|
No links to sites with adult content
accepted. |
|
JULY
WEATHER
..... Hot and
Windy. Very windy up here above the bay of Chania. And the heat
continued to increase (as usual at this time of the year) and was
bordering on 30C at the end of the month. August should be really
good!
Chania
Webcam Current Cretan Weather
Link
_____________________________
Next Month in Astratigos Village life...
|
Ah-tishoo, ahtishoo! - but
wait! After our stumping up an additional £1300 (1990 prices)
our agent found this even cheaper way of preventing the 'barn'
falling down.!!. Well, it was novel... Don't miss next month!
Click picture to enlarge.
|
_____________________________
Astratigos Village Life.... Getting some..VI
(Continued from June - Previous click here).
At the end of last month...
"We
were in no position to argue with the man on the spot... With
letters reputedly taking up to a fortnight; phone calls at around
35pence a minute and fax-less - no position at all...
Pay up! Smile! Grin! Bear it! It's only money after all. What else
would you do with it - feed and clothe the kids?! Pay up, but get the
account sent on paper...." |
We found the almost immediate
request for more funds, coming so soon after making the original purchase,
making various 'Registry' fees and payment for the architect and a
few sundries, just a little taxing, to say the least...
Being informed that we also 'owed' an extra £300 - in addition to the
extra £1000 (up-front) for a temporary repair to a crumbling corner - in addition
to the purchase and other fees already paid left a curiously uneasy
feeling that all was not really well on the southern front!
But then we did have good news from our agent, he had found a simpler
way of effecting the temporary repair that we had just paid the extra
£1000 for (picture above)
- really ingenious. Better than that - a few pieces of 4x4 timber and a
couple of old shutters which we already owned would save at least £995,
I thought.
That way the £300 we apparently owed would become a surplus of
.£695..... Sounded good to me - but then that was my
interpretation...
Maybe I should have used an abacus - I had one as a child - reputed
to originate in China!
And then we received our first 'account' - confirming all of the above -
apart from my 'surplus' but confirming the 'deficit' of £300. Written in
blue biro on a piece of grey notepaper in unfamiliar and reasonably fine
and unusually stylish hand-writing, it was a bit difficult to decipher at
first glance - apart from the amount 'owing' - which as with all
accounts, was abundantly clear.
But it aroused my curiosity. Reputed to be an excellent attribute in the
killing of cats, I had never known it harm reasonably cautious people.
And since we were already engaged in spending a not inconsiderable sum
of money which at that time (because of Greek currency restrictions) we
had little hope of ever repatriating, we wanted real accounts - clearly
labeled and set out. We wanted to see where the money was going....
In addition to that, it seemed likely that any tax authority would
probably demand the clear details - clearly labeled and set out. This
first one would have challenged Confucius - though perhaps it was one of
his products - ten out of ten. Apart from the envelope it arrived in - a
tenuous link - there was almost nothing about the 'account' which could
have been legally linked to anything - apart from our apparent 300 quid
debt to the agent.... But then perhaps we were being uncharitable - he
had waived his seller agent fee. Perhaps this was the round-about and we
were still on the swings... All would equalize in the end, wouldn't
it?....
Ok. Benefit of the doubt, if not the doubt itself banished, given. I, an
accredited expert on communications and lecturer in research methods,
would clarify our requirements to our agent. He being the recipient
of 10% of all except taxes, we were paying him, so there
should be no problem in asking him to deliver, should there?....
Pay up! Smile! Grin! Bear it! It's only money after all. What else
would you do with it - feed and clothe the kids?! Pay up, but get the
account sent on paper....
I copied a standard English
accounts layout into our computer using standard Microsoft programs -
simply showing the names of the parties involved and columns for amounts
credited, items purchased amounts debited, and the usual totals - almost
like a bank statement. We faxed it to our agent in anticipation of a
smooth future in the accounting department... Of babes and innocence!!
I was about to find that, on this occasion, I was about as naive as it
is possible to be....
The response was swift - could we telephone
our agent (38pence per min) as soon as possible. We did...
Our fax to him was almost impossible to read, he said. If he had to
provide such detailed accounts it would take a lot of time. Basically he
expressed serious unhappiness with what we felt was a normal and simple
request - normal accounts, and promptly upped his fee from the agreed
10% by 100% to 20%..!
Take it or leave it.....
(Continued next month) |
|
In the News
Reviews...
Swine flu...
Figures remained relatively low (258 by 13th of July) when
compared with other European countries, and with the UK in particular. But
then the Greek media did not hype-up the position. At least one case on
Crete was a British tourist...
(item 3)
Link to Story.
Law-abiding Municipality...
Therisos - a municipality near
Chania with a history of marked resistance against invaders and the origin
of the revered El Venezelos, whose original home in the small village of
Theriso is now a tourist attraction (museum) suffered something of a
setback when 152 sheep were slaughtered by unknown perpetrators recently... (item 6)
Link to
Story.
But violence is never far from the surface...
As a Cretan garbage truck driver recently discovered when he was dragged
from his cab and beaten up by a group of men from a cafe near the road.
They said that he had been speeding....
Link to Story.
Even among the grandfathers...
No, not 'Godfathers' - grandfathers, who like many Cretans, believe
in holding their own against all comers - including the police...
Link to Story.
But Chania cabbies are better behaved..
As their Union and Local Authorities cooperate in the setting up of
signs showing tariffs in the main tourist areas - there was no mention of
who removed the previous signs or why....
Link to Story.
Although ad-hoc bombers remain...
On this occasion destroying four cars and
damaging two others at an Iraklion car dealership - described as an act of
vandalism..
(item
5)
Link to Story.
And the police remain vigilant...
Especially so in this particular case....
(item 2)
Link to Story.
But the police do have a dangerous role...
As once again officers are attacked, being beaten and threatened with
death after a traffic incident involving their own car led them to follow a
vehicle into the mountain village of Zoniana...
Link to
Story.
'Cold Turkey'...
Said the ekathimerini headline as 40 grams of Heroin is found hidden
amongst food kept in a Cretan prison refrigerator inside a plastic food
bag...
(item 6)
Link to Story.
Whilst an unemployed Cretan shines...
Shines his way into getting arrested by police after pilots Iraklion
inbound commercial aircraft had complained about a laser being pointed at
their aircraft whilst in flight..
(item 5)
Link to Story.
Chania apartment block fire...
Is thought possibly due to a dropped cigarette as a 45 year old
woman is found dead in bed after a fire in the apartment in which she had
lived.... (item
6) Link to Story.
British woman, 26, dies...
After losing consciousness on a ferry en route to Piraeus. The Ferry
took her to the Island of Folegandros for medical treatment which proved
unsuccessful...
(item
2) Link to Story.
And a British Student extradited to Greece...
Andrew Symeou - of Cypriot extraction - is to be extradited to Greece
to face a charge of the manslaughter of Jonathan Hiles - another Briton
who died after a fight in a Zakinthos club early in 2007... (item
3) Link to Story.
Scootered with the cash...
Two men raided a civil engineering office in Chania on pay day and
made off with 25.000 Euros. The getaway vehicle was apparently a motor
scooter..
(item 4)
Link to Story.
But Crete now enters a danger season ...
As winds and soaring temperatures combine to fan any suggestion of a
spark into raging fires which can cause both death and destruction.
The same alert applies to the mainland. Fire-fighting aircraft and
helicopters supplement regular ground crews, but there seems to be no real
answer to this annual event..
Link to Story.
_________________
COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT
All of the material produced by Cretanvista is copyright and
belongs to someone who has spent time, effort and money to produce it. We
are often willing to allow the use of our material for personal
(non-commercial) purposes. For example our calendar photographs can be
used to reproduce the pictures for your own individual calendars,
or to hang on granny's bedroom wall.
We will however, take
action against anyone we discover using our materials in any mass
distribution exercise, especially for financial
gain, unless specifically authorized by us and we are
acknowledged as the source in the reproduction.
_________________
|
