Slow Boat to China

Remember the good old days?

Well, it would be a very slow boat to China from Rethymnon right now, given that we still have no standard ferry connection to the mainland for the winter. And, yes, in case some of our regular readers were wondering, we will be banging the drum (like monkeys do, according to the Waterboys—how apt) about this for as long as it takes. ANEK apparently have no intention of providing any form of passenger service for us. There is talk of a feasibility study to be carried out amongst the great and good to consider the potential viability of setting up a Rethymnon consortium that might one day buy a boat. Timescale? Next Ice Age?

Here at Civil Rights Wigwam Bugle we are currently writing a protest song that can be chanted outside the major financial institutions in Wall Street (oops, wrong cause). So far our rough draft goes as follows: ‘All we are saying…. is give the boat a chance’. To be accompanied by an out of tune guitar and a didgeridoo.

Chattanooga Choo-Choo

Sorry (Pardon me boy?) for continuing with the transport theme, but this next bright idea just had to be given a public airing. Apparently, what Crete really needs right now is a railway line that would stretch from the East to the West of the island. The rationale goes as follows: Building a railway would potentially cut down the need for goods trucks to travel long distances by road to major ports on the island, thereby reducing pollution.

You’re all way ahead of me on this one, aren’t you? If we had decent local ferry connections, then maybe we wouldn’t need a railway? Back to the drawing board with the protest songs. How about this for an idea ‘A working class boat is something to be….’?

Sporting Changes

The winter sporting season has now started in earnest in Rethymnon. Our local football team Asteras has had what could be called an ‘average’ start to the season. So far they have played three games: they’ve won one, lost one and drawn one. There are some new ‘high quality’ players in the squad but according to our sporting pundit Asteras is not quite acting as a solid team as yet. Still, it could be a good deal worse!

Unfortunately the Basketball scenario in Rethymnon right now is not what one would hope. Apparently there are some conflicts between the players in the A2 league (which includes our local heroes) and the general governing Basketball body regarding lack of professional status. At the moment there is a ‘lock out’ and no games of the Greek Cup have been played yet….

OKA Arkadi (local women’s basketball team) had their first ever taste of Greek Cup competition. Unfortunately, it didn’t last very long—Voulas were just too strong for them. Seems like there might be some room for improvement!

Work in Progress: Thumbs Up!

We’ll end this page on a positive note. Civic renovation work is being carried out with what one could only describe as ‘great enthusiasm’. Much of the centre of Rethymnon now looks like one big building site. So why is this positive? I hear you ask. Well, the work that is now being carried out is badly needed. And we are already reaping the benefits of projects that were completed earlier in the year. We’ve got pavements!!!! You can actually walk on a proper pavement all the way from Theartemis Hotel in the East to the Melina Mercouri Stadium in the West (granted, this may not mean a lot to some of our international readers, but it makes a big difference to us!). Work on the redevelopment of Agnostou (Square of the Unknown Soldier) is proceeding according to plan. The statue has been moved and rotated - so he is now facing East (make of this what you will). With any luck, the first phase of the project will be completed in time for Οχι Day.

Work on the creation of the Old Town Square and Cultural Centre is also continuing apace. Hopefully, the Cultural Centre will open in December (watch this space!).

In the meantime, according to our spies, work has also now finally started on the redevelopment of the Beach Road from Agnostou to the Venetian Harbour. Our special secret agent reported back (in code of course) to say that Bobcats (or at least ‘little diggers’) had been spotted digging trenches between palm trees, whilst carefully avoiding rogue parked cars.