Saturday 5th June. It is becoming harder to get basic Covid facts from the Greek Press, by that I mean the Greek-language press. Covid continues to abate with 932 new cases recorded today, 35 deaths and 445 undergoing “invasive treatment” as it says in the English-language Greek Reporter. One consistency over the past few weeks... Continue Reading →
Irish Music Scene & Life in Northern Greece 13/2021
Despite the country opening up to tourism and despite the increasing air of normality, there has been a steady decrease in Covid. Today’s figures are 1,007 new cases, 41 dead and 480 in intensive care. Of the new cases, only one was detected at a border entry point. The press seems puzzled that over half... Continue Reading →
Greek Word of the Week 13/2021
English-speaking students of Ancient Greek often refer to the Liddell & Scott Greek-English Lexicon for help. It has just undergone a re-writing so deep and wide in scope that the editors have dropped the names of the original compilers; it is now called the Cambridge Greek Lexicon. More information can be found here: https://greekreporter.com/2021/05/27/cambridge-university-creates-monumental-new-ancient-greek-dictionary/ The... Continue Reading →
Irish Music Scene & Life in Northern Greece 12/2021
Hurrah for tourists. May they come in droves. The Greek government, I believe, would have kept us in lockdown indefinitely were the economy not so dependent on tourism. The number of new Covid cases, deaths and patients in intensive care has not really gone down as much as the authorities would like, but the gates... Continue Reading →
Greek Word of the Week 12/2021
It is getting better but mobile telephony in Greece is still quite expensive. There is still no real competition as neither Wind nor Vodafone is allowed to undercut the former state-owned COSMOTE. I’m with the bad boy COSMOTE and I am a light user. To tell the truth, one thing I do like about COSMOTE... Continue Reading →
Greek Word of the Week 11/2021
καμπάνα – (kambana) bell, bell-bottoms, a fine Obviously a borrowing from Latin, καμπάνα has several extended meanings including the flared trousers popular in the 70s, also called bell-bottoms. In an article about the biologist, Professor Sotiris Tsiodras in www.instanews.gr the writer states “ο Σωτήρης Τσιόδρας … έκρουσε …. το καμπανάκι του κινδύνου για τον αριθμό... Continue Reading →
Irish Music Scene & Life in Northern Greece 11/2021
Orthodox Easter is on May 2nd and very few people will be travelling for the second successive year. A drip-drip of ministerial leaks and utterances have prepared us for the non-surprise announcement by the Prime Minister yesterday, an unfortunate date as 21st April 1967 was the date of Greece’s last military coup. The date for... Continue Reading →
Greek Word of the Week 10/2021
χουνέρι (khuneri) Another borrowing. Persian in origin but coming to Greece via Turkey. Having checked various dictionaries and online sources, I’ve found that there is little agreement on the precise definition of the word. This gives me the confidence to add my own translation. My old Crighton does not have the word. Nor does my... Continue Reading →
Irish Music Scene & Life in Northern Greece 10/2021
My original intention when creating this blog was to focus on Irish music and life in Northern Greece, specifically on Thessaloniki. Circumstances that we are all aware of have limited musical performance. Moreover, my comments on Greece have focused on the country as a whole and its response to Covid 19. This has meant that... Continue Reading →
Irish Music Scene & Life in Northern Greece 9/2021
It’s been a great week in terms of discovery. I have always poo-pooed the idea of ABC musical notation, failing to understand why anyone would choose to labour over the differences between G, (the G below middle C [the comma is a symbol, not punctuation]), G and G’ instead of “learning the dots” as it... Continue Reading →
Greek Word of the Week 9/2021
There were several candidates for Word of the Week, mainly words to describe a fondness for bad language: αθυροστομία, βρωμολοχία, υβρεολόγιο but the winner is another word from www.menshouse.gr άμπαλος = abalos I had difficulty working out the meaning because my first instinct was to read it as “ambalos”. Had I read it as “abalos”,... Continue Reading →
Irish Music Scene & Life in Northern Greece 8/2021
The music scene has blossomed technically and online. My lack of computer savviness (apparent in the design of this blog) has improved. I’m downloading video clips, converting them to mp3 or mp4, changing the key or tempo as and when necessary, converting PDFs to jpeg. Small beer, admittedly, but a big personal improvement. Our Sunday... Continue Reading →
Greek Word of the Week 8/2021
Usually, I focus on words with non-Greek roots, so-called “loan words”. Why do we call them that when we never give them back? Anyway, this week’s word is Greek through and through unless someone wants to take me to some dark corner of Indo-European historical linguistics to prove otherwise. επιστράτευση – epistratefsi = mobilization. The... Continue Reading →
Greek Word of the Week 7/2021
μανούλα = mummy, but… From 6am today, 4th March 2021, the Greek government further tightened the restrictions already in place. Schools are closed again. If you want to go out, you have to send a text to 13033 and enter a number between 1 and 6, your name and address. The numbers are code for... Continue Reading →
Irish Music Scene & Life in Northern Greece 7/2021
While it is true that Greece has handled the Covid-19 crisis better than most other EU member-states, the vaccination rate has been lagging. Unlike Hungary, Greece hasn’t gone rogue and started importing the Chinese or Russian vaccines. I did a little online research to estimate where I stand in the queue. The population of Greece... Continue Reading →
Greek Word of the Week 6/2021
λαμαρίνα = sheet metal. Though the dictionaries don’t tell you, λαμαρίνα also refers to the bodywork of a car. Most of the words I choose tend to be words that I have heard. Λαμαρίνα is one of the few exceptions. I was watching a Norwegian series called ‘Accused’. As the series was on Nova on... Continue Reading →
Irish Music Scene & Life in Northern Greece 6/2021
My original aim in this blog was to talk about Irish citizens and Irish music in Northern Greece with some observations on Greek life thrown in. Covid has severely affected developments in Irish music. Moreover, the Irish community has shrunk since 2008 and, combined with the ravages of Covid, those of us who remain are... Continue Reading →
Greek Word of the Week 5/2021
παρενόχληση (parenokhlisi) = harassment, especially σεξουαλική παρενόχληση, sexual harassment. Making a change from the stressful boredom of endless Corona updates and scaremongering about new strains and mutations, the “Me Too” movement has finally arrived in Greece. It began around two weeks ago when a female athlete accused her former trainer of abuse. By the end... Continue Reading →
Irish Music Scene & Life in Northern Greece 5/2021
There seems to be a general panic in government circles. The panic has been caused, not by the number of cases, but by the levels of Covid in the city’s effluent. Some scientists believe there are 80,000 infected people in the capital area. Accordingly, the curfew in the Athens area and Thessaloniki has been extended... Continue Reading →
Irish Music Scene & Life in Northern Greece 4/2021
Not too much to report. We are still in lockdown. Cases and fatalities are much the same as last week, but ten mutations were found today (28th January 2021). How is Greece doing? According to this study by the Lowy institute https://interactives.lowyinstitute.org/features/covid-performance/ the answer is very well. 32nd in a list of 98 countries, and... Continue Reading →