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JUNE
WEATHER
.....
Summer really has
arrived, but still fickle enough to turn the tables in an instant, bringing
back wind, cloud and even the occasional dusty rain we saw back in
May...
Current Chania
Webcam
Current Cretan Weather
Link
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A Successful Concreting Operation...
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Doesn't look much in the photograph but in all there were thirty
square metres of 20cm reinforced concrete - 17-20 tonnes
successfully laid. We would soon be going skywards again until we
reached roof height. Scaffolding in and bricklaying on...
Place cursor on/off image |
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Astratigos Village Life.... Getting some.. VIIII
(Continued from
May - Previous click here).
At the end the last episode...
....
Working in high energy-sapping temperatures whilst tight-rope or sticky mud
walking in Wellies, is hard heavy graft. Doing it whilst sweating profusely
and avoiding any swing of the huge rubber hose hanging down to deliver an
enormous weight of wet concrete was, without doubt, a job for young men...
I left them to it and went shopping with Pam. Well, somebody had to drive!... |
And then it was done! The
first floor terraces were laid, the RSJ's for the interior mezzanine floor
were concreted in, but before we could work on we had to keep the new
concrete from drying out too rapidly, which could cause it to crack. Easy -
water it with a hose - not too little, not too much. At least four times a
day as the heat from the blazing sun continued. Spend too much time in the
open and it would not be a case of the sun shining upon the righteous as a
case of becoming a crisp. We watered on...
In fact, all was going swimmingly - really. After a few days PJ and his
'crew' had erected scaffolding inside our new room - and also a small ladder
outside at the back so that bricks and mortar could be hoisted more easily
to the new level. But it was seriously hard work. Because of the position of
the house there was no access for lorries to get near, so the bricks, sand,
cement etcetera were off-loaded at then bottom of our 1 in 10, or 1 in 4, or 1
in 3 rising lane - a wide part at the bottom and the narrowest (about 6/8 feet) and
steepest at the top.
It seemed easy to fill a 'karotsi' - a large Greek builders
wheelbarrow - at the bottom, perhaps twenty large shovelfuls of
sand; add a couple of 50 Kg bags of cement and a bag of lime ('Asvesti') and
get it moving upwards. It was. The problems start about 8 steps from the
start with the right angle bend in the lane - beyond which lay about 100 metres of seriously ascending slope (including another bend at the narrowest
part) before destination - the back gates. We worked three barrows in relay.
There were advantages, there were drawbacks. A full barrow could weigh
3-4cwt - the lane was only wide enough for two barrows to pass on the lower
slopes. Stopping after the first right angle could be fatal! (Pushing 3-4cwt
laden wheelbarrows up the army inspired obstacle course lane in 900C to 1000C+
heat could also be fatal). Fatal in quite a humorous, if you include
serious panic/hysteria as humour, way.. If you stopped the upward momentum was
lost - and then the momentum became downwards. Towards the driver! One could
get run down - literally. Anyone who has tried to run backwards, pushed by a
full (and attempting to accelerate) karotsi has forgotten the first rule. Don't!
But it is always easy to forget the first rule when threatened by an angry
wheelbarrow! Easy rule - put it down, it will stop. Try remembering that when
someone steps in front just as you have gained momentum and are on the verge
of serious effort to accelerate out of the first bend up that increasing
slope. When an 80 year old villager steps in front! The amount of time
between going up (and killing a villager) and going down (and being dead)
must be milliseconds. Too short a time to think out the solution. Put it
down, NOW!
I forgot. I panicked. I did an emergency stop fractions of a millimeter - or
so it seemed - from Katina, the oldest and undoubtedly most revered lady in
the village. And she cared for the church... The headlines were
reverberating around my dead brain 'Village Saint killed by speeding English
lunatic with overloaded wheelbarrow'... I would be finished in Astratigos.
Probably finished in Greece...
Consciousness - that awareness of the environment which allows us to react -
returned not milliseconds later. The damned barrow was trying to push be
back down the slope! One of my old teachers had once lectured my class that
awareness was the ability to grasp the essentials in a given situation and
to respond appropriately to them. Very clever - but he wasn't stood at the
bottom of our sloping lane having just done an emergency stop to avoid
killing Katina - and being damned forever - when he said that.
The wheelbarrow, my karotsi, was now increasing it's determined
effort to enter reverse gear and mow me down, or at least push me backwards,
as I desperately tried to push in the opposite direction. The only possible
alternative was to let it push me backwards in a straight line - over the 10
foot drop which bordered that first corner. Dead either way! Choose! Answer me now -
no time to answer on a postcard - and in any case if I took my hands off the barrow
shafts to post it.....
That was the answer, still milliseconds
into my panic, I had the answer. Take you hands off the shafts. Save
yourself - PUT IT DOWN!
In the event I would have been too late - either lying face up outside
Katina's house with a neat tyre mark running from toe to head, or on the
road below the drop with no tyre mark. Either way - dead...
In that instant Katina placed two 1.5 litre bottles of chilled village wine
on top of my load. Another three kilograms on top of my already unreasonably heavy
load! I put the barrow down! Saved by a Saint...
Paradise was not lost!..
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Astratigos Village Life.... Getting some..
Is condensed from the book 'Pamela's House' - in current
preparation... Continued
in September... |
|
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In the News
Reviews...
The good news...
Greece comes second in the prestigious European Blue Flag awards league
this year. Crete came first in Greece - the Lasithi prefecture having
the largest number of blue flagged beaches with Halkidiki on mainland
Greece coming second...
(item 5)
Link to Story.
Ran out quickly early in June...
When suppliers to
state hospitals suspended deliveries of goods to state hospitals. The
government, owing the suppliers nearly three billion euros had
decided to pay in state bonds rather than cash...
(item
6)
Link to Story.
As did good relations with Israel...
After israeli army commandos stormed six ships carrying aid
destined for Gaza in Palestine. The ships were reported to also be
carrying activists, nine of whom died in the raids. Two ships were Greek...
Link to Story.
And a suspected rapist on Crete...
Was arrested by Rethymnon police after his victim pointed him out to the
police...
(item 4)
Link to Story.
But for Andrew Symeou...
The latest news was good. He was released from custody on bail after
prosecution witnesses from the UK failed to appear in court. He had been
arrested and extradited from the UK last July on charges linked to the
death of another Briton, Jonathan Hiles, at a Zakinthos nightclub in
2007. Andrew Symeou denies any involvement..
(item 2)
Link to Story.
2009 report (item 3) Link to Story.
Plus, in the Rethymnou
prefecture of Crete...
Anogia, near the well reported village of Zoniana, was the scene of some
violence as 45 villagers attacked a police squad who raided a house there.
The police were reported to have been investigating gunshots heard in the
house.
The villagers apparently attacked the police with sticks and iron bars
before fleeing the scene. An ongoing saga in the area...
(item
7)
Link to Story.
Enough bad news perhaps, to...
To make you eat your greens! As 'expatathens' reports on what is (with
Greeks and others in the know) a very popular dish. And the ingredients are
gathered by the "horta hunters" - a well known species here on Crete too...
Link to Story.
And it isn't just horta...
Residents of Ierapetra on Crete went much further - take 6 tons of tomatoes,
3 tons of cucumbers, two tons of peppers, 1 ton of onions, 800 kilos of feta
cheese (only Greek feta is feta), add half a ton of olive oil and put it all
into the Guinness Book of World Records...
(item 6)
Link to Story.
Which is a better way of...
Spending time than sitting in goal. Which may soon be the case for five
young British men who have just lost their appeal against extradition to
Greece. The five are to be extradited on charges related to a reportedly
violent attack on another Briton, Robert Hughes, outside a Malia (Crete)
nightclub in June 2008...
(item 1)
Link to Story.
But reported offences against the person...
Continue of Crete as Chania police arrested two men in connection
with the reported rapes of two women - a Norwegian tourist and a local
Polish woman in separate incidents...
(item
3)
Link to Story.
Although sometimes, reporting...
Incidents of any kind to the Cretan police results in further
investigations. Which is certainly understandable when they are handed a bag
of human bones - and then find WWII relics, including machine guns,
submachine guns, rifles, bullets - and no firearms licence...
Link to Story.
And sometimes a report a sad ending...
As the drowned body of a British woman, 52 year old Sheila Jack was
recovered off the coast of the island of Zakynthos...
(item 1)
Link to Story.
Some gloom, take a break...
Have a nice cuppa tea. Greek style!...
Link to Story.
And if that doesn't work...
Have another drink. Cheers!...
Link to Story.
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