Attica in Flames

Attica has been burning since yesterday and here in Athens we are all glued to the TV waiting for some good news but the winds make things worse. Many people have lost their homes, others are carried to the hospital because of breathing problems and there are those who refuse to leave their area hoping that they will save their properties. It seems that the fires are caused by arsonists. This is what angers me most. I am safe at the moment although I live very near the areas where the fires broke out. The weather forecast says that the winds will calm down tomorrow. Let's hope that tomorrow will be a better day and that all the fires will be under control.

Back from the Holidays

All good things eventually come to an end! Although my summer holiday was much shorter than last year, I made time to forget all about work and personal worries and..recharge the batteries. I spent most of my holiday time in Mykonos, which is very unlike me as I hate the husltle and bustle of the island and I hate ..clubbing as well. Apart from its worldwide reputation of an island that never sleeps, Mykonos has also got its unique beauties. I stayed at a quiet hotel, near Ftelia - the best beach for windsurfing which is one of my favourite sports. Mykonos is also called the Island of the Winds and is ideal for the sport. After swimming and windsurfing, I had lunch at "Akri" - one of the best tavernas in the area of Ftelia at about 9 km from the Hora - the centre of Mykonos. The truth is, I only went to the centre once only to have dinner at Chez Maria but spent most of the evenings in my hotel room reading or listening to my favourite music. I went to bed early, before 11 pm and got up early to go swimming or windsurfing. Mykonos can be a very quiet place. It depends on what you are looking for. Now how about you? Did you have a nice holiday?

Romantic Weekend

Here I am back from a very relaxing and very romantic weekend at Coral Bay in Paphos. As I needed to have both my flat and the school refurbished, I had to split my holidays in weekends rather than take 10 days in a row. So, after Protaras it was Paphos. We stayed at the Coral Beach Hotel in a beautiful suite with a private terrace furnished with umbrellas, sunbeds , a wooden coffee table and a small rattan outdoor lounge. Alkis and I had the time to relax and unwind while enjoying the sun and the sea. Before leaving, we also visited the Bird and Animal Park at the nearby village of Peyia where an albino wallaby kangaroo was born 8 weeks ago. This is the 4th wallaby in the world - the last one was born 30 years ago in the UK. Only the birds live in cages with the exception of two parrots whose home includes a huge umbrella to protect them from the sun and the rain. All other animals live in their natural habitat in spacious places and are well taken care of by the staff of the park.

Getting to know each other

I have been...indirectly tagged on Anastasia's blog, so here goes:

If you've been tagged or you are reading this, you have the honor of copying all these goofy questions, writing your own response, and tagging 25 other victims. You have to tag me so really you just need 24 more people. To do this on Facebook, go to “notes” under tabs on your profile page, paste these instructions in the body of the note, type your title as "Getting to know each other!", tag 25 people including me (tagging is done in the right hand corner of the app) then click publish. To do this on Blogger, copy and paste this in a new post and tag as many people as you like.

1. What time did you get up this morning? 6:00 am

2. How do you like your steak? well done

3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? Fifty dead men walking

4. What is your favorite TV show? Everybody loves Raymond.

5. If you could live anywhere in the world where would it be? India

6. What did you have for breakfast? a cup of tea and tost

7. What is your favorite cuisine? Greek and Indian

8. What foods do you dislike? sushi, beans, frogs legs, spinach

9. Favorite Place to Eat? To Kafenio and 48 The Restaurant

10. Favorite dressing? caesar, blue cheese, olive oil & lemon

11.What kind of vehicle do you drive? A silver mercedes

12. What are your favorite clothes? casual, blazers and shirts

13. Where would you visit if you had the chance? Patmos island

14. Cup 1/2 empty or 1/2 full? 1/2 empty

15. Where would you want to retire? At Galaxidi

16. Favorite time of day? morning

17. Where were you born? Athens, Greece

18. What is your favorite sport to watch? Basketball

19. Who do you think will not tag you back? Not sure

20. Person you expect to tag you back first? No idea...

21. Who are you most curious about their responses to this? All of them

22. Bird watcher? No

23. Are you a morning person or a night person? morning

24. Do you have any pets? 2 dogs and 1 cat

25. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share? I'm off on holiday as from next week!!!

26. What did you want to be when you were little? Fisherman

27. What is your best childhood memory? My grandmother's cooking

28. Are you a cat or dog person? both! I love both cats and dogs.

29. Are you married? No, I'm divorced

30. Always wear your seat belt? YES!

31. Been in a car accident? Yes

32. Any pet peeves? violent sports, lies

33. Favorite Pizza Toppings? salami, pepperoni, mushrooms, corn, extra cheese, tomatoes

34. Favorite Flower? lillies, daisies, poppies

35. Favorite ice cream? chocolate, lemon, strawberry

36. Favorite fast food restaurant? Goodies

37. How many times did you fail your driver's test? Never failed

38. From whom did you get your last email? from my daughter

39. Which store would you choose to max out your credit card? ???? Attica

40. Do anything spontaneous lately? Sent flowers to my girlfriend

41. Like your job? I love it

42. Broccoli? Not really.....

43. What was your favorite vacation? Last summer at Sifnos

44. Last person you went out to dinner with? My brother and his wife

45. What are you listening to right now? Nothing

46. What is your favorite color? blue

47. How many tattoos do you have? None

48. How many are you tagging for this quiz? Open

49. What time did you finish this quiz? 9: 51 am

50. Coffee Drinker? Yes - greek coffee and espresso

A Virtual Cruise to the Greek Islands

It's been unbearably hot these last few days in Athens with the temperature going up to 40C yesterday. In the city centre, it felt like over 40 at about 2 pm mainly due to the many buildings made from glass, concrete and metal which tend to create a burning hot air mass. Unfortunately, I had to drive to the centre as I had an important business lunch. Otherwise I'd have certainly driven to Galaxidi where it is much cooler. The city of Athens is practically empty today as most people went off to the beaches or the nearby islands for the weekend. I've still got 2 weeks at work before I go on holiday for 3 weeks in August. I wish I could take 5 weeks off like last year, but due to the recession and some new contracts at work, I can't allow myself this luxury. At the moment, I'd rather stay indoors in the air conditioning and dream of the Greek islands! So let me take you on a virtual cruise to some of my favourite islands.

The island of Ikaria - Valeta

From Greece

The island of Amorgos

From Greece

The island of Astypalea

From Greece

The fishing port on the island of Sifnos

From Greece

Artemonas on the island of Sifnos

From Greece

The Power of Will

There are times in our lives when we feel wreckless and depressed because of various circumstances that affect our peace of mind. Consquently, we develop a low self-estime and think that there's nothing really that we can achieve. There was a time in my life when I felt completely useless and unable to resist temptations like surfing the internet, chocolate or simply eating too much and mostly fattening and unhealthy foods. With the help and support of some good friends - one of them is a very successful psycholigist - I started to seek ways to strengthen my willpower and self-discipline. This did not happen from one day to another but it was a slow and gradual progress depending on perseverence - a topic I talked about in a previous blog.

Perseverence helped me to stick to my goal . So I gradually started cutting down on the internet, on chocolate and on food - my three main addictions I was unable to resist to. Physical exercise and meditation kept me going. I went on a diet and lost weight while at the same time I adopted a healthier eating pattern, I stopped bringing chocolate home - I used to consume a bar every day! - and also cut down on the internet for my entertainment. There were times I really felt like giving in to one or more of the above temptations but in the end I managed to control them instead of letting them control me. It was certainly not easy to achieve these goals, it took time but in the end I learned that when there is a will there is always a way.

Our World

Science and technology affect us in many different ways. They have invaded every part of our lives, have changed our lifestyles, and improved our physical and mental abilities. The technological explosion which we witness in our daily life has made it possible for us to free ourselves from tedious manual labour and see life as more than a continuous struggle for survival. We are constantly developing and enhancing our knowledge and this has an impact on every aspect of our lives. The mass media provide us with news as it happens and new technological advances mean that various forms of transport now get us to our destinations faster and more comfortably than ever before.. We have even developed our physical strength and stamina with the use of digital body building machines. Our life expectancy has also increased due to advances in the field of medicine, and these have also improved the quality of our lives. Ironically, in our eagerness to improve our standard of living, we have been irresponsibly indifferent to the side effects of progress, science and technology. We are rapidly poisoning the world with toxic fumes, effluent and waste. Wherever we look we see the devastating consequences of pollution: the blighted landscape, the grimy water of our rivers and lakes and the sickly brown air which covers many cities of the world. As a result, we have drastically reduced the quality of our lives, endagering our very existence. One of the saddest consequences of pollution is the way it is destroying natural beauty. In a world where more and more space is taken up by concrete, we cannot afford to lose areas of natural beauty.. Yet that is precisely what is happening. Acid rain, a combitation of factory fumes and rain is causing vast areas of virgin forest in Sweden, Germany, Poland and other northern and central European countries to die. On the other hand, climate changes due to global warming which is caused by pollution lead to water shortage, floods or hurricanes. The time has come to say enough is enough! If we want to save our ravaged world, we must act now, before it is too late. Otherwise, in a very short time we will find ourselves living in what will be little better than a rubbish bag!

Perseverence

We rest here while we can, but we hear the ocean calling in our dreams, And we know by the morning, the wind will fill our sails to test the seams. The calm is on the water and part of us would linger by the shore. For ships are safe in harbor, but that's not what ships are for. — Song "Ships" by Tom Kimmel & Michael Lille

Life is like an ocean which is sometimes calm and inviting and sometimes rough and menacing. And we are ships sailing along. As long as the waters are calm, we have nothing to worry about - no fears, no anxieties, no stress. We just sail with the wind and enjoy the voyage. But very often, we have to sail against the wind and even fight against huge waves. Otherwise the ship will sink and we'll drown. When we first begin working toward a goal, we are filled with passion, fire and excitement. We feel invincible and we just know that we can accomplish whatever we desire. We take off running toward our goal, determined to make it happen, and we know we CAN make it happen. Then we begin to encounter some obstacles. We may struggle through a few of them, but then we begin making excuses for not working on our goals. Perhaps we lose interest and get overwhelmed with daily activities. Before we know it, our goal has been placed on the "back burner" and we are no longer working toward it. Worse, maybe we no longer believe that we CAN make our dreams a reality. What happened? In my own experience, there are four key ingredients to making your dreams come true: perseverence, tenacity, courage, persistence. One of the best ways to get through difficulties is to simply persevere day by day. Huge projects don't seem as daunting when we focus on one element ... completing that before we tackle the next phase. As Napoleon Hill said, "Most great people have attained their greatest success just one step beyond their greatest failure.

The Eurovision Song Contest 2009

The 54th Eurovision Song Contest was held last night in Moscow, Russia on May 16 2009.- last year's winner. Like most Greeks I was very disappointed because Greece came only 7th. I think, however, that Sakis Rouvas - Greece's greatest pop star- did his very best. The big winner was Alexander Rybak from Norway who really won the hearts of all Europeans with his Fairy Tale which he wrote himself based on a true personal experience.... and the incredible record of 387 points. It was a great song and a great performance. In an interview after his victory, he said : "I won because I had a story to tell". My favourite song, though was the UK entry "It's My Time" by the amazing Jade Ewen who got the 5th place.

Alexander Rybak from Norway - the winner My favourite song. The Greek entry - This Is Our Night by Sakis Rouvas

Shadows

Sometimes we see an entity in the periphery of our field of vision. In the duality of our reality, these entities can be positive or negative. They may look like a spark of light, (a soul spark and our true essence,) most often viewed as white light moving between grid realities. On occasion one sees a dark form, or forms, referred to as Shadow People. This is about consciousness momentarily moving between the grids that create our reality. There are many grid experiences simultaneously interacting with our own. Sometimes we get a glimpse into another, if only for a nanosecond. Some people are more aware, while others just move on. Shadow people (also known as Shadow men, shadow folk, or shadow beings) are said to be shadow like creatures of supernatural origin that appear as dark forms in the peripheries of people's vision and disintegrate, or move between walls, when noticed. Reports of shadow people are similar to ghost sightings, but differ in that shadow people are not reported as having human features, wearing modern/period clothing, or attempting to communicate. Witnesses also do not report the same feelings of being in the presence of something that 'was once human'. Some individuals have described being menaced, chased, or (more rarely) attacked by shadow people. There have also been reports of shadow people appearing in front of witnesses or lingering for several seconds before disappearing. Witnesses report that encounters are typically accompanied by a feeling of dread. Most accounts of shadow people describe them as black humanoid silhouettes with no discernible mouths, noses, eyes, or any expression whatsoever, though purported witnesses have also described child-sized humanoids or shapeless masses. Some reports also include glowing red eyes. Generally, they are described as lacking mass, though their specific nature varies from a two-dimensional shadow to a vaporous or distorted three-dimensional form. Their movement is often described as being very quick and disjointed; they may first move slowly, as if they were passing through a heavy liquid, and then rapidly "hop" to another part of a witness' surroundings. Some witnesses describe this movement as though the shadow entities they have seen "danced" from one wall to the next, or as moving around the room "as if they were on a specific track". Some accounts differ from the above and instead describe a completely black creature with red eyes, a cloak, and a gentleman's hat. This variation has become known as "the hat man".