• When the Greek locals have had enough of all the foreign visitors to the Olympic Games and want to make their feelings known, they often retreat into their own language, confident that foreigners will not understand. One volunteer helping visitors to Athens found himself confronted by a Japanese asking why the clearly available sunshades were not open to provide protection against the Greek summer sun. “Because the wind would blow them over,” the volunteer answered in English. And in Greek he added: “Why don’t you hang about until the evening holding onto the thing, then you can open it yourself?”
Inedible
• Complaints are mounting in Athens over the poor food. Officials and journalists are being provided with half-frozen sandwiches and meatballs full of rice flour to make them go further. “The food of the Olympic catering is simply inedible,” the Ta Nea newspaper reported. The sportsmen and women in the Olympic Village are, however, satisfied with what they are receiving. Gourmets are having a poor time of it in Athens. As US media have reported, the best restaurant at the main Olympic Stadium is an American fast food restaurant. Mind you, it’s the only one.
Noises Off
• Athletes and spectators alike are complaining about the noise generated by two blimps hovering constantly over the Olympic Stadium. The noise of their propellers becomes inaudible only when Greek athletes are running, jumping or hurling. The US network NBC is using one of the airships to take aerial shots of the events, while the other is being used by the security services. One 100-meter heat had to be delayed as a result of the noise, leading the Eleftherotypia newspaper to ask whether they couldn’t do their work a little higher — and perhaps slightly to one side.
Discount
• A small “discount market” in unwanted Olympic tickets is being operated by Britons and Australians on Monastiraki Square in Athens’ Old City. The market is offering tickets not taken up by sponsors at half-price and even less. Local police officers were at first unable to decide on the legality of it. Their legal advisers told them that, while a black market in more expensive tickets is illegal, selling cut-rate tickets is in order.
