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.

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.