1st November 21: I feel as if I’m between a rock and a hard place or – to show off a little classical education – between Scylla and Charybdis, the Scylla of British infection insouciance and Charybdis of the looming Corona crisis in Greece.
Yesterday witnessed the highest infection figures since the start of the pandemic. Matters are even worse in The Great Unvaccinated North. Kathimerini (Greece’s equivalent of the Times) reported:
Ενδεικτικές είναι οι δηλώσεις του πρύτανη του ΑΠΘ, Νίκου Παπαϊωάννου: «Είμαστε σε σημείο συναγερμού. Η εκτίμηση είναι ότι θα έχουμε αύξηση των κρουσμάτων. Τέλη της άλλης εβδομάδας θα έχουμε και το αποτύπωμα της εβδομάδας της 28ης Οκτωβρίου» επισήμανε ο πρύτανης.
The declarations of the Chancellor of Thessaloniki University are indicative: “We are in a state of alarm. All the estimates indicate an increase in cases. By the end of next week, we will also have the imprint of the week that included the No Day ceremonies.”
I won’t say any more about Covid this week except that the fault for what might turn out to be Black November in Greece lies squarely on the shoulders of the troglodytes who refuse to get vaccinated. Moreover, it seems that asymptomatic cases outnumber sufferers by a multiple of five. In the words of the Chancellor: «Πιθανόν να έχουμε πολλούς ασυμπτωματικούς που διασπείρουν σε ανεμβολίαστους και σε ηλικιωμένους με υποκείμενα νοσήματα, όποτε υπάρχει ένας κύκλος που αυτοτροφοδοτείται.» “We will probably have many asymptomatic people infecting the unvaccinated and older people with underlying conditions, so it will become a self-sustaining cycle.”
I had a productive day in terms of putting music together. I emailed the team in Thessaloniki a set of two Scottish reels, Miss Spence’s Reel and Gillian’s Reel. I want to find out if they like them and, if they do, which reel should go first. I’m currently working on another reel, Mayor Harrison’s Fedora. By “working on”, I mean editing. It is incredible how many errors there are online.
Here is Miss Spence’s uploaded to YouTube by the wonderfully named Fiddle Castro: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlH9aDLbJKU
And Gillian’s Reel (the fiddler calls it Gillan’s Reel), played ABAB rather than AABB: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tc1CuwzUHzI
The above tunes are listed as D major and A major respectively, but there is considerable shifting from major to Mixolydian and Dorian modes and back again.
And now to Mayor Harrison’s Fedora. Here it is followed by a very lively Leslie’s Reel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1KPWRXi5Ik Leslie’s reminds me a little of The Longford Tinker.
Finally, the proprietor of the Dubliner has posted online the latest publicity for our next session, scheduled for 14th November. Let’s hope it still goes ahead.
Dubliner’s webpage https://thedubliner.gr/irish-trad-sessions-live/