‘Nuns fret not at their Convent’s narrow room;
And Hermits are contented with their Cells;
And Students with their pensive Citadels;
Maids at the Wheel, the Weaver at his Loom
Sit blithe and happy; Bees that soar for bloom,
High as the highest Peak of Furness-Fells,
Will murmur by the hour in Foxglove bells:
In truth the prison, into which we doom
Ourselves, no prison is: and hence for me,
In sundry moods, ’twas pastime to be bound
Within the Sonnet’s scanty plot of ground;
Pleased if some Souls (for such there needs must be)
Who have felt the weight of too much liberty,
Should find brief solace there, as I have found.’
William Wordsworth
These days it’s a plus to be someone who likes being alone and takes pleasure in their own company. Sometimes it can even be easier than being cooped up with others, especially if you don’t get along particularly well… Be that as it may, we’re all in this together, as the press does not stop reminding us. And it’s true, globalisation has never been so pertinent. So we must all try to find ways to embellish our living conditions as much as possible.
Seeing as the coronavirus has been unable to stop the coming of spring, I have been enjoying painting the daffs and tulips in my vases in various ways. In the drawing below, the ink marks were made using a stick I picked up outside.
For a bit of news from Greece, every day at six o’clock people have been turning on the TV to listen to the health bulletin read by the new national guru, Professor Sotiris Tsiodras. Harvard and MIT educated, the self-effacing and mild-mannered Professor Tsiodras has been appointed by the government to manage the coronavirus crisis as well as communicating to the public about it. An austere, almost ascetic man (he is father to seven children, and a psalm singer in church), he seems unsuited for the role of television personality. However, he has managed to gain the trust of a people usually very suspicion of those in authority. This is just as well, because Greeks do not take kindly to obeying rules; and of course there is the inevitable faction of rebels who do not hesitate in accusing him of trying to instill fear in the population for political reasons, going so far as to troll him on social media. However, in general the Greek government has been following the French example of confinement and things seem to be reasonably calm.
Nevertheless, there is great worry about the day after, since Greece has been trying to emerge from unprecedented crisis and the EU is now widely seen as not being up to par in its obligations. As for the refugee problem, it will not abate anytime soon, given the continuing wars in Syria and Libya.
In better news, the Ministry of Health is taking delivery of a large amount of protective material (masks etc) from China, the cost of which has mostly been covered by the Onassis Foundation.
Finally, Greece is mourning the death, at 97, of Manolis Glezos, left-wing politician and Anti-Nazi resistance hero.
He will always be remembered for his feat, as a young man, of ripping down the swastika from the Acropolis. On May 30, 1941, aged 18, he scaled the walls with a companion in the dead of night, to remove the occupyers’ flag. He was arrested and tortured, and subsequently sentenced to death multiple times; due to his political activism, he spent sixteen years of his life confined to a prison cell. Later he was awarded the Lenin Peace Prize, and vociferously campaigned well into his 90s for German reparations as compensation for the atrocities Greeks suffered at the hands of the Nazis.
Glezos lived with his wife Georgia in a little house in Athens filled with books, and was a great believer in the afternoon nap – the legacy of a life of exile and imprisonment.
Going back to Wordsworth, and his ‘host of golden daffodils’, here a cartoon by the inimitable Matt, to make you smile:
And to finish off, I’d like to share a little video I came upon, about musical twins in Italy. Who could be gloomy with these two in the house!
Letters from Athens 