Frapp Ice Coffee I don't have, and I never have had, heros.

. Neither have I ever been a 'fan', not of a pop singer, film star or football team. There are however people that I admire. Some of them quite obscure like the East German who escaped in a hot air balloon over the heavily guarded border to West Germany. The attempt was desperate, difficult and above all dangerous. The craft was improvised and under powered. To have any chance of success weight had to be kept to a minimum, he took no luggage, just his wife, baby and.... his racing bicycle. Now, that's my kind of guy! Another person who certainly deserves a mention is Dimitrios Vakondios, the man who invented Frapp in1957. We recently returned from a six week trip to Greece. It took us a while to really appreciate the country. Partly due to our unreasonable expectations: just seven hours flying time would have taken us to New York, eight hours flying and we could have been experiencing a totally different cultural environment in Central Asia. As it was after two whole days travelling by car and seventeen hours on a boat we were still in a place that was recognisably European. More to the point, in the beginning we were unlucky with the weather. It was unusually wet for the time of year and it is difficult to be totally enthusiastic about anything when it is raining and your home is a tent just big enough to sleep two people! Eventually the rain did stop and from then on it was clear blues skies and sunshine all the way. We began to appreciate Greece, its food, drink, mountains, beaches and people. It took a while but we grew to like it very much. Frapp, however, we had already discovered on the second day. Ancient Greece has given us Theatre,Drama, Poetry, Philosophy, Physics, Astronomy, and Geometry The Archimedes' Principle and the Pythagaros Theorem. Frapp, Greek Ice Coffee is a relatively recent invention and in my opinion should be up there at the top of the list alongside, or even above, Democracy. Democracy is generally believed to be the most important thing that has come out of Greece however the Demoratic process does have many inconsistencies and imperfections. There are several ways that democratic elections can be organised and many and various ways of counting and appropiating the popular vote, all have their advantages and disadvantages. All can lead to distorted, unsatisfactory, or curious results. We in the West are also a lot less enthusiastic about Democracy when, after having persuaded the government of a developing nation to adopt a democratic system , the population of that country chooses the wrong party, one that we find too right wing, too left wing,or too fanatically religious. With Ice Coffee there are no such problems. Two easy choices: with or without milk and how much sugar. A cool, tasty and refreshing drink with no complications. Yes, it is obvious, I like Ice Coffee.... and so it seems do almost the whole population of Greece. Men and women, young and old, rich and poor, can be seen everywhere and anywhere slowly sipping Frapp through brightly coloured plastic drinking straws. Even so it is not because Dimitrios Vakondios invented this popular drink that I think he is to be admired. It is the reason why he invented it that makes him a candidate for my personal Hall of Fame. The reason: he was dying for a cup of coffee and simply could not find any hot water!!!!!!! bob powers October 2012