Contents
Around Town
Crete Rewrites Human History - Again!
Stone tools recently found on Crete have been dated to 130,000 years ago. Previous discoveries dated the first voyages to the Greek islands and Sardinia to around 10,000 - 12,000 years ago, so the recent Cretan findings push the date of sea voyages back by a staggering amount of time. The tools were found near Plakias on the South Coast, by a team led by Thomas F Strasser and Eleni Panagopoulou. Geologists dated the layer in which the tools were found to 130,000 to 190,000 years old, however, the tools themselves are thought to be even older. Modern man, Homo sapiens, is not thought to have reached Europe until about 50,000 years ago (Kate says, somewhat waspishly: some modern women might say that modern man has yet to evolve, but that’s another story).
The tools also suggest that ancient mariners were comparatively advanced in terms of nautical skills. Reports of the findings have been submitted to the Archaeological Institute of America and will be published in Hesparia. You can also find out more by following this link: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/16/science/16archeo.html
Our motto is: Be careful with that axe, Eugene!
Sport: Vancouver Manouvre?
Which is possibly our way of saying that in the sporting world, things don’t always go according to plan. But when the maple is your staple it probably all works out in the end. And we do love Canada, too. Awesome. Anyway, enough of the lumberjack song, let’s cut to the chase.
KRISSES would actually appear to be a sadly appropriate name for our women’s football team right now. As was feared at the beginning of the season, it looks as if our women’s football team will be relegated to the regional league for the next season. Although mathematically speaking it is still possible for them to stay in the national league, even Greek pigs don’t fly (note from editor: sorry monsieur sports correspondent but it is only the Greek pigs that actually do fly).
AGOR. What can we say about our basketball team? It goes from bad to worse. We’ve got a new coaching team. However, they have failed to deliver. Three losses and one win leaves our boys in the bottom half of the league table. This is the lowest position they have been in since the start of the Bugle!
ASTERAS: our football team had an average month, with one win, one draw and one loss. With two thirds of the season gone, Asteras are near the top of the table. And it looks like they are comfortable there. Which is nice.
OPER: Our lasses continue to be Rethymnon’s flagship sports team. They have lost only one game since the end of November (against the league’s top team AEK) and are now in 4th place, and, if they maintain that position, they will be in the play-offs at the end of the regular season. Fantastic!!!
Women’s Volleyball ‘Final-Four for the Greek Cup’ on 13 and 14 March. You’ll find more details on the Bugle facebook group and the www.rethymnon.biz website.
Road Works!
Works on the renovation of the Old National Road east out of Rethymnon are due to start this week (month). The stretch of road between Theartemis hotel and the turn-off to Kastelaki and the TEI (Old University) will get a similar face-lift to the one we have seen in the centre of Rethymnon. For the time being, though, there will be no cycle path, as the street is not really wide enough for it to be included. However, the future transport plan for Rethymnon foresees that this road could become a one-way road, at which point a cycle lane can be created. The project is estimated to last for 18 months, and disruption to traffic is hoped to be kept to a minimum. But it being a major road in-and-out of Rethymnon, we suggest you add some extra time to your journey. Time to take up jogging perhaps?
And Finally….Waste of Space?
Eight months ago we reported on a delayed study by the Technical University of Crete concerning the creation of a Central Waste Processing Unit for the whole of Crete. Several locations were put forward, but as a result of the ‘NIMBY’ attitude, it looks like this study is ready to be buried. There will be an emergency meeting at the end of March to see if there is any way forward. Our mayor, George Marinakis, is not overly impressed (to put it mildly!). This meeting could result in the decision that prefectures will have to continue to deal with waste management by themselves. Rethymnon’s position is well known by now – just the one landfill, and at it’s current size it will be full in about a year’s time. We’ll keep you posted!
