Cretan Diary - Chapter 29 | |||||||||||||||||||
| About your comments "You seem to be having a horrible time!" No, it's been quite a ride but mostly fun. "Your diary is too detailed!" Feel free to skim it or avoid it altogether. "Your diary is too brief!" I just can't please everyone. "I wet my pants!" To much information. "You should write a book!" I probably will. Look, it's just a diary. I've decided to write a little each day because otherwise I'll forget and it might be something really interesting! In a year I'll probably extract the best parts and turn it into a book. Saturday - A Circular TourOctober 24, 2009 It had rained a little overnight and the forecast was for more rain. We stayed in bed for longer than usual so I didn't walk to the shop for bread and milk until 9:30 am. We decided to go for a ride in the car so Jenny planned the route while I answered emails. It began to rain continuously and dark clouds came overhead. I switched my computer off. We drove to the "Hospital Turning" on the National Highway and headed in the opposite direction from Xania.
The meal was excellent and inexpensive. Monolis asked where we were from and I answered as best I could, in my limited Greek. I wondered if the taverna would remain open all winter. Now, I didn't know the word for winter so I asked Jenny, who is a walking dictionary. She thought it was "heereeno" but I thought that meant "pork". We looked it up and "winter" is actually "heemonas". I'm glad we checked because I'd have looked a bit stupid if I'd asked "are you open all pork?" Anyway, Manolis confirmed that they opened every day except Monday, all year round. We paid the bill and Maria presented us with a bag of oranges as we left. What lovely people!
Back home, the lightning flashed and the thunder rolled. I switched off my computer system and went upstairs to watch a movie on my iPod. Jenny announced that water was coming under the doors. A couple of towels fixed that but I'll have to sort out this (design problem) soon. Jenny squeezed Maria's oranges so we had fresh orange juice with our tea time snack. 11 p.m.. I think the rain has stopped. Have to remember to set our watches. Time for bed.
Sunday - The stormOctober 25, 2009 The thunder, lightning and rain has continued throughout the night. We drove to Georgioupolis for breakfast, only to find "Sinatra's bar" closed. However, we went in the "Naos" next door and were served a wonderful breakfast by a couple who were very pleased by our attempts to speak Greek and happy to help. On our return home, we called at the supermarket and discovered Aspaseea sitting with a battery-powered calculator and a gas lamp. The power was off! It remained off until well after lunchtime then came on - sort-of. Some things worked and some didn't because the voltage (which I measured) was only 140 VAC. My UPS had already died so I connected up my 12 volt caravan battery and ran the system off that. It lasted an hour and a half before it, too, died. The voltage gradually fell to 50 volts and the only thing left working was Jenny's energy-saver desk lamp and the battery charger. I went to bed with my iPod and watched a movie.
Monday - All ChangeOctober 26, 2009 We awoke to a grey sky with the sun attempting to break through. The mains voltage was still low but I managed to check my emails on battery power. We walked to the shop to buy bread and to check for mail. The shop now had a normal electricity supply so I asked if they knew why ours was still low. "There ees a fault." The owner's son went on to say that he didn't know the nature or exact location of the fault but five Electricity company employees had turned up to investigate and had left - promising to return later. We drove to Vamos so Jenny could post a letter to Tim then continued to the electrical equipment supplier in Kalives because I wanted to ask about batteries for the solar energy system. I had a lengthy conversation, with a helpful assistant, in a mixture of English and Greek. He told me to go and look along the "Souda Road to Xania". Off we drove again. On the "Souda Road" we stopped at the Car Sales shop and said "hello" to Yannis. I told him the car was fine but I needed directions to the battery shop. He obliged and we set off again, stopping at a carpet shop to buy a carpet runner for the house, then pulling out into the heavy traffic and finally finding the battery shop. (Good job we can read Greek, otherwise we'd never have found it.) The shop owner showed me a list of extremely expensive batteries which he can order from Athens for me. I'll discuss it with Graeme. We returned to Georgioupolis and had lunch. A family at the next table were speaking with North East English accents (almost "Geordie") and the man spoke to the waiter in Greek, so my ears "pricked up". The waiter asked where they lived then asked "ti kaneis", meaning "what do you do?" The man, however, assumed the other meaning ("how are you?") and said "fine, thanks, but why do you ask?" I sniggered and the waiter explained that he was asking what work the man did. He replied in Greek and I failed to hear or understand what he said. We paid the bill and, as I stood up, I asked the man what work he did. He said he was a builder and general handyman. He gave me a card and wrote an email address on it. It was "Chris@". "So you are Chris?" "No, that's my son - I'm Rod." Then the penny dropped. "Ah, not the Rod who was supposed to phone me back on Friday?" He promised to ring me this week. I expect it will be avrio. As I'd had a beer, followed by a free glass of raki, I asked Jenny to drive. We returned to Vamos and bought some threaded rod ("studding"), brackets and nuts. I'll use these to support the canopy outside the kitchen door. I also asked about a water butt to catch rain. Spiros will get a price and discuss it when he comes on Friday. Back home, the voltage was still hovering around 100 volts and there was a light drizzle. That put paid to any hopes of washing and drying clothes. I had a sudden inspiration and checked the Apple Mac Mini that had come on the van with Terry and Matt. Its power supply could run on any mains voltage between 100 and 240 volts! I checked the monitor and it was the same. The external Hard Drive power supplies also stated "100 - 240vAC". I connected them together, plugged in and, sure enough, they worked perfectly on the 100 volts coming from the socket. Hooray! I had almost completed the two-hour process of transferring files from the big computer when the 'fridge made a happy burp and the voltage returned to a normal 210 volts. It's now after midnight and the voltage has remained steady. Tuesday - We remain Switched-onOctober 27, 2009 I continue to add - and update - software on the Mac Mini. The scanner works, as do the printer and the Apple "iSight" web cam. The water outside is evaporating and it hasn't rained here (yet) - despite the various web sites predicting 40% chance of rain. I got the step ladders from the (damp) shed and tightened the bolt holding the canopy outside the kitchen door. It feels more secure now but I'll have to get the threaded rods installed. We had sandwiches for lunch then went to Unpronouncable Bay to see if the taverna was open. It wasn't but a brave soul was swimming in the sea. We continued on a circular tour. Stopped at Plaka to buy some more Schuko plugs, garden shears and something else (I forget) from the hardware store. Rod (the builder) phoned as we reached Vamos. He was on his way - were we in? No, we're driving through Vamos. So was he! We waited for him to catch up and led him back home. We discussed the list of jobs over a cup of coffee. He will be back next week (we hope) to begin work. He has traced the cause of the damp walls and the water dripping from the Electricity RCB switch box. "No problem". I hope not! I took the "workmate" out of its sopping wet box and read the assembly instructions. Useless. I threw them away and worked from the picture. It seems to be fairly stable but I must have got something the wrong way round because it doesn't fold easily. | |||||||||||||||||||
