Memoirs of GD Fell

In January 1958, Margaret found out that she was pregnant. We were due to return to the UK in February and opted to come back by sea rather than air so that we could make a holiday of the journey. There was just one small problem however that had to be solved. Kerry, what do we do with her? I believed that the overseas list was very short so we could be in the UK for only a very short period of time and then we would be back in Cyprus. If we take Kerry back to the UK it would mean her being in quarantine kennels for six months in the UK, and then six months quarantine when we came back to Cyprus. Our friends Eric and Veena had got an extension of their tour for another 3 years and offered to look after Kerry until we came back to Cyprus, so we thought at the time that this was the best solution.

We were booked on the MV Cavallo, which was a cargo ship carrying a maximum of 12 passengers. A couple of days before we embarked on the Cavallo, we moved out of our quarter at Ayios Nikolaos and went into the King George Hotel in Famagusta. While we were in there we went to settle our last bill with Paralimnitis and, after we’d paid the bill, Tassos gave Margaret a big box of chocolates, and the boys a jar of sweets each … “for the journey”. As we were going back to the UK, with no guarantee of coming back to Cyprus, I thought it was a very nice gesture on his part.

MV Cavallo

Also on the MV Cavallo were one of my colleagues, Andy Plowman and his wife, Betty. The other passengers were the Cassidy family consisting of husband, wife and two girls. There was also a single chap, who was engaged to a Cypriot girl.

When Winnie Denton found out that we were going back by sea, she asked if I would take a fishing rod to Carlisle for her father. I said that I would and took it aboard in a box about 6 feet by 6 inches by 6 inches. The box was put in a corner of a wardrobe, and promptly forgotten.