G e o_s y n_c h r o n i_c i t y

Paphos, Cyprus, July 2007

There's an amazing UN Heritage site at Paphos, containing many excavated Roman buildings with well-preserved mosaic floors, a small amphitheatre, and other delights. Obviously the rich and powerful lived here. The only blot on the experience was a temperature of something near 40 C, with no wind. I made the most of it, and managed to consume 3 ice creams for lunch outside the site after a couple of hours' looking around - no appetite for anything but the coldest stuff.

From this day, the sound of extreme heat - the hottest I can remember having to endure for any length of time outside a sauna - for me will always be the bizarre mechanical buzz of the cicada. Interestingly enough, this large insect spends most of its life (sometimes many years) larvally underground, emerging ONLY in prime number year intervals to enjoy a brief adulthood. Very odd.