Someone who riles me is the TV news presenter on Sky channel, Konstantinos Bogdanos. His style of
presentation is over-ebullient : he constantly buzzes and hops about on-screen,
waving sheaves of paper, interrupting his own colleagues, his exuberance
detracting from the topic under discussion. He just has to put in his
pennyworth – so much for objective reportage – as if we, the audience, are
incapable of arriving at our own positions under our own steam. Clearly no one
wants members of the press to be vulnerable to violence, but when I heard he
had been attacked in the street, I kind of understood what may partly have led
to negative emotions running that high.
Talking of interrupting, someone
else who irked me was the BBC interviewer, Emily
Maitlis. When interacting – could we call it interviewing? – with Yianis
Varoufakis, she clearly showed she belonged to the Jeremy Paxman stable of
aggressive, intimidating and condescending behaviour. Is that supposed to be
seen as ‘good television’? But he was up
to dealing with her – YES!!
Incidentally, Varoufakis seemed
to cause quite a sensation with his outfit at Number 10. Okay, perhaps he was a
little laid back, given the circumstances, but as our niece, Jenny, said – she’s
our Sheffield correspondent - instead of
hearing all about his demeanour, how about hearing more about what he actually
had to say? That is much more of moment. Certainly it may come as some
consolation when Yianis inevitably does the Oliver Twist and has to take his hands out of his pockets…….. to
ask for more !
Two things I would like to see are:
Tsipras wearing a tie – as that will mean if not a haircut to our
debts, that there has been a wee trim
and Schaeuble smile – they’re not going to
happen at the same time, are they?
Greek/German positions have
become entrenched and their current intransigence makes a successfully
negotiated outcome ever more remote. Here all we can do is watch and wait with
bated breath. Whatever happens, we are the ones who need to blink, given our
parlous circumstances – and if we don’t? – OMG – what then?
On to more positive topics. The National
Geographic program Eat : The Story of Food is
fascinating – a topic close to my heart , as is, of course, language. This week
the focus was on grains and bread-making. What I loved was that they said
traditionally the base of the loaf was charred and didn’t taste so nice so that
was reserved for those consumers of less importance; while the golden top of
the loaf was reserved for those of higher status; that is, this part actually
was and was given to ….the upper crust.
Oh, I do love language! Of course, another dining metaphor is derived from
where one of the most valuable commodities – the salt – was placed on the
table. Those deemed of social significance were said to be those seated above the salt.
Continuing the topic of food,
tonight in Greece we celebrate ‘Smelly
Thursday’ when traditionally people go out in fancy dress to enjoy the
smells – and flavours- of roasted meat as we are now in the run up to Lent when,
strictly speaking, people of the faith are expected to fast for 40 days. The
Apokreas, or Carnival, is a marvellous, crazy time for young people. We oldies tend to avoid going out to restaurants on such
a night as it entails lots of noise, and poor quality food at higher prices. So
we have made some salads and oven baked chips, got ourselves sausages and
souvlakia – to ensure the smelly part of the evening! -and the nice thing is
that our neighbours are coming to be silly along with us …but quietly.
Below are the pork souvlakia,
nestling in a marinade of oil, mustard, honey, garlic, onion, oregano and beer –
H’s recipe – and we will top that off
with this chocolate orange tart, served hot with vanilla ice-cream. Kali orexi!
We have been having a very cold
spell and although this picture will be risibly pathetic for those of you in
Northern Europe and North America, to say nothing of Russia and even Athens,
this is evidence our recent snow fall – if you look really closely you can see
the snow-flakes.
And the snowfall got me thinking
of a little poem we learned as kids that I’d like to share with you:
The North Wind doth blow and we shall have snow
And what will poor robin do then, poor thing?
He’ll sit in a barn and keep himself warm,
And hide his head under his wing, poor thing.
Now we think it is possibly not a
robin, but for the last few years in winter this little birdie has come to roost in the rafters of our balcony upstairs. The
interesting thing is he used to fly in around sundown until we fitted
transparent roller blinds there as a wind-break. Our resourceful little chappie found a space
between the pieces of roofing and walks through that little corridor. You can
hear his approach quite distinctly. Above you can see him having just arrived
on his perch. In a few moments he will become a little grey ball as he really
does hide his head under his wing. Initially if we had guests upstairs, he
would fly off, startled by the noise and lights. Now he has become a little more
courageous. He stays when we have company – he seems to know we mean him no
harm, bless!
That north wind is still blowing
but at least there is a little sunshine. So if you slip into a large plant pot,
you can get shelter from the wind and catch the sun at the same time. Never mind the basil plant, Mr Mao is very comfortable, indeed,
thank you….. and thankfully he remains unaware of our night-time visitor
upstairs!
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