| As it overlooked the military installations in Souda Bay, there was a sign saying "Photographing Forbidden" so I took a photo of this sign, in the car park, instead. I think it means "don't drop banana skins". | 
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| Jumbo is comparable with "Wilkinsons" in England and it's pronounced "Tsambo" by the locals, since there's no "J" sound in the Greek language. | 
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| After an hour's shopping, we went to locate a nearby warehouse that sells aluminium extrusions. We had lunch in the taverna opposite. | 
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| On the way home we collected the post from the supermarket. One package was the replacement door catch for our spare washing machine. |
| What's the catch? The "catch" is that there's a darn big spring attached and everything has to be clipped together while pushing against it. The job required a lot of skill and swearing but I did it - ohee provleema. And I'm modest, too.  | 
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| I collected two telephone bills with the package. One is for the previous house owner and is for 50 cents. I don't think I'll argue about it. The other is for me - 67 Euros for phone and Internet, for the period 16-09-09 to 15-11-09. I'll wander down to the OTE office in Vamos to pay it one day soon. Probably "met'avrio". Saturday 5th - We Visit Kissamos December 5th, 2009 This morning it was raining, the telephone wasn't working and the Internet connection was "intermittent" - to put it mildly. I'd better go to the OTE office on Monday. Jenny searched the Internet for somewhere to go. "It's always sunny at Kissamos," she discovered, so off we went. Darn me, as we approached, the rain stopped and we had clear blue sky overhead. All around were dark clouds but Kissamos was perfectly dry! |
| We parked near the sea at Kissamos and walked along the "promenade". There wasn't much to see apart from closed tavernas and smoking factories in the distance. It was all a bit desolate. | 
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| We drove closer to the town centre and had a wander around the shops. Jenny bought a calendar and we stopped for drinks at a café before driving home. A round trip of around 140km. Ah, well. At least we can say we've been. Sunday 6th - Breakfast at Georgioupolis December 6th, 2009 This morning it was raining, the telephone still wasn't working and the Internet connection was working - mostly. |
| As usual, we drove to Georgioupolis for our Sunday breakfast. We parked the car near the river. It couldn't have been much wetter if we'd parked it IN the river! | 
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| The streets were deserted. Where was everyone? | 
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| The taverna was closed! Maybe the whole town has closed for winter? We walked further and found that "Tito's" was open, so we ordered an English breakfast there from a pretty young girl called "Youryeea" (Georgina). | 
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| As people gradually appeared, carrying chunks of bread, we realised that they'd all been to church. After breakfast we walked in search of the table-top sale at "The Oasis" bar. | 
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| As we arrived, the rain came down with a vengeance. (I told Jenny we should have driven there!) So we bought some marmelade and mince pies, then chatted with Eleni until the rain stopped. | 
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| The little trains were still in the same places, parked up for winter. | 
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| I guess they'll remain here until May when the tourist season begins. | 
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| We went for a walk along the promenade. The sky was filled with black clouds but it wasn't particularly cold. More like Redcar in summer! | 
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| It was tempting to go for a paddle. Now, let's see, do we want a salt water or a fresh water paddle? | 
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| Freshwater was cascading off the flooded roads and diluting the sea. | 
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| One last photo then back to the car before the heavens opened! | 
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| Back home we found that water was pouring under the front door again. Damn damn DAMN! It must be due to the wind direction. I'll have to discuss this with the builders. The Internet connection is becoming worse! Monday 7th - The Fertility Shop December 7th, 2009 It has been a dry day but overcast. Not really cold enough to need a jacket. In fact I've worn nothing on top of my shirt today. The locals are going around in woolly jumpers and dufflecoats, of course! This morning I couldn't send emails at all. I skipped breakfast and we drove straight to Vamos to the OTE (telephone company) office. I paid the bill and explained that we were having problems. The helpful lady gave me the "emergency number" to phone from my mobile. She speaks virtually no English but my Greek is steadily improving so we had no communication problems. Jenny and I walked to the Post Office to send packages and cards to England. One of Jenny's parcels weighed more than 2kg and would have cost over 35 Euros to send! The Post Office clerk was very helpful and I thanked him for speaking English. He complimented me on my Greek! Jenny will re-pack the items in two separate boxes. We went to the hairdresser to book an appointment for tomorrow at 10:30am. (Not for me, obviously!) |
| Then we bought bread and went back to the car. We drove to Kaleeves where there is a "Fertility Shop". (No kidding - look at the sign.) Jenny took an olive branch from one of our two trees. It was heavily encrusted with a fungus-like growth. | 
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| Jenny spoke Greek but the shop assistant helpfully replied in very fluent English. He explained that our tree was suffering from a bacterial infection. It could not be cured so the only thing to do was to wait for a fine day with a good forecast for the following days then prune the affected branches right off. He sold us some copper salts which had to be mixed with water and sprayed over the entire tree, immediately after pruning. I thanked the man, in Greek, for speaking English. He replied that we would always get a good reaction if we spoke first in Greek and that practice was a good thing. I have to agree. We do try to speak in Greek first, we usually DO get a helpful reply and our Greek IS improving with practice (although it may be hard to tell right now - but give it a year!) We returned home. I phoned the OTE "emergency number" and got through to a girl who was probably in Athens. I had to explain where I was and what the problem was. She told me there was a general problem in this area and it was being looked at. She took my home number and my mobile number in case they needed to contact me. Sounds promising. Greek phone numbers are read out in pairs like "twenty three, thirty four, fifty five". (We used a mixture of Greek and English since she spoke "only ay leetle Eengleesh".* I'm so grateful that all these nice people are willing to speak a little English. It makes communication a lot easier while we learn the language.) *I am not making fun of them. I just like to remind you that they usually speak English with a typical European accent - usually not hard to understand and somewhat endearing. Oh, boy. Now I have to wait till the Internet Router LED flickers into life and try to upload this before it winks out again! |
| Since I couldn't do any real work, we decided to go to the restaurant above our "IN-KA" supermarket for evening dinner. After a nice meal, with local wine and raki, we were presented with mandarin oranges, fresh from the tree! | 
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| Questions from a "Yank": Please explain what "Jenny needs a paddle" means to this Yank. "To paddle" means stomping around and getting your feet wet. A favourite British pastime - bearing in mind that British seas are generally way too cold to plunge any deeper than your ankles! And, when you find the time between answering your customer's questions, and walking up the hill to get bread (why don't you get two of them at one time?)... It's freshly made bread without additives, so it doesn't keep long. That's the price you pay for healthy eating. ...please go to my new webpage http://www.Shmedling.com and maybe make a suggestion as how I can get some traffic. OK, maybe if everyone who reads this can send that link to ten of their friends...  |
| Tuesday 8th - Olive picking December 8th, 2009 We awoke, freezing cold, to hear the bleeping of the UPS. The power had gone off. Jenny went downstairs and had to go outside in her nightie to throw the main switch in the meter cupboard. The breaker on the office power supply had also tripped but I couldn't find a reason for any of this, although I suspected that water in the kitchen electricity box might have something to do with it. Of course it meant that the central heating had gone off and so had my computer. With power restored, everything worked as normal, except the 'phone (still dead) and the broadband (still very intermittent). We had breakfast then drove to Vamos for Jenny's hair appointment. We posted the parcels at the Post Office and collected a parcel that was waiting there. It turned out to be a lovely "Christmas Hamper" from Carl. What a thoughtful boy! While Jenny went to the hairddresser, I drove to the Plumber's shop and paid the balance for our central heating system. Then I parked in the car park and walked to a coffee shop where I sat near two elderly men and ordered a "frappé". One of the old men turned to me and said "did you want that cold or hot?" in perfect American English. I was very surprised and said "cold - frappé". "I thought so," he said. "I think she believes you want it hot." He explained that he'd lived for some time outside Crete and had learned to speak English. "I am using it more and more, nowadays." He didn't say why but I assume it's because of the large influx of foreigners like myself. His friend then made a comment in broken English. "Milai ta Angleeka!" I said, surprised. "Oh, yes, he has an English girlfriend," said the first old gentleman. I shook my head in disbelief. I thought I'd sat next to two typical elderly Cretan men and it turned out that they were well-educated, spoke English, and one had an English girlfriend! At that moment Jenny appeared with a new hairdo so I introduced her. She ordered a cup of tea. We drank, exchanged pleasantries with the men, then headed home. |
| "We need bread," reminded Jenny. As we approached the supermarket I noticed two parked vans marked "OTE" (the telephone company) and a man up a ladder. | 
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| I parked the car next to the "IN-KA" supermarket then ran back up the hill, just in time to see the OTE men making a run for it! | 
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| They were both reversing towards the square... | 
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| ... from whence they sped off towards Vamos... | 
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| ... leaving their ladder behind. I guess they'll be back "avrio". I walked back to the supermarket and chatted with Aspaseea while Jenny picked out a brown loaf. We could have bought it in Vamos but we try to support our supermarket as much as possible. We don't want it to close down! | 
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| As we reached home, we saw three young men who had been working on the new building opposite, washing themselves in the muddy pool. I invited them into our kitchen to use the tap but they saw our hose pipe, attached it to the outside tap, and proceeded to hose themselves down in the road - hands, boots and heads! I told them (in broken Greek) that they were welcome to use it any time they wished. They thanked us and walked back, dripping, towards their vehicles. Indoors, the broadband Internet was working and downloading a TV programme from my UK computer! It continued to work for half an hour before stopping again. It's not looking very good now but I'll try to upload this as soon as it works again. |
| Jenny went into our neighbours' garden to pick a bucketful of olives from their tree. | 
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| They gave us permission because they are staying in England during the winter and the olives will be ruined by the time they return. |
| It's 2pm and clouds are gathering over the mountains, although there's clear blue sky over the sea. It will be dark in a couple of hours. | 
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| Wednesday 9th - Walk around Plaka December 9th, 2009 |
| This morning we had been invited to join Geoff for a walk around Plaka, which is near the coast overlooking Souda Bay. Rain was forecast for the afternoon so we had to be there by 10am. | 
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| Breathtaking views. | 
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| Caves. | 
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| Glorious weather! | 
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| After the walk we sat at a caffeneio and had a drink. After a half-litre of "Mythos" I couldn't drive so Jenny took over and we went to the cash machine in Almereetha before heading home. We called at the glass factory to see if they were making Christmas tree baubles but they weren't. I think they missed a trick, there. |
| We saw a car with traditional "handbrake". | 
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| At home the broadband had stopped working completely so I had a siesta. 9pm the Broadband is still not working.  I'll watch some TV then go to bed. It's too late to go pestering neighbours to use their Internet connection. Thursday 10th - Internet! December 10th, 2009 A small amount of rain appears to have fallen overnight but none got into the house. A storm is predicted for today. No sign of it yet. It's a bright, sunny day with an outside temperature of 14 degrees in the shade. Warm enough to sit outside in the sunshine with the minimum of clothing. Still no Internet so I loaded up my shoulder bag with my iBook (laptop), mains extension cable and charger, and dragged it up the hill to the supermarket. I bought bread and asked Aspaseea if I could go upstairs to the restaurant to use the wireless broadband. She told me that Manolis (her son) would be unlocking in half an hour if I wanted to wait. I sat at a table downstairs to see if I could get a signal. I couldn't get anything. It seemed that my wireless connection card was "playing up" (again). I trudged home in a dark mood, added a long Ethernet cable to my bag and phoned Eleni to say I was on my way. Jenny asked me to hang out the washing first but I did it all wrong so she took over. I left her listening to Terry Wogan on BBC Radio 2 via the satellite TV connected to my computer. He will retire soon and Jenny is very sad about that. I wonder if he'd like a holiday on Crete? At Eleni's the wireless card perked up and appeared to be working but I didn't trust it and connected the cable to her router. I sat for over an hour, reading through 107 messages and orders, with more arriving before I'd finished. At 1pm I headed home and arrived as our 'phone and broadband came back to life! We drove to Almereetha and had a nice lunch at our favourite taverna there. On the way back we stopped at the furniture shop (turned out to be run by English people) to look for a tall shelf unit with doors. There was nothing suitable so we'll probably have to get Manolis to make it for us. On our return, the broadband was still working perfectly so I did some more work. At 4pm some local British friends arrived so I stopped work for an hour while we talked. I'm going to upload this then check my computer in the UK to see if it has recorded any TV programmes while I have been unable to connect. I missed the very last "I'm a Celebrity" program but I have discovered that the Italian chef won and that the Australian authorities want to prosecute him for killing, cooking and eating a rat. How utterly stupid! Here in Greece he would get a medal! Maybe they should hold the next show here. There are some fairly disgusting insects and plenty of vermin - not to mention feral cats. We're a bit short on rain-forest, however. |
