I am back from Ios, where last Wednesday I experienced the entire emotional repertoire of a long term relationship within 25 minutes. Raphael and I were lying on the beach when an incredibly hot asian girl whom I lusted for instantly (and her redhead friend whom I didn’t) approached us with a “hi, guys!”. The girls flirted with us for a short while, during which it transpired that the hot girl (in a very designy 70s bikini) was a Korean-Greek eurasian who not only spoke perfect English with what I thought was a Californian accent (although in that I might have been influenced by her Californian looks) but also spoke fluent Greek. Around this point, as I busked in the glow of her smile, I fell in love. Shortly after the redhead produced flyers for the bar they worked at and it became clear that their pleasantness was dictated by commerce. As they swayed on down the beach to flirt and promote their bar to other groups of guys my heart sank. Dissapointment gave way to unmitigated jealousy when some minutes later she finally sat down a few metres away with her boyfriend, his capacity demonstrated unequivocally by an extensive public display of affection. I only touched briefly upon the possibility of anger, before settling comfortably on a soft bed of resignation. It was for reasons other than spitefulness that we didn’t go by their bar that night.

Back in Athens, I am left with a decent tan and a million things on my to-do list.