Advocate Barbie was convicted recently of, amongst other things, child abuse. Before she was dragged into the underworld she was held in high regard in the legal and fashion stakes of South Africa. Pandenaughty's Golfing Promotions idolised her. The Chairman, my father, and secretary, George Dracatos, his attorney, offered support by way of letters and…
Conversations with Khulumani
Yesterday I saw a humble patient in the clinic. He has been with me since the beginning of the year. He has been unable to return to heavy work in the factory after I operated on both his shoulders, but is positive that by next year he will be back. He always jumps up from…
Conversations on Planning
My father was a very good planner. As he always said, he planned for the worst scenario possible. I always thought this was inherently a Greek form of negativity. I have come to realise that most Greeks use it as a smoke screen, to talk as if the worst has befallen them, yet meanwhile they…
Conversations about Nothing
I thought it was only in marriage where I had this sort of conversation: “What’s the matter?” “Nothing.” “But something is bothering you?” “Just leave me alone.” But as the years have passed and egos have softened more often than not, with a bit of space we can share the problem and halve the worry.…
Conversations at the Opera
Two nights ago I escaped the first snows of Vienna to watch Madame Butterfly at the Volks Opera. This is not quite as grand as the State Opera, but opera is about the music, the singing and for me, the acting. That’s because I just cannot understand what they say. I might catch a few…
Conversations about Travel
Old Man Simbonis told me this when I went to Greece this year. Somehow I remember him telling me this whenever we spoke: “Travel broadens the mind.” He has had a stroke now and is bed bound. His mischievous eyes always alert sparkle when he gets visitors. Tiny drops of tears from in the corners…
Conversations at Epidavros
I had forgotten about the few days I spent in Vienna with my mother and father, about 1979 or so. I would have to look through the old passports my father so carefully collected and wrapped with an elastic band in the safe at home. Unlike me who lost a passport at the Athens airport…
Conversations about Swiss Chocolate
When I arrived in Zurich after the visit to my second goddaughter,Gabriella, who had been skiing in the Swiss Alps, the airport was barricaded. We waited in the car park, uncertain of what was going on except that it was obviously a security problem.Ten years ago was just after 9/11, and the world remains on…
Conversations about Business Cards
My father was not impressed by my first personal business card. He said that a business card had to make a statement about me, and this one did not. It did not even have my qualifications on it. As if that made a statement about who I was? He was less scathing when I went…
Conversations on an Aeroplane
In those days there was a Greek national airline. It was originally a private airline owned by Onassis, and later was sold to the Greek state and run into the ground as any Greek state enterprise. It was on one of the Boeing 707 's that my mother collapsed. She suffered from Rheumatic Fever as…
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