Edith Belcher describes one of the usual days during that period in Cyprus, when matters were heating up:
Made appointment for hairdresser and invited the new Mrs Levitt here at four with her little girl. I drove Carolyn and Andrew to school at nine and, at ten o’ clock sharp, the curfew siren began to wail. Jo and I grabbed our purses and drove to school. Traffic in a turmoil and we saw 100, innumerable near accidents. Fifteen minutes isn’t time near enough to clear the city. We got back and I called Toby to check on why the siren. Seems the schools and particularly the gymnasium students, were beginning to demonstrate like crazy, so John Weston slapped on a curfew wisely. On the way home, we stopped at the Larnaca Road Store – still open – to buy food. Place jammed with all those who, like myself, had not bought a week’s supply of food. Toby said it was pure dumb luck that I found a store still open after the curfew sounded. Mrs Gleadell was there doing the same thing.