Head in the clouds

 Thursday 17th November 

Today is very windy, but it’s amazing when I went into Hora to feed the cats, it was still. It’s all the buildings that shelter the town from the wind. This little house is exposed to the wind, there is nowhere to hide here. Which is why the windmills are here of course. As I said yesterday, we are getting different sunrises every day, there were two layers of cloud today,  the ones high up were not moving, but the ones lower down were being blown along by the strong winds. I think my friend from Sifnos got back home just in time, ferries may well be cancelled due to the heavy winds, or at least be uncomfortable for passengers.

I did find an alternative Eye clinic in Athens and I have an email from them, after sending my enquiry, they have identified what the problem is, which is what I remember was said in the UK. My plan is to ask them how to organise the cysts removal. It will be a trip to Athens, but I can use it to do other things, what they are will depend on when the appointment is. The next job is to decide when to meet the accountant on Sifnos, probably wait until nearer Xmas. One thing I won’t  need to take with me is the guitar, there is one there I can use, it will just need tuning, as it doesn’t get used I think. The decision to put a link to these blog posts on Facebook was a good one, I am seeing twenty five readers per day, before it was single digits, which meant it was a lot of work, and not many people reading my efforts! One thing I have noticed on the Serifos Facebook page, is that my landlord is quite handy with his camera! After I feed the cats, I usually have a little wander around Hora, I am sure I am going to see things that I have missed before, like this door…

The door, was  just around the corner from where the cats are fed. When I walked back to the house after feeding them, I met one of the recently arrived UK folks, doing a morning run. I watched this documentary last night. It is about a Ukrainian shelter for children who have had to leave their homes. It’s there for them to be safe, while it’s decided if they can go back, or live with a foster family or a relation. If none of these solutions are found, they go to a orphanage. It’s gut wrenching stuff. The children seem to know more than they should do about their alcoholic parents, at their tender ages. The staff are amazing.

Todays walk was along a track, starting at a church that I have visited before, where I took the left turn, instead of todays right. The track stops short of the final church on the map, so I wasn’t sure where I would get too. The first church is called Prophet Elias. It has one of those ninety degree trees by it, caused by the prevailing wind. What I had not noticed was it has a metal cross and there were some remaining pieces of glass, like our coloured church windows in its metal frame.

Around me there were clouds swirling about, at my head height, but at this point I did not have my head in the clouds as such. That happened on my return leg. There were wonderful views around me,   A little smallholding with a patch of fenced off cleared ground, grape vines and a very small house. The  wind and changed as the path crossed back and forth. Again the worst was on the return leg. There were quite a few birds, hard to see what they were, they were swooping up and down and in and out of the shrubs. I saw a lot of the now familiar crocus, these were being battered by the wind. A little later a rusty red pickup appeared on the path and the driver wound his window down, showed a big smile and said hello. 

 I saw a rusty car, not quite in the state of ruin as the one the other day, it was in one piece. Just.  It was quite a long way to the next church, it’s really small, the smallest public church I have ever seen here, there are smaller ones, but in peoples gardens. It had a bell on the end of a plank of wood, google maps shows the plank is put on the flat roof, so the bell hangs over the edge, where it can be rung. This church is Panagia Roudani.

After here the path split, to the right the next church, straight on was to the one I might not get to. As I turned right I could see the village of Panagia, and as I dropped down to see the next church, the beach I walked on with my friend also came into view ( Sikamia ) along this track there has been several large holes, a bigger diameter than a well and not as deep. Water reservoirs? A bit small maybe. The next church is very pretty, but the usual fir tree obscured its view. It had a chimney painted in blue for the BBQ, which made it look very different. It’s called Panagia Kamaroti. Amazingly, it was open.

There is another church on this branch on my map, but accessible by a path. I tried to find the path, to no avail. I disturbed a brown cow with horns, which was munching the new lush green vegetation. I gave up and turned back to the previous track junction. Here the wind was in my face and sand was being whipped up too. When I got to the junction. I carried on and the track soon ended. There is no obvious path to the last church, so that might never get seen. It might be worth doing this walk again and not visiting the other churches and then having another look.

On my return, in places my head was truly in the clouds. I thought I tasted a bit of salt, I feared. my head might get wet, but it didn’t. I knew the way back, I decided not to look at the  map to see how far I had to go, I never do that on a plane, if they have a online map to show where you are especially on long flights, to places like Singapore. 

I was soon back in the car, and I decided to go to Livadi for a nice coffee. When I got there I met Chris and his wife,  we had a nice long chat, I showed him where I had been. We then talked about learning Greek and I told him where I have got to. He said where he comes from, they shorten the words, which would be a big problem for novices like me.