@iankenway
I didn't notice you were greek (or just live there).
Despite the high impact of greece on every aspect of modern day life, there is very little of greek culture here in my corner of canada.
Nearly none in fact. 'Greek Salad' is about as close as we get and it is *so* not horiatiki salata (sp I know). I know the greek alphabet (yes, I get the irony) and I can say it, but in modern greek. Can count to twenty. Um. Sadly, that's it for Greece. Oh. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPWU8hy0McY ;-) that's it!
Not Greek (my name!) but sort of wish I was. Much more to come pretty soon. I'll get back to you in next day or so. Promise!
Hi Gemlog (if I may!)
I’m sorry for the delay in getting back to you. I fear that Symi has suffered from quite a bit of rain in the past five and springtime has been put on hold. Weatherwise, this is a very intemperate island! Within a month o coming here in October 2017, Symi experienced an extreme weather event and was declared a disaster area by the national government in Athens. Last year we experienced the hottest ever and this winter has been the wettest for twenty years according to local Symiots.
Last March I launched my personal website www.phidoc.net. This is the best place to find out more about me. I also have a professional website www.ciepp.net which is in need of a revamp. The former has a Contact page. My CV can be found at https://www.ciepp.net/imk_cv_online.html
Currently I have an Honorary Research Doctorate at Cardiff University (2004-) but I do not intend to renew it in July. However, I shall continue my work as the Director of CIEPP here on Symi. I have been interested in philosophy since 1970. My doctorate required me to study Descartes, Popper, Heidegger, Sartre, Merleau Ponty, Gadamer and Polanyi in some depth. As an undergraduate, I engaged with Plato, Descartes, Locke, Berkeley and Hume as well as Quine. As well as ontology and epistemology, I also have an interest in aesthetics.
My late wife, Audrey, and I first visited Symi in 1983 and returned in 1987. In earlier years, we enjoyed holidays in Paros and Poros. When she died in March 2017, I decided that would like to return to the island even though I had spent ten happy years living on a farm in the Brecon Beacons National Park in Wales.
Audrey was born in Guyana. Her mother and many members of her large family emigrated to Canada in the 1960s. Her late brother Winslow taught physics at Cambrian College, Sudbury and was a member of the Canadian Science Council (I’m not sure the body still exists). Her late brother Fred became Head of the French Department at the University of Toronto and later Principal of New College, UoT. Her brother Pat is currently Assistant Deputy Minister in the Ontario Ministry of Education and is a Law Professor at Guelph. Her brother Neville lives in Edmonton, Alberta and runs a private social work practice with his wife and their daughter is currently completing a PhD in Psychiatry at McGill University in Montreal. So I guess I have a slight Canadian connection!
That’s enough about me. It would be great to know more about you. I guess you have a name! And you are British but with some German connection (?) Here on Symi we have not only have visitors from all parts of the world abut about 150 expats (French, German, Danish, UK, American and Russian) who either live here continuously for long stretches of the year.
I live quite high up from the port and there’s a small group of (for want of a better word) ‘creatives’. My nearest neighbour is a Scottish rock guitarist, next is a novelist from Cape Cod and further along an artist/art historian whose partner is an accomplished language teacher. (Earlier in my life I studied New Testament Greek but conversational Greek is another matter and I’m still on the nursery slopes.)
I’ll leave it there. I don’t have a lot of spare time (I’m on the Symi International Film Festival's Judging Panel) but I’m happy to engage with you on Mastodon from time to time or through an occasional email.
Best
Ian
@iankenway Whoa! That's a super long post! :-)
Sorry to hear about your wx. We all get adverse events from time to time no matter where we are on the planet it seems.
I have been to both those websites :-)
I have to confess that my relationship with most of those philosophers comes only from memorising the song from monty python when I was in college https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9SqQNgDrgg :-)
My family lived in marford.
My only .de connection is a desire to learn to read it.
Whew! Kind regards.
Thanks for your kind reply.
In my list of philosophers, how could I miss out Wittgenstein! Of course, of course!
Marford - so North Wales rather than Mid Wales. But on the Welsh-English border - rather like when I lived in Presteigne, Radnorshire before moving to the Beacons.
@iankenway They had a couple of versions of that song and we memorized a slightly different version, but I reckoned it was near enough as made no odds :-)
It is *not* even a small tradition to sing down the pub on this coast, but we added that song to our already burgeoning repotoire of Stan Rogers songs to test just how irritating we could be before they'd reject our beer money :-)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6Nl3PaTimA
Never got chucked out! :-)
@iankenway My father spoke Welsh, but my mother was from lancashire and she was like her only little Welsh Not. No welsh in the house, ever, so I learned exactly nothing. I don't know why she detested it. They split up shortly after arriving in canada.
All I have is the abillity to make the 'll' sound and to mock the welsh accent in english - not much of a heritage moment really is it? :-(
@iankenway I'm a brit myself! I can read your name :-) I'll wait when you have time. No rush.