Monday musings

Monday 30th January 2023

I went to Vasileas last night and had a few beers. I showed him the photo of the cake. It was quiet there, two guys came in, Vasileas told me that one of them ran Tavernas in Koutalas and Sykamia. I said I would go, but they don’t open until May. I tried to use a few more of my new words, I left wishing Vasileas Good Week, that word finally seems to have lodged itself in my mind. A friend of me texted to say I should be ready to wish them Good Month on Wednesday. Vasileas had some books by his side and I asked him in Greek if he was reading them, no he said that were for customers to take and read and return. It was a nice evening and I came back home, watched a bit of TV and went to bed. I had put the heater on!

Photo Interlude - Pretty pot with succulent growing, by a house in Livadi.

I have been listening to the The Archers before I came here and since arriving I have kept listening, although the time difference makes it a bit late. I am quite aware it might be seen as old fashioned and the main  family a bit out of touch with modern life, rich farmers and so on. But the drama has highlighted modern day issues  and it’s a bit of fun. I had a birthday greeting from someone that’s I used to work with years ago, we had lost touch. But we are going to have a chat Tuesday night, it will be good to catch up with their news.

Photo Interlude - View from the road today.

Because I went to bed late, I got up late, so when I went to feed the juveniles I think they had given up and went to the house of my friend who used to feed them, the are called the Souvlaki cats, as they are fed next to a Souvlaki place. After putting out the food, I went to Markela’s and wished her husband Happy Week, and bought some things. I know he goes to Passaggios , I showed him a photo of my meal lunchtime yesterday. I managed to count the eggs I bought, one to six. I know his proper name now. I then went to Marinos for a coffee. There was not many people there, the workers had come and gone. I saw two drive past me when I went to feed the cats. I wished them a Good Week, we swapped a few words, I told him in Greek I will go to his place every day. I got a Mandarin from him, I had that for my breakfast. A pigeon came in looking for food while I was there.

Photo Interlude - This is the door label on the Ladies toilet in Passggios. The men’s is the same except it is turned one hundred and eighty degrees. Very clever.

 

On my way down the road doing my litter picking I decided to have a look at the Wash House waterfall. As I got down there I could hear it. It’s a pity I did not go down straight after the storm. There are lots of nice little pools of water, which indicates to me at some point there must have been a deluge of water down there. But it was still pretty impressive. I saw my first blackbird, it looked like a UK one, and made the same noise warning the to other birds that I was about. It was a male.

As I walked down there wasn’t much rubbish, several people who know me waved and others who do not, did so as usual. I saw Father Daniel, I always get an enthusiastic wave from him, I saw one   my friends, who stopped to have a chat. I had my fleece open with my Raffles T-shirt visible, my friend had been there and had a Singapore sling. They were off shopping. Further down a guy on a small motorbike stopped and said something like “Sto Livadi”, I indicated I was ok, I showed him my litter  sack.  I carried on, went by the slip road and walked along the beachside to Grans. I got my favourite pie from the other bakers, the delivery guy saw me! I put my sack and bits on a seat and walked into Grans. 

Photo Interlude - Pretty plant that I have seen today.

The slightly older lady was there, she the one that had been in Athens, I gave her a “Good Year”, it’s a bit late but I haven’t seen her. Her hair is slightly different, I said it looked nice, which it did. The delivery guy joked, was I going to buy any food there, I explained that the other bakers always has my favourite pie so I share my custom. I sort of did it in half English Half Greek, I used the Greek “Panda” word which means always. Outside later on, I spoke with the delivery guy about the car, he said it will be sorted by Friday, I said can live without the car until then. I went back to my sack, and did some Greek. I started to walk back to Hora by the other road, someone who I did not see very well said “Hello Paul” to me in Greek, I really like hearing my name, I replied. The K Market hasn’t been open since Christmas, it’s the biggest supermarket in Livadi. They have been sprucing it up over the last few days. It looked open, so I went near the entrance, there was a guy stacking stuff in the outside fridges, I said in Greek were they open. He said tomorrow in Greek. I was slightly impressed with myself!

Delicate flower seen on my travels.

On my way back up the hill, it so happened that I was on a bit of the road, when Marinos’s wife was going up in her car, she asked me if I wanted a lift. I showed my bag and explained I was going up the path, clearing it.  Seconds later, the lady who runs the dog shelter came down and I waved for her to stop. I had been chatting my to my friend about something, relating to this lady. I know she is busy looking after the dogs, so I said if she gave me the food, I could walk to the car park every day and feed the cats. She was flabbergasted and so pleased. It’s not such a big deal for me, she will have to cover if I go to the UK for a fortnight in March and in July and August. I am going to see her tomorrow afternoon. I then continued up the track to the house, where some guys had been mixing concrete for something in the Taverna, a pile of aggregate had been delivered there this morning.

It’s been a nice day, I think I now have the numbers one to ten in my head, but let’s see tomorrow!.