Observations upon a journey through europe - part 1

Last Year we had a great holiday to Europe taking in Athens , the island of Skiathos , Rome , travelling through northern Italy to Paris , France then onto the UK.
Along the way We had a fabulous time and saw many many wonderful places and sights.

Athens was in the midst of unrest over the euro crisis and , to be honest , if it were not for the Acropolis and associated other ancient sites it wouldn't be high on my list of places to visit. A fairly ordinary city that look tired in many places. Although absolutely lovely people.

We stayed in an area of the city that our cab driver said wasn't 'very good' complete with a warning about being out and about at night (beware of drug users , prostitutes and arabs - apparently).We stayed at the  Hotel Balasca in the district of Liossion. A smallish room but it had a blacony overlooking the street below that was interesting. We were to find that most places in europe don't provide a kettle and coffee making equipment in the rooms (unlike what we expect in Aussie) and this was a bit of an issue for us. However ,this hotel provided a very good breakfast included in the price.
The district wasn't half as bad as we were led to believe and in fact we stumbled across a church close to the hotel that was in a square surrounded by bars and restaurants. We sat there and had a great meal - the food in Greece was excellent throughout - and watched as this square became the centre of activity for the evening. There were litle kids and toddlers with their parents , older kids playing soccer and teens wandering around trying to impress the opposite sex , older people strolling  and not a hint of menace from anyone. No misbehaviour of any description in fact , young people having respect for the elders but also for the environment. It was a very pleasant experience and showed a side of Greek life that was impressive in it's simplicity .

The greek constabulary came by the square - as appeared to be customary the police always seemed to be in 4's and on motorcycles. Perhaps it was another sign of the economic restraints but the Greek motorcycle police always rode with one officer riding pillion. The police were engaged in what seemed to be their other customary practice - stopping for coffee!

It was here that we encountered our first meeting with the european beggars. In Greece mostly Romany and not very well liked by the locals. The maitre d' of the restaurant was well versed in shifting on the beggars from pestering his customers. These people had no qualms about using children or babies to get sympathy and certainly knew where the tourists were. We also came across the street sellers who were mostly African. At least these guys - irritating as they were - didn't want charity . We quickly learned that the only way to deal with both was not to make any eye contact or respond to them at all.

It was interesting in Greece , Italy and France to see the attitude towards alcohol and cigarettes. In Greece you could buy alcohol anywhere at any time - newspaper sellers , gas stations. We never saw anyone drunk in public or behaving like a knob until reaching England where they have similar restrictions to us in Australia. Equally it was perfectly possible to smoke in bars and restaurant areas. Just as an aside the most surreal thing was being in Dubai airport , finding an Irish pub in the airport and being not only able to have a beer at 6.00am in this muslim country , where generally you need a licence to buy alcohol , but also being able to smoke inside this bar at the same time!

We saw one drugged up person in Athens - and he was being carefuilly observed by a couple of coffee swilling motorcycle policemen at the time.

If you haven't been then the Acropolis is somewhere you must go. It is astounding - the epic scale of the buildings and the kmowledge of how long they have  been there. Just  around the area near the Acropolis , the innumerable ruins that you just come across whilst walking - amazing remians of mosaics at the side of the road , houses hewn from rocks that had running water  in them , and realising that when this civilisation was debating democracy , philosophy and inventing modern medicine - and not forgetting the art and craftsmanship of Ancient Greece - the British were still living in mud huts.

On the approach to the Acropolis the African traders were at every vantage point. Quite why they would think tourists would want to buy blobs of jelly that splattered then reformed once thrown to the ground or battery powered crawling GI's is beyond me! Some tried to sell parasols or bottled water at least being items that were relevant.

Despite the crowds the Acropolis was amazing. Words cannot adequately describe the feeling of this place - at once feeling like it belongs to all of us , a place of reverance , a celebration of what extraordinary things the human race can achieve and a reminder that amongst all of the transient things of today some things have a lasting glory. For all the problems Greece has today we should be thankful that they have preserved so much of this history for us - for this is something that we are all a part of.

The other highlight of Athens was the changing of the guard ceremony . The crowds flock to the parliament building by the tomb of the unknown soldier but you can also see it at the presidential palace where there are far fewer people. For a people with such a proud military history - think the 300 spartans - this ceremony is bizarre and camp.

I'm inclined to think it was contrived over a drunken night as nobody sober could surely have developed this . The soldiers wear a tassled beret , a pleated skirt , cream leggings and shoes that Krusty the Clown rejected. These shoes have a pom-pom on the top and metal plates underneath. The guards perform what can only be described as a cross between a storks mating dance and pantomime horses! Coupled with marching that is slow motion , involves swinging the leg exaggerated arm movements and imitating a horse counting with it's hoof it is a comic dance worthy of John Cleese. If that isn't enough the soldiers when they come together  touch their shoes together in a touching way. What on earth this has to do with anything is way beyond me but it is certainly entertaining. Our theory was that the soldiers elected to perform this must have really pissed off their senior officers! But , apparently , the soldiers are carefully selected  as they only have one size unifrom ! You got to love the Greeks.

As our friend Nikos takes great pleasure in informing us , the Greeks invented most things . Judging from this camp theatre included - well we already know they invented homosexuality , isn't that right George ?

After leaving the sprawl of Athens we went to the beautiful island of Skiathos. This is a place where we could happily live . Laid back , clean , peaceful and stunning .

We stayed at Fresh studios in the new port of Skiathos town (email :fresh@otenet.gr).. A family run establishment that was clean , beautifully located and the owners couldn't have been more accomodating. Highly recommended.. The biggest hassle in Skiathos was negotiating the various waiters hustling to get you into their usually great eateries but even they were always easy going.

The best way to get around the island was to go native and hire a scooter. The only problem was not having a licence.But the Greeks have a way around that. The scooter hire place prints their own . All that is required is to answer a few questions and have a valid licence in your own country. Easy ! And there we were riding around Skiathos on a type of vehicle I haven't ridden for 20 years , on the wrong side of the road and in a place that I know nothing about. - no trouble , Lesa took a little more convincing before the death grip on my hips relaxed to a bearhug.
Being able to travel freely allowed visits to some stunning beaches . It was a great place to unwind and relax . Cocktails at Jimmy's by the old harbour a favourite place to end the day.

This was a great way to ease into our trip through Italy.but Skiathos is definitely a place to return to.

time to get real with crims

Whether or not the politicians and analysts accept it the truth is that to the ordinary person in the street crime is an issue that continues to rankle. In my local area there has been a spate of random attacks , seemingly increasing armed robberies of petrol station and bottle shops , people attacked in their own homes and general criminal behaviour . Whether it is property crime , crimes against the person or hooning behaviour it is accepted that there is a small minority of people intimidating the general populace .
The police , generally speaking , do their job but as for the courts - well that is another issues all together.

How can someone be caught , charged , prosecuted and found guilty yet have no offence recorded ? Where is the deterrent there? How can we have people charged with serious offences bailed ? And to illustrate this in my locality alone in the past few months we had a man charged with shooting another person in a suburban street at 10pm at night released on bail ! Another example was a prominent local business man allegedly found to have drugs weapons and other incriminating evidence allowed bail to 'continue to manage his business'. Presumably it didn't occur to the judge that this business was most likely funded by drug money and  a front for laundering drug money. Not only that this same person was then allowed to leave the area over christmas in order to have a family holiday!

Then we hear of juvenile criminals being repeat offenders out on bail committing more offences and still being bailed! Stealing cars and going driving cross country at high speed putting other road users at risk. Personally I am never sorry to hear of hoons killing themselves on the roads - it's one less idiot we have to worry about but it really pisses me off when other people end up injured or killed by idiots who are then given derisory sentences . Oh and why does anybody think that banning  aperson from driving when they are already suspended or don't even have a licence is going to make any difference at all to them ?

Another thing that iritates me is that all criminals when caught express their remorse for the c rime and their victim. Funny that hey ! Only sorry when they are caught and facing a judge !

It's time for a shake up in the system.
The public need to be able to elect judges. They would stand for a term and be judged themselves by the community whether they are delivering what the community demand. Yes , I can hear the do-gooders up in arms already about how their poor little misunderstood darlings need understanding not punishment. We've had 20 years of social workers understanding these crims anbd we are no better off. It's time we got back to what the law is meant to do - provide a deterrent for criminal behaviour.

No more concurrent sentencing . If a crim is convicted of six offences then he should serve a sentence for each consecutively. No more time off for good behaviour - the sentence is what you will serve - and time added for bad behaviour.

"But locking people up doesn't change them " say the do-gooders. Maybe not but when they are locked up we know they aren't out committing more crimes. That is good enough for me! I'd rather my tax dollar went on more prisons to hold these scum than to all the 'support' they get in the community.

After the riots in the uk last summer local councils started evicting people - and their families - from council housing if convicted . The rationale being that they have committed an offence against the community why should the community subsidise them. Wouldn't that be a way to get parents of these 12-14 year olds taking a bit more concern about where little Tyson and Chantelle are in the small hours ? David Cameron also stated that if they are old enough to commit the crime then they are old enough to face the consequences.
Too true! It's time that the right of anonymity for teenage criminals is removed . Name and shame them .

And for those on community service have them wear a shirt that says exactly why they are doing it so we can all see . As things stand there is no deterrent and without a deterrent nothing will change.