The sequel to Feta Compli! which takes up where Feta leaves off. John & his wife settle into their new life on Rhodes and meet an interesting bunch of characters, plus he delves further into the archive of 30 years experience visiting all parts of Greece.
John and his half-Greek wife Yvonne-Maria moved from the UK to Rhodes in 2005, the account of which was told in his first book, FETA COMPLI! MOUSSAKA takes up where FETA COMPLI! leaves off, with Yvonne and John settling into life on Rhodes and coming into contact with some great characters who live around them out there. Plus, there's another helping of reminiscences from past years and other parts of Greece and Europe in general; like the time when Yvonne was Miss August on a calendar that graced the walls of innumerable offices all across Germany after meeting a German businessman on a beach in Corfu. Then there's Manolis, the "Six Million Drachma Man," who climbs olive trees even though he only has one and a half legs! The "Lonely Goatherd" comes by, as does Kostas, the local who shows them which weeds are great to eat. Yvonne helps Greco-Turkish relations during an evening out on Samos and John reluctantly become the elephant man for a while.
Excerpt
From Chapter 13 - "The Olives II"
Manolis lives up the hill to the East of the centre of Arhangelos, in a house that’s near-impossible to find. I had been there a couple of times before I had to find it by driving there myself. The first couple of times of trying, I’d managed to get the car up several streets so narrow that you could swear that a liberal smearing of Vaseline along the sides of car would facilitate its passing much easier, then had to reverse until I found an area large enough to turn the car round in, before heading, crestfallen with failure, back down the hill to the village centre, where there are several shopping streets and even a sort of one-way system. Truly a metropolis.
Eventually, after a few occasions when I could have sworn that someone had moved all the streets around since the last time I’d negotiated them, I managed to turn into a street that looked vaguely familiar. Yvonne, busily climbing up the passenger door with fear as she expected every wall to rip off the door mirrors, not to mention how she reacted when we met someone coming the other way, only just managed to achieve a mood resembling one step down from mania, when I proudly proclaimed,
“Yes! This is it. I remember now. If we follow this one all the way up it goes right past Manoli’s house. You’ll see!” I turned the car into this “alley,” which is what we’d call it in the UK, and began to tootle along, trying to look totally in control and confident, while inside I was praying that something resembling the side lane to Manoli’s house was going to appear as we rounded the next curve in the lane.
Instead of Manoli’s house, we were confronted by a red-and-white striped barrier, behind which was a mini-JCB digging up the lane to lay new water pipes.
“NOW what do we do? I hate this ruddy place! It’s scruffy, messy, and every other street (STREET? – evidently some new use of this word of which we weren’t previously aware) is muddy from being dug up. AND, if it’s a street we need you can bet it’s being dug up now. Can’t we just call him, say we can’t find it and go home!?”
I decided it was best not to react too quickly. She seemed a little upset and – let’s just say – frayed.
“Look. This is the right street. I’m sure. It’s just a coincidence that it’s being dug up today. There is another was to his house.”
“And you can FIND IT? Always assuming that is, that you can back your way out of this one.”
To cut a long story a fair bit shorter, I eventually arranged for Manolis to meet us on his scooter (his michanaki) in the main street, where there were shops and room for vehicles to pass in both directions, and lead us to his home, which he duly did.
So this week we’ve been helping him harvest some of his olives. As I mentioned in the chapter about the olive harvest we were involved in last year, you certainly know when you’re harvesting olives, especially if you’re not used to it. Like last year my body is so full of aches that it’s best described as “ache city.” My forearms are sprouting the usual lacerations from the branches I’ve bashed, with my self-fashioned wooden “basher.” You don’t want to know what my fingernails look like under the ends, but I’m sure you can imagine.
...Manolis is a marvel really. He’s the Steve Austin of Rhodes, the “Six-million Drachma Man.” He is in his mid 40’s and raising three children on his own. His wife still lives in Arhangelos, but the reasons they aren’t together are another and very complicated story. The fact is he got the job of raising the kids. If you didn’t know him you wouldn’t realise that he only has one and a half legs. He is stocky and only about five-five tall. His right hand is the only visible evidence of the experience that disabled him while he was doing his military service some twenty-plus years ago. A mine exploded within feet if him while he was on exercises. Although he survived, the lower part of his right leg was missing from just below the knee, all the fingers of his right hand were blown away, his right eye is totally blind and his right ear doesn’t hear anything. When he came to in the military hospital he was totally deaf and totally blind. It took six months for the hearing in his right ear to return and it was a full two years before he could see anything again.
I can imagine the surgeons saying, “We can rebuild him.” Apparently, a scan revealed a shard of metal lodged in his head behind the left eye. The surgeons decided it would be worth an exploratory operation to see if it could be removed, with the chances being quite high that the left eye would begin to function again. The eye wasn’t damaged at all. The problem lay with the optic nerve, which wasn’t getting images through to the brain owing to this microscopic invader. The operation was duly done and the left eye soon began to function again, eventually returning to full vision.
Professional Reviews
What Mary Sewell thought
A most amusing read!
A light-hearted yet accurate portrayal of Greek life.
A great follow-on from Feta Compli!
Would recommend to anyone with a sense of humour.
Paul White, Bath UK
This is the authors second novel taking up where Feta Compli left off. I loved this book and would thoroughly recommend it. Its a great holiday read with real insights into the Greek way of life and what its like to live in Rhodes. I found it very funny,easy to read and I can't wait for the authors next instalment.
