Islanders

This morning treated myself to a bit of culture at the Fitzwilliam Museum.  An exhibition entitled Islanders displaying artefacts from Cyprus, Crete and Sardinia.

Cyprus is very close to my heart as I lived there up until the invasion in 1974.  And Crete is a favourite island which I visited four times.  Sardinia is unknown to me.

The connection BCE between the islands, Greece, Turkey and the Levant struck me forcefully.  Trading routes for metals wine, olive oil, language written and spoken and the cross-pollination of ideas, cuisine, culture, agricultural practices, craftsmanship brought wealth to the islanders.

My mind also made contrasting parallels with our era AD and Brexit.  Maybe it's a simplistic question - but how come people in BCE understood the benefits of trading with their neighbours.  And yet with all our sophisticated communication and technology a political group and the voting population failed to comprehend that we need our trading neighbours.  

While at the exhibition I had an interesting encounter with a woman who had also lived in Cyprus and even been to my school some years earlier.  We both felt the island had a formative influence on us from the divided communities we'd experienced, the archaeological sites and the spirit and soul of the island.  We both have friends on the island still.  The exhibition triggered my thinking about my friend Terry who has known my family and me since i was a child.

When I arrived home I noticed two missed WhatsApp calls from Terry.  This synchronicity frequently happens between us.  She had some news about an acquaintance and I told her about the exhibition and the artefacts which were found in locations familiar to us.

It was a thought-provoking and enjoyable day.  

Pleasant evening everyone.