LIVING
LIVING
JANUARY 2012
OLD CARDIGANS AND
SLIPPERS
We didn’t have a glitzy
Christmas. I was too tired to organise my usual Christmas Eve
party but we did have an enjoyable Christmas which revolved
around family, Godparents and historical friends, pesudo family,
the ones whose children have grown up with ours and have shared
many experiences. Like comfort clothing, the attraction of
these friendships is the easy-wear, non-pretentious ease in
which we are simply with each other, the familiar security of a
favourite old cardigan or a pair of faithful slippers.
In our sitting room, the
upholstery was hanging down from a very old Belgian chair and
one of the panels had fallen from the Arts and Crafts hexagonal
table so that a beautifully carved flower which usually sits at
an elephant’s head, lies lamely at the base of a ceramic bowl
and the gap that was its place is as plain as a toothless
smile. Old cardigans and slippers though will see and not judge
because they know the situation so well. They know how busy our
lives are and they know why and how we are here. They know that
one day the elephant and the flower will be re-united but they
care more about the food and conversation… and we had some
wonderful food this year. My sister-in-law (child numbe two’s
Godmother) is the best cook of spanikopitta. The pastry is
perfect! Crisp and golden , it envelopes the freshest fetta
cheese and spinach with a hint of mint.Being a member of
Aegina’s Womens’ Group, she often bakes to sell her wares at the
Fistiki fest and always runs out of supplies. Last year, she
had to go home several times to bake more batches and true to
form, the ones she baked for us were fought over and demolished
within seconds of the lid being removed.
Child number two was eighteen
two days after Christmas. He refused a party (he had organised
his own celebrations on Christmas Eve when he danced the night
away at one of Aegina’s night clubs till the early hours with
his friends) but accepted his Godparents and family for dinner.
The feast was prepared with him in mind. He loves my spinach and
pepper vegetarian bake which has a rich cheese sauce , not as
famous yet as Thea Anna’s spinikopitta but equally tasty though
cumbersome to eat . Curry was on the menu along with pork and
apple casserole, roast chicken (boring) and the ubiquitous
chocolate cake. This was his 18th chocolate cake but
the first to be consumed with a glass of champagne.
New year too, not in the mood
for parties, we made a last minute decision tospend the evening
with old slippers and cardigans and each cooked something so
that the work was evenly distributed. We even danced a little,
much to the shame of our respective children who groaned with
embarrassment. They had their turn though. At 01.00 hours I
drove several 15 year olds down to the club with the biggest
party where apparently ALL of their friends were going to be.
“Only TWO hours” I reminded them” and DON’T drink any alcohol.
I’ll pick you up at 3.am”. Our two sons had been instructed to
spy on their sister and to correct any dubious behaviour. Busy
with their own plans though, they delegated this task to other
friends whom they knew would be at the venue. Ah the bliss of a
small community! We always know everything about our children.
The phone rang at 2am. Could
the pick-up time be extended please as their friends had only
just started to arrive What IS it with Greek parents? Don’t they
ever go to sleep at night? We settled on 3.30 although the
desired target time was 5.am! We meanwhile, sat by the fire
warming our hearts , fantasising about imaginary scenarios in
which we could best embarrass our children such as turning up at
the club and dancing our 1970 dance routines . That aside, the
young people here have a wonderful life in which the focus is on
fun and friends within the safety of a watchful community and
when I did finally collect our daughter, she collapsed into the
car with satisfied exhaustion. Oh that was great fun, she said.
I haven’t stopped dancing!
We are happy that our children
have a huge circle of friends on the island with whom they have
grown up and they are secure in a having a family that loves
them. During a crisis such as the one we are experiencing here
in Greece, we hope that everyone has a collection of old
cardigans and slippers and we recommend that you spend lots of
time with them as they really are the best therapy!
I wish everyone a tolerable and hopefully, happy new year.
Alison Lorentzos
copyright
2011
