On the beach

Wednesday 12th October - Hora and Livadi

 I forgot to mention that when I threw some rubbish into the communal bins yesterday, as well as seeing David Bowie, there were a few kittens running about. Clearly Zoi’s team have missed one set of parents! Well you can only do do much. I had chicken in red wine last night, the chicken was the rest of the meat that I bought the other week, it wasn’t the best, a week in a slo cooker would have tenderised it, so I had to cut a lot of tough bits out. The off cuts are going in the bin today, I imagine the cats will sniff it out and get it. I imagine they do get rubbish thrown on them, but big lumps of metal, and other items that in the UK we would take to our tip, are not meant to be put in these bins. I have no idea what you are meant to do with these items. People just leave them by the bins, in the hope they get carried away one day. Another question for the KEP.

I went to Vasileas bar last night. (above) I took my book, which was just as well as there were no English speakers there. I did show him the David Bowie and the Queen in that window photos . He liked them. Elena was there for a while. There were a French couple outside too. As Vasileas was outside for most of the time I was there, I served myself a couple of times, which he did not object to at all. On the way back the moon was shining behind the windmills, so I took a photo. The phone I have now, has a special sensor on it, I think it’s called LIDAR, which enhances low light situations. 

Unfortunately after watching the last episode of the Inside Man and listening to the Archers, I could not get to sleep for ages. I have no idea why. Luckily it’s dark in the house, it has light excluding shutters on the front windows. This means it does help me have some kind of lie in! One of the third world problems most people have on these islands is dust or sand particles. It’s probably worse in buildings with old doors and windows. But I have modern ones, after sweeping the floor and mopping it, it feels clean to my bare feet, but after a day you can feel the dust or sand under your feet. It’s a point that I might want to buy a hoover to tackle. The trouble is if I buy too much it could be awkward to remove it from the house in July. One option would be to borrow Mike’s car and bring it all back to Sifnos? I have thought more about the car idea, I have emailed my car hire friend, just seeing what he thinks, in other words what does he sell his old cars for, does he have other ideas, in other words would he hire me a car for a reduced rate maybe? I might well hire one for the church festival. I have just found out the bike hire is closed until May next year.This is part of the path between Hora and Livadi.

There is a friend of mine in Twyford who is not on the internet. Believe it or not there is no shop here that sells envelopes and A4 letter sized paper. I could go in an office and blag some I suppose. Anyway I wrote to my neighbour who has kindly offered to print the letter that I send to him in email form and pop it through her door. It’s all been done. I did check for my letter in the Post Office today, no sign of it yet.  I decided to go and have a lie down in the sun on the beach I got burnt on in June this year. It’s called Paralia Karavi. There was no one on it when I arrived, but just before I got to it, I ended up having a chat with a lady called Ileana, she is Greek and has a house in Hora and Livadi. The Livadi one is near the beach I went to. She has moved into the Livadi one, as she said all the Tavernas are closed in Hora now. I spent some time on the beach, I had to move when the SuperJet ferry came in as it creates quite a few big waves on beaches around the port, including the one I was one. It is quite warm still, there is a gentle breeze. As I walked back to the centre of Livadi, I saw a dentist, so I have one if their business cards to arrange a check up sometime. 

I bought myself an ice cream and walked back up the steps to Hora. At the supermarket I bought my ice cream, I told the till lady that I had moved to the island, she said “welcome”, I then asked her if she had details of the hairdresser.  So I have her number too. At the top I met Irene who works at the Medical Centre, she has finished for the day, unless she gets called out for an emergency. 

A nice relaxing day!