Cretan Diary - Chapter 55

Send this page address - CLICK HERE - to a friend ! Friday 16th - Victims of the Volcano April 16th, 2010 Jenny arose early - concerned about Laurence and Carol who were booked to fly here today at 8:30am. The latest announcement is that no flights will leave Manchester before 7pm. This is hugely disappointing for all of us but we mustn't forget the hundreds of people, on Iceland itself, whose lives have been disrupted by the volcano.
The volcanic ash continues to drift towards Britain, Ireland and Scandinavia.
I have a dental appointment at 10am. I'm glad it's not the thirteenth today.
Well, our son and daughter-in-law won't be arriving today; that's for sure.
I drove to Vamos and had my tooth re-filled. The dentist told me the Greek word for "filling" is "sfrageetha". I met our friends from the village in the car park as I opened the boot to empty the recycling rubbish - which Jenny had omitted to put in. I drove home, collected her, and drove to Eleni's house where we "chilled out" for a while. Eleni told me that "sfrageetha" also means "seal" or "impression" (in the mechanical sense). Since we had a week's worth of food to use up, we returned home and had ham sandwiches for lunch. We checked the Internet for news of flight delays. It's not good. Then we walked up to our friends' house for more "chilling out" in the blazing sun.

I sat in the shade of the entrance arch and helped to reduce the beer inventory while the ladies chatted outside. Then we went upstairs to the balcony. Jenny: While we were there, Mike got a phone call from suzanne to tell him the van with our goodies from england had arrived and asking when they could deliver our boxes. After some confusion about which road we lived on it was arranged that they would bring them at 6pm. giving us time to unpack them before going to the quiz. So instead of getting our son from England, today, we got our parcels. Two of the boxes were very boring and full of screws, nuts and work-related items for Mike. There was a new, more powerful TV aerial, which I am looking forward to being fitted so I can get clearer Greek channels. Strapped to the side of the aerial box was my garden fork from home. Now I have finished my digging I have 2 forks. The biggest box was mine! Hooray! Carl had bought me a new washing basket as my search for a suitable one here has been fruitless. My wedding present cutlery from home was in the box, my favourite cake recipe book (which I thought I'd brought originally, but couldn't find) and a supply of pills to keep us going for years! All medicine has to be bought at the pharmacy here and is consequently much more expensive than in England. Then it was evening, so we walked home and drove to Neo Chorio for our Friday night quiz, instead of driving to Iraklion to collect Laurence and Carol. To add to our depression, we didn't win. In fact I think we barely scraped in last. However, I think I impressed everyone with my knowledge that Janet Jackson's sister is called "La Toya". We returned home before midnight and went to bed.   Saturday 17th - Cancelled Flights April 17th, 2010 According to the Internet, Thomson has officially cancelled all flights from Thursday and Friday, so Laurence and Carol will have to re-book. Damn and blast. We had breakfast then walked to Aspaseea's supermarket to buy bread and milk. We have an unexpectedly free day so we're trying to keep occupied. I answered some Internet forum questions then created a new product page, then watched a recorded TV programme. Jenny invited our friends round for ham and tomato sandwiches at 1pm. It has to be used up. We'll be eating ham sandwiches for the rest of this week! I took our friend up on the roof to show him the view. He likes ladders even less than I do but we made the return journey safely. Our friends went home to do some work. Jenny went upstairs to do ironing. I followed shortly afterwards and had a nap. The temperature outside has been a fairly constant 22'C in the shade since 9am. Indoors it has risen to 24.5'C so we have doors and windows open to provide a draught. It's very pleasant. Such a pity that our kids are missing it. The rain and storms predicted for Sunday onwards are no longer predicted. Maybe the volcano is changing our weather. It looks like being a very pleasant week. We have been invited to Iain's* birthday party this evening. We'll get a lift with our friends. *I don't think that you have been introduced to Iain. He's a member of the C.I.C. and also goes on walks with us. OOps, my mistake! Iain's party is tomorrow at lunchtime. Tonight we went to "Iggy's" restaurant. Iain was there but insisted that it wasn't his party. The meal was good. During the meal we received a text message from Laurence. He's re-booked the flight. Let's hope that the volcano has quietened by May 4th!
I killed a mosquito. The first this year since I cleaned out the toilet at the "Naos".   Sunday 18th - Party Time April 18th, 2010 Jenny is going to the table-top sale at "The Oasis" with her friend. I get the impression that I'm not wanted. Iain's party at lunchtime so limited breakfast. I went in the car with Jenny and they left me at Eleni's house, with Christos. I took a DC power supply, twin flex and LEDs and showed him how he could "daisychain" the LED lamps to use for garden illumination at night. We discussed many things (in Greek) as we awaited the return of the car. We drove home and I did a little computer work before we left to go to Iain's birthday party.
Many of our friends were already there.
Adonis, a neigbour also came. He doesn't speak much English (but better than my Greek!) He told me that he's a vegetarian so he didn't eat much. He left but returned with his guitar.
Adonis played and sang "House of the Rising Sun, followed by several Greek (not Cretan) songs. He told me he doesn't like Cretan music. He came originally from a small town near Athens.
We drank and ate a meal indoors then went outside to enjoy the warm weather.
The sky was slightly cloudy so the pool was too cold for comfort.
We left around 5:30pm and made a detour to get cash from the ATM at Almyreetha. However, the machine wasn't working so we drove straight home. I watched recorded TV programmes including "Doctor Who". At 9:30pm we both felt a little hungry and had bread with peanut butter. I made a "holiday booking" page so I can keep track of who is coming and when. It seems that we will have to return Laurence and Carol to Irakleon airport on the same day that we collect our next visitors from Xaniá! Irakleon is two hours' drive away so we have a logistics problem. However, we have several friends who would be happy to drive to Xaniá if necessary, so it won't be a problem. Jenny reminded me that the upstairs landing light wasn't working. I climbed the step ladder and replaced the dead bulb with an energy-saver type.   Monday 19th - Rain April 19th, 2010 It was raining when we awoke and it increased steadily till about 9am. I "skyped" Eleni to tell her that I planned to buy a tap to replace the leaking one on her wall. I waited until the rain had almost stopped then drove to Vamos with my headlights on. I bought the tap and some PTFE tape and drove to Eleni's house. Christos needed to buy animal feed so we drove to the garden centre just outside Vreeses and bought it there. On our return, the rain had stopped so we set about replacing the tap. The old one was extremely tight so it took both of us with two spanners, a large mallet and a "Mole Wrench" to remove it. In doing so, we managed to break an adjacent tap that feeds water to the detached apartment! Luckily, that tap is open and not leaking so we'll simply fit another tap into the plastic pipe. I drove home and did some work at the computer while Jenny went to the shop.
After a lunch of tomato and onion soup, we walked out of the village to the church that sits on a headland.

On a clear day you can see Rethymnon, just across the water, but the heat haze obscured most of it today. It was windy but warm at around 25'C.
At 5pm I started to watch my recording of the Chinese Formula 1 Grand Prix but we both felt tired and had a nap. Jenny made paella for dinner and I continued to watch the Grand Prix while Jenny read a story on her computer screen. Then we both lay on the bed to watch Joanna Lumley on ITV.   Tuesday 20th - Shopping April 20th, 2010 We arose early, had breakfast and headed for Xaniá. We stopped in Vreeses so that I could book the car in to have its noisy wheel bearing replaced. It was fun to discuss it with Dimitris, who doesn't speak a word of English. He wants the car at 9am on Thursday. We drove to the furniture shop and ordered two fold-up beds and a large parasol to be delivered next week. The assistant told us that, had we arrived an hour earlier, we could have had the delivery today because the van had just left for our area. But we are in no hurry. Jenny bought a couple of wire baskets to hang in the wardrobe. Then we went to "Alex Pak" to look at chairs and bought nothing. After that we drove further up the Souda road "garage alley" to the camping shop and bought four plastic chairs. We had to wait while the shopkeeper phoned a man to fetch them, as she had only one chair for display. We arrived home at noon and had sandwiches for lunch. It is warm outside but extremely windy. 3am. Woke up shivering! Had to come downstairs to fill a hot water bottle.   Wednesday 21st - Walking April 21st, 2010 Jenny made breakfast. Sue arrived at 9:30am to take her to a garden centre. She sent me a text message to remind me to buy bread, just as I was about to go and buy bread. I went to Aspaseea's Supermarket to buy bread. Jill arrived while I was there and we discussed the imminent arrival of her daughter's baby and her consequent need to fly back to the UK ASAP. Aspaseea complained about the general lack of cash and the bank's lack of understanding. Noon. It's still very windy and "only" 17'C outside. I'm sort-of looking forward to the planned walk around Apokoronas at 4:30pm but I hope it will be warmer and less windy by then. Jenny arrived back around 1pm and made sandwiches. I worked during the afternoon. I had a short "Skype chat" with Carl about cars and web sites.
At 4:15pm Jenny and I walked up the hill to join our friends in the square. We headed downhill into the valley, in the direction of Kseerosternee, a village on the road to Vamos.
We passed a tiny building which appeared to contain a bed and furniture. Anyone want a bachelor pad?
There was a large plot with three houses and an outbuilding. It all looked rather shabby and unused. Maybe they are holiday homes. Seems a waste.
In Kseerosternee we met two Englishmen whom I recognised as living locally. They were going out so we chatted only briefly. The walk took along a rocky donkey trail and a track through woods which was littered with sheep poo. Apart from that it was uneventful. The weather was warm and the wind had died down so it was a pleasant outing with friends. On arrival back at the square, we decided to have dinner at Aspaseea's "Meterizi" restaurant above the supermarket. Afterwards everyone agreed that it was an excellent meal. Geoff and Derrick walked back to our house with us because they wanted to know where we live. We had coffee and chatted, then I lent them a torch so they could find their way back to the square.   Thursday 22nd- Car Repair April 22nd, 2010 Today we have to take the car to the garage in Vreeses. This evening is a birthday party. More later! Oops, I didn't get around to writing this till the next day. Let's see what I can remember!
We drove to Vreeses and arrived at the garage at 9am. We left it with the mechanic and walked up the main street. At the bookshop I ordered the Greek Highway Code (an enormous A4 book) and Jenny ordred a Greek language course book or two.
We walked around then headed for the police station, outside which our friend from the village had arranged to collect us at 10am. He arrived promptly and drove us home where we did some work until Dimitris, the garage mechanic, phoned to say the car was ready, although he hadn't been able to replace the brake pads because there was a little problem We walked up to our friends' house and our friend drove us back to the garage because her husband was busy. She dropped me off then headed back to her house with Jenny. There was no sign of Dimitris but another mechanic was there. He asked me to take the car and return in the morning. I didn't understand much of what he told me and I apologised for my poor Greek. "I am English," I apologised. "That's OK," he replied, "I'm Russian." I drove back to our friends' house in time to see Jenny climb out of their car. We drove home and I did more work at the computer. At a quarter past seven we walked to the square and sat down to wait for our lift. "Costas the Radio" greeted us and sat next to us, turning up the volume to its highly distorted maximum, presumably for our enjoyment. I'm not a great fan of traditional Cretan music so I was glad when Paul and Sue pulled up in their Mercedes van to take us to the birthday party at the "Tsoukos" taverna in Armeni ("Armenee").
Others arrived just after we did and we went inside, ushered to our table by Manolis, the owner.
We had a selection of "starters" followed by the main meal consisting of pork and chicken.
Finished off with a tiny nut-topped custard and caramel dessert and a glass of tseegouthia ("raki").

Chapter 56 - St George's Day

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