On Leros one day last September, Martyn and I strolled from Pandeli to Aghia Marina for a midday snack and drink. There, we were accosted by a charming Greek lady in a rakish John Lennon cap, who decided to sit at our table and graciously accepted a drink. Very quickly, we learned that she was a published poet and writer and an authority on many literary luminaries. She grew up in Egypt where there was a large Greek community but having lived in America and the UK her idiomatic English was amazing.

Later on, she invited us to her house for tea, a villa on the waterfront of the little bay between Aghia Marina and Milos, the wonderful restaurant situated by the eponymous windmill that sits several metres out in the sea. We spent an interesting afternoon with Olympia (and her cat), reading her short stories aloud. The lady certainly is a writer of class. She wanted to know how her stories could be published. Since these were the only copies I suggested the best way would be to get someone to type them out for her and send them to agents electronically. Plenty of people would, I am sure, offer to help as she is a well known personality on Leros.

As it happened, Anne Tee, a New Zealand ex-pat living in Pandeli (one of the many overseas beauties who have fallen for a Greek God and made their home in the Greek Islands), told me later that her daughter used to go to Olympia for English Literature lessons. Here is an image of a book of Olympia’s poetry on Amazon – sadly no longer available.

And for those of you who’d like to see a Greek God – here’s one who monitored our first meeting with Olympia from the fishing boat opposite.