Our Town

Like Camp David in Maryland, Chequers in Buckinghamshire and certain dachas near Moscow, Korydallos Prison has become recreational headquarters for a growing number of government leaders.

This month The Athenian observes the 15th anniversary of its first issue. Given the sudden, unexpected ups and downs of Greek life this time span makes it one of the matriarchs of Athenian monthlies regardless of the language it is published in.

Although the upcoming elections are still scheduled for June, the pre-election period may be said to have already begun.

“The astonishing events which characterize the latest developments in our country create the impression that Greece has been transformed into an enormous madhouse.”

Almost every day for the last few months the government spokesman has been claiming that the criticisms of opposition leaders “are figments of their imagination.”

Last year they thought they had found the Colossus of Rhodes, but they were wrong.

One month after it had been announced that prime minister Papandreou had been hastily dispatch¬ed to London for surgery, not only had the operation not taken place, there was not even a clear picture of the premier’s medical condition.

The gala benefit raising funds for the new Acropolis Museum called “The Stars Shine for the Acropolis” took place at the Odeon of Herod Atticus on August 3.

It would be nice this August, at the very peak of the tourist season, to sing the praises of Greece for all the wonderful things it offers in almost careless abandon: its physical beauty, its dazzling seas, its inspiring monuments and, above all, what an old Murray guide once described as its “stubborn, but often sympathetic, inhabitants”.

The fanfare which accompanied the recent visits of Turgut Ozal and Elizabeth Taylor emphasized the importance given to public relations today and how it’s become almost an end in itself.