Continuing from where I left off in LinNG 22/22, it must be said that sometimes in Greece there is no relief – even in death. Martha Karagianni, who died a couple of weeks ago, specifically requested to be cremated. My understanding is that her solicitor has her written request. Her cremation is/was being blocked by the Church and the authorities because Martha’s request had not been signed by a relative. Catch 22: she had no relatives. It’s disgraceful, and the real reason behind this is money. It has fuck all to do with Christian doctrine. As I wrote before, once the dead’s lease on the grave is up (yes, the plot is rented, especially in cities), their bones are, in most cases, cremated.
11th October. Still on the subject of illness and death, the latest weekly Covid figures have just come out. 51,000 new cases of which 23% were reinfections; 62 intubated; and 109 dead. Since the beginning of the crisis, half the population – just over 5 million – have been infected in Greece with 33,313 dying to date. So, if you had Covid, your chances of dying were about 1:150. However, 96% of the fatalities were over 70 and/or had underlying conditions. This means that around 1,330 healthy people under 70 died. In other words, if you were in this favourable category, your chances of dying were 1 in 3,800. Draw your own conclusions about lockdowns.
The proposed ferry service between Thessaloniki and Izmir is now a reality. A 14-hour overnight trip. I think I will do it in the spring. This article gives some details about the ferry and Izmir’s Greek history. https://greekreporter.com/2022/10/05/first-thessaloniki-smyrna-ferry-starts-service/
I have promised to write something about the centenary of Smyrna’s destruction. It’s in process. Regarding, Izmir’s name, in Greek, Smyrna is I Smirni (Η Σμύρνη), pronounced Izmirni, so the Turks just lopped off the last syllable.
Nearer to home, here is a little story about the lengths some Greeks will do to earn a buck. In Lagomandra on the second leg of Halkidiki, someone set up a beach bar on land designated for reafforestation! They ploughed it with tractors which, I suspect, means they also cleared some trees: https://www.voria.gr/article/stisane-paranomo-beach-bar-se-anadasotea-ektasi-sti-chalkidiki—tin-orgosan-me-trakter
More sinister than clearing a bit of land is this story about a hotelier in Afyto – also in Halkidiki. A girl working in the hotel asked for accommodation, only to be told she would have to share with her boyfriend to maximise the hotel’s room availability. When she went to charge her mobile, she discovered a mini video device that was trained on the bed. She reported the hotelier to the police. Three other couples have come forward. Let’s hope the videos were for personal gratification and have not been uploaded to some internet porn site. According to this article, there were cameras in every room. The hotel has now been closed down. https://www.thetoc.gr/koinwnia/article/xalkidiki-louketo-sto-xenodoxeio-me-tin-krufi-kamera—brethikan-kameres-se-ola-ta-domata-binteo/
In Thessaloniki in the late 80s, a Greek politician called Kouvelas, had a trench dug in Egnatia St between the university and the exhibition centre. This was the first cut of the new metro. Now, some 33 years later, we still do not have an underground line, but we are promised it will be completed before the end of 2023. In a city with such a rich history, archaeological discoveries were bound to slow the tunnelling down. Over 300,000 artifacts have been found. More here: https://greekreporter.com/2022/09/08/300000-ancient-artifacts-found-thessaloniki-metro-works/
Next time, I hope to have more on Smyrna/Izmir. You never know, if that nutjob Erdogan carries out his threats, I might be ferried to Smyrna, much like the western hostages “housed” in the Baghdad Hilton in 1990.