The old music school reopens

The old music school, the Philharmonic Hall, in Ano Korakiana is, following major refurbishment, at last open for performances.

1. Next Monday 10 December the hall will be the venue for a musical concert organised by Korakiana's Spyros Samaras Orchestra, mingling astronomy, music and poetry, with songs inspired by the magic of the full starred heavens, and projected images of the night sky. The audience will set out on a musical journey towards the sun, moon, planets and stars*

Songs: Fiori-Anastasia Metallinou 

Piano: Sakis Kontonikolas

Reader: Spyros Chondroyannis

The event is organised by the Upper Band Korakiana "Spyros Samaras"

1. Τη Δευτέρα 10 Δεκεμβρίου 2012 και ώρα: 19:30, στην Αίθουσα Φιλαρμονικής Άνω Κορακιάνας στη Κέρκυρα, παρουσιάζεται μια συλλογή γνωστών τραγουδιών, εμπνευσμένων από τη μαγεία του έναστρου ουρανού. Ο ποιητικός λόγος διαδέχεται τον μουσικό, καθώς εικόνες του νυχτερινού ουρανού προβάλλονται παράλληλα. Μια μουσική παράσταση, όπου συνυπάρχουν και συνομιλούν η Αστρονομία με τη Μουσική και την Ποίηση. Οι θεατές ξεκινούν μια διαδρομή προς τον ήλιο, τη σελήνη, τους πλανήτες και τους αστέρες του ουρανού με οδηγό τη Μουσική. 

τραγούδι: Φιόρη-Αναστασία Μεταλληνού 

πιάνο: Σάκης Κοντονικόλας 

Διαβάζει ο Σπύρος Χονδρογιάννης 

Την εκδήλωση διοργανώνει η Φιλαρμονική Άνω Κορακιάνας "Σπύρος Σαμάρας" 

2. Επίσης, η φιλαρμονική Άνω Κορακιάνας"Σπύρος Σαμάρας" σε συνεργασία με την Αστονομική Εταιρεία Κέρκυρας & την Ιατροχειρουργική Εταιρία Κέρκυρας διοργανώνουν την Κυριακή 9 Δεκεμβρίου 2012 και ώρα 7:30 στην Αίθουσα της Ιατροχειρουργικής Εταιρείας Κέρκυρας (Πλ. Σκαραμανγκά 4 Κέρκυρα) εκδήλωση – ομιλία με τίτλο: "Το άστρο των Χριστουγέννων" και η Αστρονομική ερμηνεία του. 

ομιλήτρια: Φιόρη-Αναστασία Μεταλληνού, Δρ. Αστροφυσικής.

Additionally, Ano Korakiana's Philharmonic Society have collaborated with the Astronomical Society of Corfu and the Corfu Surgical Society to present a talk by Fiore-Anastasia Metallinou, PhD Astrophysics, on 'An Astronomical Interpretation of the Christmas Star', beginning at 7.30pm on 9 December 2012 in the Surgical Society Hall (4 Skaramangka Sq., Corfu).

*<<...τις νύχτες που με σεριγιανούσες στη άλλη άκρη τ΄ ουρανού...>>
Και το σεργιάνι ήταν ονειρικό. Με κυρίαρχο όχημα τις θείες μελωδίες του Χατζιδάκη, και τον ποιητικό λόγο μεγάλων ποιητών (Ρίτσος, Γκάτσος, Λόρκα κλπ.) ταξιδέψαμε, όσοι είχαμε την τύχη να παρευρεθούμε, στους Γαλαξίες και τα Νεφελώματα τ΄ ουρανού, αλλά και της ψυχής και του νου...
Και ήταν αίσθημα φυγής στο άπειρο, αλλά συγχρόνως γνωστό και δικό μας!Το δέος και η ομορφιά του σύμπαντος δεσμευμένο σε εφτά νότες και ένα πεντάγραμμο, όπου πάνω του διέγραφε κυματισμούς η αισθαντική φωνή της κ. Φιόρης Μεταλληνού, αστροφυσικός η ίδια, αποδίδοντας την αρμονία, τη συμμετρία και το μεγαλείο της δημιουργίας, κεντρίζοντας συναισθήματα  θαυμασμού, αλλά και την αδυναμία ερμηνείας της χωρίς τέλος ύπαρξης. Για να αναδειχθεί μοναδικός καταλύτης του Ανεξήγητου η Αγάπη, που μετουσιώνει και ενώνει το αχανές σύμπαν με το αχανές βάθος της ανθρώπινης ψυχής και οδηγεί τον άνθρωπο στη θέωση.
Ο ποιητικός λόγος μεστά δοσμένος από τον κ. Σπύρο Χονδρογιάννη, δημιούργησε με τον αντίστοιχο μουσικό ένα αξιόλογο αισθητικό σύνολο.
Η μουσική συνοδεία του πιάνου, ολοκλήρωσε την αισθητική πανδαισία με τον επιδέξιο κ. Σάκη Κοντονικόλα, ενώ η προβολή εικόνων του σύμπαντος, σε επεξεργασία της κ. Ελβίρας Μεταλληνού, έδινε το μέτρο σύγκρισης της ανθρώπινης δημιουργίας με αυτήν της Φύσης.
Συγχαρητήρια σε όλους!
Σημείωση: Ο μη σωστός προγραμματισμός, εκ μέρους της Φιλαρμονικής, στέρησε σε πολλούς την παρουσία τους στη εκδήλωση...

“…the nights when you took me to the other end of the sky…”
And the journey was like a dream, with the prevailing Holy melodies by Hatzidakis and the poetic words of the great poets (Ritsos, Gatsos, Lorca, etc). We were transported - those who were lucky enough to be present - to the Galaxies and Nebulae of the sky and also of the soul and mind. There was a feeling of a flight towards the infinite yet, at the same time, familiar and part of us. The awe and the beauty of the Universe captured in seven notes and a pentagram with which the sensational voice of Mrs Fiori Metallinou (an astrophysicist herself) not only conveyed the harmony, the symmetry and the grandeur of the Creation, drawing sentiments of admiration, but also the incapability of interpreting this without an end of existence in order to prove a unique catalyst of the unexplained love which changes the substance and joins the vast Universe with the vast depth of the human soul and leads man to Godliness. The poetic interpretation, aptly delivered by Mr Spiros  Hondrogiannis, together with the corresponding musician created a very worthy aesthetic ensemble. The accompaniment of the piano completed the aesthetic ensemble with the adroit Mr Sakis Kontonikolas, while the projection of images of the Universe processed by Mrs Elvira Metallinou offered us a yardstick to compare human creations with those of nature. Congratulations to all.
NOTE :  Due to lack of co-ordination the Philharmonic band was not informed in good time and so many were deprived of seeing and listening to them at this event. (Thanks to Aleko Damaskinos for this translation which reminds me of the frequent impossibility of doing justice to the originals Greek whose meanings often exist only in the language in which they were written)

*** *** ***
We're gathering at Brin Croft. Linda had arrived with Amy and Oliver on Monday. On Thursday my son-in-law Guy arrived near midnight after a tough drive from England, his journey north of Pitlochry trailing at 30mph behind a snow plough.

He drove us into town for a meal and some essential shopping on Friday then he I headed east to the airport, while the others roamed the Eastgate Shopping centre.

We parked in a lay by under the flightpath and watched the twinkling single light of Richard's plane resolve into two headlights and the narrow shape of the Dash turbo-prop as it sunk gently through the darkness onto the runway beyond, turned and taxied back to the small terminal. Richard carried the memorial service sheets he'd designed. We returned to Inverness, dropped them off at William Fraser in readiness for the Saturday afternoon service, and with a mobile call reassembled our bunch and headed back to Brin Croft. At Christina's and James' home, just down the road, more family have arrived - Mum's stepdaughters Fiona and Jenny and a good sample of grandchildren, Joe, Emma and Ben staying there overnight; arriving Saturday morning, my sister Bay and some of her family - Gabe, and Anthony.
Richard's sleeping in mum's - his grandmother's room - where in the evening he showed us the small tortoiseshell woken from winter hibernation that had appeared by his bed, and perched on Amy's hand.

***
From William Mather:

Thanks Simon - all looking good and at least the weather is reasonable today. See you about 2.00

Am I nervous? Only as much as I think I need to be. We've got the prayers, the hymns, the readings, the tributes and the music. I've been practising the poem and the Lesson I'm reading.
Amy goes down to the shop at Invernarnie. On coming back she says
"The lane's a nightmare. Ice over slush!"
I phone Fiona who's dropping round late morning.
"Might be better to park by the shop and walk. Just take care!"
I've lit the stove and cleaned its window. The flames are comforting. We use the regular supply of catalogues Mum enjoyed under our kindling and logs. Now and then I stop and look at these collections of things I nearly want and might need and which might be good presents - snow grippers, krypton torches, a double-sided draught excluder, double ended picture screws, padded lap trays, non-stick knives, a mini-gas cooker (she got me one to make tea on my allotment), handwoven kilims, a map jigsaw 'centred on your home', sunglasses that fit over specs, flashing LED luggage finder 'end baggage claim nightmares for just £17.95...Private Eye doesn't need to parody these. Using the mail preference service I have reduced their flow slightly but we've plenty of firelighters.
*** ***
Chris Holmes, Corfucius, has excelled himsef with this account of the reading of his late mother's will in Corfu town:

OATHING AND SWEARING....For some weeks now ive been trying to pin my attorney down to take me to a notary for swearing an oath that i'm telling the truth about maman's Will being *her* will and not some forgery ive concocted to do my bro out of his rightful mess of potage. Then i send the notarised doc for my bro to sign that he isn't doing the dirty on me, then the pro gets bated and maman's invested quizillions are released and we split it 50/50 and mince around snootile e'er after.
We finally make it to the Notaire's and walk past her office who looks up and waves us to sit down.
Reassuringly dumpy and stern with dismissive expression that I like in my notaries....

*** ***
Message from Dr Spyros Savannis ~ 5 Dec on the AK website:

To Korakianas, their families, the village and its diaspora. In our village for the last three years a group of people have regularly met in the vestry of St Athanasius to discuss issues of common interest (social, village, religion, psychology, culture, etc). Now and then someone proposes a guest to talk on these subjects and discussion follows The group's goals and aspirations are four:
- First, to develop and cultivate our friendship as a group,
- Second, to consider ways we can contribute to the cultural development of our village
- Third, to plan useful interventions in the everyday routines and problems facing our Village
- Fourth, to be involved, as villagers, in any way we can in facing the challenges of the circumstances created by our nation’s tragedy over the last 2 years.
We aren’t a substitute for the village’s statutory bodies. We may be able to assist their work in practical ways. We can also endeavour to ‘freshen’ and update the incontrovertible cultural tradition of our unique village. When everything is in danger of collapse can we not help create something new and valuable? Finally we can aim to communicate with villagers in the diaspora, having them come to the village not just for a few days away, leaving as they came, but using their stay to reconnect with their childhood memories, with the tradition of the village, its history, and especially with the uncertain hopes, fears and promises of their present lifeOur initiative is open to all villagers (and beyond). It is also open to any constructive criticism. We appeal to anyone who is interested not to be cynical or (despite the current crisis) negative. Through perseverance we see our actions sustaining the good name of our village; progressing via shared, unselfish and wholly democratic endeavour.
Spyros Savani - Paediatrician. Contact: takissav@yahoo.gr, 26630-22013 and 6944265667

Γράφει ο/η Σαββανής Σπύρος ~ 05.12.12
Κορακιανίτες και Κορακιανίτισες του Χωριού και της Διασποράς,
Πάνε 3 περίπου χρόνια που στο Χωριό μας υπάρχει μια ομάδα προσώπων, που συναντιέται συχνά στο κελί του Αγίου Αθανασίου και συζητάει θέματα κοινού ενδιαφέροντος (κοινωνικά, του Χωριού, εκκλησιαστικά, ψυχολογικά, πολιτιστικά κλπ). Κατά καιρούς καλεί και κάποιον (αν) ειδικό που αναπτύσσει κάποιο σχετικό με τα παραπάνω θέμα και ακολουθεί συζήτηση.
Στόχοι και φιλοδοξίες αυτής της ομάδας είναι τέσσαρες:
Πρώτον, η ανάπτυξη και καλλιέργεια φιλικών μεταξύ μας σχέσεων
Δεύτερον, η συμβολή μας στην πολιτιστική εξέλιξη του Χωριού μας
Τρίτον, η παρέμβασή μας στην καθημερινότητα του Χωριού μας και τα σχετικά με αυτήν προβλήματα
Τέταρτον, η ενεργοποίησή μας και όσων συγχωριανών θέλουν, μέσα στο καινούργιο περιβάλλον που δημιούργησε στην Πατρίδα μας η τραγωδία των 2 τελευταίων ετών.
Δεν πάμε να υποκαταστήσουμε θεσμοθετημένους φορείς του Χωριού. Πάμε να βοηθήσουμε στο έργο και στην πολιτική που αυτοί χαράζουν και εφαρμόζουν. Πάμε ακόμη να επιχειρήσουμε ένα «φρεσκάρισμα» και επικαιροποίηση της αναμφισβήτητης πολιτιστικής παράδοσης του Χωριού μας και της αναμφίβολής ποιοτικής του φυσιογνωμίας. Πάμε να επιχειρήσουμε μια ΑΝΤΙΣΤΑΣΗ σε μια εποχή που όλα απειλούνται με κατάρρευση, χωρίς να προτείνεται κάτι καινούργιο και αξιόλογο.
Πάμε τέλος, να επιχειρήσουμε μία επικοινωνία με τους Συγχωριανούς της Διασποράς ώστε, σιγά-σιγά, να έρχονται στο Χωριό όχι απλά για να περάσουν λίγες μέρες διαφορετικές και να φύγουν όπως ήλθαν, αλλά και να έλθουν για να ΕΠΙΚΟΙΝΩΝΗΣΟΥΝ με τις παιδικές τους αναμνήσεις, με την παράδοση του Χωριού, με την Ιστορία του και προπάντων με τη δύσκολλη και ευπαθή πλην όμως δυναμική και ελπιδοφόρα ΣΗΜΕΡΙΝΗ ΖΩΗ ΤΟΥ.
Η πρωτοβουλία μας είναι ανοικτή σε κάθε Χωριανό (και όχι μόνο). Είναι επίσης ανοιχτή στην κριτική του κάθε καλόπιστου. Κάνουμε έκκληση στον καθένα που τον ενδιαφέρουμε να μην μας βλέπει δύσπιστα και με (δικαιολογημένη βέβαια από την παρακμή της εποχής μας) αρνητική διάθεση. Το ξαναλέμε: Όραμά μας ΜΟΝΑΔΙΚΟ είναι η επιβεβαίωση του καλού ονόματος του Χωριού μας και.
Στο μέτρο του δυνατού, η παραπέρα πρόοδος και προπβολή του, μέσα από μια ΠΟΙΟΤΙΚΗ, ΑΝΙΔΙΟΤΕΛΗ και ΑΚΡΩΣ ΔΗΜΟΚΡΑΤΙΚΗ προσπάθεια.
Σπύρος Σαββανής – Παιδίατρος
Για επικοινωνία: takissav@yahoo.gr, 26630-22013 και 6944265667

*** *** ***
I am preoccupied with what makes a village - anywhere. It's not an easy question. It's what C.West Churchman call a 'wicked' problem. I follow the plot across the globe where 'village' websites proliferate, a sort of vague antidote to our global hold...recall John Fielden's late wife as we sat in the heather 20 years ago discussing the state of the world while others walked up for grouse on the muir above Mains of Faillie "the end of the world will come when every inch of it is known" - not through nuclear winter, climate change or epidemic, but when it's geography is defined to the inch from pole to pole. The lesser implication of this thought is that places cannot by definition be wholly isolated by their distance from centres of population. The exotic other with its enchantments is melting, dissolving. This may be good for villages; though it does not solve the 'wicked' dimension, or answer the question of what makes a village. Dr Savani's got the point. You have to be self-conscious. Collectively so. ΑΚΡΩΣ ΔΗΜΟΚΡΑΤΙΚΗ. VERY DEMOCRATICALLY.
Among the various institutions of Ano Korakiana, it's Philharmonic Society, its congregations and churches, it's Kafeneion, its medical centre, its Agricultural Association - I call it the Co-op - on National Opposition Street Οδός Εθνικής Αντίστασης that runs fifty metres below Democracy Street....

Άνω Κορακιάνα, 28/11/2012                                                                                          Α.Π.133  ΠΡΟΣΚΛΗΣΗ  Το Διοικητικό Συμβούλιο του Αγροτικού Συνεταιρισμού Άνω Κορακιάνας, έχοντας υπόψη: Α. Την ισχύουσα νομοθεσία Β. Το Καταστατικό του Αγροτικού Συνεταιρισμού και Γ. Την από 29/10/2012 απόφαση του Διοικητικού Συμβουλίου  ΚΑΛΕΙ τα μέλη του Συνεταιρισμού σε Γενική Συνέλευση την Κυριακή 09/12/2012 και ώρα 11.00 π.μ. στην αίθουσα συνελεύσεων του Αγροτικού Συνεταιρισμού, με τα παρακάτω θέματα: 1. Έγκριση Οικονομικού Απολογισμού έτους 2011  2. Έγκριση Προϋπολογισμού έτους 2013   3. Έγκριση τιμολογίου ελαιουργείου (αγώι) περιόδου 2012-2013 4. Θέματα που αφορούν τη λειτουργία Ελαιουργείου 5. Ορισμός ορκωτών ελεγκτών-λογιστών 6. Ανακοινώσεις - Διάφορα Σε περίπτωση μη γενομένης απαρτίας, η Γενική Συνέλευση θα επαναληφθεί την ΚΥΡΙΑΚΗ 16 ΔΕΚΕΜΒΡΙΟΥ 2012, στην αίθουσα συνελεύσεων του Αγροτικού Συνεταιρισμού και ώρα 11.00 π.μ. Ο  Πρόεδρος ΔΣ. ΣΕΒ. ΜΕΤΑΛΛΗΝΟΣ      Ο Γραμματέας ΔΣΓ. ΚΕΝΤΑΡΧΟΣ

Translated: 
Ano Korakiana, 28/11/2012
The Board of Cooperative Rural, Ano Korakiana, under:
A. Applicable Law
B. The Statute of the Agricultural Cooperative, and
C. The decision of 29/10/2012 Board
CALLS
members of the Association to a General Meeting on Sunday 09/12/2012 at 11.00am in the conference room of the Agricultural Association, with the following topics:
1. Approve Economic Report for 2011 budget year
2. Approve 2013
3. Approve invoice mill (action) for the period 2012-2013
4. Discussion concerning the operation of the Olive Mill
5. Appointment of Auditor-accountant
6. Announcement - in the event there is no quorum, the AGM will be repeated on Sunday 16 December 2012, in the conference room of the Agricultural Cooperative at 11.00am

President  BSE. METALLINOS              Board Secretary. G. KENTARCHOS
*** *** ***

John Martin on top of Cape Smokey, Nova Scotia, nearing the end of his 4700 mile ride across Canada

I was so pleased to get this research summary - a short piece in Australia's  LG Manager Nov/Dec 2012 (pp.55-57)- from my friend John Martin who, in September, completed a cycle ride - west to east - across Canada, using his journey as an opportunity to learn more about what made successful sustainable communities, identifying six essential characteristics...1. A sense of purpose and vision, 2. Depth of leadership, 3. Local knowledge, 4. Embedded sustainable thinking, 5. Incentives, 6. Strong networks. I propose that the beloved village of Ano Korakiana stands up well by those criteria.

Morning Simon from Alice Springs. I flew in yesterday afternoon to participate in the Indigenous Employment in Local Govt Roundtable until Wed. It was a special day as the Todd River was flowing. Very rare indeed. They say if you see it once in a lifetime you are lucky! I have still to get to Uluru (Ayres Rock). The closest was sitting next to you when we flew over at 30,000ft en route to Darwin via Alice. Attached is a short article recently published in the LG Managers journal on some observations of Canadian communities. Annie is slowly getting her act together for the editing of the docu...I know what you mean about the veggie garden. I have my small 3x3 metres plot going with pumpkins and tomatoes and it requires attention every day, if only to water in our hot and dry climate. I wish you and your family well over the next period as you celebrate your mother's wonderful life. We hope to get to Scotland one day to see this beautiful part of the world.
I also need to have a chat with you about the scrutiny work. At the LG Financial Professionals Conf in Cairns last week I caught up with a woman who attended the local govt management courses in Canberra three decades ago. She was the president of the LGFP and chairs a number of audit committees in local govt in Vic. I would like you to meet he. I expect you will have similar interests. Maybe a Skype call with us one day soon? Off to breakfast now. Hot here. About 35C today. Have a great day, John

Canadian Odyssey

'We have been on some rough roads, hit some pretty big holes etc but both bikes are standing up to the rigours really well and are comfortable to ride. I am riding a Vivente World Randonneur and John has a Kona Sutra'...my friend John Martin, justly proud of hitting the 7000 kilometre mark on his and his friend Alistair Walker's cycle ride across great Canada in search of what makes rural communities work - or not (scroll down for a map of their route on this page of Democracy Street)

About the study: This summer I will be travelling across Canada, west to east, visiting small rural communities in ten provinces to learn about the ways in which people in these places have adopted sustainable living practices. Like small rural communities across Australia Canadian communities are also dealing with significant change relating to economic, demographic and environmental factors. People in these rural communities typically work together in creative and innovative ways to secure their viability and liveability. I am interested in how they organise themselves to do this, how they relate to other communities in their province and with the Federal Government to ensure a sustainable future. Prof John Martin, University of LaTrobe, Bendigo

Meantime my fellow Corfu blogger hums in print the praises of Ken Block - a celebrated petrol head for whom some benighted agency of government was prepared to give the freedom of the city to make skiddy noises:

Have I shoved this latest Ken Block wheelie freak-out in here, or just in my Facebook which has overtaken my blog for the true test of temperatures and times. The man has crazy skills, and clearly crazy contacts because for whom else would they close the place down. One snotty-nosed kid to sneak out the backyard to see what's going on ... round comes Ken sideways in a cloud of dust ... all they'd find would be a splodge of snot on a pot plant.

Why should anyone steal a watch when he could steal a bicycle? ~ Flann O’Brien  

The bicycle is the most civilised conveyance known to man. Other forms of transport grow daily more nightmarish. Only the bicycle remains pure in heart. ~ Iris Murdoch  

When man invented the bicycle he reached the peak of his attainments. Here was a machine of precision and balance for the convenience of man. And (unlike subsequent inventions for man’s convenience) the more he used it, the fitter his body became. Here, for once, was a product of man’s brain that was entirely beneficial to those who used it, and of no harm or irritation to others. Progress should have stopped when man invented the bicycle. ~ Elizabeth West  

Small mammals

When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race. ~ H.G. Wells 

The bicycle is a vehicle for revolution. It can destroy the tyranny of the automobile as effectively as the printing press brought down despots of flesh and blood. ~ Daniel Behrman

When I go biking, I repeat a mantra of the day’s sensations: bright sun, blue sky, warm breeze, blue jay’s call, ice melting and so on. This helps me transcend the traffic, ignore the clamourings of work, leave all the mind theatres behind and focus on nature instead. I still must abide by the rules of the road, of biking, of gravity. But I am mentally far away from civilisation. The world is breaking someone else’s heart. ~ Diane Ackerman 

… the bicycle is the most efficient machine ever created: Converting calories into gas, a bicycle gets the equivalent of three thousand miles per gallon ~ Bill Strickland, The Quotable Cyclist

Last day of the Tour de France

*** *** ***
On Thursday the Cultivation to Consumption event under pouring rain on the Victoria Jubilee Allotments was lovely.

Chani, Aftab, Chris, Simon, Emma, Danni, Jeevan, Abdul

It began with Aftab wandering around the site collecting vegetables from our sodden plots. I gave cabbage, broad bean, spring onions and potatoes. Nothing to the contributions from the more experienced gardeners like Wesley, Danni, Micheal and Vanley. The cooks were Aftab but also Chani who'd only been recruited at the 'rehearsal' on Wednesday when he'd turned up looking for a plot. As it was he bought an extra cooker, more food, an extra table and his skills.

Food from mine and other's allotments cooked by Aftab on the spot

I'd brought a gazebo from home - a welcome shelter for cooking and eating. Others, turning up in dribs and drabs in the grisly weather, sheltered happily chatting, preparing veg, having tea, and eating in the humble VJA clubhouse. We had three stoves, the extra one bought by Chani to heat oil to fry pakora. alongside the big pot of vegetable curry cooked by Aftab and another burner for the chapatis.

The freshest salad in the world

The rain was unceasing increasing dripping off the edges of the gazebo, bedraggling any who stayed in the open. The sky was greyer than dusk. Everyone helped out digging crops, cleaning and preparing food, cooking and serving it on a steady supply of plastic plates - the young lads from the Bangladeshi Youth Forum in train with Abdul set to with easy enthusiasm peeling, depodding, chopping, helped by Ashok and Jeevan who made up gram flour dough. Amid the gentle bustle and happy fuss things fell in place - an orchestra first dotted with separate tuning, hazards a tune or two and then altogether starts to play. There was food for all; hardly anything left - perhaps some spicy basmati rice at the bottom of one big pot; all else scraped clean, with vegetable preparation trimmings bagged for compost.

Under the gazebo

Aftab and I feel the whole thing went very well, the first of two, with another in the later summer. For this some of Thursday's participants were pushing for a BBQ that could include meat as well as vegetable. One piece of feedback "Get a bigger tent!" Did people learn as we hoped? Difficult to say. Carole from LegacyWM checking on the whole process collected evaluations from the thirty people there.  Our purpose - from the application for the £200 financial support for two events...

...a pilot project in partnership with Victoria Jubilee Allotments and Legacy WM.  The aim is to raise awareness of recycling, composting, growing food and cooking them.  It will work with young people from the Bangladeshi Youth Forum and older people from B'ham Asian Resource Centre to demonstrate what can be done in people’s gardens and how food can be prepared.  We will host two cooking events in the Victoria Jubilee Allotments and raise awareness of the benefits or eating organic food and encourage people to take similar initiatives in their own homes.  It will also look at the negative impact of fast food on health.

I learned and I enjoyed myself. Fixing the learning, working out how far it worked is less clear, but it's the first event other than our very small Diamond Jubilee Picnic held on the Victoria Jubilee since we began in June 2010. I judge it a good start.
*** ***
Amy and Guy and Liz are in the Highlands; the first time my mother has seen Oliver, another great grandson
"Will you get a photo of you with Ollie"
"He's a such a cheery little soul" she said "I've arranged to buy four chickens from Macpherson, down the road - a pair of Light Sussex and Rhode Island Reds. We can collect them when you come up."

Near Milton of Culloden on the Moray Firth

Three bloggers on Greece

There are three blogs in English I rely on for news and thoughts about Corfu, Greece and the world - via them and the hyperlink that can turn one sentence into a tapestry of reference** across which I can roam with the ease of a monkey swinging through the canopy of a rain forest. I’d start with Richard Pine, founder of the Durrell School of Corfu, author among many other things of The Diviner, a major work on the Irish playwright Brian Friel, guest lecturer on campus's around the world, but though the opinion goes unsaid, Richard regards blogging as somewhere on a par with glue sniffing, so we get, instead, regular emails announcing a fascinating, informed op-ed in the Irish Times, (in which even he does not eschew an occasional hyperlink, inserted, I suspect, by an editor in Dublin) and I’m told there’s an unpublishable manuscript on Corfu.
Of the blogs, the least introspective is Teacherdude’s, citizen-journalist Craig Wherlock, based in Thessaloniki, also on Flickr, exploring with camera - un-pressed. His words are from the left; seemingly without dilemmas or historical perspective, but his pictures brilliantly catch contradictions others write about.
A blog of greater economy, Corfu Blues - writer, poet, musician Jim Potts is Philhellene, citizen of an imaginative Greek landscape; seamless elision of classical and modern Greece. enduringly married to a dear and talented Corfiot who's also a writer. Jim’s more perfectly that English invention André Maurois describes – a gentleman - than I; discretely, unashamedly in love, as open-eyed with Maria about Hellenic depravity (her Jeremiad against the corrupting greed of fellow Corfiots) and weakness as Homer, and with the best links to intelligent contemporary analysis – especially his relatives Bagehot and a TV journalist daughter, Nina-Maria.
Most entertaining is Corfucius, musician Chris Holmes (died in Corfu - January 2018)...,

...the uncourtly courtier, son of a war hero, on a perch above Kontokali, apt with a keyboard, does acrobats with grammar as conjurors spice their acts with mistakes, issuing lasciviously illustrated comment on gossip in Britain’s reptile press, reminiscence – un-English revelations about family perfidy - and invention, revelations about sins of lust and alcoholic indulgence cleansed by the Church of England in Corfu, he’s the Greekest of the three, son of an exceptional mother only now gone to her long home, he's silent on anything as tedious as ‘the crisis’, venomous on anything as worthy as housework or gardening (honouring Lin and I with the monicas - Charles and Carrie), a sweet recluse, seductive misanthrope, artful in flattery. How pleasurable it would be to get these three together for a day. Impossible because Potts is likely to be in Dorset while I’m here, or I’m on my allotment in Brum while he and Maria are in Zissimos; Wherlock’s a teacher - too poor to travel, too proud to accept expenses - and Holmes hates company.

**I know I know, human expression has always been able to perform this miracle of resonance, the poet’s auditory imagination, musician’s leit, the painter’s reference in colour and form…but we tap into a level of intra-species communication that Fred Emery and Eric Trist anticipated forty five years ago as ‘a greater mutation than if man had grown a second head’ p.217 ‘The Next Thirty Years: Concepts, Methods and Anticipations’, Human Relations, 1967, 20  

** ** **
I'd been in Gatwick overnight so slept on the Easyjet south, and woke to see blue, aware of islands*, Erikoussa passed below, then the north coast at Sidari, the zig zag road down to Trompetta, then Skripero and Ano Korakiana.

Ano Korakiana - the village north east of a small cloud

Later at Easter lunch in the village, Mark said "We saw you coming over. 'That'll be Simon and Lin!'"
A cup of tea in the house, greetings to Effie, Vasiliki, Natasha and Adoni about to start their Easter lunch, and we strolled up Democracy Street to watch our lamb turning on the spit

The table sat twelve, a mix of Greek and British, both languages mingled, wine and beer and then the food.

Just before lunch

Around five I was being teased for dropping off, sometimes mid-sentence, feeling the effects of little sleep, happy company, food and wine
"Yeah! And being old" said Lin.

After lunch

*A phrase I stole
At my peril
From the poet
Lawrence Durrell

*** ***
On Tuesday we woke just before noon - which stills feels like 10 GMT. There was an email from Charles Webster at Delta:

Hi Simon. I thought you might like to know that we have a signed, sealed and delivered contract with Endemol for the 34 Out of Town episodes. Our copies of the original nine DVDs, formerly from Contender, go into shops from this week and we expect to see sales immediately. I think these will be the only products in the market for at least six months as we work out the best way to sell the “34 missing episodes”. I am delighted that we have done the deal with Endemol and I hope they see the wisdom in sharing their royalties for the “34” episodes with you. Fingers crossed. Now you have the tapes back from the SWFTA perhaps we can look forward to more releases in the future. See you soon. We should celebrate with fish and chips and mugs of tea! (Sound like the Famous Five…..) Regards, Charles

Dear Charles. Wet and grey in Corfu. Thought that might please you (:)) My chief worry about the letter to Cathy M to which she’s not yet replied (18/4/12) was that it might distemper our friendship given I was questioning Endemol’s right to buy and sell the ’recovered' episodes on the grounds Southern TV or its agent had no right to sell them having agreed to sell them to Jack for £1 in lieu of pension. Instead you approved my letter. Furthermore, given present understanding of rights in relation to these tapes you had no obligation to even tell me of your intentions or indeed the progress of your plans to complete a contract for their distribution with Endemol. I don’t call that just good customer relations...Now the tapes and the film from Plymouth (minus Old Country masters which I let David take home to Hythe to look over) are in Birmingham I am waiting royalties on the re-issue to help pay for the transport and storage. These expenses are not that much but I want to keep accounts and could even afford to buy you the next lot of fish and chips (I owe you four of those so that we’re even).
There’s also the simple fact that we must transfer any film and tape we think may match to digital before splicing them, as to do that operation with raw film and tape over 29 years old is just too risky. At present I’m only at the stage of trying to get shelving installed in the store locker so I can take the film cans and tapes out of the boxes in which we transported them and line them up so that possible matches of image and sound can be surmised and a batch of - say - five can be taken somewhere to be digitised and hopefully matched. David Knowles, as you can see on the short video I made of the transfer, knows as much as anyone I know about this material and the challenges of creating workable matches. A lot of it has his writing on it. He is hoping that the letters and numbers on the cans and tape boxes will be good enough to identify potential matches, but given how little they did at SWFTA I am wondering whether he is right. I’ll start on this in June. Congratulations on the whole project of the 9 DVDs...Simon

Hardly dressed we heard the band approaching, marching down Democracy Street and around the village boundaries to finish with sweet bread and wine at St Athanasios.

Easter Monday on Democracy Street

The road was closed to cars, so I cycled down to an appointment a mile below the village with Mark and his brother Paul, to see and touch a 70th birthday present to myself - a new or rather nearly new - well - wonderfully re-conditioned engine for Summersong which Mark had been seeking in the secret workshops of Corfu, relying on word of mouth...and now after nearly a year it was here, looking spic and span with new pipes and belts and all attachments - starter, gear box, alternator - a Yanmar 2GM, about 18hp. At my age I need a reliable engine, and one more powerful than the present ageing 9hp engine in the boat. The regular calms are one problem; the other's getting home in half a gale on the nose.

I’m lucky and wise in my friends. These skilled guys work year round, often, and certainly for the season, six days a week - often at weekends - applying their energy, craft and experience to mending, making, building, maintaining, transporting, checking just about everything – heating and electrical systems, all types of yachts, all kinds of engines, every sort of building. They’re all round grafters who do work, work, and more work, and yet they took the trouble to track down this engine, the means by which in my pension years I and my friends can continue to mess about in boats on the mercurial sea of Kerkyra. I left out other gifts, since it wasn’t immediately my point - knowing how to be friends, playing a full part in preparing food for delicious eating, hunting and fishing, tending stock, looking after the land, studying and knowing the wild things – insects..

One of the wild things on the steps

...plants, chickla, raptors, the lively repertoire of our Greek garden, entertaining, speaking another language, being in and of this village, conversing and drinking and – to embarrass them – sharing their lives with women of equivalent and complimentary art and skill.

Cycling home I bumped into Dr Savannis getting into his car.
"Have you collected sweet bread from the church?" he asked
"No"
He handed me a loaf. Mark had given me two new laid goose eggs from the stables, and I reached into the cycle basket and gave one away.  Later Lefteris arrived next door - back from the church. We embraced and he too gave me sweet bread. So to work, Lin tidying and weeding the garden, while I cleared greenery along the path below that leads to the bus stop. Swallows are all about feeding inches above the ground, bells are ringing, bees exploring despite the wind and wet.

Wesley up the road had made a damper for our stove chimney. Re-installed it's already saving fuel - in this wind you hear the draft slowing with a turn of the small handle mid-way up the pipe

Kindling

*** ***
Key dates in the run up to the next Greek General Election on Sunday 6 May'12

A mug of hot chocolate before I go to bed

Still in Scotland for a few more days. My mother - born 1917 - first made me a hot choc drink before I went to bed when I was about 10 in 1952. Last night's mug means she's been doing this on and off for 56 years. It's 1130 pm and she making me another now, and pressing on me an article I should read ('My god' she mutters) from the FT Weekend (2/3 Aug 08) by Simon Kuper about Seymour Hersch The last great American reporter.

* * *

There's a blogger in Corfu who brightens my days - Corfucius, writer, photographer, musician, linguist and collector of unconsidered trifles about the island and the world, past and present. He doesn't want a link, claims no one reads him. Miss him then, but it's a shame not to catch this well-informed student of Thersites, Voltaire, Falstaff, Dr Johnson and that inventor of flânerie, Baudelaire - before he sails on to Ithaka.