Apokoronas Our Home

The council continues to choose its officers and the committees have been chosen for finance and also what is called the "Quality of life committee" which deals with planning, environmental issues, licenses, parks and cemeteries amongst other things. I think they will be kept pretty busy! Last night I was at a wedding - more of that tomorrow and tonight I am off to a play being produced in Vamos. "And ever More Shall Be So" By Norman Robbins. I see once again that television is re running the series " A Place In Greece" which featured Brian Saunders and Andrew Stewart Sutton along with their friends Les and Pete and their adventures buying a property here in Crete and their life here in Apokoronas. Love them or hate them it was good entertainment as long as it was not taken too seriously. What happened after the series ended? They are now back in the UK. To find out more there is some information at  http://placeoncrete.com/in dex.html  

Today is Epiphany. The "Blessing of the waters. In harbours, rivers and even wells all over Greece priests throw a cross in the water, and where possible, young men ( and sometimes these days young women) jump in the harbour or river to retrieve the cross. It is a great honour to be the one to find it and return it to the priest. After this in many places the priest visits all the houses in the villages and blesses the houses and  their occupants by dipping a bunch of basil in the holy water and flicking it around the house and people. The day here started rainy but it cleared up whilst the ceremony was taking place and several brave souls jumped in the river to retrieve the cross.  Some of the officials of the Apokoronas council have been elected and chosen, the chairman and the vice mayors have been announced and work began on the first of the month. there is a lot to be organized to integrate 6 councils into one. Several of the new officials were out at the Epiphany servi...

Here is Crete it is traditional for the families of both the bride and groom to have a party during the week before the wedding. I went to one such last night. It was held in the church hall of the village and there were about 100 guests. Usually there would have been music but due to a death in the village recently there was to be no music and no gun firing (!!!) there was plenty of food and wine though! The wine had been saved from the year the bridegroom was born so it was pretty strong. On the table were meatballs, cheese and honey, fried live, cheese pies, dolmades and stuffed vine leaves. Later arrived, boiled lamb and pilafi, salad, roast lamb with roast potatoes and the meal was finished with a selection of sweets. As each family left they were given a loaf of spiced bread, made into a decorative ring. The usual gift after the bridegroom's party. Later in the week the families will have another party - the blessing of the bridal bed - This will begin with live music and the...

The New councils took over on January 1st and began work immediately - even though it was a weekend. Anyone passing by the various town halls will have seen the car parks ( and roads) full as the employees arrived for work. The first few days, weeks and months will be difficult as the new"Kallikratis" laws take effect. Many current council workers still don't know whether or not they will still have a job as the re organisation takes place. Jobs for life are no more and one of the important issues to be confronted is to make sure that jobs are filled by the right people rather than just because they are family and friends.  Yesterday I went to visit an elderly man in the next village. I remember him as  always busy in the fields, tending his olive groves and vineyard, visiting the kafenion on his three wheeler ( I wonder if the writer of "The Good Life"  visited Crete??)  Now he is a shadow of his former self, not only through age but he is suffering from cance...

The economic situation is beginning to bite. It was very obvious over Christmas and the New Year. Usually the village comes to life with visitors from Athens, Heraklion and further afield. This year not one family arrived! New Year's Eve in the village was very quiet. We went out at about 8pm and called into the kafenion with the mini-market for a drink, only the mother was there - no other people at all. We had a glass of wine and chatted for a while. The daughter and son in law arrived, but still no customers. After a while we continued on to the other kafenion in the village. Outside were a lot of cars, this looked more like it. On entry we found a few youngsters playing cards, 3 older men doing the same and three others - one of whom was just leaving - chatting. We sat down and joined in. the youngsters went off and so did the older men.  We ended up watching "Bend it Like Beckham" on Greek tv while we drank out wine. Other years there have been tables of company, pa...