The net is slow. It's been such a long time since I have experinced that - since those good old days of cegep - that I thought it was not possible anymore. Nevermind.

I have passed the last four days in Paleohora, on the South coast of Crete. There was nothing to do in this village except going to the beach and reading books, so this is what I did. Laborit and Arthur C. Clarke were the lucky ones. I still have not finished Laborit, but he threw me in such a furror last night that I stopped to read and wrote the weirdest postcard ever to Karine - about that book. I felt better afterwards : I continued my reading with more peaceful thoughts.

For the moment, I am in Rethymno on the North Coast The place is allright, nothing more, nothing less. I move tomorrow to Heraklio to visit Knossos and then to Santorini, in the Cyclades. It will be my last week in Greece. In exactly 14 days, I will be in Canada. It feels really weird boys.

I'm in Crete!

I thought that the Peloponese was gorgeous...I had not seen Crete at that time. It is simply paradise on earth. Since I arrived in Greece, I had this dilemna : moutains ou beaches? Wich one is my favorite? There's no need to spend time on that now : simply enjoy swimming in the Mediterranean sea, watching the high snowy peaks of Western Crete.

I have finaly got my ticket for Crete. I am leaving in 4 hours and I have all this time to kill in Piraeus. I discovered that new collective blog of us and I think, ain't funny how the old teams tend to stick together, no matter what happens. Mind you, it is nothing interesting for the non-initiated, but it is like being back in a very ol(d?)d pair of shoes...that ends up being rather comforting. We've been used to have those kind of on-line toys for years now, I almost feel like I am sixteen years old again ;P

What I dream of :
that my back stops aching;
hearing Hefner on the radio one day;
to know exactly what's going on when a bunch of greek guys talk and look at me in the same time.

GRrrrr.....The trains, the ferries and the metro of Athens are on strike today. I'm stuck in this horrible city until tomorrow night. That REALLY pisses me off guys...

The fact is that, in the moment, I should be on the ferry for Hania, in Crete. I have to meet someone there in 24 hours, but, hey...just as lucky as I am sometimes, STRIKE! Should I take the plane? Should I do nothing? Should I light up a fag to relax a bit?

I left Nafplio this morning. I had such a great time there, it is like I will not get something better for the rest of my trip. I know I probably will, but this strike is so annoying, everything else looks more dull. For the moment, I would pretty much like to be in St-Marc than in Athens. Anyway, Athens is more ugly than St-Marc (I know it's unbelievable, but true)

I am currently in Nafplio, a small town on the east coast of the Peloponese. For the archeological geeks, it's situated just next to Mykenes.

I am having a great time, really. I've been here for the last three days, just enjoying the town here, walking next to the sea or in the hills around, visiting Mykenes or the medieval fortress on the top of the highest hill here, going to the beach a little bit (but no bathing - it is still a little bit cold for me), chatting with people...It's really a peaceful and restful time after the first 4 crazy days when I've been in Delphi, the north coast of Peloponese and Corinth. When I arrived in Nafplio, I thought the city se lovely and calm that I decided to settle down for a couple of days...So here I am. I'm leaving tomorrow for Crete, so it will be other days of total crazyness, travelling on old greek buses, ferries, trains....I should arrive there on Friday. 10 hours of ferry. Will I sleep? Dunno...:)

Being sometimes rather stupid, I have taken with me only the first book of "His Dark Materials" trilogy. I am already at 100 pages of the end. How will I do the next three weeks with that?

You are in Delphi.
The Ancient Greeks, they believed it to be the center of the Earth.
You think, no one has ever been so close to the truth.
You stand at the top of this high cliff, with the summit behind you, 2500m high of rock and you watch a bank of clouds down in the valley, coming up. When they reach you, you can not see nothing else and you breathe clouds. Higher they go, and it starts raining. 3 seconds-old raindrops drip from your nose. The sky clear up, and you look the next cloud bank coming.
You are in Delphi, it is the center of the earth and you have never been so close to serenity.

I am in Athens.

It rocks!

Do no expect too much updates in the next month : internet cafes are so expensive around here, it's a shame.

But, well, what to say when the counter leaves me 5 minutes to update? Athens is cool. Really. It's definetely european. It changes a lot from London. Everywhere in the city, I look up and I see the Acropolis hanging in thin air.

I'm leaving the city tomorrow. If only I can find the bus terminal. Wish me good luck.

I am leaving for Greece tomorrow in the morning. This means taking the plane. I am scared of planes, did you know?

According to AmIGoingDown.com, I have 1 chance on 138 000 000 to die during this trip (London Heathrow to Athens with a 757 of British Airways). It's more risky to cross the street in Trafalgar Square. Let's take it in a good way. No matter the statistics, I am still scared of planes.

My CDs during this trip include :
Hefner - The Fidelity Wars
Hefner- Dead - Media
Smashing Pumpkins - Mellon Collie #2
Erik Satie - Best Of
NME compilation CD of 2001
Q compilation CD of 2001 (those two last for the diversity and a little bit o' indie)
Mano Negra - Best Of
Green Day - Nimrod
Radiohead - live in South Park, Oxford, 2001 CD #2

Oxford is in the moment invaded by french tourists. It's a good moment to leave it. (no offense to the french people I know).

Books to be read during those weeks to come in Greece : the Philip Pullman trilogy, "His Dark Materials", who seems really promising and a...biologic philosophy essay (let's call it this way), "Eloge de la Fuite" from Henri Laborit.

What else? The Queen mum is dead. The country is mourning her today and has closed the shops. Where am I supposed to buy solar cream then??

See you in Greece babes!

Er - sorry about that last post that has stayed incomplete for like, two weeks. I've just updated it all.

Springtime in England!! I really did not expect it to be like that - sunny, warm, charming. I have passed the last week in holidays (thanx boss), walking around Wheatley in the small, grassy hills and the dark, muddy woods, enjoying hedonism in a local way. Meaning reading books lying in a sunny field, eating nutella sandwiches and looking and the blue sky above my head. Things to do when you only have left £1 in your back account for the next 2 weeks. Look for your inner hobbit, you know...

When I read the first of the Harry Potter books last summer, it was a high deception. Predictable, flat, nothing that was really inventive....I hated it and classed Harry Potter in the same section of sub pop culture as the Atomic Kittens, Chris Columbus and Danielle Steel. I made an effort and went to see the film in last november. Chris Columbus (him, again) had made a movie that stayed true to the book. a=b=c so c=a; the film was a pure piece of schnoute. I gave up to ever understand WHY Harry Potter was such a hype. Then, last week as I said in the paragraph above, plenty of days to spend but, oh-my-god-no-fuckin-money. After finishing "La Force de l'Age", a Simone de Beauvoir autobiography, I took a dive in Lucia's library wich contains all the kids classics and fell over "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets". Why not having another go? Either the following books of the serie have REALLY improved or the traduction of the first one (I have read it in french) was a pure piece of crap but I found myself enjoying this book and the two ones following within four days. Statement : now, I like Harry Potter books. Beware, it can happen to anyone of us.

The D-day is drawing nearer : I am leaving for Greece in one week. I realised this morning that I :
*do not speak greek;
*cannot read the greek alphabet;
*do not know no one in Greece;
*do not know exactly where I am going, as a matter of fact.
That still leaves me one week to plan it all. I guess I'll be allright, as usual.