November Mist

A lonely flight under the moon

My favourite among the photos that I took the other night when I managed to drop one of my lenses in the water - my favourite, that is, among the pictures I have gone through and edited so far.

(By the way, in my browser, at least, the small picture looks odd - like it was heavily compressed. So if you have the same problem, be sure to open it in larger size in a different window).

Just a randomly chosen picture. This dog was definitely seeing to his siesta. This was on the walkway that goes around the Acropolis and is for a good section barred from cars. I was wondering because I kept seeing lots of dogs running around free, all with tagged collars. I don't think Athenian owners would let their pets run free in the city, as that would be too dangerous, so I'm pretty sure the authorities have collared and tagged the stray dogs to be able to monitor them.

I'm a bit under the weather unfortunately. Yesterday I had a fever of 38 C. After resting for most of yesterday - reading Minister Jim Hacker's diaries from Yes, Minister - and after a good night's sleep the fever was gone in the morning, but I'll have to see what happens today. I'm very annoyed about the timing because just on wednesday I bought a ticket for a concert which would be this evening. Only 10 euros so financially not a great loss, but I'm a big fan of the artist, a Finnish singer-songwriter called Jarkko Martikainen who is one of the best lyricists in the country. Fingers crossed that I'll feel well enough to go in the evening.

Gentle beauty

Here's an image of delicate beauty. This is from the National Gardens in Athens.

My trip to Athens took a slight negative turn towards the end: my wallet was stolen last thursday; the thief got two credit cards and some cash. The old story: a rush hour crowded bus and a moment of carelessness on my part. I was alright money-wise though, since my brother sent some money via Western Union. It's easy enough to get new credit cards, just takes some time to wait. It is very annoying though. Despite this my trip was very successful: the Blegen Library is absolutely brilliant and I got lots of work done; I saw quite a lot of things; and the hostel of the Finnish Institute is really homely and comfortable. In the end, though, I must admit that I don't like modern Athens very much, one of the problems being the pollution. For those travelling to Greece I might actually recommend primarily staying somewhere outside of Athens and making day trips to the city for the sights.

Now that I'm home I'm enjoying the clean air, even though it is cold. However, I was not spared from further misfortune - one that I can only blame myself for: I was out there by the pier earlier today, photographing the magnificent moon. Standing just by the water, I began to change lenses, mittens in hands (because it was cold). As I was doing that, I thought to myself: "Better be careful so the lens doesn't fall into the water." And just then, the lens I was detaching from the camera slipped from my hands and plop fell into the murky depths. At least it was just the cheap kit lens which wasn't very good. But d'oh indeed. Had I but stood my back towards the water, the lens would have rolled away from it. Well, then again, in that case the lens might rolled into the street and been driven over by a car.