THE SKIATHOS CHRISTMAS 2004 NEWSLETTER

This newsletter is dedicated to the memory of Betsy, Sokrat and Sophia, three people who died this year and who are sadly missed and remembered fondly by all who knew them. They left their mark on Skiathos in their own different, but very special, ways.

I have just been re reading Michael Carrol's excellent book, "The Gates of the Wind". I read this about once a year (that makes it 30 odd readings!) because it reminds me of and recalls so vividly how Skiathos and Skopelos were before the advent of mass tourism. He captures so well the friendliness and hospitality (and the quirks) of the Greek people and the simplicity of life back when I first came to this island. Of course, this is still very much the way of life here but it gets a bit "drowned" during the summer months when the tourists outweigh the Greeks (and particularly the locals) and everyone is busy trying to make some money. Winter is different; more relaxed and with more time to get back in touch with those basic things.

For anyone wanting to read this book, it is sometimes available from Amazon and occasionally on sale in the Skiathos book shops.

An excellent holiday read!

This coming weekend is the annual Christmas Bazaar (and bun fight). The International Women's Group and various other Skiathos organizations are making crafts and cakes for sale, arranging lots of activities for kids including games, lucky dip, etc. and the choir will be singing Christmas Carols. Lida has been busy making all sorts of things and we have been invaded by a motley collection of snowmen and robins.

Due to all Lida's crafty activities, I haven't eaten for three weeks.......probably good for me though(?)
Apparently she is going to make some Santa Clauses as well so I shall be trimmed right back to fighting weight by the time of the Bazaar. Lots of space for cakes and Gluhwein........Hmmmnnn!

Talking of the weather, it has been unseasonably warm for the last few months. It is now December and the temperatures are still hovering around the 20's. There has been no real rain since the springtime (I mean the kind of heavy, 3 day rains that top up our water table) and it is starting to get very worrying.
We had a really freaky south wind which reached close to hurricane force in some of the gusts. Many boats either sank or suffered some damage and a huge floating dock at the end of the runway , by the boatyard, dragged its moorings and caused further damage. The south wind is the only one that really bothers Skiathos' otherwise safe harbour. Now the hydrofoil dock has been extended, this offers more shelter from the south, but you have to move your boat in time. Unfortunately, many people didn't!

The whole weather pattern globally is getting out of sync; more and more disasters causing many deaths and costing more and more money to repair damage and to resettle homeless people. The biggest threat to mankind today is not terrorism but global warming. If we don't pay attention soon, we, and many other species, are going to be gone. Never doubt that nature can discard us as just another interesting experiment if we screw up! We are a fortunate species in that we have evolved the ability to understand what affect we are having on our environment, but have we evolved the wisdom to do something about it?
Sorry about the rant but I just felt that I had to say something!

Well, what else is new in Skiathos? The Old Port (where the fishing and trip boats tie up) is having a facelift. Or rather a paving lift as all the area from the Fish Market to the harbour gates is being re paved and re laid out. The plastic tents in front of the Kafenions are all gone and (rumour has it) they will be replaced by large umbrellas. Whether they will provide enough shade (and shelter from the odd rain shower) remains to be seen. Right now it looks very nice as there is this huge expanse, completely empty of plastic tents, tables and chairs, with just the odd table outside the ouzeri with a few fishermen drinking tsipouro and arguing about (sorry, discussing) daily events. Much as it used to be when I first came.

You might like to sign up for a different Skiathos news information service. Vasilis Korallis puts out a local news digest, "The Skiathos Gazette" fairly frequently, which gives details of local events and could be of interest for anyone staying for longer periods on the island or even someone wishing to know what cultural events will be on during their holiday here. Send an email to: korallis@skiathos.gr to join his mailing list.

A separate note for anyone owning property in Greece. Next year all property owners in Greece must make a tax declaration. Even if you have made the statutory tax declaration the year after you purchased the property, you will still have to make another one next year. If you have NOT ever made a tax declaration you MUST get your affairs in order next year. Contact your accountant for more information. If you do not have an accountant, I can recommend one.
Email me at: geof@skiathosinfo.com

This walk has now been enhanced by six ostriches which one of the farmers is raising close to the beach. As you walk past their (rather small) compound, they come running along the fence, flapping their wings and shaking their tail feathers. Really quite comical and so strange to see here. It will be interesting to see if they will be slaughtered and the meat sold. I am sure that that is the intention but, who is going to slaughter them and who is going to buy the meat. I don't think I will be eating ostrich steak here but you never know. Keep an eye on next summer's menus!

Here is an amusing Christmas story. I actually included it in my first Christmas newsletter in 1999 but as many of you have joined my mailing list since then, you may not have heard it.

"I recently heard this story about why we traditionally put a fairy at the top of the Christmas tree and thought I would pass it on to you.

Apparently, some years ago at the North Pole on Christmas Eve, Santa was having a hard time of it.
The gnomes were on strike demanding more pay for overtime, the reindeers had found his brandy and having gotten totally drunk had wrapped the sleigh around a lamp post, and Mrs. Santa had left the Christmas cookies in the oven too long and had burned them beyond hope of redemption.
Santa stormed into the kitchen shouting, "Striking gnomes, pissed reindeer, bent sleigh, burnt cookies, I've just about had enough! And where's that damned little fairy that I sent out to find a Christmas tree?"
At that moment the fairy walked through the door with a tree over his shoulder and said,
"Yo, Fatman, where do you want me to stick the tree?"

Thus was the tradition born!"

Regarding my www.skiathosinfo.com web site, the accommodation section has really taken off this year. there is now an excellent choice of all kinds of accommodation from simple rooms and studios to luxury villas with pools. More and more local people are finally waking up to the power of advertising on the Internet and taking bookings personally. Nearly all the accommodation is family run and each family is trying their hardest to offer the best and most friendly service. They have also realised that the tour operators do not have the interest of the island, or the locals, at heart at all. They are only interested in squeezing as much as possible from the accommodation owners and have been demanding more and more whilst paying less and less! Quite a few people have had real financial problems when a certain tour operator declared bankruptcy. We all want tourism but not at the cost it has now reached. Less and better quality would definitely be preferred and the only way to have that is to try to think of how to get back control of our own affairs. More and better flight connections from Athens and Thessaloniki would be a good step. Even better would be our own charter plane flying from Gatwick and other major European cities. At the moment, you can book direct flights via the link on my home page but they are not as cheap as they should be and the seats are not always available unless you book early enough. Flying easyJet to Athens and then taking the local shuttle is usually cheaper but takes some time. I dream of starting Skiathos Air to have several flights a day connecting with easyJet and other charters from Athens and Thessaloniki, and then expanding it to having Skiathos' own charter jet......dream on, dream on!

For ease of use, the accommodations are now also listed by area: Koukounaries, Troulos, Megali Ammos, etc. etc.

There is not so much news about the DEH's (Public Power Corporation) plans to despoil Skiathos with high tension pylons on the north side of the island. The High Court ruling has now been delayed until the end of March (if......when!) but the island's dignitaries are now negotiating directly with the DEH to see if we cannot "encourage" them to find the better, undersea cable route. No one yet knows exactly what will happen but we remain confident of finding the right solution. 3,213 locals signed a petition against the pylons, that is more or less ALL the adults on the island. We also received 234 emails from concerned foreigners who sent in the protest form at: http://skiathosinfo.com/DEH/protest-form.htm . Many thanks to those that did so.
For those that don't know about this issue, there is more information at: http://skiathosinfo.com/DEH/

Finally, although this has little to do with Skiathos, I have some interesting Internet news.

If you, like me , are still using a dial up or ISDN connection and don't have the benefit and speed of Broadband, try using OnSpeed which accelerates your present connection by up to 5 times. In practice, I have found the acceleration to be between 2 and 3 times faster but the web pages and email certainly download much faster than normal. It doesn't help with downloading files though so, if you do a lot of that, it won't help you much. More information here.

The other great thing I discovered recently is www.skype.com who offer an Internet telephone service. If both parties are connected to the Internet, the service is absolutely free. Otherwise you can dial to the most popular countries for just 1.7 Eurocents per minute!! For example, UK to New Zeeland or the US costs about 1 Euro for 60 minutes (that's an hour!). Some rather more obscure countries like Afghanistan cost a bit more but it is still far less than normal telecoms charge. Go and have a look.

Well folks, that's it for this year. I hope you enjoyed the newsletter. As always, I have enjoyed putting it together.

I wish you all a happy Christmas and a healthy and, above all, peaceful 2005.