Psellos wrote to the krites of Thrakesion describing visits to Philadelpheia. He described his earlier two visits to Philadelpheia in the narrative of his third. On his first visit (around 1040) his hair had been blondish, but by 1069 (?) on his third visit, it was silverish: yet he was touched to have been recognised. He asked the inhabitants who surrounded him about the current krites and their replies were very positive. When he said he was a friend of the krites they begged him to persuade him to be more sympathetic. Would he please, for Psellos' sake, mix strict justice in the theme with as much kindness as possible, changing his mind if necessary? [Thrakesion is not on the obvious route from Kaisareia to Constantinople, but 1069 is the only year when Psellos is attested far from the capital after he joined Konstantinos IX's administration in the early 1040s]