Window on George

We are about 3 weeks away from the Dragon Boat Festival. The weather is very unstable. I remember Peggy, one of my first Chinese collegues in Taiwan, telling us, "You can't put away your quilt until the Dragon Boat Festival". So in theory, that would mean that on the 12th of June summer would be here in all its brute force. Maybe I should stop complaining about the rain.   At least the weather is still "cool". This was my first experience of Dragon Boat Races. Changhua's expat team went for some training in Lukang to get tips from the local boys. Not everybody was impressed. The coach put our boys in the boat. They didn't quite know how to get this boat going... It took a lot of deliberation and discussion.   The coach made it look so easy! A few more brave attempts at the oars... And they're off, oars moving more or less in a Mexican wave sort of way! But hey, we cheered and clapped a...

The first unexpected pleasure I got in Athens was the sight of poppies and daisies growing wild on the side of the road.   Nobody planted them there.  The municipality did not grow them in pots in a nursery and "plant" them, container and all, on the kerbs or pavements.    Nor will they be removed when their blooms are spent and thrown in the garbage, pots and all.   No, they are just there.   And have always been there, for a long time. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRpMCG5Wjck Good bye Athens, till the poppies bloom again!

Camera ready for my very first encounter with the ancient Greek marvels of the Temple of Zeus, guess what's my first photo? Why? Because I last saw these little "arrows" when I was about 6 years old. My friend Linda and I grew up on The Green.   That's where we spent our days.   On The Green there was a playground with a Jungle Gym, swings, a see-saw, a very high slide, and the "roundabout".     Complicated circus tricks were performed on all the equipment.   Linda and I were the acrobats.   We could swing the highest, jump off the swings the furthest, hang upside down on the Jungle Gym the longest, "fly" the roundabout whilst it was going very fast, and dismount and be the dizziest. We also could shoot our little grass arrows the furthest. You pick the ones with the longest stems, then you sort of tie a knot behind the arrow head, and pull the trigger (mixing my metaphors!) Never in a m...

We decided to walk uphill from Central Athens, in search of the funicular on Mt Lycabettus. It sounded like a good idea at the time.   We are from Hong Kong, after all, and love the Peak Tram! We never reached the funicular, partly because the hike up and down the Acropolis earlier that day had been enough exercise for me, and we were side-tracked by the most spectacular Wisteria I had ever seen. One day, I want to live in this street:   Here is the address in Greek! It looks like Like a litou but I think it should be renamed to Likealot Street. And just around the corner, on our way down, yet another spectacular specimen! You understand that no digital camera can ever capture the heavenly purplelilacblues of the flowers. But also understand and know this:   This July I will plant a Wisteria with 2 orange trees at its feet in my newly-cleared garden in George.    I already have the le...

Athens was full of surprises. I was expecting ancient art, architecture, gods, legends, literature, philosophers, churches, temples, and everything that Greece gave to Western Civilization. That's what I got. And of course, I drank it all in. What I did not expect, was the beauty of the everyday Athens, in spring. I did not know that the streets of Athens are lined with orange trees.   I smelled them before I even saw them.   Never before in my life have I walked through a city where the smell of orange blossoms permeates every street, alley and lane.   Having lived in Asia for nearly 13 years, I've become accustomed to the mixed stench of exhaust fumes, open drains, cooked food and mould that cloud Hong Kong and most cities and towns in Taiwan. As long as I live, I will cherish the smell of orange blossoms and know that I will be teleported to Athens in an instant when I smell them. One day we will have scratch n smell blogs. I suggest you get h...

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