CHRISTMAS 2000 NEWSLETTER

THE SKIATHOS CHRISTMAS 2000 NEWSLETTER

Hello and welcome to the Christmas 2000 Skiathos newsletter,

I have made it a web page this time because I wished to include some images. They are a series of 6 gif files that make up one cartoon but each part of the cartoon also has its own humour in it.
When (years before the advent of the Internet in my life) I was picking millions of beans and thousands of tomatoes in the midday sun in our market garden, this cartoon would always bring a smile to my face. It still reminds me that we can make our lives unnecessarily complicated, when often, simplicity is the way to happiness.
I don't miss picking those beans 'though, life was simple enough and sufficient unto the day, but I like the complexity of the Internet and the scope for expanding our horizons that it offers.

Well, as so many of you enjoyed the "pigs in wine" story from the last newsletter, I thought I would introduce you to another animal who played a major role in our early days in Skiathos.
"Mavrika" was an old (indeterminate age) horse who we "inherited" from some other people who had been living on the island. Their story is an interesting one but I must let it wait for another time.

Mavrika was a sweet natured, swayed back, brown black pony, who (having worked her butt off for Greeks) was set upon doing as little as possible. She was susceptible to colic which means that (usually from overeating) her stomach became distended and she was unable to shit. This will kill a horse if the blockage remains so we spent hours walking her around until her guts untwisted and shit and liquid farts started to pour from her rear end!

When we were building our first house, a wooden "A" frame construction, the nearest road was a kilometre away, so we had to haul all the materials from there by horseback. Well, the first time Mavrika saw this huge pile of 6 metre long chestnut beams and 4 metre long planks, she promptly rolled over with her feet in the air and whinnied, "Colic!". After walking her around for hours and then giving her a couple of days rest, we tried again and this time I didn't believe her when she tried it again.

Her true nature was exposed when, returning from sampling (rather a lot of) retsina with a local goatherd, I loaded her (with great trepidation) with 2 sacks of cement totaling 100 kilos. Yanni, the goatherd, said, 'What just 2 sacks!" and threw another one on top. I expected "Mavi" to collapse but when he clicked his tongue at her, she realised she was dealing with a Skiathitee (and not a bunch of soft foreigners) and RAN all the way home.

She used to suffer dreadfully from horseflies during the summer and there was not much to do about them except immerse her in salt water, i.e. the sea.
She was not awfully fond of this and, taking her one day to Aselinnos (the nearest beach) we provided much amusement for a group of tourist who were sunning themselves on the beach as we struggled to get her into the water. However, when the flies were deprived of their supply of blood as Mavi sank slowly into the waves, they decided to head for the nearest alternative source. The last we saw of the tourists was them running down the road being pursued by a cloud of thirsty horseflies.
We also owned the world's nastiest donkey, "Francine", again bequeathed to us (but I don't think maliciously). She was the only donkey I ever heard growl! Women seem to be particularly taken by donkey's ears (could it be the shape, I ask myself) and would try to stroke her only to have the fingers almost bitten off! She managed to kick Lida's brother in law (a 2 metre tall and almost as broad Dutchmen) way into the bushes when she was fully loaded.

Well, enough of animals for now.
What has been happening on Skiathos....not a lot is the answer. Autumn and winter are the quiet seasons but it is also the time that we residents get together and do things like.....talk to each other. During the summer, everyone is so busy running their business or entertaining friends and family that there is never enough time to just sit over an ouzo or tsiporo and just pass the time of day. After all, this is what a lot of us came to Greece for in the first place, to be able to relax and get away from the mad rush of "so called" civilised life. These slow days are when we can do just that.

Actually, there is quite a bit of activity with the garden club, the International Women's Group (known fondly as the International terrorists Group), the painting classes, aerobics, tennis etc. that one could never get bored here.
I spend a lot of time updating the web pages, there is never enough time in the summer! For example, check out http://skiathosinfo.com/foreigners/index.htm for lots of interesting information for those of you thinking of coming to live in Greece.

Also, I have started 3 new web sites this autumn.
One is called Hidden Valleys http://hidden-valleys.com which is offering exclusive holidays plus a lot of activities ranging from scuba diving to paragliding, sailing to skiing.
The other two: http://thessaloniki-info.com and http://halkidiki-info.com are still in their infancy (but are rapidly growing) and will be offering information for each area plus many hotel booking possibilities in the same fashion that we do here in Skiathos with the http://skiathos-direct.com web site.

So, time to wish you a very merry Christmas and I hope that 2001 will bring you everything you wish for.

Regards, Geof.

PS. We would happily exchange some of the good weather we have been having for some rain from some of the wetter parts of the globe...is the Internet not up to this yet? ;o)

My thanks to Dawes who drew the original cartoon. I hope he is reading this newsletter (you never know!?) so that he can know how much pleasure it has brought me.

It was originally found in a very old edition of Omni Magazine and the copyright undoubtedly belongs to Dawes or the magazine.

I hope I will be forgiven for sharing it with you all.

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