Looking back, I see there was one shining moment which set the course for the rest of my life. At the time, I recognised the moment for its glories, but I couldn’t know its perfection would forever blaze behind my eyes, coming to stand for everything joyous and free.
I was young, as none of us will ever be again. I was 19 – now I’m 66 – and my moment arrived during my first trip to Europe, the first time I had ever left Australia. It was the coldest European winter in many years: London was grim, Paris blanketed in unseasonable snow, and even Italy had not yet unfurled for spring.
But when I got to Greece, the light and sun and
