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JANUARY
WEATHER
..... January was
sometimes very wet and stormy, sometimes very windy, then unseasonably warm and
dry!
Current Chania
Webcam
Current Cretan Weather
Link
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The
fire brigade (us) was en-route!
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The new house base concrete
was poured. All we had to
do now was build the new room (Front House), joining these
bits en-route, for around £10,000 in one month - and the
base seemed to have it's own small pool in situ already!....
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Astratigos Village Life.... Getting some.. VII
(Continued from July - Previous click here).
At the end the last episode...
....'Pam
could rent a house in the next village whilst he (the agent) finished the front
house, as she clearly couldn't live in half finished ours'.
Pam didn't see it that way at all. She had a half finished house - £50,000
worth - she was not going to pay to live in someone else's. Ours or
nothing!
Ours, hands down... But little did any of us guess that although the
nightmare was ending, our battle for our dream in the sun was only just
beginning... |
But there was a serious
downside to our new plans - it was our agent who had said, before losing his
building crew, that the rebuilding of the front house would take a month and
could be done for a further £10,000. If we moved in on the project it would
be us, not he, trying to meet those goals! It was looking very much like the
people our agent was expecting - one retiree, one (presumed to be) visiting
husband and a southern Irish builder, had bitten off a bit more than they
would be able to chew...
But there was no other way, we couldn't change anything without being there,
so we planned the journey. Booked the tickets. Agreed our plan with PJ and
his wife, (he would be away for a while) and set off one dark rainy evening
in April for Crete. Via the ferry from Felixstowe to Zeebrugge in Holland.
We landed and crossed Europe in less than 48 hours! One overnight stop in Biasca,
Switzerland, and boarded Strinzis Shipping Lines ferry 'Ionian Island' by 5pm on
day two - with a fully loaded Nissan Bluebird. It was a good omen - anyone
who can do that was either too naive to realise it was very difficult, or
simply too inexperienced to know that. We were both. Filled with fire and
optimism. A fire brigade en-route!
En-route across Italy we saw the Italian Adriatic sea from the old Mediterranean coastal
route above Ancona for the first time. It was the sort of blue reserved for the travel
brochures. Stunning! The sun was still bright as we wound our way down to the port and
the waiting 'Ionian Island' ferry. Two and a half days of which any cruise line
would have been proud to boast. Good food; a few beers; sunshine; the soft
swish of the ferry through the water - and the most
outstanding, absolutely magical, Greek dancing experience we have ever
encountered.
Provided by about twenty teenagers from a Greek school returning home from a
competition venue. For two evenings the whole lounge was taken over as the
dancers, in regional national dress, wound their way between tables full of
passengers in a giant conga to the backing of traditional Greek music! They danced, literally, until they were
exhausted! And their audience was more than generously appreciative in their applause
after each dance....
We had never seen such a mixture of dancers, passengers, waiters, visiting
crew et al occupy such a space without someone getting run-down by someone
else! But rather than confusion, well, anyone moving seemed to adopt the
rhythm of the dancers - it was hypnotic....
A leisurely road trip from Patra, across the top of the top of the
Peloponnese to Piraeus followed, pausing in the middle at the Corinth Canal,
plus a diversion into Ancient Corinth for lunch, and then into Piraeus to
our next ferry, ANEK Lines 'Lissos'. Check-in and boarding have become over
the years a regular habit, but at the time it was probably our first culture
shock. Something of an 'active' experience... Drive on board - up what then
seemed an almost vertical ramp, loaders pointing and shouting directions,
voices echoing in a hollow hall full of moving lorries and people, noise,
diesel fumes... Cacophony! Almost bedlam..
And then our loader. Reversing us into an impossibly tiny space right
at the rear of the boat and doing his own version of Greek dancing - waving
his arms in opposite circles alternately as, his hand on the bonnet as if
pushing, he shouted the Greek equivalent of 'Look at me, back, back', 'go'
'go' . And then it happened - (and it has never happened since). I took
my eyes off the loader. I looked behind. It was impossible to get the
car into the space he was pushing me into. But I was committing a major sin,
I was supposed to look at the loader at all times.
There was a loud 'bang bang' on the bonnet (slapped by the loaders hand) which
immediately focused my attention where he wanted it to be, on him!
Accompanied by his shout of 'LOOK AT ME' which was probably heard in
Manchester! I did, and I have never doubted a Greek ferry loader since!
I don't remember which was the more frightening, the loader or the seeing
the impossible space he was parking me in. But park me safely he did. The
self-service restaurant on Lissos was very good. But the strangest
thing - the waiters waited only on the truck-drivers, who were segregated
from the 'posh' people by some invisible dividing line. It was only later
that we learned that the line divided workers from the loafing masses (us)
who could, being the shirkers, carry their own trays! A very good idea.
And then we were there. Our first arrival at Souda Bay on the island of
Crete... The sun was just rising. Life felt so very good as we left the heaving
mêlée of the disembarking Lissos and drove out through the city Chania, along
the coast road, in the direction of Kolimbari and our final destination,
Astratigos.
Our adventure had moved on another stage, it was bathed in sunlight, surely
very good omen. Now all we had to do was to replace the demolished
front-house in one month for £10,000. A real challenge...
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Astratigos Village Life.... Getting some..
Is condensed from the book 'Pamela's House' - in current
preparation... Continued next month... |
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In the News
Reviews...
An armed raid nets €70,000...
Taken from a security company van en-route to replenish National
Bank of Greece ATM's in the Sfakia area...
(item
3) Link to Story.
And a Chania synagogue fire...
An arson attack on
the Etz Hayyim synagogue was detected and the blaze quickly extinguished
by the Chania fire department on January 6th...
Link to Story.
And a second arson attack...
At around 4am on
Saturday 16th January, caused an estimated
€30,000
worth of damage, destroying a wooden ceiling and many of the documents
kept at the synagogue...
(item 4)
Link to Story.
The Synagogue attack was condemned...
The previously reported attack on the Etz Hayyim Synagogue in Chania,
the last remaining Jewish monument on Crete, was soundly condemned by
several high profile individuals and groups as racist...
Link to Story.
Even the United States of America...
Became involved in condemning the attack on Etz Hyyim Synagogue, the
State Department issuing a statement which described the attack 'as
intended to intimidate and terrorize Greece's Jewish community'....
(item 3)
Link to Story.
By January 22nd Chania police...
Had arrested two British men and a 24 year-old Greek in connection with
the Etz Hyyim arson attack. They were also seeking two Americans.
The suspects were also being questioned in relation to other attacks on
immigrants in Chania about the possibility of an association with
racist groups outside Greece.
Link to Story.
On January 24th the Greek government...
Announced its intention to help renovate the synagogue - 'not only to
repair the damage but also protect this monument' said spokesman Evangelos
Venizelos, Greek Defense Minister and himself a Cretan....
(item 2)
Link to Story.
By January 26th Chania police...
Had arrested a fourth suspect - a 24 year-old American and were seeking a
fifth (also American) suspect who was thought to have fled to Italy...
Link to Story.
By January 27th the Etz Hyyim suspects...
Had been charged. One had been remanded in custody (a Briton); one
Briton and a Greek had been released on bail pending trial, and the arrested
American was due to face a public prosecutor the following day (The latter
was released the following day on conditional bail). One American was still
being sought...
(item 2)
Link to Story.
A locked out
university rector...
Chania Technical University of Crete rector Ioakim Gryspolakis said that
he had been locked out of his office by students protesting against
renovation work being carried out at a Chania building. It had been used by
them unofficially for over two years...
(item
7) Link to Story.
The Cavo Sidero project iced...
The ongoing saga of the controversial five-holiday village, luxury
hotels and three golf links scheme, strongly opposed by
environmentalists, is on ice. It is reported to be unlikely to be approved
by the current government...
Link to Story.
An arms cache captured...
In the Rethymnou prefecture, two
farmers were arrested after police found an arsenal of weapons in property
owned by them. Including assault rifles, pistols, a submachine gun and
two anti-aircraft missiles. The two men were not known to be acquainted
with each other...
(item 3)
Link to Story.
Plus - 40 year-old swept away...
On Sunday 17th January, when heavy rain
was causing problems in several parts of Crete, a 40 year-old went missing
after his car, in which he was attempting to cross a flooded stream, was
swept away. A 12 year-old passenger was rescued...
No Link.
A difficult month for Andrew Symeou too...
The 21 year-old Briton extradited to Greece and held in Korydallos
prison pending trial for alleged manslaughter of a fellow Briton Jonathan
Hiles in a Zakinthos nightclub in July 2007. He was extradited in July 2009
and his latest bail appeal has been turned down. It is said that it is
unlikely to be reviewed for another six months..
Link to Story.
And finally this month...
Some very good news for Crete. At least for the city of Iraklion
(the capital). The European Investment Bank has agreed to provide the city
with a €50 Million loan to improve the
quality of life in the city. It seems that, even in time of financial woe
Crete can attract economic support. It will, of course, have to be repaid...
Link to Story.
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