A Business
Proposal of Marriage
by Jilliana
Ranicar-Breese
I was working at The Sunday
Times in London and went around with a Cypriot
Greek girl called Elena. It was the first time I
had any Cypriot connections and was thrilled when
I was invited with her to a wedding in Camden
Town the Greek area. I recall the guests pinning
money onto the bride's wedding dress and people
dancing after copious plates of food had been
eaten.
Not long after I was on the
underground going somewhere when an elderly
gentleman started to talk to me with a strong
foreign accent. He was from Limassol Cyprus.
Excitedly I told him about my friend and the
enchanting wedding. One day I said I would go
back telling him that I had in fact been there
for the day with Epotiki lines en route to Haifa
a few years earlier.
I was surprised when he
asked for my name and address. When he saw my
Jewish surname thoughts must have come into his
opportunist mind. Not long after I received an
aero gramme from him telling me that he had
spoken to an elderly David Davide, a Jewish
businessman in Limassol who wanted to meet me in
the flesh. He wanted my photo which he promised
to return, would like to invite me to stay for a
week to get to know me (no mention of sending an
airline ticket) .
As he was 70 I would be on
an allowance of £X a month and in the event of
his demise after one year, an allowance of £X
thousand. Obviously the marriage broker I had met
would be on a commission. I didn't understand
these matters and thought it all a big joke. I
put the letter away and kept it for years
bringing it out from time to time for a laugh.
I never replied. Never went
to Cyprus and today wonder how I would have
handled this proposal differently.
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