crete – because i said

Fishing for Food and Meaning in Chania

I’m reading an English translation of The Flaw, a Greek mystery thriller by Antonis Samarakis. That characterization, mystery thriller, isn’t quite right. In fact, the book does not fit into any single category. It’s just too strange and funny and destabilizing. It dwells on banal events, some of which later turn out to be not so banal. Flits between one character’s point of view and another’s. Never pretends to know what any character is thinking or feeling, which leaves you wondering that you’re thinking and feeling. About the book, I mean.

History Lessons in Chania, Crete

Good Friday service just before the Procession. Greek Orthodox Church of Saint Nicholas, in Chania.

I just finished reading The Shortest History of Greece, which is 242 pages in length. My favourite paragraph is about the hard-fought 1920 national election:

“To general amazement, the [monarchist] opposition won. Perhaps it was resentment at the continuing violation of Greek sovereignty by the Great Powers. Perhaps it was the sudden death of King Alexander from a monkey-bite and return of his popular father, Constantine.”

Excuse me, monkey bite? A little context, please? Such as, what was the monkey’s name? What exactly did King Alexander do to provoke the monkey? And, was the monkey wearing a fez?

Chania, Crete. Day 1 1/2

On the thirty-five-minute flight from Athens to Chania, the young and pretty flight attendant pushes the refreshments trolley down the aisle. When she gets to my row, she leans over and holds out a bottle of water and a snack. We have been travelling for nearly twenty-four hours — exactly twenty-four by the time we check into our hotel about an hour later.