In writing about Larnaca yesterday I mentioned ‘noisy metal workshops under ancient arches’. It may seem strange to highlight this when I said nothing about more important sights, like Finikoudes Beach, the Catacomb of Phaneromeni Church and Hala Sultan Tekke (Mosque of Umm Haram), but in terms of the ‘colour’ of the city, the sense of place, that detail stayed with me. Perhaps that’s because it’s about difference, an element of the way people led their lives there and the display of way a city works, an openness that has long disappeared from Britain. It’s not only a factor of time, but one of culture too, a reflection of the open air Mediterranean way of life. A carcass in a butcher’s shop was another example of the difference, in this case it is more a matter of time – ranks of dressed carcasses were displayed proudly outside British butcher’s shops well into the 20th Century, but have now disappeared, which may be a good thing. Metal work and in your face butchery may have now gone from Larnaca too – it was 29 years ago.