Animal Farm

Thursday 19th January 2023

The cats I feed for my friend where I cleared the ground are really funny. they like each other but if they are both there, when I turn up with the food, they will try and eat from the same bowl - there are two bowls and  each cat, nudges each other out of the way, which results in the pushed out cat, eating at the other bowl, and the sequence then repeats itself. They do it to each other, they are both bullies. 

Below is a section of the map, showing where we went yesterday. I ran out of room  to show it in Wednesdays post. The pen marks the return path my friend thought was there. You can see the church spelt Stephanos , not the way I spelt it yesterday. The path also has a number one by it. Bit by bit the map is going pink. There will be some paths, I won’t try on my own, but my adventurous younger friend will probably take me along them I imagine. 

As I am feeding the cats of a regular basis, I am having a little wander round where I feed them. My ramblings were rewarded by an unknown bush that is flowering. Beautiful yellow flowers I thought. It has quite large leaves, but they have a wavy glossy surface which means the water loss through them will be less. The other thing I am finding is when I wander around after feeding the cats, is that the steps are often wet. Now my theory is there is humidity in the air, the stones are relatively cold and therefore you get the water  on them.  I suspect I might be acting my broken record syndrome here, I could have said this before.

When I did some shopping, again on the way back from the cat feeding today, I could not see any garlic, I should have found the word for it, but I asked if they had any, wonderfully there is a single Greek word that you can use for the question and the statement, “Do you have xyz ?”  Or saying to someone that they have xyz. So I used it and he knew what garlic was, but he didn’t have any. I went back home and did the usual crossword and then Duolingo. Amazingly I have got to level two, so I am on more longer sentences, which works well with my work on the other language course I am doing. The Duolingo I am working with the Greek Alphabet, which the other course starts on at the end of the unit I am currently doing. It’s all joining up nicely then. 

I went to Marinos for a coffee before I did my walk to Livadi. I decided to do the one that turns off before the reservoir by the new house. I have not done it since Christmas. I ordered my coffee, the donkey man with two animals was in there and the priest. I drank my coffee and thought, I could convert one of the sentences in my course from Beer to Coffee. It goes something like this “I am drinking coffee, I drink coffee every day, this coffee is good. “ I had to check with the priest what he thought coffee should sound like, and it’s gender. So I ran it through my head a few times and when I paid I had a go. Looking back, I made a pigs ear of it, it would be amazing if he got any of it. But at least I tried. I got an orange for my trouble, which I had on the way down the track.

Photo Interlude - later on during the walk

Not far down the track, my Noah’s Ark pretend menagerie collection increased to include a small herd of goats, quite far away from me. There is still plenty for them to eat, there is not much munching the clover there. When I got to the new house, I turned right and walked on the rocky path. With clover and other things growing it’s a bit more difficult now, but at least it was clean of rubbish, apart from a couple of bits. I soon came the the concrete bridge and there, the water was running, it made a lovely sound with the canes moving in the wind. 

I carried on, the next animal was a couple of cows, in a sort of yard. I have never seen them here, the only other ones I have seen, were on the path back from the way I came. They were quite friendly, coming towards me. Eventually I got to the beach, where a field had sheep in it, I have seen them here before. The wind is still strong and on the beach there were fairly big waves pounding it. I carried onto Indigo, which is where I usually find my favourite pie, alas they had run out, they open at six I was told, I have their telephone number to reserve one next time! As I walked out the guy who works in the ferry ticket place which is also one of the parcel depots, asked me my name, he has my first Amazon delivery, I am using Amazon.de by the way. I had checked the parcel on the site, it said it was coming today, I was going to do the rounds and check the parcel places in a couple of days, but that’s impressive. He has my number now for next time. Spare guitar picks arrived.

Next it was to Grans, to try my coffee lines. I think the problem is people want to be helpful, and if you speak Greek that relates to the current situation they are going to correct you. So because either my coffee was going into my reusable mug or because it was a Fredo Cappuccino my gender and name was wrong. I think in the future to avoid disappointment I will just throw in a line about the weather or something else, until my proficiency improves a lot.

Photo Interlude - Pretty blue flower, like a grape hyacinth

More confusion. I usually hello to everyone in Grans, customers and all, but this time this guy got up as I left and went to shake my hand. He might have said his name, I don’t remember. I shook his hand, I thought, do I know you? I did not think so. He told me he was a carpenter, I guess I he was just introducing himself in case I had any business for him. He also said something like I should learn Greek, which I thought was funny! There was a dog running around, I asked what its name was, it was Albina, which doesn’t mean anything I was told. On its behind was a load of wood shavings, I pointed them out and we all had a laugh. I went outside and sat down to do more Greek, I saw them leave in a big truck, waving to me, Albina in the back with all the bits and pieces as usual.

I walked back back up to Hora, checked the Post Office as it was open and then popped into the ACS delivery. folks and gave them my name and number. A couple of phone calls tonight, and spaghetti carbonara.