The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #151249   Message #3528950
Posted By: Roger the Skiffler
22-Jun-13 - 05:25 AM
Thread Name: BS: Postcard from Naxos (Greece) 2013
Subject: RE: BS: POSTCARD FROM NAXOS (Greece) 2013
I didn't mention two Health and Safety issues.
In our studio shower there was a pull cord for a panic button and also in the hotel we stayed overnight in Santorini. I know they are common in care homes and sheltered accomodation in UK, perhaps they looked at the birth dates on our passports! (I did have a fall there as the bath mat slipped from under me during one of my nocturnal visits to the loo- SHE said it was the extra half-litre of wine we'd been given at dinner that night and was not sympathetic when I was limping next morning!)
   However, the usual Greek attitude to such matters was deminstarated when we were waiting for the ferry from Naxos. We were in a sort of opensided concrete waiting area with 2 channels. We were queueing in one while alongside men with pneumatic drills and angle grinders, no hard hats, goggles or steeltipped boots, perching on wobbly platforms with no guard rails were stripping back the concrete to expose the reinforecement rods. Our luggage (and the air) got covered in the dust. Two small boys, about 8 and 10, sons,I guess, were "helping" and dodging the falling shards of concrete. As the ferry approached, the port police blew their whistles to be heard above the drills and made the men take their platforms down and sweep away the detritus so the lorries could get past and so they could use the other channel for passengers.
As on previous holidays my little Greek is always received well (like a dog walking on two legs!) and I don't think I made any major errors. When I handed in the fakkelaki (little envelope) with our tip for the staff, the receptionist couldn't read what I'd written in my best Greek (We thank you for your hospitality). She did understand it when I said it out loud- I explained my English handwriting is just as bad!

RtS