Men in Dresses

If a man in your loacal neighbourhood decided to grow a beard and wear a dress every time he left the house, curtains would twitch and people would talk.

That is why I am amazed that I am the only one here who finds the sight of a Greek orthodox vicar's appearance bizarre, amusing and disturbing all at the same time.

There is a collective blindspot amongst the local population to the man who always wears a dress. Nobody comments or laughs. I really think that people do not notice. Would the same happen if I decided that from tomorrow that I would raid Jenny's wardrobe each morning? Is there some endorsement for cross-dressing I missed in my scant scripture studies at Sunday School?

I must say, however, in defence of the orthodox chappies, that it is quite far thinking of them to allow habitual dress wearers to hold meaningful office. The catholics will not allow anyone in a dress conducting their services.

Olga's Birthday Party - Paleochora 8/12/10

Many readers will know Stephen & Olga.  Here is a collection of photos from Olga's recent birthday party held in Pandelis restaurant, Paleochora.



A great night was had by all - evident from the photos i think,

Happy birthday, Olga, and thanks for a great night!

I find some cool things sometimes...

After self-hosting loads of Wordpress blogs (Wordpress.org), I decided to start one up on the shared Wordpress platform (Wordpress.com) mainly for backlinking purposes.

I have always refrained from going there because, as with these Blogger blogs, you don't actually own your own blog. If you hvae some content or affiliate links on these shared blogs which 'they who must be obeyed' object to or if a competitor decides to call you a spammer to get you out of the way, Mr. Google or Mr. Wordpress can delete all of your work without a by-your-leave.

Anyway, the WP platform does have some SEO benefits for me providing I stay within their silly rules.

So, I set up a blog there and wanted a really flexible theme which would be good for RSS feeds. And I found the coolest of the cool. (The 'what am I doing right now' thingy over on the right is the rss feed from the blog).

Take a look at the developers' video. Its really is very good! http://p2theme.com/

So now when you come here and read a post, you will see recent status updates in the sidebar :)

All of Greece Gets an Election

We just had Mayor and council elections here in Greece.

Bizarrely,  the electoral process seems to have been modeled on the XFactor rules. Totally useless contestants are whittled away and sent home and the two more serious contenders have to come back the following week for a 'Mayoral sing-off'.

Problem is, Wagner keeps winning.

Is this the most tasteless ad you ever saw?

You really have to hand it to the Greeks. Unfortunately, they excel at things like this.  Full marks for having zero consideration.

End of Term atThe Anidri School House Cafe

The season came to a close at the School House Kafeneon in Anidri last Sunday.  Unlike a lot of boring restaurants and businesses in town, here it was celebrated with a wild party. :)

Here I am with most (but not quite all) of my workmates and my bosses at the party.

It was a great season and I felt part of a really good team. Although I am relieved to be having a break and enjoying not having to work at the moment, I will miss the place and the people in the winter.

Last Night at Anidri for 2010

It's the last night of the season at the Anidri Cafe tonight so I wll soon be swelling the ranks of the unemployed a little further.

Looking forward to the rest and a bit of relaxation. Then...its getting jobs done on the house and work, work, work on the 'poota

I have Started the Dukan Diet!

Enough, enough, enough of being a fat bastard! I have decided to draw a line in the sand and get myself back in shape at last.

Going through my wardrobe, I was highly concerned to see my 'Hopeful Section' growing ever fuller. This comprises of the trousers, shirts, Tshirts and jackets that I am 'hopeful of fitting into again'. So I figured something must be done!

John & Cricket were out in the summer and cricket looked fabulous. She had lost loads of excess weight but more than that, she looked really healthy. She told me about The Dukan Diet, where she never has to count calories, never goes hungry and will keep the weight of forever. Hmmm. Sounded good to me!

To cut a long story short, I bought the book and read it through to see if it was do-able for me. I started the diet yesterday and, the reason why I am writing here about it is to let you all know that you can follow along with my progress.

I set up a site with a personal blog detailing my experiences on this diet plan which is sweeping Europe. Check out the site and the blog here:

Dukan Diet

Read my experiences, comment there, encourage me if you want, you can even buy the book there too if you want to give it a whirl yourself too.

Cheap Flights to Chania? Don't think so!

A little strong language...but all of it justified!

Time to Grab Some Freebies

Here is a new site where you can claim free gift vouchers for all major sites and stores just by completing some market research or trial offers.

Marketing folk are always interested in how potential customers view their products and are interested in researching how people think about products and services. They are willing to reward those who provide this information. This site brings the two together and offers a great incentive.

Take a look at this video to see how easy it is:



Here is the link: Free Gift Vouchers

Watch Full Persons Unknown Season 1

Spetsofai - Village Sausages with Onions, Peppers & Tomatoes

So, what did I order for lunch at Anidri Cafe?

Well, it had to be a plate of Spetsofai with some fresh bread & a Mythos.

A recipe for this dish is now available on The Paleochora Site: Paleochora Cretan Recipes

Day Off!

Whoopie! My first day off in 3 weeks! So what did I do so far? I went to work.

Well The boys & I walked up Anidri Gorge this morning, had luch at Anidri Cafeneon and then walked back down again.

Now we are relaxing a bit before going to meet Jenny at the end of her shift at  the Beach Bar (and having an ouzo while waiting for her to finish)

Bliss.

Agia Irini Gorge: More Beatutiful Than Samaria?

Well, thats a difficult question (and not one to ask up at Omalos). The Irini gorge is much shorter and less, how can we say, dramatic than its big neighbour but many argue that it has a greater sublime beauty.

This month, Bob Tait takes us down the gorge in his 'Explore!' article. Read it here

Work, work. work!

So, the season has had a stuttering start here in Paleochora (the volcano in Iceland created a few problems) but there are people enjoying the weather and the countryside even if it's a little early for swimming.

Both Jenny & I have started summer jobs. I will be found in the evenings at The School House Cafeneon at Anidri and Jenny will be at the Jetee Beach Bar during the afternoons. Both of us will be stuck firmly in the kitchen so, ask if we are around.

Δεν δρεπισε λιγο?

'The Greek government has said it wants to reduce the deficit to 5.6% of GDP in 2011, and 2.8% of GDP in 2012.
But spending cutbacks measures being introduced by Athens to restore its finances are being resisted.
On Thursday, tens of thousands of Greek civil servants staged a strike to protest against the austerity programme.
Protesters have been demonstrating in Athens, not far from where officials from the IMF and European Central Bank are meeting to determine the fine details of a financial rescue package for Greece. ' - BBC Online

All |I can say is:

Δεν δρεπισε λιγο;

Groovy New Sign

I would imagine this was erected in order to distiguish it from the 'To-Martyred Municipality of Koundoura'

Something I just made about Paleochora

I found a cool tool on Youtube and felt the need to play with it.....

A Link for Vampire Lovers

It seems that many people are watching The Vampire Diaries. So here is a link for people for the latest episode which was aired in the States at about 1am UK time.

Its free to watch but you need to complete a quick market research survey before the site is 'unlocked'

This episode is #18

Here is the link:

Cycling + Crete = Total Exhaustion

Fancy coming to beautiful, mountainous, warm Crete? Mmmm, sounds good, eh?

For a cycling holiday? Well, there are people who do just that and, during the autumn, winter & spring months, there are a few ex-pats who take to the saddle.

Regardless of what the weather is doing, it doesn't make those mountains any less steep so, for me, this is an activity best left to others of a more masochistic disposition.

Bob Tait details a couple of cycle rides around Paleochora in this months post on Bob's Blog on The Paleochora Site.

Read the full aricle here: Paleochora

Daily Sudoku Challenge is Launched!

I just launched a new service for all sudoku lovers!

Daily Sudoku Challenge is a new service which delivers unique, printable sudoku puzzles diect to your email inbox each & every day!

No more buying armfuls of papers or expensive sudoku books. No more having to play sudoku in front of a pc screen. It will save you money and is more convenient!

here is the link: Daily Sudoku

Pleas pass it on, tweet about it, put it on your facebook, blog it. All exposure greatfully recieved! :)

Καλο Πασχα!

Καλο Πασχα or Happy Easter to all our readers.

The weather hereabouts is perfect this weekend. Hot, no clouds and no breeze.

Yeasterday afternoon, we went along to the sandy beach with the kids & the dog. I was amazed that on a 1km + beach I counted only 5 more people (and only one of those was a local).

This is one of the great free resources of Paleochora. We had great fun kicking a football around, playing with the dog and the boys even went swimming for the first time. You have to ask where all the local kids were. More than likely sat indoors in front of the Cartoon Network with a bag of crisps. Shame really, except for the fact that we had the lace to ourselves! :)

Today we are cooking lamb and will be having a late lunch in the garden with some friends.

For anyone blogging with Wordpress Blog...

I have just put this up..freebies for anyone using a Wordpress blog, especially if you want to use it for marketing.

A Walk Around Vlithias

Having woken up to a perfect Sunday morning and with nothing overly pressing on the agenda, we decided to head off to the hills around Paleochora to have a walk for a couple of hours.

We decided to follow a walk that Bob Tait published on his Explore! blog on The Paleochora Site which would take us down into the valley at Vlithias (a village a handful of kilometres outside of Paleochora)

Both the day and the walk were perfect!. We descended into the valley after exploring the ancient aloni (threshing circle) not far from the village. It has one of the most beautiful aspects of any aloni in the area.

We then went down a path to the river. It's a fantastic time of year to be out & about in the hills as there is so much blossom and a profusion of wild flowers.  We identified several species of orchids and loads of deep red wild gladioli. There are even some giant triffid-like cacti of the aloe family clinging to the side of a cliff along a stream gulley!

Bobs article didn't prepare us for the beauty of this walk. It is certainly one we would recommend and we will go off and do it again ourselves before too long. Pity though there isn't a nice cafeneon open at the top in the village for a refreshing cold drink.

 You can just see the river tumbling at the bottom of the valley in that last photo. For those interested in reading a bit more about this walk, the original article can be found here: Walk Aroung Vlitias, Crete

ADTelly. Watch UK & USA TV on your PC Anywhere in the World!

For more details, Click here: ADTELLY VPN

Something to idle away some free time

High Above Sougia

Ever wondered what happens if, instead of turning left to tramp to Lissos, you turned right out of the Sougia Gorge instead?

No? Well, neither had I.

But Bob Tait knows and he tells us all about it on The Paleochora Site in this month's 'Explore!' feature.

Check it out here: Paleochora

Is this the cleverest & coolest video ever?

All (obviously) done in one take, although you will see from the end that the clothes suggest that they did some rehearsals.

Jobs

Well, it seems that Jenny & I both have jobs lined up for the summer season!

I will add a post on here later to let everone know where to find us when you come out this summer.

In the meantime, we are still busy writing, promoting and we have started painting the house on the outside. So far we have made a gate and painted it and done one window frame & shutters mainly to see if we like the new colour.

Now its time to get stuck in on this before the season comes and we have too little time/are too knackered to get it done.

More later............

Twitter me This!

If you have a business ( either online or offline) then now is the time to start taking Twitter seriously.

Although almost 19% of internet users have a Twitter account, there is still a great deal of mystery and ignorance about what to do with it.

This Free report written by top internet marketing expert, Kevin Riley, will explain how Twitter can be used very effectively to build customer loyalty, find new customers and make sales - whether you are working an internet based business or you have a traditional 'bricks & mortar' business.

Click on the book image to see Kevin explain in a short, 2 minute video

Dumb & Dumber - Greece Strikes 2010

Well, just when you think that they all should be jolly well embarrassed about the complete and utter financial mess the successive governments have made over the last 10 years in Greece, the Greeks decide to increase their protests against measures to rectify the situation.

The country is on the brink of a complete fuel drought after customs workers who have been striking since Tuesday fancy making a long weekend of it by extending the strike until Tuesday. But Wednesday next week is a genral strike so they will not get their fat, lazy asses back in their comfy office chairs until Thursday.

There will be no petrol in Paleochora from tomorrow.

Shame for all those who need to get to a hospital. Or need to work.

Oh if only they knew how stupid this makes them look in the eyes of the world.

It's Nearly Carnival.....Oh Dear

Well, time has been whizzing here so I thought it must be time to add something to the old blog and keep everyone up to date.

I have been doing a lot of writing although since Christmas more for my own use rather than selling articles (although I will throw a few together for selling next week). Jenny has also been writing too so we have been quite busy.

Jenny got a surprise visit from her sister, Caroline, and best friend from the UK, Sue, for her birthday last week. They could only stay a few days but we had a lot of fun & laughs. here are the Guuuurls supping the umpteenth glass of champagne on the beach.

And this weekend...its the bloody carnival again. The pre-lenten carnival is steeped in tradition. The main tradition in Paleochora is that 'Ma Baker' by Boney M and 'Sex Bomb' by Tom Jones are played on a continual loop all day through a very powerful PA.

I really hate it. It can be quite amusing to see some of the floats as they tend to offer a satirical view of the world but its a bit like a really bad fancy dress party where the initial slight amusement of seeing someone dressed in a daft way quickly wears off and develops into boredom. Especially as it is the same each year (yawn). Anyway, soon be over.

Bye for now.

Obedience Training Dogs

So I have been doing some writing (as has Jenny) on the subject of training dogs.  We are promoting a really great dog training programme which is available online.

As a gift to you, dear reader, here is a free e-book/guide which gives some basic advice if you want it.

So just click on the image of the book, above, to get it for free instantly!

Writing

The article writing Jenny & I have been occupying ourselves with had its best day today.

We had submitted a few articles in the first couple of weeks in December and had made a couple of modest sales (Jenny getting first blood). Then we got busy with some other things and let it slip a little.

My enthusiasm returned with a sale on the 29th. December and I started to check the site a little more often. Today I sold two articles for $100 and have an offer on a third (one of these was the first article I submitted in early December and the other two sold/offer made within hours of them being accepted.

Not riches but nice all the same. :-)

For anyone who wants to have a go themselves, here is the link:

Constant Content

Bye for now.......

Oh, Happy New Year BTW