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NOVEMBER
WEATHER
..... Winter
is definitely getting a grip! During the first week there were some 'traditional' severe storms
but this later became a spell of uncharacteristically warm and sunny
weather. Some temporary snow on the
White Mountains on Crete....
Chania
Webcam Current Cretan Weather
Link
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A change of plan
- front house awaits demolition
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And then it really was a case
of 'Atishoo! Atishoo!
All fall down'...
Well, something of a large push perhaps.
Then it was just a pile of rubble in the village square...
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Astratigos Village Life.... Getting some.. VII
(Continued from July - Previous click here).
At the end the last episode...
..."And
proceeding it was - the stable shell was complete and the builders
were removing the original roof from the front house in preparation
for reinforcing the walls, fitting the new roof, the doors and the
windows. The house would be ready. The sun was shining. We were only
£10,000 over budget.
Little did we know, as we left for the UK at the end of our holiday,
that we would never see the front part of our house again, let alone
live in it"..... |
Readers may well think
that our attempts to rebuild our Venetian dream on Crete all ended in
disaster. The reality was much worse...
Almost before we had arrived back in the UK - aglow with the knowledge that
our retirement home was indeed a Cretan paradise - well, nearly so. The
place that we could bask in the everlasting warm sunshine, eat good food,
drink Cretan wine, perhaps the occasional tsikouthia, a swim in that equally
warm indigo blue Mediterranean. Lie on the beach, countryside walks, the
eagles above in the day and the owls hooting in our quiet village under the
moon - than the communication arrived from our agent.
The front house had no foundation - it might have to be demolished as
under-pinning did not seem to be an option and, once again, would be very
expensive to attempt.
We were devastated. This morning the sun was shining. Before evening we were
in mid-winter.... We were also very angry. The foundations had been checked
right at the beginning of the project, we had paper that said so. Now we
were being told that they didn't exist. It seemed to us, at the time, that
we were dealing, or attempting to deal with, either a complete incompetent
or a very highly skilled con artist...
Being already £10,000 over budget it seemed that saving our dream, or not
losing what we had already, (if it wasn't already gone) was going to cost
such an awful lot more than we were already in for. If the original stable,
still lacking electricity and basic interior fittings such as ceilings, plus
starting work on the front house had already cost £50,000, what would the
demolition and rebuilding of the front house cost? Money that we did not
have? Pam was due to retire - that would cut our income at a stroke. We were
unwilling to sell our home in the UK - that was for our children - and
pension pots (not very deep) were not for frittering away on hair-brained
schemes seeking to realize impossible dreams in the sunshine... We were so
angry and so fed up, all at the same time, that our own mental states could
probably have been diagnosed as agitated depression! Pass the pills. The ECT
machine!
...This morning the sun was shining. Before evening we were in mid-winter....
We had jobs to do, children to finish raising, the shopping, the bills to
pay, other people to help. It was simply impossible. Almost too much to
handle. The dream had become a serious nightmare...
Our agent came to the rescue! We could do the lot, according to his
written estimates for something over another £10.000. £10,673
exactly at the time - Three million, seven hundred and five thousand, five
hundred and sixty seven drachmas. And 20 lepta!! It was still only
£10,673 whichever way it was said. The price of saving our dream. Our
agent was no longer an incompetent, certainly not a con-artist - he was our
saviour. Crete was not full of English/English speaking house agents and
builders at that time - but we had one, and he could save the lot for just
another £10,000 or so. The bricks, the mortar, the plastering, the labour
cost, the IKA, the new roof, even the wood preservative. Right down to the
door hinges and handles...
It would take a month - we had at least five months. But not a lot more. Pam
would retire - the house would be finished. About £10,000...
that would take the total costs to around £65,000 to £66,000 as against the
agents original guestimate for the whole project of around £40,000, but at
least the new doors and windows had not been fitted before the problem
arose. Now there was a bit more sunshine!
Do it. Tell him to demolish and start work on the new house front without
delay. Do It! We did. We complained, of course, about the situation and
questioned how it had arisen in view of our previous paperwork on the
subject, but the objective was to get the job done, and done within the
timescale and money agreed. Better to get on with the job rather than waste
time trying to apportion blame, which would change nothing.
The demolition of the front house took place fairly quickly. There was a
pile of building rubble siding the village square that bore no resemblance
to what had been our intended front house.
It was all systems go. And then the bomb dropped....
(to
be continued...)
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Astratigos Village Life.... Getting some..
Is condensed from the book 'Pamela's House' - in current
preparation... |
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In the News
Reviews...
Simply a part of Cretan culture...
As police take into custody a 74 year-old Cretan for possessing a
large weapons cache - he is old enough to have personal memories of the
resistance movement during WWII...
Link to Story.
But sometimes more questionable...
Cretan police also arrest two men,
aged 24 years and 21 years for possession of a large arms cache -
assault rifles; handguns; a grenade; detonators et al....
(item 6) Link to Story.
As can be noted when taken to the bank...
As three armed robbers relieved two
banks in Archanes, Iraklion, Crete of around 50,000€
Certainly beats the queues...
(item
8) Link to Story.
November weather was also unkind...
With two men dead in cars swept
away by swollen rivers in Greece. Two women narrowly escaping death in one
- and a search and rescue operation launched off the coast on Chania,
Crete, after a boat with one person on board was reported capsized...
Link to Story.
Fire deaths in Iraklion...
As two Pakistani migrants are found
dead after a fire in a derelict house in which they had been living... .
(item 4)
Link to Story.
Desertification risk on Crete...
Not only Crete but also other parts
of Greece as dwindling rainfall threatens 10% of the country's surface
area. Crete is named as one of the five worst affected areas in Greece...
Link to
Story.
Meanwhile the new PASOK government...
Which has inherited an economy in a perilous state of disrepair, is
finding public support slipping.....
Link to Story.
And seeks to lower public expectations...
With PM Giorgos Papandreou warning that the first national budget "will
not solve Greece's problems 'as if by magic"...
Link to Story.
Plus, sadly, on the weather front...
The body of the 42 year-old driver of a car swept away in last
month's storms (see last months news) has been found in Pella, northern
Greece. His wife and daughter had miraculously escaped...
(item 2)
Link to Story.
Bad news also for two British tourists...
Sentenced to three years in prison for manslaughter in Cyprus by a
Greek court have had their appeal against extradition turned down by the
British Supreme Court - they were in a car being driven by Julian
Harrington which killed a 17 year old Cypriot during a holiday in 1976...
(item 5)
Link to Story.
Not too good a month for the police ...
With two officers suspended for allowing a prisoner to escape - he
was allowed to use the toilet - and emerged holding a gun to make good
his escape...
Link to Story.
While three immigration unit policemen...
Were suspended after they failed to stop four suspects escaping capture
- and one stole their jeep! ...
Link to Story.
And an unfortunate police motorcyclist...
Lost his license and was fined 1500€ after
being caught jumping red traffic lights by an unmarked patrol car...
(item 5) Link
to Story.
And a former suspended officer...
Was caught with 5.5 kilos of cocaine and forged documents at
Frankfurt Airport by customs police. He had already committed other
serious offences and was on conditional release from prison .... Link to Story.
But then thieves might have problems...
Offloading 60,000€ worth of chewing gum
stolen from a Xanthi warehouse - could just be something of a sticky
wicket...
Link to Story.
And - Take good 'Freeview' notice...
Supplying - or perhaps using as well, Satellite TV decoders to
enable free viewing of Greek subscription TV channels might result in
free viewing from 'inside'...
Link to Story.
And Athens continues...
To restore the Parthenon (Acropolis) area -this time by restoring
the ancient theatre of Dionysus where works of classical playwrights were
first performed more than 2500 years ago...
Link to Story.
Whilst the British Museum...
Still refusing to return the Parthenon marbles 'liberated' by Lord
Elgin, received some possibly unwelcome attention in the person of an
American demonstrator...
Link to Story.
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