Postcards
More than 100 yeas ago Kodak introduced the folding postcard camera. Carrying the camera, films and just a few items on their journey it allowed tourists to print 3-1/2" x 5-1/2" postcards from glass or roll film negatives. Postal services spanned the globe, even if it could take a month or more to reach far flung destinations. Family and friends could at last take part in the journey from the comfort of their homes! These postcards are meant to reach my real and imaginary friends across the 5 continents. Some will reach their destination while others will be lost in time.
More than 100 yeas ago Kodak introduced the folding postcard camera. Carrying the camera, films and just a few items on their journey it allowed tourists to print 3-1/2" x 5-1/2" postcards from glass or roll film negatives. Postal services spanned the globe, even if it could take a month or more to reach far flung destinations. Family and friends could at last take part in the journey from the comfort of their homes! These postcards are meant to reach my real and imaginary friends across the 5 continents. Some will reach their destination while others will be lost in time.
Caro Luca,
Café Hoi Polloi nella città vecchia, qualche giorno fa. È in quella stradina dietro il posto di frontiera dove ci siamo incontrati! Siamo tutti qui e ci manchi. Oggi sono passato davanti al Bar Origini (5 giugno), il caffè dove anche la gente ride e sorride. Ma Corona aveva chiuso a chiave la porta e non c'era un'anima. La mano di un vento freddo e senza cuore puntava da qualche parte che non mi piace essere.
Here at Hoi Polloi we are talking things better. It is just beyond the crossing and the razor wire. Blue helmets still patrol the divide and the pain of the virus has not been forgotten. But we are happy because we know how life should be and we make it that way. You can see in the faces and hear it in the music that we belong here. So I will come again and knock at your door. Ever yours...
Café Hoi Polloi nella città vecchia, qualche giorno fa. È in quella stradina dietro il posto di frontiera dove ci siamo incontrati! Siamo tutti qui e ci manchi. Oggi sono passato davanti al Bar Origini (5 giugno), il caffè dove anche la gente ride e sorride. Ma Corona aveva chiuso a chiave la porta e non c'era un'anima. La mano di un vento freddo e senza cuore puntava da qualche parte che non mi piace essere.
Here at Hoi Polloi we are talking things better. It is just beyond the crossing and the razor wire. Blue helmets still patrol the divide and the pain of the virus has not been forgotten. But we are happy because we know how life should be and we make it that way. You can see in the faces and hear it in the music that we belong here. So I will come again and knock at your door. Ever yours...
Dear Lucas,
Lygon Street, Carlton, 20 December 2018. I caught up with Paolo as he was refreshing the directions to Johnny’s Green Room upstairs. Remember the view from the terrace? I heard that you were hanging out at Haifa beach during summer, hope the surf was consistent! Anyways, the Frederick Street house is still the same as always and the Greek neighbor still plays the baglamadaki every evening. Ever yours…
Lygon Street, Carlton, 20 December 2018. I caught up with Paolo as he was refreshing the directions to Johnny’s Green Room upstairs. Remember the view from the terrace? I heard that you were hanging out at Haifa beach during summer, hope the surf was consistent! Anyways, the Frederick Street house is still the same as always and the Greek neighbor still plays the baglamadaki every evening. Ever yours…
Dear Desidera,
Portara, Naxos, 11 June 2017. The Portara is just West of Naxos town and faces directly toward Delos, Apollo’s birthplace. A curious structure and the locals say it was built some 2547 years ago as the entrance to a temple that was never completed. Lygdamis the tyrant built it and maybe it was not completed because he was busy building the highest and most glorious buildings of all Greece, in Naxos. In the 5th century AD a church was built on the site and later its parts were dismantled by the Venetians who built the cathedral that now overlooks Naxos. Later still the Ottoman conquerors repurposed yet more parts of the old temple. Yet after all this change the Portara remains, it was too large to be removed like almost everything else. And all over Naxos we have found columns, plinths and beams of Lygdamis' times that have been re-purposed in buildings, arches and walls. Those lonely carved marble blocks have a glow all of their own, almost as if projecting the memory of their glory days into the present. Ever yours…
Portara, Naxos, 11 June 2017. The Portara is just West of Naxos town and faces directly toward Delos, Apollo’s birthplace. A curious structure and the locals say it was built some 2547 years ago as the entrance to a temple that was never completed. Lygdamis the tyrant built it and maybe it was not completed because he was busy building the highest and most glorious buildings of all Greece, in Naxos. In the 5th century AD a church was built on the site and later its parts were dismantled by the Venetians who built the cathedral that now overlooks Naxos. Later still the Ottoman conquerors repurposed yet more parts of the old temple. Yet after all this change the Portara remains, it was too large to be removed like almost everything else. And all over Naxos we have found columns, plinths and beams of Lygdamis' times that have been re-purposed in buildings, arches and walls. Those lonely carved marble blocks have a glow all of their own, almost as if projecting the memory of their glory days into the present. Ever yours…
Dear Teagan-Jane,
Acropolis, Athens, 5 June 2017. I wish you were here! This tall pedestal west of the Propylaea originally supported a bronze life-size quadriga, and at its base the inscription reads ‘THEDEMEDEDICATEDRHISMONUMENTTOMARCUSAGRIPPASONOFLUCIUSTHRICEACONSULITSBENEFACTOR’. (As was common at the time there are no spaces between words and only capital letters are used in the inscription, but I think you can work out what it says.) It was dedicated around 20 BC, before Agrippa died, but constructed around 150 BC of Hymmetian and Pentelic marble to commemorate a victory of the Pergamene Kings in a chariot race in the Panathenic Games. Revisionism was alive and well in late antiquity! This is where we exited from the Acropolis, dominated by the Parthenon which re-established the Acropolis sanctuary after the sack by the Persians in 480 BC. The legacy of Perikles, who initiated the renewal, has never been forgotten. Of that the massive marble structures remind everyone. Ever yours…
Acropolis, Athens, 5 June 2017. I wish you were here! This tall pedestal west of the Propylaea originally supported a bronze life-size quadriga, and at its base the inscription reads ‘THEDEMEDEDICATEDRHISMONUMENTTOMARCUSAGRIPPASONOFLUCIUSTHRICEACONSULITSBENEFACTOR’. (As was common at the time there are no spaces between words and only capital letters are used in the inscription, but I think you can work out what it says.) It was dedicated around 20 BC, before Agrippa died, but constructed around 150 BC of Hymmetian and Pentelic marble to commemorate a victory of the Pergamene Kings in a chariot race in the Panathenic Games. Revisionism was alive and well in late antiquity! This is where we exited from the Acropolis, dominated by the Parthenon which re-established the Acropolis sanctuary after the sack by the Persians in 480 BC. The legacy of Perikles, who initiated the renewal, has never been forgotten. Of that the massive marble structures remind everyone. Ever yours…
Dear Jasmine,
Okatse canyon, Georgia, 23 April 2017. Between Tbilisi and Kutaisi towns there is a small road that leads to the Okatse canyon, and along the walking path not far from the canyon there is one да́ча (dacha) after the other. These dachas are all simple structures made of wood and a tin roof. A few are painted but usually the paint flakes off. The winters are harsh here and when I walked past yesterday there were a few small snow drifts. The summer visitors had not yet arrived. These small houses look so inviting and it is easy to imagine how people come in summer to enjoy nature, being with friends and simply to listen to the murmur of the breezes, and the everlasting stars above. Ever yours...
Okatse canyon, Georgia, 23 April 2017. Between Tbilisi and Kutaisi towns there is a small road that leads to the Okatse canyon, and along the walking path not far from the canyon there is one да́ча (dacha) after the other. These dachas are all simple structures made of wood and a tin roof. A few are painted but usually the paint flakes off. The winters are harsh here and when I walked past yesterday there were a few small snow drifts. The summer visitors had not yet arrived. These small houses look so inviting and it is easy to imagine how people come in summer to enjoy nature, being with friends and simply to listen to the murmur of the breezes, and the everlasting stars above. Ever yours...
Dear Olga,
Gaziantep, 4 February 2016. I wish you were here! Today I arrived in Antep to visit the Armenian Surp Asdvazdadzin Kilisesi (Holy Mother of God cathedral). Locals here insist there was no such thing and told me exactly which road I should take if I wanted to visit the ‘Liberation’ Mosque. These children stopped me on the way and the little one with the pistol offered to be my bodyguard. Why so I have yet to find out. I have to finish, the Posta Görevlisi told me he is closing for the weekend. I will send another postcard when I find the Holy Mother of God cathedral. Ever yours…
Gaziantep, 4 February 2016. I wish you were here! Today I arrived in Antep to visit the Armenian Surp Asdvazdadzin Kilisesi (Holy Mother of God cathedral). Locals here insist there was no such thing and told me exactly which road I should take if I wanted to visit the ‘Liberation’ Mosque. These children stopped me on the way and the little one with the pistol offered to be my bodyguard. Why so I have yet to find out. I have to finish, the Posta Görevlisi told me he is closing for the weekend. I will send another postcard when I find the Holy Mother of God cathedral. Ever yours…
Dear Nicolangelo,
Kakopetria, 4 October 2015. Remember you asked me if there were rivers in Cyprus that have water all year round? I found one, in Kakopetria on the way to Mt Troodos. The name is a little strange, and seems to mean ‘bad rock’. But a villager told me that it really means ‘bad Petris’ and that the village was named after an evil boy with a hot temper who was sent by his father to live here. Unlike Petris the stream is lovely and cool, perfect on a hot day. Ever yours…
Kakopetria, 4 October 2015. Remember you asked me if there were rivers in Cyprus that have water all year round? I found one, in Kakopetria on the way to Mt Troodos. The name is a little strange, and seems to mean ‘bad rock’. But a villager told me that it really means ‘bad Petris’ and that the village was named after an evil boy with a hot temper who was sent by his father to live here. Unlike Petris the stream is lovely and cool, perfect on a hot day. Ever yours…