The quiet after the storm

Monday 7th November

Last night was the storm part two. I looked out of the door before it got completely dark, and I saw in the direction of Sifnos, what looked like lightening. I got a message from one of my Sifnos friends and they saw it too. Well in the middle of last night I heard thunder and more heavy rain. It went on for a long time. This morning, the track has been washed clean of stones and dust. Because it’s on an incline I imagine at the bottom of the hill where the bus stop is, there would have been a torrent a water rushing down from here. Of course  the road then goes further downhill and I don’t know how many drains there are. But when I have walked down the road I have seen  big culverts at certain switchbacks, where there is basically a huge concrete lined hole where water could rush into. The rain reminded me of what I call Singapore rain, which comes down by the bucket load on that island. There they have even more complex and big drainage systems, to get rid of all the rain they can have. 

Photo interlude, picture of some bulbs coming up, these can be seen all over the island.

Continuing on the rain theme, I forgot to say. I got an alert on my phone. It’s wasn’t a text message, it must be something mobile operators have to provide to all their customers here. It was in Greek and English. It was basically telling us to stay indoors because of the rain, thunder and lightening etc. I think there were two alerts. I think it  is a good idea. 

One thing I tried on the guitar yesterday was make up a very simple melody. I am not trying to circumvent what I am being told to do, that is practice and remember those chords. But six of them can be played, in an order that makes the changeover easier and I play each chord five strums, then change. When I get to the last one, I repeat it, then go backwards to the first. It sounds nice, although I am under no illusion that the strumming and the chords need more work, which I can do when I practice the chords individually. But it’s something I  can play and it’s like a sense of achievement.

When I was on the phone yesterday afternoon, I heard this tinkling noise. Being up at the end of a track that becomes a path, you don’t get much traffic, certainly at this time of the year. The reason for the sound was soon clear, a herd of goats wandered by with their owner a lady who looked quite old, with a stick. I assume she came down the miners track, beyond it, there is the church  then fields with vegetation goats would eat. Maybe she was bringing them down to take them elsewhere?

Photo interlude, a little video of it raining this morning, it was not coming down very hard. But I had out my washing out..

Today is my first scheduled litter pick day. I have changed the way I do it already. When I go down the road I will stay on one side one week, then the following week stay on the other side. It’s safe to cross the road, but it’s best to keep on one side I think. Most of the things I picked up, were historical, eg they were only just visible, not a lot of new stuff seems to have been deposited! On the way down, I could see where the water had washed away soil, stones in its path and there was a bit of rubbish that had been washed off the mountain onto the road. There were a few places where rocks had fallen off the mountain but as it was mid morning, any that had been on the road had been moved. In Hora there was a white transit van making announcements, with his back door open revealing carpets. He was driving around like this. He clearly wasn’t worried about any falling out! I have seen this before in Greece where they are announcing they are selling stuff and driving about . Problem is they can’t get to most of the residents in the village, as there are no roads. Perhaps he just turns the volume up. Here he is heading down to Livadi.

I was a bit fearful for the vegetable plants on the roof after the two storms. I have just taken a look and they have all survived ok. They are sheltered from the winds, but won’t need watering for a few days! The white painted rooftop is nice and clean now, not that it was especially dirty. 

Once I got down to Livadi there was a bit more water about on the roads, and it was quite windy by the sea. As I walked towards  Grans, I saw what I thought was rubbish, but it was a fifty euro note. So I took it in to the stuff at Grans, I think the person who lost it would have been  heading there. I think the staff were quite shocked, not sure if it was the amount, or the fact I brought it in and did not just pocket it! I took my coffee outside and did some Greek. 

I walked back up the path with my trusty picker, but there wasn’t much to be removed. I was a bit thirsty so I popped into Markela’s for a cold drink, before going home.