This morning, I notice a fisherman in his boat at the bottom of the little bay here, near the shore. The boat is painted blue inside, white outside with a red stripe. It has a small outboard on the stern. He can't go far with that outboard, so is keeping close to shore. An old man's boat. There are oar locks on the gunnels and a fishing net roll on the bow.
He is wearing a red jacket and emptying out some water with a small container. He probably likes getting away from the noise and crowds as well. If I ever decide to live with a man again, he will need to enjoy early mornings, value silence and nature and not be afraid of being alone with only his own thoughts. He might be a fisherman.
The propeller is churning the water at slow speed and he is getting his gear sorted out. After a few minutes, he heads out to sea and turns south along the shore heading for the next point of Salamina but turns in and disappears in the next bay. Perhaps fishing is better there, or perhaps his house is there and he wants his boat near. Or perhaps he is finished fishing already. There was a small blue buoy out here yesterday and now it's gone. I think he has come to pull it in, got his catch and went home with seafood for dinner. All before breakfast.
My coffee now needs a warm up and I cut some bread to top with honey for my breakfast. There is only one mandarin left – soon it will be time to go to the town for supplies. I have enough food to last until tomorrow, and there is a farmer's market on Thursday in Salamina town.
A navy ship is heading south and a four engine propeller plane gains altitude to the east - there is a military area north of here. I have no idea what is happening with the world – no news for two days.
Greece is part of NATO, so probably they are surveying the situation in Syria and watching the borders with Turkey. There is never any news about the military aspect of countries, yet it's the most important news to have. Are we safe? Is our country getting ready for war? And if so then with whom and why?
I write down the supplies I need tomorrow: makings of a soup, bread, cheese, eggs, fruit, dish soap.
I have been here for only two days and my mind is already preoccupied with the subject of solitude. Do people really go mad if they don't see others? What about hermits – do they spend all their time alone and have some sort of aptitude to not need other people? Or do they go to town now and then or have visitors? I already feel like Sisyphus, who had to roll a heavy stone up a hill and then let it roll down over and over again to stop himself from going mad on a deserted island where he was sent in punishment for some misdeed. We need some kind of purpose to our days and it helps to have others appreciate our efforts. Is this why Vincent Van Gogh went mad? Because he kept painting and no one wanted to buy his work?
I have nothing to do here except eat, sleep and write. Perhaps that's why people invented entertainment like books, radio and TV, card games, alcohol, over eating, smoking and drugs. To help time go by. Or to kill time as someone I once knew liked to say. Otherwise the mind would drive them crazy. Eckhart Tolle, a spiritual teacher and author of The Power of Now, says that we need to stop the mindless activity of the mind and pay attention to the present moment. I certainly don't want to kill time – there is never enough of it. But I do want to make the most of what I do have.
I chose this retreat consciously, to see how I liked to live in Greece in a house rather than a boat and in winter, and to see if Greece is really the place where I want to spend my senior years. But after two days, I am already questioning the wisdom of my decision. It is cold, inside and out. I haven't been able to raise the temperature of the house past 20 degrees and it's only 10 degrees outside. What if it starts snowing? It's cloudy, windy and drizzling most of the time. Do I want this for four or five months of the year? Since I can do anything I want, is this what I passionately want in my life?
I decide that I kind of like it here, in January, in this house on a cliff overlooking the Aegean Sea, trying to stay warm, drinking my coffee and typing away. I like the solitude, the winter, the quiet, and especially the wind and surf outside. But I definitely want a fireplace in my house.
At 7:30 I open the shutters and it's daylight. A hydrofoil just cleared the southerly point of Salamina and is heading towards Piraeus. The anchor lights are still on the ships out in the sea. There are whitecaps all over the sea which is now steel gray. That's about 15-20 knots from the north East. Winter wind.
After breakfast, I get ready and walk half an hour to the bus stop. An old woman (older than me, so yes, old) is waiting. We chat for awhile and later make our separate ways into Salamina town.
It is a large town, spread out at the east end of a bay of the same name. To a romantic like me, it is too utilitarian and even then, not very convenient for someone without a car. I hoof it towards the harbour, find an outdoor produce market, stock up on a few more things and a couple of hours later am ready to head home.
