Tag: driving

On public transport in Cyprus

Often, when I talk to my friends abroad, I hear that we have it too good here, in Cyprus.  As one of the example, they say that everyone has a car.  And while I don’t disagree – the life in Cyprus is good indeed – I often find it hard to explain that a car here is more than just a convenience.  It’s a necessity.

I also understand why it is difficult to grasp the idea for those who’ve never been in Cyprus.  Many of them can’t imagine a city with no public transport at all.  Public transport is a norm pretty much everywhere you go.  But not in Cyprus.

Finally, I now have a link to send to those friends of mine, who find it difficult to believe me.  Cyprus Mail runs an article with some statistics.  These are Nicosia-based, but I don’t think Limassol or any other city on the island would be much different.

Nicosia also stood out with 84 per cent of respondents saying they never used public transport. Only a minority – four per cent – used public transport to commute in Nicosia with 91 per cent travelling by car or motorcycle. Just five per cent walked or cycled to work.

Road tax and MOT obsolete

The rumour has been going around for some time, but until now I haven’t heard anything credible.  OnThisIsland.com linked to an article Cyprus Mail about the new law regarding road tax and MOT paper disks – they are obsolete.  Furthermore, having them displayed can get you in trouble.  Not only they obscure a tiny useless part of your windscreen, but traffic police can issue a 50 EUR fine for you.

The article, dated April 8 2010, says:

Ioannis Nicolaides, Head of Technical Services at the Road Transport department said the law was passed in parliament three weeks ago and came into effect two weeks ago.

This means that quite some time has passed and traffic police can easily switch from warnings to actual fines.

I don’t have MOT displayed on my windscreen, but the road tax I will remove tomorrow morning.  And, also, being a “computer guy” this is just music to my ears:

The discs are now obsolete, as all registration data is computerised and ready to hand for road traffic police.

Adult thing to do

More and more often I am getting reminders that I am an adult and should act like one. Having been childish on my life (and enjoying that too) acting like an adult is tough for me. Even when I do it just to make fun of it.

Anyway, I was thinking over some things that I, trying to find a way to substitute one or another with an adult alternative. And I guess I found at least one.

Drunk driving no more. If I can predict that I’ll be drinking anything more than a glass of mine or a pint of beer – I’ll take a cab from now on.

And I did it today. I knew that I’ll have some vodka with friends in the evening, so I just called in for a taxi and it took me where I wanted to go. About eight hours later I called for another one, and it took me back home. I have to say that it felt good. It was better than I expected. Not only I wasn’t streetracing my way back home intoxicated, but I didn’t even have to think about if I was still capable of driving while drinking. I was totally focused on vodka and on having good time. And guess what – I had much more of both than I usually get while having considerations about getting back home. There is a minor price tag on that though, but I can manage.

In fact, I liked it so much that I’ll do it regularly from now on. And I recommend you do the same.

Out of fuel

Today was the second (third?) time in my life when I ran out of fuel. I am trying not to push my luck and so I usually drive around with enough petrol to take me at least across the country.

Doesn’t always work it turned out. Since my car is in the repairs, I am driving someone else’s Mazda. This car’s fuel meter is not working at all. It always points to empty. The trick is to put 10 CYP and drive less than 220 km.

Last time I was at petrol station I had 180 km done only. And today, when the car stopped, I had only 140 km since last dinner. Either all the meters are working bad, or the car changed its appetite for unleaded.

The worst thing was that I couldn’t troubleshoot the problem down to the fuel myself. The owner of the car had to come and try to start and check it. He then suggested that it might be out of petrol, despite the indicators and meters. So, we put some fuel in, and it worked.

From now on, I’ll be having full tank as often, as possible…