Travel now not tomorrow

 Saturdays are special Saturday nights have always felt different, often more exciting, sometimes pivotal. When I was a child Saturday nights felt lively because the TV was light and humorous with no emotional soap operas or serious documentaries. As I grew to adolescence I was able to go out in the early evening and hang about the park with friends, feeling nothing but liberation, free from family and television. As soon as I was old enough I was at discos, dancing to T-Rex, Rod Stewart and David Bowie, mostly at local churches. Real freedom and excitement came when I could go into town, the big disco dancehalls with flickering lights and a beat that put you in tune with the music. When I was a poor student and couldn't afford the entrance fee to the disco I took a job there on Saturday nights. I could be part of the action, feel the music, dance at my break. As a newly married mother with young babies, Saturdays remained different from other days. They might simply be marked...

The main thoroughfare on Hydra has a grand name, but most people refer to it as 'Donkey Shit Lane'. There is no mistaking why it is called this - the sight and the smell of donkey poo give it away. However, no one complains. The donkeys are the engines of the island as they carry food supplies, building equipment and baggage up to the houses that throng the hillsides. And to give the donkey men full due, they try to stay on the poo, sweeping it up whenever they can. However, if they are leading four donkeys laden with supplies and just one of those creatures shits, and another donkey train is heading downwards, with another one just behind, no one wants anyone to stop and sweep up the excrement.  But Donkey Shit Lane is more than a transport link. Its rugged steps are used by those heading to school, work, shopping trips or just down to the port to meet friends. In the morning it rings with the Kalimera Chorus. Everyone calls out Kalimera, even the school kids hail each other. ...

As many of you know, I spend a lot of time on Hydra in Greece. With no cars, no traffic noise, its tranquillity cannot be overstated. When you step off the boat from Athens, it is easy to smile as all stresses ease from your shoulders. The island was put on the map in the 1960s when the likes of Leonard Cohen and other artists lived, worked and sometimes found fame while working here. There have been many books written about the time and now a mini-series is being made on the island focusing on Cohen's romance with his then muse, Marianne Ihlen.  Personally, I think their story is less than romantic: boy meets girl, boy finds success in the big world, boy leaves girl, they both move on. It's not quite the impetuous passion of Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. But Cohen's legacy of  music and poetry bring tourists to the island, and this helps the islanders prosper. For this I am happy. However, a better Hydra story that could be fictionalised, is the one of Niko Ghika, a...

We can all be grateful to the friends we've made in our lives. I often think back to those I have learned from and laughed with, and it makes me smile.  One friend who stands out in my mind is Matrine Chuulu. She was a law student in Lusaka, sharing an apartment with a mutual friend. I lived 400 miles away in Northern Province but, when I would come south to Lusaka, Matrine and I would meet and talk about our lives. Although she was a law student, she wasn't from a rich family. Her mother sacrificed, wanted her daughter to be independent and professional. Zambia was a fledgling democracy, we were all optimistic about the future, and Matrine gave me insight into contemporary Africa. I'm not sure what I gave her, but we talked, shared our ideas of life and the future.  When I left Zambia we wrote to each other but, as children came along, our letter-writing fell to the way side. Until about 25 years later and I decided to visit the country that had so changed me. I looked up ...