Friday 14th October - Hora and Livadi
I had a lovely video call with our ninety year old UK neighbour and her daughter yesterday. It was nice to see them both, she looked well. She has been to the allotment and brought back some vegetables for herself. I gave them a tour of the house using the iPads camera. Her daughter said that when she visited a Greek island years ago they were told it always starts raining on the 14th October. The weather has said rain is coming, but maybe not until tomorrow. There are predicted thunderstorms for tomorrow too. When I got up this morning, there was a nice sunrise.
I also heard from someone in the UK where our house is, she has been helping the lady I wrote the letter to, by ferrying her and her dog to a place where he can get physio, which is very kind of her. I have been doing more updates on google maps for this island. I have heard from my friends on Sifnos, they have a friend who has a similar Wi-Fi device in his house, that might be an alternative to what I have, as long as the price, doesn’t go up after a month! I will go in the Vodaphone shop on Syros Monday. The washing machine has done another load, without leak, I think a washing basket might be useful to carry the washing to the lines.
I decided to walk to Livadi, but this time by road. You see different things in the road, get a different perspective of the area and probably see different people. I also wanted to have a look and do a bit of litter picking. I wasn’t going to pickup wet wipes or tissues, I need a proper litter picker for that. I also should have brought one or two dustbin bags, so I had to improvise and use any container that I could find. I used a cardboard box, but when it started raining, it got soggy and started falling to bits. I would also like to do this walk with the zoom camera, as there are things I could take photos of, but they are far away. I could see the usual makeshift chicken run in a ravine, with a cockerel crowing away. It reminded me of the chickens I looked after when I was sitting Bonnie in Shurlock Row. Here is a photo of my box.
As the road met the steps going down to Livadi, I think the white painted edges on the steps looked really attractive, as they go up or down, depending on which way you look. I imagine the steps were there before the road. They would have used horses to carry things, like they do in Hora now. When I looked at some Olive trees, a couple were picking them. They had a huge cover on the ground under the tree and they were just picking the olives, dropping them on the ground. There are some huge trees in the olive tree orchard (?) I wonder how they pick them, do they bash the tree with sticks?
In the industrial area, and opposite my hire car friends compound the hire cars are being parked up for the winter. I have noticed near the garden centre I have used, there is a second one, well it looks like a garden centre. But it’s never been open.
By here was a tree, lemon or lime with loads of fruit on it.
There is a little church in the middle of Livadi, I had never seen inside it, it was open, a lady was cleaning it. She beckoned me in, it is very small, but very pretty. Here is the outside.
When I got to my usual bakers, I bought a mini pizza and coffee, and sat outside. I walked to the passenger waiting area, and sat in it and did some Greek. I am making progress, but boy is it slow going! The lady who runs a taxi was by the bus stop, so I booked her for Sunday night. I then walked back, and the rain was getting quite heavy now. But it is warm. I then realised my washing was outside! I got to Kato Hora and threw away the last lot of rubbish. If I can get a litter picker from Syros, that would be good. I washed my hand in the water cistern, which had a plaque on it, indicating the water is drinkable.
When I got to Pano Hora, I bought a few things, including a cold drink and an apricot croissant which my friends from Sifnos enjoyed when they were here. It’s three o’clock now, so I will have a relaxing afternoon. The washing wasn’t too bad, just a little bit of each item of washing got wet, I think they will all dry out in the house very quickly.
Tomorrow morning I am having a chat with my friend in Singapore, he has just got back from the UK, helping his son settle in, as he is in London doing a year at university there.
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