After a nice walk in the warm morning sun we entered the building full of hope and good spirits. We took the elevator straight to the 4th floor, as indicated on a magnetic board in the hall. Two ladies were occupying the office. Neither of them spoke English. We tried our best Greek. Something...
Read more →With the missing form we got from the emigration police we drove to the office where I work in the centre. With the help of Popi, short for Penelope, I filled in the form. Somebody needed to sign it and I suggested that she would do that. That was a little bit too much...
Read more →Is it Thursday already? Damnit! Last time I looked up, I was writing part 2 of this thriller account of my most ordinary day, and that was on Tuesday. How did Wednesday slip through? Okay, I know you’re all waiting with great impatience, so without any further ado here goes: With my cup of...
Read more →After the ch’i gung exercises Yvonne went to feed Birte’s cats upstairs while I poured water in the kettle and put the kettle on the electric stove. I put the nescafé powder in 2 cups and while the water warmed up I went out on the balcony (18 meters of it) to remove the...
Read more →For all you English speaking fans: this is in Dutch so that a very special little person can read this too. Voor diegenen onder jullie die Joëlle niet kennen, even voorstellen: Joëlle is onze trouwste (je zou kunnen zeggen”hardnekkigste”) fan in Nederland (op de foto hiernaast is Joëlle degene die geen gekke bekken trekt,...
Read more →Two Dutch guys, aged 19 and 17, made it to the frontpage of the Saturday edition of the local Cretan newspaper “Patris”, or Patrida as it is still lovingly called by the elder people. It appears the boys had found a wallet on the beach in front of one of the sea-side hotels in...
Read more →Tonight it struck me all of a sudden that after almost 9 months of Cretan incubation some things have changed in my life. They’ve gradually and slowly crept in without making big waves (am I mixing metaphores here?). For starters, I don’t smoke anymore. Thursday, May 15th at 8:10 in the morning I lit...
Read more →As you are all preparing to invade this island where I have found shelter (Frans and Nadine just arrived in Chania by the way), I thought it time to give some friendly advise as to the code of conduct while driving on our scenic roads. So here are a few rules, which — if...
Read more →A Flemish farmer is “born with a brick in his belly”, But what are bricks to us are not bricks to Ikaros. Well, I got lost walking in these cities and towns in which I am certain Luc could give perfect directions to any passerby. You readers, if there are any out there, know...
Read more →For all those who wondered what was going on, and for all those who stopped wondering and started yelling at me, here I am again. Physically and spiritually in excellent shape, mentally slowly going nuts. As my pal Tom said: “I hope you didn’t go out and get a job or something crazy like...
Read more →