I make my way up the road to keep my appointment with the dentist. It is another dreary autumn day and the roads are unusually busy. The autumn chill is definitely noticeable and before long I reach the front door of the dental surgery. There is a photograph in the surgery of Sir Winston Churchill with his wife taken in front of this very same door during his election campaign. This was his constituency for a very long period when he served as a Member of Parliament for Epping and later Woodford.
I get called promptly and as I take my place on the dreaded chair I cast my eyes around the familiar pictures and paintings hanging on the walls. The one I usually focus on is a Caribbean beach scene with coconut trees swaying in the breeze as the gentle waves lash the white sands. This time I catch another painting with the corner of my eye. It is not new but one I haven’t given much attention to in the past. The unmistakable sunset scene over Oia. Once seen, never forgotten. I tell Alan, my dentist that I’ve just come back from Santorini. He was there a few years ago and stayed in Oia during the Summer and watched the sunset over the cliffs every night as it was a short walk from his hotel. A place he says he would like to visit again.
An African guy was trying to sell us paintings while we were in Santorini. He would walk up and down the beach as we lazed by the sea. I have got pictures I have bought over the years which I haven’t had time to frame and hang. I wasn’t keen on adding to this collection but I looked through his collection especially as he said that he had painted them himself. The whitewashed buildings and churches with their brilliant blue domes set against the bright sunshine leaves an eye catching impression. Something that would certainly have brightened up the dreary long autumn and winter days, but I didn’t buy any.
The holiday memories fade into the distance and life slowly sinks back into normality. A normality which will not last long as the Christmas season is just around the corner.
