Tuesday 13th September. Serifos
After making a coffee here in the house I was sitting on the sofa, the house is at the end of a dirt road so it was a surprise when the head of a lady appeared, walking past one of my windows. If she heard BBC Sounds, as she passed the house, with the words of the shipping forecast she might have been puzzled! I am not sure I will buy a kettle, as using the tiny pan, I managed to boil water for the coffee quite quickly. I imagine my mind was a bit hyper last night as I had trouble dropping off. I woke about six thirty which isn’t bad. I have been having a WhatsApp chat with my friend in Singapore this morning.
This is the view out of one of the windows. All the windows have mosquito guards and the front ones are shuttered. One of the problems I am going to have here is dust. The wind is going to blow it in, and there is no hoover, just a mop to clean the floor. So today the thing I need to do is pay a sort of postal order at a post office after which I get a receipt. It’s only for a few euros, a payment to go with the permit application. I am going to look at my options on that rental agreement in terms of tidying it up, the bit where I filled in my details specifically. It is very quiet here, the truck, the nose of which is just visible above has just driven off. Tomorrow I think I will have my breakfast on the roof.
Parts of my UK morning ritual are mirrored over here, which during breakfast is to do a few word puzzles. I usually do the code word fairly easily on the Best4puzzles website, then it’s the cryptic one, I don’t do so well with, maybe 40-50% on a good day. Once the Evening Standard puzzle appears, I do the same ones there. I do want to keep my mind active if at all possible.
One of the things I wanted to do was observe some of the traditions on the island. Already I have found a great Website that lists them. Some I will miss as they are in high season, but there are a few left this year. The website also mentions that you can get to the washhouse from Hora, on a path, presumably used by the people carrying their clothes to wash in the water from the mountain. The website also lists some hiking Trails.
The house is well equipped, there is a huge fridge, and a freezer which is quite big. This means I can buy portions of frozen food like meat and fish, use a portion and freeze the rest. I can also make meals like I did at home and freeze portions of them for another day. There are a few things that I might need a like a colander for pasta, but I can buy them as I need them. I could do with a few usb power adapters for phone and iPad charging, the little router and the Finley and friends Nix display..
So my first trip into Livadi went well, I walked down and I achieved all I wanted. I first went into the Post Office to pay for my form for the residence permit. They were dealing with an Italian lady, something to do with a letter she was looking for. Eventually it was my turn. I paid for the form and I asked about post for me. So all the letter post goes in this blue box and you just look for yours! I then carried on into the port and I popped into this Deli, which has frozen and fresh food including lots of cheese, meats and olives.
My next job was to get sone USB adapters, I went into a gift shop and got a couple. As I had not had breakfast, I popped into the bakery I usually use, no spanakopita left, so it was a cheese pie for me. I had managed to edit the rental agreement on the iPad and enter my details in text, that fits in the boxes. I had sent it to the estate agents, before walking down, and they printed it for me, ready to be picked up. As I left the agent, a guy popped in, I think he might have been the builder, he asked me how things were, I said good, he replied thank god! I had a bit of time before the bus, so I got some washing tablets, ice cream and milk. I have seen in the last 24 hours people I recognise, the lady taxi driver, the girls who serve in the bakery and a guy on a real cranky old bicycle. I should mention the house has very hot water, courtesy of the sun, it’s actually too hot! There is a water heater if the sun isn’t shining.
I have my first guests coming in September, Hazel, Mike and Ronnie. The latter is staying with me for a week, while his owners go on holiday on the mainland. It will be nice and cool then for Ronnie then, so I can do nice walks with him.
This afternoon I took the path to the Wash house. The path is easy to walk on and not far at all. Amazingly water still flowed from the taps, it looks like it’s been refurbished recently. Around the house, there were pools of water, even more surprising perhaps. I then heard a plop which sounded like a frog to me. The pool where I was by, had a branch in it and I used that to agitate the water gently. Suddenly a frog appeared out of the water and disappeared into the undergrowth. Sadly I did not get a photo of it, but it seemed to have slightly more dramatic colouring than our UK native ones. I might not have a garden or a pond, but I could adopt one of these ponds perhaps.
After just sitting in the wash house and listening to the sounds, cockerels crowing, but no wild birds singing unfortunately, I then walked up to the coffee shop I used last time I was here. I had my usual cold coffee and he filled up my water bottle too. He then showed me the keys and pointed to his mouth. He was closing up to have something to eat! He set one of his tables up outside, but not in the sun, and then he was off. I finished my coffee and went to the supermarket I also previously used, next door to the bakery. There they remembered me, and asked if I was staying in the winter. I said yes. The lady, marked the sign of the cross on her chest! I managed to get some provisions and a colander and sieve, to drain rice and pasta. I got a few tubs to freeze a few things in too. I have some eggs as well, to make a nice omelette and kedgeree perhaps.
So it’s been a good first day, I want to try and do something new every day. So today, it was the wash house. Tomorrow, who knows?
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