Before mobile phones and androids, there were letters that took days or even weeks to reach the recipient... Before the comfort of cars and the speed of airplanes, there were mules and horses and journeys of days in harsh weather conditions... Before the friendships of social media, there were neighborhoods, playing in yards and open spaces, conversations with eyes looking into eyes and not at screens... Before weddings with drones and fireworks, there was spontaneous celebration with relatives and friends in homes and village squares, with the clarinet leading the dance... Before the hasty and superficial "love" of one week or one month, there was LOVE, with the verses of Elytis becoming love letters and the phrase "I will love you ALWAYS" being literal... Before the bulky romantic novels with intricate plots and literary flourishes, there was simple everyday language, with each word carrying the weight of its pure meaning like a lead pencil... That's why I like Thodoris's story; because it stimulates the olfactory memory, bringing back the scents of a childhood universe... when magic wasn't trickery and the supernatural wasn't a branch of philosophy, but the only way to interpret the world; and that's what I miss in our days.

Vissarion Mpousiopoulos