About flags, balloons and filmstars

Next year the Special Olympic World Summer Games 2011 will take place in Athens. Prior to the games the athletes will spend a few days in various places throughout Greece.
Our island has the honour of being the host town for the British delegation and today there was a special ceremony in the harbour where a memorandum of cooperation was signed.

Children dressed in white and holding white balloons filled the harbour.

Speeches where being held by all the officials. Amongst the guests of the event was also a famous couple, miss G. Hawn and mr. K. Russell. They were here not as Hollywood filmstars but as holiday makers with a special love for the island (they have been coming to this island for some years now) and for the Special Olympics.
Impressive was the British ambassador who spoke in perfect Greek.



Our fantastic choir sang, accompanied by the local brass band.

A delegation of athletes came from the mainland to present the official flag.

The flag was raised

and the balloons were set free.

Now we have a year ahead of us where we can make plans to make this stay unforgettable not only for the athletes and their companions but also for the local community.

Summer is here

Aah, things have changed since the last, weather related, post since we are now in the middle of a heat wave. It is only early morning but the temperature is already 33 degrees celsius and no wind.

I find it hard to keep up with blogging now that I am working full time. There are so many other things to do and sometimes I don't open the laptop for days which I have to admit is not necessarily a bad thing because I do get carried away once I start clicking around the world and come across so many sites and blogs that I like.

A little update on our Skiathos Cat Welfare Society that I wrote about in another post:

The visitor's centre

They have now a proper visitor's centre where people can get informed about their actions and buy some various cat related (and not only) items to support the charity.

That bag looks familiar!
I just love to make them.

I also left some of my seaglass pendants there to be sold.

To my big surprise quite a few people have already bought a pendant before I even took them to the visitor's centre! I find it is not so scary to sell something that you made when it is for charity but it is still quite a thrill when they actually buy it.

I haven't found any good quality pieces of seaglass lately. Maybe it is because it is summer and there are many people on the beach? I don't know. So even I would have time, I have to stop my production line anyhow because of lack of material.

Enough already!

Almost from the moment I pushed the "publish post" button last night, where I ended the story with the remark about raining cats and dogs, the skies have opened and it has been pouring like I have never seen before.

Thunder and lightning, rain..... such angry weather. Possibly one of the worst rainfalls I have ever experienced even though we had another really bad one just last year in july as well. Luckily it was over by about 10 o'clock this morning when we could start taking stock of the damages and get out shovels and brooms etc. The beach was half gone, water came down the little roads like waterfalls, our mainstreet looked like little Venice and there was mud everywhere.

But now, about 8 hours later and after a beautiful sunny day things start to look better. There is still quite some work to be done to get our beach back in shape but we will get there.

One more time nature proved to us how unpredictable and powerful it is. We were lucky, in many places in the world people are not so lucky and my heart goes out to them.

Cats and dogs

Earlier this week some Danish customers in the taverna asked me if I knew where the dog shelter was. I was happy to explain to them and show them on the map. They had seen a tv program about it on television in Denmark and were very impressed by it and wanted to visit the shelter.


Also this week there was a charity veterinarian visit from England organized by the Skiathos Cat Welfare Society. Many cats were looked after and treated and quite some neutered as well. It was also a good opportunity to take Rollie -our little dog- to the vet. She has had a little mole on her back that looked like a tick but wasn't. The vet removed it and now she has a little bold patch with stitches on her back and she is feeling a little bit sorry for herself.

And to complete the story, last night, after a long period without any, it really rained cats and dogs.

Exams

Early this morning my eldest son left for school. It is a special day because it is the first day of the national exams. This is a nerve wrecking procedure and marks the beginning of the end of their teenage years. A lot depends of the result of these exams. Maybe too much depends of the result of these exams. It is also the "highlight" of an educational system that I am sceptic and quite critical of.

But since I have decided, when I started with this blog , to concentrate on everything positive.... I just want to wish all of the nearly 94.000 students: good luck and get through these weeks with as little stress as possible.

"Everything will be alright"

An evening in town

Last night I went for a walk into town. It had been a while. Since the last time many shops, restaurants, cafes have opened and it is getting quite lively. A big contrast to the winter period when our little town is in a sleepy mode. As usual when I walk, the dog accompanies me but this time there were so many more people and cars on the street that she panicked -she is an old lady of 15 after all- We went to the pet shop that was luckily very near where I bought her a leash. A little bit unsure with this at first but then quite happily we walked on.
Usually when she walks with me and has enough or gets tired she walks home by herself but now she had to stay with me on this leash.

Then it was time for a rest at one of the centrally located cafes in the main street. People walking up and down and me watching and trying to read their body language: that couple looks like it is on a honeymoon; they look like they have been married too long; these two look married, but not to each other; these girls are so lucky to be sweet sixteen but why do they try so hard to look like 27 .... and so on. Probably all my guesses are wrong but who cares as long as I keep them to myself.

Friends passed by on their way home and told me that there was a do at the high school. Not surprisingly my sons hadn't told me anything ( I am convinced by now that they are trained secret service agents and that's why they never ever tell me anything ).

“The high school theatre group did a lovely performance and now our high school rock band is playing for a full house at the school” my friends informed me.
I was really sorry to have missed it as I like to support the local activities as much as possible.
It was time to go home and so we would pass the high school which is also situated in our main street. Soon I could hear the music and an enthusiastic audience. Because of the dog I didn’t go inside but just peeped through the door and saw the band and everybody inside having the time of their life. They couldn’t have been more excited if the Rolling Stones or U2 were playing for them.
I was happy to at least have seen this much and thought, yeah Skiathos rocks!

Unfortunately there is no picture of the band since I never bring the camera when I should So just one of the dog instead.

A new season has arrived

As I mentioned some time ago in an older post, in Greek there are wishes for all kinds of new beginnings. Not only day, weeks, months of the year but also for the seasons. Only in this case we have wishes only for two seasons: kalo kalokairi and kalo xeimona for a good summer and a good winter. At least I have never heard the wishes "kalo fthinoporo" (fall) or "kali anixi" (spring).

Anyhow, summer is here. The tourist season has started and the first visitors have arrived.

Most of our visitors arrive by plane directly from their countries, some by ferry from the mainland and some by beautiful ships like this one.

Everything on the island is ready for yet another summer and my wish for everybody: in spite of all the turmoil that Greece has been going through and the severe sacrifices that are demanded of all of us, "Καλό Καλοκαίρι" -a good summer- and that many tourists come to enjoy the beauty and the unique athmosphere that Greece has to offer.

My winter is officially over now as well since I have started working full time as of yesterday. But I hope to find time for some crafting, gardening, surfing (the net, not the waves) and blogging as well.