Night scene

Taking photos at night is very difficult for me. I wanted to show you what old street signs in the town look like.

These used to be lit up, but now no one bothers to replace the burnt-out bulbs, probably because the signs themselves will be replaced sooner or later with standard European Community ones.

Reserved space

The Greek way to ensure you'll find your parking space outside your house on an inner city street.

Pillion passenger

A rare sight, becoming scarcer by the day: a motorbike with a pillion passenger's seat.

Gas cookers

Mobile gas cookers

Gas cookers were once the main form of cooking element in villages. Although Crete is not connected to gas via pipes, it is still standard practice to use a gas cooker (for reasons of economy) connected to a gas bottle. Once the bottle empties (you will notice the flame not burning brightly, or the bottle is simply empty and gas won't light up), you take it to your nearest gas station (it could be a petrol station) to fill it up, or phone someone to come and replace it for you (if you're not very mobile).

The gas bottle sits in a corner of our balcony. It's connected to the kitchen via a small hole in the wall.

These mobile gas elements are still used by a lot of people such as economic migrants, people on very low wages, owners of country houses in remote villages and others who can't afford the money or the space for a whole cooker. This shop must be doing good business in these difficult times when gas is cheaper as a fuel and the cost of living is rising.

Notice the electric elements next to the gas elements, all of which are fitted into the kitchen unit

We use gas for most of our cooking needs, but, as part of the trend in modern house construction and design, the elements are fixed in the kitchen wall unit, rather than being a separate item, as these gas cookers are. I love my gas cooker; chips always fry better on a gas cooker than an electric cooker. The big bonus is that when we have a power cut, I can still cook or warm something up.

Little old lady

While I was weeding the garden, I heard a woman talking on the street. Our street is not exactly the kind you stroll around in; it has no footpath and our house is situated on a dangerous bend. I paid no attention until I realised that the voice was that of a woman who I knew.

She's about a hundred years old, walks with her back bent, and her walking frame is never far away from her. She lives down the road from our house. Every Saturday without fail, come rain or shine, she insists on coming to the iconostasis right across the road from our house and lighting an oil-burning lamp.

Today there was one problem: she lost her way. She's a little blind - aren't all old people?

I decided to help her.

"Come, Kiria Marika, the iconostasis is to your right."

""Who are you?" she asked me while she was in the middle of the road, so that the next car to come speeding up the hill would send her (and myself) flying into the air to another world.

"I'm Maria, now walk to the right."

"Are you new here?"

"Kiria Marika, WALK to the RIGHT!" Where was this woman's daughter, I was asking myself, knowing full well that her daughter could be in the house, and still not notice her mother sneaking out to light the lamp at the iconostasis.

"Are you the cleaning lady? Which house are you cleaning today?"

"Kiria Marika, I'm MARIA from THIS HOUSE!" At this stage, I was getting ready to call for reinforcements.

"Your name's Maria? Do you live here?"

"Kiria Marika, you're now at the iconostasis!" I put her hands on the roof just under the cross. Kiria Marika started making the sign of the cross, praising the lord for getting her to the iconostasis in one piece.

"Oh, it's you, Maria, from the house across the road. I think I almost lost my way, the sun was so bright and I couldn't see where I was going."

You're telling me...

Knives

Knives inscribed with a Cretan mantinada are a specialty in Crete.
As you can see, this is all that this shop sells.

Street market

Fresh produce stall at one of the daily street markets in Hania.

This photo was taken six weeks ago, so the peppers may now be hothouse varieties.

Apartment with a view

Imagine living in an apartment like this one. My father spent the last eight years of his life in the apartment exactly above the entrance of the white building in the photo, with the beige canvas shade. As you look at the photo, on the left there is a car park, on the right, there is another large apartment block (it houses a Presbyterian church on the ground floor), and in the middle of this, there is a dull-looking narrow one-way street....


... which faces this view at the end of the road:

...it looks directly onto the town's municipal park. Having suffered from claustrophobia most of his life, my father who lived in this apartment for the last eight years of his life was so thankful he didn't have to stare into other people's apartments from his living room balcony. He had a view of the trees in the park, a view that will never be obscured, no matter what building projects take place left and right of the apartment.

When all his neighbours were staring at each other from their balconies, he was lucky to have a view of the biggest garden in the town.

Fashion boutique

Skirt: 68 euro
Shirt: 65 euro
Coat: 189 euro

Jacket: 187 euro
Skirt: 99 euro
Shirt: 67 euro

Jacket: 127 euro
Skirt: 62 euro

Dress: 150 euro

If these clothes are actually selling at these prices, then the economic crisis must be a myth...

PS: Life is still not back to normal in this country, not even in my teeny-weeny itty-bitty summer resort town, and I don't think it will get back to normal until the weather turns nasty, as Greeks are very attached to their creature comforts, rain being on the list of don't-likes, despite also ranking high on the do-need list. High school students (yes, kids) have closed down their schools (the chains and padlock I saw on the gates of the local high school in my neighbourhood are brand new), staged sit-ins and gathered outside the central market (the Agora) in the middle of the town today for a peaceful demonstration. Better than being at school, I suppose, where, admittedly, they learn very little of value.

Shop signs

Why are there red lanterns on the top of the red shop?
What kind of store is the one on the left hand side of the red shop?
What is being advertised on the green door?

Answers tomorrow - and let's hope no one rampages and burns them down, as they have done all over central Athens.

Other people's rubbish

I would have liked to take these suitcases home with me - they reminded me of travelling in older times, when suitcases were made of leather and closed tight with straps. Now everyone travels with wheeled trolleys; life has changed.

Those big bulky monitors are also a thing of the past, too...

Cheese and honey

Locally produced cheeses and honey at a farmers' stall at the daily street market in Hania.

The practices of old-time producers often reflect the use of the products: Soft curd cheese (mizithra), hard yellow cheese (graviera) and honey are often used in combination in local food products, for example, kalitsounia.

Exhibition

Hania has one of the highest rates of road accident deaths in the country, which must make us the worst drivers in the whole of Europe, since Greece once again tops the lists in that respect.



It's all very well to say that the roads are at fault, but since we know that, we should be more careful when we drive.



Recently, an exhibition was held outside the general hospital of Hania to highlight this fact. Cars involved in road fatalities were positioned centrally, at the entrance to the hospital, and each one had a sign saying how the accident happened, and why the driver was at fault.



This one was caused by the driver of the car. The sign says:

"He was out all night...
He was drinking...
His co-driver was a few more bottles of beer...
He set out in a foggy journey..."

I don't know which driver(s) was killed, but that's not that the point.

Marks and Spencer

Cor blimey, guv'nor!

Marks and Spencer making their mark in Hania.

Winter stock up: guess what?

A well stocked store in Hania: onions, garlic, potatos and ???
What's in the sacks?
Answer tomorrow.

Bicycle lane

Hey, look, Hania's finally got itself a bicycle lane!
In front of the Agora in the centre of town.

Car crash

Shit happens.

Car accident down the road from St Luke's cemetery (no fatalities).

Florist

Wherever there is a florist's in Greece, there is probably a a church or cemetery close by, and this particular road is filled with florists, as well as marble stone cutters, another requisite of the traditional final resting place of the Greek people.

Baptism boutique

Baptism boutique on a main road on the outskirts of Hania, near the old gymansium at Palia Ilektriki. The store also sells and rents wedding gowns, and all the other paraphernalia used at such events.

Greeks are really, really REALLY big on weddings and baptisms. Everything has to look glamorous. The boxes and miniature armchairs all open up to the contents of the baptismal wardrobe of the 'neo-fotisto': 'the one who has just received the light'. They are then used as a toy storage box as the child gets older. The lamps are a decoration for a tall candle, which supposedly signifies the life of the baptised child. It is held by another 'enlightened' child standing next to the baptismal font.

Street stall

Would you consider buying clothes from this stall?

First of all, it's a Wednesday afternoon, when the town centre is closed in Hania (as it always is, along with Mondays; an old-fashioned custom, probably imported from France), so it's very quiet in the area at 5pm.

Secondly, the stall is across the road from the town's gymnasium, so his only customers will be parents ferrying their children from one activity to another, no passing trade, just drivers. In the one hour that I hung around the area, I didn't notice a single customer, just some people he knew (friends or relative), who stopped by his stall and spoke to him.

Finally, he's a gypsy - oops, I'm sorry, that doesn't count. Or does it? I think he's set up a trading site to cover illegal activities.