Police Station #3So, I was in Pafos today and thought I might as well give the police station a try and see if I could get the form completed... not that there is any rush now that we have to wait four weeks for the tax office...
I roll up at the police station next to the fire station which I had always thought was the road traffic place... If you sit in KFC opposite you can watch an endless string of cars that park in the bus stop outside the police station while the owner rushes inside with the paperwork and cash to pay a parking or speeding ticket...
Sure enough, inside the signs all over the place direct you to the 'pay your parking ticket' window... I couldn't see anything else that might be to do with firearms or identity certification so I ventured into a random office and explained my predicament...
I don't speak or read Greek which is my bad. Generally speaking you don't have to as almost everywhere signs are presented in Greek and English (even road signs, street names, etc.). The official languages of Cyprus are Greek and Turkish but obviously because of the historic relationship with the Brits we are generally favoured...
A few places have tri-lingual signs but most government offices (and police stations!) have signs only in Greek. However, whenever we have thrown ourselves on the mercy of a random employee they have always been helpful and shown us where we needed to go or often actually stayed with us and lead us through the process... Perhaps this is an indication of how little most of them have to do!
Anyhoo, I digress...
I venture into a random office and say to the policeman (who is working hard on some word-search quiz book) that I have been sent from the 'other police station' to get this form certified... He reads the form and says, "no, not here, you have to go to the other police station!"
Of course, I think he is sending me back to the first one so I say that they sent me here! But no, he says that there is yet another police station behind the police station -I have to walk down the side of this one and round the back to get to it!
Police Station #4Sure enough, around the back of Police station #3 is another police station that I didn't know existed, complete with car park, razor wire, patrol cars, etc. So I see the guy on the gate (who is also bizarrely working on a word search quiz book) and show him my form...
He says, "follow that guy (points) through the gate and through the front door. Go to the right hand end of the building and in the office there..."
So, through the gate, thought the front door, down to the right hand side but there is nothing obvious apart from lots of offices containing people in police uniforms doing very little (but not obviously word search).
So I picked the office containing the most attractive female policewoman,
showed her my form and asked where I should go. She says, "you have to go to the other end of the building"....
Then she says, "have you got your passport?". I say, "no, I have my ID card"... she examines the card and says, "oh, it is an 05 (alien) you really need your passport"...
So she says, "follow me" and leads me through the building to the far (left hand) end where there is a policeman with sergeant stripes (and obviously very important) sitting at a desk. Waiting patiently at the door is the guy that I followed into the building holding a form (I presume bail). She tells me to wait and snatches the form from the guy at the door and places it in front of the sergeant who signs it and returns it to the guy at the door!
She then speaks to him about me and after a while asks if I have my passport. I say, "no" and she asks if I have my 'Yellow Slip' to which I also reply, "no"...
Even though we are in the EU I have to have a 'Yellow Slip' to live here... In order to get the aforementioned 'Yellow Slip' you have to prove that you have the funds to live here and also private health insurance that covers in-patient care... Since we have been here we have had to apply for our 'Alien Card' which was replaced by a 'Pink Slip' which was replaced by the ID card (which expires next year) which was replaced by the 'Yellow Slip' which has been in turn replaced by the 'Permanent Yellow Slip' each of which required vast amounts of admin, photocopying and of course cash payment...
While theoretically as a European we don't have to have a 'Yellow Slip' to be here they make certain things (like transferring a shotgun or getting a Criminal Record Check) impossible without it...
So, we have a bit of a Mexican stand-off and I finally say, "would it be easier if I go home and get my ID card and Passport?". She says, "yes, but we close at 1 (being a Wednesday
)". I say, "okay, but it won't be today as I live in Pissouri (about 30 mins away)".
She says, "Pissouri??? Then you have to go to Pissouri police station - this form (which has my address and ID card number on it!) has to be certified in the town you live in!"
