Lethe

In the beginning of his fifth book of “Histories” (named ”Terpsichore” by the Alexandrians), the great Herodotus describes the customs of the various tribes of Thrace. He mentions, among others, the tribe of Trauses, who lived in the southern slopes of Mount Rhodopi in today’s northern Greece. They have a curious custom: When a baby [...]

Gossip

In the middle of the winter, the spring again. After a second cold spell with freezing winds which brought the temperature down to around 2-3 degrees centigrade in the night, the wind drops and the next day the sun shines and warms up everything to a point of exaggeration. The island is totally green with [...]

Ouzoposia

Yesterday morning, Brigitte rang.
“Are you feeling better?” I asked. She had cancelled an evening out before because she got sunstroke and she was feeling miserable because Mike is now here spending his August holidays with her.
“Much better. We are going with Mike to a photography exhibition this evening. Would you like to come? We could [...]

A Night out with Brigitte in August

As agreed the previous afternoon, we set out to Hora to study the full moon in relation to Tom’s next installation project. Brigitte was waiting in front of her house dressed in black, wearing sandals but no bandanna. She insisted that we take her old jeep, “as it is such fun to drive in an [...]

Winter Tale

It is six o’clock in the afternoon, the sun is setting and the moon, almost full, is already high in the sky. These are not the full moons of the summer. They must rise in midday. Today, anyway, it would have been impossible to see anything because there has been an incessant rainstorm with gale [...]

February Blues

Computers are so predictable! I sent you the same Valentine card you sent to your mother. The only consolation with these machines is that through e-mail we are geared to writing letters again, something almost démodé with the modern telecom technology. But think of the literature that correspondence has created since the ancient times! We [...]

arrival

Have just finished a plate of magnificent grapes I brought from Athens. It is the first day that the sun has come out since I arrived here but it is blowing a gale, south westerly, the boats are not sailing and the locals say its force 9 gusting to 10. Apparently it will turn to [...]