LIVING
LIVING
FEBRUARY 2010
CARNIVAL TIME AGAIN
I love this time of the year,
when hedonism rules just for a short burst of time before
settling down to the abstinence of lent.
We spent the Friday night of
Apokreas at a function organized by our daughter’s school. A
local affair it was fun to be out socializing with people from
the surrounding villages. The highlight of the night was the
raffle. For 5 Euro, we could buy a fist of 5 tickets, one of
which was a winner. We bought twenty and from this, we won a
bottle of liqueur and a box of cakes from a local patisserie (still
to be collected), a very nice sage green, lady’s jumper, a set
of amplifiers for an i-pod and an oil-change for the car. Not
too disappointing but nothing like two years ago when we won a
leg of rolled pork and twenty tickets to sail on the Agios
Nektarios!
I sprayed Mr. L’s beard bright
yellow to match the equally garish yellow plastic baseball hat
complete with long flowing lemon hair. Due to my chaotic
lifestyle( I told him), I didn’t notice the next day that he
still had a strong hint of yellow in his beard but fortunately,
customers and colleagues did and they kindly informed him.” Ah
well, it is still carnival time”, I reassured him as I tied my
green hair behind my ears.
Island life amuses me in some
ways, particularly the culture of gossip. “Better to be talked
about than ignored!” I cheerfully tell my children as they
complain about my behavior.( I refused to wash out the green dye)
On Sunday, 14th
February, the eve of lent, we went to Eν
Aiγινη with some friends whilst the
children stayed at home and enjoyed each others’ company. The
programme of excellent bouzouki music started at 11pm and by
01.00 hrs, it was well under way and the venue began to fill up
with more and more people. By 02.00 hrs, I began to feel very
hot and curiously odd, what with a ringing in my ears and
everything appearing gold and black. When nausea gripped my
stomach, I hissed to Mr. L that I needed to get out immediately
as I felt dreadful. I hadn’t eaten since lunchtime and I am not
particularly good at coping with hot, crowded interiors. Being
on the wrong side of the table, I was the last to get up but I
focused all my concentration on getting to the stairs and
hopefully out of the door.
I remember the steps, how
reassuringly cold they felt against my face; I could have stayed
there all night but being essentially British, I was not going
to allow anyone to pick me up, so somehow, I managed to get
myself into the upright position and continue my journey to the
refreshing coolness of the exterior.
The next day was ‘Clean Monday’.
We flew our kites in Agia Marina where the wind blew violently
and the kite string cut through our clothing and ripped our
hands so we finally abandoned the feat and retired to a
restaurant in Alones where we had a most delicious meat free
meal with relatives.
Alison Lorentzos
copyright 2010
