Well, I'm back! And it's about time I hear you say. What sort of a blog is this with only 2 entries in almost two months, as if there weren't enough rubbish blogs out there, you must be thinking, and I really can't blame you for that! I have resisted setting this up for a while, thinking I might come across as pretentious. Why would I, why would anyone really, want to set up a personal page? We tend to think of the web as a means of putting across a message be it commercial, political or broader ideological in any way it's a platform and therefore whoever chooses to stand on it can be mistaken for a salesperson, a politician or a preacher. But blogs – bless them – have the dynamic to be somehow different. My blog is neither about a particular music, film genre, videogame, political, social or religious issue, nor does it contain the thoughts of a distinguished politician, artist or corporate executive. It's an electronic diary of Mr A. L. in Kalymnos, open for his friends to read. I have no aspirations to feature in any google or blogspot list or break the hit-metres. It's about keeping in touch with people I know, plain and simple...
Ok, with that out of the way, I can now get back to a few lines about my life here in Kalymnos. I've already mentioned how marvellous the sculpture I work on is in a previous post. Since then, I've come to appreciate it even more but, unfortunately, I have also come to discover that it's impossible to share that in any image form because it's 'unpublished archaeological material'. So, no photos of the statues I'm afraid, you'll have to take my word for it that they are absolutely fantastic. The issue of photography has of course caused a lot of controversy. Detailed documentation of conservation progress is an indisputable necessity of any conservation procedure. Archaeologists here in Greece seem to believe that they have sole right to such tools, an unfortunate result of concentrative archaeological management, of course. But more on this issue in a future post. I'm not ready to spill my guts out yet...
And a few words on the people I work with to close this post. . Caterina, my fellow conservator, first of all, has got the warmest and kindest heart and has made feel right at home from the first day a set foot in the workshop. She's got two masters in conservation from the UCL, 'Jobian' patience when it comes to concrete-hard calcareous encrustations and an excellent taste in music. Mr. Yiorgos and Mr Pashalis are the two museum wardens. Mr Pashalis is the owner of a local radio station and a media magnet wannabe. Mr Yiorgos is an adorable ex-fisherman, shy as a rabbit but with a bone-shattering sense of humour. He is my favourite of the two.
That's it for now. Next post will hopefully contain a little bitching about the state of museum conservation in Greece but also impressions from my trip to Bodrum, Turkey, last week.
