URSABLOG: A Change in Space and Time
I’ve just moved house – from one part of central Athens to another – and even though the distance is short, and the new flat is more or less the same size, this change has pr
URSABLOG: Do The Rules Still Apply?
Around ten years ago, in the midst of the worst dry bulk carrier market for a generation, when some ships were being arrested and auctioned by pitiless and ignorant banks, and many
URSABLOG: And So It Begins…
As Samuel Johnson might have said, had he been a British shipbroker based in Greece: “Well sir [or madam], when a shipbroker is tired of Posidonia, he [or she] is tired of sh
URSABLOG: Plumbing The Depths
One of the more striking features of the remains of the ancient and famous city of Mycenae in the Argolid (just north of Nafplio) is the cistern there. You may think I’m being a
URSABLOG: Time for Redemption
Spring has crept up on me this year, and as Easter approaches, it’s as though subtle heralds of the season are sneaking up on me through my senses. I am intermittently blinded by
URSABLOG: As Agents Only?
Have you ever had that unnerving – and sometimes embarrassing – situation where a word that you thought meant one thing actually means another? It happens quite a lot to me, an
URSABLOG: Joining The Dance
When I first moved to live in the centre of Athens, I would catch snippets of Greek music as I passed by a café, shop or taverna. It would invariably be accompanied by a bouzouki
URSABLOG: Champagne Trades
I have to confess if I have one guilty pleasure it is Champagne. I love the taste and the smell, the bubbly effervescence as it tickles the nose and the back of the throat, the lig
URSABLOG: Caught By A Shower of Passing Spray
I’ve just got in from London having attended the Marine Money Ship Finance Forum. This particular event doesn’t usually feature in my professional calendar, but I had been invi
URSABLOG: Grammar School
It’s probably not the greatest way to start the day, but like many people I use my mobile phone as an alarm clock, and as soon as it goes off I see the texts and news updates rec