September & October, 2015
by Carolyn Neogi - 22:15 on 04 November 2015
We had a lovely drawn-out Summer, with two weeks in Britanny followed by 6 weeks in Cyprus, meeting up with old and new friends and visiting favourite places.
Among the highlights in France was visiting the dredged Lac de Guérdelan with Carolyn's 60s friends, Joy & Geoffrey, after our regular lunch at the nearby Auberge. Trees and derelict buildings poke out of the reservoir basin which is now covered with gorse-like plants. It is due to be flooded again in November so this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportununity.
Another highlight was attending the Bahá'í Feast in Brest, where a large community of mainly young Bahá'ís has sprung up, most of them students, including 3 newly-wed couples. It was a joy to see them all fully engaged in the various aspects and responsibilities of the Faith. We were joined by a English Baha'í who recently retired to her Britanny home after spending 25 years in Lithuania, who was equally delighted to find this vibrant community just a bus drive away... We also spend a lovely evening with dear Bahá'í friends in Quimperlé and generally relaxed in our little French house and garden, engaging with our neighbours from time to time.
In Cyprus we had a very busy time criss-crossing the Island for a variety of formal and informal activities and catching up with lots of friends - many of them part-time Cyprus residents like ourselves... Chandra came out with us for the first two weeks as he had time on his hands and was disappointed with the English summer this year. After dropping him back at Larnaka Airport we went to find Guildford friends who were there for a wedding and celebrated Fereidoun's birthday, and the following week they came North to stay with us, when we were very happy to show them some of our favourite spots. Carolyn's own departure date then loomed too close so with a bit of tweaking of arrangements back home a flight was re-booked for 7th November.
Whilst in Cyprus we organised a very nice event at the Lefkosa Bahá'i Centre for One World Week, preceeded by the Week of Prayer for World Peace, which the local community were happy to engage with.
Later in that week we attended a performance of Sir Karl Jenkins 'The Peacemakers' at Bellapais Abbey, when the words of Bahá'u'lláh, Mother Teresa, Rumi, Martin Luther King and other luminaries rang out into the night. This was sponsored by the Kyrenia Chamber Choir featuring international musicians of Turkish & Cypriot origin, to raise funds for the SOS Children's Village in Nicosia. Later in our stay we went to another classical Concert at the Church in Karmi/Karaman, a village high above our own, again put on by the ex-pat community to raise funds for the village church and cemetery.
Bibhas is currently working on a Exhibition for the Bahá'í Holy Day celebration at the UN Buffer Zone in Nicosia on 14th November - by which time we'll both be back in Godalming to organise and attend various U.K. Interfaith Week activities and other seasonal events...
Add your comment
Happy Birthday Carolyn! My memory is not as good as it used to be but I think your birthday was in December.
Sounds like you had a very busy and exciting summer. That's one of the perks of living in Europe that you can easily travel to various countries. Please include a visit to our neck of the woods in your adventures. We'd love to have you here.
Please give our love to all the old friends in U.K.
Love,
Azar & Behnam