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NOVEMBER
WEATHER ...
The beautiful sunny days (and nights) outnumbered the wet cold days by
far.... But these are winter days. Part of the glossy sales brochures 300 plus
days of sunshine maybe.. But the warmth lasts for only 3 or so hours - and the
cold is just that - COLD.
Latest
Crete Weather Link.
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New Year Thoughts....
Think
about it.. ©
Burgess@Cretanvista
A
visit to Venice earlier this year resulted in this bit of Italian philosophy
which seems remarkably good advice - from where cometh it I ask - EUREKA!?
Astratigos
Village Life...
'It's August' said Dimitris resignedly, 'in August there is no-one in
Athens. Everyone is on holiday - can you get one from England'?
August
in Greece is a no, no, no if you have a problem which means spare parts - for
anything - if they come from Athens. Usually overnight on the ferry. August is
a month-long 'Ochi' day.... The 'one' in question was an automatic gear box for
my beloved Nissan Bluebird. After 20 years it had finally decided to stay
firmly in neutral! No gear, no go! And one definitely was not coming from
Athens on the overnight ferry.....
Being quite mad I rang my local Nissan dealer in the UK. 'Certainly have sir,
when can you come in'? Well, there was the small question of around 2500
miles (in neutral) and 1500 GB Pounds (in money) not including ferry fares and
VAT to be considered. Nothing was going to solve this one. Nothing that is,
apart from a bit of help.
Nissan UK would come out they assured me! I assured them that they would not, not
on my slate anyway. In the absence of 1500 GB Pounds (and carriage), they relented and gave me the name of a dealer in 'almost
new' spares. I 'phoned
him and ended up with a 'less than 3,000 miles 'guaranteed' auto box for
450 quid! When I asked if the guarantee applied in Crete there was a hasty
conference - and the 'box' was mine for 250!!
A friend who owns a house in Rodopos just happened to be shipping a container from
the UK - and kindly had my 'new' gearbox added for free. Well, we did
agree to meet the container contents in Rodopos as he wouldn't be there. The
Greek delivery driver duly arrived and emptied his truck - all except a large
crate which had a different address on it...
'OK' I supplied, 'it's for me'. He delivered it free of charge (coffee) to
the bottom of our lane - too large to get his truck into, too heavy to
manhandle.. Stuck again...
Enter Michaelis, my next door neighbour. Without provocation he hitched a
small trailer to his Mechanichi - one of those tricycle like lawnmowers with a
tiny engine - and he and his daughter-in-law delivered from bottom of lane to
my courtyard! Next day he reversed the procedure and his son and
daughter-in-law drove the blessed gearbox to Nissan in Chania. No wonder it
had done less than 3,000 miles, it hadn't turned a cog in the last 2500 miles
plus en route from the UK. Clever! Automatic!
I hadn't really done much myself.....
Nissan telephoned a couple of days later asking for my illustrious presence.
It was the sort of invitation one could not refuse - I had to look into the
'box'.... As it turned out they meant the crate containing the gearbox.
I duly attended and peered into the now open crate. Gearbox - present.
Torque converter - present. Dirt - absent! Totally. What I had was what
appeared to be a brand new automatic gearbox. Even the bolt heads were shiny
and unmarked, although it must have been used (maybe during it's 3'000 miles
on the back of a lorry) as there was a bit of transmission fluid
about.....
We agreed that this was the real McCoy and 24 hours later Dimitris rang to say
that the car was ready!
When I arrived 'Fred' - my trusty friend - was ready and waiting. Dimitris was all
smiles and declared the job and the car 'Good'. From past experience I knew
that if he said it was good then it very definitely was. He tests every car
himself, on the road, before they are handed back to their owners.
Well, I thought, not bad! 2500 miles 250 quid and I have a new auto box and
the Nissan service boss declaring it 'Good'. Not bad, not bad at
all..... All I did was get stuck!
Enter my wife. Always far more practical than myself (although look what I had
achieved without even getting my hands dirty!) who wanted to know the fitting
costs.
'Now' said Dimitris, 'it will be a little extra because we had to call in an
auto-electrician. The new box is slightly different electrically and we needed
a specialist... Sixty five pounds total with 'FPA' (vat). Its a good job the
holidays are over or we couldn't have got the electrician'!! (Or a new
gearbox I wondered)?! |
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In the News ....
'Psssht - want to buy six villages'?...
If you do you will need a couple of billion euros' - or maybe just
settle for a stay for a week or
two...
Link
to Story.
Bulldozers do not incriminate..
Ekathimerini news sources have apparently revealed to the newspaper
that fingerprints left at the scene of the recent Kalives bank heist do not
match those of the 8 suspects...
Link
to Story.
Cretan teenager accidentally shot ....
While using a shotgun to shoot at plastic bottles a 16 year old ended
up in hospital after a friend accidentally shot him in the
stomach...
Link
to Story.
Return of the fog!...
Athens International Airport again experienced the fog which disrupted
flights last month and also caused diversions of incoming traffic to Crete.
Link
to Story.
Arson attack on Iraklion vehicles...
Unknown arsonists destroyed four motorcycles and a car outside a driving
school...
Link
to Story.
Foreign national remanded for rape...
A rape suspect was remanded in custody in Chania after identification by
two alleged victims..
Link
to Story.
Farmer found dead near Chania...
Illias Papasifakis, a 45 year old Cretan farmer, was found shot dead on
his farm near Chania. Police suspect this to be the 7th murder in Nomos
Chanion this year.
Link
to Story.
A neighbour was later charged..
An unnamed neighbour was charged with his murder and illegal possession
and use of a weapon...
Link
to Story.
And bad news didn't end there...
A 41 year old was accused of murdering his cousin, Yiannis Vestakis, whom
he claimed had threatened to harm him. The names of 40 others it was claimed
had been harmed by the victim was presented by the suspects lawyer....
Link
to story.
Plus - Corfu hotel deaths - charges....
Following the deaths Christianne and Robert Shepherd, aged 7 and 6 years, A
greek prosecutor issued charges relating to the deaths of the children on
November 3rd....
Link
to story.
Athens bound Airliner....
A Thai airliner bound for Athens from Bankok had to abort to Turkmenistan for
engine
repairs....
Link
to story.
Heavyweight 'Lifters'...
Thieves have stolen a reported 120 sewer covers, each weighing around
100Kilos, (200+lbs), causing the Thessaloninki Water Company to warn
that people could fall down the
holes....
Link
to story.
And it can be confusing here.. ...
OTE, the Greek telecoms company, recently delightedly reported an increase
in the numbers of people taking up it's ADSL internet service. More than
40,000 subscribers by the end of October. No Link.
They also had a real (accidental) boost in income, with some (number
unspecified) customers being overcharged on their last bills by 6.34 euros
each. It will be deducted from their next bill if they have paid already. Free
interest? Link
to story.
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Books &
Good Reading - Latest Addition. 'Wild
Flowers of Greece' by Vangelis Papiomitoglou. Our reviewer, Ann Lisney, is an avid
garden enthusiast who takes delight from her latest review.
Wild Flowers of Greece.
Vangelis Papiomitoglou. Mediterraneo
Editions
.
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NEW GUIDE PUBLISHED
Carol
Palioudaki's New BOOK
'Living in Crete'
(A gold
mine of information)
is available now
Out Now - Get it at
www.livingincrete.net
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