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SEPTEMBER
WEATHER
..... Cooling
slowly but very, very surely as we head for the winter solstice. There
were some stormy days but also a good number of very warm sunny days
demanding care in the sun but nice evenings under the stars..
Chania
Webcam Current Cretan Weather
Link
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Original front house
- Looks a dream!
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Whatever
came next, however much more our dream moved towards becoming a
financial nightmare, we were in too deep to leave it just stood
there. Planning permission was for two years, the clock was
ticking....
Click to enlarge picture. |
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Astratigos Village Life.... Getting some..VII
(Continued from July - Previous click here).
At the end the last episode...
..."The response was swift - could we telephone our agent (38pence
per min) as soon as possible. We did..
...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..... |
The stimulus for the
response was apparently our request for what we regarded as normal accounts
for the funds we transferred to him for the purchase and renovation of our
Cretan dream. Fast becoming a bit of a nightmare we thought. Attempting to
juggle our family commitments with what were at that time particularly
demanding jobs was becoming difficult...
And the difficulties, we believed, were being delivered by our own agent - who we were
paying to look after our best interests! From our standpoint he had
agreed 10% of the total amount of the project - less any taxes - £4.000 at
1991/92 prices and now he was demanding 20% (or no deal) - £8000. Take it
or leave it?..
On that decision there were other aspects to consider. We had already agreed that any
Greek income tax relief on monies paid for the house purchase could go to our agent, and to this
end we paid our funds into his bank accounts by sending cheques made out to
him personally - which was worth a good percentage more to him
because imported foreign currency attracted tax relief. We were already
financially committed - owning a Venetian ruin which wouldn't improve itself did not
make sense. It appeared that getting another multi-lingual agent might be
impossible. We just didn't have the time to debate the issue...
We offered 12%. It was declined - one of the reasons given being that inflation in
Greece had reached 20%... We offered that whatever the inflation rate the
original agent fee would rise proportionally in actual cash- no increase was
necessary to cover that. Nor was there any indication about just what
portion of the 20%applied to the building supplies/trade...
The argument
fell on the stony ground of our Cretan mountainside! We decided that 15% was
our final offer - feeling was that we had been cleanly taken to the proverbial
cleaners. That offer was accepted. But we were never to be happy with the accounts
ala our agent - which became a regular bone of contention.
Our previous feeling that all was not well with our southern-front
accounting was to become a serious handicap in our relationship with our
agent... Allied to his reluctance to provide 'regular' accounts. We also
felt a little aggrieved that he had pressured for the extra £1000 to carry
out temporary repairs to a corner of the barn in danger of falling and
possibly injuring (or even killing someone) - leaving us facing a legal
suit in a foreign country. Bankruptcy before there was even a new front
door to put our key to paradise in! Paradise lost would be more like it
if that happened...
We paid up...
But our unease with the accounts had a very positive side - they made us
look very much more closely at the 'accounts' posted to us by our
agent. There was also a negative side - our jobs in the UK did not
leave a lot of mental room for the extra stress of watching for accounting
errors.
(Only few months after our original purchase, in February 1992, we had
received a letter from our agent - an 'account' - from a London address
confirming that "...the monies I have received from you so far
covers...(with 30,000 drs short) the purchase of" ).....
Now, looking again at this letter, we realised that in spite of being told
(and making good the stated deficit) that our original payments had
apparently left us owing 35,000 drs (360 = £1) that a magic word 'provisioned'
had been applied to two sums and that the amounts paid for 5 items - The
house; the stamp duty; the purchase tax; the lawyer's fee; the Public Notary
fee were simply not stated at all.
What was clear was that an amount - at least 700,000drs (£1,944) was being held by
our agent for future payment of fees, whilst at the same time, we were being
told that our account was again in need of further funding to the tune of
390,000drs (£1300) in order to get the "Ball Rolling"... Quite which
ball in which game was left to one's imagination....
Allied to a penchant to
charge for 'Miscellaneous' (unidentified) items and 'Forward' buying without
seeking agreement in case of price rises - which appeared later, telling us
that we owed 30-35000drs (around £97) whilst holding something like £1900 for future
payments, presumably in his bank and possibly gaining interest for him at
our expense, did not amuse us a great deal. Especially so since no work had
actually commenced on the renovation.
We asked for the accounts to be formalized and for the missing figures,
which was where our financial relationship started to deteriorate, and the demand for a greater % fee
on the basis of inflation. Some amounts already
mentioned as missing were explained in a complicated letter 'account'. No
supporting receipts were ever produced... One 'estimate' (planning
permission) had risen by 30% and two others by 33.33% - the latter two still
'provisioned'... Deducted from our 'Credit' but not paid. One of
these, for I.K.A. (Nat Insurance), was at the same time explained as not
paid because the 200,000drs (£555 approx) originally 'provisioned' had been used
to pay the extra for planning permission. But it was still 'provisioned'
- now at a greater rate, whilst at the same time we were credited as holding
238,833drs (£663 approx). Magic! Confucius!
We were unhappy. But not being in the business of forensic accounting; having
to keep our dream in the
sunshine from becoming more of a nightmare; a home and demanding
jobs in the UK to run; plus a couple of demanding young teenagers to bring
up, it had to be a case of get on with what we had started in Crete. Get
things sorted without too much getting out of hand regarding our
retirement-to-be home dream. Get the work moving - 1990 was now 1991.
Planning permission was for two years. The clock was ticking.... |
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In the News
Reviews...
Cat Burglars?...
As cash; jewelry; mobile 'phones
vanish from rooms at an unnamed Chania hotel, police arrested an
unidentified Belgian man on suspicion and were seeking a suspected
French
accomplice..
(item 2)
Link to Story.
Chania tourist arrivals drop...
From 437,358 to 402,911 - 9.3% down
on last year, whilst tourists were also spending 33% less on local
traditional products. 57% of British tourists spent less on such
products...
Link to
Story.
But at the same time...
Crete is nominated as a 'holiday
hotspot' by the 'World Travel Awards' which nominated Crete for what the
American Wall Street Journal describes as 'the Oscars of the tourism
industry' - in view of the drop in tourism one can but look askance and
hope ...
(item 1)
Link to
Story.
And after previous reports...
About lessons on courtesy for
Cretan taxi drivers...One driver sends a Chania police officer to hospital over
a request to move his double parked car....
(item 6)
Link to
Story.
But Crete is sometimes a violent place...
As amply demonstrated by the recent arrests of a 33 year old Greek male
and two Syrians aged 15 years and 23 years, on suspicion of kidnapping
and involvement in the death of 50 year old Cretan businessman Yiannis
Kypriotakis in May this year... After his wife had paid a
155,000 euro ransom.....
(item 2)
Link to Story.
Plus mainland Greece can be dangerous...
As demonstrated by the death of 21 year old Briton Stephen Wright
from Gloucestershire, UK, who died in a fall whilst climbing Mount
Olympus in Northern Greece...
Link to Story.
But pure luck...
Or perhaps simply fate, often decides the outcome of accidents - as
in the case of a 43 year old shepherd who was rescued from a 500 foot
deep ravine on Mt Olympus with only bruised ribs after a fall...
(item
1)
Link to Story.
Meanwhile at the Acropolis Museum...
There is something of a parking problem
when the museum's restaurant hosts large dinner parties - but the use of
Dionysiou St as a temporary car park is not supported...
Link to Story.
And at the Acropolis Ancient Agora...
Google Earth, via the Hellenic Foundation for Culture, offers the
chance to take a stroll through a 3-D reconstruction...
Link to Story.
While Olympic Air...
Rising like the proverbial Phoenix from the ashes as it is born
again from Olympic Airlines, beats Aegean Airlines bid to fly public
service routes for free until after the general elections
Link to Story.
But the Phoenix loses JFK...
After 43 years - 'Olympic Airways' - 'Olympic Airlines' - 'Olympic
Air' which as from it's official operational birth tomorrow will no
longer fly to America's JFK airport...
Link to Story.
Whilst Athens commuters...
Get a free ride day on all forms of public transport to mark European
Transport Week -aimed at persuading Athenians to leave their cars at
home...
(item 1) Link to Story.
But on the health scene...
The Greek Society for the Study of Addictive Substances released figures
which indicate that 200,000 Greeks are alcoholic - and that 5,000 of
them lose their lives to alcohol related disease every year. Even though
Greeks are not the heaviest drinkers in Europe...
Link to
Story.
Plus one mentally disturbed Greek...
Was saved - possibly by the Gods, as he failed to commit suicide by
setting himself on fire and driving off a cliff. He suffered severe
burns and other injuries though...
(item 5) Link to Story.
Immigration continues to be an issue...
At least the illegal kind - new arrivals reported to average 25 people a
day on Samos alone - 146,000 in the whole of Greece in 2008... A serious
burden in a small country like Greece...
Link to Story.
And Turkey is often accused by Greece...
Of not honouring pacts which require it to help stop the tide of
illegals passing through it's borders into Greece.
The most recent problems have centered upon harassment by Turkish radar of
Frontex (European Border Monitoring Agency) aircraft patrolling the sea
borders between Greece and Turkey - which receive warnings that they are
straying into Turkish air-space when this is not the case...
Link to Story.
But one piece of good news...
"A helicopter brought the cash this morning" said a Somali pirate as the
Greek cargo ship 'MV Irene' held for ransom since April, was released on
payment of the ransom. "We already left the vessel and are dividing our
money" the pirate had related...
Link to Story.
Compulsory donations to charity!
Greek society is nothing if not innovative. Illegal street traders
in Athens (and almost any other part of Greece) are not uncommon. In fact it
would be fair to say they are an everyday event everywhere throughout
Greece.
But in Athens police swoops have netted large amounts of illegal goods from
organized rackets. Whilst certain items have to be destroyed, Athens police
are preparing to deliver large amounts of confiscated clothing and toys to
charities......
Link to Story.
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