DAY 22…..Greece the First Time

Posted on June 18, 2012 by Key West Lou

I am never going to get out of Mikonos!

The Greek gods are working against me.

First, I wanted to go to Fourni. No way. The boat to Fourni had been discontinued. I decided to stay in Mykonos a few extra days.

Tomorrow, I was planning on leaving for Amorgos. Someone told me there is a monastery worth seeing. The monks provide water and food to visitors through a hole. The monks never see nor speak to anyone from the moment they enter the monastery. Also, Amorgos is considered one of the prettier of the small islands.

I went down to get my boat ticket for Amorgos this morning. Down by the waterfront. I wanted to leave tomorrow. No boat to Amorgos today or tomorrow. Everything cancelled. Even planes. The weather.

Strong winds today. The kind we get in Key West when the water breaks against the White Street Pier and splashes 20-30 feet high. I was on the waterfront this morning. Ten feet from the water. Hitting the beach and shooting up and over all nearby. Including me.

I am becoming knowledgeable about Mykonos weather.

When I first arrived, it was hot and humid. No breeze at all. The last three days big winds. No humidity.

Natives tell me that is the way the weather is this time of the year. Three days humid. Then three days of wind.

I also started hearing that today’s wind is unusual for June. It is September wind.

Who knows? I just want to leave Mykonos. I have been here too long. It is not my type place. Too touristy for me. Key West is mild by comparison. The flavor and grandeur for which Mykonos is known was in the 1960s and 1970s. Gone. Today’s tourists are wannabes to that life style.

A great place to visit for a few days and leave.

Wednesday is my scheduled departure day now.

Yesterday was Paradise Beach. The place I had been seeking. All my desires were satisfied. I saw it all! I was a little embarrassed. I never showed mine.

Stayed in last night again. Dined in the hotel’s dining room.

I have been eating Greek food for more than two weeks now. I yearned for something else. I enjoyed a huge portion of spaghetti bolognaise.

Christina is in charge of the dining room. She does a top notch job. Great service, great food and the right touch with personal amenities.

Christina is 35 years old. Looks 25. A short lovely blonde. Fair skinned. A single mother of a 4 year old boy.

I asked Christina where she works in the winter. Mykonos is a summer town. Closes down for the winter months. She says she can always find work somewhere in Mykonos in the off months.

A hard worker. A talented person. I wish her well.

The Greek election. Yesterday. I called it right. The euro supporters won. It was close. The euro people got 29 percent of the vote. The non-euros 26 per cent. Several other minor parties grabbed anywhere from 12 per cent of the vote downward.

Twenty nine per cent is not enough to control. A coalition is required. It is anticipated the winners will form the coalition with the party who got 12 per cent of the vote. Still not enough to make a majority. However, under Greek law the party receiving the largest number of votes automatically gets an additional 50 seats in the national legislature. That puts the euro people over the top. A crazy country!

Forget what you read in the papers and on TV today. This new government is not going to work. The Germans have already suggested they might ease some of the time payment dates. But that is it! The big hard dollar payments still remain. Greece will not be able to make them. The new government and the euro will fail. I give it three to six months.

To put it all in proper perspective, this election is not even a band aid. Some one took a rag and merely brushed the blood aside. A very temporary solution to an ongoing aggravating problem.

I noticed yesterday that many of the older Greek homes have what I thought was some religious design on each house. All alike. A bunch of small triangles set in a large square. The square sits on one of its points. There apparently is space behind the openings. I noticed the newer buildings did not have the design. My initial thought was that whatever it was was intended to keep evil spirits away.

I was wrong. The triangular openings were for doves.

At one time there were many white doves flying above Mykonos. Predatory birds discovered the doves and came in large numbers to feed upon them. This was many years ago. The citizens of Mykonos enjoyed and favored the doves. Ergo, as homes and buildings were constructed, these triangular openings became part of the construction. The doves could fly inside and evade the predator birds.

It must not have worked. I have seen no doves in my time here.

Terri White makes national news again! She was selected by GO Magazine as one of the 100 Women We Love. Take a look at the 6/15/12 edition of the magazine. A terrific pic of Terri and a concise litany leading to her success.

I survived yesterday’s hit and run. Woke this morning with a swelling half the size of a golf ball on my arm. No pain.

I have a pretty good tan. The sun is strong in the Greek isles. Much stronger than Key West. Between walking around and a bit of sun bathing, I am getting dark. Very dark.

I have only shaved once in the four weeks I have been gone. I look pretty bad. I apologized to one woman I met for having such a sloppy growth. She thought it looked sexy. I may never shave again. I wonder how I will look if I do not shave the balance of this trip. Another three weeks.

Enjoy your day!

—

Moving up to mid February 2021, a lot is happening everywhere.

Texas has been hit with a major snow storm. Power outage greater than ever before. Texas  was not ready for it.

Texas’ major power company, serves 26 million people. The company says it may take a month to get everything and everybody going.

At the moment, Texans at each other’s throats with blame. Heads will role.

Some believe it is climate change. I do also.

When it comes to weather generally in recent years, the only consistent has been and will continue to be unpredictability.

Texas’ present deep freeze has presented an unseasonable demand from residents trying to heat their homes. The demand has stripped Texas’ energy supply.

Following are some happenings not previously considered when a winter storm of the Texas magnitude hits.

People are dying of carbon monoxide poisoning trying to heat their homes by running their cars inside their attached garages.

Thousands of COVID-19 vaccine doses are at risk of spoiling.

Crops planted ahead of the spring harvest are dying under the snow and ice, burdening farmers already struggling after years of Trump’s trade wars.

Texas is not the only place where snow rarely falls that is getting buried this week.

Athens.

At the moment, snow is blanketing Acropolis. The snow fall heavy. The Acropolis and Parthenon looked strange under snow in the photos I have seen.

Athens is not generally cold in the winter. You recall my friends that owned the cave dwelling I lived in on Santorini closed their facility for the winter. Santorini too cold. However, Athens generally not. If so, my friends would lock up their Athens home and take a 1-2 month vacation somewhere in the Caribbean.

The snow which fell on Athens and continues today is heavy and freezing. Many highways around Athens are closed.

Ferry service in the 800 Greek isles is like bus service in the U.S. Ferry service has been cancelled. As have all flights in and out.

Two major automobile accidents. One involving 800 vehicles. The other 600.

Not a good time to be in Athens. Note however the extreme cold and snow was not expected.

I mentioned a few days ago Trump had come out on top in his second impeachment trial. Worry not, I explained. He will have his Las Vegas as O.J. Simpson did.

In fact, over the next two years Trump is going to be buried in all kinds of lawsuits no one has heard of as yet.

The first one hit yesterday. Bennie Thompson is a Democrat Representative from Texas. He has joined with the NAACP in filing suit against Trump, Giuliani, Proud Boys and Oath Keepers.

The suit a civil one for money damages. Compensatory and punitive. A violation of the Klu Klux Klan Act of 1871 claimed. The suit has to do with the defendants’ interference with Congress’ certification of the Electoral College count.

The Klu Klux Klan Act is intended to protect Black citizens from violence and intimidation. The grounds set forth in the Complaint are basically the same as those made by the House Managers in the Impeachment trial.

Trump may have to pay in the end. He also has another expense he was rarely confronted with while President.

There is a law that where a President is named in a law suit while President, he is entitled to be represented free by the Department of Justice.

The free ride is over. Trump is no longer President. He will have to pay private counsel to defend him in the lawsuits sill pending and those that will now come.

I mentioned yesterday that I was not in favor of Biden’s Child Tax Credit in the stimulus bill. Too much money going out to certain individuals. The size of the government dollars to each recipient will easily discourage many from returning to work.

There is a benefit to the Child Tax Credit, however. It is projected it will cut poverty by 54 percent. Five million children will be removed from the poverty classification.

Jared and Ivanka seem to have closed out there public White Hose careers on a positive note.

First, they purchased a lot on Billionaires Bunker near Miami for $31 million. Note, an empty lot. House till must be built. It was reported last week in some federal statement they were required to file that their gross earnings for last year was $120 million.

There is more.

They have no where to live till a home is built. They are presently renting in top of the shelf Arte Surfside near Miami Beach on a yearly rental. Not cheap. A 4 bedroom condominium unfurnished rents for $39,000 a month. A 3 bedroom furnished $60,000 a month.

When they both went to work for Donald in the White House 4 years ago, things were financially tough. Especially for Jared. Very high debt.

The $1 a year White House job worked out for them. Look at how much they are now spending and take into account the $120 million jointly earned last year.

All earned while on the White House payroll.

The shame of it all. Florida Governor DeSantis is being touted as Presidential timber for 2024. Amazing. He is totally incompetent. Danced 100 percent to Trump’s tune. Florida is not in the best of shape.

Apparently, it no longer requires competent people to run our country. Don’t say it cannot happen. Trump got nominated and then elected. Surprised everyone. Incompetency rises to it highest level with regard to recent political leaders.

Jim Brown. A fine individual. On top of which regarded as one of the best professional football players ever.

Brown played exceptional football while at Syracuse University and with the Cleveland Browns. In 2002, The Sporting News recognized him as the greatest professional football player ever.

Why do I write of Brown? The Syracuse connection a partial reason. However Brown had left Syracuse by the time I started in 1957.

The primary reason is Brown’s age. His birthday is today.  The man is 85. Louis is 85.

I end with May Johnson.

My information re her diary publication soon coming to an end has not been precisely accurate. I recently said her last diary entry would appear February 18.

Today is the 17th. No May diary entry.

I hope the Citizen can work problems out and return her very interesting 1897 life style to us.

Enjoy your day!