Went to a house earlier on this week to watch the very local craft of basket making in action. Sticking out of the south Coast of Cyprus is Akritiri, one of the few Cypriot villages to lie within a British Sovereign Base. Known as the foot of Cyprus, this piece of land used to be an island. It now consists of mainly a very dry salt lake and a British RAF base, but despite living on British soil (British law applies here) this basket weaver and her husband could not speak any English (unusual on Cyprus as it is). She whipped up this basket in about an hour using reeds and grasses from the surrounding wetlands and marshes.
Not suprisingly, the skills are not being passed on to younger generations and the tourists shops are stocking t-shirts and fake designer hand bags instead of supporting local crafts. I think after we left laden down with more baskets than we knew what to do with, she probably went inside and switched on Sky TV.....
