MICHALIS GEORGHIOU

11 November 1923 - 13 February 2006

I was born in the village of Astromeritis on 11 November 1923.  The village is near Morphou and Pendayia.
During the war, I was lucky enough to be hired by the British NAAFI as a truck driver to deliver food to their forces. I was one of the few Cypriots to be able to drive in those days. I had a truck with my great friend Andreas Efstathiou. We are talking about 1943 and I was 20 years old. The money was good too, even though it was only a little, it helped my parents and five brothers and sisters.
After the war, I became a chauffer to the famous Dr. Rose, of the hospital in Pendayia. He was a great kind man and very well respected in the whole area. It was in Pendayia that I met my beautiful future wife, Maroulla Koudounari. She was only 18 years old and I was 30 years old, but we were so in love. We soon had our only child George. The nurse couldn’t believe the amount of hair he had when he was born. She showed him all around the hospital!
My brother Solomon had already gone to England in 1950 and I followed him in 1955 but without the family. I was on the ship called Masapea and I and others left from Limassol. My brother-in-law Chris, who was already here in England, met me at Victoria Station just like all the other Cypriots who were being met by their friends and relatives.
I couldn’t believe the journey I had. I saw big cities, cars everywhere, trains and so many people. I remember thinking how many green fields and trees there were.
For work I was very lucky because a good friend from Atromeritis, Leonidas Panayides had a restaurant in Kingston, the Majestic. I used to wash the dishes and clean the kitchens, but was not a waiter as my English was not that good. Leonidas gave all the Cypriots jobs and somewhere to sleep until we found our feet. He was a great friend.
The following year my wife and son arrived. We stayed first in a flat in Angel Islington. Every weekend we would shop in ‘marketa tou Angel’. There were so many Cypriots there; it was like being back in Cyprus. You would bump into friends that had just arrived in England and we would say “are you here too”? Soon after we all moved into a house in Camberwell owned by Dakis, my brother-in-law. Chris was there and so was Anna my wife’s sister. Then we moved to a flat in a big house in Camden Town that was owned by Angela Skapouli. My wife, son and I only had one room to live. We had to share the bathroom and kitchen with at least 10 other Cypriots. You got used to living like that. When we went to live Camden Town I bought a Consul Cortina car. On my first day driving on English roads, there were so many cars, street signs and drivers shouting at me that I got so frightened I was nearly crying. Yes it’s true!
My brother Solomon fell in love with Jean an English girl from Harrow. They had a son Chris and they left England to go to New York. We had an uncle there who was very wealthy and lived in the famous area of Astoria. We heard so many stories about Astoria, we thought that everyone there was very rich and lived in palaces.
By 1958, I was working for Wall's Meat Factory in Park Royal with my two brother-in-laws. It was there that I learnt how to cut meat. It proved very useful when I became a chef in later life, in Torquay and then Manchester.
My wife all this time worked in the Greek dress factories. We both worked hard and saved as much as we could.
We had many friends and relatives here from Astromeritis and Pendayia. We would all be in each other’s houses, christen each other’s children and go for seaside trips to Brighton. My sister Panayiota and her husband Antonis lived there, so it was like a second home. How I miss those times.
By 1962 my wife had saved enough to buy a three-bedroom house in Durham Road, East Finchley. We bought it for three and half thousand pounds. It was a big occasion for us and we were so happy. We were one of only five Cypriot families in East Finchley. Can you believe that when there are so many Cypriots living here now.
When I'm gone, I have told my son to take me back to Astromeritis to be buried because I want to sleep under the Cypriot sun.