Yet more christmas art!

I know that I am spamming you with art. This is what happens when I have a holiday and decide to stay at home instead of going somewhere. I end up doing little more than sleeping, drawing and on occasion seeing friends. Rest assured than once I return to work, I will also return to the usual once a month posting.

But for now I have another traditional christmas card.

More Christmas art

I think I might slowly be getting my mojo back. My latest card is by far the best yet this christmas in my opinion.

Merry Christmas !!!

Merry Christmas everyone!!!


I've been making christmas cards this year, like I do almost every year. Unfortunately I seem to be a bit out of it and my cards are comming out rather sloppy. Thankfully friends and family prove very forgiving about this type of thing...

Waiting for Christmas.

Oh when, oh when, will my Christmas holiday start? I'm tired! I need a rest!

And the new girl at work, just as I suspected, is only managing to give me more work. She has been working on two mangy sections of a simple three story house for WEEKS now. Last week I made her print them out and corrected the hell out of them (red pen and all!) because they were frankly pathetic. This week I take a look at them and realise it will take me almost as much time to correct them as it would to just do them from the beginning. I knew this would happen! I hate to tell the boss "I told you so", but he told me himself that if she wasn't working for free, no way would he pay her, because she's useless. To be fair it's not her fault, it's the rip off of a private "college" she went to, rather than a proper university or technical college like the rest of us.

Arghhh! More work for me! That's why I don't like letting people mess with my designs, they just make a hack of it.

On the bright side, I bought two pairs of shoes this week!

My mother bought me a pair of boots for Christmas. (which I'm considering possibly returning).

And I just splashed out and got the most adorable pair of campers!



Are they gorgeous or what? And will they not make me look like a complete geek? (Some people *cough*my mother*cough* believe that I'm too old to still dress geeky, but I beg to disagree.)

I'm going to bed now.

I might not make it to the New Year...

They're killing me at work! Have you ever tried working intensively for eight hours straight with barely a break to eat or use the toilet, five days a week for weeks on an end? It's unbelievably exhausting. Especially if the work is not the usual relatively creative and interesting design work I usually do (I'm an architect).

No, for the past month my desk has been hidden under piles of paper-work and files. And the more I get through, the more appear. It's boring, mind-numbing, repetitive work, but at the same time it's imperative no mistakes are made. And when I'm not filling in forms and putting together files, I am standing in endless queues in various town-planning offices submitting the files.

You might be wondering what all these mysterious files are about. As everyone knows, the Greek state is bankrupt and is looking for creative ways to find money. In that spirit they have passed a law that permits the legalisation (for forty years) of various illegally enclosed spaces within buildings, with a fine of course. Under the threat of extensive checks once the deadline has passed and a hefty fine for all offenders, everyone is rushing to legalise all they can. And it would not be an exaggeration to say that 80% of all buildings built after the 1980s have some sort of illegally enclosed space.

Why? You'll have to read the ridiculously confusing and irrational Greek Building Code with all it's glaring loopholes to start to understand. And then you'll have to take into account the incompetent, understaffed and often corrupted town-planning offices to get a more complete picture.

So anyway, all this paper-work is sucking all the energy and life out of me.

Before I go and crash into my beckoning bed, I'll leave you with a song I heard in the taxi home this evening. (Yes, on top of it all we have to deal with Public Transport strikes!) It's an old greek song I remember from my teenage years. It's called Didimoticho Blues (Didimoticho being a border town in the very easternmost tip of Greece. It's also possibly the most northern city in Greece too.)



I realise that if you can't understand the lyrics (which are quite good) you are completely missing what the song's about (it's about the army service which is still obligatory in Greece). After a bit of searching I came across this translation.

Another Tuesday sketch

Another Tuesday, another drawing class where I cheated. We were supposed to draw the subject the teacher set us using charcoals. Only I'm not too keen on charcoal, and the subject was some attrocious styrofoam thing. I told him I refuse to draw such an ugly thing.

I drew the balcony door of the room instead, using my trusty india ink, dip pen and paint brushes.

Yes, I am a horrible student. My various art teachers never liked me much.

It was too big to scan so I tried photographing it instead. I made a total hash of it. If anyone has any tips about photographing art, I'm all ears.

Drawing classes

Have I mentioned that I decided to go to a free drawing class?

In Exarcheia there is a self-run, self-organised building where people organise all sorts of cool free stuff just because they feel like it. They have book presentations, film showings, concerts, parties, discussions and all sorts of free lessons. My sister has been going to the spanish and photography lessons since last year.

I could never go to their drawing classes because I was working, but this year they changed the day and time, so I can make it. I'm not sure I'm actually going to learn anything; the class is completely chaotic and lapsydaisical and the teacher absolutely refuses to actually teach us anything.

Today was actually the best lesson yet. We did quick sketches. I like quick sketches, much more that boring life drawings. Especially of white objects using charcoal. Bleurgh! I think I'm going to cheat and show up with my own materials and draw what I feel like.

That's what I did today. We were supposed to be using a soft pencil for the sketches. I told the teacher I already knew how to sketch with a pencil, so I was going to use a dip pen instead. Which I did. And it was a lot more fun that a boring pencil.

Here I am being a good girl and sketching the subject!

And here I am getting bored and sketching the teacher instead!

I'm excited!

I just found out today that AutocCAD for Mac is finally here! Now I no longer have any use for Windows and I can get rid of the Windows boot up on my Mac. I feel like dancing with relief!



Of course AutoCAD for Mac is missing stuff - like saving as pdf - but I'm hoping that now they got started, they'll eventually make it as good as AutoCAD for Windows. And look at the interface! It looks like a cross between AutoCAD and Lightroom! I only hope I can change the background colour to black, because I really can't work on white.

Of course I'll first have to find the program!

Stuff you didn't really want to know

Today we had municipal elections. Like a good little citizen I went and voted, and then I went to my parents for dinner. It's nice having someone else cooking for you. I needed it after the very productive - and tiring - day I had yesterday.

Yesterday, I went to the market, I cooked a spinach pie and a fancy stuffed squids dish and had friends round to dinner, and then we went out for cocktails and returned after three in the morning. Yes, on occasion I can manage to have a life off the net!

By the way, we went to a really cool cocktail bar near my home that is done up in hawaiian style - very original for Athens - called the Tiki. We'll definitely be going again.

Doodle

I thought I'd share a quick ink drawing I did today with you. Someone gave me the prompt "hair and hands" and I came up with this. It was done really fast and sloppily. But not too bad, I think.

My lost week-end

Where did the week-end go? I hardly got anything done!

Friday night I went out with my friend Elli. I tried a dry martini out of curiosity, and I can attest that, yes, it is dry.

Saturday I made a leek quiche (leeks are in season and I got some lovely fresh ones!), visited my grandmother (being a good grand-daughter takes work) and went to an indie concert. And wondered where all the indie kids were. My sister informed me that indie is out, and now all the kids want to be hipsters. Bleugh! Indie kids were miles cooler than boring hipsters. (I should know I was once an architecture student indie kid - we were a breed of our own.)

Sunday - today - I went to the Thuseio flea market with my mother (because parents need to be entertained too) and got a number of second hand biscuit tins (because I have plans!) and a lovely orange ceramic airtight container than will look lovely in our kitchen. Then my father drilled holes in our kitchen wall to help me put up some spice shelves (each parent needs different entertainment). I cooked them creamy chicken with tagliatelles (because being a grown-up means cooking for your parents).

In case any one was wondering about those biscuit tins and my plans. (I know you weren't, but humour me.)

I was thinking - because I'm cheap and rather broke - to make presents for my friends and family rather than buy stuff. For those who live in other countries or cities (and I have quite a few of those), I thought it would be a nice idea to bake them cookies (yes, I can bake cookies. My chocolate chip ones get very favourable reviews) and put them in tins to post to them.

What do you think?

My walls are still bare

Proof of what an amazing procrastinator I am, is the fact the walls in our house are still bare after two years of living here. I originally was thinking of putting up some of the nice big black and white prints I have kept from the time I took part in photography exhibitions in university. But then I thought it might be a bit austere. Then we bought some small cheap art nouveau-ish posters that we thought we might frame, but they are rather small and muted and we'd rather something bigger and brighter.

I must have mentioned that last Christmas when we went to Vienna, my sister bought a Klimt oil-painting (not an original obviously, a copy, but an oil-painting none the less). She finally framed it and is now considering hanging it in her bedroom, because it's the wrong shape and size for the living-room.

And so I remember how impressed I was by the Hundertwasser museum, the Kunst Haus Wien in Vienna. (I made a specific pilgrimage to the museum and the block of flats in Vienna he designed, because I love his art and architecture.) Looking at Hundertwasser's art, I decided I'd love something like that on my bedroom wall. Unfortunately the museum shop didn't have any posters I liked so that idea took a rain check. (By the way, you should really look up Hundertwasser, he's awesome!)

Now so many months later I'm thinking of copying myself a Hundertwasser painting to put on my wall. And maybe copying another for the living room. As usual I am making big plans that I will never get round to realising. So let me share some ideas for my walls.

For my bedroom







For the livingroom





Any preferences?

16th Athens International Film Festival

I promised you a run down of the ten films I saw at this year's Athens International Film Festival. Why ten films? I only had the time and money for a ten film card. You can also pay for the films as you go, but with a card it's cheaper. I didn't even end up seeing the ten films I had planned on. Real life got in the way and I missed two of my short-listed films and ended up seeing two other films instead.

Anyway here we are:

1. Heartless - Philip Ridley (UK)

A really good film. Dark and gritty and scary, and very gory at parts. The mix of real and unreal, dream; hallucination and reality was brilliantly confusing. This film gets your adrenaline pumping and twists you all up, so that by the end you don't know which way is up. Not to mention that Jim Sturgess was amazing in the leading role. I loved this film, and I definitely recommend it.

trailer

2. Exit though the gift shop- Banksy (UK, USA)

This film had possibly the world's worst trailer. The trailer looked boring and uninspiring; I only went to see this films because I rather like Banksy and was curious. The film/documentary ended up being brilliant! Interesting, humorous and gripping. We all left the cinema wondering if we had seen a brilliant hoax or rather one of the art world's most unlikely tales. You should see it!

trailer

3. Shinoburu (Symbol) - Hitoshi Matsumoto (Japan)

I'm a big fan of weird japanese cinema. I love the Tetsuo films by Tsukamoto (I and II). Shinoburu started off very good. Quirky and strange and very funny. Unfortunately after the second half the director sort of lost it, and the ending was frankly ridiculous. You should only see it because I would like a second opinion on it.

trailer

4. Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll - Matt Whitecross (UK)

A biographical film about Ian Dury. A really fun film with a bright choppy pop style to it. Andy Serkis is stunningly brilliant in the title role. Another sure fire recommendation.

trailer

5. Nuit Noire (Black Night) - Olivier Smolder (Belgium) 2004

I should look Smolder up, because this film was something else. An odd surreal dream - or nightmare - of a film. It was in turn creepy, unsettling, spooky, disturbing, puzzling, surprising, amusing. But throughout, the photography and the settings were gorgeous, like a work of art. Actually like a Peter Greenaway - and that's saying a lot. As long as you're not afraid of bugs and aren't prone to nightmares you should see it, it's beautiful!

trailer

6. The Trosky - Jacob Tierney (Canada)

A light comedy from Canada. This film was an absolutely hilarious feel-good comedy. The hero - Leon Bronstein - believes he is the re-incarnation of Leon Trosky and the results are hilarious.

trailer

7. Farewell - Ditteke Mensink (Holland)

This was a strange one off of a film. In 1928, a bunch of reporters did a round the world publicity trip on the Graff Zeppelin. What made this trip different? There was a woman on board - a reporter. She was the first woman to circumscribe the globe. This film is a collage of the authentic footage with the story being narrated from her personal diary recording the trip. How often do you get to see such footage on the big screen? The shots of the zeppelin in particular were breathtaking.

trailer

8. Wonderwall- Jo Massot (UK) 1968

A psychedelic late 60s film with a soundtrack by George Harrison and lots of wacky psychedelic imagery. A strange old scientist finds a hole in the wall of his home that lets him see into the house of his neighbor Jane Birkin. In true late 60s fashion, the film is slow and doesn't always make much sense today and unfortunately the colour had faded rather badly. I though it was rather a cute quaint little film.

trailer

9. Peter Ibberson- Henry Hathaway (USA) 1935

This is the first of the two films I hadn't planned on seeing, but wanted to use up my card and I thought I couldn't go wrong with an old classic. It even had Gary Cooper in it! Well, it was a nice film. And the plot device was very original - especially for the period. The thing is it was a bit too much of a melodramatic romance for my liking. A bit too cheesy and fluffy for an old cynic like myself.

scene from the film

10. Lovers of hate - Bryan Poyser (USA)

And finally the last film I saw to finish my card. There was a reason I hand't planned on seeing this film. I was sure from the write up it would be a banal boring film. As I entered the cinema I hoped against hope I would be proven wrong and pleasantly surprised. No such luck. A mediocre boring film with unlikable characters.

trailer

A day of house work

It's been a nice rainy day today. A perfect day to stay in and do some autumn cleaning. Our lovely rug is down in the living room, most of our summer clothes have been put up and quite a few of our winter stuff has come down. My sister got a bit carried away and re-arranged the furniture in her room. I think it looks a lot better now, more spacious.

Being all wintery, I decided to cook a typical winter dish: beans. Specifically gigantes beans (giant beans). Did you know that the Giant and Elephant (they are even bigger than the Giants) beans of various areas in Greece are products of Protected Geographic Indication? I only just found out. Giant beans are really big white beans.

I decided to cook them in the oven following a recipe in an old fashioned greek cookbook I've got.

Giant Beans in the oven

* 1/2 kgr of beans

* 1/2 kgr tomatoes finely chopped (you can take of the skins if you like)

* 1 chopped carrot (I put more because I like carrots)

* 2-3 red onions finely chopped

* 1 clove of garlic minced

* finely chopped fresh parsley

* 1/2 a cup of olive oil

* 1 teaspoon of dry mustard

* 1 teaspoon of paprika

* 1 tablespoon of salt

* pepper

* 2 tablespoons white wine

1. Clean and wash the beans.

2. Put in a saucepan and cover with cold water. Put on the fire.

3. As soon as the water starts boiling, take of the fire and let sit for 1 hour.

4. Drain and cover with hot water. Boil for 1 hour.

5. Put in a casserole dish together with all the rest of the ingredients except the wine. Cook covered in a medium oven for 2 hours.

6. Add the wine near the end.

Makes 5 portions

note: If your beans are old, they will need more boiling or cooking. Don't be afraid to leave in an hour longer in the oven if it looks like it needs it.

They didn't turn out too bad.

We ate them with lots of feta cheese and a salad of lettuce, roquette and purslane (which doesn't taste too bad after all.)

And now, I'm waiting for my brownies to cool down so I can cut them and put them in the fridge to set.

I'm feeling like a housewife...

I've been a good girl today

I'm feeling very virtuous today. After waking late and spending all the morning messing around, which was very un-virtuous of me, I finally got a move on it. I cleaned my room, finally finished september's accounts (my sister owes me money, yay!) and went shopping. I try to go to the market at least every other saturday. I go to Neos Kosmos market, which one of the biggest and best markets in Athens. It's so big, I've never walked the whole thing.

I love going to the market. I love seeing all the fresh fruit and vegetables laid out on the stalls. I love the noise and bustle. The housewives and grandmas squeezing the tomatoes - I always try to emulate them, because they know what they're about - and the farmers shouting out their wares and often humourous banter between each other. Being a young woman, I usually get lots of smiles and friendly compliments, which is always pleasant.

So today, I went with an agenda to get fresh fish, tomatoes, fruit and whatever caught my attention. I got a lovely huge fish with a strange name I've already forgot - I'm useless like that - and some fresh spinach, because there were piles of it everywhere and it looked lovely. Tomatoes were harder. Tomato season is ending, so all the tomatoes were looking pathetic and expensive. 1 euro for a kilo of tomatoes is way too much! Especially when they look like that! Fruit were even harder, because it's an inbetween season for the fruits I like. It's too late for nectarines and too early for oranges. The market was full of apples and pears which I'm not keen on. I compromised with stafida grapes. I also got some roquette, because it was looking good, some purslane, because I've been meaning to try out it, and other bits and bobs.

And after that big hike, I went to the supermarket to get the things I couldn't get in the market: milk, feta cheese, white wine for cooking and gigantes beans (because they were out at the market).

And THEN I started cooking. You see why I'm feeling all virtuous today? I cooked the fish in the oven with potatoes. It was delicious! And now I'm busy baking a spinach pie. Yum, yum.

AND I plan on continuing on being virtuous tomorrow too. I've got more cooking planned (brownies and gigantes beans in the oven), as well as more cleaning. Also it's about time we put the carpet down in the living room and re-arranged our clothes. It's a whole big undertaking putting up our summer clothes and taking our winter ones down.

I get tired just thinking about it!

Holidays 2010 Part 3 - Serifos

It's already october! Happy october, by the way. And I still haven't finished posting about my summer holidays. My laziness and tardiness knows no bounds. Well… I am greek…

So without further ado I give you part 3 of my summer holidays!

For the last week of august I went camping in Serifos with my friend Voula. Our other friend Nefeli, who had come down to Greece with her german boyfriend from Dresden where she's moved to, was supposed to come with us too. Only Nefeli got sick. Poor girl got tonsillitis in the summer! Serifos was her idea, but we were too lazy to change destinations after she cancelled, so we went anyway.

Now, my friend Voula is not a great fan of camping, but we were rather broke. I, in particular, was completely skint and had no business going on more holidays. In any case, we went to an organised camping. Voula refuses point blank to go free camping.

Serifos camping is supposed to be one of the best in Greece. It wasn't bad. Relatively clean with trees, a beach right next to it and walking distance from the port village; I will agree that it was one of the better campings that I've been to. The downside is that it's a very full camping. Even in the end of August, when many camping sites are practically empty, this one was choc-a-bloc. It's also a great favorite with tourists.

Serifos is mostly famous for it's beaches. It's supposed to have some of the best beaches in the Mediterranean. Unfortunately we didn't have a car, and weren't capable of long walks because I had twisted my ankle and my friend burns too easily in the sun, so we only went to the easily accessible beaches. And they were lovely!

Livadakia beach - the beach next to the camping.

Psili Ammos beach - the most famous beach of the island

Ganema beach

more Ganema beach (and my feet!)

Apart from beaches, there's not much else to do in Serifos. It's an island for very laid back lazy holidays. And it's a couple's island, which was a big downer for me and Voula - being both single. Most of the bars and restaurants are in the port village, and mainly along the seafront promenade. On the other hand visiting the Chora, which is a steep bus-ride up the mountain, is well worth your while. It's a very cute chora, with a teensy castle and church on the highest point where the wind is so strong you feel like you will be blown away.

Serifos was fun, even though next time we will make sure we go to a singleton's island.

And that concludes my summer holidays! Better late than never!

If you want Part 1 - Tinos go here

If you want Part 2 - Pilio go here

Holidays 2010 Part 2 - Pelion

For Part 1 - Tinos go here.

The second week of my summer holidays I went to Pelion. Going there was my friend Angela's idea, who was willing to drive us. We took the late boat back to Athens slept for a couple of hours and early next morning my sister and I went to the train station to meet Charles (Angela's boyfriend) who had just flown in from London. We got the train to Lianokladi, piled into Angela's car (not the mini, fortunately, but the car they have given her from work) and drove all the way up to Volos and then Pelion.

I mentioned visiting Pelion earlier this year. But this time we saw much more.







As you understood, Pelion is not an island, it's a peninsula in central Greece, just next to Volos. It's a lovely green mountainous peninsula well know for it's picturesque mountain villages and beautiful beaches. I had only visited the villages high in the mountains during winter (and had on one memorable occasion got snowed in), so this was a great chance to see the talked about beaches for myself. Pelion is big and has many beaches. We only visited the northern part on the Aegean sea side, but the beaches where gorgeous. The one thing that certainly differentiates Pelion from the islands of the Cyclades are the trees. Pelion is so amazingly green!

We rented a house near Damouchari beach and spent most of our time walking to visit beaches, swimming and eating. Typical holidays in other words.


A nearly hidden beach near Damouchari

Damouchari beach

Fakistra beach

Horeuro beach

Mylopotamos beach

Papa Nero beach (check out how pasty Charles looks compared with my sister and Angela!)

Pelion is beautiful, but like most of Greece crowded in August. Unfortunately you need a car to get around unless you plan on staying in just one place. Also it's rather family and couples orientated and there's only one camping that is packed. If we were a larger group of people and booked enough in advance to find a big cheap house to rent it would be fun to go again. To the southern part this time.

Coming next my final week.

Holidays 2010 Part 1 - Tinos

The first week of my summer holidays I went to Tinos. Why did I chose this island? No idea. We were too lazy to think about it much, it's an easy island to get to, we hadn't been before and we found a cheap room. An island is an island anyway.

So I got on the boat with my friend Nikoletta and my sister (who is paranoid and likes remaining nameless) and went to TInos!


Why hadn't we been to Tinos before? Because it isn't exactly a young person's island. Tinos is most famous for it's churches, in particular the Panagia Euaggelistria Church in the Chora dedicated to the Virgin Mary. There is famous a big religious festival held on the Dormition of the Virgin (15th of August) and tons of faithful make pilgrimages to the church.


Tinos is also famous for it's venetian dovecotes.


Of course Tinos does remain an island in the Cyclades. Which means it's typically arid, the sun is scorching hot, has beautiful beaches (not as good as some other island though), blue blue seas and little white villages. Normally during August it's also very very windy. Tinos is especially famous for being one of the windiest islands. This August however was a very hot windless August. Even in the islands.

So we found no nightlife in Tinos and not too many people in our age-group. But we found beaches:
Agios Fokas beach
Rocky beach near Panormos

And we rented a car and explored some of it's villages. Tinos is one of the bigger islands in the Cyclades and has many villages.
Pyrgos
Dyo Choria
Ormos Ysternion
Panormos

We also visited one of the cutest monasteries I have ever seen. It was a women's monastery it looked just like an adorable little village where everything was women-sized!


And of course we ate! (I'm sure I put on a lot of weight this August.) The food in Tinos is rather good (even by high greek standards), the prices ok and the portions big. Tinos seems to be rather famous for it's artichokes and capers. The artichoke salad with vinegar was good enough to make me actually consider buying fresh artichokes rather than ready cleaned frozen ones like I usually do.

All in all, Tinos was fun, but I wouldn't go again.

Coming up next, week two and week three.

The holidays are over

I'm back!

I left a sweltering hell-hole of a city, only to come back and find nothing much has changed. First day back at work today and that was no fun.

When I'm not feeling so awfully tired and lazy, I'll tell you about my summer holidays and maybe post some pictures.

Counting down the days

There's a greek expression, "to be in pieces', it means to be exhausted, beat, worn out. That's how I feel now, broken into millions of little pieces.

I'm exhausted, mentally (from work) and physically (I haven't slept properly in weeks because of the heat).

It's unbelievably hot and grimy and dirty and disgusting, like it always is in Athens in the summer.

Work is aggravating me, stressing me, pushing me beyond my limits. I'm an architect - but I work as an architect's assistant - which means that on a practically daily basis I have to deal with people. I don't like people much. Clients are unrealistic and demanding. My boss is pushy and out of touch with the intricacies of civil services. The engineers (civil engineers, mechanical engineers) we work with are often short sighted and tiring (of course they are often helpful lifesavers too, but I'm in complaining mode at the moment). And worst of all are the civil servants I have to deal with and the miles of red-tape and ridiculous procedures that they strangle us with. At the moment I am being pushed and shoved and driven crazy acting as a go between between all these impossibly implacable and self-centred people.

And last of all, organising summer holidays is a very tiring business.

So, I'm exhausted, dizzy, irritated beyond measure and hopped up on useless stress and aggravation. I don't think I'll be able to come down until I finally get off the boat on my chosen holiday location...

Sunday. I'm leaving on sunday. I wanted to leave on friday - I can't take this city any more! But my friend doesn't want to leave any earlier... It's a drag.

So sunday! I'm going to the island of Tinos for six days. It's an island famous for it's churches (most dedicated to the Virgin Mary) and the on the day of the Virgin Mary things get really intense with all the pilgrims and religious nuts. Unfortunately we'll be leaving before then (the 15th of August for all you who don't live in christian countries) and will miss all the craziness. Ah well.

Afterwards I'm going to a sea-side village up in Pilion for a week. Pilion is in the mainland of Greece, central Greece to be exact. It's green and mountainous. The mountain villages are lovely in the winter - great for winter holidays. But the seaside villages are just as nice for the summer too. The beaches are supposed to be lovely. We'll see. I've only ever been to Pilion in the winter and the snow.

And then, who knows? I haven't yet made plans for my last week of holidays.

I can make it until sunday. Yes, I can!

Taking a short break

So it's been hot hot hot lately, and I've been depressed and irritable. I have a hard time sleeping at the best of times, and now with this awful heat, I hardly sleep a wink. As you can guess, I'm quite bad company lately.

Last week-end the latest heat-wave culminated, reaching as high as 41 and 42 degrees Celsius in Athens. Being forewarned by the weather forecast and having had a better proposition that sitting sweltering in the hell-hole that is Athens in the summer, I left the city.

Friday, right after work, I rushed to Piraeus - the port of Athens - and got the boat to the near by island of Kythnos, where a friend was holidaying. Taking the boat to an island is so much of a familiar summer ritual. It's one of the slowest, most boring and yet most calming ways to travel. This time my trip was only three hours long, but I have frequently taken twelve hour long boat journeys (sleeping on the deck of a boat is a marvelous experience) and one memorable time - never to be repeated - I took a never-ending impossible twenty-six hour boat journey!

I have visited Kythnos many times, so it's a very familiar island full of old memories. The small apartment my friend rents the whole year round so she can visit anytime, has the view of her favourite beach, and was the location of many of our teenaged high-jinks.



Like many greek islands, Kythnos has blue blue seas and bare bare hills.



And most of the photos you take end up looking like post-cards.



As you can see, I don't have much to say for myself and am copping out by posting photos instead.

I only stayed the weekend - having to be back to work on Monday - but it was certainly better than nothing! And now, the little trip is over and I'm back in Athens counting down the days till my summer holiday (two more weeks!).