| I took a lot more photos but I hope this is enough to give you a "flavour". Monday - shopping November 9th, 2009 Jenny drove us to Rethymnon to do some shopping and get cash from the ATM. Called Eleni to see if she'd arrived back from the UK safely and to see if there was anything she wanted. "Just water". Apparently her freshwater mains supply had been off for over a week! By the time we returned, my wrist (bitten by an insect on Saturday) was inflamed and itching unbearably. It was clearly infected. We dropped the water off at Eleni's then I asked Jenny to continue to the Health Centre at Vamos, where she left me while she drove home to refrigerate the cold food we'd just bought. The white-coated doctor and his two assistants were sitting on a bench outside. They trooped into the building after me and the doctor asked me what was wrong. "Echo ena tseempó." (I have an insect bite.) He looked at it and told me immediately that I needed "antibiotica". I had guessed that. He took my NHS card and copied the information onto a prescription form, which he handed to me. I asked him whether the pharmacy in Vamos would be open. "Until 2:30pm", he answered in Greek then, for clarification, in English: "You have forty five meenits." I thanked him and left, heading for Vamos at a brisk pace. After a kilometer I was feeling hot and tired so I "thumbed the air" at a passing van. The kind driver, bless him, braked to a halt and asked me where I wanted to go. "Sto farmakeeo, greegora" (to the pharmacy, quickly) I told him. "Peraste!" he said (get in). I did so and we sped away, reaching the square in Vamos within a minute and saving me at least twenty. "Efhareestó para polee," I thanked him, and walked across the road to the pharmacy. The pharmacist asked for my address. I replied in Greek. "Endaksee." She punched the details into the computer and announced "twenty seex Yooros." That seemed a bit dear for antibiotic tablets and cream but I pulled out a 50 Euro note. "Wait! Have you seen the paper?" "Huh?" "Where deed I put your prescreeption?" "You wrote on it and then put it next to the computer." I pointed to a pile of prescriptions. She couldn't see it and asked her colleagues to search. Eventually she found it - right where I had pointed. "Ah, I made a meestake. You have eensurance! So the beel ees just seven Euros twenty cents, plees." I handed over a tenner, putting the 50 Euro note and my change back in my wallet. That was more like it! I walked into the square and sat at a table outside a little taverna. The owner came out of nowhere immediately, like a spider sensing a fly on its web. "Éhete kátee na fágo?" I asked him. (Have you anything to eat?) Yes, (in Greek) he had chicken casserole and beef with kástano. I didn't understand the word so he took me to the kitchen and showed me a handful of chestnuts. "Ah, chestnuts!" I said. "Kástano," he replied. I pulled out my notepad, tore out a page, and wrote CHESTNUTS for him. He looked very grateful. (The menus often have very funny English translations so the correct word or phrase is usually appreciated.) I told him (in Greek) that my wife would be another ten minutes. He asked me if I'd like a drink. "Ena Ness frappé me gala, ochee gleekó," I told him. (A Nescafé whipped with ice, with milk, not sweet.) "Ochee Ness," he corrected me. "Ness eena zestee." (Nescafé is hot). OK, I'm learning. So I want simply a "frappé" which is always a cold coffee. I phoned Jenny, who had just unloaded the shopping and was getting into the car to meet me. When she arrived, we ordered the beef with chestnuts. It was very nice, but expensive. The proprietor added to the cost by offering us spinach pies ("spanakópeeta"), which are tiny filo-pastry pasties filled with spinach. After lunch we drove home and I got on with work. Lots of emails to answer and web site changes to make. The weather has been a couple of degrees cooler today, but still very warm. Tuesday - mending the car November 10th, 2009 Yesterday the Peugeot horn wasn't working (again). It has become a constant source of irritation and a Google search reveals that it's a very common fault. The Auto-Electrician in Kalives told me that repair is a "dealer-only" job because it involves airbag removal. I did more research and discovered this is complete rubbish. I used to love to mess with cars but, nowadays, it's just a chore. However, there is NO WAY that I'm going to pay a dealer hundreds of Euros to do a job that I can do myself (and probably better!) The weather is fine, so I did it. The whole job, including photographs and waiting for circuits to discharge, took less than an hour. Dammit but I'm good!  The mains power went off at about 3pm. I shut down the computer gracefully while it was running on UPS power and went to take a siesta. The power came back on a couple of hours later so I re-booted my computer system, only to discover that the external Western Digital "MyBook" Firewire Hard Drive was dead. I swapped the external PSU for a known good one but it still wouldn't power up. I found an interesting discussion HERE. I have taken the case apart and I suspect that the actual drive is fine. Some time when I get bored, I'll get another enclosure and fit it inside. Meantime, since this is just a backup drive, I don't think I've lost any data that matters. I've connected my previous backup drive - a 750GB firewire drive by Seagate. Since the power cut, the water pump is making a strange "whump whump whump" noise each time we run a tap or flush the toilet. I don't know the significance, yet, but I'm sure we'll find out! Midnight. It's raining. I've rolled up the towel across the front door. Time for bed. Wednesday - cold turkey November 11th, 2009 It has been drizzling intermittently, with "sunny spells" in between, and some thunder and lightning for good measure. | 
