juice for breakfast
This weekend I want to make ouzo meze –little food that goes with ouzo- for friends, clean the house, buy a pair of flip flops, drink iced coffee and do some work out in the balcony, see my son’s art class painting exhibition and go to the open air cinema to see Pirates of the Caribbean, or some other silly movie.
What I don’t want to do is talk on the phone, think about money, see unpleasant people, listen to sad music, deal with my son’s room and go to the supermarket.
Also, dear God, hear my prayer: do not let rude taxi drivers in my way this weekend, the first weekend of summer. Amen.
A little background
I am waiting for a taxi, in some faraway place in the outskirts of Athens, with my son and his friend. We are going to the Playmobil fun park. We have been traveling for 1 hour and a half by car, metro and train and we just need a taxi to reach our destination.
Taxi driver: Where are you going?
Me: To the Playmobil Fun Park, 10 minutes away from here.
Taxi driver: Nah, not going there.
Me: Why not? (a rhetorical question; I never learn)
Taxi driver: Just because it’s MY taxi.
June 1st, 2007 at 2:07 pm
Happy First Day of summer.
The taxi driver……Oh my.
I hope you got there is good time and had fun.
Blessings!
Love you
Jeanne
June 1st, 2007 at 6:17 pm
Ah, the first day of summer, and that wonderful picture of orange juice has me thirsty. Forget riding a taxi, next time, hire a limo.
June 1st, 2007 at 6:36 pm
re: taxi
you pull the knife from your pocket and say, “you need to fix one of YOUR tires now”
June 1st, 2007 at 6:44 pm
Amen to that!
I’m sorry, I’m too sleepy to write a better comment.
I think this weekend will finally introduce summer over here too.
I think you need one of those bicycles with lots of seats
June 1st, 2007 at 10:57 pm
Chloe! I stumbled on Boris Vian! It’s all so clear now!
Your Pal!
Greg!
June 1st, 2007 at 11:04 pm
Did the taxi really refuse to take you to your destination? I’ve never had ouzo but I pictured it as something you shoot to get drunk. That’s interesting though. I have a cookbook of sweet and spicey recipes and many of them incorporate alcohol.
Um, isn’t the first day of summer the 21st or is that only in Canada? I’m excited for this weekend. I got a last minute surprise gig opening for a band who’s other band backed out on them. Yay!!
June 2nd, 2007 at 12:29 am
That looks a lot like the Alize Tropical Passion I’ll be drinking shortly.
June 2nd, 2007 at 12:54 am
I would have been tempted to hit him .. hard
June 2nd, 2007 at 2:34 am
ahaa, no invitation needed, i’ll be there for the ouzo-meze hahaaa
Cheers Chloe-Chloe!
June 2nd, 2007 at 6:30 am
We are having summer weather even though summer is three weeks away.
I’m already dreading it coming.
June 2nd, 2007 at 7:40 am
Wow, what a rude taxi driver. I had a rude one the other day. I rang up for a taxi about half an hour before I needed to be at the airport. The airport is only 2 minutes by taxi, but normally there are plenty of them hanging about there so I get a taxi real quick. Not this day. I was getting ready to walk to the airport the taxi took so long, and when he finally arrived and I told him where I wanted to go he complained that he’d come all the way from Belmont for the fare (Belmont is the next suburb over but quite a large one). Fortunately in Australia taxi drivers aren’t allowed to refuse a fare.
Anyway, I hope you have a great weekend and no rude taxi drivers cross your path!
June 2nd, 2007 at 2:48 pm
My response to the taxi driver: Well, I’m not going to pay you then.
Driver: Why not?
Me: Just because it’s my money!
Have a wonderful time this weekend; only do fun things. Ignore the others….
Oh, and belated Happy Birthday to your sister. Tell her she is beautiful!
June 2nd, 2007 at 3:49 pm
Happy 2nd day of summer..While I start my day with OJ
June 2nd, 2007 at 6:22 pm
I never thought taxi drivers would be able to choose whether to pick you up or not. Here, if one stops, it will take you where you want to go. (…with the exception sometimes of very bad neighborhoods, very late at night - but I guess that’s just self-preservation)
I’m just about to vote for Mojito - but in exactly on week I will be on my way to a place where it is winter. (Permanent move will depend upon first trip.)
Have a great weekend!
June 3rd, 2007 at 6:32 am
Wow — that’s some cheeky cab driver you had!
June 3rd, 2007 at 6:41 am
I had ouzo for the first time on my 16th birthday at a greek restaurant in germany. my parents took me out to dinner and a cute greek waiter brought me that little shot glass full…
i love snacks.. my favorite meal of the day.
what the hell about the taxi driver? ugg. how dare he on the first day of summer?? did you make it there?
June 3rd, 2007 at 9:50 am
Kalo mina (Happy First Day of month). I love your new site Chloe, it is so fresh, like caster sugar on a home made cake, like the touch of feather on a child’s cheek.
What we hope rarely comes true as it is. Perhaps part of it does but not the whole. Taxi drivers keep being unbearable. Not the majority but there is still a minority. And their worse of behaviours always appears when your spirits are high, trying in a way to put your legs back to the ground, the Greek reality.
June 3rd, 2007 at 10:05 am
I have had to deal with taxi drivers when I travel…I can’t imagine dealing with them on a daily basis. For someone who depends totally on the public for their income they sure treat you awful.
I sure hope you have a wonderful weekend.
Take care.
Hugs,
Connie
June 3rd, 2007 at 7:32 pm
(1) I’m sorry you had to deal with such a grumpy taxi driver, but that little story made me laugh.
(2) I hope your summer weekend has been an idyllic one, and everything you wished.
(3) I must must MUST take my daughter to the Playmobil Fun Park. I do not care how far away it is — that is immediately going on the Big List Of Things To Do In This Lifetime!
June 3rd, 2007 at 11:11 pm
LOVE the new look. It’s fantastic.
June 4th, 2007 at 1:39 am
Jeanne
Thank you xx
I always have fun with playmobils
Papa
Oh yes, my son would love that. We’d have to have kiddy champagne and lollipops too.
Zona
Ahahaha. I have to start carrying a knife. I never used to have a nail file on me, but maybe that would be okay too.
Devil
That’s okay. It’s quantity, not quality, that i am after xx
Greg
I am so happy. You did? So, now you know, you know!
Barry
Yes, it wasn’t the first time. It happens at least once a week, but not when i have kids with me.
You don’t drink ouzo to get drunk, it’s a drink that is meant to accompany food.
About the first day of summer, Barrett, you are a poet, why be pedantic with me now? Oblige me please.
I want to know about the gig! Good luck. Xx
Cool Cat
Erm, that was just juice in photoshop. But i’d love to know what alize tropical passion is.
Stephanie
You know, they shout this staff from inside the taxi as they pass you by!
Husker Du
You’ll never need an invitation!
Day
Yes, me too. I thought i’d sugar the pill.
Maja
Oh Maja. I feel your pain. Especially when you have to go to the airport and travel for work. I don’t mean to brag, but my taxi drivers are worse than yours! We don’t even think of this as rude. Not when they smoke in the taxi when i am there with my son in the back seat. They are the worst.
Cathy
Hehe, that would be good. If only i was in the taxi.
I am going to tell her, again. I tell her all the time. Thank you Cathy xxx
Heidi
Let’s just say “happy summer, all summer longâ€
Stephanie
Then i’ll have to make you something else. Hot, spicy wine? You’ll tell me when you get there. Sending email soon.
princess banter
oh yes princess, i have the cheeky taxi driver magnet. They all come to me.
Gi
I’ll make you ouzo meze when you are here. Many many of them.
I made it there all right. I saw the Victorian playmobil house and relaxed instantly.
Marina
Kalo mina!
Euxaristo Marina, nobody has ever described it so amazingly. That’s what i want it to feel like. How did you know? Never mind the taxi drivers. They are just blog food to me now.
Connie
I always take down their number and tell myself “this time i am really going to sue them†but i never do. A couple of hours later, when i am home, i just want to soak in my bubbles. Hugs xxx
Kimber
You’d laugh a lot in Athens then.
It was a great weekend. The only thing i didn’t do was relax in the veranda with the laptop, but that’s ok.
You must! You must play together with the Victorian dollhouse set. It’s the best.
Michele
Thank you Michele. You have great taste (hehehe)
June 4th, 2007 at 2:43 pm
You sure sound like you have some evil taxi drivers over there !!
HOpe you had a magical weekend, Chloe.
Your drink photo looks luscious.
Take care, hugs, Meow
June 4th, 2007 at 4:30 pm
Wow, that cinema looks all summery and pretty! I’ve never been to an open-air cinema before. I tried to go and see Finding Nemo on a field last summer but there was heavy rain about an hour before I was due to go. It was a one-off uni thing so I haven’t had the chance since. Bloody English weather…
June 4th, 2007 at 4:50 pm
so, he just didn’t want to drive? isn’t that what he’s supposed to do? people can be so weird.
hope you had a relaxing weekend otherwise. i had to go to the grocery store.
June 4th, 2007 at 5:03 pm
meow
thanks kitty, it was a nice weekend. xx
kylie
well that’s the one good thing global warming is going to do: improve english weather. (i hope Cathy won’t see this, but if she does, I AM JOKING).
mindy
he didn’t want to drive to that direction. taxi drivers choose where they want to go and then wait for the appropriate client. didn’t you know?
June 5th, 2007 at 9:25 am
i have to tell you this whole ‘comments upstairs’ thing is proving a real PITA!