Breaking news....'Ο Τζόνι και Εγώ' τώρα στα βιβλιοπωλεία...!

Η Πηνελόπη είναι μία έξυπνη, σοφιστικέ Αθηναία, κληρονόμος
τριών χιλιάδων χρόνων ελληνικής κουλτούρας, ιστορίας και δόξας.
Όταν φεύγειστην Αγγλία για σπουδές, συναντά τον Τζόνι,
γοητευτικό μεν, αλλά χωρίς αμφιβολία τυπικό Άγγλο.
Τον ερωτεύεται, τον παντρεύεται και δημιουργούν
οικογένεια. Μέχρις εδώ, όλα τέλεια! Πολύ γρήγορα όμως
θα συνειδητοποιήσει ότι τώρα έχει να
κάνει με έναν “ξένο” μέσα στο ίδιο της το σπίτι και
επίσης ότι έχει μετακομίσει σε ένα περιβάλλον με
κρύα κτίρια, αστείες υδραυλικές εγκαταστάσεις,
παράξενους γείτονες και πολύ περίεργα… ήθη κι
έθιμα.
Η Πηνελόπη μπερδεύεται, απελπίζεται, κλαίει,
αλλά κυρίως γελάει προσπαθώντας να καταλάβει
τον καινούργιο τρόπο ζωής που πρέπει να ακολου-
θήσει. Αγωνίζεται να δαμάσει τη γλώσσα, όπως
επίσης αγωνίζεται να γοητεύσει τους Άγγλους προ-
κειμένου να αποδεχτούν το ταμπεραμέντο της.
Ένα ξεκαρδιστικό βιβλίο για όποιον έχει μείνει
στο εξωτερικό ή έχει γνωρίσει κάποιον με διαφο-
ρετική κουλτούρα ή απλώς αναρωτιέται γιατί οι
ξένοι κάνουν τα πάντα με τόσο διαφορετικό τρόπο
απ’ ό,τι εμείς οι Έλληνες…

Υ.Γ 1. To βιβλίο θα το βρείτε σε όλα τα κεντρικά βιβλιοπωλεία της Ελλάδας και σύντομα και στα περιφερειακά και ακόμα στο βιβλιοπωλείο της Εμπειρίας Eκδοτικής οδό Ζωοδόχου Πηγής και Α. Μεταξά 1 στο κέντρο της Αθήνας ή στο e-mail info@empiria.gr. Σύντομα θα ενημερωθεί και η ιστοσελίδα www.empiria.gr για κατευθείαν παραγγελία


Y.Γ2 Αλληλουία!'ο Τζόνι και εγώ' επιτέλους στα βιβλιοπωλεία! Και εγώ είμαι τόσο μακριά!! και ταξιδεύω για ακόμα πιο μακριά....! Σας ευχαριστώ όλους σας και σας εύχομαι καλές καλοκαιρινές διακοπές όπου και ναναι αυτές!


P.S. All the above are details about the book which is now available in the main bookstores in Greece and I am so far away...!
Thank you everybody and I wish you nice holidays!

we're all going on a summer holiday!

Were all going on a summer holiday.(by boat to NY Hamptons)
No more working for a week or two.(a month)
Fun and laughter on a summer holiday.
No more worries for me and you.(blogging and posting!)
For a week or two.

Were going where the sun shines brightly.
Were going where the sea is blue.
Weve seen it in the movies (Great Gatsby)!
Now lets see if its true.

Everybody has a summer holiday
Doing things they always wanted to.(write the new 'Great Gatsby')
So were going on a summer holiday (NY Hamptons)
To make our dreams come true (with the main character to be Greek...!)
For me and you.

p.s Και μήν ξεχάσeτε να πάρετε μαζί σας την καλοκαιρινή βίβλο 'o Tζονι και Εγώ'

φιλιά σε όλους
Penelope

Who's who: Penelope

1.What is your greatest fear?
Electrical power cut for long period of time
2.What is your favourite way of spending time?
Make jokes for my own amusement
3.When and where were you happiest?
Early summer mornings in Greece with view of the sea
4.What is the trait you most deplore in others?
Not take a joke about themselves
5.What is your favourite Journey
Flying from England to Greece and driving back to England from Greece
6.What do you most dislike about your appearance?
My hair in the morning, it has mind of their own
7.What do you consider the most over-rated virtue?
Faith
8.Which word or phrases do you most over-use?
Move on
9.If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
Speak English with BBC accent
10.Where you would you like to live?
Greece and England with occasionally breaks around the world
11.What is it that you most dislike?

The predisposition to negativity
12.Who are your heroes in real life?

As Brecht said, “Unhappy the land where heroes are needed.”
13.What is your greatest extravagance?

Being with my best girlfriends at home drinking pink champagne and eating Leonidas chocolate watching ‘sex and the city’ on dvd, so we can repeat the ‘scenes’ we like and gossiping about them
14.What is your most marked characteristic?

My foreignness
15.What is the quality you most like in a man?

Gorgeousness, funny, smart and good at DIY
16.What is the quality you most like in a woman?

Smart, funny , optimistic and as Margaret Atwood said superlative gossipy
17.Which living person do you most despise?

I tend to despise human behaviour rather than human creatures.

18.What do you most value in your friends?

They like me in bad and good times
19.What do you consider your greatest achievement?
Reconciliation with myself
20.What is your most treasured possession?
My Memories
21.What or who is the greatest love of your life?

Johnny and the products of the Johnny and Me relationship
22.What is your motto?

There is no major case against life’s enjoyments (I liked it and I adopt it)
23.Who has been the greatest influence on you?
My traveller cosmopolitan grandfather

Corduroy Intelligentsia

On the road again ,Johnny and me, off to the Guardian’s Hay festival. Hay on Wye is a beautiful village on the border between Wales and England which twenty years now hosts the famous Guardian’s book festival. A festival which by virtue of its sponsor name explains why it is very popular among the British corduroy intelligentsia and Bill Clinton once called as ‘woodstock of the mind’. So Penelope and Johnny couldn’t possibly miss it. So there they were in this picturesque village with long literary tradition and numerous specialised bookshops.This year the festival’s stars were: Gore Vidal this legendary American wit,novelist and politico giving short answers to questions posed even from another big name as Christopher Hitchens as well as making the cassandrian prediction about Obama’s shooting!. Jimmy Carter who insists on playing the role of peace negotiator (Nobel Laureate) but ignoring everybody else in his party(Democrats). Somehow he reminded Blair’s way of thinking ‘we don’t need the others we have the God and the Angels with us’. Salmon Rushdie talked about his book ‘the Enchantress of Florence’, I am not very enthusiastic about him. Ian McEwan took by surprise the audience by reading a piece of his new unnamed book about climate change and approaching his subject from the comedy side. There were many more big names such as chefs James Oliver, Gardeners and aristocracy(Duchess of Devonshire)with links to Nazism! I could say it was quite controversial but as always a nice atmosphere and with creative events for children such a big cubes with white canvas where somebody could draw write something of his own. So everyone's creativity was in gear. A small hut made by wood and hay was the journalist’s hub (last photo) and the visitors were able to visit the journalists and be informed by them. On the way back Penelope was quite tired and started to have hallucination that she was the guest star author in the festival and she was presenting her book 'johnny and me' to an audience consisted with the above mentioned names!On top of this, they were asking her autograph! After she woke up and she started blogging thinking 'not bad dream at all!' Ha!

The best Greek novel (so far)

My dear friend and confidante Dia finished at last my autobiography which I think probably is the best Greek novel (so far) after Homer's Odyssey! For the simple reason Penelope's Anglosaxons's tribe is far more sophisticated than the Odyssey's Cyclopes and Sirens et al. and so far she managed to tackle them! There you are then, with the cover of the book which soon will be available in the bookshops in Greece! Hallelujah!

Penelopexx

no time for princes and princesses

It’s no time for princes and princesses. First the prince Rashid (Queen Noor’s son of Jordan 1st photo player with blue left) is playing polo for charities in the posh polo clubs in the English countryside where Penelope & Co are avid spectators on account the sport is quite spectacular and needs multiple skills by the players, as well as is the only place where Penelope feels comfortable with her accent. This sport attracts people with drawling vowels or incomprehensible foreign accent like hers, Argentinian etc. The club was full of little Diana’s looking for a date with a cavalry officer with the perfect Greek God’s bottom and the hundred acers in Cloustershire!! Penelope bought a nice leather cowboy hat from the kiosk because she was charmed by the salesman who asked her how many horses she has and how long she plays polo!? And instead to answer these questions she bought one of his hats to recompensate him for his flattering comments. Secondly Prince Charles feared the recession and the food shortage and he decided to turn to retailing. So he opens a 'mpakaliko' aka supermarket in his small village (see last photo) selling first need food like chocolates, marmalades and healing plants like orchard which probably he made and planted by his hands along with the help of Camilla’s! Penelope got the opportunity to buy some of his Royal Higness's products to show off when she will host an afternoon tea for the ladies of the neighborhood... Ha!

*drawling vowels=posh accent

Strolling around Athens virtually

Another article about Athens in FT . It is a digest from the wallpaper city guide to Athens

The only thing I'm aware of is the Gallery Breeder from the Frieze Art Festival, everything else is new to me! As my regular visits to Athens are only three to four days , just to see my loved ones.And I feel that I've really missed my city ! The only comfort is by strolling around Athens virtually ...

10am Gallery Café Greeks don't usually eat breakfast, they just have coffee (local or otherwise), so grab a bite at your hotel and then follow the local ritual: buy a newspaper from a kiosk in Syntagma Square and take a dose of caffeine at one of the plentiful cafés on Adhrianou (which joins Monastiraki to Thissio), overlooking the Ancient Agora. The best spot for this is in the colourful Gallery Café, located in front of Attalos Arcade.
33 Adhrianou, tel: +30 210 324 9080
1pm Mpakaliko Ola Ta Kala Simple Greek and Mediterranean dishes, along with large, healthy salads and irresistible desserts, are served up in this deli/restaurant that specialises in Greek products. Mpakaliko, meaning old-style mini-market, has its own modern way of treating tradition: dressing it upsmartly.
238-240 Kifissias, tel: +30 210 808 9908
4pm Deste For a dose of culture, head to Deste, the Foundation for Contemporary Art, in the suburb of New Ionia. Established by renowned collector Dakis Ioannouin 1983, Deste brings major artists from around the world a bit closer to Athenian art lovers, at the same time as introducing Greek art to an international audience.
11 Filellinon/Emanouel Pappa, tel: +30 210 275 8490, www.deste.gr
7pm The Breeder This is one of the few Greek galleries that takes part in global art fairs, such as Liste in Basel, The Armory Show in New York, Art Basel Miami Beach and London's Frieze Art Fair.
The Breeder's commitment to a diversity of subjects and artists, including Vangelis Vlahos, Jannis Varelas, Marc Bijl and Marcus Amm, makes it a worthwhile destination for any fan of contemporary art.
6 Evmorphopoulou, tel: +30 210 331 7527, www.thebreedersystem.com
10pm Oikonomou Authentic, traditional dishes, home-style cooking and a hospitable atmosphere are all to be found at this genuine Greek taverna. The décor here is reminiscent of eateries of the 1950s and 1960s, especially the antiquated fridge, which is, amazingly, still working, and the casserole dishes and saucepans that are used in the kitchen.
Order the lamb fricassee with lettuce, the very popular rabbit stew, andsome delicious aubergines and artichokes; even the beans taste terrific here. Also be sure to try some local wine and a Greek dessert.
41 Troon/Kidantidon, tel: +30 210 684 4635
1am Motel Don't leave Athens without venturing into at least one nightclub. After visiting Psyrri's hip little bars, wind up the night at the bijou Motel for a dose of house, electro and a few eclectic surprises, depending on the DJ. The backdrop to the music is a kitschy interior - vinyl sofas, black walls and images of huge-eyed dolls.
9 Riga Palamidou, tel: +30 210 323 8970, http://www.motelclub.gr/

This is an edited extract from The Wallpaper City Guide to Athens, £4.95, published by Phaidon Press {C} 2007 www.phaidon.com/travel
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008

Penelope's cafe

SECRET : Penelope's and Johnny's wedding anniversary was looming! Johnny couldn't wait and resist the temptation to impress once more Penelope after so many years of marriage and he decided to sing 'Delilah' in front of the gobsmacked Penelope and the rest of the cafe's customers and staff (pict.1)! The Greek Penelope was over the moon where the embarrasment is in its highest!After so many years I can't work out the English behaviour , what is embarassing and what is not.... After they say about us(Greeks) that we're not self-conscious!!

P.S. Between me and you: I loved it ! it was like smashing plates in Greece....!

Penelope's neighbours doors

Social awareness and hey.. oh.. listen what I say...oh

These days I feel more and more pathetic when I am watching television or reading newspapers about issues like the environmental hazards, the human's carelessness with the environment, tragedies that inflict the human beings around the world, issues that sometimes can be avoided or stopped or even minimized by the man himself. Pathetic and helpless at the same time contemplating what I am doing when people need food or they are dying or even they are desperate about their existence.... Most of the times I am switching off the television feeling sad going to bed and thinking about when is the next due date for my monthly ‘petite’ donation to the two girls out there, in Africa. Lately, even this little gesture doesn’t make any change inside me, like peace of mind and conscience. Still I feel uncomfortable. On Saturday I red an article in FT about ‘petitions’ and something moved inside me if nothing else a hope, a light in the tunnel. And I am thinking again how many times I receive a message in my e-mail asking to sign and pass on but most of the time I overlook it or delete it because I was thinking that one signature doesn’t make any difference or I was not sure about the organization which initiate the petitions. Of course I know that the vast majority of the petitions do not achieve their goal because it is hard to tell whether it has moved legislators towards action. But at their best, I believe, petitions are a potent expression of ‘people power’, and more so than ever in the online age. One example is the petition of the Jubillee 2000 debt relief. On May 16 1998 supporters gathered in Birmingham to present to the G8 leaders the first signatures collected demanding debt cancellation for the world’s poorest countries and so far they achieved their first goal –debt cancelation-and less the second, to prevent such high levels of debts.. Paula Goldman journalist in FT on the base of this petition gives some steps and guidance how a successful petitions works :
1st. Be part of a programme. Before putting pen to petition make sure the campaign is multi faceted-because it’s not just size that matters with petition it also skill and strategy.
2nd. Tell your friends. Yes do press’forward’. Even if the next recipient doesn’t sign it right away it will make them much more likely to do so when they about it a second or third time from someone else.
3rd Be sure about the big idea. Make sure you agree not just with the change the petition is pushing but with the theory of change implicit the petition. When petition fail it is often because the aim to high or too low, or target the wrong person or institution.
4th Keep the pressure . If you really care about an issue, expect to come back to it repeatedly, signing on to multiple petitions and campaigns.
5thThe medium is the message. When an online petition is on a third party site such as Facebook or on a site where government set the rules, you should moderate expectations accordingly. Internet isn’t make always things easy. Think of alternatives sending by post or leaflets etc..

Most of the times petitions don’t succeed for different reasons but there are examples of successful one, like the mentioned above. So next time you get forward a petition, ask yourself if you trust the organisation promoting it and if you think its strategy has a chance of success. If you don’t then pass if you do then forward it. I will do it for sure! It will make a difference the success of an issue you care about it. Or you can think about start a petition and it is easier now with the increasingly sociability in the internet - blogs, facebooks etc. Petitions remain one of our most important tools for making cracks to the seemingly unbreakable walls of our democratic systems! And yet as Paula Goldman says the petitions remain one of the most effective ways for citizens to make their voices heard.

P.S. in the Jubilee website http://www.jubileedebtcampaign.org.uk/ you can find quite a few information like 'how to... campaigners guide'.... etc.

When Penelope met Johnny

I like cycling he likes cricket
I like toast he likes marmite
I like rain he likes sun
I like white he likes blue
I like mountains he likes sea
I like tea he likes coffee
I like England he likes Greece
Johnny and me, two worlds in one!

p.s1 Penelope's Sunday thoughts

p.s2 The Rhododendron is for Despina ...(Joneses syndrom)

there in the small bench, sometimes Johnny is drinking his coffee and Penelope her tea and chatting about life...