acting
Consul for Greece in Odessa, but it was Saturday and the ambassador's
office was closed. I learned later that only foreign establishments
closed at the week-end. So I went to look for a cheap hotel. Looking
out of the bedroom window I saw a lot of people running in one
direction. At that moment a woman brought me a towel and a small bar
of soap, so I asked her what was going on outside. She said the
butcher near the hotel had just received some liver. Would she buy me
some I said. I gave her some money and she returned nearly two hours
later with the liver wrapped in newspaper. When I opened it I saw it
was horse liver cooked with corn and it had an awful sour smell. I
just could not face it, although I was starving by now."

I asked Takis about the shops in Moscow. He said he had found
several shops with parts and some made-up receivers in the State owned
shops. He learned later that these receivers were made by amateurs
because the factories only made equipment for the armed forces. He
bought a triode valve called 'MICRO' and was told it had an
amplification factor of 7. He wrapped it carefully in cotton wool for
the return journey to Odessa. He also bought a dry battery pack which
gave 80 volts, and an enormous single headphone for one ear which was
ex-army surplus.

When he returned home and began to build his receiver he raided
his mother's kitchen to build things like terminals, switches etc.
There was an electric bell circuit between the dining room and the
kitchen and as they didn't use it his mother said he could dismantle
it and use the wire, which was quite long because it went up into the
loft and then down again to the kitchen.

"I had acquired a small square of bakelite and I used a penknife
to make a holder for the valve, twisting a few turns of wire round the
pins as I could find nothing to use as a socket. I had no idea how to
connect the various items I made or bought. I had seen a circuit
diagram in a French magazine of a detector with reaction. I made the
connections by twisting wires together and finally the receiver was
complete. The next thing was the aerial. I made an enormous aerial
with four parallel wires, like the aerials I had seen on ships.
Putting it up was a dangerous operation as our house had a rather
steep tiled roof, so I got some friends to help me. Some of them who
had 'superior knowledge' told me the down-lead must have no bends. I
got hold of