...another extract from Andy's updates:
Best example so far of the Greek mentality occurred on the ferry from Ancona in Italy to Patra in Greece. It was a Greek ferry run by a Greek shipping company.
When we got to our cabin I noticed there was an ashtray on the table, however there was a large red no-smoking sign actually printed on the ashtray. I was totally confused – they had supplied an ashtray suggesting that smoking was permitted in the cabin but there was a no-smoking sign indicating that it was not. If they did not want you to smoke then surely they would not have provided an ashtray and the no-smoking sign would have been on the door or on the wall. If they did allow you to smoke why have a no-smoking sign???
Curiosity got the better of me and I went to the information desk. This is the conversation verbatim between the clerk- and me.

Me – 'I have an ashtray in my cabin which has a no-smoking sign printed on it'.
Clerk – 'Yes'
Me – 'Well, does that mean that I can smoke or not?'
Clerk – 'Yes, you can smoke in your cabin if you wish'
Me – 'So why does the ashtray have a no-smoking sign?'.
Clerk – 'Ah, that is there for people who choose not to smoke'.
Sometimes people say things that stop you dead in your tracks and you are unable to come up with an answer. This was one of them. The logical extension to his argument was that the no-smoking sign on the ashtray was necessary otherwise non-smokers might feel obliged to start smoking just because an ashtray had been provided.

RtS
PS Andy has a possible gig with a local hard rock band for the winter as he noticed they lacked a bass player. He 's also met up with keyboard Manoli who's not now playing with Brian May/Keith Richard lookalike bouzouki Manoli (it'a a hair/face thing!) but has another bouzouki player called ....Manoli. I asked if the band needed a washboard player but they don'r ring, they don't write...