The is one of the smaller islands across the bay from the Kastro Bar and I had previously been surprised to find Robinson Crusoe living on it. While his house doesn't look too impressive, do you have a beach like that in front of yours?
Today I was determined to go over there to meet him. I knew from seeing him across the water before that he lives by fishing and he also catches an octopus sometimes. The water isn't very deep and octopi aren't hard to find here.
I half-waded and half-swam across the water between the beach where I was standing and the island where Robinson Crusoe was as I was very interested to know how he got away with it with living there in plain sight of just about anyone who came by.
As I walked up to the beach to his house, I called out, "Καλημέρα!" (Good morning)
He came out of his house a moment later, an older man with long, unkempt hair and a beard that had grown too long, and he was obviously not at all pleased to see me. He said, "Spare me your foreigner Greek, it doesn't impress me."
I told him, "I apologize. I meant no offense. May we talk?"
Still quite grumpy, he said to me, "We're obviously already talking. Aren't you asking if we may continue to talk."
This wasn't going at all well but I had waded all the way across to his island and was interested to at least try to engage him in some conversation. "I do apologize for my uninvited intrusion but I would like to talk with you if I may."
"Well, you're here."
I started with, "The most intriguing thing to me is how you came to be living here."
"That's all you've got, son?" He scowled and turned back to sorting out his fishing lines.
"OK, why are you here?"
"What other reason, son. A woman." He gave me a look as if I should be a in a lower form in an elementary school and then turned back to his fishing lines.
It wasn't much of an answer and, at that point, there wasn't much else to say except to ask, "Do you have a spare fishing line, bro?"
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