July 21, 2013

Dancing on Monastiraki Square

Yesterday, I was waiting for a friend of mine on Monastiraki square, just in front of the electric railway station. She was already late when suddenly...
...African rhythms filled the whole place ...
...attracting people of all different directions.
And when those two went dancing, people started to clap loudly!
And then I woke up; my friend called me on my mobile and she asked to hurry up because she had been waiting, a few meters away, in front of the metro station, for more than 20 minutes :)!


July 16, 2013

Giorgos of Korae Square

The other day I saw Mr Giorgos again. He was in Korae Square, on the same corner I first saw him.
Actually, that time was a day after the violent riots of February 12/2012 and I interviewed him for the radio I work for.
"Athens was burning, everything around was on fire but I was not afraid" he told me. "In contrast, I was wishing for my end. What worse could possibly happen to me? I'm homeless since 1991. I come from Thessaloniki but to me home is all places I stand on."
"The other day I went to the police station to get an ID card and they asked for my electricity bill! I'm homeless. How can I possibly have an electricity bill? One does not exist without money. I don't exist".
Today, five months later, nothing's changed for him. Only this time I met him, it was under 43C.

July 10, 2013

Under 44 degrees of Celsius

While all Greek media keep on warning people to avoid being outside, Georgia Athanassiades had to go to work.
She sells lottery tickets, sitting everyday on the same corner, in Syntagma, since 1973!
" I was a young girl when I first came to Athens and I grew old on this very same corner. Now I'm a grandmother" she says smiling.
To her, it doesn't matter if the temperature is up to 44C or below zero 'cause, as she explains, she has to earn her living.
" Bills are running and everything's getting more expensive. What else am I supposed to do? But it's OK. It doesn't seem that hard to me. I'm used to it now. Besides, I like meeting people".
By the time I met her it was three after noon. She had been there since eight o'clock in the morning and wasn't going to leave before six.
" I've sold nothing yet" she tells me.
" Who trusts his luck now days in Athens? I hear no one saying that everything is or will be fine soon.
Recently, I cut orders by half and still I never sell all of them."
She was about to tell me more but I really had to go. I couldn't bear the sun burning my skin anymore though it was less than 15 minutes that I was standing there.