Dora Houpis
News –
Melbourne lockdown ends, but opening up isn’t easy
On Friday morning, Melburnians woke up to the end of the city’s sixth lockdown. At midnight, there were cheers from balconies in downtown Melbourne. Euphoria was justified. Since March 2020, …
News –
Signs, signs, everywhere a ‘no smoking’ sign
Outdoor diners will be greeted with 38 “no smoking” signs when they sit down to eat in Oakleigh’s Greek precinct tomorrow as Victoria’s sixth lockdown ends. An audit by Neos …
Pfizer jabs available including at Prahran’s Greek church hall, as elderly Greek Aussies do it like Katerina Sakellaropoulou
Eighty-eight-year-old Oakleigh residents, Panagiota and Spiros Houpis gave the thumbs up to getting their first Pfizer vaccination, at an Oakleigh clinic, in Melbourne’s south-east, today Monday 18 October. The Greek …
Dialogue –
The beautiful Greek house where nobody lives anymore
The last time I saw Mr Aleco* he was so clean that not even a mosquito would sit on him. That’s what the Greeks say. “Είναι τόσο καθαρός, που ούτε …
News –
Welcome to Melbourne: From rain to hail to sunshine in 20 minutes
The inner-city Melbourne suburb of Richmond experienced flash rain and heavy hail, this afternoon, at about 2.30pm. The hail, large and small, accumulated around flats and houses, including the front …
Dialogue –
The Pfizer vax, a lollipop and some fun to ease the tension
To him, it feels like it’s been ages. But, really, it’s hardly been any time at all. The young Greek-Australian man sitting on a plastic chair, in 15-degree temperature, in …
Ten minutes of curfew
The street is still, still like a photograph. There are no cars on the road. A person last walked in the street more than two hours ago. She abandoned her …
Census night and the case of the missing ancestral box, lost in the land of “Other”
The front security door clicks open. I walk to the counter and the constable lifts his head. “I’m here to report a lost item,” I say. “A box with my …
A Greek village holiday to find a nation’s spirit
“If you deconstruct Greece, you will, in the end, see an olive tree, a grapevine, and a boat remain. That is, with as much, you reconstruct her.” Odysseus Elytis, Greek …
My life in Lockdown 5.0: A humorous account of how to make the most of it
Dora Houpis saw her life in meltdown around this time last year. After a brief spurt at normalcy, Melbourne has plunged into another Lockdown, and Dora sent us a brief …