Getting little things sorted

The sense of pleasurable achievement from dealing with small things – what would it be called? They're may be a term invented by Douglas Adams and John Lloyd - the name of a small English town capturing the feeling.  Cromer? Datchet? Tavistock? or what about Greece. I enjoy a sense of Agrinio? Not up to the experts though.

Steve's wall

Steve Lee, who’s improving a house near ours, emailed from England to ask if we'd get Dimitri to render his street-side wall. We sent him Dimitri’s quote, promising to monitor the work as it proceeded. We’re pleased. Steve’s pleased, Dimitri’s pleased.  Work has begun. Stamatti whose café is next to Steve’s house is also pleased, especially as the work will be over before Easter and the Demos is placing an apron of pedestrian plaka over the road in front of Piazza for his customers. “This area is being improved” he said.
*** ***
We bought large black plastic bags; wrapped cot, playpen, baby car seat, pushchairs, high chair and playthings and stored them in the apothiki for when they may be needed again. We smacked our hands and dusted them.

*** ***

I went into town with my Brompton in the back. Parked free...

Brompton park and ride in Corfu Town

... just far enough out to avoid the city’s parking famine, and cycled through the traffic to a small shop in a back street that sold and repaired everything electronic. I dislike air-conditioning but since guests might need it I had to renew the damp destroyed remote control that makes our old units work. 

Dave, working on Summersong, told me about this brilliant bloke behind San Rocco Square. Found it in minutes and was sold a universal unit with minute instructions on its use and “to return it if there was a problem”. In Lin’s hands an hour later...

...the €10 gadget had searched through nine hundred and ninety codes and found ours – 328 – and the old machinery rattled into action. 

“Wheehee”
*** ***

Wabi-sabi is the quintessential Japanese aesthetic. It is a beauty of things imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete. It is a beauty of things modest and humble.

Lin who lacks my appreciation of wabi-sabi grieves at cracks in the walls of the house. 

“Everything's falling apart” 

“That’s what all houses do”

“No they don’t” 

“Yes they do. Everything strives to return to chaos” 

“I’ve found some crack repairing tape in England” 

She’d scraped a wall on the edge of the kitchen, applied the tape and repainted.

“See the crack?” 

“No“

“Right. It’s good”

"People in Chelsea pay good money for cracks like that"

In the evening I sat in the tidied apothiki with its window and new concrete floor. For years it's been a barely negotiable mess. Now we have a working storeroom. 

Lin had said “I still have to finish tiling the roof and we need shelves and you are going to turn that door into a work bench” 

“Yes yes of course”

I sat in the dark thinking of the unachievables; problems that challenge and ones that just grind; continuing work on partly finished projects; things to write – especially as a result of conversations with Jan – on the possibility of significant shifts in political-management working in local government amid crisis. A bright star flashed in the dark, dodging to and fro, appearing and disappearing, a firefly dancing in the eaves seeking a mate. I take the point. 

Σας ευχαριστώ Κύριε

Improving the area - Stamatti's plaka and Steve's wall

*** *** ***
A month ago UNESCO named Ano Korakiana - το χωριό του γιασεμιού και της γαζίας, the village of gazi and jasmine. Last Sunday (was it?) schoolchildren were up and down Democracy Street planting the gift of 500 jasmine plants in front gardens and other small green spaces...Τα γιασεμιά της UNESCO

Ολοκληρώθηκε λίγο μετά το μεσημέρι στο χωριό μας, μία ακόμη δράση στο πλαίσιο του Προγράμματος του Κέντρου UNESCO του Ιονίου για τη μετατροπή της Κέρκυρας σε «νησί βιώσιμης ανάπτυξης», η οποία προέβλεπε τη φύτευση γιασεμιών από μαθητές του Νηπιαγωγείου Άνω Κορακιάνας, του Σχολικού Κέντρου Φαιάκων, του Ειδικού Γυμνασίου Κέρκυρας και το 13ο Σύστημα Αεροπροσκόπων.
Νωρίς το πρωί παραλήφθηκαν τα φυτεύματα από τους κηπουρούς του «Ξενοδοχειακού Ομίλου Χανδρή», ενώ λίγη ώρα αργότερα άρχισαν να καταφθάνουν οι μαθητές και οι λοιποί «επιτελούντες» στο χώρο του Δημοτικού Σχολείου

Εκεί οι κ.κ. Σαββανής Σπύρος (Πρόεδρος της Φιλαρμονικής) και Σκλαβούνος Γιώργος (Πρόδρος του Κέντρου UNESCO Ιονίου) εξήγησαν στους μικρούς μαθητές την αξία και το νόημα της φύτευσης των γιασεμιών, ενώ η καθηγήτρια του Ειδικού Σχολείου αναφέρθηκε στο ίδιο το λουλούδι. Στη συνέχεια, οι εκατό και πλέον μαθητές χωρίστηκαν σε 4 ομάδες και πέρασαν από την εξωτερική σκάλα του σχολείου προκειμένου να παραλάβουν τα φυτεύματα από τις κυρίες του Χορευτικού τμήματος της Φιλαρμονικής και τον Πρόεδρο του Τοπικού Συμβουλίου. Ο συνωστισμός που δημιουργήθηκε για λίγο, έδωσε στο Σχολείο άλλη όψη, θυμίζοντας παλιές καλές εποχές, αρκετές δεκαετίες πίσω. Οι 4 ομάδες με επικεφαλής δασκάλους, καθηγητές, αλλά και κατοίκους του χωριού που προσήλθαν να βοηθήσουν ξεκίνησαν για τις διαδρομές που είχαν σχεδιαστεί, σε όλο το χωριό, κυρίως σε δημόσιους χώρους. Η λιακάδα συνετέλεσε στο να μετατραπεί η εκδήλωση σε μια ευχάριστη σχολική εκδρομή, με τους μαθητές να απολαμβάνουν το φύτεμα. Λίγο μετά το μεσημέρι οι 4 ομάδες συγκεντρώθηκαν στην αίθουσα του Συνεταιρισμού, όπου τους προσφέρθηκε ένα μικρό κέρασμα και απονεμήθηκαν αναμνηστικές βεβαιώσεις για τη συμμετοχή τους και την υποστήριξη της δράσης της UNESCO και των τοπικών φορέων. Κάπου εκεί η εκδήλωση ολοκληρώθηκε μέσα σε μία ευχάριστη ατμόσφαιρα… Όμως, η δράση για την μετατροπή της Άνω Κορακιάνας σε «χωριό του γιασεμιού και της Γαζίας, μόλις ξεκίνησε και έχει πολύ χρόνο ακόμη να διανύσει. Οι δύο συμβολικού χαρακτήρα εκδηλώσεις (στον Άη-Θανάση με την παρουσία της Προέδρου της Ελληνικής Επιτροπής της UNESCO και η σημερινή), αποτελούν μόνο το έναυσμα, την αρχή και όχι το τέλος Προκειμένου δε, να επιτευχθεί ο στόχος θα απαιτηθούν πολλά ακόμη βήματα και κυρίως η συμμετοχή όλων μας. Ο τόπος μας μπορεί να βγει ωφελημένος από τη συνεργασία με μια διεθνούς βεληνεκούς Οργάνωση, όπως η UNESCO. *** *** *** Also from the village website - words from Dora Metallinos on the lovely Judas trees now blossoming everywhere: Η Άνοιξη έβαψε την παλέτα της με τα πιο εξαίσια χρώματα! Και γύρω μας συντελείται άλλη μια φορά το θαύμα! Η Κορακιάνα μας ανάμεσα στο οργιαστικό πράσινο του κάμπου και του βουνού, διανθισμένο με πιτσιλιές από το κόκκινο της παπαρούνας και το λιλά της πασχαλιάς και της κοκυκιάς! Ειδικά της κοκυκιάς που σε κάθε κήπο, σε κάθε φράχτη κάνει την εμφάνισή της! Δεν γνωρίζω αν οι κοκυκιές είναι αυτοφυείς εδώ, αλλά είναι συνυφασμένες με το αναμενόμενο Θείο Δράμα! Τις θυμάμαι πάντα, πιστές στο ανοιξιάτικο ραντεβού τους, είναι οι προάγγελοι της επερχόμενης Ανάστασης. Γεμίζουν όλα τους τα γυμνά κλαδιά με εκείνα τα μωβ λουλούδια που άφθονα φύονται κατευθείαν πάνω στο φλοιό. Τα καρδιόσχημα φύλλα τους, βγαίνουν αργότερα. Μετά την ανθοφορία τα λουλούδια μετατρέπονται σε καφετιά φασολάκια που μπορεί κανείς να τα μαζέψει και να τα σπείρει. Στην υπόλοιπη Ελλάδα είναι γνωστή με το όνομα ''κουτσουπιά''! Θεωρώ πως δεν είναι τυχαίο το γεγονός ότι υπάρχουν τόσες κοκυκιές στο χωριό μας. Η νόνα μου μάζευε τα φύλλα, τα βούρλιαζε και τα ξέραινε στον ήλιο. Στη συνέχεια, τα πουλούσε σε κάποιους που έρχονταν και τα αγόραζαν από τα 'Γύρου!Τα αγόραζαν για τους φούρνους, γιατί μέσα στα φύλλα τύλιγαν τη μπαρμπαρέλα [μπομπότα]. Όπως για όλα σχεδόν τα φυτά, υπάρχει και ο σχετικός θρύλος. Λένε, κυρίως οι λαοί της Ευρώπης, πως από τα κλαδιά μιας κοκυκιάς κρεμάστηκε ο Ιούδας! Και από τη ντροπή του το δέντρο κοκκίνισε! Στα αγγλικά ονομάζεται: Judas tree! και στα γαλλικά: Arbe de Judee!Το ξύλο της είναι κατάλληλο για τορνευτική τέχνη.Τώρα που η Κορακιάνα έγινε το χωριό του γιασεμιού και της γαζίας, δε θα ήταν άσχημη ιδέα να προσθέσουμε.....και της κοκυκιάς! ΔΩΡΑ ΜΕΤΑΛΛΗΝΟΥ  (My translation) The Spring palette painted with the most exquisite colours! And around our place there is all at once a miracle! Korakiana lies between the luxuriant vegetation of the plains and the mountains, brightened with splashes of red poppy and purple of lilac and kokykias, της κοκυκιάς! (Cercis siliquastrum) Especially kokykias that appears in every garden, by every fence! I don't know if kokykies grow naturally here, but they are inextricably a part of anticipating the Divine Drama! I always remember them as part of Spring, harbingers of the Resurrection; their naked branches with those purple flowers that bud directly from the bark. The heart-shaped leaves, come later. After blossoming, the flowers become brown beans that you can collect and sow. In the rest of Greece this tree is known as the 'Judas Tree'. I think it's a coincidence that there are so many kokykies in our village. My grandmother and I would pick the berries and dry them in the sun for people from villages around who came to buy them; for cooking, as you can put them in your barmparela μπαρμπαρέλα [bread fermented with cornflour]. As for almost all plants, there's a legend. People in Europe hold that Judas hung himself from the branches of a kokykias! And in shame the tree blushed! In English it is called Judas tree and in French, L'Arbre de Judée! The wood is suitable for joinery.  Now that Ano Korakiána has became the village of jasmine and gazi, it would not be a bad idea to add ..... and kokykias! I asked about Judas trees at a garden centre near town. They confidently sold me a Flamouria Φλαμουριά, a kind of Ash. Greeks I asked did not recognise the name ‘Judas tree’. It doesn’t bear that name in Corfu, perhaps not in most of Greece. The ‘blushing’ legend, to explain the pinkness of the kokykias’ blossom, has no local circulation, since ‘everyone’ knows it was from a Fig tree that Judas hung himself. The berries of the kokykias are edible; dried, they go in various cakes, including barmparela μπαρμπαρέλα and Sophia in the village told me that the blossoms are sometimes used to decorate the epitaphio at Easter, which wouldn't happen if the tree were associated with Judas Iscariot. Kokykias berries

Summer in Ano Korakiana - 'the delicious song of the Sirens'

We’re home in Ano Korakiana – for a couple of weeks. Strolling in the heat of the evening through the village, where last we’d walked in warm clothes as a chill wind blew through the tall trees, we spy families sat around a table beneath a vine canopy dim lit in the surrounding dark as if showing through old varnish. Our neighbours were sat in a circle by their front door – grandfather to grandchildren in the cooler evening. “Simon” “Leftheri”. We exchanged quiet greetings as if we’d left the day before instead of being away since early May. The sun rises high up the mountain’s shoulder heating the heat from yesterday. Needing to do things like tidying, gardening, carrying stuff while the sun is up makes air-conditioning tempting. I dislike our units with their ugly boxes churning hot air out to cool indoors. We leave windows open, insect screened, to catch the warm breezes convecting between sea and land, sit about reading with a fan gently revolving, sipping iced lemon, cool wine. Alan came round with Honey. We thanked him and paid for the work he’s done while we’ve been away. 208 is made up of two dwellings. The roof on one was properly completed this February, leaving problems with the newer roof between Leftheris and the former. Alan has sealed, with sturdy lead, the leaking seams at either end. Before we arrived he and H had also seen to ventilating away the heat brewed mustiness caused by continuing damp in the three foot walls of a house empty for twenty years and then so ill-improved it continued to leak. They also washed mildewed bed linen and left us a vase of flowers and a fridge stocked with ice cubes. Two bills, for water and electricity had been collected from the shop and pushed under our door by Mark and Sally. I went into town on Monday to pay the electric - €122 – returning, via Ipsos, to pay the water - €28 – at the Faiakon Municipal offices. No queuing, swift service and English spoken. Car hire was nearly a problem. The lot by the airport concourse where we’d been used to finding a car left with ‘Mr Simon’ in the window has become ‘pay and display’. Late on Friday evening Georgia found me waiting outside arrivals and pointed out where she’d left us a vehicle. That free long term parking couldn’t last. Tourists have been arriving in diminishing numbers. Some believe, according to the Corfiot, that the local economy should adapt to fewer more bountiful visitors. Late Monday night I went to sit with Lin outside the house enjoying the murmerous chat of the village; but I’d locked us out. Groping in the apothiki I fished out a ladder and, while Lin held it, clambered up and through one of our open upstairs windows. Monday morning, before it got too hot, I put sails on ‘Summer Song’. The tricky foresail, its leech sprayed with silicone lubricant, went up easily. I even remembered to fix the up-haul steel cable to the bracket on top of the furling gear, so that when I pulled from the cockpit, sail, forestay and halyard revolved neatly away. The engine started first turn. The main was almost simple, though it was hot enough by the time I’d inserted battens and fixed the cockpit awning that, sweating, I was glad of A/C on the drive back to Ano Korakiana where Lin had hung out washing, cleared the garden, bagged the waste to avoid fire risk, swept the veranda, and fed the spindly brindle cat – now with two sandy kittens. * * * Worried mobile call from Amy. “There are no flights to Athens from Gatwick, mum” “Are you in the right terminal?” “Oh!” Meantime Richard’s missed his train and caught one following. He phones “Amy’s at Gatwick. She just phoned me to say there are no flights to Athens”. Yeah yeah. Mobile phones can erode initiative and spread anxiety. Minutes later Amy tells me she’s checked in, but Richard is still on a train and the gate close in 30 minutes…then later another call saying the flight’s delayed at least three hours. When I was their age I communicated by postcards every other fortnight collected from a local poste restante. * * * I got an email from Australia containing a comment from a Mayor, who’s also an academic, on her working relationship with her Chief Executive:

‘… having pondered this and tried to analyse it - I think it is 'the luck of the draw' as to how well it works. There is no exact recipe for success ... I think you can work at it and get results, but what M… and I can do is because we have a 'good mix' of the qualities that ensure success. Random chance... which may make others looking on feel despondent. Good news is that you can work on relationships and they can be great if both are committed to learning about how to make it work. And are able to do the job. The relationship is only one part ... each then has do be competent (at least) at the actual work they are employed to do and be able to manage that as well.’

John Martin is planning to film several Mayor-CEO relationships using the same questions as I use in UK. He and I will use these to supplement a series of workshops on political-management leadership I'm hoping to do with him during a longer stay in Australia in 2009. * * * Leaving the windows open hasn’t meant mosquitoes or any other insects bothering us. A few flies, a rare wasp, come and, as quickly, go. Outside swallows dash to and fro. At noon the cicadas are busy. Lin saw a grasshopper in the garden. Yellow brown and white butterflies wander through the greenery. * * * This evening we went down to a beach backed by rocks, trees and shrubs beyond the landfall by the harbour. The sea was warm and gentle and we had pebbly stretch to ourselves below an overhanging eucalyptus. The place was rimed with detritus – gobbets of polystyrene, plastic water bottles, a tangled shroud of transparent plastic, a propane gas cylinder, nylon netting, cigarette wrappers, crisp packets, a biscuit box part of a line of such rubbish stretching round the coast of what for certain privileged northern visitors was once their paradise. I note Allen Johnson on the Modern Ecological Crisis quoting Phillip Sherrard: This is part of a European blue flag beach, but some in government recognise the problem - hence the front-page picture in Athens News along with the depressing headline. Under the photo of the beach at Ipsos - posted on Flickr - I've written: This is not a criticism of Greece or Corfu. It is a criticism of human behaviour. The phenomenon of flytipping is global but its effects seem worse in once beautiful places like this. Irresponsible dumping of trash is a universal problem - the product of human habits and values within economies that encourage waste, and make its illegal disposal too tempting. Philip Sherrard who died in Greece in 1995 spoke out urgently and passionately in an attempt 'to avert a cosmic catastrophe caused by man's soulless exploitation of our planet's natural resources...he saw the world ecological crisis as evidence of a spiritual crisis, in which European civilisation has deliberately blinded itself to the spiritual dimension of life: we see ourselves, and our entire planet, in an inhuman, godforsaken way and we treat nature as though it consists simply of materials for us to exploit.'