Once again Greece became paralyzed by strike action of thousands of workers. With the (Greece) current financial crisis just when are the citizens of Greece going to realise the damage they are doing to the reputation of this beautiful country? One of the main incomes for the Greek economy is of course tourism, the threat of strike action by transport workers or the threat of blockages by farmers is totally off putting to the family tourist. With the euro / pound exchange still not that good holiday makers this year may well choose to holiday outside the euro-zone, and Turkey is an easy alternative.

Now on a more personal note, I will be flying to the UK from Athens this weekend, please NO MORE industrial action !

House tax

There are probably few people in the EU that have not heard about the Greek national debit and budget deficit. As I have posted my comments on this previously, I will not dwell on it.  Today however we went to Kalamata to pay the annual property tax, a tax that was introduced last year. Now there are many things in Greece are are quite expensive, cars, car insurance to name but two!  However the Greek equivalent of council tax is  not one of those things.  Whilst we do not have door to door refuse collections (we have several drop off points in the village), we do have street lighting (and extra lights on our land), the normal police, fire and ambulance services, free state schooling etc etc. The premium for the whole year is LESS than the premium for ONE MONTH in the UK. One has to question what the councils spend our money on in Britain.

Spring has sprung ?

Two days in a row of glorious sunshine; perhaps not summer but temperatures around 19 C and the first daffodils showing on the drive lead me to believe winter here is now over. For those who have not experienced winter in Greece let me say its does get cold, after all Greece has snow fields and ski slopes!  The up side to that is of course despite heavy thunder storms and winds in winter months the winter season is much shorter than in the UK and often broken by bright sunny days.

This morning a pleasant walk along the beach with the dog, a visit to the garden centre buying a couple of fruit trees and rosemary shrub ( at the very affordable price of 14 euro ) then to friends in the afternoon for coffee makes this life of retirement GREAT....
Now tomorrow I have to plant those trees !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

School expulsion

A female student in Crete has been expelled from school because she started a page on Facebook "I hate my school Head Teacher"!!!  The Facebook page has also been removed.
Now I find this quite amusing, as in the seat of democracy it appears the freedom of speech has been curtailed. If the site contained offensive language I could understand some of the actions, but placed along side the fact the Greek government give students in university virtually total protection by way of asylum, even police can not enter university; along side this farmers blockage roads, bring the country to a standstill; government officials close virtually the whole country down for a day because they do not like the new tax proposals........what real damage has this kid done !!!!!!!

Time.........

 One of the good things about retirement is the fact I have now time to watch TV and any sport I choose to follow on the weekends.  During my working life in retail I had no option but to work each and every Saturday, and one in four Sundays; as such it became very evident at an early stage I would not be able to follow 90% of the sporting fixtures.  This becomes very much a "mind set" and you just do not make the effort to follow sport.

Now I am able to watch at my leisure and looking forward to the new season of F1. Being a Welshman (in Greece) today can not go past without mentioning the tremendous turn around of the game in the last minutes of the match at Arms Park (Millennium Stadium), seldom have I seen (or been at) such a great finish.

Pan fydd y mynd yn cael caled, y caled yn cael mynd

Virtually ever newspaper carries headlines of the Greek debt crisis. Even friends have contacted us and asked if we will be OK on a personal basis living here!  Now whilst I accept this is a drastic situation for the country and in past years Greece has been overspending, lets put this debt in prospective.

The budget deficit as a percentage of GDP is LOWER than that of the UK, but of course the UK is not in the Euro Zone of currencies, so UK news reporters together with politicians have the audacity to criticize; the overall debt as a percentage of GDP is LESS than Italy.......so lets not get too excited!  What is now required is for Greeks to "bite the bullet", whatever the government propose is rebelled against by unions that are far too powerful and hold the country to ransom. 

Current proposals of raising the retirement age from 60 to 63....so what? It is that in many countries.........

Personal tax levels are extremely attractive, people earning below 12000 Euro pa. are tax free (subject to some minor requirement), yet tax evasion rules, its almost a national past time! Heavy fines for tax evasion are required.

Unions need to realize if they really care for their members they will support the basic policies the government are trying to implement, their current actions have the potential of causing mass civil unrest.....The Greek prime Minister perhaps should look back in history and make a phone call to Margaret Thatcher..

Brown Muddy Rain !!!

The last few days has not been good weather wise, and this morning it is just as bad. However the rain has in the night (and even now) bringing in brown mud.  The car, patios, windows and balcony are covered in muddy brown muck !   I recall last year the same thing occurring.

Means when it stops I'll have to get the jet hose out.......

COSTA NAVARINO

Sir Nick Faldo announced that the inaugural Faldo Series Greece Championship will take place on 26–28 July at the newly completed Costa Navarino Resort in Messinia, South West Greece. The Greece Championship is set to provide a stern test and an important development opportunity for many of the region’s young golfers, boys and girls aged 12 to 21, as they look to secure one of five available spots for the 2010 Faldo Series Grand Final, hosted by the six-time Major winner himself.

Lightening strikes AGAIN

As is my now custom each night before I retire I pull out the phone lines, no not because I do not want to be disturbed but because I have now had three computer modems "fried" by lightening strikes......Again last night this proved to be a very good precaution.  Being awakened at 0405hrs by the most enormous bang and the howl of the dog (no she was not shot), to find no power but lots of lightening around the Messinian bay. 

In the UK when the power goes off, its off until all returns to normal, here in Greece somehow they give you "low power", which results in the boiling of a kettle taking 20 minutes and many electronic items requiring 230/240 volts not working.  ie. computer monitor, DVD player & phone line power adapter.  Now items that would run on 110 volts either through adapters or otherwise all worked OK. LCD computer screen was fine!

I tolerated this until 1600hrs whilst waiting to see full power return....it did not, so a call in my best Greek to the ΔΕH seen two workmen arrive within 20 minutes (now that would happen in UK wouldn't it?). Some two hours later, men climbing poles and other workmen arriving with a crane to replace a mains transformer all is well again.......

It is said the lightening never strikes twice.......believe me it DOES