Before I turn my attention to the Thessaloniki Metro, I want to look briefly at the Greek kiosk (περίπτερο) again. I wrote about the institution in 23/005 LinNG. An article just published in Greek Reporter goes over the declining numbers again. The article is a little bit romanticized too, describing the περιπτεράς (kiosk licensee) as... Continue Reading →
23/010 Life in Northern Greece
6th August: It is still very hot. Halkidiki has been put on yellow alert for forest fires. No barbecues until further notice. Surprisingly, people were also warned not to throw cigarette ends out of cars. Why? Shouldn’t that be a matter of common sense? And shouldn’t it apply at all times and seasons, not just... Continue Reading →
23/009 Life in Northern Greece
Summer is here and we are in the middle of a heatwave called Cerberus. About three weeks ago there were three deaths and one life-changing injury in northern Greece. In Perea, next door to me, a young Syrian dived off the jetty into the sea. He’s now paraplegic. Three older people were also pulled out... Continue Reading →
23/008 Life in Northern Greece
The elections are over. An overall majority for the New Democracy government, a slight increase in the vote share for PASOK and the KKE, the election of one extreme right and two far right parties, and the re-election of the demented Zoe Konstantopoulou who, having scraped into Parliament with 3.17% of the popular vote, declared... Continue Reading →
23/007 Life in Northern Greece
For an election period, things seem quite quiet. The first round was a disaster for the opposition leader, Alexis Tsipras, the biggest chancer in Greek politics. It’s a terrible situation when you don’t want the government to win and when you want the opposition to lose. No joy at all. Here in Thessaloniki, Tsipras did... Continue Reading →
23/006 Life in Northern Greece: Graffiti
Graffiti used to be a simple affair. Political graffiti in Greek and football graffiti mainly in the Latin alphabet. For instance, ‘IRA’ did not signify support for Irish Republicans – it was short for Iraklis, a transliteration of the Ηρα of Ηρακλής (Hercules), Thessaloniki’s third football team. There was plenty of it, and practically every... Continue Reading →
23/005 Life in Northern Greece Το Περίπτερο
The “periptero” is a fixture of Greek life which might slowly be disappearing as more convenience stores like 4all and Today are muscling in on it. Although similar in concept to the French kiosque, the περίπτερο defied translation. Long ago when I was working in an English-speaking environment in Thessaloniki, it wasn’t uncommon to hear... Continue Reading →
23/004 Life in Northern Greece
Street names tell you a lot about a nation’s history. In my hometown in Ireland there is a Parnell Street and an O’Connell Street, named in honour of Charles Stewart Parnell and Daniel O’Connell, and these street names will be repeated in most Irish towns. On emigrating to Glasgow, I made a number of mistaken... Continue Reading →
23/003 Life in Northern Greece
Taleporistan, a country in the south-east of Europe sometimes known as Greece. Ταλαιπωρία [taleporia] is a word one learns comparatively early when living in Greece. It means hassle or hassle plus, the shite we all have to deal with when queuing in banks, government offices, hospitals, or merely trying to survive the day in Greece.... Continue Reading →
23/002 Life in Northern Greece
Hyperbole is a Greek word. And we have heard plenty of it recently regarding the detained Eva Kaili. First of all, her party (PASOK) disowned her instead of suspending her pending the results of the investigation. Not content with this guilty-until-proven-innocent manoeuvre, the leader of PASOK, Nikos Androulakis, levelled the ridiculous accusation that Kaili was... Continue Reading →
23/001 Life in Northern Greece
5th January 2023: It continues to be a mild winter. I drove to Halkidiki yesterday. It was sunny until I reached Toroni. I went there to check our house. One of the most important jobs is to make sure the drains on the balconies aren’t blocked. The house was OK, fortunately. A harsh winter combined... Continue Reading →
Life in Northern Greece 25/2022
Ah! The romantic smell of wood-burning fires permeates the village. Except it is anything but romantic. It’s the smell of fuel poverty. Over the past four or five years, Greeks have been abandoning heating diesel in favour of gas central heating, but this winter heating oil is cheaper than gas. Of course, it is not... Continue Reading →
Life in Northern Greece 24/2022
18th Nov. The good news is that I succeeded in getting through the 17th Nov without reading a Greek newspaper or watching Greek TV. For me the 17th is a horrible, depressing day. It is supposed to celebrate and commemorate the student uprising against the junta at Athens Polytechnic in November 1973. For an event... Continue Reading →
Life in Northern Greece 23/2022
Continuing from where I left off in LinNG 22/22, it must be said that sometimes in Greece there is no relief - even in death. Martha Karagianni, who died a couple of weeks ago, specifically requested to be cremated. My understanding is that her solicitor has her written request. Her cremation is/was being blocked by... Continue Reading →
Life in Northern Greece 22/22
Neighbours – can’t live with them but can definitely thrive without them. Greeks tend to be very family oriented. In the 20-odd years I have been in this block of flats, I have never been invited to a neighbour’s flat. In fairness, I haven’t invited any of them either. But that seems to be the... Continue Reading →
Life in Northern Greece 21/22
In an earlier post I said summer had arrived on schedule. It now looks as if autumn is trying to match its predecessor on punctuality. The second day of September witnessed a fall in temperature and severe rainstorms. Today (4th September) the weather is beautiful but noticeably cooler. In the wee hours of this morning... Continue Reading →
Life in Northern Greece 20/22
Wednesday, August 24th, 11am. The storm is showing no signs of moving on. Since 8:30am we have had heavy rain, thunder and lightning, one lightning strike being so powerful that it has knocked out our electricity and mobile networks. My bother-in-law sent me this text recently: “The rain falls in the Northern mountains of Ethiopia.... Continue Reading →
Life in Northern Greece 19/2022
She’s alive. He didn't kill her. He may not have even managed to blind her. The ex-husband attacked her with caustic acid. He was stressed out with the debts she was accruing. After a spate of three femicides in the past month, this was one more act of wanton violence. In my last post I... Continue Reading →
Life in Northern Greece 18/2022
The good weather means festivals. My village has just had one, which I missed because I was present at another one in Epirus. The feast of Αγία Παρασκευή is celebrated on 26th July. Paraskevi was a second century saint who survived being boiled in oil and thrown in a snake pit. She was less fortunate... Continue Reading →
Life in Northern Greece 17/2022
Nature wins. This pavement was clear until a few days of wet weather made it impassable! In the country, the sentencing of public figures and their subsequent release has been an issue over the past week. This embittered article https://www.sdna.gr/politiko-deltio/ellada/984694_o-korkoneas-eleytheros-o-lignadis-eleytheros-o-filippidis-spiti-toy talks about two well-known public figures and a convicted security officer. Lignadis, head of the... Continue Reading →