Cretan Diary - Chapter 49

Friday 5th - We don't go for a Talk

March 5th, 2010

I hauled myself off to the shower before 8am. The water was barely warm.

Jenny went into the garden to have another go at burning the bougainvillea cuttings. I suggested putting a couple of logs beneath, to get it going.

Found a bug under a rock.

I went onto the roof to have another look for the rainwater entry point. Noticed this "speeral" pipe on the solar heating tank. It was open-ended, with a token amount of "silly conny" smeared around it. I sealed it properly.

This speeral goes directly into the wall, below which is the electricity switch box. Fingers crossed but I think I've finally fixed it!

It's only 15'C in the shade but it felt darned warm up on the roof!

We both have sore eyes now. Definitely an allergy. Jenny made breakfast and we both took a "piritese" tablet.

Spring is Sprung
The grass is riz
I wonder where
The birdies is

(Actually, there are birds everywhere. Birdsong is all around. Quite a contrast from summer, when all you will hear is cicadas (tsee tsee kee).

We are planning to go to a talk at Aptera, to be given by a musician, later this morning.

Jenny's phone rang. It was a parcel carrier from Xaniá. He will meet us in the square at either noon or 2pm (Jenny isn't sure - he had a strong accent). Jenny doesn't want to go to the talk anyway, so we have cancelled our plans to do that and we'll go to Kaleeves instead.

12:50pm. We visited several shops in Kaleeves, to get insecticide for the orange tree, pharmaceuticals, paint and food. Cool outside in the shade but feels very hot in the sunlight.

Jenny made me a sandwich. I ate it while I answered emails.

2:30pm. Jenny has just returned with a large box. She had a call asking her to meet the delivery driver in the village square and drove up there. The box is from (I think) "Lakeland". This is their second attempt to get it here.

While Jenny was out, I climbed a ladder and touched up the paintwork on the wall above the kitchen door. I knew the polythene gloves would come in handy.

There was a ladybird in our office. I carried it outside.

5:10pm. Just awoke from my siesta. Feels chilly but the temperature indoors is still 20.7'C.

6:30pm. Jenny has gone to the quiz night. I'm not going because I can't tolerate cigarette smoke AND hayfever together. We've stocked up on "piritese" equivalent and I've stopped sneezing - for now.

7:30pm. Outdoor temperature is 13'C. Indoors it's 19.8.C. I may have to switch the central heating on. I'm hugging my oil-filled electric radiator. Think I'll make a hot drink.

Down to 19.0'C. I'm watching a movie while monitoring emails.

Midnight. Jenny arrived home and says that petrol is now 1.50 Euros per litre in Vamos.

Saturday 6th - Car Crash

March 6th, 2010

Arose early and had breakfast. Jenny received a text message from Carl to say that he had skidded on ice at a roundabout and was in hospital for x-rays!

We're going out now. More news later.

Jenny's report:

Phone Calls!

Phone calls are rare here, so when my phone bleeped to indicate a text message I got a thrill of anticipation, before realising it would probably be yet another junk message from Vodafone telling me I may have won a Mercedes. How wrong could I be. It was from Carl:

"I crashed my car this morning. I'm in hospital. I've had X-rays, waiting for results..."

It is easy to forget, here in the sunshine, how icy it still is in England. He was on his way to work at 5.30am and skidded on ice on a notorious roundabout which Mike has had dealings with before. We exchanged a few frantic texts wherein Carl assured us he was fine, but his beloved car was dead beyond repair. I tried to phone Carl, but my mobile informed me I didn't have enough credit left! Mike got in touch with friend Terry in England who promised to offer any help he could to Carl. Carl was discharged from hospital later in the morning with a chipped vertebra and a note for work stating he needs 2 or 3 days rest then no heavy lifting for a few weeks. The vertebra will heal by itself in 6 weeks. At the moment he is at his girlfriend Louise's house 'resting' while she shops for pain killers.

Mike and I were getting ready to go out, but before we got through the door the house phone rang. It was our friend inviting us over for a curry this evening. We had to decline as, unfortunately, neither of us likes curry. I thanked him for his offer and said we'd see him tomorrow morning at breakfast.

Off we went to do some "man shopping." Mike wanted to find the Plumbers' Union and Electricians Union shops. I was happy to go along with that as there were places on the way I could divert him to. With petrol at Harrees's at E1.50 a litre I kept saying, "we might as well go there now because we may not be able to afford to drive this far ever again."

We passed the electrician's before we realised , but I wanted to buy wine from a supermarket further up the road so we used their car park to turn round.

The electrical shop was full to bursting with beautiful lighting. (We bought a plug, a socket and a metre of cable to join them together.)

I am not sure if this shop is cheaper than others, but with a fairly ordinary table lamp at E155.00 I suspect not. There was certainly a wide choice; the cheapest lamp I saw was E21.00. Upstairs was a vast array of outdoor lighting, mostly in the more ornate fashion preferred by the Greeks and not to our taste.

On the way back we detoured to the place where we bought our nice wine glasses and bought some replacements, and some outdoor cushions. (A few warm sunny days and we are planning for summer.) Then I made Mike take the old road so we could call in on a furniture store which has a lot of outdoor furniture. I am still on the trail of a marble-topped table. The woman there was very helpful; they didn't have what we wanted, but would we look in this catalogue and see if there was anything we liked? I had to leave Mike to it as my phone rang, again! It was Terry's wife with a progress report on Carl. Louise was driving him home from the hospital as she spoke. I thanked her and went to rescue Mike. He was sick of shopping by this time and decided to give the Plumbers' Union a miss. We had to turn down the Souda Road anyway for petrol (a snip at E1.45) but made the left turn across the traffic easily so Mike was spared having to go further in to town and do more shopping.

We have decided to buy the table we saw at "Piscines" yesterday. The price seems reasonable compared with other things we have seen since. It is nice and sturdy, too. We parked and went in, recognising our builder's car outside. He was chatting to Andreas, the proprietor. Andreas was born in Birmingham of Greek Cypriot parents; his wife is from Stokesley and went to the same school as Mike, though not at the same time. We met her, briefly, while we were outside discussing the table and delivery. We paid up and Andreas said he would try to deliver it this evening.

We couldn't see Mike and Carol outside the taverna so we drove straight home. We were both ready for lunch anyway. I put more credit on my phone and got the obligatory text telling me I had done it. While we ate lunch we spoke to Carl on Skype to make sure he really was all right. He was using his iPhone, not a computer, so he had no camera, but he sounded all right. He gave us more details of the crash. The car went off the road and down an embankment into a field where it rolled onto the driver's side. The air bag activated, with a lot of foul smelling smoke. A passing postman went to investigate the smoke, found Carl climbing out of the ditch, and called the ambulance and police. Later Louise drove Carl back to the site to collect his personal belongings from the car.

I cleared the veranda of the old table, which doesn't want to fold up. I need an Allan key. The wind is getting up again. Mike went for his nap and, while I ironed, my phone rang again! This time it was our handyman with a quote for making the bath panel - which I accepted on Mike's behalf.

Now for the more mundane things like cooking dinner. Oh if we liked curry I wouldn't have to do it this evening!

6:15pm Andreas arrived with our new marble-top table. This will sit outside on the veranda.

We're going to walk up to the "Meterizi" for dinner. Mike has a headache and wants to go out.

Jenny skips down the hill. Amazing what a couple of glasses of wine can do.

11:40pm. Jenny is in bed. Carl just sent a text to say that he's OK but annoyed and sad.

Sunday 7th - Orchid Hunt

March 7th, 2010

Planning to have breakfast at the "Naos" as usual. Hoping that our friends will join us and we'll apologise, again, for hating curry.

After breakfast we returned to Apokoronas and I went on the roof to seal the immersion heater cover on the water tank.

Then our friends drove us up the hill where we joined other friends for a walk to find orchids.

Here we are, trying to decide whether this is an orchid bush.

Two cars passed us, the occupants waving and smilling pleasantly.

We found a pit that contained rubbish but no orchids.

I discovered this likely-loooking specimen, but my friends told me that it's not an orchid.

It looks a bit like a poppy - but without the black plastic centre.

We found the two cars parked. The occupants had decanted themselves into a field. A young woman shouted to us and explained that they were collecting flowers and "horta" (greens).

We walked through woodlands.

Saw low flying clouds.

I thought I'd framed Selia village quite nicely.

4:30pm. I'm home, feeling tired, and my feet hurt. I'm going to have a nap.

It's 6pm - just before dusk. The sight of clouds drifting in from the sea...

... at "ground" level, is a sharp reminder that we are 300m above sea level.

6:20pm. The predicted "40% chance of rain" hasn't happened yet. I was hoping for a good downpour to test my weatherproofing activities on the roof.

Jenny is cooking dinner.

Greek Customs and words

The word for "I thank you" is "efhareestó" and for "we thank you" it's "efhareestoomeh". (Notice where we put the stress.) English people tend to use these words far too often and may unwittingly embarass their hosts by doing so.

This is especially the case when, for example, a waiter or waitress is bringing you food. When food or drink is deposited on the table, a slight nod of the head is the only acknowledgement required. Only when the meal is over and you are about to leave may you say "thanks". Now your thanks may be profuse, if the meal and service were good, but a simple "to fágeeto eetan arketa" (the meal was sufficient) will be more than enough to please your hosts. You could also say "to fágeeto eetan polee kalo" (the meal was very nice) or "to fageeto eetan polee nosteemo" (the meal was tasty) or, if it was truly wonderful, "to fageeto eetan thavmasseeo".

When somebody buys you a drink, you should not thank them. Instead, raise your glass and say "seeheea". (This is more easily remembered if you think of it as the English phrase "see here" - but don't pronounce the "R".)

If a man buys a lady a drink and she thanks him, this implies that she is thanking him for far more than just the drink, so it will embarass him! Remember to say "seeheea" or "yamass" or "steen ee ya soo" ("to your health").

When you are toasting the health of several people, you can say "steen ee ya sas".

Stressing the correct syllable is most important to convey the right meaning.

"polee" means "very" but "polee" means "town"!

Although you may not realise it, the stress is also important in English. For example, we would say "hospital". If somebody pronounces it "hospeetal" they will sound very "foreign" and we might not even understand what they mean.

Monday 8th - Misty Monday

March 8th, 2010

It didn't rain yesterday or overnight. This morning it's 20'C outside at 8am!

We are surrounded by cloud which, at 8am was drifting in from the sea but, within half an hour, was drifting out to sea. It's windy.

Had breakfast and created another web site page with adverts to earn a few cents.

This is no ordinary mist. It's sand being blown from the Sahara.

We went to look at the two houses nearby. The workmen have built two swimming pools then banked earth up against them and the house. No namby-pamby moisture-resistant membranes here!

On the way up the hill to the shop, we caught up with Christine, who was walking her dog.

The shop sells 100 Watt tungsten filament bulbs!

A friend had tied her dog outside the shop. We heard noises and went out to investigate. A bitch had come across the road and now the pair were firmly joined and looking embarassed!

This distraction caused us to forget to buy bread!

Jenny spring-cleaned the house, this morning. That sounds too easy. She spent a lot of time working very hard.

2:30pm. We've just had sandwiches for lunch. The sky is still orange and the outside temperature has fallen to 19'C.

Rest of the day: I stayed in, worked and watched TV.

Apparently the airborne dust caused airport flights to be cancelled but our friends returned from England on an early flight at 6:30am. Their neighbours collected them from the airport.

Tuesday 9th - Tea and Cakes

March 9th, 2010

We arose early and had breakfast. On my way up to the shop to buy bread, I met the handyman on his way to finalise measurements for our bath panel. We knew he was coming so Jenny had stayed behind. In the shop, an English man was complaining about the length of time it was taking to get his new house completed. The builder had promised completion by last May, then by October and it's still without a kitchen. The man is renting in our village and has told the builder that he'll have to reimburse his rental payments. The builder has apparently now been spurred into action because an electrician and a plumber just turned up at the house.

Having bought bread, I went outside and spoke to one of Aspaseea's sons, "Mee Mee" (Dimitri). I asked him how he would say in Greek 'there aren't many clouds today'?

He replied "we would not say thees. We would say 'clean sky' instead".

OK, so that would be "katharos ooranos". (In Greek, the word for sky is pronounced "ooranos". Yes, that's where we got the name for the planet "Uranus". Remember this, because you may be tested, later, on the correct pronunciation.)

As I skipped down the hill on my return journey, the handyman drove past and waved.

I answered emails and had a few "Skype conversations", then at 10:45pm we drove to Eleni's house for tea and cakes. Christos gave us oranges and lemons from his trees. One tree had both fruits on it. I didn't say "thank you" to Christos; instead, I raised the bag like a glass and said "seehear". He grinned and repeated the word, thinking it hugely amusing that I was thanking him for a drink.

We called at Aspaseea's shop on our return because I'd forgotten to check for mail. There was a bill from Cosmote and a huge Mothers' Day card for Jenny.

I was amused by this tin. Can you read it? In English those letters would be "MPEIKIN PAOUNTER". Or, phonetically: "BEIKIN PAOUDER".

Yes, it's baking powder! They simply use a phonetic transliteration of the English words.

4:40 pm. It has been a fairly warm, sunny day, with a cool breeze. Jenny has been making sorbet with the fruit while, I work. Now she's making some sort of soup/gravy with tomatoes.

Wednesday 10th - Gorged

March 10th, 2010

11:40pm. I'm late writing this because I've spent the entire evening catching up with work!

Jenny had volunteered to walk the length of the Imbros Gorge (about 7km over very rocky ground) but I already have psoriatic blisters on my left foot and declined. We set off for Imbros at 9:30am, arriving about 40 minutes later (in the car).

Those of us who wouldn't/couldn't walk, dropped off those who could, then drove to the bottom of the gorge to wait. We spent a happy four hours drinking, chatting and visiting the toilet.

The weary travellers finally arrived! Some with (thankfully minor) injuries, sustained from falls on the stony surface.

We drove to the coast and had a "mezethes" at the only open taverna "Nikos". The owners seemed a little surprised by our arrival and demand for food but they seemed happy to earn almost 200 Euros and the food was excellent - as was the owner's English; a fact which he hid from me until we were leaving! Never mind; I need the practice.

Jenny took over a hundred photographs. I haven't had a chance to see them, yet.

Thursday 11th - Day of Rest

March 11th, 2010

We arose, had breakfast and walked round the village then on to the shop where we bought bread, milk, bananas etc.

We stayed in all day. I worked on the computer. Jenny had a (I think) fairly lazy day.

Sorry, guys. It was just a pleasantly warm day with nothing happening. The forecast rain didn't come.