Convalesco

When I was younger I was very rigid and inelastic in my opinions about everything regarding fraud, tax evasion or whatever had to do with tricking a system that should be equal for each and everyone.

This year in the army, convinced me that the Greek public sector is a mass of bored, lazy officers that get paid for doing nothing. People that don’t produce value and get paid by the public fund are a disease for a contemporary liberal society. The Greek army is a huge waste of public funds. The civilian that are employed by the army are even worse. They get paid, for doing absolutely nothing. Most of them, enter to the campus in the morning, take a few walks up and down, go outside the campus and do many things that has nothing to do with the campus. Then they get back inside in order to leave, because the working day has over. It’s unbelievable how many of them are like that.

Consider that in Greece, where the population is hardly above 12 million, the public sector has 1.5 million employes. In France where the population is about 64 million the public sector has 400.000 employes and they consider their public sector bloated. In short, in Greece, we are in deep shit.

The cream graduates in Greek universities, crave a place in the public sector. Working for the Greek state, means large salary since day one, no pressure, no surplus risk. The fact that people graduate doesn’t mean necessarily that all of them are good workers. In fact, most of them, will never achieve a similar salary in the private sector. Which means that they are overpaid.

With the lack of Greek’s cream youngsters, almost all of them go public, the private sector can’t grow as it should and cannot compete with the public sector or with the foreign markets. On the other hands, every social community depends largely on the private sector, mostly for the tax payment. In Greece, tax evasion is not even considered a Crime.

Σήμερα το πρωί πήγα Φαλακρό για τέταρτη φορά φέτος. Ο καιρός ήταν περίεργος: ενώ έκανε πολύ κρύο, κι είχε αέρα, άλλες φορές λίγο άλλες πολύ, μπορώ να πω ότι ήταν δύσκολα αλλά φανταστικά! Όταν φυσούσε το αεράκι απαλά, σήκωνε λίγο το χιόνι από το έδαφος, χαμηλά, δημιουργώντας μια αίσθηση, σαν εφέ σε ταινία, ότι βρίσκεσαι κάπου αλλού! Παρόλα αυτά το χιόνι στην επάνω πίστα, γνωστή ως χιονότρυπα, ήταν πάρα πολύ καλό! Μαλακό στο σωστό επίπεδο! Επίσης, πιστεύω ότι λόγο υψόμετρου ήταν η πίστα που είχε το μικρότερο πρόβλημα από την ομίχλη που κατά διαστήματα εμφανιζόταν.

Οι τιμές για τα lift είναι: 17,00 € για όλες τις πίστες σήμερα. Αν ανοίξει και η πίσω πίστα με το δυθέσιο το καρεκλάκι η τιμή για όλες θα είναι 20,00 €. Οι τέσσερις πίστες μπροστά έχουν τιμή 12,00 € ενώ οι δύο baby έχουν 5,00 €. Υπάρχουν διευκολύνσεις εάν επιδείξετε φοιτητική ταύτότητα. Αν πιστεύετε ότι θα πάτε πάνω από 5 φορές αξίζει να αγοράσετε το διαρκείας της σεζόν, που κοστίζει 100,00 €. Στις ταβέρνες του Βόλακα, το χωριό που βρίσκεται στους πρόποδες του βουνού, μπορείτε να φάτε πολύ καλά σε ανεκτές τιμές.

Αν είμαι τυχερός ίσως καταφέρω να πάω και στο Bansko φέτος για πρώτη φορά. Σήμερα συναντήσαμε 15 άτομα από Βουλγαρία με σανίδες και σκι. Από όσο μας είπαν στο Bansko είχε υπερβολικά πολύ κόσμο και δεν μπορείς να ευχαριστηθείς τις πίστες γι αυτόν τον λόγο(!). Ελπίζω τον Φεβρουάριο που θα πάει η παρέα μου να έχει σπάσει λίγο η κατάσταση. Φέτος ήταν να πάμε στο Ischgl για “λευκή εβδομάδα¨αλλά δεν ήταν δυνατό να πάω λόγο υποχρεώσεων προς την πατρίδα. Ελπίζω του χρόνου να μην έχουμε τέτοια προβλήματα!

Σήμερα για πρώτη φορά, δοκιμάσαμε με τον φίλο μου να κάνουμε, ollies και αλματάκια “air to fakie” στα οποία δεν μπορώ να πω ότι τα καταφέραμε και πολύ καλά! Τα άλματα όμως, στην πορεία τα έχω χαλαρά . Το θέμα με το “air to fakie” είναι ότι πρέπει να κάνεις την κίνηση πολύ γρήγορα, κι όταν είσαι με τις φτέρνες είναι πολύ πιο δύσκολο από όταν είσαι με τις μύτες των ποδιών. Βέβαια στο γράφημα ο τύπος πάει ευθεία, έχοντας κάτω ολόκληρη την σανίδα, πράγμα που σπάνια κάνουμε γιατί είναι επικύνδινο. Κατά τα άλλα αν κι άλλαξα soft boots κατάφερα να προσαρμοστώ σχετικά γρήγορα με τις καινούριες και οι καταβάσεις μου είναι αρκετά καλές. Η σανίδα “ακούει”. Του χρόνου όμως θα πάρω και μια ακόμη. Δυστυχώς δεν μπόρεσα να πάρω μαζί μου την βιντεοκάμερα για λήψεις στο χιόνι, next time…

The first day of snowboarding went very good. I attached my iPod Touch on my inside shirt, along with a cloth case wrapped around my neck and I was all set! I was about to ride alone all day long because my friend is a ski teacher and during the day he is busy teaching ski to aspirant skiers

I made a few rides on the baby and average tracks. I was visibly improved since the last time I went to Falakro mountain. Last year I went only a few times there. The tracks that once seemed hard to go through, now are easier. Especially where the snow is compact. Going in the wild is the true nature of snowboard though. I tried a few rides in the end of the day on the wild part of the mountain where the snow is not being compacted.

When riding on the wild part of the mountain, the real danger are the stones. You can’t tell where are you going to hit if you fall. Your head may turn into tomato juice easily if you crash it on to a snow covered stone! Apart from that, the dynamics are very different and your quadriceps will feel the hit as they are going the pressure really bad compared to compact tracks. You see in the wild, you won’t find a fine tuned track, so you must be familiar with fast speed ups and downs. It’s really hard to keep a linear pace, while it’s even harder to go slow . You see, if you go slow in the wild, your snowboard will probably go under the snow and you’re stack. If the snow is enough to hide your knee, in short you’re fucked up. Note, that in declivity and conditions parity, you will go much faster in the compact track. You will turn much more easily in the compact track also. That’s not because turning in the wild is so much more difficult, it’s more because the wild surface is not smooth (by definition is not). In some circumstances and some European tracks it is though, although wild, purposely not compacted, the snow surface of the track is smooth enough to allow boarders easy, spectacular rides.

There are a few really helpful guides at “ABC of Snowboard” website. You can take a look in order to get more familiar with the steps in order to achieve enlightenment. The guides and especially the graph that shows the moves can be helpful for novice boarders. If you see me riding some tracks, I may seem a good rider however I still can’t make a proper Fakie which causes troubles when I have to rider to the wild. I can do Olies, but I can’t do them easily at high speeds. If you haven’t try small olies before you’ll see that the board flows easily and securely by it self, if you keep it calm. I’m talking about a medium, good board. Not about many rental monstrosities that are called boards by rental services. Keep that in mind when you are about to choose the board for the first time, in order to try snowboard. A good board can ride you by itself while a bad one can’t turn properly even with the best riders. A good board absorbs the surface anomalies without much harassment.

The snowboard season has began. Tomorrow I’ll go snowboarding in Falakro, the town’s ski resort. I can’t wait to ride the snow. I need to improve some aspects of my style and get more familiar with higher speed. This year I will try to learn good Fakies and Ollies on the run. I fancy mostly long rides through the mountains in a medium-fast speed, bypassing small obstacles smoothly. Something like “Gran Tourismo” on the mountain, even more than doing aerial tricks on a snow park! I had the chance to do some mountain long riding sessions in Grindelwald, Swiss a year ago with a couple of friends. I’d like to go to Ischgl, Austria this year, but I don’t think that will be possible.

This year I need to buy new big foot boots for my board. Next year I will buy a new board. It’s already 4 years that I own this one. I believe that it’s a good board although I’m not an expert. My board is a Oxygen Supreme board. It’s stiff, I like it! It’s not for beginners but I’ve learn with that and I dislike using lighter boards.

Our mountain is one of the best, if not the best, in Greece because it has no trees at all. Falakro (Φαλακρό) in Greek means bald. So it’s a bald mountain! The topography is very good for beginners and average snowboard riders. The advanced riders can go on the wild part of the mountain which is plenty. The snow quality is acceptable even for the demanding boarders this season.

There are a few accommodations next to the mountain, at the village called Volakas, famous for worldwide marbles export. Other solutions are my hometown, Drama or the village near to the mountains called Neurokopi, widely known for the low temperatures, the lowest in Greece I suppose. The food is very good, especially the meat. There are many traditional places to eat around the mountain. I’ll post a more detailed review as soon as I have more info about the food and accommodations.