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MARCH
WEATHER ...
A few days appalling weather at the start - becoming rapidly spring into summer. No argument. Not quite
made it yet but our visiting friend from the UK was decidedly happy to be here,
not there. Latest
Crete Weather Link.
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North African Dust Hits Crete
nafrica_amo_2006055
Copyright NASA
Photograph: Crete - just
visible above the 'CRETE' label in
the picture above - almost hidden from the photographing satellite as it
passes overhead on February 24th...
Village
Life... "You've done it wrong!!'...
Our (Cretan) dog 'Indy' sounded as if she was going berserk.. Somewhere out
front. I was in the bathroom, at the back. This is not a good
plan... I moved rapidly towards the noise and when I judged myself close
enough I shouted 'Stop that noise, if I kill you, you will be dead!' I
should have waited..
It was our neighbour Adriani. Fluent in Greek - not really
surprising since she is Cretan, born and bred! Talking to
my wife... Luckily no English spoken, so my message remained secure...
As soon as my head rounded the door Adriani included me in the noise - 'You've
done it wrong' she said 'Poli Kako - ochi staphylia!' (It was very bad and I
would now have no grapes). ' O Yiorgos' (George) she concluded ominously, as if that was
the only answer! Well, no need for Yiorgos I thought. My sin was,
apparently, that I
had pruned my grapes in a way which would see me grape-less; wine-less;
everything-less
and definitely without tsikouthia! Forever! Judging by the racket. The
answer was easy - blame someone else and then finish the job...
'Nikos told me to do it' I said, 'Deka Tessera'..(on the 14th)...
There will be no problems and I will have many grapes - how many shall I give
to you - 100 kilos maybe?
Adriani gave up in the face of obvious lunacy and left with a Parthian shot - 'O
Yiorgos!'
However, our grapes could not remain unpruned if we wanted a return, so out
came the ladder again. I say 'again' because I had started the pruning
yesterday. Adriani had only discovered the sin of a partially completed
job - not lopping lunacy!
However, almost before I could put my best foot forward, so to speak, 'O
Yiorgos' himself appeared with an even bigger ladder, a big grin and a clear
'hands off - Adriani has spoken' look on his face. There was just no way
around this - Cretans take a very direct line once they have a target. Yiorgo
clearly had to report either myself or the grape duly pruned. I chose
wisely....
Yiorgo climbed, clambered and balanced as only Cretan men can - well, only
Cretan men and mountain goats - the goats teaching the men, who goatherd them
from a very early age. I watched dumfounded as Yiorgo disobeyed every
health and safety rule ever created, using his ancient Greek wooden ladder
(wide at the base, narrow at the top) as a mere excuse for his airborne
acrobatics.
Airborne is where I expected him to be shortly before he sued me for the price
of my house - immediately after his 5 metre flight to terra firma. Not as
far as the Wright brothers maybe, but then they were using an aeroplane, not
an ancient Greek ladder.. Sue that is, if he didn't first impale himself on his
razor-sharp secateurs on impact and become dead. In which case it would be
his wife who sued!
Either way, our incompletely pruned grapes would become their incompletely
pruned grapes, either both, or one or the other of them - along with the
house to which they are attached. The court might let me keep the tent,
I thought.
Yiorgo's finale was astounding. Wearing Greek wellies he swung himself
around the ladder like a pole dancer, landed lightly on a six inch wide ledge
on top of our boundary wall, 9 feet above the concrete lane outside, and did a
sort of Swan Lake pirouette to reach the furthest stems he wanted to
prune. And 'snipped' them before pirouetting back! All in time it
took for
me to re-start my heart before being dead set in....
'Teliosi' he declared, hopping down, 'to kalo tora'... And of course,
all is well that ends well. And from where I sat all had ended well.
I did no work, pruned my grapes and had coffee without lifting a finger! 'O
Yiorgos'... I didn't do it wrong at all now, did I?!
Except that, a couple of hours later, just as the rain started, another 'Yiorgos'
arrived in the lane with two tonnes of logs for our 'Yiorgos'.. If he didn't
get immediate help his logs would be very wet... 'No contest', I thought
as I donned my parka - 'beware of Greeks bearing gifts - or be prepared to get
wet. Very wet!' |
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In the News Reviews...
Murder of British couple on Crete...
On Sunday, March 12th, British couple Terry and Jo Johnson, aged 53 and
54, from Newlyn, Cornwall, were found strangled at the new home in Almyrida,
Chania, they had moved into only a few days previously. Terry Johnson had also
been stabbed three
times.
Link to Story.
Their son Ryan (32) was arrested and charged with the crime, but later released
on bail of 20,000 Euros after a court appearance. Bail conditions mean that he must remain on Crete until the authorities decide if
and when a trial will take place. Ryan, who has the support of
relatives, has protested his innocence and is hoping that DNA testing will help
clear his name.
Link
to Story.
Chania Daskala Ioannis Airport..
Chania airport becomes seriously international again with the start of the
tourist season. For the first time, from 26th March until 30th October,
the airport will operate 24hours daily. Link
to Story.
Pantheon or Phoenix...O.A.
Olympic Airlines, formerly Olympic Airways is set to rise once again from the
Ashes. Aristotle Onassis, founder of the original airline, might have been
better pleased had the new airline been called 'Phoenix', rather than the
proposed 'Pantheon Airways'.... But we wish Pantheon the very best.
Link
to Story.
And five companies want a slice...
A reborn Olympic (Pantheon Airways) has five large suitors...
Link
to Story.
And if you are on Crete - Athens-Milan!
Anyone living or even holidaying on Crete has a new travel option...
Athens-Milan by Easyjet! (5th news item). Link
to Story.
Wild West is not dead...
Robbers escape with around 1.250.000 Euros from security van they held up on
the Iraklion-Chania
road.. Link
to Story.
Four seriously injured in Iraklion fire...
Seriously enough to require air-lifting by a military C130 (Hercules)
aircraft to Athens for
treatment.
Link
to Story.
VAT on newly built houses...
Although the new VAT rules will be applied to property started this year
the exemptions available to builders will probably not reach consumers... Story
Link.
Free school trips... Or detention!
Six enterprising teenagers use computer knowledge to forge banknotes
uncovered by principal collecting trip cash! Link
to story.
Former Greek PM dies...
George Rallis, highly respected politician and prime minister of Greece
died on March 15th, aged 87
years.
Link
to story.
And El Venezelos remembered on Crete..
Memorial Service marks 70th Anniversary of great statesman's
death. Link
to story.
Magical Solar Eclipse on March 29th...
It really was something to see, indirectly of course. Here on Rodopos,
Crete, the eclipse must have reached at least 80%.. On the Greek island of
Kastellorizo it was total. Next time is 80 years away! Link
to story.
Second
Link
to story.
Greece hosting Eurovision song contest..
We are not sure how this news will be received, but there is really only
one question for the 51st Eurovision - can Greece repeat last years
win?!!
Link
to story.
And if you enjoy Google-ing
Why not enjoy a trip to Mars - compliments of the Google Search Engine and
NASA - this is the closest any of the interested parties might get 'Google
Mars' - go on, don't be
shy.....
Link
to story.
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The Cretanvista Review of
Carol Palioudaki's
'Cool Guide to
Living in Crete'
(A gold mine of information)
is, like the book, available now.
Out Now - Get it
at www.livingincrete.net
Or visit www.coolpublications.co.uk
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