No Greek street scene would be complete without an unfinished building on the go such as the one on the right in Skiathos town. Houses are often left half finished like this, some for years at a time. Builders may turn up from time to time for a brief flurry of cement mixing, but then they leave the half-built homes for weeks, months, even years. Greeks love concrete. They pour the stuff everywhere, usually very badly.
Wet cement is tamped down with old bits of wood and open gaps abound.
The results are uneven, unsightly mess - sometimes barely believable. Fortunately the Government decided in 1997 to clamp down on shoddy and indiscriminate building. What a pity it was not done 20 years ago to save everyone the breeze block squalor that typifies so much of the country today. It is usually left to holiday reps to break the bad news on the coach ride from the airport - when it is too late to do anything about it. Visitors are told to never, ever put toilet paper down the lavatory bowl.