Friday the thirteenth

 Friday 13th January 2023

So this morning has been a little bit challenging. I thought there might be a bit of rain today, but it’s going to fall at  that awkward time between ten and just after midday. So as of now, I am sitting here nursing the aubergine curry, which is just cooling down after being made.

I would say, to those who live alone, and even those who live with partners, the cooking batch food and eating it  later on is a real boon. At the very least it can save time and money. It can also be handy if you like a meal, and your partner doesn’t. You don’t need to invest lots of money in plastic tubs, if you save tubs that things like margarine comes in, but buying the tubs aren’t that expensive and they can be reused loads of times. Stick a paper label on using adhesive tape and keep a note of what you have in there! 

I forgot to mention that I met one of the taverna guys yesterday. The whole bunch of them who work at the place next door to me are also super friendly when I see any of them. ( I know I have mentioned this before ) The youngsters have good English.  I asked him what they were doing to the taverna, and they are refurbishing the storeroom. Tiling it and some other works I think. He is working on a building near where I was doing the tidying yesterday, so he knew why I was up to. 

My Facebook group I Love Serifos has a new member, which is great, and I have had another exchange between myself and the person who asked me about where they were staying in July. I don’t have  grand plans for the group, it’s already helped one person and that’s enough for me.

One of my UK friends has asked me how much time I spend on this blog. I don’t have an exact amount of time, and it depends on the content I guess. I tend to write up a bit of it in the morning, maybe about things that overspill from yesterdays edition, then in the late afternoon I finish it off. On my phone, I have a note called blog, and if anything happens when I am out and about, I write one or two words, just to remind me about something I may want to add to the blog.

While I was waiting for the weather to finally decide what it wants to do, I went to Marinos. He was surprised to see me in a fleece and long trousers. I showed him my photos of the area by my friends which is now clear and my pile of metal. I got a little sweet, which was like a big cube shaped jelly baby, covered with icing sugar.

It was a big sugar rush. He was showing his friend the Serifos Facebook page, I saw  a post my landlord did the other day, the rainbow one. I also got  a Serifos Clementine from him. I must admit I have only used the toilet in his cafe at the back a couple of times since seeing it was there, it’s really top dollar, really smart and nice. I told him I was off to Livadi in Greek, as I don’t know the name for reservoir in Greek or how to pronounce it!

On the way to Livadi, I popped into the hardware store in the Industrial Estate, I thought in the car I might have stepped in something nasty, so I took my boots off and cleaned them up and left them off, before I went in. The girl who works behind the till, showed me where the gloves were, I bought two pairs, my old ones were falling to bits. I found the  Greek for good value on my phone, to show her. I knew the good word of course. They were two euros fifty cents a pair. In Livadi, I had a wander round, I was too late for the pharmacy. There was an oil tanker in the port, with a tanker truck unloading fuel. The Christmas decorations have gone now. 

I then drove to the reservoir, and parked by the dam wall. I saw a sign on the dam wall, the reservoir was finished in 2003. There is a concrete wall and path away from it, which I took. I noticed footprints in the concrete which I thought was funny. It’s lucky the person did not sink in more than two centimetres. To the right were some anemones, just starting to open.

At the end of the concrete path, there is a anti clockwise unmarked path, it’s not on my paper map either. You can see the level the reservoir has reached, there is a stain on the dam wall and you can see where vegetation grows, elsewhere it’s bare earth. The area was clearly old farm land, there are dry stone walls that disappear into the water. A big flock of birds in the water ahead of me were disturbed  by my presence, and flew off before I could identify them. 

The first place I hoped to see water coming down into the reservoir was dry, well there was no water. But I carried onto the next place, where I did a walk last year, that introduced me to this unmarked path I was on. It’s quite flat, sometimes on a muddy bank, that clearly is under water when the reservoir is full. There were now skeletons of trees, black but still standing, not tall, my height maybe. I could now hear running water and when I got to the place where there is a little inlet, I could then see the running water. It was a matter of walking up towards the source of it, as far as I could go safely. There were pools of water, running into each other, surrounded by huge rock formations. Eventually I got to a small waterfall, I could then go no further.

Satisfied, I walked back to the car. I could have driven back to Livadi, then up up Hora, but I don’t often go round the Eastern side of the island, so I took that route. This side of the island is not so developed, but there are some new buildings that have been put up. Amazingly there is a small building, not white but brown. Most of the buildings are white or natural stone, but there is a multi coloured building elsewhere on the island. I went past, but not through the village of Kallitsos that I walked to last year. You have to walk down to the village. In the distance I could see the beach of Platys Gialos. Not far after the monastery, which I must go too soon, I saw the sign for the winery, something else I should visit. Here there is a ruined windmill that I know, but after I had stopped I saw another one up a hill. Looking at the map, I saw a track that might lead up to it, so I walked up it and headed towards the ruin. There were loads of sheep in the field, and lots of little lambs. A pair of them, looking very young ran towards me, bleating away. There was a fence, stopping them get any closer. There mother was with them, very odd behaviour.

I could have been in Scotland or Wales, with the sheep, the brisk wind and countryside. I got back in the car, heading on, to Pyrgos, where I was the other day. I had my drivers window open, the fresh air blasting me, which was very invigorating! Near Panagia I stopped and gave the bus coming towards me a bit of room to get through. I did not see the huge tribe of goats and sheep, that  I saw the other day, but this time, two horses. Just before Hora, when I waved at the car coming towards me, ( as I always do )  I recognised it and  the owner, one of my friends from the medical centre. I have not met any of them since I have got back from Sifnos. There are so few cars on the road, you often recognise the car before the owner!

So it’s been a nice day, the sky is brightening up, ready for tomorrow which should be a nicer weather day.