Always With Us

 

Somehow on the Easter Sunday there were too many manikins pressed against the shop windows, with disproportionately flashy wear compared to the street. The old town near the water in Thess was plenty affluent, but not really representative of many of the displays. One truncated lower torso bending back into the shop may have been a not so subtle Greek jest. Mostly the beggary was ambulant; it was chiefly around the churches that the beggars sat fixed on the pavement and ledges. A chap on crutches was gifted a couple brass coins by the Alexandroupoli teacher this afternoon, who dropped one, followed by a second after a clear pause, into the receptacle, when both pieces were in his fingers together. In order to underline to the chap the definite pair, most likely. Hobbling, dark, clearly woebegone, the fellow had ignored the panama. Clearly no good had ever come from those. A gypsy, the Alexandroupoli indicated. Prior to that chap an earlier of similar age and colouration, though less broken, had approached asking in Greek and quickly switching when informed. How is your health? In the evening the poor, frightful lady at the fast food corner joint by the hotel a few notches above the worst villains in that line presented a truly sorry sight. Again, like the Alex man, very likely a junior, though with the usual lag in comprehension. A slow-moving lady who gave off much body odour from beneath her jacket. In hand she carried a number of dirty, flattened medical prescription packets that showed her condition. The shared heritage was assumed in this case. Standing close, it was a difficult confrontation. A single euro was hardly sufficient for her needs and fell far short of the cost of the food piled on the plate on the table. The lady brandished the flattened packs and indicated the food pile. Most certainly she had a point, a single euro was only one seventh the cost of that pasta and veg, which you were about to consume in one sitting. What a face she showed! What brow etching and shaking jowls! With the Gazan photos the sharpness was heightened. The Arabs & Turks were near here; it was at Alexandroupili that the Macedonian conqueror had crossed into Asia Minor, the teacher informed, therefore the name of his city. The odour of this beggar was eclipsed by her person while she stood appealing near two minutes for at least one euro more.

Thessaloniki