Influence

El Presidente's cousin works at the Town Hall so when we mentioned to her that we had put in our application for Building Regulations permission, the cousin said "I'll check it out and see if we can't shake 'em up."  (or words to that effect in Greek). The following day she telephoned and said "If you bring €130 to the Town Hall now, they'll do it next." What Ho, Fink-Nottle! So El Presidente trotted down to Planning HQ, handed over the smackers and The Man says "You can go ahead, this permission is only a formality now, just in case in the years to come somebody thinks about checking up on you." Not likely in Cyprus, methinks. So there we have it; we've contributed to the 'Town Hall' funds but got €20 off the price - so much for my moral dilemma.