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    Lessons in Greek were on offer and we went once a week for a while but didn't learn much of use. The lecturer was an academic who started from scratch working his way through the complexities of the grammar instead of explaining how to order a lemonade. The one thing I do remember was that we saw he had something on a chain round his neck and this turned out to be a medallion in the shape of an eye. Eventually he said that this was to ward off the evil eye without explaining what this meant. I'm sure he sensed our supprise at him wearing a charm and was a bit embarassed. It was a lot later before it became clear that the evil eye was responsible for most of the every day mishaps that beset people and many Cypriots thought it only sensible to gain some protection by wearing such an " eye stone ".

    We did get used to some of the new language. For instance the challenge, if you were on guard duty at Catterick, had been " Halt who goes there ". Here it was " Halt, Stomata, Dur " incorporating the Greek and Turkish for halt. Cyprus was the English name for the island, Kypros the Greek and Kibris the Turkish. Since the English name for some places was a phonetic equivalent of the Greek there could be several versions depending on how the sounds were interpreted. ( Cape Drepanon, or Cape Drepanu or Cape Drepanum is one I have noticed ). When, during the Suez crisis, the French arrived some important signs also needed a French translation as well.

    We were living in tents and watching the new barrack blocks going up on the opposite side of the valley. They were constructed from large prefabricated sections that were made in a factory behind our lines and then towed across and hoisted in place by crane. I think the firm that was doing the work was called Reed and Malik and their trade name for this type of prefabricated construction was Reema .The three storey block I eventually moved into was still standing ( c 1999 ) but no longer used as living quarters. Cookhouses and other special buildings that did not fit into the prefabricated pattern were brick built in the normal way. There was a huge labour force that came every morning in a fleet of village busses and started arriving at maybe six thirty just as we were waking up. They were a cheerful bunch in the main and as we passed them on the way to work shouts of " yassu gumbari" ( hello my good friend ) would pass back and forth.

    The word can also be spelt koumbari since the sounds are similar in Greek and strictly it refers to the men friends that the groom invites to his wedding. He did not have just one Best Man but invited all his close friends who are the Gumbari and actually paid for the church service. The bride invited her friends who are the Koumeres and paid for the flowers and candles. These traditions are dying out possibly the cause of the greeting no longer being much used.

    There must have been an EOKA element mixed in with the workmen who came on site because first one and then another nearly finished building caught fire after everyone had gone home.The army realised what was going on and started posting a picket in each building as it neared completion. The story went that purely by chance it was the same corporal in charge of the picket at the next two fires, which were put out without serious damage. The corporal wanted a posting home so no one was ever sure if it was genuine or not but he had a nervous breakdown.  "They're after me"..."They know who I am, etc."  So just to be on the safe side the army sent him home!

    To be honest I did not see much of the EOKA apart from the fires I have mentioned and a small bomb that was put in the dishwasher of a new mess hall. I was a couple of hundred meters away and not involved. The people who ate there had to revert to the usual custom of taking their own "eating irons" to each meal so they were not amused. As we went outside the camp we saw painted slogans on walls but apart from the odd word they were "all Greek" to us. Whether they were trying to influence the Cypriots or just didn't realise that no one except Greeks speak the language and it was a waste of time trying to put a message accross to us in their own language I have no idea.

    The only time we did have a fright was actually nothing to do with the EOKA. At the back of the camp was the electricity generating station and this was guarded by Turkish Cypriots armed with ancient shotguns. One evening while we were in our tents there were several shots a couple of hundred meters away. Our first thought was "its the EOKA" but all our weapons were in the armoury and we were defenceless. A quick consultation with our tent corporal resulted in the order "get under your beds its the best I can think of" .We hid there as we heard the Military Police sliding their jeeps round corners as they came from the other side of the camp to investigate. With order restored it was reported that the guards had seen something moving by the perimeter wire but nothing was discovered so it was probably an animal. As I recall the Army had a rethink about security and thereafter as well as the normal guard the regimental fire picket went about armed at night.

    Our regiment was short of NCOs to act as guard commanders. If you worked shifts, as I did most of the time, you were not called for guard duty. However, for a short time I went on "days" and was one of several people promoted to lance corporal in an effort to rectify the situation. One was supposed to go on a drill and duties course to learn about such things but such was the shortage that I was rostered almost at once so I turned up without a clue. The duty sergeant was there and took my part of the guard mounting parade and then I was left to it. My salvation was discovering that I had a prisoner in the cells. He was a driver, an amiable sort who was inside for being drunk and disorderly. I left his cell door open on the pretext that I was putting him to work and he explained the complexities of answering the phone, delivering meals to distant pickets and what to do when the duty officer turned up. The next week someone left and I went back onto shift so this was the only guard duty I ever did but I managed to hold onto the promotion and in due course rose to full corporal.

    The army had a complicated way of starting people up the promotion ladder. The lowest form of life was "local, unpaid" someone who was possibly "not NCO material" but needed a little seniority to deliver the mail or some such duty. It meant that if they left the area they lost the rank and of course they got no extra pay. "Acting" was the next step which meant that merely issuing a notice was enough to take the rank away. One finally made it when one became "substantive" and you could be posted throughout the army and keep your rank. Only if one committed a serious offence that required a trial by courts martial could it be altered. Having started up the ladder I stepped into "dead mens' shoes" and progressed to substantive corporal, two full stripes and pay to go with them. Although I never saw an entry I should in theory have been in the Royal Signals blue book which listed all NCOs and their date of promotion so that one could work out seniority and chances of further promotion.

     I only had one brush with authority, quite by accident, but my rank stood me in good stead. A special parade was called and since I was working shift I did not see the notice calling it. Everyone knew I worked shifts and was used to seeing me asleep at unusual times so no one thought to wake me. Several people missed the occasion and we all had to go on defaulters parade before the Commanding Officer. All I got was a reprimand while the others without any rank got put on fatigues and other unpleasant duties.

    My time in Cyprus included the Suez Crisis and since we saw the UK newspapers about a day after they were published we kept up with what was going on. When there was a Russian threat to launch an attack on the forces invading Egypt the Army decided it needed to make some preparations. The first thing was an air raid warning system for the camp. It seems there was only one siren available so after some thought this was mounted on a Land Rover which charged round the camp while someone frantically held on and turned the handle which worked the siren. I only ever heard it once at the first practice. The Signal Centre was judged to be the most vulnerable building on the site and the limited supply of sand bags were duly filled and placed round it. Too late it was discovered that only those who worked on the site had passes to get in so guess who had to fill and carry the sandbags.

    Then the French Paras turned up. The Gordon Highlanders had the reputation as the local hard men to whom we gave the widest berth but the Paras would have seen them off any day. They lived rough, did their own cooking in small groups and slept on the floor even when there were beds available. The permanent reminder of their visit were the road signs in French that I mentioned.

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Links to pictures associated with the text

• The new barrack blocks
• Our barrack block
• The barack room
• Distant view of fire
• Fire caused by EOKA (1)
• Fire caused by EOKA (2)
• Fire station
• Multi language roadsign
• Village busses

On to part four

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