With Love from Athens by Cristache Gheorghiu - HTML preview

almost without interruption. If so far they have

been awarded, now they beg. The most recent

aids marked negatively their mentality, at least

by two ef ects:

- They have got the habit of living from aids,

what is the worst than it looks;

- Together with the help of Soviets, received

during the Civil War, they received the

communist doctrine too.

Strikes and protest ral ies - their solution to the

recent crisis – wil not solve the problem. On

the contrary, it wil aggravate it. Firstly, the

crisis is not their; it is a financial crisis overal .

Greece is just the first on the list of indebted

ones. That's because they have ripped of and

laid the most, in relation to their economic

power. Now, those who should resolve the crisis

are those who hold the brakes. The big banks

are the most involved. The association of banks

wishes to save the system. The banks, however

associated, are in competition each other. The

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failure of some is joy for the others. Who wil

win this dispute nobody knows. The sacrifice of

some banks, with serious consequences for

Greece, it is a solution unlikely. Now, the

Greeks caress themselves with the idea that

other countries, including the US, have debts

too and that – final y - al debts wil be

deleted. Naive! I do not think it is appropriate

to cry of pity the Americans. Perhaps, trying to

save the system, the association of banks are

able to find a global solution and to forgive

Greece of its sins. It is, apparently, an

advantageous solution for short term, but

catastrophic on long-term. The only correct

solution is the economic growth, and this involves

to attract the investors and not to scare them.

* * *

There are here, in the café, two waiting-girls

very nice, unusual In the Greek landscape. I

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think in their genealogic tree slipped a foreign

race. Even the boy at the bar is handsome.

* * *

Someone said that the wars described by Homer

would have been much more petty and that only

the writer's talent made them great. It appears

that about the heroes we could say the same

thing. Even Odysseus, seems to have been just

a smal cunning fel ow. So, thanks to Homer the

Greeks would have a glorious past.

'A great past, a great future" is a line of a

Romanian poetry. Is it suitable for Greeks?

Greece is not a large country and is no longer

great at al . Yes, but the simple fact that it

exist for several mil ennia, of which the last two

under foreign occupation, is evidence that it has

a life with few countries can hope. But, as not

Trojan’s War was great, but the work of Homer

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and that of others like him, it appears that not

political criteria are to be taken into

consideration, but the cultural dimension. They,

the Greeks, from this point of view, have a real y

great past, and this is the explanation of

Greece’s persistence. This does not mean that

al Greeks are people of culture. On the

contrary! Even now, when I put down these

thoughts, in a cafe-space, in which,

traditional y, Greeks spend evenings in face of a

cup of words - I could hardly cal intel ectual

someone around, though the Café is in the

centre of the town.

* * *

Greek children like school. At least some!

Yesterday, Sunday, at 20 o’clock, in front

of a school, a group of children talked

merely around a pile of rubbish. The

garbage doesn't disturbed them, sign that it

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occurred many times. Important is the fact

that you cannot break up the school, even

when it is closed.

I also have a more pessimistic variant: the

routine; this is the place where they come

during the breaks, to do what is not al owed

in school. But, maybe, I should not write

this.

Athens, October 17, 2011

- - - - -

The weather was repaired. The sky is blue,

but pretty cold.

The neighbour woman across the corridor

works after the meal, I think. She comes in

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the evenings. She sleeps only toward the

morning. Now It is 3:45 o’clock and I hear

her making conversation with the little girl;

both are lively. It would leave at least the

child to have a normal sleep. Even the dog

in the block across the street sleeps at this

hour. He barks only during the day,

especial y evenings, when the owners of

pets walk along the bet friend, and he

notifies that he observed them. That's

right, sometimes he barks to some

pedestrian as wel , but I have not yet

found out why. At me, he does not bark. I

remember that, a few years ago, in Brasov,

the dog of a neighbour used to bark to me

when I went out of the house dressed with

the overal of painting, which was speckled

with paint. It was clear that was

admonishing me for defective clothing.

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* * *

I don't know if people were more beautiful

at the time of Fidias & co. If they were

identical with those of today, it means the

artists of antiquity had the intuition of

beauty, because they created the ideal of

beauty that has been preserved until today.

Yes, Greeks are those who made us sick by

beauty. The Fidias’ Greeks! The English,

French people, stealing Greek statues,

conveyed the microbe of beauty at their

home.

In Athens, the ruins tel us that the spirit

of antiquity stil exists. Closely researched,

however, we find that it is ful of absences.

There are missing not only the descendants

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of those who built them, but also those for

which they were built. Modern Athens is

something else. And yet, the spirit is

there, but it must be sought elsewhere.

The aim of those who have built in stone

monuments destined to resist in time could

not be those few inhabitants of the

nowadays town. They aimed at the Universe

and defied the time. We are their target,

al of us. That means they want to tel to

the world something, al people to learn

that they found out something, that they -

and not others - are those who have

discovered that something.

- Wel , wel , and what they found out? That

they can build in stone? Many people knew

this.

- The Greeks discovered the beauty. They

searched for it first in philosophy and applied

in art.

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Unfortunately, we needed rather much time to

appropriate it, but – final y – we did it, even

partial y. Slowly, but surely! Even the robbery

was a means by which Greek aesthetics made

school in European capitals. The robbery from

Greek heritage has worked like a Trojan horse.

Or like a microbe; immediately reached in Paris

or London, they fel il the viewers with the

beauty disease; the ideal of beauty invented

by the Greeks.

Why the Greeks were so proud with their

discovery? I look around and found that people

that I see on the street does not real y

resemble with those from the statues. Have

been those from the past otherwise? Possible,

but I don't think this is the cause. Sooner, I

think that artists have idealised and have

developed a theoretical model of beauty. They

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have invented the aesthetics. And because the

writing was not spread as today, they fixed it

in stone, to last, and have placed it on the

heights, to be seen.

Athens remains a landmark for make us sure of

the failure of the ugly in any form, even of

some artistic pretensions currents, but without

actual coverage. Maybe especial y them! The

silence of the Parthenon, of Greek temples, is

a lesson of aesthetics more compel ing than

any scholar course of aesthetics.

Thanks to the decapitate statues and al sorts

of barbarian destruction, Athens shows us the

true face of humanity. But, maybe, things can

improve. Perhaps the good and the beauty

have a chance in the face of evil and ugly. The

al is to want it. This is the lesson of Athens

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and this is why Acropolis is located on a Hil , a

pleonasm – of course – because Acropolis

even it means: the city from the top. It is

there, in order that we keep it in mind

anywhere we are and, behold, any when, since

it resists over centuries.

* * *

The society has always been and wil be

composed by rulers and ruled. Accordingly,

there wil be rich and poor persons in the same

measure. Important is to not exaggerate

because – on the other hand – the prosperity

brings by the middle class. Middle class must

be in majority and not that of the poor

people. The social distribution must take the

form of the Gauss’ bel , and not of a triangle.

Bel 's Gauss is a mathematical representation

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of reality, of the nature itself, while the

triangle is a simplistic image, created by the

minds of the same size.

* * *

If the 19th century was heroic for Greeks, the

fol owing, despite of the prosperity acquired it

was one of moral degradation. Victims of Soviet

and Russian propaganda, on the one hand, and

of the aid from the West, on the other hand,

they have become lazy and recalcitrant.

* * *

Everyone knows today that Churchil and Stalin

discussed and established the division of

Eastern Europe after the Second World War.

Because Churchil went to Moscow on 9

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October 1944, they say that he was the one

who proposed to Stalin, and he accepted the

agreement according to which, after the war,

Greece wil come in the area of English

influence in the proportion of 90% and

Romania in the Soviet Union one, in the same

proportion.

The question is: the United States does not

have anything to say? Of course, it had. Even

between England and the United States

certainly occurred lots of discussions long

before, about which we do not know, as we did

not know long time about the agreement

between Churchil and Stalin.

We could understand now why the Romania's

attempts to get out of the al iance with

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Germany and become their partners had failed

just before the Churchil -Stalin’s meeting.

Athens, October 18, 2011

- - - - -

It was a splendid day. You say that it snowed

last night and the temperature is below 0

degrees in Brasov. Here, I may say it became

cooler. People stil do bathe in the sea.

Yes, I was once again at the seaside, this time

a little further. I went by tramway on the

known way up to Voula and, from there, by bus

to Varkiza.

I had noticed during the previous visit that

there are buses going far away, but I did not

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know where they go. I learned and found out

that the route of the bus number E22 passes

through al localities along the coast, up to

Saronida, which is very close to Cape Sounio,

the southern end of the peninsula, where the

ruins of the famous "Temple of Poseidon" are

situated. Why people made a temple on the

land dedicated to Poseidon, the God of the

seas, I do not know. Its celebrity is due to

the position. Located on a promontory, of ers

a beautiful sight particularly during the sunset.

However, al the photos on views are taken in

such times.

If I think about it a bit, I remember that

Poseidon is the God of earthquakes as wel and,

if stil meditate, I remember that one of the

explanations for the disappearance of Minoan

culture is an earthquake, fol owed by a

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tsunami, which started from the island of

Santorini. The location of the temple on this

promontory get a justification: it was

worshipped to Poseidon with the request not to

play with the lives of the Greeks and, if

possible, to protect them.

With the ticket that I had, I might go as far

as Varkiza, so I did it. Anyway, I would not

have the time for a longer trip, especial y

since I was not knowing how long it wil take. I

wil do it another time, better prepared.

In Varkiza and on the way up there, by

curiosity, I had a look at the apartments for

rent, even if, now, the information is not

topical. In spring, maybe my dream of living

near the sea could become reality. The entire

area of the coastline has developed enormously

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in the last few decades. Here, those with much

money invested and have raised luxurious

residences. It is a delight to walk and look

around, under the condition not to be envious.

The first locality after Voula is Vouliagmenis,

after which the highway travels a little

inhabited land, an area where the mountain

descends steeply toward the sea. In some tiny

gulfs, sandy beaches invite you to leave the

highway for a good bath in clear water. Some

people just do it.

Varkiza is a smal locality. The area from the

vicinity of the sea looks like al other from the

seaside, but, wandering away from the sea and

– of course – climbing, the houses become

vil as, and this ones turn into real palaces. I

have not found a palace to rent, but, on the

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outskirts of the city, there are simple houses

of those who are engaged in activities less

profitable, but useful for the locality, where

you might find something for our budget of

retirees.

On returning route, I used the bus route E22

and I found out that its end is in the centre

of Athens, at "Academy" station. In addition,

through Athens the bus go on the boulevards,

as an express and not like the tram, as a snail.

This is the justification of the letter E from

the name of the route.

Athens, 19 October 2011

- - - - -

235

It is general strike; the means of transport do not

work, so that I cannot go to Saronida with the bus

E22, which I've just discovered. I'm sorry,

especial y since it is a beautiful day. The most

adequate activity seems to be a walking through the

parks of Athens, where, there are not piles of

garbage.

Athens looks realy very nice, especialy in such

areas, and they are many. There are trees on many

streets, even on the narrow ones. Among them are

even lemons, now with fruit, which can be used but

nobody col ect them. Mandarins instead, are only

decorative. Some bushes from the sidewalks or in the

balconies of the houses have flowers. I recognized

only a few. Most of them are unknown for me, but

they are equal y beautiful.

The park where I am now is a spectacle, and the

gentle sun is pleasing, particularly after the cold

from previous days. I write at the present time,

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because I am sitting on a bench in the park and put

down my impressions.

I must tel you that our apartment is quite cold.

The Greeks are not concerned about the thermal

insulation. I hope the central heating to be more

ef icient, although, if it wil , wil cost. So far, the

owner did not start it.

That the Greeks are a skimpy I knew. But behold,

it cost now more, because they must consume more

energy for heating and now just its price has raise.

What is the point in talking about health! The

medicines can cost more than just housing, and the

number of elderly women with sequels of

rheumatism, rickets, il nesses of the kidneys and

other af lictions or just infirmities prove the ef ect

of these wrong mentalities. They are to seen in

women, because they stay longer in the house,

while men walk or work outside. With an investment

little greater at the construction of the house, they

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could achieve a better and more ef icient thermal

insulation, with substantial economy throughout the

existence of the dwel ing.

But look, I am thinking at unpleasant things,

instead of be glad for the pleasure of sitting on a

bench in the park, under the rays of the sun of

autumn.

A guy with Asian figure has left me to watch a

large black plastic bag, and he went to the toilet

nearby. I think it stands there for a quarter of an

hour. I should move a little, especial y since the

bench is hard, but I must wait.

* * *

In the end, he came!

* * *

I returned after a tour through the centre, where

the demonstrators made mess in al forms. Wherever

they gone, the pavement of the streets has a

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coverlet by manifests, packaging of drinks more or

less soft and others, thrown in a total

shamelessness.

It passed about two hours since I left and the sun

changed its position. I moved in another place, on

another bench, better exposed to the sun.

I found that I bothered a turtle, which was situated

just below the bench on I stay. Now, after a

journey that lasted a few minutes, she went deep

into the bush from the back, one with smal green

leaves, thick and glossy.

The images from the streets stil are in my mind.

If, in the Sundays, Athens is an active city, most

shops are open, its inhabitants join the tourists, it

is a dead town today. The mess from the streets

gives him the appearance of a former town, deserted

now, where only the garbage and scumbags have

multiplied.

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Although the merchants are not in strike, the

experience has made them cautious. Everything is

closed; the shutters are drawn and scribbled

persistently by the demonstrators. One of the

slogans drew my attention about the desire of the

protesters: "Global Civil War". So, simple anarchy!

For week, K.K.E. the Greek Communist Party,

advertise for mobilizing the population to strike in

Omonia Square. Because there is not enough space

for many people, they are active from place to

place on the adjacent streets up til Syntagma

Square. You can identify them from a distance,

because of the megaphones on which they howl their

slogans. I know the word howl sounds nasty, but it

is elegant face to the reality. Also, they can be

identified from the flow of people going to the

house, after they had done act of attendance. I

recognize the feeling, because we al lived with it,

in our country in those nearly 50 years of

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communist regime. Why we participate in ral ies

organized by the party, I know. Why the Greeks

feel obligated to do it, I do not know.

This name, K.K.E., sounds funny. Curious is that,

in Greek, "kaka" is the opposite of "kala", and

means ugly, obnoxious.

Anyway we would say, its activity is as large as

disturbing. Even without get in depth, the

necessary expenditure to organize these events –

and they are not rare – are dozens times larger

than those for parliamentary elections in our

country. On my route of today I did not see a

single pole or tree without 2-4 posters on it; some

of them were so up, that needed cranes to put

them there. And this strike is not a singular one.

Since I am here, they are kept chain, almost every

Wednesday and Thursday. What they do at work on

Monday, Tuesday and Friday is easy to imagine:

prepare the demonstrations for Wednesday and

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Thursday. Saturdays and Sundays are free days. In

those days, there are not strike or demonstrations,

as they are not so stupid. They are just lazy.

We are told that what you do on Monday wil do al

week. That’s why, in such day, the housewives do

not do unpleasant activities, like washing laundry.

Also, it is al eged that you might not give money;

it is better to receive, if possible. The Greeks have

solved the problem in a dif erent way. To them,

Monday is cal ed "deftera", meaning "the second";

the second day of the week. The first is Sunday,

"day of the Lord". Saturday is "savato", i.e. "the

Sabbath", when just the Jews do not work. And

then, they, the Greeks, why would do it?

* * *

I can read on my pen "Discover the broom".

Probably anything else was to discover, but what it

was written is deleted and that's why I can read