Not a big deal?

Eleven children, age between 17 and 19, from Skopelos have saved money for three years in order to be able to travel abroad on the annual school trip.
They will visit Praque, Vienna and Budapest in six days. Yesterday they flew to Bratislava and from there drove to Praque. They will stay there until Monday and on Tuesday they will visit Vienna and continue to Budapest where they will stay until Thursday.

The difficult economic times in Greece , made it impossible to pay all the cash for the trip out of their families pockets, and so they gathered the money with many events, raffles, dance nights, movie showings, selling of calendars and a diner. Many students stay in Greece and visit Crete or Rhodes. These students put the bar higher and aimed for a trip abroad. We congratulate Denisa, Katherina, Eirini, Eleni, Evjenia, Julia, Giorgos, Andreas, Elson, Giorgos and Sofoklis for all the work they did to make this trip possible. Anything is possible if you put your mind to it!

Some of the kids today, Sunday, in Praque.

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A new start

The cultural association of Skopelos will start soon with a new year of traditional dance classes, art classes and music classes.
If anybody wants to join the traditional dance and/or music classes please call Christos Tsiouris:6944 417 953 and Serafiem Kontaxis:6974 092 917. For the art classes call; Spiridoula Betsanis; 6907 594 164 and Magda Stivachtis; 6971 950 308. All welcome !

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Back at school

Everybody is back at school today. After almost three months all students found their schoolbags again or are using the new ones they bought. In the high school the students have picked up their books which is a first because for many years many school books did not arrive until later in the month. What all the schools are waiting for now are the rest of the teachers because not all of them have arrived yet. The word in the media is that by the end of the month all the places for teachers in the schools will be filled up. Let’s wait and see!

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Glass houses, stones, etc.

Read the fourth line below the photo very carefully…

We all make keyboard errors, but this was a typo so delicious that we couldn’t let it pass by without sharing, so consider it more like collegiate joshing when we report, thanks to a tip-off, that our neighbouring website Skopelitissa has uncovered startling anthropological research now underway on Skopelos. Norwegian settler Nana Kobro’s website has transposed Doctor Brian Ridout’s entomological studies into something rather more shocking. Perhaps the scrambled noun was the result of auto-spellcheck. Either way, the critter in the photo was identified as a four-line snake, a non-venomous species common in Greece.

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Books on the Map

We found this online feature via the Greek Reporter site. Called “Books on the Map” the site features locations of literature written by Greek authors. Interested readers can navigate the map and click on the red points which will reveal title, author and a brief synopsis of a book or books. The text is in Greek and can be copied and pasted into an online translator to be read in any language one prefers for the usual online translation semi-comprehension.

Interestingly, the “Books on the Map” link opens in Chile with “Death in Valparaizo”- by Menis Koumandareas.

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Would someone PLEASE call the cartographers?

[click to enlarge the map]
For years there has been confusion. Those of use who rely upon what we think of as “good maps” to plan walks or simply locate ourselves in Skopelos have noticed that there are TWO churches of “Panagia Polemistria” shown in very close proximity. In the “Pefkias” area there is a church called Panagia Polemistria (purple arrow). We did a post about it in 2013.

Many maps have indicated (yellow arrow) the ‘symbol’ of archaeological ruins of a “Temple to Athena” next to a church symbol which is on the little road from Vromoneri (Potami) up past a few little churches to Pefkias. Some time has been wasted clomping through the underbrush on the steep hillside where the red archaeological symbol is shown. No luck. The church nearby on the map is not called Panagia Polemistria. It is a mistake (at least I hope it is a mistake because that is the point of this post).

The Panagia Polemistria listed nearby (Purple arrow) (link above) has clearly defined remnants of a very large ancient temple right next to the more modern little church.

Perhaps readers who know more than we about this area can clear up the confusion once and for all?

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Wasp trap

[This post has been approved by the Community Standards Committee as “Safe to Read”.]

I (Tom) am on the mailing list for a website called “Instructables”. Every few days I get a message with a list of usually useless “how-to-do” lessons for things I don’t want or need. For example they seems to have lots of projects for building ugly furniture from wooden pallets. (The recycle aspect I approve of but as yet no one has posted an “instructable” on using wooden pallets to build a sheep corral).

Posted today was an “instructable” suggesting an easy way to make a wasp trap which some readers might enjoy. No need for anything from MacDonalds – a paper or plastic cup with a removable “bubble-top” will work + fruit juice.

the link is here…

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So farewell, then, Nikos…

We name the guilty parties: Maria and Peter Broadley, Nikos Ioannou, Lesley Dilieto, John Bankes, Gialos co-owner Georgia Patsea, Stefania Illiadou

Several miscreants with tenuous links to this website gathered at Gialos restaurant on Sunday to spring an ‘ice bucket challenge’ on garzon Nikos Ioannou, who was leaving to prepare for his studies for a tourism degree at the University of Ioannina, in the capital of Epirus in western Greece. Nikos is one of at least three young Skopelitans attending the UoI, their studies including engineering, sciences and tourism. We were a little surprised when a quick Google revealed that the UoI has 13,523 undergraduates among a total of over 17,000 students.

The conspirators showered the victim with age-inappropriate gifts before sneaking up on him with the bucket (the ringleader in the attack will remain anonymous, although her name begins with a gamma…), and while the office wobblecam failed to catch the icy moment itself, Nikos took it all in good humour. He is probably now contemplating what is alleged to be Charles Talleyrand’s famous saying, ‘Revenge is a dish best served cold.’

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Something in the way she somethings

We had a discussion a few posts ago about someone receiving a nice something from someone. The discussion began because someone else asked that somethings stated in the something be clarified. The replies to these somethings were defensive, rude and something.

A member of the SkopelosNews something privately followed up on the something and found the following something. In speaking with one of the somethings mentioned in the article, someone learned that the generous something being awarded in fact probably cost the something’s owners something Euros with the promise that they would be given the something as the best something somewhere.

An acknowledged previous “recipient” offered that he was approached in 2014 by the somebody of a video something. For the something of € 250 his something would win the something and be shown on something and be given a physical something at a something in Athens.

Accepting, the someone paid the something and somebody made the something for TV. Later the winning somebody traveled to Athens at his own ex-something for the event and to pick up his something. The cost for the something dinner was €15/per something and consisted of a glass of something and a small cheese something. The official something paper would cost an additional fee.
BTW the something was broadcast at 01:30. βλάκιας.

When approached this year by the same something for the same deal, the previous somebody said, ” Όχι ευχαριστώ “.

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Remember the memorandum hubbub?

Policy wonks, people with an idle hour, or simply those interested in the future of Greece might find the following interesting. Our wordpress buddy and favourite “speak truth to power” guy Yanis Varoufakis has by no means given up. He presents a copy of the entire new memorandum (62 pages pdf) with his own thoughts and revelations added to the text (in blue). Those of us who have found the entire memorandum difficult to decipher can read the annotated version and perhaps have a better sense of what Greece has given up and why many believe the future is not so bright.

An excerpt from memorandum page 54:
“The authorities will continue to pursue technical assistance with the European Commission SRSS (Structural Reform Support Service) in the fields of anti-corruption where it was already provided”

Varoufakis:
[Corruption is rampant in Greece. It comes in two forms. Micro-corruption
and macro-corruption. The former concerns small sums and involves individuated officials, small business proprietors etc.
Macro-corruption centers upon the Triangle of Sin: Banking, Procurement and the Media.

For five years the troika has not targeted Macro-corruption while the key players involved in Macro-corruption were cheerleaders of the troika program.
Indeed, they have been central in assisting the troika, from within Greece, to defeat our government. Only by a miracle will the troika now turn against Macro-corruption!]

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