Alastair White

Alastair White arrived in Cyprus in April 1957 on board 'Empire Clyde'. Reproduced below are some of the letters he sent home.

We got into Algiers about 6 o'clock at night. We stayed about 4 hours taking on water and oil. It's a terrific city, at least to look at from the sea. As it grew dark the clouds and sky gradually became a deep purple and the lights of the city spread before us began to twinkle until the whole hillside was lit up. It was a great sight.

THURSDAY. We continued along the North African coast keeping in sight of land almost all day. The sea is an unbelievable colour of blue. Bodies litter the decks and are going redder and redder, - people trying to get sunburnt too quickly. I went out for a short time and have got a red neck. We got paid £2.

FRIDAY. Sweeping and scrubbing in the morning. Around noon we pulled into Valetta, Malta. It's a very picturesque place, no doubt you've all seen it on the front of stamps, calendars &c. I was snapping right left and centre and have exposed 4 films -64 exposures, all rubbish probably. At Malta again we were besieged by mobs of natives flogging their wares. I bought some rubbish for 10/- a sort of scarf or mats or something - no use but I'll send them home if I can. Tomorrow we call at Tripoli. I'm really glad I came on this now. In fact, I wish it could go on forever, - just for the sake of seeing Gibraltar, Algiers, Malta and Tripoli, places I'd never see in ordinary life.

SATURDAY. When I got up, we were anchored about a mile outside Tripoli. We stayed there most of the morning taking on passengers and baggage and putting off ditto. We are two days ahead of schedule and get to Limassol, Cyprus, on Tuesday. The heat is really oppressive today - I can't get cool anyhow. I got a film developed by the ship's photographer, the ones I took at Malta, - not very good.

SUNDAY. It was cloudy and cool all day - we even had a shower of rain. I did some washing and hung it on deck to dry. A pair of socks got blown overboard. We have been told to change our currency tomorrow £1 sterling 1000 milos.

MONDAY. The last day of the voyage. I canna mind whit happened.

TUESDAY. We were steaming along the coast of Cyprus when I got up and after brekker we pulled into Limassol. After much scuttering around we got transferred to launches and taken ashore where we were taken to a reception place. After hanging around there for a few hours, lorries arrived to take us the 16 mile journey to Episkopi. It was a terrific thrill at first, driving along the roads with scenery quite different from anything I'd seen before. About 6 p.m. we got into Episkopi. The camp itself is situated on two sides of a valley which runs down to the Mediterranean. I must try and get a few snaps of the place and send them home. Prices vary from those in the U.K. Things like chocolate, sweets, tattie crisps, tea, tooth paste are dearer, but cars, cameras, watches and lighters are cheaper. The cheapest place in the world for cameras is Aden. A £98 Rollieflex costs £26 there!! And we can easily get them sent here.I know it sounds fantastic but I think I'll get a Leica or a Contaflex. Any advice on 35 millimetre cameras? As for getting them home, it appears you can wangle like this:- You can go home on leave (pay your own fare of course) and take the camera (or watch) with you, promise the Customs man you'll be taking it back when you come back off leave, and leave it at home. Simple!

We're living in tents, of course, 7 of us - about 18' x 30' complete with electric light, so that I can still use my electric razor. We are moving into blocks next month, so they say, similar to the ones at Brampton but 8 to a room. We work from 7 to 1 each day. It's sunny, but a bit cool rather like a June' day in Scotland.

We are 10 minutes' walk from the sea and I have been dookin' every afternoon so far. I think I'll buy frogman's flippers and masks. I've never swum in anything like it before. The surf's terrific. The waves come towards you about 6 feet above you, pick you right up and wash you up on the shore, - it's really exhilarating.

The camp is built on a sort of sandy scrubland and they haven't bothered to clear much of it away. I've never seen so many different kinds of wild flowers about. I wish I was a bit of a botanist. It's got everything, this island. I hope the truce lasts, because you could never see enough of it. Well, on second thoughts, maybe you could in two and a half years. I've found out that I do a full tour (2½ years) then, having less than 3 months to do, go straight out - demobbed. For leave we can go to Palestine, Greece or Turkey, quite easily, also leave centres on the island.
The money is a bit confusing at first, but I'm getting used to it. It's Cypriots who serve in the Naafi here and they try to twist you like anything. There are 2 Naafis, a YMCA and about a dozen "Wog Shops" on the camp where you can get literally anything from tape recorders and dressing gowns to motorcars and Andrews Liver Salts. The plumbing isn't quite what you'd call contemporary. We won't go into details but I'm sure you know what I mean.
I haven't been to the section yet but I believe it's not up to much. You will note that my address is Joint Air Reconnaissance Intelligence Centre, Middle East, the Middle East department of J.A.R.I.C. United Kingdom, Brampton. There is also a Far East place too, I believe. When the Suez flap was on, the Canberras that took all the photographs flew from Akrotiri, about 10 miles from here and the films developed and printed here, then flown to Benson, Oxford, and taken to Brampton for reprints. When that flap was on, they needed a lot more bods. and I was nearly sent, remember?

I'm sending my bank book home. It's an offence to have British money here, so I've sent £6 for you to put in my savings book. If you want to take any lolly out, you have to fill in about 99 forms and send the book to Harrogate first. I'm sure there's a lot to tell you yet, but you get so used to it, it doesn't strike you as being news.
More later, Alastair.

Sat. 27th April.
Dear Mum,
Thanks for letter. I see you posted it on the 23rd and I got it on the morning of the 26th which isn't too bad, is it? It's plenty hot here and this isn't even summer yet. We went swimming yesterday and the stones on the beach were too hot to stand on. Unfortunately I'm not getting a tan at all, - just a red peeling neck.

They've got Greek classes here which I'm starting on Monday. I'm on guard today which entails walking around a compound with a gun with a bullet up the spout. I've bought some postcards of the island but they don't do justice to the place.

Have any of my letters been opened? One of the lads says his folks say his letters have been - probably censored. I saw a comet in the sky last night, first one I've seen. I believe it was seen over Britain too.

Another natural phenomenon I've experienced over here is earth tremor. I was lying in bed just about to drop off when I felt my bed shake pretty violeently. I thought it was one of the lads playing a joke but when one of the other blokes yelled out, we twigged it was an earth tremor. Another experience!

I can't remember if I told you that the section we work in is half on mobile trailers. A cat has just laid 3 kittens in the corner of the trailer I work in. Everybody is making a terrific fuss of them, of course; you know what day-old kittens are like.

All the milk we get is tinned or powdered. The only fresh milk on the island is goat's. At least I've never seen any coos. The goats roam about the fields with bells, just like Swiss cattle, quite a sight and sound.

To get down to the beach I was telling you about, one has to descend a 200 ft cliff which extends for about a mile. Further along from where we go there are 3 pairs of eagles, bigger than golden eagles. One of the lads here is a bit of a bird watcher, and he says their wing span is 8 ft. I was watching them through his binoculars, - they look really impressive I must try and get some telephoto shots in the future. This lad has seen them diving for fish too, and says they can carry off a goat nae bather at a'.There are quite good entertainment facilities here - classes in Greek, French, English, maths., opera and ballet club, chess club, music club, jazz club, Scottish country dancing club, a really good library &c. There a 4 Naafies, none of which any respectable person goes to, and a Y.M.C.A. Pay day is every second Thursday and every second Thursday there is a fist and bottle fight in the Naafi Everyone gets canned with the local beer.

There's an awful lot of things I want to get. I'm keen on a pair of flippers and underwater mask - there's a lot of diving done around here There is an aqua-lung club but it has a long waiting list. I also want a good mouth organ and a guitar. A Volkswagen is only £455 too!? Hiring cars is easy, - every second chap does it. You can get Chevrolets, Plymouths, Zephyrs, Consuls &c down to a Morris Minor - cost about £2 a day. It's easy to change a U.K. license too.

There are hundreds of Cypriots, Greeks, Turks and Africans who work on the camp. The Greek men especially the old ones, wear a very queer garb. I must try and geta photie.

The other day 6 of us were on the beach with 6 bottles of lemonade and not an opener. There was an African wandering around so we asked him if he had a bottle opener. He grinned broadly, took the bottles and pulled the tops off with his teeth - just like that! He spoke very little English but informed us he came from Sudan. He was working on the camp married quarters, labouring. He invited us in to his tent for a cup of tea. We politely refused and he shook us all warmly by the hand, and what a grip. He was a real nice lad. No more paper with me.
Alastair.

Sunday 5th May.
It's Sunday night and I think I'll start a letter. It has been another cloudless day, highest temperature 77 deg. according to the wireless. I went for a walk along the cliffs this morning, armed with camera of course. The air was heavy with the scent of the flowers and shrubs, - I've never felt anything like it. Lizards were dashing across my path in their dozens, and twice I saw a chameleon. I saw a butterfly about as big as a speug an' all. There were all sorts of birds soaring and gliding over the sea 400 feet below. I wish I'd had a colour camera, - white cliffs, blue sky, green foreground. I could see chaps swimming way down below and their voices came up clear as anything in the still air. After a lousy dinner we went swimming again. I had a shot of a bloke's goggles and went diving close to the shore. What a variety of fish there were: Even close in. I must get goggles and flippers.

I've been doing all my own laundry so far and hate it. No hot water here, by the way. Three of us are thinking of hiring a car and touring the island. I canna mind if I told you but I've started Greek lessons once a week. The class consists of a major in the WRACs - a right bossy pompous fat wifie - you know the type; a 2nd lieut. in the army - ex university type; 2 WAAFs - all 4 immaculately dressed and me in a scruffy shirt, auld breeks and sandshoes.
There's no work to do. All day is spent dodging the flight sergeant who is chasing after lads to clean and paint everything that's stationary. I got collared for a job yesterday; I had to empty all the fire buckets of water and fill 'em up with sand, and the ones with sand in I had to empty and fill up with water. Typical RAF.

The meals are lousy. The staple diet is bread, and being a very hot and dry climate it goes stale in 5 minutes flat. It gets served up again toasted or fried for breakfast and for pudding at dinner it is disguised as bread-and-butter pudding made up as doughnuts and other weird concoctions - you wouldn't believe the number of ways stale, bread can be dished up

Sunday 12th May.
It's Sunday today and a very fine day too. All the rest of the lads lie in bed all morning. I canna be doin' wi' fowk that lie in bed when it's fine outside, so I was up and away after breakfast. I went along the cliffs again and down to an out-of-the-way cove. I never cease to marvel at the different kinds of flowers, insects, birds and animals we see here. I didn't have any trunks or towel with me, but I just stripped off and dove in. The water was clear as crystal - dead calm and the surroundings just perfect. After a bit, I came out and lay on a rock and sunbathed for the rest of the morning, just jumping in whiles to cool off.

I was late for dinner when I came back so did some washing. My white shirt and towels have come out all blotchy, sort of. They would certainly never pass the legendary "Window Test." Would bleach cure it? I'll need to wash 'em again anyway.

Yesterday too I went walking along the cliffs and got swooped down upon by numerous birds about the size of crows only more streamlines.- I must have been near their nesting place. I also saw one of the pair of eagles but was pretty far off. After that I went to visit some old Greco-Roman ruins near here dating back to 800 B.C. - quite wonderful. I must have had too much of the sun this morning. I'm all red and sore.

I haven't taken any photos of the countryside here simply because the only way of getting around this place is by car, there being no trains and next to no buses.

I've applied for a driving licence here and now sit back and wait. Unfortunately the kittens have died off one by one, or rather disappeared one by one. I think too many folk were coming in and pestering the cat.

Three of us went down to Limassol in quest of guitars - no luck incidentally. We hitched it there and back - 12 miles each way. Quite a quaint place. What annoys me is you can't understand everybody jabbering around you. I'll need to learn a bit of the lingo. Every second shop is a tailor's or barber's - never seen so many in my life. Everything you buy the vendor tries to twist you. I've lost quite a bit that way.

Do you want any wall tapestries or souvenirs of any kind from here? I could easily send some, but will you have places to put them? I'll send off the things I got in Malta when I can get paper and string.

My present to Margot will get her in about a month. When does she leave?

Just now the strains of the pipes have come floating across the air. A chap about 50 tents away has got a set. Quite good he is.

We are paid every two weeks with the result one finds oneself with alarmingly little at the end of the first week. I've bought a lot of things this week, though pen, diving mask, present for Margot, iron, postal orders for licence and "Linguist" magazine - £7 in all.

Everyone is off to the camp picture house. They go every other night. I've never been yet.

Wednesday
I met a chap here to was at the High School - name of Reid who was in the same mob as Peter Robertson & Co. I had seen him before but couldn't place his face. He was at Aberdeen University same time as Stan's brother. I'll send off the stuff I bought at Malta tomorrow. No more news.

Sunday 26th May
Thanks for all your letters. Yes, I know I never put dates on letters because sometimes I have then lying around for a week, then folk don't know it. Don't expect this momentous stream of letters to continue for ever, because once I've been around there won't be any more to write about. ~ All told I get about 35/- a week now, but half that goes on drinks. You should get the Maltese mats soon - I sent them last week.

On Saturday they ran a coach to Famagusta, that's about 90 miles away on the east coast (we are on the south). We left at 8 a.m. return fare 10/-. The weather was most unco-operative being dull and rainy. There was a strike on in the place, the streets were deserted. The shops were nearly all shut and the place was generally miserable. To crown it all the bus broke down on the way back. Prices there were really reasonable. I saw quite a lot of stuff - junk and souvenirs - I might buy some and send it home. Troops with Sten guns were patrolling the streets. We went to the best hotel called the "Florda" for a coffee and sandwich. That was 5/-. We later partook of eggs & chips and Turkish coffee - real potent but I enjoyed it. There are two extremes in living conditions - dirty sheds and hovels on one hand and massive air- conditioned bungalows in lovely gardens with fountains and goldfish ponds. I've never seen houses like them. I must send some photos home. I'll get my films developed when I've got a developing tank, fixer and bottles etc. I'll start sending home a Cyprus coin every letter just to have when I come home.
No more. Alastair.

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Built by William Beardmore & Company in 1921, the Cameronia was 578 feet long and 70 feet wide, displacing 16,280 gross ons.
She had a service speed of 16 knots. Passenger capacity was 1,785.
She was built for the Anchor Line and sailed the Glasgow - New York route.
During World War Two she carried troops to the invasions of North Africa, Sicily and Normandy.
After the war she took emigrants to Australia.
The Ministry of Transport bought her in 1953. She was renamed Empire Clyde and finished her days as a troopship.
She was decomissioned in 1957 and broken up in Wales.


		Alastair White arrived in Cyprus in April 1957 on board 'Empire Clyde'. Reproduced below are some of the letters he sent home.

		We got into Algiers about 6 o'clock at night. We stayed about 4 hours taking on water and oil. It's a terrific city, at least to look at from the sea. As it grew dark the clouds and sky gradually became a deep purple and the lights of the city spread before us began to twinkle until the whole hillside was lit up. It was a great sight. THURSDAY. We continued along the North African coast keeping in sight of land almost all day. The sea is an unbelievable colour of blue. Bodies litter the decks and are going redder and redder, - people trying to get sunburnt too quickly. I went out for a short time and have got a red neck. We got paid £2. FRIDAY. Sweeping and scrubbing in the morning. Around noon we pulled into Valetta, Malta. It's a very picturesque place, no doubt you've all seen it on the front of stamps, calendars &c. I was snapping right left and centre and have exposed 4 films -64 exposures, all rubbish probably. At Malta again we were besieged by mobs of natives flogging their wares. I bought some rubbish for 10/- a sort of scarf or mats or something - no use but I'll send them home if I can. Tomorrow we call at Tripoli. I'm really glad I came on this now. In fact, I wish it could go on forever, - just for the sake of seeing Gibraltar, Algiers, Malta and Tripoli, places I'd never see in ordinary life. SATURDAY. When I got up, we were anchored about a mile outside Tripoli. We stayed there most of the morning taking on passengers and baggage and putting off ditto. We are two days ahead of schedule and get to Limassol, Cyprus, on Tuesday. The heat is really oppressive today - I can't get cool anyhow. I got a film developed by the ship's photographer, the ones I took at Malta, - not very good. SUNDAY. It was cloudy and cool all day - we even had a shower of rain. I did some washing and hung it on deck to dry. A pair of socks got blown overboard. We have been told to change our currency tomorrow £1 sterling 1000 milos. MONDAY. The last day of the voyage. I canna mind whit happened. TUESDAY. We were steaming along the coast of Cyprus when I got up and after brekker we pulled into Limassol. After much scuttering around we got transferred to launches and taken ashore where we were taken to a reception place. After hanging around there for a few hours, lorries arrived to take us the 16 mile journey to Episkopi. It was a terrific thrill at first, driving along the roads with scenery quite different from anything I'd seen before. About 6 p.m. we got into Episkopi. The camp itself is situated on two sides of a valley which runs down to the Mediterranean. I must try and get a few snaps of the place and send them home. Prices vary from those in the U.K. Things like chocolate, sweets, tattie crisps, tea, tooth paste are dearer, but cars, cameras, watches and lighters are cheaper. The cheapest place in the world for cameras is Aden. A £98 Rollieflex costs £26 there!! And we can easily get them sent here.I know it sounds fantastic but I think I'll get a Leica or a Contaflex. Any advice on 35 millimetre cameras? As for getting them home, it appears you can wangle like this:- You can go home on leave (pay your own fare of course) and take the camera (or watch) with you, promise the Customs man you'll be taking it back when you come back off leave, and leave it at home. Simple! We're living in tents, of course, 7 of us - about 18' x 30' complete with electric light, so that I can still use my electric razor. We are moving into blocks next month, so they say, similar to the ones at Brampton but 8 to a room. We work from 7 to 1 each day. It's sunny, but a bit cool rather like a June' day in Scotland. We are 10 minutes' walk from the sea and I have been dookin' every afternoon so far. I think I'll buy frogman's flippers and masks. I've never swum in anything like it before. The surf's terrific. The waves come towards you about 6 feet above you, pick you right up and wash you up on the shore, - it's really exhilarating. The camp is built on a sort of sandy scrubland and they haven't bothered to clear much of it away. I've never seen so many different kinds of wild flowers about. I wish I was a bit of a botanist. It's got everything, this island. I hope the truce lasts, because you could never see enough of it. Well, on second thoughts, maybe you could in two and a half years. I've found out that I do a full tour (2½ years) then, having less than 3 months to do, go straight out - demobbed. For leave we can go to Palestine, Greece or Turkey, quite easily, also leave centres on the island. The money is a bit confusing at first, but I'm getting used to it. It's Cypriots who serve in the Naafi here and they try to twist you like anything. There are 2 Naafis, a YMCA and about a dozen "Wog Shops" on the camp where you can get literally anything from tape recorders and dressing gowns to motorcars and Andrews Liver Salts. The plumbing isn't quite what you'd call contemporary. We won't go into details but I'm sure you know what I mean. I haven't been to the section yet but I believe it's not up to much. You will note that my address is Joint Air Reconnaissance Intelligence Centre, Middle East, the Middle East department of J.A.R.I.C. United Kingdom, Brampton. There is also a Far East place too, I believe. When the Suez flap was on, the Canberras that took all the photographs flew from Akrotiri, about 10 miles from here and the films developed and printed here, then flown to Benson, Oxford, and taken to Brampton for reprints. When that flap was on, they needed a lot more bods. and I was nearly sent, remember? I'm sending my bank book home. It's an offence to have British money here, so I've sent £6 for you to put in my savings book. If you want to take any lolly out, you have to fill in about 99 forms and send the book to Harrogate first. I'm sure there's a lot to tell you yet, but you get so used to it, it doesn't strike you as being news. More later, Alastair. Sat. 27th April. Dear Mum, Thanks for letter. I see you posted it on the 23rd and I got it on the morning of the 26th which isn't too bad, is it? It's plenty hot here and this isn't even summer yet. We went swimming yesterday and the stones on the beach were too hot to stand on. Unfortunately I'm not getting a tan at all, - just a red peeling neck. They've got Greek classes here which I'm starting on Monday. I'm on guard today which entails walking around a compound with a gun with a bullet up the spout. I've bought some postcards of the island but they don't do justice to the place. Have any of my letters been opened? One of the lads says his folks say his letters have been - probably censored. I saw a comet in the sky last night, first one I've seen. I believe it was seen over Britain too. Another natural phenomenon I've experienced over here is earth tremor. I was lying in bed just about to drop off when I felt my bed shake pretty violeently. I thought it was one of the lads playing a joke but when one of the other blokes yelled out, we twigged it was an earth tremor. Another experience! I can't remember if I told you that the section we work in is half on mobile trailers. A cat has just laid 3 kittens in the corner of the trailer I work in. Everybody is making a terrific fuss of them, of course; you know what day-old kittens are like. All the milk we get is tinned or powdered. The only fresh milk on the island is goat's. At least I've never seen any coos. The goats roam about the fields with bells, just like Swiss cattle, quite a sight and sound. To get down to the beach I was telling you about, one has to descend a 200 ft cliff which extends for about a mile. Further along from where we go there are 3 pairs of eagles, bigger than golden eagles. One of the lads here is a bit of a bird watcher, and he says their wing span is 8 ft. I was watching them through his binoculars, - they look really impressive I must try and get some telephoto shots in the future. This lad has seen them diving for fish too, and says they can carry off a goat nae bather at a'.There are quite good entertainment facilities here - classes in Greek, French, English, maths., opera and ballet club, chess club, music club, jazz club, Scottish country dancing club, a really good library &c. There a 4 Naafies, none of which any respectable person goes to, and a Y.M.C.A. Pay day is every second Thursday and every second Thursday there is a fist and bottle fight in the Naafi Everyone gets canned with the local beer. There's an awful lot of things I want to get. I'm keen on a pair of flippers and underwater mask - there's a lot of diving done around here There is an aqua-lung club but it has a long waiting list. I also want a good mouth organ and a guitar. A Volkswagen is only £455 too!? Hiring cars is easy, - every second chap does it. You can get Chevrolets, Plymouths, Zephyrs, Consuls &c down to a Morris Minor - cost about £2 a day. It's easy to change a U.K. license too. There are hundreds of Cypriots, Greeks, Turks and Africans who work on the camp. The Greek men especially the old ones, wear a very queer garb. I must try and geta photie. The other day 6 of us were on the beach with 6 bottles of lemonade and not an opener. There was an African wandering around so we asked him if he had a bottle opener. He grinned broadly, took the bottles and pulled the tops off with his teeth - just like that! He spoke very little English but informed us he came from Sudan. He was working on the camp married quarters, labouring. He invited us in to his tent for a cup of tea. We politely refused and he shook us all warmly by the hand, and what a grip. He was a real nice lad. No more paper with me. Alastair. Sunday 5th May. It's Sunday night and I think I'll start a letter. It has been another cloudless day, highest temperature 77 deg. according to the wireless. I went for a walk along the cliffs this morning, armed with camera of course. The air was heavy with the scent of the flowers and shrubs, - I've never felt anything like it. Lizards were dashing across my path in their dozens, and twice I saw a chameleon. I saw a butterfly about as big as a speug an' all. There were all sorts of birds soaring and gliding over the sea 400 feet below. I wish I'd had a colour camera, - white cliffs, blue sky, green foreground. I could see chaps swimming way down below and their voices came up clear as anything in the still air. After a lousy dinner we went swimming again. I had a shot of a bloke's goggles and went diving close to the shore. What a variety of fish there were: Even close in. I must get goggles and flippers. I've been doing all my own laundry so far and hate it. No hot water here, by the way. Three of us are thinking of hiring a car and touring the island. I canna mind if I told you but I've started Greek lessons once a week. The class consists of a major in the WRACs - a right bossy pompous fat wifie - you know the type; a 2nd lieut. in the army - ex university type; 2 WAAFs - all 4 immaculately dressed and me in a scruffy shirt, auld breeks and sandshoes. There's no work to do. All day is spent dodging the flight sergeant who is chasing after lads to clean and paint everything that's stationary. I got collared for a job yesterday; I had to empty all the fire buckets of water and fill 'em up with sand, and the ones with sand in I had to empty and fill up with water. Typical RAF. The meals are lousy. The staple diet is bread, and being a very hot and dry climate it goes stale in 5 minutes flat. It gets served up again toasted or fried for breakfast and for pudding at dinner it is disguised as bread-and-butter pudding made up as doughnuts and other weird concoctions - you wouldn't believe the number of ways stale, bread can be dished up Sunday 12th May. It's Sunday today and a very fine day too. All the rest of the lads lie in bed all morning. I canna be doin' wi' fowk that lie in bed when it's fine outside, so I was up and away after breakfast. I went along the cliffs again and down to an out-of-the-way cove. I never cease to marvel at the different kinds of flowers, insects, birds and animals we see here. I didn't have any trunks or towel with me, but I just stripped off and dove in. The water was clear as crystal - dead calm and the surroundings just perfect. After a bit, I came out and lay on a rock and sunbathed for the rest of the morning, just jumping in whiles to cool off. I was late for dinner when I came back so did some washing. My white shirt and towels have come out all blotchy, sort of. They would certainly never pass the legendary "Window Test." Would bleach cure it? I'll need to wash 'em again anyway. Yesterday too I went walking along the cliffs and got swooped down upon by numerous birds about the size of crows only more streamlines.- I must have been near their nesting place. I also saw one of the pair of eagles but was pretty far off. After that I went to visit some old Greco-Roman ruins near here dating back to 800 B.C. - quite wonderful. I must have had too much of the sun this morning. I'm all red and sore. I haven't taken any photos of the countryside here simply because the only way of getting around this place is by car, there being no trains and next to no buses. I've applied for a driving licence here and now sit back and wait. Unfortunately the kittens have died off one by one, or rather disappeared one by one. I think too many folk were coming in and pestering the cat. Three of us went down to Limassol in quest of guitars - no luck incidentally. We hitched it there and back - 12 miles each way. Quite a quaint place. What annoys me is you can't understand everybody jabbering around you. I'll need to learn a bit of the lingo. Every second shop is a tailor's or barber's - never seen so many in my life. Everything you buy the vendor tries to twist you. I've lost quite a bit that way. Do you want any wall tapestries or souvenirs of any kind from here? I could easily send some, but will you have places to put them? I'll send off the things I got in Malta when I can get paper and string. My present to Margot will get her in about a month. When does she leave? Just now the strains of the pipes have come floating across the air. A chap about 50 tents away has got a set. Quite good he is. We are paid every two weeks with the result one finds oneself with alarmingly little at the end of the first week. I've bought a lot of things this week, though pen, diving mask, present for Margot, iron, postal orders for licence and "Linguist" magazine - £7 in all. Everyone is off to the camp picture house. They go every other night. I've never been yet. Wednesday I met a chap here to was at the High School - name of Reid who was in the same mob as Peter Robertson & Co. I had seen him before but couldn't place his face. He was at Aberdeen University same time as Stan's brother. I'll send off the stuff I bought at Malta tomorrow. No more news. Sunday 26th May Thanks for all your letters. Yes, I know I never put dates on letters because sometimes I have then lying around for a week, then folk don't know it. Don't expect this momentous stream of letters to continue for ever, because once I've been around there won't be any more to write about. ~ All told I get about 35/- a week now, but half that goes on drinks. You should get the Maltese mats soon - I sent them last week. On Saturday they ran a coach to Famagusta, that's about 90 miles away on the east coast (we are on the south). We left at 8 a.m. return fare 10/-. The weather was most unco-operative being dull and rainy. There was a strike on in the place, the streets were deserted. The shops were nearly all shut and the place was generally miserable. To crown it all the bus broke down on the way back. Prices there were really reasonable. I saw quite a lot of stuff - junk and souvenirs - I might buy some and send it home. Troops with Sten guns were patrolling the streets. We went to the best hotel called the "Florda" for a coffee and sandwich. That was 5/-. We later partook of eggs & chips and Turkish coffee - real potent but I enjoyed it. There are two extremes in living conditions - dirty sheds and hovels on one hand and massive air- conditioned bungalows in lovely gardens with fountains and goldfish ponds. I've never seen houses like them. I must send some photos home. I'll get my films developed when I've got a developing tank, fixer and bottles etc. I'll start sending home a Cyprus coin every letter just to have when I come home. No more. Alastair. Next Page Back to JARIC Home page JB White and Co., postcard publishers

Built by William Beardmore & Company in 1921, the Cameronia was 578 feet long and 70 feet wide, displacing 16,280 gross ons. She had a service speed of 16 knots. Passenger capacity was 1,785. She was built for the Anchor Line and sailed the Glasgow - New York route. During World War Two she carried troops to the invasions of North Africa, Sicily and Normandy. After the war she took emigrants to Australia. The Ministry of Transport bought her in 1953. She was renamed Empire Clyde and finished her days as a troopship. She was decomissioned in 1957 and broken up in Wales.