May 2008 Another Greek Odyssey:
Greece Revisited
Greece holds terrors for me. I love it and I hate it because it’s a part of me. When I’m in England I want to dance when I hear Greek music, eat Greek food, be warm and gesticulate like any Greek. I want to let the Mediterranean-oriental side of me rip! But when I’m in Greece with all my crazy Greek relations, I feel very English and want to say, ‘Tut, tut. What are you all screaming and yelling about! Why can’t you talk calmly and rationally?’ So it was with a peculiar trepidation I set out with John for a three week trip around Greece in late May.
The plan was to go first to some Greek/Irish friends who have a house in Corinth. Unfortunately, we arrived on Eleni’s name day and upset her plans a little but her friends all came around anyway, armed with cakes and tarts the size of dinner plates. Then disaster struck! I began a torrential nosebleed which refused to stop despite the ministrations of lovely Dr. Niki, Eleni’s good friend. Niki got her husband to open his surgery at 9.00pm (can you imagine this happening in the UK?) and he managed to stop the bleeding. Apparently my blood pressure shot up a mile with the shock. So I was lucky to be looked after and many, many thanks to dear Eleni who took care of me and didn’t grumble that I messed up her name day good and proper. I felt a bit groggy after this experience but once the old nose had been cauterised a day or two later, I felt much happier, almost back to myself again. Eleni’s garden was a peaceful and pleasant retreat in the state I was in and I often liked to walk there and look at the lemons and orange trees, herbs, cacti and other plants. Corinth is a vibrant, cheerful small town and we had a nice day looking over Ancient Corinth with its Temple of Apollo. Also a lovely day in Loutrakis on the other side of the bay where some more English friends have a flat. The 'posh part' Eleni calls it. We had a really superb Greek meal there too, in a tiny taverna tucked down a side street. Probably the best of our holiday.
Next stop was Naxos to stay with Tony and Liz. John knew Tony as a young lad and amazingly, after all those years, they met up again at the Anglo-Hellenic Club in Worcester. The ferry ride to Naxos was most enjoyable and relaxing. The sea and sky were a marvellous cerulean blue, matching the blue and white of the Greek flag. These are definitely the colours of Greece, this stunning, vivid blue and stark white; it's reflected everywhere. It was great to see our good friends at the quayside waiting for us. We had a marvellous few days with them and they were delightful hosts. They took us about their beautiful island and we sampled the famed delicious food of Naxos. It was also good to meet up with two other club members Phil and Jo and see their charming home by the sea. But I have to confess I did prefer the mountainous and rural scenery around Mesa Potamia where Liz and Tony have the most gorgeous house. Their hard work restoring a tumbledown Greek dwelling has really paid off. It's the nicest house on Naxos! The view in the photograph above is from Peter's house, another very interesting guy we met in Naxos. His house is all white, bare, uncluttered and stunning in its simplicity. My favourite day on Naxos was when we went to see a half finished marble kouros that had been lying in a field since ancient times. Apparently these statues were begun at the marble quarry and then dragged off to be finished on site. But if something was wrong with them, they broke in transit or the marble was flawed these huge half finished blocks of marble were left where they fell. There was a peculiar dignity in these half finished, gigantic forms lying there after all these centuries. It was a balmy day and the walk through the fields to reach it, fields filled with beautiful wild flowers, was a spiritual and uplifting experience.
Next stop was Athens for a day where I met my cousins. I was so busy concentrating on listening to Mary's non stop talk (they always assume you can understand them rattling away like machine guns even if you only speak two words of Greek!) that I left my handbag behind and John ran all the way back to get it. Thankfully the waitress had taken it indoors. It didn't improve my blood pressure a lot, I can tell you. But my relief on seeing John return with my bag over his shoulder was profound! Next day we took a train to Thessaloniki; an interesting six hour journey, nice and relaxed apart from humping the cases on the rack which nearly did poor John in. Our hotel there was called the Phillipion, in Seich Sou forest, up on the hills, with marvellous views of the sea and the city. It was a great place to stay; fabulous food, good service, nightly entertainment of the torch singer kind, outdoor pool, the lot.
We visited relations here whom I haven’t seen in twenty years. Shocks all round at children now grown with kids of their own…dismay at those who look older or fatter (like moi), sadness that some have died since and left big gaps. I found it very emotional and very draining as I haven’t talked Greek in all these years and though the words all flowed surprisingly well, it was still a mental strain. Poor John, as always in these situations felt a bit left out as no one gave me time to translate, people kept arriving all the time! Luckily some of the younger ones know English and chatted to him. While in Salonika we visited the Archeological Museum and Jewish Museum, very good and informative places to see. The sad plight of the Jews of Salonika, the first to be taken to the gas chambers (all 50,000 of them) was very moving. There are Roman ruins in Salonika too as well as Turkish. It’s a fascinating city, open, not so much high rise and pollution as in Athens. You really must go if you want to know Greece. Go when the Exhibition is on in September and you’ll find it buzzing and exciting. If you prefer peace and quiet go earlier as we did.
Athens was the last stop and we stayed with my cousin Mary, now a widow sadly. I recall her marriage to handsome, blue eyed Dimitris and how they came to stay with us in London for their honeymoon. Athens is so changed, so spoilt. Once one could see with ease Lykavittos and the Acropolis rising amidst the red roofs of the houses. Now they are lost in a mass of high rise flats and the city has become featureless and identical to many other large capital cities in the world, all high buildings and spaghetti motorways.
Then home again and we nearly missed our transfer at Amsterdam as we got a tad lost in that convoluted airport. With the tannoi blaring out our names and tell us to get there or else we had to run for it. We made it and got glared at for our pains but all was well and we and our luggage arrived safely at Birmingham airport!
Now we’re recovering from it all. It was a hectic, varied, fascinating, exhausting holiday. But lots of books will come from it, I reckon, plots are forming already!
If anyone is interested in joining the Anglo-Hellenic Club in Worcester the website is www.wahc.org.uk/2.html Even if you don't live near Worcester they may be able to advise you on a club near you. We also have the Kefi Club www.kefi-club.org.uk for those who like a more foody Greek interest.
Take a look at my article Promises made and Broken
in Greek-o-File Vol 6 which will be out mid-November 2007
In this article I tell the tragic war-time story of my parent's romance. How they met in an Athens street, fell in love at first sight and their subsequent unhappy and tragic marriage.
Diana and Alex Cairns
Order copies of Greek-o-File from Sylvia and Terry Cook
e-mail: stc@greekofile.co.uk
Talk at Manor Park Tennis Club
November 14th 2007
A lunchtime talk at Manor Park Tennis Club for the Greek Club of the U3A in Malvern went well despite techno problems with the pictures! Loretta gave a talk on The Nurses War. She spoke about the problems and dangers that faced doctors, Red Cross and other nursing teams in the Balkans during the 1915-17 conflict. Despite having no pics, Loretta managed to convey the Salonika scene to her audience who all seemed to appreciate it. Being lunchtime there were a few nodders! But not many. A lovely audience. Many thanks for coming.
Good report in the Malvern Gazette and LedburyReporter
Feb. 17th 2006
Book is worth the wait
by Tarik Al Rasheed
photo by James Maggs (staff photographer)
More than 30 years after she first picked up her pen, a Malvern woman is celebrating the publication of her debut novel.
Loretta Proctor first started writing The Long Shadow in 1973, but found she was too busy and the book was subsequently banished to the cupboard. However, she returned to finish it in 2002 and it has just been issued by Publish America. Mrs. Proctor said it has definitely been worth the wait.
“After thirty years, it’s such a thrill that it’s finally out there, “ she said. “Writing’s been a life-long love of mine and this is an ambition fulfilled.”
The book tells of a young man’s efforts to trace his father’s roots after his death in battle in Greece during the First World War. The story is fictional but Mrs. Proctor drew on many personal experiences when writing.
“My mother is Greek and although the book is fiction a lot of it is based on memories and information she’s passed down to me,” she said. “She checked on all my Greek references for me and she’s thrilled that it’s finished.”
Mrs Proctor cannot wait to have more books published now that she has tasted the experience, “The creative juices are really flowing now and I’m already halfway through my next book, “she said. Mrs. Proctor will officially launch the book at Goldsboro Books in London next month. It is already available from online retailer Amazon.co.uk and .com and will shortly be available in Beacon Books in BelleVue Terrace.
A report by Henry Ellis also came out March 23rd 2006 in The Barnet Press (Loretta lived in Barnet, North London for thirty years before retiring to Malvern.)
Meanwhile read on about some more happenings!
Loretta’s London Launch
On the 31st. March 2006 the Proctor clan congregated at St. Martin’s Spice, a restaurant near Leicester Square, London. The entrance to the venue was in Cecil Court opposite Goldsboro Books who were helping with the event. We had told our guests to find the Green Door (what's that secret you're keeping!....shades of Frankie Vaughan) leading to the basement room beneath the restaurant. There it was open for us and downstairs were laid out tables with snowy white cloths, sparkling glasses, hovering restaurant manager eager to help in any way he could. It all looked very attractive.
Over the road to collect the wine delivered that afternoon to Goldsboro and arrange it ready for consumption in the little bar at our venue. John, Loretta’s husband, was master of ceremonies, Lawrence, her son was to be barman, Thalia, her daughter was the book salesperson and James, a family friend, was photographer in chief. Thalia's years working in retail for varied London bookstores held her in good stead. She set up a corner with The Long Shadow in prominent display and held a thriving trade most of the evening while Lawrence held up the bar and so did a few other people.
Panic
stations. The crisps had not been delivered with the wine! David from
Goldsboro Books did the gentlemanly thing and dived across to Tesco’s to get us
some. Loretta had meanwhile produced a selection of Greek meze to give the
Greek flavour so out came dolmades, tirropittes, spanakopittes, keftedes, olives
to keep the guests going till the launch was over and they could wander off to
eat where they would in the many nightspots and restaurants around Leicester
Square. 
Up too went the Greek flag and the Union Jack. The Long Shadow is set in Greece and Britain, reflections of Loretta’s own dual nationality.
Time now to welcome the guests. Wonderful to see faces old and new and meet many relations not seen since childhood. It was a wonderful evening and had a dreamlike quality for Loretta.
Lawrence, Heather and Colin prop the bar 
John doing his MC stuff!
A dream come true, to see the book in print thanks to Publish America who take on new and unknown novelists and give them a chance to put out their works. Great to sell the book and launch it into the world.
Efforts at speechmaking
Thalia, Miles and Liz.
Many
thanks to all who travelled a long way to see a friend and congratulate her on
her achievement, to James for taking lots of photos to commemorate this special
occasion and best thanks of all to a wonderful and supportive husband,
son and daughter who helped Loretta feel proud and glad in her moment of glory!
The Proctor Clan
Goldsboro Books have moved! August 2006
David and Daniel of Goldsboro Books have moved premises to no.7 Cecil Court, London WC2 (near Leicester Square tube station) . The shop at no.1 was so small you couldn't swing a cat in it but now the new one has lots of space and feels comfortable and classy. They are one of the best bookshops for collectors of signed, first editions and the boys are always helpful and open to enquiries. Don't forget to buy your signed copy of The Long Shadow from them when in town!