Ohi Day, 28 October 2015 - @ Messolonghi
ALKIRA
Charles & Maggie Bevis
Wed 28 Oct 2015 14:42
Today is Ohi (No!) day marking the anniversary of this date in 1940 when the then Greek Leader, Ioannis Metaxas, (later immortalised by having Greek Brandy named after him?) rejected an ultimatum given by Mussolini that Greece should surrender to Italian forces in Albania and marked the entry of Greece into the 2nd world war.
There was a parade in town by military units and school children - all with marching bands. The school bands were made up exclusively of snare and base drums - one from each school, lots and lots of them!
On a bright sunny morning we went into town to watch the spectacle and reeled back after lunch with the drums echoing in our ears!
Actually we were appropriately impressed; the hundreds of school children taking part were without exception smartly turned out and apparently proud of their performance and their schools. The townsfolk in their turn turned out to line the main street through town, standing 3 or 4 deep along the pavements to applaud the marchers.
We are enjoying the atmosphere here. The diverse international group of people manning their boats are particularly friendly and sociable. There is a weekly BYO barbecue on Sundays and various evening functions in the marina bar. However, there is no significant core population staying for the whole winter and methinks it will probably be bleak here in the marina at Christmas/New Year even if the town does keep going.
The weather the last few days has been seriously good and Maggie has even been seen catching rays on the foredeck!
The machinery maintenance is now finished, apart from a misbehaving fridge SW pump which has to be replaced, so we are set for the lift out which has now been brought forward to tomorrow (Thursday). The thinking there is that if we can probably get everything done by Tuesday and then we can leave to go to Athens by bus for a few days before flying home on 6 November.
We are nearly on our way.
Charlie & Maggie Bevis
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