There used to be a video clip on YouTube which shows Basil, the buttoned-up young intellectual, meeting Zorba on a rained-out day inside a taverna on the Piraeus waterfront. Unfortunately, it's gone, as is the full-length movie.
It is my favourite scene of the whole movie, as I myself had spent many such rained-out days in perhaps the very same taverna when I lived and worked in Piraeus, but times and I have changed. I am now also caught in "the full catastrophe", which makes the above clip more appropriate.
"Zorba the Greek" is a wonderful tale of a young man's coming of age, and has been a classic of world literature since it was first translated into English in 1952 and made into an unforgettable movie with Anthony Quinn. Zorba, an irrepressible, earthy hedonist, sweeps his young disciple along as he wines, dines, dances and loves his way through a life which is dedicated to fulfilling his copious appetites.
The sun is out and warming up the day. At the risk of making me feel even more melancholic, I have grabbed a big bottle of retsina, Nikos Kazantzaki's marvellous book, and my mp3-player to drink, read and listen myself through another glorious morning of "Riverbend" idleness.
Η δόξα που ήταν η Ελλάδα !
P.S. There are several websites that allow you to convert YouTube clips to mp3 files for free. Some limit their conversions to just half an hour, others to four hours. I have just found PullMP3 that offers unlimited conversions and relies on the occasional donation which I gladly give.
