Living on a Greek island

Wednesday 30th November  I slept through last night, the first time I have done that in a long time. I usually wake at least once, for a short while on a good night, but I don’t remember doing so last night at all. I woke about six thirty, and got up a bit later, and saw that it was raining. The forecasts here don’t seem so accurate, my friends told me of a new site yesterday which seems a bit better, it’s called  Meteo.gr  . It says cloudy at the moment, but does say we will get heavy rain later on, which other sites agree with. Above is a ruined building I walk by every day, I have no idea what it was, but I like it a lot, the colour of the stones, the sort of horizontal stone at ground level, and of course the windmill behind it. On the Greek, I feel a bit more comfortable about the latest chapters, the problem I have is with two words that have a single letter difference between them, and to my untrained ears, sound very similar, the words are einai which means is, an...

Tuesday 29th November  David Bowie on a car, in the car park today. After feeding  the cats this morning, on the way back I said good morning to Marinos. He was opening his coffee shop. He came out and was pleased I was wearing long trousers. He had seen me yesterday morning with them on, and was then aghast at the fact I was wearing shorts in the evening. Then he said something in Greek, but it started with proi. I know because Den taught me the Greek word for breakfast, that he was probably talking about the fact I was wearing long trousers in the morning. He also held up seven fingers, for seven o’clock. He is happy now. Today I and three friends were going to do the reservoir walk. We would then  have lunch in Livadi. Two of them live there, so I offered to pick them up and drop them off up here. When we drove up, there was a guy thumbing a lift, so we gave him one, and dropped him off at Hora, where he headed to the KEP. We started the walk  at Hora, the couple ...

 Monday 28th November  I had to get some food items for myself and the cats before I fed them this morning, and shops were open as usual after their Sunday off. I did my “are you well” and it worked out ok again! I hope I don’t end up being a one trick pony! I showed Den the course I am doing and my crib of words and short sentences I have done. After doing my shopping I went to feed the cats. They were all there and the imposter, who is now firmly part of the tribe was waiting in the feeding area. Bit by bit, it’s getting used to me and more confident. Funnily in the morning we don’t often get other cats trying to muscle in, it’s the afternoons that they tend appear. As I walked past Marinos, I said hello, he would have been pleased I was wearing trousers, it’s much colder how, but not as cold as the UK! I made a Thai Green curry last night. I had the cat sitter around and he was kind enough to bring a bottle of wine. It’s my first proper meal that I have cooked for someone i...

 Sunday 27th November  This sign was put up a few days ago and this must relate to the recent work on the poles by the path to Livadi. On my way down there, on the road today there were men up the poles working. The power went off bang on the dot of eight o’clock. Quite ironic I paid my power bill to the landlord yesterday! I fed the cats, everyone was there, including the kitten with no name. I had my breakfast, cleaned the house and drove down to Livadi. I realised all the supermarkets are now closed on Sundays and why not? I went into the bakers and ordered a coffee. I tried a “Eisthe Kala?”, and I got a favourable response. It’s one of the ways you can ask in Greek, how they are doing. I might try it again. I had the coffee and drove to pick up my two friends from Slovenia. I have chatted to them a bit, but I hoped to get to know them better while they are here. They were kind enough to offer to help  me do some more work on Ganema beach. I was to do the bank, where p...

Saturday 26th November  It’s another lovely start to the day. Meanwhile the building work has multiplied and it sounds like the restaurant next door is being worked on with one of those electric drill things. But at least they did not start too early. This is the view I got on the way to feeding the cats.  I walked down to the hardware store, to get a broom, the track here is concrete, but has lots of  stones on it, if you stand on one in the dark, and you could fall  over. It’s worse after the rain. The broom can also be used for the roof terrace. I wanted to get a new pair of gloves for the litter picking too. As I passed the car and vehicle garage, the Livadi bus was in for some work, it could not have been much, as  it appeared in Livadi when I was having my coffee. After getting the broom and gloves, I passed the field where the bonfires had been. The farmer was cultivating the soil with a tractor. It will be interesting to see what he plants there. Just be...

 Friday 25th November  So below is a photo of the kitten that’s found its way into my feeding den. It cries a lot, until it’s eaten something. It must be getting two good meals a day now,  including the wet food. It’s a bit of a scrum at feeding time even with three dishes, so getting photos is difficult. Any ideas on names, please add a comment to this blog, you can add it as anonymous. ( or Facebook)  I had a nice chat with our UK neighbours last night and caught up with their news. One thing that came up with a WhatsApp chat with someone else, is that I feel like I have been adopted here, which I think sums things up nicely. I did try and go to  Vasileas  last night, but he was closed, so I bought a bottle of wine and watched some tv with it. I had a request from one of my friends who is now in Athens, to check out Ganema beach, as a mattress was seen floating about in the water. So after ordering a coffee and one of my favourite pies in Grans, then enjo...

Thursday 24th November  The below photo is a view outside of one of my windows. I slept in today as I woke very early, but I managed to drop off again. We had more rain last night. The view is nice, I actually like the effect the insect screen has on the photo, it sort of makes it look like it’s been painted and not a photo.   The pretender little kitten is turning up on a regular basis now, and the person who normally feeds them says we need to find a name for it. I will take a larger photo of it and post it here, in case anyone can think of a name for it. I have no idea if it’s male or female at this point. The cat sitter sent me a text this morning and said they would like to do the reservoir walk. So that’s on the agenda today. We will have lunch in Livadi also, I have some chemist purchases to make including reusing ( legally) my hand written prescription. I also have some dried chick peas. I am going to soak them and make the chick pea stew for tonight.  Photo inter...

Wednesday 23rd November  This is a very crazy island. I often think I am going to come out of a dream and realise this was all made up in my head. Talking of which I had my first dream in Greece. I did not dream in Greek, but I was here, I don’t really remember what is was about. Last night the wind got very strong and woke me several times. This morning it was tipping down and I got a bit wet feeding the cats. They were a bit wet too. I had an early lunch, and by then it was drying out. I decided to do the reservoir walk, but the one that turns off to the right before getting to it.  Photo interlude Markela’s store and bakery  I decided to pop into Marinos’s to have a coffee beforehand. As I walked in, it was very busy. There seemed to be a party going on. Maybe a name day? I got lots of cheery welcomes. I ordered a coffee but I got a Tsipouro instead. I wasn’t driving, so I did not mind too much! While I had my drink they all said cheers to me.  Then I was asked to...

Wednesday 22nd November Another lovely sunrise this morning, on the way to feeding the cats. There were several people in Marinos coffee shop, I will be popping in soon. I also saw several peoples and we exchanged hellos. It’s going to be a lovely day. Feeding the cats, this is the second time a kitten imposter has been turning up. I am letting it stay, as it looks underfed and it’s coat is in bad condition. I have told the person who normally feeds these cats. The other cats don’t seem to mind it. Last night we all went to a restaurant, that  I had not been to, with three of my friends, one of whom is going to Athens for the winter today. We got free Taramasalata from the place, I think it’s the best I have ever tasted  and the good news is, it’s open all year. The owner seems prepared to help with my Greek, and put up with my dodgy attempts! I have got some nice gifts, as a thank you for helping my friend with the shop and the house. I will be helping load up the car today, ...

 Monday 21st November  It’s litter picking day. It might not seem the most exciting thing to do on a Greek island, but it’s my humble way of repaying the island for making me welcome and it has raised my profile! It’s down the road for the first stretch, most of the stuff I removed was historical, the ground is turning green, with  grass and clover. Every so often the sun reflects back, from the ground and there is usually a bottle or tin there. The good news is the bag does not fill up and I did not empty it much. I am using an old canvas type bag I found, this is better than the bucket as it’s windy and the wind will whip out things from the bucket. The sack actually holds more too. I got plenty of waves, friendly beeps on peoples horns and a few hellos.There was some electric work going on, on the overheard wires, I said hello in Greek, they knew I was English and replied with a “Good morning”, oh well. When I got to the end of the slip road, the sea has come in! This ...

 Sunday 20th November This is a stray cat that I took a photo of last night, while walking around Hora with a couple of friends who live there. One of them, knew the town well and showed me a building which is very attractive but empty, it used to be the Spanish Consulate. Next to it was a sixteen century church. I had seen both of these but did not know the history of them both. Below is Serifos’s “Flatiron” building, which is built like this to fit it in the space available. I think it looked good in the dark.  We also saw a couple of frogs wandering about. The previous photo I took and posted wasn’t very good, it did not show the colours of the local amphibian very well. This morning as I walked back to the house after feeding the cats, I met one of the UK folks, who are here for a month, off running again. It’s not windy at the moment and not hot, as it’s cloudy, so it’s probably good running weather. I saw Marinos’s wife getting his coffee shop ready yesterday, so it will...