More musings from Serifos

Evening 14th September - Hora  

So this house has three tv’s. I decided to have a look and see what I could do with one of them. I have a Google Chromecast that I could hook the iPad to it with, but I need to see how I get on with the various catch-up services first. I suspect most won’t work as I am in Greece and I will need a vpn service. I signed into the tv with my google account, in the hope I could see what other apps I could load on it.   I did not get past successfully entering my google details, it’s quite tricky navigating your way around a tv in Greek and using google translate! I haven’t found an alternative language setting yet. So far BBC Sounds is keeping me entertained.

This evenings meal was not so clever. ( Thai curry) It tasted ok but the coconut milk was very runny. There is nothing on the tin to say it’s light coconut milk and not the thick gloopy stuff. I have a photo of the offending tin.  I froze two portions, just some more vegetables will bulk it up when I get to eat it. They are in the freezer now. Tomorrow I am going to try a tomato based sauce and chuck  this meat in it, which is cooked. I am going to buy some bread from the bakers, slice it and freeze the slices, so I can have two slices for lunch. I can’t keep eating those divine chicken slices or spanakopita every day! Back to tonight’s dinner, if it was inedible I would have gone next door!

After dinner I tried the Night sky app and waving my phone around the heavens. It sort of gives you an idea of what you are seeing, the bear and so on. But it’s an annoying app and keeps trying to get you to sign up for the pro version. I might see if there is a better solution.

Morning 15th September - Hora

My annoying personal in my head alarm is still going off at five in the morning, or earlier perhaps. But this morning I managed to drift off to sleep and wake at a much more reasonable time of seven. My bedroom is at the back of the house, and this part of the house is abutted against other buildings, and there is a tiny window in the room which means it’s dark, which is good. While awake and before I finally dropped off, I was thinking about next week and applying for my five year permit. It’s not the same in any sense but I am an immigrant, I have had a safer journey over the sea than the people who travel to Britain in those little boats. My wad of A4 sized paperwork, I brought with me will determine if I am successful or not. I will of course have to return to the UK if I am not ( end of October). It is possible one of my documents can be changed so I am allowed to stay, hopefully !

On my journey back to Hora yesterday several teenage children were on the bus. I know there is a  school for younger children near this house, I went past it and saw the children in the playground on my walk down to Livadi. I imagine, given the time we were getting on the bus, that these older kids  were going back home from the school in Livadi. There are fifteen hundred people who live here all year round, I imagine if you look at the age distribution there are not that many children schooling here. 

It’s a sad fact but I imagine a lot of young adults go to Athens and elsewhere to work. There are only two towns (or villages. If you will)  have any kind of shops, where you could live without a car. Panagia is a place that has no shops. It’s in a pretty location, but it’s got lots of empty houses. Hora has empty houses and it will be interesting to see what remains open in the winter. For sure the baker and the supermarket next door will be. What else will be for the prospective resident fifteen hundred and one?

Next door is a Taverna where I  have eaten, it’s very good. At eight am local time two ladies have let themselves into the kitchen which from roof, I can see as it’s upstairs. They were still serving when I went to bed at ten, that’s a long day. I know it’s not open during winter time. My legs feel ok after yesterdays exertions, today I won’t go as far, into Livadi then a wander around to the beach where I burnt myself!  The is no wind today, so it’s going to be hotter. However the next two week weather forecast has the temperatures dipping down to the mid twenties.