Open air Wimbledon

Back in London, watching the women's doubles final on a big screen. The grass was a bit damp and there were no tables and chairs, but it was a nice exprerience nevertheless.

Serena Williams and sister Venus Williams retained their women's doubles title by beating Rennae Stubbs and Samantha Stosur 7-6 (7-4) 6-4.

Open air cinema

It's the last day of June and my Greek sojourn is coming to an end. To celebrate what has been a most enjoyable and summery June, I thought I'd dedicate this post to the phenomenon of the open air cinema.

All over Greece, once summer comes and temperatures start rising (usually around the beginning of June), conventional cinemas close down and a number of open air cinemas start operating. These establishments are located in a courtyard or a rooftop, where punters can sit on director's chairs to watch films on a big screen - just like a regular cinema, minus the reclining chairs and roof! There are usually tables scattered amongst the chairs, and it's possible to eat and drink while watching the movie (you're able to smoke too, but maybe not after tomorrow as a country-wide smoking ban is coming into effect).

For me, open air cinemas are the biggest summer treat, as we don't have anything similar in England. Open air events don't quite agree with our weather...

Time with friends

I've not blogged much lately (apart from posting a couple of photos on my other blog) as I've been travelling all over Greece to visit friends.

I've just spent three days with my friend Aspa, who I'd not seen for years. Aspa and I started as pen friends when we were both 14 and soon became good friends. Despite following completely different paths in life, we have kept in touch for over 20 years, we still write the occasional letter (Aspa doesn't do computers) and enjoy each other's company whenever we get together. We've spent the last three days catching up, talking almost non-stop and even staying up until 3 AM each night to talk after putting the kids to bed. I've had the most wonderful time and can't wait to see her again.

It's true what they say, that the more time you spend with someone the more you miss them. Sometimes life gets in the way - the last time Aspa and I had a few hours of uniterrupted time together was 7 years ago - but we've both promised each other not to let another seven years go by before our next face-to-face chat.

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Pizza night

This is the pizza Sandi and I shared on my balcony the other night, after coming back from the open air cinema (we watched The Reader, and it was as good as I remembered). It's a Pizza Hut special called Greek Lover's and it's super yummy. It's made with mozzarella cheese, tomato sauce, fresh tomato, feta cheese, black olives, oregano, green peppers, onion, pepperoni and mushrooms. We had the thin and crispy base, but to be honest I think the thick base is better for this particular pizza.

I could have taken a more artistic shot, but we were too hungry to mess about with photography.

Shoes

Today I went shoe shopping with my friend Sandi who's visiting from London. Sandi loves shoes but has size 35 feet and has trouble finding grown-up shoes to fit her.

Dubai was a total disappointment in this respect, but Athens came up trumps. In just three hours, Sandi purchased five pairs of shoes. We stopped for lunch, then she bought a sixth pair on the way to the metro station. You're either serious about shoes or you're not. This is her loot.


Not bad, huh? Especially considering the most popular style at the moment is the flat, strappy sandal, so it took some searching to find shoes suitable for wearing at work in a wet country.

The dusky pink patent leather ones are our favourite.

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