Ronnie’s first sunrise on Serifos

Friday 30th September - Saturday 1st October - Hora

It’s hard to believe. It’s three weeks since I came out here to carve out a new life. There have been some amazing positives that I find hard to accept. I am not flippant about my good fortune, it’s just I just keep thinking when is this dream going to end! The timing of the availability of the five year permit card is perfect, I will have finished looking after  Ronnie and my Vodaphone sim payment problems can hopefully we sorted out, as they have a shop on Syros and the current one month, runs out the day I leave to come back here. There is no appointment time to pick the card up, it can be any day and the times are flexible. So I will get the same ferry I did last time and find somewhere to stay.  Last night I took Ronnie back to Livadi, we had a meal in one of the beachside restaurants. I know he likes going out for a meal! There were a couple of ladies a few tables away from us, and we got chatting. They were amazed and thought highly of what I am doing. After dinner we walked quite a long way around the bay of Livadi. Ronnie had a good sniff, as we went, he loves doing that. 

It’s going to be especially hot in the next few days, so I am going to take Ronnie out for a nice walk before it gets too hot. I have my Syros trip to book up, I need to pay my landlord and I have two cases of clothes to unpack from Sifnos. I was also given a duvet, which has two togs that can be separated for a double bed, with a cover. I need to find a home for them. I also have two sheets that need washing, I will hook up a temporary washing line on the roof, given it won’t be windy, this is a good opportunity to do that. I think we will have dinner in tonight and maybe go for a walk in the evening. 

After not the best nights sleep, which was not Ronnie’s fault I got up early and we did a walk which was down to the church and graveyard and then turned right to come out on the switchback road linking Hora and Livadi. I took a bit bottle of water for us  both and Ronnie’s bowl. The sun wasn’t up when we left. We went down the recently discovered track kto the church. There were plenty of sniffing opportunities for Ronnie. We met a few people and exchanged a Kalimera. Once we got to the church, you could start to feel the warmth of the sun gently warming things up. Because it was so early, there was no noise at all, the birds were tweeting and a few cockerels were doing their morning calls. 

Near where I had to persuade the chickens off the road the other day, there was a turkey in the road. Ronnie got very excited as it did not seem the need to move away until the last minute, when it flew off. Of course where the chickens were, they were all over the road, and Ronnie fancied a chicken and turkey sandwich! ( Thello Enna Sandwich, he would say if he could!). Not surprisingly he was a real pest here and I had to hang on tight. So he made himself a bit hot. Once we got past them, we stopped and I  offered him another drink. Eventually we got to the road, and we then took the steps up to Hora. 

We went to the bakers, no pies at all! I think this is normal for the weekend. So no spanakopita for Ronnie. We had a coffee at Marinos, there were a lot of people there, all men of course. I used google translate to describe what I was doing with Ronnie, I also mentioned the turkey fun and games.

While doing the walk, I came up with a plan. Drive down to Livadi tonight and have dinner, then walk back up when it will be fairly cool, I can take water again of course. Leave the car there. Then in the morning, we can do the reservoir walk, the shortest version and then in Livadi, have a drink and drive back up here. It will be hot then. 

For the rest of the day, doing the admin work I mentioned above and the chores. Ronnie is lying on the cool floor, there is no wind at all.