VeryKokkos

Not sure what that means, but it is the name of the Pension I stumbled upon on the isle of Naxos for a few nights. At 20 Euro a night for the double room with toilet and shower and air conditioning and a stone's throw from the beach, I've no complaints, Dimitri.

Humility is the lesson continually learned in the travels, and the most recent teacher was my first ever drive on an ATV, a nice little yellow beast rented for the day for 25 Euro. It enabled me to explore this beautiful place, see the operational marble quarries and Amalfi-esq villages in the mountains up close, and get to the base of Mount Zeus for a climb to the highest summit in the Cyclades. Extraordinary views in all directions. Hilarious mountain goats wandering about as well, who have a way of looking at you, as if inquisitive, that makes you question everything you thought you knew.

But, to humility. Stopped early on at a gas station to fill up, but Gods if I could remember exactly how to restart the thing, despite being shown how not much earlier. It was an electric start, and so I kept pushing the button and kept creating a ridiculous noise wholly unbecoming an engine. Only to have the guy come out to show me that I was pushing the button for the horn and not the start! Ah, now that's a story about a stupid tourist that he should get some laughter over with his mates.

Moments like that, you realize how hopeless and dependent you can be - on the road or otherwise - and how little practical expertise you actually own. It is as Mahbub Ali says to Kim, "that it is with them as with all men - in certain matters they are wise, and in others most foolish." I love that "most".

Saw a t-shirt in the street that made me laugh: "Ouzo 12, Me Zero." Haven't got to that stage yet, though I am sure there will be one or two headaches to come, as (likely) Crete and then Santorini for the ominous thirtieth approaches.