Ship Owners?

Result (or at least we hope so)! There was a public meeting on 26th October at the Melina Mercouri stadium to discuss the formation of a co-operative shipping company - thus ensuring a permanent connection between Rethymnon and Pireaus. There were over 500 attendees who listened to speeches providing the background information about the economic viability of such a project. It was stressed that within the statutes of the company the condition would be made that the company would always remain a ‘Rethymnon’ company (this should help to avoid a re-run of some of the problems that occurred when ANEK took over the running of the Arkadi and Preveli ferries). At the end of the meeting the green light was given to start setting up the new company. So, once the ball gets rolling the company can open bank accounts and start collecting money from local residents and other generous benefactors.

The minimum capital required is in the region of 25-30 million Euros (ferries don’t come cheap!). There has also been an offer made by ANEK President Yiannis Vardinogiannis to let the Rethymnon company have the concession on one of ANEK’s ferries for the time being. This might be a worthwhile option to consider in the short term - buying a second hand ferry is not as straightforward as buying a second hand car! - and the earliest date for Rethymniotes to have their very own boat is likely to be sometime in 2010, which of course still leaves the question of connecting services in the meantime. We are keeping our fingers crossed!

Sporting Moments

Mixed news on the sporting front this month. We kick off with football (sorry!) Asteras Rethymnon are continuing the season the way they started - they win some, they lose some and seem to have settled quite happily mid-table. Krisses Rethymnon, the women’s team are preparing themselves for another season in the National League. In a friendly game they beat Sitia 10-0 (sorry Dimitri!). Competition ‘for real’ is set to start on November 16th.

As for the basketball, here too it’s a case of swings and roundabouts Agor Rethymnon Aegean had a decent start to the competitive season winning all three of their first games. However they failed to make any impact in the Greek Cup by losing against Ilysiakos in the first round. OKA Arkadi (the women’s basketball team) are finding out that there is a big difference between the regional and national league. They have lost their first four games. Not heavy defeats, but defeats nonetheless (and you know what they say — a miss is as good as a mile!). The only way is up…. Or down….

Pretty Palm Trees….

Work around town is continuing at speed — there have been a few glitches here and there, but there is definitely progress! On your left you can see a novel way of wrapping up palm trees to protect them from the dust and flying debris (or at least we assume that’s why they’ve been wrapped up!) As one would expect, it was a bit of a last minute panic to try and get the Square of the Unknown Soldier ready for the wreath laying ceremony on Οχι Day — not quite finished one has to say, but the Ceremony went off on schedule as planned.

Chaos at Atsipopolou Junction

On 22nd October the traffic lights went on at the Atsipopolou junction—well, for a few hours anyway. It rapidly became clear that the traffic problems caused by the traffic lights were even worse than when there no lights, so they turned the lights off again. This doesn’t help the teenagers attending the newly opened Gymnasio (behind Lidl—strange location for a school, some might say!). As you can see from the pictures the young people are having to risk their lives just by getting to and from the bus stop. Nikifora Foka Municipality apparently does not have the financial means to employ a traffic warden. KTEL (the bus company) is resisting pressure to put a new bus stop outside the school. One of the explanations given is that it would be ’Too complicated to turn the bus around’. Time for some of the relevant authorities in this supposedly child-friendly environment to get out of the Dark Ages, we feel!