Yanni the Obscure
MY friend Yanni Philodoxakis is a retired civil servant who spends most of his mornings sitting under the green awning of a cafe in Kolonaki Square watching the world go by.
Greek Revival in London
WHILE it was snowing in Athens at the beginning of March, London was enjoying an early spring with trees blossoming in Chelsea, daffodils blooming in Kensington flower boxes, and patches of crocuses lending colour to many of the parks and squares.
Dark Doings at a Merengue
MY friend Costaki Dyskilios is one of that peculiar breed of Athenian male who, somehow or other, always gets invited to cocktail parties and receptions.
The Last Applause
“THE Lyra-player in the ground; his memory in the spirit of the people who buried him”, read one newspaper headline.
The Olympics in Greece
A great deal of excitement has been stirred up by the proposal that Greece should become a permanent home for the Olympic Games. Officials in many countries have endorsed the idea and so have the editorial writers of many newspapers in the western world.
Belt-Tightening
THERE has been a running debate in this country for more than two thousand years on the question of whether it is the people who are ungovernable or their statesmen who are incompetent in governing them.
Dreams of Glory
EVERY now and then we hear reports of how the Prinos oil wells in the Thassos area are getting on and how other test drillings in the Nestos area and in the Western Peloponnese are showing encouraging signs that there may indeed be enough black gold under the Greek earth to solve some of the country’s more pressing economic problems.
1980: The Year of the Grown-up
In reply to a UNICEF-sponsored query as to what he thought of the International Year of the Child, a Turkish youngster wrote the following one-sentence response: “If we could have had the Year of the Parent before the Year of the Child, perhaps our problems would have been better understood.”
The Abominable Olympian
ONE cold and rainy December day, a couple of weeks ago, a group of dejected-looking individuals trooped into a committee room in the sprawling offices of the National Tourist Organization in the Tameion Building and sat glumly round a long table, neatly laid out with white note-pads and sharpened pencils.
Cultural Events
THE major urban development in Athens in modern times is about to begin with the preparation of the site for the new Cultural Centre.