Just Typical!
With great affection, I present a series of photographs that I have taken to remind me of sights and times that brought a smile to my face.
The Greeks have their own inimitable way with electrical cabling. This not untypical tangle was found on a street corner in Rethymnon. Note the way that you have to stand on top of the live cables to make a phone call! One of the most frustrating things about photography in Greek towns is the way that even the most picturesque sights are masked by a criss-crossing of multiple electrical wires that seem to be slung at random from everywhere to everywhere.
We have one of these in my place of work, but no one ever thought to make it into a wine cooler - brilliant idea! I found this “chilled house wine” dispenser in a taverna in Corfu. (It was full the day before!)
Ten out of ten for consideration. The hotel proprietors couldn’t actually stretch to air conditioning in my room, (in August, in Crete; it was the hottest, most airless, sweltering, oven of a room I have ever encountered), so they thoughtfully placed this picture over the bed.
Subliminal air conditioning. Think Cool!
A basic Greek premise. Never throw something away while it could still serve a purpose! This ancient vehicle (possibly Minoan!) has certainly been fitted with some amazing customised extras over the years.
Back to Greek cats again. Note how this one, (in the middle distance) has made itself an honorary member of a herd of pigs. I passed this spot several times, and the cat was always with its porcine friends.
And then there was the tiny kitten (and I mean tiny - I don’t think I have ever seen one that small away from its mother before), that came out to scrounge food round the taverna tables and decided in the end to climb onto the toe of my trainer instead and fall asleep.
The next three pictures illustrate the Greek idea that a house is a fluid and developing entity. In England, if you want to build a house, you build it and then you move in. In Greece, you buy planning permission and a concrete shell, and then tend to wait a year or two, saving up, before you complete the ground floor. You then move in and save again before you build upstairs. Greece is full of empty shells and half-completed buildings.
It is common to see buildings like the jeweller’s shop on the left, with steel reinforcement rods sticking out of the roof, waiting until the owner gets around to putting on the next floor. (As you can see, they make a good washing line).
At the other end of a building’s life, you see another phenomenon, the “ruined upstairs“. The people who own or lease the ground floors of these properties feel no desire to concern themselves with the crumbling remains of the upstairs flats. It is a wonder that death by falling masonry isn’t one of the most common causes of mortality in the islands. If I lived in an earthquake zone, I would be less than thrilled to work each day with that lot teetering above me!
Another variation on the same theme, the “ruin next door”. How anyone who can bring a house to such pristine perfection as the owners of number 16 can cope with the state of next door, I have no idea. Are they hoping to grow a door the natural way?
And last but not least, the sign that is instantly recognised by all who visit the islands. (Although the English is generally a little better than on this example). The bore on sewage pipes in the islands is too narrow to cope with modern niceties like toilet paper, so there is a special waste bin next to the toilet to put the paper in.
Once you have visited the islands once, it doesn’t seem like a problem. What never ceases to amuse me however is the dreadful, embarrassed knots that travel couriers tie themselves in whenever they try to explain this fact to new visitors on the coaches from the airport. I have heard everything from shy whispers and euphemisms to blatant “Carry On film” lavatory humour. Neither of these approaches however, manages to spare the blushes and shocked looks of the unprepared maiden aunts among the visitors!
