Settling In

Yesterday morning was spent hardware shopping in Karlovasi. The afternoon was spent watching the rest of Kathy’s furniture arrive. Streets in the village were not laid out to accommodate automobile traffic. They resemble a spider web maze of narrow alleys with hairpin turns, steep inclines, and masonry stair steps that encroach, willy-nilly, from anywhere. To complicate things further, they have no qualms here, about placing utility poles right in the middle of an intersection. It’s the kind of place where you do not want to drive a furniture delivery truck for a living.

photo by Newell

Last night was the big soccer game between Greece and Germany. Intense national rivalries that still linger from the Second World War that render the event a local equivalent of something between Super Sunday and the Olympics, with the Greek team being 9 to 1 underdogs. Toward evening, cafés and restaurants were setting up outdoor televisions and folding chairs. We left early, but when Greece scored a goal, it sounded like New Year’s Eve, complete with cherry bombs. The final score, I was told this morning, was 2 to 4, Germany’s favor. The mood in the streets today, is somber.