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

Out of Town

'Here, long after I'd left home, is my stepfather on set, relaxed in the 'shed' he invented for the programme, a yoke of studio lights reflected in his glasses...

Jack Hargreaves ~ Out of Town 

...Growing up with Jack I spent a lot of the time we weren't out of doors, in a shed - watching him, sometimes helping him, always listening. It was a comfortable space suffused with the aroma of Gallaghers Honeydew and a bench rather than a desk next to tool racks and an accumulating plethora of useful odds and ends that would have cluttered a studio.'
I've just prepared this paragraph as a comment on a Southern Television studio photo in family files taken, I suspect, in 1980 when Jack must have been touching 70, about to leave the company, knowing it was almost certain to lose its franchise in the latest round of ITV bidding. I'm working with Ian Gilcrist at Delta who are preparing some images and texts to go with their release of 34 original Out of Town broadcasts.

These are as far as we know the only complete episodes of Jack's Out of Town programme that survive. The set that Charles Webster of Delta, who I've been working with over the last three years, plans to release later in the year. His 'box' will include an account from me of the search for this material and one from Simon Winter of Kaleidoscope of the extraordinary mix of luck and wisdom that unearthed them, with a short accompanying website, in which my stepfather's portrait will feature.

1951 ~ Gallagher's Golden Honeydew

I probably know as well as anyone how accurately Out of Town transferred my childhood to the tele’. In that posed studio photo he sits at a desk with the Falcon pipe he’d draw on through count-down - a concession to indoor smoking that even as early as 1980 had to be negotiated. He’d rest the pipe gently on the desk as he went on air, relighting it with the credits.  There was in the end surprisingly little difference between Jack’s carefully devised set and the shed next to our house; little difference between Jack Hargreaves as a natural on TV and Jack in a real shed being a dad to die for. He chatted as he worked. I was endlessly entertained, understanding, years later, why he sub-titled his book - Out of Town - ‘a life relived on television’. I'm sure that was because of, rather than despite, the artifice. Never am I so reminded of the fancy that we invent our lives, or at least our biographies.

*** ***
I don't wish recession on anyone but this is nectar:

ATHENS, Aug 8 (Reuters) - Greece's dire economic plight has forced thousands of businesses to close, thrown one in five out of work and eroded the living standards of millions. But for bicycle-maker Giorgos Vogiatzis, it's not all bad news. The crisis has put cash-strapped Greeks on their bikes - once snubbed as a sign of poverty or just plain risky - and Greek manufacturers are shifting into fast gear. The high cost of road tax, fuel and repairs is forcing Greeks to ditch their cars in huge numbers. According to the government's statistics office, the number of cars on Greek roads declined by more than 40 percent in each of the last two years. Meanwhile, more than 200,000 bikes were sold in 2011, up about a quarter from the previous year. Shops selling bicycles, and equipment ranging from helmets to knee pads, are spreading fast across the capital, popping up even between souvenir shops on the cobbled pedestrian streets of the touristy Plaka district. "They're sprouting up like mushrooms," said Vogiatzis, who designs and builds tailor-made bicycles in his workshop on the Aegean island of Rhodes....

*** *** ***
To my delight the chickens have arrived. Four healthy looking two year old hens. Two Suffolk Lights and two Rhode Island Reds. They were delivered to their run and coop on one side of Brin Croft at 7.45 Wednesday morning...

...kept in there for 24 hours. Friday afternoon three are out on the grass basking in  unaccustomed sun, wings outstretched, and Blanche seems to be broody in the laying box. "I doubt we'll have any eggs for a while. They need to settle in" said my mother, who sees them first on my computer...

...and names them, Blanche, Edith, Rhoda and Gladys - Edith the Suffolk with black speckles on her cape, and Rhoda, the Rhode Island with darker feathers on her back. I bought back a large bag of laying pellets and a water feeder from Harbros on Harbour Road in Inverness.The doctor and nurses have been dropping in, courtesy of the NHS to check on Mum who's not feeling so good. The arrival of hens and relatives cheering her up a little. Her grandson, my sister Bay's son, Antony, has taken a house in Tomatin for a week and is there with that side of the family. I've been ferrying Bay over the 14 miles to Inverarnie to check on our mum and confer with Sharon, her wonderful carer, and calm collected Doctor Sweeney who's mother's also in her 90s. Bay got our mother to a window to have a first gaze at her new chckens...

...and  my great niece came round with her mum keen to try feeding them...

Sydney with her grandma and the chickens

** ** ** **
I've been taking walks in jocund grazings playground for hundreds of small butterflies - Scotch Argus - myriad small insects, bees large and small, tiny moths fluttering between storks amid the rich greenery along the silvery Farnack...

The Farnack

...heading above this pleasant Highland bocage, on above the forestry line to scan the Strath in all its beauty - a panorama on these clear days to Ben Wyvis in Easter Ross beyond the Moray Firth winding away to Cromarty until it disappears beyond my middle ground, eastern slopes of serried pine, leading south to my point of reference - Brin Rock.

Time travel, like riding a bicycle the first time or skipping, is a mix of chance and craft. My daily biography runs to random slides amid the sounds of the moment; no track for smell. Dipping my nose into a flower, a patch of greenest sphagnum, rotting leaves, an errant pine branch, a handful of long wet grass to hold a living fish going back where it came, broken earth; I flick through a worm hole - momentarily effulgent with joy; sometimes its opposite stench, equally evocative. Possession is immeasurably brief, far outside conscious attention, an elusive sense animating the images and sounds, even the tastes, of lost times - του χαμένου χρόνου. How we mock noses, the part that resists all but teasing poetry. Yet the terriers, all dogs, share an environment of smells and taste. With their wet noses and little lolling tongues they survey and map the walks we take.

*** *** ***
À la recherche ... in Ano Korakiana

A swimming expedition of Korakianers to Dassia - before the they built the big road along the shore

"Η μυρωδιά της τηγανητής μελιτζάνας και πιπεριάς καθώς και η φρέσκια σάλτσα ντομάτας μου θυμίζουν έντονα τα καλοκαιρινά μας μπάνια όταν ήμασταν παιδιά! Από τα χαράματα με ξύπναγαν οι μυρωδιές που προανέφερα. Ήταν η μέρα που θα οδεύαμε προς Δασιά μεριά. Αρκετή η απόσταση όταν την κάνεις πεζή. Όσοι είχαν γαϊδουράκι ήταν τυχεροί. Εμείς δεν είχαμε! Ξεκίναγε η συντροφιά με τα φαγώσιμα κρεμασμένα στα ''σκαρβέκια ''του γαϊδάρου...

The smell of fried aubergines and peppers as well as the smell of fresh tomato sauce reminds me intensely of our summer bathing when we were children. These smells awoke us from daybreak. It was the day we were going to travel to the seashore at Dasia - a considerable distance on foot. Those who had a donkey were lucky. We didn't. Our group set off with the picnic food hanging from the wooden parts - σκαρβέκια - of the Jenny's saddle..."

*** ***
I thought this interesting - from John and Alistair cycling across Canada right now. Looking at what makes a community work -

John and Alistair in Tatamagouche

Sustainability and the Entrepreneurial Spirit: It is the most obvious thing that is missing in communities that are stagnant or in decline. In these places no one is able to refer to any one individual or a group of passionate and committed citizens who are taking action....Business entrepreneurs are the cornerstone of successful small communities. It may not take many, just a handful working on their own business. Together they recognise the efforts of others who also take this risk and they form an important cohort in the community around which others will follow to build a sense of place...
...and another cycle odyssey with a purpose - described in The Carbon Cycle. In 2006 Kate Rawles cycled 4500 miles from Texas to Alaska, following the spine of the Rocky Mountains conversing with people she met about climate change – from truck drivers to the Mayor of Albuquerque – to find out what they knew about it, whether they cared, and if they did, what they thought they could do. I've bought the book...and extract from Kate's blog. I like the fine grain, the small things, the ubiquity of unique individuals, talents I'll never encounter, the amount I miss in the wider world:

25th june '06...wonderful couple of days. great evening at neighbours' yesterday. when we arrived at john and anne's, just us and them. i was imagining a sit-down formal dinner. then another couple arrived, then a car-load, then another. cars kept arriving. soon the house was full of three generations, wandering inside and out, drinking beers, cokes and margheritas. i spoke with a geologist specialising in hazardous waste retraining as a nurse specialising in anaesthesia. (an anaesthetist with a geological time-frame, what a thought! let me put you to sleep for a hundred thousand years....).   his view on global warming was a) climates have always been in flux and this is just another flux and b) in any case talking about global warming isn't a good way to get people to act differently. it's too big and distant. focussing on the geo-political situation and the desirability of energy independance would be much more effective. i spoke with a solar astrophysicist who'd been studying the sun's output since 1970. we can't blame the sun's output for global warming anymore, he said. it's now certain that the output has been constant for the last 30 odd years. and yes, i certainly believe global warming is happening. i spoke with anne who showed me her little black and white cat panda's two kittens and told me a bear had eaten all their chickens bar one last night - and had a go at the hummingbird feeder. (bears? already? goodness!). best of all i spoke with heidi. small and slender, skin tight jeans, beautiful boots, pink and white shirt and white cowboy hat over a long pale plait, large blue eyes with a calm, grounded sort of look. heidi has a very large ranch in utah. in the summer she rides the ranch checking on cattle and fences, sleeping out for five or six nights at a time and then coming back for an occasional bath before setting out again. a real cowgirl (cowperson?!) - and a grandma! what an inspiration. (being a cowgirl is a long-standing fantasy of mine, tho its never sat entirely easily with being a vegetarian). we talked about arabs versus quarter horses (she uses quarter horses), how travelling in an rv cuts you off from so much of what you are travelling through, and how useful dogs are. "they make for lazy cowboys but take the pressure off the horses. they're about 5% useful: most of the time the cattle are chasing the dogs rather than the other way around." tom and rosalind told me later how heidi on form was an extraordinary dancer, known, amongst other things, for tap-dancing on tables and throwing truly wild parties which people would cross states to get to. and she invited me to come and visit! oh my. somehow i must find a way to make that happen.

****** ** ******
I've only just read Richard Pine's latest Letter from Greece in the Irish Times of 3 August 'Living with bribery and tax evasion as normal as the azure sky'...

I plead guilty. Last month I colluded in tax evasion and paid a bribe. I was buying stationery costing €105. The shopkeeper asked if I wanted a receipt. No thanks. “Then that will be €90 – cash, of course.” Of course. I saved €15 and he avoided paying VAT. Collusion. Everyone does it...Meanwhile, the coalition government in place since late June appears to be doing nothing except mouthing empty rhetoric about the need for reform and renegotiation of the bailout. There are reportedly 110 bailout conditions on which no progress has been made, thus imperilling payment of the next tranche of the loan. Government prevarication has registered with the voters: a recent opinion poll indicated that 50 per cent of voters are dissatisfied with the inaction of people who have the power – but not the motivation – to effect change. This is the same percentage that voted for the anti-austerity, anti-bailout parties on June 17th. A house divided, indeed. A visitor, looking at an aquamarine sky, asked: “Where else would you see a sky like that?” To which the answer is: Portugal, Spain, Italy – all the “bad boys” of southern Europe. It isn’t simply a matter of doing business in these countries in a quite different way to those of the north, but a cultural difference. A country in which clingfilm is called “diaphanous membrane”, and where boys are still named Aristotle, Hercules and Perikles, and girls Aphrodite, Urania (sky) and Agape (love), isn’t quite the same as one in which children are called Nigel and Ingrid, and where clingfilm is, well, clingfilm.

The other evening I asked my nephew, who's senior enough in knowledge of economics and finance, to have an opinion I value, about Greece
"You know how I feel. What of the future?"
"Greece will leave - will have to leave the Euro" he said very quietly; a little reluctantly.

"And Spain, and Italy and Portugal and...?" I asked amid a crowd of chatting relatives in my mother's sitting room. He looked at me eyebrows raised knowing I was seeking reassurance.
"Well?"
"They'll pull through"

Olympic debt race - Sophia Mamalinga 2 Aug'12

"What's the difference?" He shrugged and made a small spread of his arms. It was like pulling small teeth.
"Is it corruption?"
"Hm"
"Why Greece? Why not the others? You know how bad things are in Athens" I ran through my present list of harm and spreading misery.
"There's no capital left" He paused and looked away then back at me "Nothing there" Another pause "A dreadful mess."
He wanted to talk and think about something else. I didn't pursue, just felt a small ache in the pit of my stomach. (Telegraph 7 Aug'12: Greek exit from euro is 'manageable’ says Jean-Claude Juncker)

The family came to say 'Goodbye"

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

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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

What the Greeks went through

Dylan Thomas wrote to Lawrence Durrell in 1938 a letter from England which included the paragraph

...I think England is the very place for a fluent and fiery writer. The highest hymns of the sun are written in the dark. I like the grey country. A bucket of Greek sun would drown in one colour the crowds of colours I like trying to mix for myself out a grey flat insular mud. If I went to the sun I’d just sit in the sun; that would be very pleasant but I’m not doing it, and the only necessary things I do are the things I am doing. Unless by accidents, and my life is planned by them, I shall be nearer Bournemouth than Corfu this summer.

Jim Potts mentioned these observations on his blog recently, and in a note to me this morning, included the sentence:

It's extraordinary what the Corfiots (and the Greeks generally) went through in the 1920s and 1940s.

This made me think of suggestions that Corfu's beauty, tranquillity and wealth is enervating, not a place for an artist to be creative...

Dear Jim. Indeed. At the time Kostas Apergis identified those initials carved by a boy in 1957 he said Marcos was still living in Ano Korakiana...It’s knowing what the Greeks went through in the ‘20s and ‘40s that puts the lie to the idea of the ‘enervating.... bucket of Greek sun’ drowning the creative muse, as compared to colder climates...an error of Dylan Thomas and even Cretan Kazantzakis who described Corfu as 'fatal for a fighting soul'. A picnic on the Lazaretto?...

The shame and cruelty of the young men and women being taken out under 'a bucket of sun' to that pretty green place; Theodoraki’s laments for his brother and others who died there; gentle Despina Bebedeli, Δέσποινα Μπεμπεδέλη, singing 'Sleep My Little Angel’...

Κοιμήσου αγγελούδι μου, παιδί μου νάνι - νάνι
Να μεγαλώσεις γρήγορα, σαν τ αψηλό πλατάνι
Να γίνεις άντρας στο κορμί και στο μυα - λό
Και να σαι πάντα μεσ το δρόμο τον καλό

You know this is not a lullaby to a baby, but a dirge, τα μοιρολόγι, for a youth in the ground of Execution Island. 

Greece, marketed as sun, sea and sand for fifty years, with ruins thrown in, is an image of the country that deceived even Dylan Thomas and no doubt other intellectuals (tho' I can compile a rebuttal inventory starting with Robert Graves and D H Lawrence, Camus, Hemingway and Leigh Fermor - it’s not just Greece but the decadent sun of the olive belt) who need, or feel their muse is further north, as though Greece is winterless. 

Lazaretto ~ each flower marks an executioner's bullet (photo: Jim Potts)

Corfu is full of ghosts; worse - spectres. She overlooks, as you well know, a peaked landscape of the imagination stretching from Saranda to beyond Levkada. Things were done on Corfu by the signorini that are lost to all but family history, even then reduced to small anecdotes that hide the larger oppression. 

What of the Jews, Greek citizens, taken from their city so near the end of the war, to join the thousands of others from Ioannina, Athens and Thessaloniki? It’s true that the skulls are not on the surface as they are in the Mani, but they lie in similar numbers beneath the beloved island’s green turf. The flaw in the 'ennervation thesis' is that so many northerners know almost nothing of modern Greek history. They know little even of the time before that - of the loss of Constantinople Κωνσταντινούπολις. 

I sent two birds to the red apple tree, of which the legends speak. One was killed, the other was hurt, and they never came back to me. Of the marble emperor - το Μαρμαρωμένο Βασιλιά - there is no word, no talk. But grandmothers sing about him to the children like a fairy tale. I sent two birds, two house martins, to the red apple tree. But there they stayed and became a dream.

There are refugees via Cyprus and Crete on Corfu, some in Ano Korakiana, who hold the memory of the marble emperor and the loss of Greece’s Byzantine capital. E.M. Forster met Constantine Cavafy in 1918 in Alexandria living off a narrow street in a flat above a brothel - 10 Rue Lepsius. Alexandria. Or was it in a letter Cavafy wrote to Forster? The poet told Forster that the Greeks and the English were almost exactly alike, but for one crucial difference: 

"We Greeks have lost our capital -- and the results are what you see. Pray, my dear Forster, oh pray, that you never lose your capital." 

Some suggest he referred to financial privation. Forster knew it was Constantinople. Northerners are confused by a hazardous semi-knowledge of what has happened here in the last 200 years. Greece's classical history - tho' in detail as exactingly complicated and messy as the modern one (see the actual alliances involved at Marathon, Salamis and Thermopylae for a start or the conditional liberties of Athenian democracy) - is so tremendous; fills such a vast part of educated people’s mental DNA, there’s hardly room for the utterly unfamiliar morally complicated Balkan mayhem of the Greek War of Independence.
“Wasn’t Byron involved?”
And what of the Souliotes betrayed by Pelios Gousis? ...πως ο Εφιάλτης θα φανεί στο τέλος. What of the women of Souli?
THe great schism? The big idea? The burning of Smyrna? The exchange of populations? What are they? Noble Kolokotronis at Dervenakia, Venizelos, Theotoki, Kapodistria, Mavromikali? Who are they? Klefts? The dance of Zalongo? Distomo? Kalavryta? Kommeno? The famine of Athens? Blokos?  The holocaust of Viannos? The dekemvria? The white terror, the red terror? Metaxa?
“Oh yes Metaxas, Very nice after a good meal”...

...and I haven’t got to the Stone Years, τα Πέτρινα Χρόνια. The Junta. (See Mazower's After the War was Over) And not only the 20th century but far further back. Thucydides: 

It was in Corcyra that most of these audacious acts were first committed and all the crimes that would be perpetrated in retaliation by men who had been governed tyrannically rather than with good sense and had the chance of revenge, or that would be unjustly designed by others who were longing to be relieved of their habitual poverty, and who above all were animated by a passionate desire for their neighbours' property; crimes too that men commit, not from greed, but when they assail their equals and are so often swept away by untutored rage into attacks of pitiless cruelty

Another bolster for the enervation thesis is that for the Durrell’s, Corfu was a childhood paradise. They wrote with unsurpassed brilliance about happiness. Their joy may have aroused envious critical suspicion; an inclination to treat them as fantasists or, if telling the truth, describing a lotus eating haven that eats creativity. Edmund Keeley wrote Inventing Paradise. His word ‘invention’ captures the point.
I cannot subscribe to the enervation thesis on the grounds of landscape alone - a place with panoramas that elude the painter perhaps, but cannot fall short of the Netherlands or England for inspiration. Just because I’ve been so happy on the island doesn't make it enervating in my book, but then I have no book. I rest my case. Best, Simon

*** *** ***

Public or private dentistry?

I needed an extraction, some cleaning and some tidying. I went to a private dentist and met a nice and competent seeming surgeon. His estimate after an examination came to £5803. I went to an NHS dentist and talked to another nice and competent seeming surgeon. His estimate, after examinaton, was £208. The difference? The first dentist would replace my extracted tooth with an implant, and possibly another - the process completed by December. The second offered a small denture - the process completed in the time it'd take to make the denture - just over a week. I could afford to go private but I've got better things to do with £5959. I spoke to Lin and worried the matter for a week then went to the NHS where they made a mould in ten minutes. I came back in a week, had a local anaesthetic. The tooth was out so quick I hardly noticed. I was cycling home, my gadget in place, within half an hour. My three little false teeth are finely wrought and comfortable, and give my mouth a better appearance than it's had for years, but I'm not a toothy smiler anyway.
*** *** ***

Saturday afternoon Richard showed Amy around his flat in town and we went to the Bull Ring, to Jamie's Italian where I bought them a rather too expensive late lunch and Richard and I both managed to hold Oliver without dropping him or making him weep.

Later Amy inveigled me into Gap where there was a 45% off sale, except her choices of baby clothes were not in the sale. Next door Apple was packed but a figure waved to me from the crowd - Niko, our tutor. We embraced.
"When can we have our next lesson?"
"I've been very busy. Christina and I our getting married in September"
"Oh no! We'll be in Greece"
"I'll send dates for us to get together"
I introduced him to Amy and showed him my grandson, fast asleep in the odious hubbub of the shopping centre.
Strolling up crowded New Street Amy bumped into two of her police colleagues on duty.
We walked on.
"Just after I went on maternity leave" she said "Operation Paragon started belt tightening. My area will have changed when I go back. It's larger."
**** ****

Scholarship on two wheels! John Martin and Alistair Walker with Annie Guthrie filming as they go, continue their great shared cycle ride across Canada, studying sustainable communities; writing their thoughts as they go, every sentence is the tip of an iceberg, with a hundred elaborations and examples to be pursued on the way to explanation and insight on the habits that make for sustainability.

John, Annie, Alistair

The metaphor of a community on a journey becomes more powerful as the reader realises that their propositions are emerging from a transcontinental bicycle odyssey. Every working community is indeed unique yet governments and individuals seek the guidance and even the shock of admonition derived from general principles. Uniqueness is the watchword. Creativity is vital. They're explorers composing, as they travel, a sophisticated yet practical map of imaginative intellectual territory that for many currently in power has been illustrated by exotic beasts and blank spaces. Their new map will assist more and more people and communities to make more and more unique journey’s towards sustainability, helping more and more to join ‘the long conversation’, spurring more and more negotiation with the dominant economic paradigm. The final map won't be overwhelmingly burdened with data, with acronyms and endless statistics. They will know all this of course as they noticed and felt, in the seat of their pants, the rich detail of the endless surfaces over which they pedalled. They’ll have breathed it all in. Their exposition will be more like those ingenious ‘mud maps’...

...the aboriginals use, which in context reveals more truths than the precise measures of modern ordnance survey about a place and its inhabitants

Given the requisite variety of communities there is an infinite number of ways of achieving sustainable outcomes. Each journey is unique. Every community is concerned about its success and continuity. The way they achieve this is an individual journey, at a point in time influenced by both externalities and the capacity and commitment of the people who constitute each community to adopt new ways of working. We have seen many communities in our journey across Canada, some more closely than others. Some are doing well, some not so. The question we are often asked is: what makes for a sustainable community? ‘Institutionalising’ or incorporating sustainable living practices into the formal regimes of society is, I believe, an essential outcome for building sustainable communities.A key success factor in this continuity is the extent to which...

*** ***
It's clear that the onion fly has been causing harm across the VJA site. I've been getting advice from other plot-holders planning for future crops of onions and leaks on the use of nematodes. I've clearly got a world of understanding ahead of me with these. One snag is their cost. During a rare sunny patch I harvested more spring onions and broccoli from the plot.

***** *****
On Sunday afternoon, Linda and I completed Wednesday's Handsworth Helping Hand's work in the Church Vale Triangle, laying out plants donated via Freegle, including perennial Geraniums, Lilac, Hypericum, Big Leaf Periwinkle and Alpine Strawberries. Three of the seventy or so Pelargonia we planted on Wednesday have been pinched. We replaced them.

*** ***

Letter from a friend on holiday in Corfu. She had asked for advice on places to visit while there with her daughter. I cautioned her on a general truth about contemporary Corfu - in this case the despoliation of Paleocastritsa - while describing the possibility of exquisite places to be discovered close by - especially on foot or bicycle:

Simon. Greetings from beautiful Paleo. Your bespoke guide has been invaluable. I carry a printout in my beach bag. Thank you. We are here for another 3 of our 14 days. It  has been delightful. We have only had a problem with the weather - a heatwave! Really - can't believe I am complaining but sometimes too hot to move from our shaded cove. Everywhere a noticeable lack of people which is great for us but not for the locals. We didn't hire a car so have been walking everywhere. We recommended guests to your friend Sally's hacking tours and they loved the trek. Monastery great - after all the awful half empty coaches have left for he day. Glorious dusk. Restaurants good. London prices unfortunately. xxx Beach just perfect. We also like being able to find different spots to explore and enjoy the peace and cicadas. We are celebrating. My beautiful daughter, Genevieve has got a First in her Part 1 Tripos - English. She got the news here so I think Paleo will always hold precious memories for her. Greek Champagne is delicious! love Fiona

Genevieve in Corfu