Sunday, October 25, 2009

Four people were injured last night in Ommonia Square and two were arrested. The injuries were caused by gunshots and neither of the two arrested men was Greek: one was Italian, the other Palestinian. Hey-ho in the very centre, the Piccadilly Circus, of Athens! Also in a northern suburb a ten year old boy was shot in the leg during a shoot-out between his family and a rival clan. Evidently the adults who started the fracas escaped unscathed. The boy is said to be in a critical condition.
Wet towels, wet towels, wet towels! What a deal of mopping up as the heavens opened and the torrential rain has been hitting us for the last twenty-four hours. The first autumnal storm and, as I write, the thunder is still rolling with hardly a break between rolls. The reason for the wet towels is because they are placed at the foot of exterior doors that tend to flood and of course the dryer would pack up at this time of the year. What did Cretans do before the advent of modern civilisation? Be careful what you wish for, your wishes could come true. Earlier I said to Diane that I hoped it would rain so I didn’t have to bother with watering the garden. What I didn’t wish for was the deluge we’ve received, rather I had hoped for that gentle rain from heaven.
Well, or lipon as the Greeks would say, my visit to the Health Centre was another anti-climax. We got the prescriptions renewed but as far as the breathing difficulties are concerned it was a case of a quick all over with the stethoscope and “see a specialist”. And as for the little lump on my leg, they gave it a couple of thumb presses which made me yell, asked if it hurt when I walked to which the answer was no, and then seemed to lose interest. So four doctors have now seen it and don’t seem to be particularly worried. At some point it will have to be excised but there is evidently no hurry. We have learnt that the little girl Elizabeth a couple of doors down the road who we knew when we first came here is now a fully fledged doctor and is working in the hospital in Heraklion. What is more she is a lung specialist so that is who I will make an appointment to see, and have the leg looked at again at the same time. And, talking of time, the clocks went back an hour last night so the days of sunshine, when we get them again, are going to be shorter.
It was at this point that I had to switch off as the lightning was too close for comfort and too many computers and telephones have crashed in this kind of weather.
But here I am back again. Still hear the thunder but distant now. Last night we watched the film “Maurice” again. I was in Washington DC when I first saw it all of twenty odd years ago but have seen it on telly a couple of times since. Watching it last night I was struck, as I wasn’t particularly before, at just how handsome, beautiful even, young Mr James Wilby was and how small Mister Rupert Graves, though equally as handsome: a beautiful movie with an all-round terrific cast and just as enjoyable as previous viewings. Many many years ago, all of thirty or more, I wanted to write a screenplay based on Mister Forster’s novel and tried to get interest in it from the film world but at that time no one was interested. Timing really is so important in life, n’est ce pas? It was the same with “Lorenzo’s Oil”. When I read the article in the Sunday Times I immediately called Roy Simpson, the only producer I was on first name terms, with but his response was, if the story was that compelling he was quite sure a major studio would snaffle up the rights and so it turned out to be. The resultant film was hardly a box-office breaker but beautiful with the most extraordinary, brilliant performance from the child. Not box-office breaking but certainly heart-breaking.
Would you believe Firefox cannot gain access to Google so this Blog can’t be sent yet? There are two reasons for this; firstly Grecian.net always seems to have trouble at week-ends and secondly, the bloody weather! It is now 11.05. I will try again later. If no success this one will have to be published tomorrow

No comments: