Volume 1, Issue 10, October 2007 Journalism as never before  

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Around Town

Election Results
Rethymnon Coffee Morning Bugle - Building the Community Centre
Traffic policy?

Well, our predictions regarding the elections in last month’s issue were sort of right and sort of wrong. (as they say in football, it’s a game of two halves). New Democracy (centre right) got in again, but they did so with a reduced majority. PASOK (centre left) got a real drubbing, which we hadn’t actually banked on. PASOK is now in the midst of a leadership crisis—George Papandreou having been challenged so far by two contenders — Thessaloniki Deputy Evangelos Venizelos and Athens MP Costas Skandalidis. Minority parties were in fact the winners in this election (here we were right in our predictions). KKE (Communist Party) won 22 seats, this was an increase of 10 seats from the previous election. Syriza, coalition won 14 seats (up from 6 last time) and LAOS, far right, running for the first time, won 10 seats.

The message seems clear, then that politicians in Greece cannot afford to be complacent. Many here feel that after the events of the summer that the election was Papandreou’s to lose— there was widespread anger over the way the government handled the crisis of the forest fires in August. As to local politics? Well, here in Rethymnon there was essentially no overall change, the electorate returning one MP for Pasok and one MP for New Democracy though there was some evidence of a shift to the right. Essentially, though, the electorate here opted to maintain the status quo.

Mobility Week


Fountain bikes?
Unfortunately, notification of Rethymnon’s initiatives for European mobility week came too late to be publicised in the September edition. As ever here, notices went up around town at the last minute. A number of events took place during the week of 16th to 22nd of September, all designed to raise awareness about mobility issues in Rethymnon. Key areas of concern include the need to make Rethymnon more pedestrian friendly and to reduce motorised access to the Old Town. On your right you can see members of the cycling club Pegasus at the end of a group cycle ride round town—helping to publicise car-free transport alternatives (we also saw the deputy mayor on a horse at one point). Rethymniots are wedded to their cars, and many people don’t walk unless they have to. As Odysseas pointed out at a meeting of local organisers, some people will even drive 200 metres to go to the gym. A lot of work needs to be done to win hearts and minds…. 

Sporting Life: So Far, So Good!

home ground

Early days yet, Asteras our local soccer team have got the season off to a good start. The weekend before last they beat Messiniakos (2—0), and last weekend they beat Thebes (1—0). No jokes about Oedipus complexes, please.

AGO Rethymnon, our basket ball team play AEK Athens in the Greek Basketball Cup on 3rd October. This is the last game of phase B. If they win, they will be in the quarter finals. They start their season proper in style on 20th October, playing away against Panathinaikos. The mens’ volleyball season starts on 3rd November. Put it this way, the volleyball team will have to work really hard to have a worse season than last year….

Marathons: On 7th October there is the 5th annual Cretan marathon in Rethymnon, you can find out more about this on the www.cretamarathon.gr website. Further ahead, (and further afield), the Athens Marathon takes place on Sunday 4th November, and the annual Arkadi run is on 8th November. All power to those who are in training at the moment!

World Tourism Day, or Week, and the Great Language Debate!

In one sense, Rethymnon pulled out a number of stops when it came to celebrating World Tourism Day. There was actually a five day fiesta in the park — this was a collaborative effort involving both of the Rethymnon Tourist Organisations, along with several local councils in the Rethymnon Nomos. Entertainment was provided every night, there were tables providing decent local produce (passable raki, great cheese) and a ‘Tourism Marquee’ offering loads of informative pamphlets. So what could we complain about? Well, the standard of English on the flyers, banners and accompanying literature for starters. Did this matter? Well, some of us felt it probably did, if Rethymnon wanted to present itself as an up-market tourist destination. However, at the International Curry Club meeting in Mikri Gonia (those who were there will know what we are talking about, the curry and hospitality was fantastic, thanks!) this topic engendered considerable debate. There was a view that lousy English is ‘quaint’ —and contributes to the all round holiday experience. The Jury is still out, then.

  Peripatetic Pundits