Cretan Diary - Chapter 50

Send this page address - CLICK HERE - to a friend ! Friday 12th - In search of a Fork March 12th, 2010 We arose early. I logged on to my computer in the UK to transfer some TV programmes that it had recorded yesterday. The connection slows down as soon as Carl switches his computer on, so I like to do it early. My mobile phone rang. It was a man from our mortgage bank but he didn't speak much English. He said he'd call back later and no, there was no problem. We had breakfast and discussed the need for a garden fork. So far we haven't found a shop that sells them. I thought we might try the agricultural warehouse, where Christos took me when he had his olive flail and chainsaw refurbished. Friday is usually a very quiet day for me, business-wise, so my taking time off shouldn't matter. Also, we need to go to the Post Office to pay our electricity bill, which arrived at the shop yesterday. It is for 197 Euros. It includes council tax or whatever you like to call it. 1pm. We just arrived back. When we reached Vrises, I decided to make a tiny detour to the garage and told the chief mechanic, Dimitris, that I can hear a noise from a wheel bearing. I'm pretty sure it's the front offside one.
The Greek for "wheel bearing" is "rulaman rothon". That means literally "bearing of-wheels". I remembered it quite easily by picturing a man with a ruler (ruler man) measuring a wheel. The wheel is "Ee rotha".
Dimitris speaks no English but he understood me perfectly and proceeded to jack up each wheel and spin it. "Teepota" (nothing) he remarked. I told him it was still quite a faint noise. I told him that I'm an engineer and I know what a broken wheel bearing sounds like. He beckoned me to get into the passenger seat and he drove us out into the countryside, leaving Jenny to sit on a wall, in the sun. During the journey, he sped up, slowed down, coasted out of gear and, finally, coasted downhill without the engine running. He said he could hear it but it was very faint. On the way back, he detoured up a gravel track - apparently to look for a friend. The field where we stopped had a large boulder or concrete platform, on which rested a complete car engine and gearbox assembly. Towards the right was a "shed" but it was constructed entirely of open wire. He told me it was a "museum". We reversed out and nudged an olive tree. He cursed and fiddled with forward and reverse to extricate us. Further along the metalled road, he stopped to chat to a friend who was in the middle of a field. The "chat" required a lot of shouting, due to the distance involved. On arrival back at the garage he told me that the faulty bearing would be OK for now, and to come back in a month or two. We thanked him and drove out of town towards the road where I thought I'd gone with Christos to the agricultural shop. We have now confirmed that there is no such thing as a gardening fork on the island. It simply doesn't exist. They sell pitchforks with 5 tines but these aren't strong enough for turning over soil. So we'll have to get one from the UK. We continued on to Kalives from the agricultural shop and got some pale blue paint mixed at "Maria's" hardware store. Jenny wants to paint the new marble-top table. (The wooden legs - not the marble. Then we joined friends at the C.I.C. coffee morning. Jenny's phone rang. It was a man from our mortgage bank but he didn't speak much English. He said he'd call back later and no, there was no problem. (Déjà vu?) We left there at noon and drove to the ATM in Almereetha where Jenny withdrew some money. We also picked up a C.I.C. newsletter from the shop nearby. It costs two Euros but, since neither of us had anything less than a 10 Euro note, the lady told us to drop off the two Euros next time we call at the ATM. At Vamos, Jenny waited at the car while I walked to the Post Office and paid the bill. I enquired whether the clerk knew if there was a parcel there for me. She asked where I lived and said that only our postman would know. I took my change, thanked her and left. I didn't speak a word of English throughout the conversation.
As we drove out of Vamos, we noticed that the road had been metalled with Tarmac!
Further on, the road still needs a little more work!
We stopped at Aspaseea's shop to check for mail and to buy Raki for Jenny to soak oranges in. I think she's trying to make a liqueur. 1pm. It's very windy and there's a lot of dust swirling, so Jenny has abandoned plans to wash clothes and paint the table. She is measuring the bench, outside, for cushions. You may recall that I was struggling to pay my UK tax bill by February 28th (but managed) and I emailed the tax office on January 28th, using the email enquiry form "for the self employed". I received an automatic acknowledgement stating that their target was to reply within 15 working days. Well, they failed miserably but today I received an email!
Dear Mike, Thank you for contacting HMRC Residency. Please Note: any information considered to be of a sensitive nature has been removed from your original e-mail to maintain the confidentiality and security of taxpayer information. I regret that I am unable to deal with your enquiry as your income tax records are not held by this office. Please contact my colleagues at: WEST LANCS AND WEST CHESHIRE AREA (SERVICE)... etc. I must advise you that the above office can not be contacted via email. If you have any further queries for HMRC Residency, please do not hesitate to contact us by e-mail or telephone.
I wrote a polite reply - bemoaning the fact that, despite the UK government's efforts to extend the range of Internet Broadband, it had not managed to reach the tax office in Lancashire. I told them that I was now accustomed to Greek bureaucracy and their efforts to do things more slowly and inefficiently were wasted on me. I was happy to wait until "West Lancs and West Cheshire Area (piss-poor) Service" contacted me by letter and to reply by letter - which would take at least another two months. Oh, and I congratulated them on failing to meet their target of "15 working days" by a considerable margin. 3:30pm. Two female friends have come for a chat. Jenny is entertaining them with cake and coffee. 6pm. I awoke from my siesta. We are going to the quiz night. Midnight. Our friends didn't go because of toothache. We won second prize - a bottle of ouzo.   Saturday 13th - A day off March 13th, 2010
It was 9am before I awoke and came down for breakfast. I scanned some documents while Jenny went onto the balacony to paint the woodwork.
It looked dangerous. I couldn't bear to look. Jenny said she was enjoying it. I returned to my computer. Noon: Temperature is 15'C in the shade but feels warm in the sunshine.
We walked around the village and stopped at the shop to buy bread and stuff. Aspaseea had sold out of brown bread so we walked home then drove to Georgioupolis for lunch at "Tito's". Afterwards, I bought an ice cream cornet from the kiosk. We walked towards the National Road because we'd been told there was a new supermarket about to open. We found it and it was open! A few items had no price labels and the young man at the checkout was apologising to everyone in fluent English with a strong American accent. I spoke to him in Greek and he replied, asking my why I spoke so fluently and how many years we'd lived here! He was shocked to learn that it was only six months and stated that we must have had lessons. I admitted that it was true - we had lessons before we moved here. I didn't tell him that I haven't had a lesson for over three years. Oh, and that reminds me. Our Greek teacher in the UK has just emailed to say that he's been diagnosed with Crohn's disease. This is not a nice thing to have but I suspect he's somewhat relieved because it explains a lot of symptoms that he's suffered for years. I believe that treatment, nowadays, is much better than it used to be, so a simple diet change will probably let him lead a normal life. I pointed him towards the book by Elaine Gottschall. We called at Eleni's house on the way home. I uploaded a couple of web pages that she'd written and we chatted with Christos in Greek. (I use the word "chatted" loosely. We exchanged a few words. In a year or two, I hope to be able to hold a proper conversation.) While cooking evening dinner, Jenny noticed that the microwave oven time display had reverted to zero again. This used to be a sign of a power cut but it has been happening frequently, recently, without any power cuts. Jenny had fitted a new plug but that hadn't helped. As she tried to use it, it bleeped and zeroed again. It did this twice then died completely. Later on, I removed the cover and checked the internal 12 Amp fuse. It was open-circuit. I replaced it with a 13 Amp fuse from a UK mains plug. Fingers crossed - I tested it and it seems to be working. Our friend from Mathess "skyped" us to say that the antibiotics were working and her husband was in a lot less pain. He had even had a nap and they expected to see us at the "Naos" for breakfast tomorrow. Greek VAT officially increases on Monday. For most items it goes from 19% to 21%. Petrol prices will incease so I'm wondering if we should detour to Vamos or Vrises to fill the tank.   Sunday 14th - Rain March 14th, 2010 I awoke before 7am and came downstairs to make a pot of tea for Jenny. Then I showered, dressed and sat at the computer for an hour, till it was time to go for breakfast. We walked up the hill towards the house of our friends. As we passed some workers I commented to them: "nomeezo kanei tha vreksee." (I think it will rain.) "Kala!" they chorused. (Good!) I really must learn to think like a Cretan farmer. As we approached the street where our friends live, they drove towards us and stopped so we could climb in. In Georgioupolis, we arrived at the "Naos" taverna just as our friends from Mathess arrived. Poor Petros looks as if he's been smacked in the face with a cricket bat. However, he assured us that the tooth pain has subsided and he had had a good night's sleep. He reminded me that his car is booked for a service on Tuesday and asked if I could provide a lift. I told him that I'd already discussed this with Jenny and we'd be glad to help. Jenny is supposed to be going on a walk, on Tuesday, if the weather is fine. The forecast rain began at 11am. Just a light drizzle. It's expected to continue until Wednesday night. We had breakfast and chatted till noon, then our friends brought us home. It's only 12'C outside and feels slightly chilly. Our indoor temperature has fallen to 17.6'C so I'm keeping my pullover on. Since we went in "the wrong" car, I wasn't able to get any petrol. Next time we fill up, it will probably cost 1.60 Euros per litre.
I spent the afternoon watching the Formula 1 Grand Prix, via my "Slingbox". (I found a satellite feed but the rain was causing the picture and sound to break up.)
The rain abated but a cloud drifted over us until we were enveloped as if in cotton wool.
During the afternoon it worsened... ...until we couldn't see beyond our garden.
The rain redoubled its efforts at 5pm but we don't appear to have any coming inside - yet! 6pm. Jenny opened the door of the microwave oven and the power went off. I braved the rain and went outside to flip the main switch back on. Jenny removed the plug from the microwave oven power cord. "This bit works," she commented, "but we need a new oven to connect it to." She used the electric oven to make a nice "toad in the hole". 9pm. The rain came down in a torrent and was soon flooding under the front door, into our office. Out came the mop and towels!
I stared at the door, wondering how the rain was getting past my drip-lip and barrier at the bottom. Then I noticed that the black rubber seals are on the INSIDE. The idiots have fitted the door in reverse!
I went outside, through the kitchen, and paddled to the front with my LED head torch dripping rain onto my nose. Yes, the door panels are not sealed on the outside. I came back inside, opened the front door, and quickly applied a strip of "duct tape" to the lowest horizontal joint, hoping that it would keep most of the water out. I mopped again and the flood seemed to have reduced to a trickle. If there's a break in the rain during daylight, I'll run a bead of "Silly Connie" around the door panels to seal them. Midnight. The rain has stopped; the office is relatively dry; there's no water in the electric switch box. The marble slab that the builder fitted at the kitchen door is keeping the water out. Fingers crossed. Oh, damn and blast! I forgot to take my ladder up the road and spray WD-40 water repellent inside our telephone cable connection box, which is about 3 metres up a telegraph pole. I noticed, a few days ago, that the box cover is hanging open. And now our Internet broadband has stopped working. I'll have to plug in my wireless broadband "dongle".   Monday 15th - Drizzle March 15th, 2010 We arose late and walked to the shop. The rain had abated to a barely noticeable drizzle but the sky was dark. We bought food provisions and returned, without walking round the village. 11:30am. I dried the front door and applied a bead of silicone rubber to all outside cracks and crevices. Two cats came down the road. One dared to come into the garden and rubbed against me as I worked. They are so cute but I must resist the temptation to mother them! We just caught a glimpse of blue sky and sunshine. The outside temperature has risen from 9'C to 13.5'C since 9am.
I needed to get out of the house so we drove to Almyreetha.
Our favourite taverna was heaving with people - well, not quite!
We were forced to stand while we waited for a table.
We ordered hot chocolate and a plate of chips.
Afterwards, we took a walk along the sea shore.
A curious arrangement of electric wires was carefully laid out to provide power for lamps on the rocks.
Looking back towards the town.

Chapter 51 - Falling Apart

Return to Index