2 am Musings

 We've had hundreds of visitors over the years.  Friends, friends of friends.  Greater extended family and lots of closer family.  First brothers and now their children and their families and friends.

Many people I still remember though it could be 50 years since we met . Most I can picture but often can't remember names.  

Who was David who visited about 10 years ago?  I can recall so many details but not his surname and how he found us.

It was November and he'd been in Athens for a few days. He walked everywhere and used public transport. He'd been out to the monument commemorating the Battle of Marathon. David went by bus in the middle of a thunderstorm and got drenched. He enjoyed every minute of it!  

He stayed in Spartan rooms on Poros, 15 euros a night.  And he wanted to interrogate the girls on life in an economic depression.  They weren't enthusiastic naturally enough but he was satisfied with their replies.

Next day we hurried him off the island just before another storm hit.  The taxi boats had tied up because of high seas and the car ferry was about to stop too. We rushed him across the Straits and he caught a bus....to where? Maybe Epidavros. He loved history. And current events. Couldn't understand why my blog wasn't more political.

Does he ring a bell with anyone? I'm thinking he might be a distant cousin. Brother of John who visited recently.  No photo. 

Then there were the 2 *Karitane nurses (for newborns and their mother's) back in the 80s.  Kiwis or Aussies? Lovely girls. They brought a soft stuffed bunny for Elli who was just a wee baby. We still have it.  I have a photo of them but no names. 

*Karitane nurses I think are only in NZ. 

And my Uncle George who visited in the late 70s, driving a small car where he slept.  

We lived in a tiny basement apartment and the fridge door had just fallen off. I had a thick towel hanging over the front to keep things cool.

Uncle G had been in the NZ army and was captured in northern Greece after the German occupation .  He was travelling back visiting all the people and places he remembered, in Greece and in Austria where he spent the rest of the war working for the German war effort.

I wish I had asked more questions back then. He wrote his memoirs but they're held in some army museum in NZ. I'd like to read them, know exactly where he was in Greece. 

That's what went through my mind in the wee hours last night.