Back Home in Australia

Back Home in Australia

A Very Long Way Home:

We have been back in Australia for a week. Takis and I have been coping with jet lag; wandering around the house at night trying to get sleepy again, and pushing ourselves to keep going in the daytime without sitting down and snoozing. Travelling so far does not get easier the more you do it, in fact airports are continually getting busier and seats on board more cramped. In all, including the three planes and waits at airports it was at least 28 hours, door to door. 

Airports:

Though travelling on Singapore Airlines from Athens to Melbourne that airline does not now go to Athens we needed to travel by Aegean Airways to Istanbul, then via Singapore to Melbourne.  So our knowledge or airports has increased by one. Though all airports have a similarity, Costa’s Coffee, Tourist shops, a crush of people from all over wearing turbans, caps, colourful African dresses, black Arabic gowns, and parents coping wonderfully with excited or sleepy children.

Taxis:

Taxi’s have been a big part of our arrival in Greece. We have got used to their careering along freeways or country roads at speeds far exceeding the limit. And the need to check fares carefully. In Singapore taxis are very reliable and very controlled, speed-wise and fare-wise. Here in Australia taxis are usually reliable but often questionable. We got a questionable one this time. Our home is an hour’s drive from the airport, and being very tired and anxious to get to bed, we accepted the charge of $156 and Takis paid by card, but then later checking the bank account found he had charged us $196! And foolishly we had not insisted on a receipt.

A Busy First Week:

My office in Australia

Since arriving, through a general blur, we have been trying to catch up with our six children and six grandchildren on the phone or in person, plus do some washing and pull a few weeds. And my office is filled with papers yet to be sorted. Thus I have not been able to find the time to write up a new post for a while.

But that is what happens when you have two homes, one in each hemisphere! And this is how a great number of the diaspora choose to live.

Family Meetings:

  

Chris 6ft 2, next to a weed!

Granddaughters helping light the bonfire

Family on LemnosDuring the time we have been renovating all of our family have visited us, bar one family. And wonderfully, in spite of the effort of the travel, several have been more than once. One even has come about seven times.My son Chris has been three times. He’ll include Lemnos on his itinerary when on a trip to other places in Asia or Europe. He has given us a couple of videos of our house, garden and the island. (Interesting to watch and notice the changes.)My daughter included Lemnos once when taking part in a sporting event in Spain and again this year when at a conference in Austria. 

My son Chris in Greece 2003

But my daughter who comes with two granddaughters makes a purposeful trip, just to the island. So these two youngsters know the place well, having been when they were 2 and 5 again when 5 and 7 and this year when 9 and 11. They love the warm waters and our close access to a safe bay.  They really liven up the house and our lives when they arrive.

And because it is such a long journey some family members come even more frequently for a visit.  Takis brother and wife come every year from their island home in Rhodes, and one of Takis’ daughters, Lisa has really fallen in love with life in Greece, and has visited about seven times, more recently with her partner, who is even busily becoming proficient in Greek. They are the two that most have taken on board the Greek lifestyle.

 

Lisa and Partner Tony

Then we have also had many visits from friends. This year we had 15 guests staying with us in Lemnos, seven being family the rest friends from Australia and America. I think that during the time we have lived there, even when busy with serious renovations we have never had less than 10 guests during a stay.

With Friends in a Lemnian Taverna