Tolstoy’s War and Peace is a
famously weighty tome so, having made up my mind to read it during this current
stay in Athens, I am glad to be able to do so on my e-reader. But I admit that I’ve
had difficulty not losing the plot, what with all those unfamiliar Russian
names and the bafflingly detailed descriptions (without the aid of maps or
graphics) of the various battles. There is a passage in which an entire battlefield
is described from a strategic hilltop. In theory, such a panorama would give any
commander a tactical advantage but, as Tolstoy points out, the advantage is
illusory, since the time-lag between giving orders and carrying them out is so
long that anything might happen to alter circumstances in the meanwhile. But
that was in 1812. Nowadays there is no such thing as communications-time-lag.
I tore myself away from the book long
enough to meet a couple of people that I have known for several years via the
internet but whom I have never met in person. Bart and Sanne van Poll are the
Dutch founders of an online travel guide, Spotted by Locals (to which I am a
contributor). It turns out that they currently live in Athens and, discovering
by chance that we are here, suggested a get-together. The conversation naturally
turned to their peripatetic lifestyle, facilitated by the nature of their
business and the fact that they are childless. They can live almost anywhere –
soon they will go to India for a spell – and need only a laptop to run things. To
any free-spirited individual, this sounds like a wonderful way of life, but
there is a downside: they admitted that it is difficult to stay close to friends
and family, despite all the comms-tech at their disposal. Whenever they go back
to the Netherlands, they are hard-pressed to spend enough time face-to-face with
everyone and so must ration their availability. Well, maybe absence does make
the heart grow fonder, but beware the cut-off point.
We also talked about the triumph of
Boris Johnson and the disaster of Brexit (on which we all agreed). “Maybe you
don’t have to go back to all that. Have you thought about living abroad?” said
Sanne. Technically, that would be possible but emotionally, for me, not so. The
novelty of alien surroundings is stimulating and fascinating, but it does wear
thin and, after a while, I begin to yearn for my native culture, warts and all.
One can only imagine how difficult life must be for refugees.
That same day, another coincidence
occurred: we met a couple of friends from Britain that we had not seen for
several years. They were visiting Athens and got wind that we were here too. Of
course, we just had to catch up and, in so doing, I was reminded of the value
of friendships and shared experiences. I also delighted in the luxury of conversation
unrestricted by linguistic or cultural differences, something which I sorely
miss whenever abroad. Yet, there is no substitute for the unique pleasures of foreign
adventure, i.e. the surprise dishes you get for lunch when you fail to
communicate your order to the waiter: then, the unplanned afternoon stupor brought
on by overeating and the large tot of unfamiliar liqueur that followed.
One day, we walked to the top of
Lycabettus Hill, which stands proud in the centre of Athens and affords a
panoramic view of the city. This vantage point is a ‘must visit’ for tourists,
offering spectacle, selfie opportunities and help with the business of orientation.
The view from the hill is no substitute for getting down in the streets but,
within seconds of being there, you and all your WhatsApp circle can get some
sense of what the place is like.
Photos please
ReplyDelete