Sunday, 24th August, 2025
Another week of Life begins. For me it is in the furnace and the bustling optimism of one of Europe’s most interesting capital cities. There is building and rebuilding going on everywhere. Building is a true sign of optimism, of investing capital in the Future.
And yet Greeks are well aware of the importance of their past. They refuse to forget it, to throw it away, to push it out of sight. They embrace ancient and modern with love.
Nothing is impossible. If your building excavation reveals an ancient past as so many do in Athens, there are ways around (or over ) it. In Stadiou Street as in so many others here, the present reveals the past at every turn. And it does not prevent business & commerce. Look at the floor of this well used shop.
I was thinking about past & present last night as we watched a Netflix political thriller – Designated Survivor. It is a substantial serialisation set in the Whitehouse which I’ve been watching for a couple of weeks. You don’t need to know the multi-stranded narrative in detail but last night the President’s wife died in a traffic ‘accident’. I try not to get involved but I am incredibly emotional and I found myself weeping silently in the darkness. A hardworking good man was deprived of the woman he loved.
Bereavement is a horribly difficult and cruel emotion – a state of intense grief after the loss of a loved one; desolation. It is another thing I don’t cope with well. I find it impossible to let go. That person lives on in my head forever almost as if they hadn’t gone. I talk to them as if they are in front of me. I think I know what they would say in certain circumstances and I supply them with the words. Often, for years afterwards, I seek them out in crowds sometime spotting them way off. Yes, Dear Reader, I know. I need locking up. It can’t be far away.
I blame the city. I am not generally a city person. I get lost too easily. It is amazing how lonely it is possible to feel while in a crowd.
Monday, 25th August, 2025
Lovely start to the day as the sun comes up over the hills surrounding Athens. Yesterday we relived all our yesterdays. Walked down through the Plaka to Monastiraki Metro Station to travel down to Piraeus.
As soon as you mix with The Great Unwashed of a city, you really see it in all its stark reality. Hawkers, Beggars, Chancers beseech you from every corner. There is one old man with a huge, shaggy, grey beard holding a placard saying in multiple languages that he has a brain tumour and needs help with medical bills as he holds out a tin of coins. I have seen that man with the same placard and tin every year for the past ten years. He never seems to grow older and his brain tumour clearly hasn’t affected him either.
At the Metro Station, the first challenge is to buy a ticket. Most Greeks don’t bother but we tourists have more of a conscience. Greeks just wait for one of us to open the gates and then rush through behind us for free. The ticket machines are complicated enough in English but in Greek … The ticket offices have gone and it is all self service with payment by card/phone. Ten minutes later and with one ticket bought and another from a kind girl who still had an hour left on her ticket which she didn’t need, we go down to the crowded platform. I tell my wife to keep tight grip of her phone and bag and I hear myself sounding like an old man.
We find an empty carriage but soon realise why. It is disgusting – stinks of stale urine and looks like a hell hole. It takes 15 mins to Piraeus and we choose to stand by the doors all the way. Even in that time, a well dressed, middle aged woman came down the corridor shaking a box lid of coins and begging.
Down at the Port, everything has changed while everything stays the same. We have been travelling by ferry to Greek islands since 1981. In those days, the Port was fringed by the ticket offices selling places on certain sea lines to groups of islands. If you wanted a ticket and could pay, you got a place on the ferry with no head count. In busy Summers, ferries were packed to the point of being dangerous. These days, everything is computerised and ferries have control passenger lists. It is the law. In busy times you can’t just turn up and get a ticket. The sellers offices have been made largely redundant and are disappearing.
The routine would be that you turned up, bought a ticket for the ferry and then sat in a café for an hour or two until the ferry, which itself was often delayed by hours in peak season, turned up. Now, the computerised, pre-booked system means that ferries are on time, passengers already have tickets and don’t need cafes to wait in. They have almost entirely disappeared. People we knew and were friends with have gone. I remember in 1998 the one featured in the photo above was where we took refuge from a hail storm in late March – Easter Holiday trip to Sifnos. Couldn’t believe how cold it was. The once bustling area is now dead.
Being old means you can see these developments from both ends of the telescope. We caught the first ever Blue Star 1 ferry on its first journey from Ancona to Patras. Now that chain of ferries do island runs. Yesterday, a Blue Star was just docking as we arrived.
In 1982, a ferry from Piraeus to Sifnos took us 5hrs 30mins. The slow and noisy chug of the diesel engines went on for ever. You could even pay for a cabin and sleep away the time. Now, you can do that same journey in under 2hrs by taking the Hydrofoil although it is a bit more susceptible to sea conditions and is far less reliable in the Winter.
Tuesday, 26th August, 2025
An early start this morning because we are flying home after 8 delightful days. We don’t actually take off until mid day but there is a lot to do before. At least when we get to the airport there is an Airside Executive Lounge which is a big step forward. The new, Goldair Handling Lounge means we can go through Security early and retreat to the calm of the Lounge.
Yesterday we were out a bit later in the morning to do our 90 mins walk around the base of the Acropolis. By the time we got there bus-loads of tourists were being disgorged by tour guides often leading Cruise Ship audiences around a brief acquaintance with Athens. They will forget it as quickly as they meet it. When my Mother in Law died, we found in her records a cruise she went on which called in at Piraeus/Athens. She had never talked about it although we sent her cards from there for 40 years. We think it was a blink in the eye of a two week cruise and hardly registered. She quickly forgot it and never told us.
We made the customary visit to the Leather Shop in the Plaka this morning. Alternate years, we end up with belts or bags. Unfortunately for the leather shop, this year was belts. What I like about this shop is that it is owned and run by members of the same family who started it in 1936 and the quality is high.
Wednesday, 27th August, 2025
We are back in UK after a really good day yesterday … and you don’t always say that about a travelling day. Everything was packed Monday afternoon with a few exceptions.
We went out to our favourite Taverna for our final meal. Rough & Ready, island style food where we ate freshly baked bread with our current food-fad, Fava. It is an alternative to Houmous and made from yellow split peas puree with onion and garlic, olive oil and capers.
Always amuses me that we walk out of here ..
…. and just 200 metres around the corner, we sit here for our meal.
Roast Chicken with potatoes slow cooked in the oven made the whole meal wonderful. The meal for two with wine cost just £28.00. That’s island style. A similar meal two streets away the night before cost £100.00. That’s tourist style.
The Hotel called a taxi for us at at 9.00 am and we had another wonderful driver. It is one of the best improvements in our travelling history. In 1981, Athens taxi drivers were legendary for going the long way round, over charging, being unpleasant. I suppose it was made worse because that made us nervous and the tension was heightend. We weren’t as affluent and were keen on keeping costs down.
The government has taken charge in recent years. There is a set price from the airport to Athens Centre – €45.00/£39.00 – which should be paid electronically so that their earnings are measured, controlled and taxed. If the driver is good, we pay in cash with a bonus. Recently they have been wonderful. Yesterday, our driver, Dimitris, spent 30 mins navigating the Athens traffic while telling us his life story, all about his family and his love of the history of his city. He even suggested we might stop off for coffee en route. Lovely man but we declined. Still, we paid him €60.00/£52.00 so quite a good bonus.
Athens airport was busy even at 10.00 am because the Greek holidays were coming to an end and many were returning. Even so, we sailed through Security and up to the Lounge for an hour’s peace and quiet before going down to Gate. I love the efficiency and reliability of Easyjet. We took off on time again and 3hrs 35 mins later after a comfortable and quiet flight, we landed smoothly at Gatwick.
The airport was virtually empty. The E-Gates for passport checking were totally deserted. It was as if the whole place had been forcibly evacuated. Anyway, with no luggage to collect, we were on a shuttle bus to the Long Stay Carpark in minutes and soon driving home. It’s always nice to be in control after sitting in a plane for hours.
Back home, the garden had survived the hot, dry week. The tomatoes were ripe and ready for picking. The Basil had grown hedge-like. The flowers had survived and I set about watering them. A bottle of champagne to toast the end of another successful Athens trip and to look forward to a trip to France, another to Northern England and then a month in Tenerife. I cooked for once – prawn & pea rissotto. It’s one of the few things I do well and it was enjoyable to cook and eat.
Thursday, 28th August, 2025
The Summer is closing down. The Autumn is shuffling in. The kids go back to school next week. And it is raining at last. I go out into the garden first thing in the morning and before Breakfast to deadhead the flowers, to encourage them to keep going a bit longer. I’ve noticed that they feel chilled as if the night time is telling them to wrap up. Even the village magazine is turning its thoughts to John Keats’ Autumn and a Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness.
Thoughts are turning to clearing up and closing down the beds and pots for the Winter. I’ve ordered a new sweeper and rejuvenator for the lawn carpet. It sweeps the detritus that gathers and raises the pile which walking and weather has flattened over the year.
The are two things I’ve noticed over the last couple of years. Firstly, we no longer see birds (Duh!) and secondly, lots of weeds find it the perfect environment to see and grow in. I should have anticipated the hydroponic effect. Pulling them out is quite difficult so we have to spray our false grass with weedkiller. These brushes should restore the original condition.
As the weather gets cooler and the days get shorter, my mind is turning to buying more sunshine and warmth. I’m determined to book a month next Summer in the Spanish property we rented this year. I’m so pleased I have a month of Canarian sunshine to look forward to this Winter.
Before that I have a lot of painting of roundabouts to do. The people of Sussex have already started.
Friday, 29th August, 2025
Just 3 days left of August 2025. Went to bed feeling quite sad at the disappearing year. Heavy rain over night much needed by the ground but it isn’t the changing weather – We can always mitigate that by buying sunshine. – but the loss of time. We can’t buy time.
This morning, after the rain had stopped, I slotted my walk in expecting more rain but the weather has just got warmer and sunnier as the day has developed. I’ve exchanged correspondence with the Manager of the hotel we stayed in in Athens.
We have stayed in 4 of the 6 hotels in the Electra Group but the Electra Palace Athens is our favourite for lots of reasons not least because the children’s author, Nina Bawden and her husband, the Head of BBC World Service, stayed there as they were building their home in Greece. Must try the Electra Palace Rhodes for a Winter Sun trip. Only ever called into the island of Rhodes en route to the island of Symi years go.
I’ve also been writing to my boyhood friend, Jonathan, who has lived in Boston, Massachusetts since 1968. He was always mad keen on sailing so he is in a good place for that. I certainly didn’t rise to the challenge. We spent much of our teenage years together and I’ve always intended to visit him but never got round to it. Another trip on my Before-I-Die List.
Loved this article in The Times this morning. It chimes so well with my (unreasonable) frustration. How often, at the age of 74, do I get frustrated with ‘old people’ crawling around completely unaware of those around them in the supermarket or an ‘old’ driver doing half the sppeed limit or someone suggesting they are far too old to use a smartphone or a computer. Often, I think they are probably younger than me. I try to stay up to date, physically fit, quick thinking and moving. So maybe I fit into this study’s findings. Where do you fit, Dear Reader?
Saturday, 30th August, 2025
A day of sunshine and showers – and a move towards Autumn. We haven’t got above 22C/70F today and the grass felt cold this morning. My next trip is the North of England so I wouldn’t expect to feel a lot of warmth there ….. unless it is the warmth of human kindness.
I finished yesterday’s Blog by saying I try to stay up todate and, at 5.00 am this morning, I was listening to reports of an AI Conference in America. Almost every aspect of our lives generates or uses data. From the phones in our pockets and the entertainment we stream online to the energy we consume in our homes, the data we help to produce is growing exponentially. So too is the ability to analyse it.
When used effectively, data can provide insights that can be used to improve healthcare, spot disease outbreaks or discover new treatments. It can be used to make journeys on our roads more efficient and can help manage critical infrastructure such as the energy network.
The vast data sets now available have also helped with the development of a form of artificial intelligence known as machine learning. These computer systems learn from data, examples and through experience rather than having to be pre-programmed to carry out complex tasks. Many of us now interact with a form of artificial intelligence every day through search engines, social media and voice recognition software. As the field develops, it is likely to percolate into our lives in ever more surprising ways
I’ve been using Artificial Intelligence for more than 20 years. Nice to see the world is catching up. Twenty years ago, I was writing online learning and testing programs. Essentially, they use artificial intelligence in their construction. We all use AI in our Google searches. I use AI in manipulating photographs. Look at this original photo of Becky on the left. The background distracts from her image so I asked my AI companion – Copilot which comes with Microsoft’s 365 Software – to soften the background out and warm the image overall. I think you’d agree, the result is quite wonderful.
My car uses AI in its sat.nav., intelligent driving aids, etc.. Our Washing Machine, Tumble Dryer and Dishwsher use AI in deciding for idiots like me which program to use. Even my Alexa Smartspeaker uses AI to select the right startup radio program for me in the morning and draws the day’s items from my calendar to announce; draws down the correct weather site to tell me how the day will go and remembers which podcasts I like to listen to.
Not sure AI could improve on these photos though. M returned to Florida yesterday but she took her dog with her. That meant going on a private jet from Luton to New Jersey stopping off in Newfoundland to refuel. She clearly can’t decide what to do first in Newfoundland. It’s a dog’s life, isn’t it.