Living on a Greek island

 I had a text message from the Dog Palace owner today. It said that Rex the blind and mostly deaf dog, had just died. He was quite old, I think fifteen. He had shaggy long fur, that must have been tough for him in the summer heat. He seemed quite a sad character wandering around his area, bumping into things, when he lost his bearings.  But I think I wrote that this sad character had a cheeky side. If I went into to brush him and he was in his den, he would start rolling around, goofing if you like, responding to the brushing. Eventually he would have had enough, dust himself down and go for a walk on his own. In the heat, he loved to be sprayed with water, using one of those hand sprayers. You had to gently introduce it, so he knew it was there, then out would come his tongue, licking the cold water, as we keep the sprayer in the fridge. Rex, I am sorry I won’t be at your funeral, but I will visit your grave when I can. I will probably help plsnt an Alo Vera on top of it, as ...

Apart from keeping friends up to date with my Greek goings on, I have realised that this blog has been a good record  of my time here in Greece. I am a bit of an over thinker and often will spend a lot of time coming up with lots of what ifs and also brooding on bad things that have happened to me. So the point was to record the good things that happened here, as my brain will be good enough to recall the bad! Not that there has been a lot of bad to dwell on, it has to be said. The rat in the house was the low point but  I have been blessed with lots of encouragement from people here and abroad, for which I will be forever grateful for. I have met so many people here, who are now my friends, and I feel very accepted here, with all my quirks like picking up litter and walking everywhere.  So many things have been amazing here, in no particular order here are a few of them. The Dog Palace. It is likely one or more of the dogs there won’t be alive in September when I  r...

I planned on my day off to do a beach tour of Serifos but when I got to Vagia, I changed my mind and decided to stay put. Beforehand, I went to the coffee shop and had my usual, I told everyone Mavro was still alive, and relaxed with trying to go over some Greek phrases I am trying to learn. When I got back to the house the phone rang and the Dog Palace owner told me Mavro had died during the night. I was to go  along in the afternoon to help with his burial. On my way out of the house, I thought I was seeing things  as there was a lady walking past the house with a dog that looked like Max or Fritz’s double. The lady had rescued him, an abandoned hunting dog and he was now called Shurlock. She will also be away in high season to avoid the crowds. I hope to see them both again on my return. As I drove down the road to Livadi, I reflected that there were a lot of white cars about, mostly  hire cars and lots of people using the donkey track. In Livadi I picked up a Nobby sn...

I had a result last night on the Greek language help. Someone in my UK home village, speaks the language and is happy to help me. I will meet them when I return. Another idea, a neighbours daughter has a small swimming pool, maybe they would let me use it, offer some advice? I asked my neighbour and they will speak to their daughter. Double result. At the Coffee Shop, they were asking about Mavro, I said in Greek, he wasn’t eating and not drinking so much. I also said a grave had been dug, I walk past it several times a day. I did speak some other Greek to Marino, and used Google Translate for the rest! The walks went very well today, they were hot, and most of the dogs took a sip out of the flask. Rita is keener on it more than the others. Hopefully with more use.. I was looking at the countryside and the Dog Palace and there are still flowers, some pretty yellow ones, that I find really attractive. On the Aloni, Maloni, Rita and Chocca walk, they saw some goats and had to be persuade...

There were rumours of a little rain today, but it did not arrive.. It’s hot and sultry even up here in the mountains and the flies are annoying at best. I had a nice meal with one of my friends at Stamatis last night and a catch-up as they have been away for nearly a month. It was nice and cool beachside, they had had a big wedding party, but they all shortly disappeared in a coach up to Hora. The Dog Palace’s owner wasn’t there today or their dogs, one less walk to do. While I settled in, Moloney and Rita were on hunting duty. I took them both and Aloni down towards the coast and it was hot. I made up a long lead for Rita, so she could walk alongside the other two, despite the heat they were all pulling hard.  Later Victor walked with Rita but elected to not go far. That left Scoopy. We went to the farm, and it struck me that despite the heat, the flowers are still coming but not in the same profusion of Spring. The different seed heads are amazing. A plant like our own Cow Parsle...

After a quick visit to Mavro at the Dog Palace, I went to Livadi to do a couple of chores, then headed to Aghios Sostis. There are two beaches here, either side of the church from which the beach gets its name. I have normally used the right one, a nice sloping sandy beach. But after a while there are big slippery stones in the sand. The left hand beach gets the most of the sea borne litter and is often choppy. It’s not often used. After I cleaned all the litter on that beach and floating in the sea, into a sea supplied bin bag. I went floating in the sea. The beach has a fine grit, then stones, with a kind of sea weed growing on. It was not long before I realised why people stay away, there are often little sea urchins on the rocks! But I stayed out, the gentle waves becoming a bit more urgent, when a Sea Jet passed across the horizon.  The sea is beautiful with the sun rays probing its shallow depths until they find the rocks. I did a sort of gentle backstroke with me kicking my ...