Thoughts

On this page I have re-posted some of the stories that I value and treasure.

Winter on Skopelos. January 2019

”If you spend two winters on Skopelos and you manage, you are an islander” I have said this probably before in a post but this is what I was told when I started to live here. Don’t be fooled. It is not easy to live here in the winter. It can be lonely, harsh, cold and uninviting.

During winter there are less boats going to and from the mainland. You can get stuck here or there. The weather will not always be good, not many places to eat are open, not many shops are open and many people have left the island. So what’s attracting the people that stay behind to this season?

The empty quiet beaches, the silent villages and roads, the intimate gatherings in tavernas and homes. The unlimited time you can spend somewhere because there is no rush, nobody waiting, not a lot to do. It can be a time when you catch up on your reading, your craft, your friends, your family, anything!
Not everything stops here during the winter. Every month has something.

January is the month of the cutting of the New Year’s cake’s. A couple of times every week this month you can eat cake for free and be lucky for the rest of the year if you catch the coin in your piece of cake. During those cutting events there is time to catch up with friends and acquaintances and gossip if you like. One topic for gossip this year is: who will be candidates for the mayor elections on Skopelos? A retired policeman has announced he is one of the candidates. Another well know person is looking for candidate council members but is not officially announcing his candidacy yet.

Every mayor has to find enough people to run with him/her for council member and this is a problem. Many people might have strong opinions and complaints about the current mayor and those before him but not many want to run for council member. It can be hard work, not always paid and you have a lot of responsibility. We will see who pops us and as soon as I hear more about the candidates and their plans I will post about it.

Mr. Vasiloudis, the current mayor, has said at one, cutting of the cake, events that he leaves behind a Skopelos where work was done in a time that it was hit by natural disasters.

A natural disaster that I commented on a couple of days ago is the part of cliff that has fallen down under the Agios Nikolas church near the castle of Skopelos. Below here is a drone photo of Dimitri Mavridis in 2018 that shows the cliff intact.

Word is that the whole area from the church until the small square under the Evangelistra church will be closed of until a restauration plan for this area has been finalized. The municipality has asked the government to give the area a state of emergency status.

Not long now before the work on the road leading to Milos square will start. The cracks in the street are enormous and the difference in height is daunting.

Cultural- and sports wise, Skopelos in winter, is not boring. The cultural organization is in full swing with it’s dance classes. The Skopelos carnival in February and March (thank you Nana) will be celebrated with several events and everybody can participate. Almost every weekend there is a basketball, volleyball or a football game to watch in the gym hall or on the football field. Heather Parson walks with fellow hikers on the island. Various other people organize and take part in art, aerobic and Pilates classes. Many people continue swimming during the winter.

A lot of people on the island take a holiday during the winter because they are tied up in the summer. They visit family in Greece or abroad or travel to exotic places.

In March and April nature awakes on the island and we can all enjoy what this island gives to us and what is eatable. The wild greens, the wild onions, the asparagus, the herbs,the fruits, the treasures from the sea like sea urchins and fish. It grows everywhere, it is found in the sea. You just need to find it or pick it and eat it. For many it is part of their daily life and diet.

At the end of the winter, the beginning of the spring, when everybody is back, many will start thinking about the summer that is coming up. What needs to be done in their hotel, their apartment, their taverna, their house? Plumbers, electricians, painters and other handymen will be in great demand in the spring.

I am getting used to this rhythm of this island after 25 years here. The slowing down of the island in the fall, the quietness of the winter, the slow start of the tourist season in spring and the ”craziness” of the summer. That’s Skopelos.

===========================================================================================
Writer’s blog

Spring in Agia Marina

I have nothing more to write. I have nothing more to write that is important. What is important to write? Is there any thing important to write? These thoughts have been going on in my head for the last couple of weeks. I can’t find a subject for the blog. I don’t feel like writing for the blog. Is it worth writing this blog about a small island in Greece?

Why do I feel this way? I think that there is an overload of information coming towards us and surrounding us and when we absorb this information it changes us. When I was studying as an librarian we used to talk about this overload and how we have to use methods to find the right information. But what is the right information and how do we use this information to lead and effect our lives?

Most information that reaches you via television and the internet nowadays is bad and there is also fake news. The bad news is mostly about wars, about the environment, about politics. A method to not get that information is not watch television, not use the internet and your telephone. But then you are cut of from the world. Is that the way you want to live? I don’t want to live like this but I read about so many problems in the world and feel anxious about them and ask myself what can I do? How can I contribute?

There are media sources that focus on good, positive news and I follow some of these sources. A couple in the USA looks up children and adults who are handicapped/socially challenged. Their stories are sad but there is always something positive about it too. The love of their parents, spouses, siblings for them. The challenges they have overcome. Their future. A guy in New York who speaks to people who live there and he tells their stories. When he asks for help thousands help out for a good cause. This is what I have to focus on in order to go on. I will hear about the bad news but I will also keep in mind that there is also good news and people doing good.

What I do is enough and what others do is also enough. As long as you try. Next year I have been living on this island for 25 years. Not everything that happens on this island is good. Nothing is perfect, nowhere in the world but I take comfort in the good things that happen on this island without any ties to politics, money or premeditated strategies. The fact that others complain or are against what you do should not deter anybody and me neither.

A lot of information I gather is not via interviews with the people involved. The information is part of my life because I live with the people I write about. These people are the basis of this blog. The person in the town hall who wants to speak to me about somebody else who needs help and I can put something on the blog about it. The group of people cleaning up beaches or roads. Just because they care and want to do something. The shops that want to contribute with tools and materials. The group of women making Christmas decorations to sell so the scouts have money to go in field trips. Parents boards of schools trying to raise money for the schools so benches and sports material can be bought. All the people involved with sports on this island so kids have a chance to exercise and be healthy and not hang around on the streets. The couple who try and help the health center by bringing in materials from abroad. The woman who fights to have the cat and dog population neutered. The vets who voluntarily help out. The woman who exercises with foreigners and locals in the summer and tries to raise money for the care of strays. Foreigners donating clothes for those in need. They are all good people, trying to do good.

Money has come available to clean dry streams that have been build on or are blocked on the island. The forestry office has new personnel for eight months to clean parts of forests and land. There are ongoing talks about a private boat for the Sporades who can travel back and forth. There are people who think about the identity of this island for the future. There is more happening then you might think and I hope to give you that news in the following years.

Many readers also need to see their beloved Skopelos so photo’s are also important. It slips my mind sometimes and I cannot always imagine what it must mean to not be here but see a recent photo of the place you love. So here we go.

Milia yesterday afternoon

The forest behind Agia Maria. Photo from last week.

Glysteri a couple of days ago. The cement ramp is gone and the beach is better defined.

Hazy Skopelos, people are burning branches etc.

Stafylos beach, people are still swimming there.

I think I have cleared away the cobwebs that were in front of me and blocked the feeling of a purpose that I had in order to write this blog. Writing it takes up a lot of time and I don’t want disappoint the readers but sometimes it is too much….

=========================================================================================

Bookmarker and never judge a book by its cover 20 January 2018

A couple of weeks I was visiting a neighbourhood in Skopelos town for an errand and when I could not find the person I needed I decided to wait and say hello to a lady ( Mrs. E) who I know from the flower decoration evening in the church at Easter.

When I knocked on her door Mrs. E invited me in and when I came into the tiny living room I saw an elderly lady on the couch, eating her porridge (Quaker) She acknowledged me but was silent. I started talking with Mrs. E and she told me that the woman on the couch is her mother. She is 93. She is ok healthwise but needs to take a lot of medicines and cannot be left alone because she walks with great difficulty and can fall. So they spend almost 24 hours a day with each other. There is no money for another carer but fortunately her two children help out when it is needed.

When the porridge was eaten I asked the elderly lady if she liked the television programmes on tv and if they keep her company and she said:”no I don’t really watch television, I read…” I then asked her what she was reading at the moment and her daughter picked up a book from a small pile. It was the diary of Anne Frank… How wrong about people and their lives can you be if you don’t know about their past!

I told the elderly lady I am a librarian and that I love reading too. When I saw that she had double folded her page to know where she stopped reading I immediately thought about all the book markers I have at home and I told her I would bring her one. I have an embroidered one with spring flowers and this one I brought (washed and ironed) to her yesterday. When I gave it to her she said nothing but her fierce eyes were thanking me. I am so happy that from this unexpected visit so much joy came and the friendship and understanding with this Greek family has another layer of memories.

==================================================================================
Going where? 28 August 2017
As a foreigner in Greece with two children I was sometimes at a loss in understanding how the Greek school system worked and very worried whether my children would be able to walk through it with “success”. As a foreigner you have no clue how everything works and the first years the advice of other parents was vital. The first thing though I needed to do was stop comparing the school system I knew in Holland with the Greek. The second thing I did was: I became a member of school parents boards to understand more of the system, the curriculum etc.

As a mixed family (Greek-Dutch) we try to speak two languages at home but by the time the children reached the middle and high school, greek was the only language that was used to explain and to talk about lessons. Greek now is the children’s first language, english is the second (because many children follow extra english lessons and try to obtain an english diploma which helps them in the future) and Dutch is their third language. I feel the children know quite a bit about the dutch language and with some extra time their knowledge of the language will become even better.

When the children reached the high school they took a private test of about 500 questions to find out what their interests were and what kind of subjects/schools fit with them.This test helped a lot with the final direction of classes that the children wanted to follow and the choice of higher education later.

We chose to give the children the opportunity to follow extra lessons in subjects for their finals. This money the parents pay out of their pockets. Not every parent is able to do this and many children get to higher education schools without it but we felt that the teacher could help us with many questions we had about the whole process. After school they would go there. The children continued to participate in other activities like sports and it helped them psychologically too.

And then came the finals this year. You can do finals in four, five or six subjects. Unfortunately everything is decided at the finals and there is not much room to up your grades if you have a really bad exam. If you have a bad day, tough luck. The amount of points you gather enables you to get into higher education schools like a university. If you don’t have the required amount of points you can also go to a private school (you pay for this type of education)

Our oldest child graduated and has been accepted in a university. The result of her hard work. Our part in the whole process was listening to her dreams, trying to find out what possibilities she had and trying to support her every step of the way with the help of many people.

The heartfelt congratulations of so many people has overwhelmed us completely and we want to thank everybody from the bottom of our hearts. Here on Skopelos the children have to leave the island if they want to go and study. It is considered a big thing and rightfully so. Many people on the island (and off) follow and learn about the results and find out where students are accepted. Next steps getting there and finding an apartment …. Oh my ….

========================================================================================================
Unexpected 11-09-2017

On this very hot and humid day I had a meeting in the afternoon and I was not really looking forward to it. We had to go and look for a piece of land but the owner did not remember where the land was. What can you do ? Near the place where we thought the land was we saw a small house and in the distance two people sitting at a table. I went up to ask for directions and an elderly couple were putting figs on a line to dry. I recognized the lady and asked her why she doesn’t visit the village anymore. Her legs are failing her she said. All around the house I see how busy they are and I ask if I can take pictures of the garden and the figs and the peppers…

I cannot refuse the drink they offer. It would be offensive.Three small kittens follow me around and when I go and look for the land they follow me. The elderly couple are worried sick that the kittens are lost. I swoop them up in my hand and bring them back. The blessings of the couple accompany me when I drive away. A meeting that I was not looking forward to, turned into something memorable.

================================================================

John Gill 17 December 2016

John Gill’s dead came as a shock to many people but this was more because John was such an extremely private person. It is a great shame he died alone.

Today we said our final goodbye to John Gill who died this week. It was very hard for the friends who knew him to get closer to John after his recent hospital visit and try to offer help. Because of this he died alone and I (Daphne) do not wish this for anyone. People on this island get buried quickly because the body cannot stay long without being in a refrigerator/freezer. On Skopelos we don’t have one and it is impossible to postpone the funeral. Maybe this is something that can be arranged for the future so relatives and friends from abroad can be present at a funeral. I think we did the best we could under the very difficult circumstances and Peter, John and Georgia were there from the first moment to help and we received much appreciated help from the police, Vangelis Patseas, Kostas Skouras and Vangelis Drossos.

John is buried very close to his partner Graham. Hopefully he has found him up there.

====================================================
September 2016

Good morning, have a good, slow, month.

It’s September and summer is officially over but that does not mean that there are no more visitors on the island. Some of the holiday companies have a very busy month in front of them with mainly visitors from England. A lot of Greeks have left to go home and get ready for the start of the school season.

Official numbers will appear for sure to show how many people have arrived from Thessaloniki with the Flying Cat4. It’s evident that many people took the opportunity to visit the Sporades this way. It did not do any harm that Skopelos was the first port of call too. The last trip the boat is making will be on Monday the fifth.

Elios was very busy this year with hotels with new management personnel. Businesses have opened like the new cafe/beach bar on the corner of the Elios/Hovolo beach. People who own rooms, studios and apartment are still using local websites but also use big organizations like Booking.com, Airbnb and Trivago to let their property and this way they are exposed to a much bigger audience and can be competitive and get clients in and they came this year.

People from all over the world visit Skopelos. An impression from this year is that they are from Eastern Europe; Romania, Serbia etc. From South Africa, Australia, Poland, France, Italy, Austria and don’t forget Scandinavia and England and the Netherlands.

The amount of days that most businesses here make money is comparatively low with the available days that they could make money. On Skopelos we have all the resources to make the season longer. The accommodations, the businesses, the nature, the sea, the beaches, the paths, the forest, the weather etc.
Because events in the world change how people travel and want to spend their holiday the holidays season on Skopelos is different every year and that is a positive thing I (Daphne) think.
You have to be more flexible and cater well for the holiday makers that use your accommodation or business. Quality is what people are looking for and Skopelos can provide it if they keep making the effort.

If only the season was a little bit longer. The months that are not so hot are excellent for slow tourism. I have been reading up on it and a definition of slow tourism is: an extension of the slow food movement that began in Italy in the 1980s, invites tourists to explore a destination at a reduced pace while aiming at an environmentally sustainable and locally focused experience. Greece is still considered a laggard in the slow-tourism sector.

Professor Guttorm Fløistad summarises the philosophy, he says: “The only thing for certain is that everything changes. The rate of change increases. If you want to hang on you better speed up. That is the message of today. It could however be useful to remind everyone that our basic needs never change. The need to be seen and appreciated! It is the need to belong. The need for nearness and care, and for a little love! This is given only through slowness in human relations. In order to master changes, we have to recover slowness, reflection and togetherness. There we will find real renewal.

I totally agree with Professor Guttorm Fløistad and wonder will Skopelos ever embrace this kind of tourism that fits so well with the island and might be the thing that Skopelos will be famous for in a couple of years? I am not sure. A joint effort is needed and that is not a sure thing here on the island.

============================================================

Margarita  

Yesterday my (Daphne) mother-in-law died after a long sick-bed.
Margarita raised three children and eight grandchildren. When my kids were babies I would leave them with her with strict instructions about their diet and no matter how many hours I would be away she took care of them. There was never any complaint. She was always glad to see the children and would praise and admire them over and over again.The fact that her son married a foreign woman was never a problem. She accepted me from the start.
She was the strongest pillar of our family. She did not finish the elementary school but managed to learn to sew very well and this work brought in the extra money they needed in the family.

When she got sick she moved into her eldest daughter’s house and there we took care of her. We would watch her in shifts until the eldest daughter would come home from work. When needed we would hire extra help.

The last few weeks we saw that the end was near and now that she is gone we are very sad but also feel thankful that she has been spared further suffering.

Here on Skopelos you have to order the coffin (one size) locally and because the man who has the coffins his truck broke down we had to get the coffin ourselves. A cousin with a truck went with us to pick it up.
To start preparations for the funeral my mother in law was bathed and dressed and placed in the coffin. The coffin stands on 2 chairs in the living room. The whole night people have visited and said goodbye to her. The wake will last until we bury her this afternoon. Margarita has her best clothes on which she selected by herself when she was still alive.

During the night her face was covered. In the morning we removed the cover. A lighted candle stands next to her. When that is finished we place a new candle and light the new candle with the old. The leftover from the candle is placed in the coffin.

Early this morning we went to a church and let the bells ring so people hear that somebody has died. For me this was a beautiful moment letting people know about our loss. A neighbour volunteered to ring the bell later on again. The bells serve their purpose. Times before the telephone were as efficient to let people know what was happening.

After we sorted the paperwork out we went to the grave yard to pick out a grave. As you probably know greek people stay buried for about 3 years and get dug up again and some bones are placed in a small box which is placed in a church or the bones house on the cemetery. We had a choice of 4 graves.

It will be difficult to move the coffin out of the house when the time comes so she will probably leave the house through a window. We will carry her to the church. She will go in through one door and will leave through the other door. A truck will pick her up somewhere in the village so we don’t have to carry her all the way to the cemetery.

Margarita was a fantastic greek mother, grandmother, sister and aunt. You can say a lot about greek mothers, that they are overbearing, spoiling and pampering children and grand children but a more unselfish person like Margarita I have never met. The only thing she wanted was that you were ok and she did not like to be alone. She was the most happy with company.

We hope she will be in great company where ever she is now.