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Post by bjd on Feb 26, 2010 8:28:56 GMT
The refinery strike didn't happen. The air-traffic controllers are supposed to go back to work on Saturday.
Fumobici, you should speak for the States. Last year there was a long garbage strike in Toronto.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 26, 2010 8:44:35 GMT
The striking capacity of the French is highly overrated. Here are the OECD statistics for the countries with the most strikes. The number following the name of the country is the number of work days lost in a year per 1000 employees.
# 1 Denmark: 296 # 2 Iceland: 244 # 3 Canada: 217 # 4 Spain: 189 # 5 Norway: 135 # 6 Korea, South: 95 # 7 Ireland: 90 # 8 Australia: 86 # 9 Italy: 76 # 10 France: 67 # 11 United States: 60 # 12 Finland: 55 # 13 Greece: 29 # 14 Turkey: 28 # 15 Hungary: 25 = 16 Belgium: 22 = 16 Mexico: 22 = 16 United Kingdom: 22 = 19 New Zealand: 20 = 19 Portugal: 20
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Post by bazfaz on Feb 26, 2010 9:00:57 GMT
Yesterday we woke up to a very stormy sky. This is what it looked like across the bay from our terrace. There were even some rumbles of thunder. But the weather brightened, the sun came out, we packed a picnic and set out for a walk up into the hills. Askar will recognise this monster that is at one end of the sandy beach. It looks like a sculpture but has been carved by wind and rain. Our original intention had been to take a little mini-bus that wanders around in the hills but Thursday was its day off. So we walked along the coast, waves crashing on rocks to one side, traffic on the other. Then we headed inland on what our map showed as a little white road. Here is a ruined olive press. The machinery belongs in some museum of old industrial relics. Beside the olive press was the chapel of Agios Yiannis so we knew we were on the right road. Our map turned out to be very old or certainly not brought up to date. In 2000 there had been a catastrophic storm that caused terrible damage. One result had been the torrent of water that came down the valley we were walking up, washing away the road showed on our map. We stopped for our picnic. When you lie back for a siesta this is what you see looking straight up: olive trees and blue sky. We walked further on a little winding path until we reached a river crossing. The stepping stones were half submerged and we didn't want to jump from one slippery stone to the next and fall in. In a couple of months the river would have pretty well dried up and then it would be possible. So we decided we would go back home. It was mid-afternoon by this time. On the way back we noticed this bank of cyclamen. They only grow on Crete and the island of Karpathos. Now today we are going to take the mini-bus we couldn't yesterday.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 26, 2010 16:35:06 GMT
K - I'm surprised Canada is up there on that list Nice pics, baz. Hope the mini-bus works out today for you.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 26, 2010 20:16:53 GMT
Magnificent photographs, Baz. The first one is my favourite, but they're all great.
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Post by bazfaz on Feb 26, 2010 20:50:14 GMT
Thank Mrs Faz for the photos. I just provide a few words.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 26, 2010 21:13:05 GMT
Yes, but you inspire her.
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Post by lola on Feb 26, 2010 21:25:29 GMT
Really fine, Baz. Thanks for letting us see them.
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Post by bixaorellana on Feb 27, 2010 5:07:39 GMT
I don't think this could be more beautiful, Baz! The words, not surprisingly, are excellent, too. That is one of the all-time great stormy skies in that first picture. It is so craggy there, which has always been my mental image. I never knew it was so green, though. The olive press and things around it look as they they'd been tipped down into a big ditch. Is that the case, or were those things originally inside that stone building? (that wooden lintel -- wow!) And is that a stone wall behind the press, or just a naturally occurring outcrop? That's an exquisite picture of the dear little cyclamen, bug and all. I hope you don't mind if I direct everyone to more of the wonderful Mrs. Faz's wonderful plant pictures in the What's in Bloom thread. (p.6)
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Post by bazfaz on Feb 27, 2010 6:34:16 GMT
Crete is surprisingly green in winter because of the rains. Then the spring flowers come and it is colourful. By May it will be getting really dry. Then all the summer months it is brown.
That olive press is a mystery because the machinery is so heavy it would have needed something like a mule to turn it. Or a couple of men. Yet it is pushed back against that stone wall. Why move it? There is also a millstone in that ruined building. They must have grown a little wheat somewhere and milled it there.
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Post by auntieannie on Feb 28, 2010 17:13:52 GMT
oh, yes I absolutely love the pic of the cyclamen.
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Post by bixaorellana on Mar 1, 2010 15:18:16 GMT
I see your mind was engaged by the olive press as well, Baz. Perhaps someone wanted to use it somewhere else and found it too heavy to move ... ? And speaking of mysteries ........ if you have a moment, could you and Mrs. Faz look into onlyMark's thread in Putting Down Roots, please? He has a mystery hedge with a mystery problem. Perhaps you could shed some like on at least one of the subjects.
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Post by bazfaz on Mar 1, 2010 16:32:19 GMT
For our final long walk in the hills we went to Anidri and visited the church there. So we are not showing you yet more photos of rocky cliffs and flowers but just the church of Agios Giorgos. This was built in 1325. It was a struggle to get the church doors open but well worth it. The frescoes were amazing. They are done by Ioannis Pagomenos. This translates as John the Frozen but we don't know how he got his name. The final fresco is a list of the donors - still remembered after all these centuries. Well, that's all folks. Tomorrow morning bright and early we leave Paleochora and we shall be in Paris for dinner. We have really enjoyed our time here with its wonderful walks and flowers and friendly people. And we hope you have enjoyed it too.
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Post by bazfaz on Mar 1, 2010 16:49:52 GMT
Bixa, the hedge looks familiar but we can't put a name to it. We have asked Mrs Faz's sister (a great and knowledgeable gardener) if she has ideas but she hasn't go back to us yet.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 1, 2010 17:53:34 GMT
Remarkable ancient church, all the more so to have withstood earthquakes for so long (one tends to think of this since it appears to be earthquake season).
Does your village in the Lot have one of those standard boring churches?
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Post by lola on Mar 1, 2010 19:46:26 GMT
Amazing frescoes, baz. Was your church entry, um, approved? Just the bazes and the sexton, or just the bazes? You'd hope they would protect such a place.
Farewell to Paleochora and Crete. It's been lovely.
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Post by bazfaz on Mar 1, 2010 21:08:42 GMT
Lola, it was difficult to enter the church because the locks on the doors were rusted. The keys were already in so no need to find the sexton.
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Post by bixaorellana on Mar 2, 2010 0:50:05 GMT
Awwww ~~ it's over!
Baz, that was just outstanding. Thank you both so much for putting this together so that everyone could enjoy your vacation. It was great getting it in installments, too, as we could give everything its due.
What a great ending, as well. Beyond the church's intrinsic historic interest, that is an outstanding photograph! I keep looking at it. The composition is classically satisfying.
Do you suppose the whole thing is from when the church was built, or maybe the little bell arch came later, probably after many bake sales and exhortings from the pulpit?
The frescoes are amazing, as you say. That second saint ~~ whew! Equally amazing is the fact that they don't seem to be protected at all, nor ever restored in any way. Seeing them is a real treat.
How kind you were to take the time to check out Mark's hedge. See you in the garden!
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Post by bazfaz on Mar 2, 2010 5:31:31 GMT
The amazing thing is that the Turks didn't deface the Christian frescoes.
Must dash to the airport now.
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Post by fumobici on Mar 3, 2010 22:09:28 GMT
Beautiful thread, thank you.
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