No

On Saturday Oxi day is remembered in and outside of Greece, wherever Greeks live.

Oxi Day commemorates the day when Greek Prime Minister Ioannis Metaxas defiantly refused an ultimatum handed to him in the early hours of the morning on October 28, 1940, by the Italian Ambassador in Athens, Emanuele Grazzi. The ultimatum had come from none other than Benito Mussolini himself, the Italian dictator in Rome and a staunch ally of Adolf Hitler. The Axis Powers of Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany were already at war with the Allies, including Great Britain and its Commonwealth, France and Poland.

The ultimatum required free and unimpeded passage for the Italian army across the Greek-Albanian border to occupy strategic areas of Greece in the war against the Allies, already in its second year (from September 1939). Refusal would be seen as an act of complicity with the enemy.  

Prime Minister Metaxas read the letter, calmly turned to the Italian Ambassador and issued the historic reply in French, the diplomatic language of the time: “Alors, c’est la guerre” (“Well, this means war”).  

From then on, October 28 would be known as Ohi Day (“No Day”).

(source: https://www.greece-is.com/october-28-ochi-day/)

Around 11 o’clock dignitaries will walk down to the harbour in Skopelos town and wreaths will be placed on the war monument in the old harbour, a speech will be held and after that several school classes, the scouts and members from the cultural organization will parade on the harbour front. There will also be parades in Elios and Glossa/Loutraki.

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Mayor Stamatis Perissis his work continues

De elections of last Sunday had as a result that the current mayor of Skopelos mr. Stamatis Perissis can continue his work with some of the same council members but also some new council members for another five years! He has won 52% of the votes which resulted in a win on the first Sunday. His party will have nine members in the council. The other two parties four and two members.

The last couple of weeks a group of about 60 people roamed the island, talked with inhabitants of the island, held speeches and meetings and talked about the plans for the future of this coalition.

We went to Elios, Loutraki, Glossa and Skopelos.

The meeting with non Greeks

Speeches were held and we had meetings in our election office .

The start of the last speech that mr. Perissis held before the Sunday election was about our forest, the prevention against bad weather phenomena like fire, eartquakes, storms etc. Prevention measures on the island to have water available, camera’s in the forest.
It was very encouraging to hear this and especially at the beginning of his major speech.

I was not elected council member. It is very difficult as a non Skopelitan to get elected. I have learned a lot, met a great amount of people that I will keep in contact with and the mayor has said that he wants everybody from this group and outside this group to help the island move forward in many ways.

I have informed the mayor that I will be available for non Greeks to discuss and help with things that concern them and the island. In the summer I will be in an office and available for two hours every week (time and day will be announced) to answer questions, help out and discuss with anybody that wants to.

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Elections

Tomorrow there are municipal and county elections in Greece.

I am a candidate council member with the coalition of the current mayor Stamatis Perissis who yesterday held his last speech with his and the municipality’s vision for the island for the next five years. I will write much more about this in the next weeks. The first thing the mayor addressed were the forests of Skopelos and how we can protect them. How we need to take more preventive measures. There are many plans and he also addressed the plans for re-cycling plans for the three islands, up-cycling of building materials and composting. I am very hopeful for the future of Skopelos and working with him and his new council members!

For the non Greeks who have registered to vote I have written below the number of the rooms in the schools in Glossa (highschool), Elios/Neo Klima (municipal) and Skopelos (highschool) where you can vote. In the area you live you vote.

When you vote you will receive three different lists of the candidates. Choose your list and on that you can place up to three crosses in front of the names which say ΥΠΟΨΗΦΙΟΙ ΔΗΜΟΤΙΚΟΙ ΣΥΜΒΟΥΛΟΙ These people are candidates for the whole island.

Below this list there is a list with different people who will be local council members in the three villages. Skopelos Elios and Glossa.
You can place up to two crosses in front of their names. You fold the paper in four and place it in the envelop that has been provided. Leave the envelop in the box that is provided. Take your passport or ID with you!

Below are the numbers of the rooms in the schools where you can vote.

Glossa

Elios

Skopelos

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Various things

We just learned that on Wednesday no boats will sail from Volos to the Sporades and back. Bad weather is expected in this area. Please contact or visit the Boat ticket offices and ask for information.

In the meantime the civil protection office of Skopelos is busy clearing blocked waterways, gutters etc. They have been since the last heavy rainfall a couple of weeks ago.

Better be safe than sorry.

Current mayor Mr. Stamatis Perissis who is running for mayor again and his coalition of citizens who are running for council member, officially opened their election office last night and mayor Perissis talked about what the municipality has achieved in the last four years and he presented every single person that is running for council member. About 60! A lot of people came to see and listen to him.

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Invitation

Everybody is invited to the official opening of the campaign office of the Municipal Coalition of Skopelos “Our Island First – Creation Again” with Mayor Candidate Mr. Stamatis Perissis. The opening is on Sunday at 20.00 hours.

The campaign office is situated next to Barramares cafe and is open every day from 10.00-13.00 and from 17.00 -22.000 hours.

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The Municipal Coalition of Skopelos “Our Island First – Creation Again” met with non Greeks

Yesterday afternoon the current mayor of Skopelos and some candidate council members ( I am one of them) had a meeting with about 40 non Greek citizens who have made Skopelos their home.

Mr. Stamatis Perissis held an introduction in which he expressed how important the non Greek community for Skopelos is and that the municipality values their input and help. He then talked a little bit about work that is planned for the future and what work, actions etc. the municipality have power over and what is decided by the central goverment. After that some candidate and current council members talked about tourism, the environment and after that the attentants at the meeting were able to ask questions which were related to:

-water, water from springs and plastic bottles and the promotion of drinking tap water and spring water,

-roads and why they are widened and paths dissapear,

-citizens no being able to find houses to rent long term,

-recycling, zero waste

-contributions of bloggers with websites about Skopelos like Mrs. Sue Warren with her flowers of Skopelos

-how non Greeks can register to be able to vote. There is a list available of those that have registered and ogcourse we would like their vote! Unfortunately it is impossible who are not on the list to register for these elections on October the 8th but I will post about how and who can register for the next municipal elections.

One of the promises that were made is that if we are elected I and other volunteers will be available once a week for two hours to speak with those who need help, want to talk about something and in general be a point of reference for the non-Greek community.

On Thursday evening at 20.00 hours the campaign office will be opened officially. The campaign office is situated next to Baramares. Everybody is invited.

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Open meeting!

For the municipal elections in October 2023, the Municipal Coalition of Skopelos “Our Island First – Creation Again” with Mayor Candidate Mr. Stamatis Perissis invite the non Greek Community of Skopelos to an open meeting on Saturday the 16th of September at 1 p.m in Hotel Dionysos in Skopelos town.

At the meeting we can talk about thoughts and common perspectives for the island.

Your presence at the meeting is very valuable for us.

The Municipal Coalition “Our Island First – Creation Again”
Mayor candidate of Skopelos Mr. Stamatis Perissis

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180 days in Greece group on Facebook

The post 180 days in Greece on the blog has moved quite a few people to react strongly. I think the main issue here is that there are people who love Greece, own a house/boat here and who would like to stay for a longer period in this country.

In order to find out what possibilities there are and how they might convince the Greek government to change the law they have a Facebook page with members. If you are interested in the subject you might think of joining and if you are not interested you move on to the next post that I will be posting soon. If there are nasty comments I will remove them.

Like I say: Skopelosnews is a village square where we can discuss anything of interest to the readers. If you disagree with someone, please, disagree cordially.

‘180 days in Greece’ is a Facebook group page which is specifically for UK residents who have properties and/or boats on Skopelos and in Greece. The group campaigns towards the Greek government to give the 180 days in Greece they can stay, to be allowed to be used in one block instead of the Schengen agreement of 90 days on and 90 days off. Spending time in one six month period will obviously benefit the island financially.

Below is the information from the group: The group was set up to campaign in Greece for a change to the Schengen 90/180 travel rule to allow Greek property and boat owners who are former EU citizens to use their holiday homes or boats up to 180 days flexibly, according to their own needs, in any 360-day period. We believe this small tweak to the Schengen rules would be in Greece’s interests by helping to stimulate the tourist economy and real estate market, which was badly hit by the Coronavirus pandemic in 2020. Please note you need to answer all three membership questions if you’re interested in joining and that only constructive posts and comments are permitted. We only accept members who own or lease a property or who own and berth a boat in Greece

Link to: https://www.facebook.com/groups/180daysingreece

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The 25th of March; lock down in Greece and Skopelos

Today it is the 25th of March. A big day in Greece called Independence day, the day in 1821 that the Greeks decided that they had enough of the their Turkish oppressors (after 400 years) and this day was the official beginning of the war of independence. Annunciation is also celebrated (Maria is told she will become a mother) Xronia polla to all the people that celebrate their name day.

This morning we were in the harbor for an errand (SMS message 2) The usual parade of school children did not take place but we heard this.

25th of March 2020 on Skopelos; life during the corona virus epidemic from Daphne Jaeggi Gliverou on Vimeo.

No one around but I am sure the whole village heard the music. A nice initiative.

-Shipowners Panagiotis and Yorgos Angelopoulos have donated 1.000.000 euro for the purchasing of medical equipment in intensive care units.
-Iperos AEBE have given money for monitors for intensive care units. They also have given bonuses to their personnel.
-About 280 Greeks are stranded in Englang on two airports (Stanstead and Heathrow) As soon as forms issued by the ministry of Foreign Affairs have been completed in the organization of a flight (with Aegean) will be organized. All these people will be checked if they have the virus and will stay in a hotel in Athens for 14 days if they are positive for the corona virus.

Today I got a call from a friend who has chickens. He wanted to give me some eggs. On our way back from the errand ( message number 2) we picked them up. Thank you Andreas!

dav

I also looked for some wild greens on our land (no SMS message needed) and found several different greens. I boiled them in water and after that I put those greens in a bowl with two eggs and some feta. Ready pastry dough, in the oven and a great pie came out after 45 minutes!

A group of singers/musicians has recorded a new version of the well knows song of Λουκιανός Κηλαηδόνης/Loukianos Kilaidonis from 1986. The song is called I will stay at home

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Joint council meeting

For the first time ever, according to the website Skiathoslife.gr, the three municipal councils of Skopelos, Alonissos and Skiathos will hold a joint session on the 13th of February on Skiathos.
The agenda of subjects that will be discussed is not ready yet but subjects like tourism and environement will be, for sure, part of the discussion.
Representatives from the region Magnesia and the north Sporades will be present too.
Source: Skiathoslife.gr

I have said it before but I feel that those that are in charge on the Sporades at the moment are more willing to cooperate than ever. Don’t forget that there are many issues that are simular on the three islands: tourism, transport, environment, civil protection etc. There is also a tendency within the municipalities to dig deaper into matters in order to reach an overall agreement within the town council. Many trips to Greek ministries are being made by council members and the mayor to find out if money can become available for repairs of harbors, stadium, gym hall, roads or even for new builds.

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