Grecian Tales Part III: Brittany

On July 8, 2015February 25, 2016 By Conversations with StrangersIn Travel/vacations2 Comments

I love New Yorkers. I love everything about them from their directness, sense of humour, sass and indignation to the street smarts, non-stop talking and occasional neurosis. They remind me of me.

A trip to Skyros beach followed by a walk into town and some light shopping ended up at an appointed meeting place inside a fastish food type cafe on the main drag.

Brittany appeared. All flowing blue silk dress, boho gold jewellery, tan to perfection, blonde locks glistening. “Oh right, like this is where I ate last week” she imtimated to me, head to one side. “And I swore I wouldn’t do it again – it’s just like kebabs and stuff, and I’m not sure about the feel of this place either.”

It seemed a shame, the Greeks’ sensibility for beauty is inherent in everything they do. And even in this mountain-top remote island town the sophistication and allure of the decor was out of this world. Dusty pink chairs sat alongside green tables under sail like awnings, signposts in Aegean blue for even the most humble hardware store; plump mauve cushions on white bar stools under a starlit sky.

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Grecian Tales Part II: Ship to shore

On July 7, 2015February 25, 2016 By Conversations with StrangersIn Travel/vacationsLeave a comment

Even the Cicadas weren’t up. Hut mate (HM) stirred, opened the mosquito net and shuffled around. “Are you coming? C’mon, you could write about this. Imagine how much fun it’ll be.”

Shorts pulled rapidly on, minutes later I joined her on the bay balcony.

The water was flat and still, the sun barely up, the island we were to row around in the distance.

We joined other carpe diems at the tea station for a briefing. The swimmers were bright eyed and bushy tailed, the rest of us not so.

M said, “I’ve only got two canoes – who’s coming?” I started muttering about how I’d much rather be in the hut listening to the birds and dozing back off to sleep, but before you could say ‘capsizing canoes’ HM and I had our respective hands in the air and there was no turning back.

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Grecian Tales Part I: What happens in Hutland ..

On July 6, 2015February 25, 2016 By Conversations with StrangersIn Travel/vacationsLeave a comment

We’ve been getting to know each other my hutmate (HM) and I think it’s safe to say we’ve reached a stage where all bets are off.

We started cautiously. Furtive dressing and undressing, polite goodnights, thoughtful noiseless awakenings, and the use of a torch or phone after lights out.

It was a challenge keeping up with all the discreet disrobing. “Oh, just so you know, I’m not actually that modest” I ventured to my fellow bamboo shack lover after a particularly difficult morning of contortions. “I went to an all girls school, you sort of get used to walking around naked.”

HM looked at me and paused. “Yes” she said slowly. “I think it’s fine as long as there’s not a lot of, you know, bending over.”

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Greece is the word

On June 30, 2015February 25, 2016 By Conversations with StrangersIn Travel/vacations2 Comments

Two harrier jump jets swooshed by overhead, the roar travelling even faster than they did, swiftly followed by another couple of military looking planes. Was Greece fighting a war I didn’t know about? Maybe I’d missed something in the news – aside from the obvious.

Cicada drills took over again. I placed my wash things next to a basin au plein air as the sound of footsteps on the stairway to this bougainvillea framed bathroom woke me from thoughts of Grecian problems.

M appeared. “I mean, they could save a few quid if they didn’t fly these jets all over the place” I said, by way of a ‘Good Morning.’ “I’m sure it costs about £100,000 to put one of those in the air every time.”
“Hmmm, quite. Did you know Greece has the seventh largest defence budget per capita in the world?” he replied. I didn’t.

We brushed our collective teeth and moved on quietly, as one does in the ablutions area: No one too keen to make actual eye contact just in case discretion is required in this unisex space.

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