Sunday, 20th August, 2023
An interesting day yesterday. Hot and sunny but humid, reaching 27C/81F, which made walking quite uncomfortable. However, it was a notable day for lots of reasons as you will know from yesterday’s Blog. One event absolutely flabbergasted me.
This ‘elderly’ couple who are neither very elderly or ‘officially’ a couple appeared out of the blue at our door. It was late afternoon and most jobs and exercise had been done. We were sitting in the kitchen to watch Man.Utd (lose to Spurs) and have cheese & biscuits with a bottle of red wine. We set off for Gatwick tonight so we thought it was one of our neighbours coming to wish us a good trip.
Pauline opened the door and I could see immediately who it was. They will only mean something to a few of my readers but the ‘old/84 yrs man’s name is John. The lady with him I didn’t know but was introduced as Pat. Of course, because I am subtle, I immediately asked her age. She is 81. Both of them were pupils at my school – when it was Counthill Grammar School – one started in 1951 and the other in 1954.
They met at school and became childhood sweethearts. When they left, John went to Newcastle University to read History and returned to Counthill School as it changed from Grammar to Comprehensive as a History teacher and, subsequently, Head of History. He is a very intelligent man who I really like in spite of the fact that he’s a staunch Methodist. I immediately liked Pat who is bright, sympathetic and gentle. John was clearly very in love with her as a young man but they drifted apart when he was at university and Pat married a farmer and moved away to Preston.
John married his university girlfriend and had a perfectly happy life together raising two, intelligent and well educated children who he dotes on. John still lives in Rochdale. Most of their married life, John’s wife, Dori, suffered ill health and she died about three years ago. To our surprise, John popped up with the tentative news very soon afterwards that he had a ‘friend’ to help him get through his grief. Although I’ve communicated with John particularly to sympathise with his loss, I haven’t seen him for 20 years. Imagine my shock to suddenly find him sitting at my Kitchen table with his new/old love. It was really heart-warming. They looked so relaxed and happy together and I suspect will extend each other’s lives.
We will be in Athens early tomorrow morning with all the hubbub, fragrances and colours that the Greek capital displays. M&K flew back to Florida yesterday and the first thing they did after that long and tiring flight was throw themselves into their new pool which was completed while they were here in Surrey. Must look at BA flights to Florida!
Monday, 21st August, 2023
Left home just after midnight to drive to Gatwick Airport. Normally it takes 90 mins but in the crystal, clear darkness of the empty roads, we did it in an hour. I love night time driving and the stars were really shining. The only danger was from the many badgers which wander across the road at that time.
The carpark is the first hurdle – especially in August. Not many free spaces and certainly not big enough for us. Found one, parked, cases and bags out, car locked … record where to find it in the future. Trundle off to a shuttle bus stop. Everything is delightfully quiet and empty. The joy of being one of the first flights out this morning.
We got a manic, headcase of a taxi driver who gabbled for 40 mins in Greeklish – the blend of Greek & English popular in Greece – about his hard life and how he couldn’t survive without big tips. Checked in to our 5* hotel, the Electra Palace. The suite is delightful and we made ourselves at home. Soon, we were going out to Evgenia – Paradosiako, a no*, roadside taverna, on the edge of a carpark which we’ve used for years and which has a great reputation for homely cooking.
After Lunch, we went back to our hotel, turned the air conditioning to it lowest against the 37C/99F war outside. We went to bed for a couple of hours and rose completely refreshed and raring to go.
I had a lot of walking still to do and we went out as the sun was going down and the moon was rising. The temperature was a claustrophobic 34C/93F down from the mid day peak of 37C/99F as we walked with those others on the traditional volte. All the way round the base of the Acropolis is about 7 miles although it is hard on the feet as you can see. There are little jewellery stalls along the route.
Buskers playing classical guitar, violin and piano line the route along with wonderful little dramatic episodes like the one above. This is a magical, entrancing city which I would so love to show friends round. It has lots of History but also lots of the Present to enjoy.
Today, I have shared experiences with Jason & Dee, our lovely next door neighbours who got home from Skiathos as we left for Athens. I have talked to our friend, Margaret in Marsden, to Julie and to Kevin in Yorkshire and Viv in Oldham.
Tuesday, 22nd August, 2023
Up late this morning. Catching up on sleep. By 8.00 am/6.00 am (UK), it is 32C/91F outside. In our suite, it is freezing because we have the air-con on its lowest setting. Breakfast is always a ‘killer’ on these occasions. Rather more than a glass of orange. Always enjoy it. Always regret it. Got to be done.
The main choice at Breakfast is inside or out. No dispute for me in that heat. Always choose the air-conditioned Breakfast Room. I’ve seen the Acropolis so many times that I don’t need it at Breakfast.
Today would be my Mum’s 100th Birthday. Many people, girls especially, spend time seeing and caring for their mothers as they leave this world. My mum failed to tell me that she was ill although I phoned her twice a week. From my perspective, she booked herself into a hospital and died without giving me the chance to say Goodbye or to comfort her. I had the haunting experience of seeing her kept artificially alive but it felt a heartless experience.
Mum was extremely influential in my life not least because Dad died when I was only 14. She was instrumental in giving me my love of language, of words and reading. She forced me to address ideas and modes of thinking, of politics, philosophy and religion.
She was a very strong and forceful woman whose strength and forcefulness some would say I inherited. She also had much which I rejected. Her unflinching commitment to Roman Catholicism and political and cultural conservatism was total anathema to me. She closed her mind to innovation and resisted technological development. It took a long time to get her to buy a television but, when she did, she loved it. She insisted she didn’t want a refrigerator until I bought her one and then she bought a bigger one. She saw no point in computers and the internet but, when I bought her a computer and got her connected she did at least try admittedly without much success to use it.
Many mothers are soft, gentle people who let their children find their own way in life and support them in the background. My mother was not like that. She wanted a say in my education, my career choice and my girlfriends all of who she rejected as not being good enough for her son. As a trained teacher herself, she definitely wanted a ‘higher’ profession for me and saw training college as a failure.
Because we were both strong people, we argued a lot. As I became increasingly more educated, she struggled to keep up and became increasingly more exasperated. We fell out a lot and our last few years were difficult together. Of course, when people die, we have regrets. Initially, I regretted our separation physical and intellectual but only initially. On reflection, that separation was absolutely necessary for my own development and self respect. Still, others will judge me while I pay my respects to Mum.
Just as I was anticipating this Blog piece, a fascinating article was posted in the Guardian about a Mother who took her own life while her child missed the signs and her passing. Might be worth a read here.
Wednesday, 23rd August, 2023
Had to work really hard to complete my walking last night. Didn’t finish until 10.00 pm by which time it was dark. Started in daylight around 8.00 pm just as the sun was turning into a fiery, orange globe and the Athenians were out gently strolling the neighbourhood …
…. and ended around 10.00 pm in darkness as we walked through a packed Monastiraki Square. Tavernas’ tables spilled out everywhere and Diners clamoured for seats at this most popular hour for Greek Dinner.
We only eat once a day after having Breakfast and we try to do it mid-afternoon. Eating at the conventional Mediterranean time of 10.00 pm means I can’t sleep until 2 or 3 in the morning. It’s alright if I have time to adjust but, on a short stay, I don’t.
Even so, the temperature, as we finished our walk at 10.00 pm, was 34F/93F and it stayed like that through the night. Thank goodness for aircon..
Up early, light breakfast and down to Piraeus to meet old friends. So many years we have been there – first in 1982. We know every metre of the port, every ticket office, every boat, every hydrofoil. I love revisiting people and places, words and faces. It is the height of the season and incredibly busy. on the Metro down from Monastiraki to Piraeus, a man with his family get up at one stop and photographs his team’s stadium.
I said to him, It’s not Old Trafford., as he excitedly photographed the Olympiakos Stadiou. He immediately switched from fluent Greek to broken English. Liverpool, he said. I love Liverpool. We were friends for life and so were his wife and children. They smiled, patted me and helped me with the ticket machine as I got off. He said he would meet me in Anfield. We both knew he wouldn’t but it was a lovely moment.
Piraeus was badly affected by the pall of smoke drifting across Athens on the August Meltemi wind. It smelt of wood smoke and hung like a haze over the sky. Cars were queueing for the F/b Antigone to go to Poros island just as we have done so many times across the years for Sifnos. I told you I like to revisit my past – to touch, taste, smell and feel. It is fundamental to my being and I won’t be denied.
My sister, Ruth, says she is never aware of the past but prefers to embrace the Future. It isn’t true, of course. I even attended her 70th birthday party so she remembered that. As the saying is, For an understanding of the future, look to the past. Experience informs future decisions. I will never let my past go and I will revisit it – sometimes at the least expected moment.
Thursday, 24th August, 2023
Good Morning. Today the Blog is about People …. people I meet, know, like and people I love. I love travelling and meeting new people, I love sitting in foreign places – cafes, restaurants just watching people – but I always have this worry about those I’ve left behind. I have a strange feeling of responsibility for them and distance makes my support so much more difficult. What if they need me?
I have to keep in contact to assure myself of their welfare. Some respond with kindness. Some respond blandly. Some don’t feel able to respond at all. This morning, I made contact in different ways with 25 people. Most replied as they got up. My neighbours responding before setting off for work. Others contacted me directly. Talked to Kevin and JohnR on the phone. It is a lovely thing to do when I am in Athens. Feels even more special. It really touches me. Even my electrician, Eric, has just contacted me from a tented commune in Surrey.
I have no sense of direction in the present but a strong memory of people from the past. I have images stored in my head about the way they look, the way they walk, their smell …. and I see them in crowds wherever I go in the world. If you know me, I have almost certainly seen you – young or old – walking round Thissio at the foot of the Acropolis as my heart missed a beat. People, skin, touch, taste, smell, voice, attitude are the very stuff of life. People of my past, present and future is how I measure existence.
Because I am a people watcher, I try to look into total strangers and imagine what they are thinking. I try to construct their Biography from the looks on their faces. For example, the bouzouki player in the blue shirt in the top photo sits alone for 10 – 12 hours each day playing his music, occasionally speaking to thank passers-by for their contribution. His face is a handsome, kind and noble one that still holds dignity. He sits through temperatures of upper 30Cs day after day, playing alone. No one does that for pleasure. It takes huge effort in duration. That man goes through it because he needs the money.
In just the same way, look at this woman’s face. There is sadness but reluctance to seek pity. She sings beautifully – classical songs to her husband’s classical guitar. They are clearly an educated, middle class couple who have fallen on hard times in a country where there is little, national safety net to support them in their times of need. They are fending for themselves and fighting to provide for themselves by swallowing their pride and busking.
It fills me with sadness as I do the walk each day. Here am I just by good fortune able to indulge myself to my heart’s content, over eat, over drink, not worry about my home or my clothes. I travel the world as much as I like and want for nothing. These are good people who fate has dealt a rough hand.
Friday, 25th August, 2023
Athens is always a buzzing capital city which I have known for 40 years. It would be delightful to show my friends around it … might even make me see it differently. Towards the end of August most years and this year in particular, the city is incredibly full, busy, hot, noisy, exciting. It is nice to have a quiet, sophisticated base from which to go out into the crowds and to which we can retreat when we need some respite.
The Electra Palace Hotel is such a place. It is refined and sophisticated providing luxurious accommodation and facilities with a gym, as well as indoor and and outdoor pools.
As soon as we step out of the hotel doors into the scrum that is Athens, we are assailed, badgered, implored by taverna owners and waiters to go in and try their food, drink – anything they can relieve us of money for. Most experienced people put on a hard face and ignore them. I don’t. They are ordinary people doing their best to make a living. I owe them a polite and sincere response. I say in Greek, No thank you. and they really do appreciate that.
The tourists are enticed in by simplistic, English signs. Next to them are detailed menus in Greek. The language is not difficult to learn and the value is huge. Eat like a tourist or eat like a native. I know which I’d rather do and I would like my friends to do it too.
Today we will eat at Ella Taverna on Ermou Street. The cooking is lovely and our evening meal comes to about €65.00/£55.00 with wine.
Long gone are the days when we are tempted by street food that abounds in Athens streets. In the winter, roast chestnut sellers can we found. In the summer, they become griddled corn cob sellers.
In this very hot weather, they branch out into refreshing pieces of coconut. They look lovely on the barrow although I can’t imagine them being anything other than drying. But, if you want some, Dear Reader, you only have to ask.
Saturday, 26th August, 2023
One of the reasons I love Greece, the Greeks and Athena in particular is that they are all so politically aware. They argue/debate constantly about everything but particularly the government and how they should change it.
It is a social time for enjoyment and self-expression, for discussion with your neighbour and total strangers …. even tourists.
On Thursday evening, a huge, Communist Party (KKE) rally was held in Syndagma – Constitution Square. The riot police lined the entrance to the Parliament building in case they rushed it which they’ve been known to do before.
Last night, young and old attended a rally in the square in 37C/99F of really humid heat to protest about the politician’s mismanaged responses to the wildfire outbreaks. Might seem futile to the outsider who may see it as a force of nature and climate …. until they are told that these fires are not all they seem to be.
Fires usually start on open land with dry grass and/or trees. It happens in the season when people are forbidden to light fires outside for obvious reasons. Of course, these lands are attractive to builders of properties but the regulations designed to protect the environment are strictly controlled. How to get over a law that says you cannot spoil a wooded area with buildings? ….. Just accidentally on purpose start a fire which rips through the area, clears it of trees and leaves it charred and bare. Wait a decent (short) time and then apply for building permission. Problem solved!