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Tuesday 29th September Syros, Livadi and Hora 

So we had a wonderful meal last night, at the Tavera I mentioned yesterday. I had the seafood pasta, Hazel the pork medallions. But it was an early start for today, alarm set for six am. I showed Hazel Jupiter on my Night Sky app and in the sky last night, in fact it was still there this morning. When we walked back to the hotel, we saw the Artemis docked at the port of Ermoupoli ready for todays journey. As we walked to the ferry in the morning the sun was rising. 

We left on time, which was good. I had some breakfast on the ferry and together we did some crosswords. The ferry was quite busy, but not overly so. Paros was the first stop, an island we both know. We then went past Sifnos, we could see the St Simeon church on top of one of the mountains. We then got the call for Serifos. Unfortunately the ferry arrived just after the top of the hour, so there was a wait before the next one arrived at twelve. I had a drink, and a muffin, and did a bit of shopping. I have actually created a Serifos version of the freezer contents which we use in Twyford, so the freezer contents are known. On the way up on the bus, we had to stop as a driver coming the other way  was clearing some rocks that had fallen off the mountains and were blocking the road. 

Now I have the paper version of my five year permit, I am going to pursue the other things I need, like trying to get the medication I regularly take. Now that I have the permit, I feel I can sort of move into the house in a more permanent way, putting away the cases, and so on. 

I am having one of my frozen meals tonight ( defrosted of course!) tomorrow I am going to make a Thai Red Curry with Coconut milk  ( I checked it wasn’t cream again) with frozen chicken breasts I bought at the Deli. I will put a pepper in there as well as a onion. I need some more plastic tubs to put this in! 

 

I went shopping at the Hora supermarket I use and got my kitchen scales that I ordered. I also let the estate agents know that my interview on Syros went very well and the card is on its way ( well I have to pick it up, another trip on  the Artemis!)

It’s not windy today but there are some very grey clouds, above the mountains, I am not sure we are actually going to have any rain. I have watered my spring onions again. One appears to have come up already, I hope more than one appears!

So on the way to buying my scales I went into the KEP, it can best be described as a sort of local government office I think. Anyway when Covid hit these shores, the government had to decide how to deal with people like me, not regular Greek citizens. They determined that they would give folks like me these temporary AMKA numbers. Unfortunately it did not work as well as they hoped. Anyway I popped into the local KEP to see what they thought about me getting my autumn booster. As expected language was a barrier but they had a colleague who came in and helped translate. So tomorrow I have to go back, with my Passport, Vaccination details, to see what they can do. I plan to visit the Medical centre tomorrow so I can see if this AMKA situation is as the KEP people see it!  It ended on a funny note, as this office is open from seven am until three pm. I joked and said I wasn’t going to appear at seven, that’s too early for me! 

It was nice to get the scales from the supermarket and some other bits, the lady owner remembered I was off to Syros and asked how it went, so I told her. It’s all about connections, and trying to be part of the community, I want to be liked and I will do all I can to be a positive part of the community. 

The last job was to try and see if I can cobble together a washing line for sheets on the roof. It won’t be ideal, but I think it will work. Unfortunately the broom head and broom handle I bought today don’t fit together, they are a different thread, so I need to take them back so I can get one changed so it fits the other!