The Association of Parents at the 2. Elementary School on the island of Skiathos, Sporades, decided to close the school due to lack of heating oil. The parents decided to do so because the municipality delayed the creation of the school committee with the effect that no heating oil can be supplied.
There is a total of 143 pupils attending the school. (zougla.gr)
In this winter of strict austerity and empty state registers, the supply with heating oil is problematic in many state institutions. In some schools heating works with the minimum of capacity. I know a case where the teaching stuff at a university was asked to make contributions in order to buy heating oil.
Not to mention the many households that are unable to pay heating oil supplies.
Walking in my neighborhood last night, I smelled the fire wood burning. Thank God to the modern style of building multi-storey flats with fireplace, this year, Greeks can use cheaper alternatives to the expensive heating oil and natural gas.
That story about Skiathos I do not understand. Are you saying oil could not be bought because of some red tape thing? A.i. the not creating of a ‘school committee’??? If it where my children I would hunt down those officials and have them sign the damned papers at gun point!!! Or better, less violent, get oil the oil out of their private oiltanks and fill the schooltank with it. Are they totally mad?! But I hope I misunderstood.
We also have filled up with only 200 litre and I am in house and office dressed like an eskimo. 🙂 You might need to update your item about a computer mouse in hot weather to how to use in freezing cold. Mittens are not a real solution. Cold is relative, but I am typing this in 13 degrees Celsius in the office. And when sitting that’s awfully low.
Heating regime is now like this: 15 minutes in the morning and late afternoon in the office to get the temperature a bit up (and at the same time heating the boiler). And about 1 hour in the living spaces and also lighting the fireplace which will burn out by the time I go to bed. And no, I won’t describe how I manage there. Let’s say it is not a pretty sight. 😉
But at 1 euro/l and income way down for most around it is clear that heating is put on the back burner. We are lucky in having a lot of inexpensive wood around and a lot of people even heat on olive mill pomace. Their whole home stinks of burned olive, but hey! It’s warmth.
I do remember, when living in Athens, that wood was expensive en of terrible quality. And I knew people who spend their whole winter in one room under a blanket.
There is one big concern though: I’m afraid that we are in for an old fashioned thick black smog winter. Because there are hardly high quality fire places installed here and the air will be polluted big time. So let’s hope for high temperatures and constant high winds.
Last minor point: isn’t there a still current law that forbids burning things like wood in Athens? I can’t find it, but seem to remember that it was a law introduced to reduce the huge air-pollution somewhere end sixties or seventies?
they haven’t forbidden burning fire place wood. Such law normally refer to charcoal for heating.
Ah, thank you for clearing that up… Pity, now the lignite mines will be privatized it would have been a cheap alternative. Deadly but cheap. 😀
Guess the GENOP-DEH will make itself even more popular if it will go ahead with the rolling 48-hour strikes? For those people who have just an electrical heater or, even worse, an airco, it will be horrible. Not?
we’ll freeze like all the poor around the world. yes, the lignite could be the cheap but death sure solution. sorry for my sarcasm.