I arrived on the first Hellenic Flying Dolphin on Thursday morning, so I was far too early to check in at the Hippocampos Hotel. Instead, I left my bags there, and wandered back to the harbour. I sat and drank coffee, and gradually people I knew kept arriving. Then Ed Emery turned up, as I knew he would, and showed us the way to the old high school. It's easy to find, it's next to this hideous power pole...
~ * ~ * ~ * ~
I had already arranged to meet the others at the ouzeri in the market place.
This is where we met up last year, but this year the owner decided we were regular customers, and put olives, dolmades and bread out for us to nibble at while we drank. I had a couple of Mythos beers, and recorded some music. The musicians were good, and soon I was in proper Rebetiko mode.
Around eight o'clock, or so, we all wandered along to Loulou's Taverna, which unlike last year was already half full. Apparently in Greece, when the local elections are about to happen, people respond to the barrage of television programs about them by going out for a meal. This is a very sensible reaction, in my view. Anyway, there was plenty of room for us all, and the staff coped with the sudden doubling in the number of customers as if such things happened all the time. We were soon well fed, and the retsina was flowing quite freely.
It was only a matter of time before music broke out again, and I made some more recordings. The time flew by, and eventually I wandered back to the hotel, perhaps ever so slightly unsteadily. Having put all the recording gear in battery charging mode, I forgot to set an alarm, and went suddenly to sleep...