Ex Pats and Brummies abroad

[sospiri]

Thanks Viv & Bob. We had one a couple of years ago about 10 miles off the headland to the north east of us and that resulted in a bit of minor shaking. The worst ones seem to occur off the south coast. As you can see, there's plenty of steel reinforcement in the framework of the extension:-


And beneath that concrete base are four 'rooms' that you can't get at. It's all part of the govenment regulations to ensure that the shock is dispersed without damaging the building. Every year they seem to add a greater percentage of steel, so if you don't complete building within four years of starting, it has to be demolished and fresh building regulations will be applied. Looking at pictures of the quake in Albania with its collapsed buildings, there seems to be very little reinforcement at all, and I guess that they were erected 60 or more years ago. Finally a question for you, which is the old goat?


Maurice

 

[Astoness]

glad all is ok over there maurice....shaken but not stirred ehh

lyn x

 

[Radiorails]

A couple of comments.
Regarding the old goat. II couldn't possibly comment!
Regarding the dogs. For a start they do not have any footwear and secondly four feet on the ground is more useful than humans two at times.

 

[Vivienne14]

I think most animals are supposed to detect natural events like earthquakes, tsunamis etc and show it in unusual behaviour before the event strikes. Although I’m no expert.

Viv.

 

[Radiorails]

A member of my family lives in the Far East - along the Ring of Fire. They have almost daily occurrences of tremors, of varying intensity. They feel them, in wooden or fibre chairs when sat on them. Most animals and birds warn of many unusual events; however minor in our opinion.
The birds, for instance, were ready for the total eclipse of 1999. The next total eclipse in the UK is August 2026.

 

[sospiri]

We made the decision not to have any animals, not even goldfish, when we moved here. The goat belonged to one of our Greek neighbours and they've always sought permission before tethering it on the wilder part of our land. Previously the house hadn't been lived in for 25 years, so it wasn't necessary. The goat acts of a free strimmer for a few days and they're generally very friendly. If the grass gets too long, the sheep can't cope with it, though when it is short we generally have a tethered mother sheep and a couple of loose lambs. They're a ball of fun because they take little notice of Mom and want to go off exploring all the time.

Maurice

 

[Smudger]

Thanks Viv & Bob. We had one a couple of years ago about 10 miles off the headland to the north east of us and that resulted in a bit of minor shaking. The worst ones seem to occur off the south coast. As you can see, there's plenty of steel reinforcement in the framework of the extension:-
View attachment 139595

. Finally a question for you, which is the old goat?
View attachment 139596

Maurice

That`s easy mate, goats don't wear a watch. Just kidding!

 

[oldbrit]

When I first got to the USA I worked in Downtown LA California, this was in 1957 they had earthquakes all the time. BUT I was in the really big one in Yellowstone park, I and a girl friend camped out by the Old Faith full when the quake hit in 1959 Bloody bears scratching on our tent and all the roads closed. Scared the heck out of us. Mom Dad in Brum had the California Highway Patrol looking for us, but we were OK dove the MG home to LA California later that week.

 

[Robert Ensor (bob)]

No warning with earthquakes been through a couple one at 8.10 in the morning sitting at a red light the truck started to jump around, I thought someone had jumped on the backend and was bouncing up and down.
The second one was known as the Northridge quake 4.15 am woke us all up the house shaking lights swinging, fetched the fire place off the wall put a huge crack in the ceiling where the stairs went up and we lost some tiles off the roof.
Northridge was bad people got killed sleeping in bed a three floor building collapsed squashing the first floor flat, when the fire department showed up they did not realize it was a three story building they thought it was just a two story.

Edit, I should add I lived clear across the LA basin Northridge for me was at least 40 miles as the crow flies

So I am glad to see old goat pictures on here, also nice to see Crete takes earthquake proofing buildings seriously.

 

[Richard Dye]

Thanks Viv & Bob. We had one a couple of years ago about 10 miles off the headland to the north east of us and that resulted in a bit of minor shaking. The worst ones seem to occur off the south coast. As you can see, there's plenty of steel reinforcement in the framework of the extension:-
View attachment 139595

And beneath that concrete base are four 'rooms' that you can't get at. It's all part of the govenment regulations to ensure that the shock is dispersed without damaging the building. Every year they seem to add a greater percentage of steel, so if you don't complete building within four years of starting, it has to be demolished and fresh building regulations will be applied. Looking at pictures of the quake in Albania with its collapsed buildings, there seems to be very little reinforcement at all, and I guess that they were erected 60 or more years ago. Finally a question for you, which is the old goat?
View attachment 139596

Maurice

Maurice, that's great motivation to get it finished! Right in your wallet.........

 

[wendylee]

Thanks Viv & Bob. We had one a couple of years ago about 10 miles off the headland to the north east of us and that resulted in a bit of minor shaking. The worst ones seem to occur off the south coast. As you can see, there's plenty of steel reinforcement in the framework of the extension:-
View attachment 139595

And beneath that concrete base are four 'rooms' that you can't get at. It's all part of the govenment regulations to ensure that the shock is dispersed without damaging the building. Every year they seem to add a greater percentage of steel, so if you don't complete building within four years of starting, it has to be demolished and fresh building regulations will be applied. Looking at pictures of the quake in Albania with its collapsed buildings, there seems to be very little reinforcement at all, and I guess that they were erected 60 or more years ago. Finally a question for you, which is the old goat?
View attachment 139596

Maurice

Luvv your goat Maurice, we kept milking goats for years when the kids were little as they had allergies, goats are lovely pets. Wendy

 

[Robert Ensor (bob)]

Luvv your goat Maurice, we kept milking goats for years when the kids were little as they had allergies, goats are lovely pets. Wendy

Did they ever get in the house ? bloody things get every where and into every thing but a slice of bread can lead them to most places.

 

[sospiri]

No, Bob, we keep the doors shut, but a friend of mine on Bodmin Moor had several on his holiday estate and when I and my late wife stayed with him and his wife, the goats were forever trying to get stuff out of your pockets.

But they're also very cunning. There are several at North Gorley in the New Forest where there are a few small pools a little over a foot deep. If they think that you are hiding something that they could eat, they will position themselves so that you are between them and the edge of a pool. Whilst you are trying to stop them getting into your pockets they are slowly forcing you towards the edge of the pool without you realising it. Unless you're very quick on the uptake, you could end up with very wet feet. They've never caught me out yet, but I've seen a few tourists with wet feet!

Maurice

 

[wendylee]

Did they ever get in the house ? bloody things get every where and into every thing but a slice of bread can lead them to most places.

Haha Bob when we bred them the babies were allowed in the house for a few weeks when we bottle fed them as the mums milk was used by our family for our children's as they had allergies. They were finally banned from he house when one jumped on the coffee table As our goats were hand reared they were very friendly.

 

[Smudger]

View attachment 139595

Every year they seem to add a greater percentage of steel, so if you don't complete building within four years of starting, it has to be demolished and fresh building regulations will be applied.
View attachment 139596

Maurice

Maurice, it`s interesting what you say about Greek building regs ( building has to be finished within 4 years ) There used to be a time when someone could start building a house, run out of money & leave the job until they`ve saved some more money & then do a bit more & this meant that it could take a very long time to finish the actual building,if ever. I take it that`s no longer the case?

 

[sospiri]

Smudger,

Things have changed a lot in the 15 years that we have lived here. From this year - nominally June, but there is a bit of a backlog in processing - every property must be on the Land Registry, and that means proper plans & photographs with GPS, etc. ,and we now have an Annual Property Tax too.

You can, of course insure all buildings, but you cannot get cover for earthquakes - which almost doubles the premium - on a building of more than one storey if it was built before 1960. Since 1960 all new builds have had to have earthquake provisions, as I explained in post #91. So the south coast of Crete, especially around Ierapetra, has loads of concrete shells of buildings, which were never completed, and can't be now because they are time expired. I'm guessing that in the years to come that we will see a law forcing these to be torn down under penalty of large fines for non-compliance.

But many of the owners of the land no longer live in Greece and may be difficult to trace. Greece has, for a long time, had inheritance laws which mean a fixed percentage of your assets must go to your children and a smaller percentage to your grandchildren. The result of this is that you end up with properties with multiple owners, and in l;aw they are treated equally and all must sign the sale contract before it can be finalised. The first property we looked at in the village had ten owners, including an 80 year old man, who wanted more money. So that sale fell through and we now have a much bigger, but slightly more expensive one, only 50 yards away.

So many foreign buyers have come unstuck because they try to cut corners and do it their way. Believe me, if you don't come unstuck at the time of purchase, you will come unstuck if you try to sell it or leave it in your Will.

Maurice

 

[Radiorails]

The mention of goats jumping and holiday places reminds me of a holiday place - expensive barn conversions - not far from my home in South Devon. I went to pick up a family member from there. At the time I had a red Austin Princess car which had a boot, the boot lid was at an angle, as those familiar with the car will know. For some reason a goat jumped up on the boot. I feared the damage it might have done but when scolded it jumped down to ground and surprisingly left NO evidence that it had ever been on the car.
I guess goats are more fleet of foot than most humans - just look at some of the places that they manage to get to! They will also try to eat almost anything - spitting out what they do not like. I guess their metabolism is a matter of ''taste it and see'?

 

[sospiri]

Yes, Alan, I came across a video of goats climbing a dam wall and am surpised that when Hilary and Tensing reached the summit of Everest that they didn't find a goat up there waiting for them. But I'm now veering off the subject of the thread - my apologies.

Maurice

 

[sospiri]

At 11:58pm here we just felt a 5.4 earthquake that went on for about 7 or 8 seconds. They're still putting the data up, but it was apparently 80 Km deep and about 20 km off the far eastern end of the island, and that would put it about 80km from us. It shook a few things around in the kitchen, but I doubt if it has done any serious damage at that depth.

Maurice

 

[Robert Ensor (bob)]

At 11:58pm here we just felt a 5.4 earthquake that went on for about 7 or 8 seconds. They're still putting the data up, but it was apparently 80 Km deep and about 20 km off the far eastern end of the island, and that would put it about 80km from us. It shook a few things around in the kitchen, but I doubt if it has done any serious damage at that depth.

Maurice

Did Crete not have a huge earthquake about 487 AD I seem to recall that part of the world is prone to plate movement ?.
Stay safe friend will be looking for a goat picture

 

[Robert Ensor (bob)]

Did Crete not have a huge earthquake about 487 AD I seem to recall that part of the world is prone to plate movement ?.
Stay safe friend will be looking for a goat picture

AD 365 a 8.0 I was off by a hundred years

 

[wendylee]

At 11:58pm here we just felt a 5.4 earthquake that went on for about 7 or 8 seconds. They're still putting the data up, but it was apparently 80 Km deep and about 20 km off the far eastern end of the island, and that would put it about 80km from us. It shook a few things around in the kitchen, but I doubt if it has done any serious damage at that depth.

Maurice

Stay safe Maurice, Wendy

 

[sospiri]

Bob & Wendy,

Fine here thanks and I think it was too deep for aftershocks, neither have I heard any reports of damage. I'll look at the drive later as we had all the cracks filled at the beginning of the year. I don't know anything about the 365 AD one, but 8.0 is pretty powerful stuff! Looking at this mornings geological reports, they've now lowered it to 3.0, though I must say it felt stronger than that. Perhaps I shopuld have gone to bed earlier!

Maurice

 

[wendylee]

Bob & Wendy,

Fine here thanks and I think it was too deep for aftershocks, neither have I heard any reports of damage. I'll look at the drive later as we had all the cracks filled at the beginning of the year. I don't know anything about the 365 AD one, but 8.0 is pretty powerful stuff! Looking at this mornings geological reports, they've now lowered it to 3.0, though I must say it felt stronger than that. Perhaps I shopuld have gone to bed earlier!

Maurice

That good to hear Maurice. Hope your inspection of the driveway found all well..no cracks
Wendy

 

[sospiri]

Wendy,

The drive was fine, thankyou, but the Greek Seisomological Institute has amended yesterday's quake back to 5.3

This morning we had one of 4.7, but it only lasted a couple of seconds, but was shallower at 15 Km and about 15 Km off shore of the eastern end of the island. It must be the season for them

Maurice

 

[Robert Ensor (bob)]

Wendy,

The drive was fine, thankyou, but the Greek Seisomological Institute has amended yesterday's quake back to 5.3

This morning we had one of 4.7, but it only lasted a couple of seconds, but was shallower at 15 Km and about 15 Km off shore of the eastern end of the island. It must be the season for them

Maurice

As long as the numbers keep going down on the after shocks .

 

[wendylee]

Wendy,

The drive was fine, thankyou, but the Greek Seisomological Institute has amended yesterday's quake back to 5.3

This morning we had one of 4.7, but it only lasted a couple of seconds, but was shallower at 15 Km and about 15 Km off shore of the eastern end of the island. It must be the season for them

Maurice

We are thinking of you ... Wendy

 

[FNQBRUMMIE]

Ex pats abroad-living in Far North Queensland now and loving it. If you were born and raised in Brum you can never forget your golden memories of growing up in your home city. The places, school, characters/people, family, your football team, clubs, pubs, etc that are now part of your personal history. Proud to be a Brummie.
I have been back a couple of times and this phrase rings true - Distance lends enchantment.

 

[wendylee]

Ex pats abroad-living in Far North Queensland now and loving it. If you were born and raised in Brum you can never forget your golden memories of growing up in your home city. The places, school, characters/people, family, your football team, clubs, pubs, etc that are now part of your personal history. Proud to be a Brummie.
I have been back a couple of times and this phrase rings true - Distance lends enchantment.

Love your post "far north Queensland" I totally agree ,I live in Victoria and I have such vivid and fond memories of my childhood in Brum. still a brummy girl Wendy

 

[mw0njm.]

Pedro,

Having served on the committee of the local foreign residents association for 8 years, I feel reasonably qualified to answer that as far as eastern Crete is concerned. Let's start with a few facts that most people don't take into account before critiicising Brits not learning the local language. Most do try when they first arrive.

1. Greek is, according to the British Embassy, the fourth most difficult language in the world to learn. There is even a book written some years ago with the title "How to Learn Greek in 25 Years". Even most of the numbers have three or more different endings depending upon the gender of the noun(s) they apply to, and the context in the sentence and goodness knows what else. Dialects between the various islands and regions of the mainland vary hugely, not just in spoken Greek, but also in written Greek. Some of those from Athens cannot understand those from other regions - those who fare best are those that were born here and moved to Athens for work at an early age, and return annually for the village ex-pats gathering!

2. Those that get reasonably fluent are those that moved over in the 1980s, took a job when work was more plentiful, and married a Greek and had kids.

3. The majority of Brits who move over are retired, so are immediately at a disadvantage because your memory starts to fail. You just can't remember all the vocabulary because you're not using the words several times a day every day. Many older people are also hard of hearing. My other half has been having continuous lessons since 2005 and is still struggling and she's one of the better students.

So now you are going to ask if I speak Greek. The answer is, in a conversational mode - NO. I'm very deaf and very often struggle to hear my other half speaking English sitting only six feet away from me. I just get tired of asking her and other people to repeat words or phrases, sometimes several times. So whilst I can read some basic Greek, I wouldn't guarantee the translation, but can cope with speaking the usual greeting, please & thank you, etc. I stopped using expensive hearing aids about two years ago as they now tend to make things worse.

If you want to learn Greek, don't move to a tourist town - they will always respond in English rather than listen to you struggle with Greek, though they do appreciate that you are making an effort. I live in a large traditional village where less than half a dozen speak English, but I've got too old to struggle! I can cope with French, and a little Spanish and a little Norwegian. The Greeks are now learning Russian, because the Russian tourists speak nothing other than their own language most of the time.

Maurice

Ouzo, Tsipouro, Raki.,, and Smirnoff

see no probs maurice