Leopards and other urban animals

       Ever since I moved to Athens it stroke me. At first I thought it was just one rare specimen that got lost on the streets. I studied it carefully and tried to take a picture of it, but ironically it was faster than me and vanished in a cloud of perfume.

       But then I started to notice there were more. In fact, they were spread all over the city. Day or night, while dining out or while taking a walk, while shopping in a fancy store or at the grocery market, bang!, they would show up all of the sudden, solitary creatures or sometimes in packs of two or three, making me take out the camera in a hurry and whisper: 'Look, the leopards..".

        Just like you can never find two zebras wearing the same stripes, these creatures were distinctive and unique from each other, but the things they had in common would define this species as follows: minimum age - 60, bright make up applied at the same time on eye lids, lips and cheeks (such a no-no for other species), high heels, intense perfume, never caught on a bad hair day and always wearing at least one piece of animal print.

         Normally that would be leopard, but I have also seen tiger or zebra or a mix of leopard, tiger and zebra. And I do not mean a scarf or something subtle. I am talking about leopard high heeled boots up to the knee, tiger coat with fur collar, leopard stretched dress matched with leopard hair scarf, oversized leopard bag and... every now and then, on my lucky days, the ultimate thing, the big fish, the holy glory....the leopard head to toe outfit.

         I would declare them protected species and do something to encourage them to appear in public much more often, as I find them very refreshing as opposed to all black or all brown or all grey or black and brown and grey outfits worn by women of same age in my home country.

         Most agely challenged (to be politically correct) women in Athens seem to pay extra attention to their looks and they make me think they have just visited the hairdresser, the make up artist and the Gucci store, but these leopards... It is my strong belief that the leopards still enjoy a healthy sex life, otherwise I don't think that they would dress like that. You might say that the whole purpose of their fashion statement would be to attract males and catch some fresh prey, but I think they have already captured something.

         In either case, good for them, there is still hope after 70, after all it seems that here in Athens 70 is the new 40. Rrrrrroarrrrrr!

         p.s. Photos not taken by us, it seems our reflexes are not great and the leopards are well known for their speed.

*blue shrimp*