Last night we attended a two hour formal event in the Minaret in Rethymno old town. The annual event, conducted entirely in the Greek Language, was a briefing and celebration of the achievements of various educational programmes sponsored by the Greek Government. We were there to pick up our certificates for attending 75 hours of a Greek language course. Maybe by this time next year we will have attended 150 hours and may by then be able to understand a little more of the speeches! |
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We have just had a long week-end back in the UK courtesy of some very cheap air-fares from EasyJet. However they did drop a big PR clanger by selling more tickets than there were seats on the plane;- Somehow they managed to book-in and load the bags of seven people for whom there were no seats available. By the time the bags had been found and removed from the aircraft the take-off slot was lost and we had to sit in the airplane on the ground at Manchester until it took off two hours late! As far as I am concerned taking money for more seats than are available is fraud. I know other airlines do this but they offer to pay compensation to the disappointed passengers, or they ask for volunteers - I have spoken to one of the 'kicked-off' passengers from this EasyJet flight who told me that all she was offered was a flight from London to Athens (Not Crete) 'if she paid her own way to London', or she could try and get on another flight three days later. If her version of events is correct then it does not reflect very well on EasyJet.
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This evening we attended the Suda Bay (Souda Bay) cemetery service commemorating the 67th anniversary of 'The Battle Of Crete'. It was a very moving service and many were reduced to tears The service and wreath laying ceremonies lasted about one hour. Our short video diary of the event, shown below, cannot do full justice to those who attended on behalf of many organisations; we can only apologise to all the ambassadors and servicemen etc. who placed wreaths but were not included in this video.
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| The Battle for Crete which ran from 20th May to the 1st June 1941 is an extremely important part of Cretan history. The Cretan resistance with the assistance of British, Australian, New Zealand and South African forces attempted bravely to defend the island against the German invasion forces in a battle which saw many killed (Almost 2,000 Germans on the first day alone). The initial battle against the German paratroopers was unexpectedly lost, allegedly due the unwillingness of the the Allied Commander to accept that it was an aerial rather than a sea borne invasion. This led to many allied forces being held back from battle when they arguably should have been used to counter attack before the Germans took control of Melame airfield. A shortage of radio communication equipment only ensured that a bad situation rapidly became a disaster and a badly executed partial withdrawal via the south coast turned the whole episode into a fiasco. The senior officers fled on ships, submarines and flying boats whilst leaving several thousand junior officers, SNCO's and troops to their own devices on the island. However individual tales of heroism abound, despite the apparent lack of effective leadership. The warmth of the Cretans towards the British results, in part at least, from our close ties during this failed battle and the subsequent assistance given to the Cretan resistance during their campaign to rid the island of the German military. The number of veterans from this period is now rapidly declining and we can only hope that the younger generations embrace their history with the same enthusiasm and appreciation. | |
A German Perspective (YouTube Video)Propoganda news footage from 1941
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A Greek Perspective (YouTube Video)"I am pround to be Greek and love my country
more than anything else! |
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Another day in paradise. Everything seems back to normal after the strikes. The temperature exceeded 30 degrees today. We spent a pleasant couple of hours in Rethymno having lunch at the Melody Garden taverna and then drinks at the Venetian harbour.
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The lorry drivers strike in Greece has now been called off and petrol supplies are slowly returning to normal. We managed to fill up the car and the mopeds yesterday evening and to celebrate we went on a six hour moped ride today taking in Margaretes for lunch and then visiting two sets of friends in the hills before returning home. The weather was perfect with very little wind and a temperature of 24 degrees.
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