Yes, another Panigiri covered in the News section. Why? Simple bias- it’s where I live! Sunday 27th July threatened to be a very humid evening but a slight breeze made things more bearable.

The usual elements were there- rows of tables and chairs, queues for roast pork, souvlakia and salads and large tubs of chilled beers. And a few additional tented stalls, selling loukoumades and kids toys that all seemed to have flashing lights to attract potential customers. One particular toy needs the designers to go back to the drawing board. A sword. The blade had the inevtable flashing lights but the handle was too rounded and also had flashing lights, making it look as if kids were wielding some kind of flashing, phallic effigy!

Before the dance floor opened up to one and all, the music started up from a backing track through the PA (which, it must be noted was set to a sensible volume). This was to accompany the local dance group, Lefkippos, who, dressed in an array of different traditional costumes, brought a high level of energy to the evening for almost an hour. To my very untrained eye, I did not recognise a large percentage of their dances. They were fantastic and left me feeling I wanted to know more about them.

Once they’d completed their repertoire, the live band sprang into action and the dance floor became more and more crowded as different generations competed for space.