My diary of the 2012 Hydra Rebetiko Conference.
Thursday
My wife drove me to the station late on Wednesday evening, and I caught two trains [sequentially], and ended up at Gatwick Airport at just after one in the morning. There isn't much to do at Gatwick until you have checked your luggage in, and precious few comfortable places to sit, so I spent a lot of time wandering around, trying the floor for comfort, and sitting in a barely padded chair trying to sleep. I think the actual amounts of sleep I got were in the tens of seconds.
Eventually, I was able to check in, and head for the Gatwick version of shoppers' heaven, which still gets called "Duty Free" for some reason. Some light snacks were all I could be bothered to buy. The plane took off in due course, and I slept happily for most of the flight, apart from watching some splendid landscape for the last half hour.
Athens airport is still amazingly efficient, and I got my case and headed for the bus. And just missed one. The price has gone up to five Euros, which is still a bargain, and I got to Pireaus in time for the five o'clock hydrofoil to Hydra. The price of those has gone up too...
Anyway, by about 6:30 local time, I was on the island, and started looking for rebetiko people I know. And looked, and looked. I did meet the owner of the hotel I stayed in the last few times I was here, the Hippocampos, who actually remembered my name! His hotel was full of people who were on the island for some sort of insurance conference, apparently.
The Mistral Hotel seemed nice. My room was two floors up from the entrance, so I was surprised to find my little balcony was about four feet from the ground. It seems the hotel is at the start of the hills!
After a shower [that worked properly - luxury] I went out to look for people and a meal. I wandered around most of the town twice, but saw nobody. I was feeling a bit worried by this time, as I was starting to think I had turned up for the wrong dates. Anyway, I had a Mythos beer and some charcoal grilled chicken, which was wonderful. Not just because I had not eaten during daylight; it was genuinely wonderful.
Ambling back towards the hotel, I found Voula from the Hippocampos, who was running a little shop that apparently belongs to the owner of the Hippocampos; she also works in the hotel, and also greeted me by name. She said that there had been calls from "the rebetiko people" trying to book rooms, and that they were apparently arriving the next day, Friday.
I hoped she was right, as I had been imagining all manner of cruel scenarios where the other rebetiko fans were fed up with me, and had induced the belief in the new dates to avoid me. Anyway, I was rather tired, so I had an early night.
Friday