A Long Drive from Ireland To Crete!
A long journey to Greece awaits three local men who are aiming to raise up to 5,000euro for Down Syndrome Ireland.
Richard O’Brien, owner of Millennium Cabs, based at South Main Street, Naas, will be accompanied by Alan Curtis of Ballycane and Paul Leeson.
The trio will drive from Naas to Greece along a route that will take them through Dublin, Holyhead, Dover, Calais and on to France, Germany and Austria.
“We estimated the 6,000-mile round trip will take about four days to complete and we will also drive through Slovenia, Crotia, Macedonia and Albania before we get to Greece,” said Richard. They will then take an 11-hour ferry to the Island of Crete.
He added that the group will pay their own expenses which means that all of the money raised will go directly to DSI.
The drive is being named in honour of Derek Gleeson, the late son of Mick and Rita Gleeson of Elmwood. Twenty-one-year-old Derek had Down’s Syndrome.
The group hope to raise 2,500euro and are hopeful that a local bank will match the amount they generate.
- Source: Leinster Leader
- Location: Kildare
In An Effort To Stimulate Tourism – Greece Is Dropping The Regional Airport Fees.
Starting this month, April, and running for six months, the Greek government recently decided to suspend airlines’ slot fees at the country’s regional airports, as part of the plan to support the tourism sector in what is expected to be a very difficult year for Greece.
“The move is aimed at providing more incentives to international tour operators to design their travel packages for Greece under more favourable prices and not to reduce charter flights to the country,” Transport Minister Evripides Stylianidis and Tourism Development Minister Costas Markopoulos said in a joint news conference.
The move for now concerns domestic flights, and – according to Stylianidis, extending it for the entire year is not out of the question. The possibility of cutting slot fees at the Athens International Airport, however, was not being considered at the moment.
Do You Really Want To Learn To Speak Greek?
Do you really want to ’speak Greek’? No, I mean DO YOU REALLY WANT TO LEARN TO SPEAK GREEK? I will say that again very slowly in case you have a problem understanding the question, Do… you… really… want… to learn… to speak… Greek?
If the answer is ‘No,’ then ‘Goodbye’, this information is not for you.
If the answer is ‘YES’, then read on my friend because I know that you are serious about being able to speak Greek.
So, now that both you and I know exactly what you really want to do, and that is, be able to understand what is being said to you in the Greek language, and be able to answer, with, if not perfect, but perfectly understandable Greek words, then there are three simple rules.
RULE NUMBER 1 – WANT TO LEARN
Now, wanting to learn something is not the same as actually learning something. It isn’t enough if you see what I mean. It’s like wanting to eat pasta, well, unless you go and buy some pasta and get cooking or unless you order pasta in a restaurant, or unless someone puts it in front of you, then you will never eat pasta. AND… unless you transfer the pasta to you mouth then you will sure as hell, never understand what pasta really tastes like.
And being able to speak Greek is very similar. First of all, all those Greek words have got to be in front of you before you can put them into your mouth and digest them. You have got to risk being so full of Greek words that you end up dreaming about them, because unless you feed in the sounds then you won’t know the sounds and you won’t be able to put out the sounds. Am I making sense? This ‘wanting’ to learn to speak Greek has to become a passion. Try learning to play the piano. You will find that it is not so difficult at first but then those tricky little passages come along and the only way to make your fingers do what the notes say is to go over that little two bar fiddly bit maybe 100 times before you can crack it, at the right speed, and in the right tempo, it is the same with language. The only way to make your tongue do what you want it to is to say words over and over and over again. So, rule number two coming up.
RULE NUMBER TWO – SPEAK OUT LOUD AND SHOUT OUT LOUD.
Teach yourself Greek. Now, in this day and age with modern technology, this is entirely possible. If you never ever met a fluent speaking Greek person, with the aid of books and audio sessions it is a most achievable thing and this is where rule number three comes in.
RULE NUMBER THREE – LEARN SOMETHING EVERY DAY.
Remember that no child speaks perfect English, and neither do most adults. An infant imitates sounds but it isn’t until writing comes into the equation that children understand the word exactly. And look how long it takes after that, and how many essays, before University standard is achieved. Hundreds of people never make that standard, but that does not mean to say that they cannot speak a language and be understood. So a sentence like: “Them there words don’t mean nothing to me” is understood even though the correct way to say it would be: “Those words don’t mean anything to me”. Don’t be afraid of getting things wrong. Say what you know and follow Rule number four.
RULE NUMBER FOUR – NEVER GIVE UP.
Jane’s Vrahassi- MEANWHILE LIFE IN VRAHASSI GOES ON March 7, 2010
- Vrahassi Information Board
- DO YOU HAVE A TOURIST BUSINESS IN CRETE? February 24, 2010
- DOCTOR YANNIS IS BACK IN VRAHASSI EVERY FRIDAY MORNING February 16, 2010
- NEW TIME FOR DOCTOR IN VRAHASSI January 12, 2010
- A NEW YEAR'S GIFT FOR YOU! January 1, 2010
- LARGE BUILDING PLOT FOR SALE WITH VIEW OF SELINARI GORGE December 28, 2009
- JANE’S FLOWERS OF CRETE
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- Monday Walk to 'Pezoulia' April 27, 2009This time we were amazed by new discoveries. Each week the different flowers can be found. Join us next Monday at 10 a.m. for another botanical day out. […]
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- A CALENDER OF FLOWERS. April 15, 2009APRIL - Orchid HeldreichiiMARCH - Orchid HeraeFEBRUARY - Cyclamen JANUARY - Iris unguicularis subsp. cretensis. […]
- THE RED PALM WEEVEL November 14, 2009