Despite my best intentions I have not been able to post regularly to this blog.  But I frequently see other articles and photos that I think will be interesting to my readers.  Here they are:

I thought this was a great story with photos of a place to visit on Santorini.

http://www.freundevonfreunden.com/features/author-craig-walzer-runs-the-worlds-most-beautiful-bookshop-on-a-small-greek-island-in-the-middle-of-the-aegean-sea/ 

Just ran across the video for the second time. and felt compelled to share.  Enjoy!

Kolimbithres Beach is one of my favourite places to relax and it has been a consistent hit with the art groups that we take there.  There are two good tavernas and one not so good.  We have had excellent fish at H Vigla but for a casual beach lunch we usually go to Anemos.  I have found the people at the Fish-Taverna Kolimbithres seem to not like non-Greeks.

At Anemos you frequently see a bright macaw parrot perched in the trees.  I thought it belonged to the owners until I met it and its owner at the water ski facility.  I went there after hours because I had earlier misplaced my eye glasses and hoped someone had turned them in.  The man there, his dog and his parrot all turned out to help me look again along the beach.  I was ready to quit before he was and when I got in the car an idea hit me.  I called home and sure enough I had put my glasses inside my shoes that I had not put back on.  I apologised to the man for wasting his time and praised his lifestyle.

Now that I see this video I envy his life even more.  http://upi.com/6271850t
Sorry, I can't embed the video but here is a clip from it

Until I became an expat or global nomad, whatever I am, I had no idea that a simple and ordinary matter such as getting your haircut would vary so much from culture to culture.

For instance in Prague where I am currently living there are no local barbershops; the Czechs either have it done at home or go to a beauty salon.  In recent times there are high end salons that cater to men only.  I find that the only way to get an economical and decent haircut is to find an older woman at a local salon, younger women just do not have enough experience with men . . . cutting their hair that is.

Sorry Greeks, but the best hair cut and barber experience I ever had was in Istanbul.  There it is common to recognize the barbershops by the towels hanging outside to dry.  In this case the shop near where we were staying looked clean and neat.  I got a perfect cut, a beard trim with hot towels and my ear hairs singed for something like $10.  The barber didn't speak English but a fellow customer did so we had a great time.

Among the worst haircuts was during the process of finding a barber on Paros.  In Naoussa there was an old Greek who looked like a German and insisted on cutting my hair the way he wanted not they way I wanted.  In Parikia the guy on Market street obviously did not want to serve me, saying the shop was full when no one else was there.  Finally a friend directed me to a little shop on a back alley with no sign and often as not a locked door.  To get a haircut you knocked at the barber's house door across the street and if his wife was there to hear you he came out and opened the shop.  You see, he was deaf and mute.  It only took two cuts for him to learn how I liked it.

Which brings us to the impetus to write this post.  On Facebook I discovered a bunch of old photos of Paros that included one of my barber.  The photo may be old but he and the shop look the same as when I was there.