovles money. Since prostitution is illegal, money are paid in different ways – for example, drinks for the lady ($10 USD orange juice will solve all your menhood problems at once). Still, the guy from the article seems to not know this, although he is a pretty old local gentlemen. On the other hand, maybe he wanted some free service. Go figure.

Wine Festival

Wine festival

My mother was so persistent for the last few days, that today I finally took her to the Wine Festval. Nothing changes in there in years – same wineries, same wine, same food, same kiosks, same music, same souveniers. It was pretty interesting for her, since she was for the first time. I used the walk as a photo opportunity.

Pictures turned out to be the same as pictures from everyone else from any other year. The results are here if you are still interested.

Experience with CID

PhotographerToday I have spent the first half of the day in Nicosia at Russian Council. My brother, my wife, and myself all had to do some paperwork. After I have finished with my part and was waiting for my brother, I walked around and made few pictures. Apparently, the guard at Egyptian Embassy was all alerted and reported me to CID (if anyone knows what this abbreviation means, let me know). Two officers came, checked all my papers and questioned me. They checked my story over the phone with another guy who confirmed my status, my visa, and stuff like that. They have asked me (although I was first to suggest) to delete the pictures of the Egyptian Embassy building and the guard at the gates. Of course, I did. This is one of the beauties of the digital photography – you can delete a couple of images without ruining the whole film.

The only few pictures I was allowed to keep from Nicosia were with the photographer you can see on the left. He looked really cool, and when noticed me taking pictures of him, he shot me in return. Later, when the CID officer saw the picture of this guy on the display of my camera, he told me that this is a very famous photographer in Cyprus and that everyone knows him. Heh, looks like not everyone. Again, if anyone can recognize the guy, let me know.

The moral of the story (confirmed by arrived immigration officer) is: do not photograph any government buildings, military setups, courts, embassies, police offices, and the like. It can easily get you into trouble.

P.S.: Both CID officers that questioned me were very calm, polite, and generally positive. I was really impressed on how delicate and politically correct they handled the situation.