Everybody knows that some countries “excel” in bureaucracy over others. On a European level Greece definitely belongs to the top of the league. On a national playing field within Greece, IKA must be the champion. The one and only requirement to enter the IKA workforce used to be your affiliation with the right political...
Read more →You remember how I mentioned a few days ago that we just put some inflatable mattresses on top of our spread-out tent and call that “camping”? It was not looking too good for our upcoming “vacation” this year. A couple of weeks ago we were invited by Giorgos and Maria to join them in...
Read more →Well? Where? I’ve been waiting for nine months exactly and nobody shows up! Just kidding, really. I seem to have taken a rather long break, haven’t I? But rest assured, everything is well with us. It must have been writer’s block. Or something. The thing is, it gets boring — not only for me,...
Read more →It looks like we are going to make it by Sunday night: the kitchen stuff has been completely moved to the new house, the bedroom is fully over, so is most of the living room, except for 2 arm chairs. What’s left is what we call our “office room”, with the computer gear, printers,...
Read more →No es amor, no es amor, es una obsesion. I find this tune, a house remix by Aventura, pretty addictive. I got it on my newly acquired iPod Shuflle, a present given to me by my friend Petros. Petros used to be my downstairs neighbour, then a CS student at the UOC, who initiated...
Read more →Two weeks ago we had friends from Belgium over for their holidays. We had a nice meal together and in the course of the conversation the subject of money came up. When I told them what the average salary in Crete was, they were shocked to learn that I worked for the minimal legal...
Read more →Back in January 2003, when I was preparing to drive off from Kleine Spouwen to Iraklio, I used a route planner on the internet to give me some guidance on how to drive to my destination. I don’t remember anymore which website I used, but it definitely wasn’t mappoint.msn.com. And a good thing too...
Read more →Okay, one more quicky before I go to sleep, because it is the end of the week, and I owe you some entries for the time lost these months. I’ve been asked a few times why I write this blog in English. While I gracefully try to cover up that I don’t have a...
Read more →It looks like the Greek lifestyle doesn’t agree with a lot of electronic gear. I didn’t mention it before, but I haven’t had a lot of luck lately, electronically speaking. There was the defective battery in my Macintosh Powerbook back in spring. Small problem you would say, and it would be, except in Greece....
Read more →School’s out for summer School’s out forever School’s been blown to pieces Well, not exactly, maybe not forever, but today marks the end of the school year here in Greece. I passed a few schools when on the bus this morning, and all of them had the school yard filled with pupils, for one...
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