People in Britain have
all kinds of hobbies, some of them considered weird, but tolerated with a
shrug. There are also associations of people with specific hobbies. Some people
in Britain watch train coaches, wagons, and locos and make a note of the types,
which they see and even, the identification number on them. Similarly, there
are watchers of ships and aeroplanes. These watchers have regular meetings of
their associations in which they speak about what they have been watching.
While their activities pass off smoothly in Britain, one group had serious problems in Greece.
Oblivious to the consequences of practising their hobby in Greece, this group
perched itself near a Greek military airport with Binoculars, sandwitches, and
drink cans. They noted the numbers and types of the aircrafts which they saw
taking off and landing. The Greek police did not take kindly to this and the
whole lot was rounded up and prosecuted. At the trial, the group pleaded that
watching was their hobby and they meant no harm. Evidence was also produced by them
to show that the “information” noted by them was, in fact, being regularly
given by Greece to all NATO countries and thus was hardly a secret. But the
court took a rather dim view of their defence and awarded them jail terms.
There were strong protests in Britain against this and the incident has sparked
off a diplomatic row between Britain and Greece.
©smsingru June 2002