Catching up on two new churches

 Friday 9th December

There was a bit of admin work to do this morning, before  I drove down to Livadi, I rang the number that was on the Facebook post about the Covid vaccine being available here, and instead of blurting out, “Do you speak English”, I said in Greek, “ Do you speak English?”. I forgot the please, but she understood and said “yes of course”.  I gave her my number, she will ring next week with the appointment date and time.  When I got to Livadi, what had promised to be a nice day, was now overcast with clouds looming over us, was it going to rain? The forecasters said no. It still looked pretty threatening. I was not able to get the pet food ordered by my friend, from the Post Office, there was only one lady there and she looked a bit stressed, I need the tracking number apparently. I got the dates and times for the ferries before Christmas for my Sifnos trip, my final job, was to get some lunch at Grans. I am pleased that the exchanges I have with them make us all smile, it’s all done in fun, and they are trying to help me learn the language! I really wanted one of my favourite pies, but they were sold out. I hoped a bit of finger pointing and “ this one please” in Greek would get me it, but no, they told me the name and wanted a perfect rendition of it. Chris the delivery guy reminded me about the Greek music night on Saturday, but as we will see later, I can’t make it this week. I did get several free goodies in a separate bag, from the folks in Grans, which is very kind.

I did my Greek, and when I saw a ferry come in, I went to take a look. It was windy, with a fair amount of swell, and it moored on the other side, to where it normally does. When I ate my lunch this black cat joined me, it made very odd miaow noises, sounded quite cute, but I don’t want a cat thank you.  They were putting another load of Christmas lights on the passenger waiting area building, I will go and see them sometime. The train outside the school is lit up too. My walk today was near the heliport, a walk I had done before, but after looking at the map afterwards, I saw there were two churches I could have seen, but didn’t. As I drove to the walk start, they were doing overhead electric work, because the traffic is light, they don’t worry about having one way traffic signals, and it’s a bit hit or miss wether it was safe to really drive on, so I wait for them to gesture it is!

I parked the car, where I did last time and then spotted the first of these round things in the field. In the UK I think they are called dew ponds or something like that, but I don’t see them getting much dew here in the summer!

The first church does not have a name on the map, in fact I wasn’t sure I was going to find it, it was hidden from view until the last minute. It’s a pretty church and had a key in the door, so I could go in and have a look.

I retraced my steps and carried onto the next church called Aghia Anargyri, I had even better views of Mega Livadi, but there were those brooding clouds over it. It was quite mild, I was in my shorts, but I had a jacket on. Near the church was a herd of goats, there were a bit timid, there were no kids in this group, unlike the other day. The church had one of those trees right up close to it, but unlike most of them, it looked almost upright. But it covered the church , so there wasn’t a good place to get a decent photo.  

The path does branch off and head towards Mega Livadi, but stops before it gets there. There is another path from Mega Livadi that nearly meets it, so you could walk there from where I left the car, as long as something was open, which at this time of year, there isn’t. I walked back to the car, it was good to see these two churches, I don’t do these walks to specifically see them, it’s just a good way to see the countryside and get ideas for other walks. But they are still quite quaint!

Back in Hora, I finished brushing the concrete road, clear of stones, it was then time to feed these two stray cats. They let me touch them now, which is good, but I think it’s cupboard love I imagine. On the way back to the house, outside the larger supermarket, one of the ladies who serves there, asked me in Greek , “was I well?” and I just about replied in Greek, before my mouth uttered any English. She worked out I was English and said I was doing well with my Greek, I said I had a lot more to do, and she said, the same for her English. But it’s good I can speak some of the language! Oh and the reason I can’t go to the delivery guys Greek music night, is the couple I met while at Kalo Ambeli, have invited me for dinner tomorrow night, which is most kind. I have also heard from the cat sitter who is in Athens, and a friend who is there now, I will speak to them tomorrow. I have also had a call with our neighbours in Twyford, who are looking after our house.