A windy walk

 Saturday 29th October Hora and Livadi

It’s still windy this morning, but doesn’t seem so bad. So I think I will do a Livadi walk, one of my made up ones. Today the builders have made their morning up the track journey, after a well deserved day off yesterday. I did some shopping beforehand, just a few things like bread and milk needed. I have been eating a few frozen meals the last couple of days and just cooking rice and pasta. I bought one of those Pataks Indian style sauces in a jar and will be using some of the frozen chicken pieces and a tin of sweetcorn for a meal, that I will eat one portion and freeze the rest. I think I have enough tubs!  Here is part of Den’s and Markela’s store.

There was a lovely crescent moon over the mountains just after dark last night, I tried  using the super zoom camera to take a photo of it, but it was hard in the wind and dark! I have a potato peeler now, which is better than using a knife, and I bought what they would call rusks, little bits of dry shaped bread. This will stop me snacking on the granola at night when I get the munchies!

The kitchen has a handy thing I have not seen before. The whole house is tiled, and moving a washing machine or fridge  could scratch the floor. The appliances sit on a  plate, with wheels on, so both can be easily pulled out of their place. Very clever. 

I started my walk at the back of Hora, going along a track that drops down to become a path. There was a guy making a sort of brushwood roof for a little shed, he responded to my hello. I think I have seen him before. I followed the path down to wards the Flevariatisa church and its graveyard. This is the type of saddle they put on the horses, they  then fit two wooden boxes either side to carry things.

I had a quick check on the terrapins, they were there still. From here it is a little further along the track before turning right on an old path which is like a sunken stream bed. Looking back you get a nice view, I have said this before it’s very easy to keep looking forward and not look back, the best views might be behind you!

Eventually the concrete bridge came into view and a line of canes joins you from the right. I spent a little while by the bridge, it’s not attractive, but around it are things that minke it look nice and in place. When I looked down from it, I saw what looked like the skeletons of two sheep! 

The little Ragwort plants are flowering everywhere, it’s a rugged little beauty. I even saw some on the beach later on. As I entered the sort of small holdings area of Livadi, I came across a bunch of chickens wandering about and the cockerel with his darker colours. He did a cock a doodle do, but it sounded like someone was strangling him! 

I reached the beach and decided to go into Gran’s again, where I did I saw Chris. I had a Freddo Cappuccino which I normally have at Marinos’s place. I asked what the name for sugar is, it’s Zachari, so you  would add Ochi on the end of that. ( to say no sugar) I took the coffee and listened to chapter four of the Greek course, it is sort of making some kind of sense, a lot of their words get the endings changed for the various tenses, like I buy, you buy, I have and you have and so on. So if you know the version of the word for I buy, you can probably work out what the word is for  you buy, if that makes any sense. A couple of the words have stuck in my head for now. Here is a bit of art in the passenger area, by the port.

When I walked out of Livadi, there were a couple of guys playing a game which looked like backgammon, I had a chat with them and we worked out it was backgammon. I think they were sitting outside the toy shop.

Back home, I had done my guitar and Greek before leaving, the Greek wasn’t too bad. The guitar, I did a lot of practice not pushing the strings down too hard and seeing how that sounds. I think it’s just going to be practice, practice and more practice. The three chords I am playing are really simple, with only two fingers, being used. I tried using the other two fingers, putting them down on any strings and then it gets really tough. But there is no rush. I found out Lefteris had actually given me four different types of pick, each of them is a different thickness, he just had not told me. So I have a thin one I can use, which is better than my spread top,  hand made effort.

So the afternoon, I have a chat with one of my friends from Sifnos, then some TV or maybe a night out, I haven’t decided yet. I had started to watch a series on ITV Player last night but at the first advert break, it kicked me out and put me on the second part. This has happened before, so that unlikely seam of programs is going to be avoided I think.