Restoration Updates

Renovation work on the Guora Gate is progressing well, and hopefully by Easter this important monument will be restored to its former glory. The next challenge that the council has embraced is to do something about the Square of the Unknown Soldier. Currently, a number of old buildings around the square are in disrepair, and traffic wise it is an absolute nightmare. As the Mayor, George Marinakis recently said ‘The state of the Square is an embarrassment to this city, which is after all a tourist city’ adding: ’We can’t work miracles, but we’ve got to be able to do something about the traffic chaos’. Work on the Square should be starting this month, and hopefully will be completed by the summer. Plans for the Square include shifting the statue of the Unknown Soldier from the middle of the square to one side, moving the taxi rank and, more controversially, banning parking in the Square.

When asked about problems that might be caused by removing parking spaces in the square, ‘because there isn’t anywhere else to park in the area’ the Mayor retorted (in some exasperation!) that a) there was plenty of parking space at the Marina, and b) that it is ‘incomprehensible that no-one walks in this town. ‘No other city in the world has the amount of traffic congestion that we have’. He wailed. Perhaps a little over the top, but we certainly endorse the sentiments, and anything that makes life easier for pedestrians in this town can only be a good thing!

Parking Tickets and Traffic Lights!

Rethymnon Traffic Police issued 26,000 traffic violation tickets in the Rethymnon Nomos in 2007, which indicates the degree of, er, ‘traffic issues’ in the region. “We can’t have people holding up traffic just because they want to buy a newspaper” said Mr Tsachakis, head of the traffic police, in a statement to the local press. Mr Tsachakis went on to flag the need for improved road safety education at school level. However, he also said that parents have an important role to play in educating children in road safety and traffic awareness***. He also made a plea for funding additional staff. *** We hate to be the harbingers of doom, but isn’t it the way that the parents are already educating their children in traffic awareness that is part of the problem?

HOORAY! We’re getting traffic lights at the Atsipopolou junction—you know, the one by Lidl and Kombos Hardware Store (aka ‘B&Q’ by some) which has been known to make grown men weep. The lights themselves have already been installed, but it will take some time for them to be hooked up. A plea from some of us: PLEASE GIVE SOME KIND OF EARLY WARNING SYSTEM WHEN YOU TURN THE THINGS ON FOR THE FIRST TIME!

Sport News: Rethymnon Underwater Table Tennis Club

This month we focus on potential alternative team sports that ‘might be a good idea for some people in Rethymnon to take up just in case’. Aside from underwater table tennis, we also suggest Strip Monopoly (now, this could be really fun), Snooker-on-ice, Petanque in the dark, and last but not least, Aunt Sally.

By now, some of you may be beginning to get the picture. Hand on heart, we cannot say that there is a lot of positive news on the conventional sports front to report (though the speed-knitting trials are going well). Never mind, once Carnival and silly hat season is out of the way, things can only get better.

And let’s not be downhearted: remember the cheery saying: ‘When the chips are down, if you ski like an eagle, all your bumps will just slide, slide slide….’

Cretan Paradox: Yellow Bins

Call it the jinx of the Bugle if you like. Last month we were proud to report that several yellow bins for glass recycling had started to appear in Rethymnon. We even helpfully pointed out a couple of places where readers could find these bins. Guess what? The day after we went to press all the yellow bins suddenly vanished. Clearly a mystery that needed to be investigated. And, after having interviewed the Mayor in December, it was time to put Open Government to the test, we thought. So off we trotted to the Town Hall, to consult the Mayor’s Secretary. ‘What has happened to the yellow bins?’ we asked. ‘Beats me’ she said. ‘But I’ll try and find out for you.’ and to do her credit, she did just that, ringing round anybody and everybody she could think of. After a couple of phone calls she established via one of the rubbish collectors that there may have been a design fault which made collection difficult. So there we were. No yellow bins in February. All set, then for the March issue of the Bugle to write a jokey piece about ‘Now you see, them, now you don’t’. So, just before the copy deadline our roving photo journalist is sent out to take pictures of NO yellow bins. But, within five minutes the editor receives a panic struck mobile phone call:
‘KATE, KATE, THE BINS ARE BACK! THEY’RE EVERYWHERE! I’M SURROUNDED BY YELLOW BINS. HELP….!’ And then the signal faded.
Joking apart, BRAVO to the Council for sorting the glitch out so fast.