Ship Ahoy!

The newly created Rethymnon co-operative shipping company is well on its way to being officially registered. The company ‘CRETA LINES’ (Κρητικές Γραμμές) has deposited their statutes at the local courthouse and are expecting a response in the next few days. In the meantime more and more rumours are doing the rounds about the prospect of a rival shipping company being set up. Whereas ’CRETA LINES’ has been set up to be a co-operative, - incorporating strict rules on ownership, the rival ferry company would be a Public Company. This would be akin to the company Cretan Ferries which ran the Rethymnon - mainland link in the late ‘80s and ‘90s. Well, ANEK bought this company, and we all know what happened after that….NO FERRY!

Another player has shown interest in adding Rethymnon to their scheduled ferry destinations. This is LANE Lines, a subsidiary to guess who, ANEK! The proposition by this company is unusual to say the least. They want to use the boat (bucket?) Vincentzos Kornaros - one of the oldest ferries in the Greek fleet - to provide a weekly link between Piraeus, the South-Eastern Peloponnese and Crete. Not quite what one would call a regular connection with the mainland!

Paving Stones

The repaving work on streets in the Old Town that started last year is still continuing. The recent poor weather conditions have hindered progress to a certain extent; however the area by the Guora Gate is nearly finished, and already looks much better than it did before. The small streets behind the Rimondi Fountain have now been repaved and the Fountain Square is next on the list. Ongoing work at the Beach Road area is progressing, but maybe not as quickly as one might wish. The tourist season starts in three months and there is still an awful lot of work to be done! However, the work that has been carried out so far at Agnostou (Square of the Unknown Soldier) and at the New Square in the Old Town (yet to be named!) has generally been very well received. People seem genuinely pleased with the improvements that are being made. There are still some glitches to be ironed out of course. The new taxi rank at Agnostou is not ready yet, and the toilets at the New Square don’t work. Details, details! Future projects in the pipeline include the construction of an underground car park by the Municipal Garden — which might help to make the pavements in the area more pedestrian friendly (always assuming people actually use the car park of course). We’ll keep you posted!

Sport Update: Winter Worries

Put it this way, it’s not a total disaster, and we do have some very good news from the OPER camp (our local women’s volleyball team) so we will start with that. OPER have managed to claim their first piece of silverware this season by winning the Cretan cup for women. Their league form continues to be excellent — they have won all of the eight games they have played so far. BRAVO!!!!

Unfortunately, though, the rest of the news is a bit dismal. Despite our optimistic predictions at the beginning of the year, neither of our local basketball teams have had good months….Enough said

The football news is also rather depressing. Asteras Rethymnon is in trouble both on and off the field. Asteras is desperately looking for sponsors in order to try and make ends meet financially. The global financial crisis is also hitting the lower leagues in Greek football. Asteras have been not - so - gradually sliding down the table of their division since the start of the season and are currently perilously close to hitting the bottom— it took the withdrawal of the team from Mytilini from the league to give Asteras their only ‘3-pointer’ result since November. Krisses, the women’s football team are performing as would be expected from a young and inexperienced side - they win some, they lose some.

Oh well, summer isn’t really that far off. Time to start practising beach volleyball and to dust down those water skis!

Citizens’ Rights: Voting in the European Elections

The European Parliamentary elections take place this year on 7th June. European citizens who are resident in Greece have the right to vote for Greek members of the European Parliament. However, those who wish to vote will need to ensure that they are registered on the electoral roll of their municipality or community of residence by February 28th. If you want to register, you will need to present yourself, along with your ID / passport at your local town hall or community residence office. You can find out more online at the www.ypes.gr website.

Aside from your local town hall or community residence office, a useful source of information about citizens’ rights is ΚΕΠ (KEP), which is the Greek equivalent of the Citizens’ Advice Bureau. You will find KEP offices in all the larger towns on Crete. The main office in Rethymnon is at Leoforou Kontouriotou 98. To find out more about the services that KEP offer log on to www.kep.gov.gr - this is a multi-lingual website.