Athens Stories: Olympiad's come home - we're off

Standing on a balcony high over the city as the obligatory fireworks lit the sky and signalled the arrival of 2004, I couldn't have been the only Athens resident to be struck by two things.

First, that - like most cities that have trebled in size in less than two decades - the Greek capital looks a lot better by night. Second, that 2004, the year the Olympics return home, doesn't have the customary feeling of a new arrival.

The date has been omnipresent for years, blaring out from every radio, staring down from every billboard, spilling from the mouth of every public figure and lurking in the background of every conversation. The resulting '04 fatigue has found its best expression in the burgeoning (I-don't-want-to) volunteer movement.

Becoming a non-volunteer is the latest vogue: all you have to do is agree with basic principles such as, "I don't do unpaid work, and certainly not in August". Any Athenian who has wondered why it's necessary to spend four years' worth of the education budget on security for a fortnight's sport can sign up. The true passive resister must follow this final instruction, though: "The (I-don't-want- to) volunteer must already have his ticket for the Olympics. A one-way to the nearest island."...

By Daniel Howden
18 January 2004