Comfort food day

Thursday 9th February 2023

After I fed the cats, it suddenly started tipping down. I ran towards the Marinos coffee bar, when I got in he gave me a couple of bits of paper towel to dry my head off. It wasn’t so busy, but quite a few more came in after me. Several of them I know the names of, some not so yet. I got my coffee and two biscuits, as the guy sitting next to me was not eating his. He smokes and he went to go out to have his cigarette, but the customers all told him to have it inside, as it wasn’t nice. I  know the word for cigarette, it’s on Duolingo for some reason. He was good, he sort of smoked it by the opened door. One of the guys whose name I know, had just got his coffee and the guy he works with was spotted outside in his truck, so he had to pop out having quickly drunk his Greek coffee. He had brought bread, I know the word for that, Marinos had inspected it, I said the word for bread, and Marinos said it was made in Markela’s. I tend to stay at the coffee bar, until about eight, when on weekdays the Today program has started at Radio Four, so I left then, I told Marinos I was going back to the house, in Greek of course, I got a satsuma today.

There wasn’t much of a sunrise today, you can just about see some pink there, but it got dark and the sunrise was extinguished by the dark clouds, that brought that rain that l soaked me. Last night I put another blanket on me, so I was quite warm. I put the heated blanket on about fifteen minutes before I get in bed, my nightshirt is hung by the air conditioner for about twenty minutes to warm that up too.

Photo Interlude - The main church in the Square which has regular services.

I was told by a friend here that you can expect weather like this for a week or two, so be prepared! They asked me yesterday to buy a pot of Marmite for them when I go to the UK in March. As I am checking in a case, I can put the Marmite in there, as the ban on liquids is still in place on cabin luggage. 

On the cold front, I am glad I am being tested like this, this is the sort of thing I need to be prepared for, what do I do, how do I keep myself warm, busy and positive. I was lucky yesterday, having that meal with friends. Today I have a call with one of my friends on Sifnos, whose telephone service is finally back up. Because I was out for a long time yesterday, I did not manage to do all the things I normally do, today, I imagine I will be able to complete everything.

Photo Interlude - Cat drinking water from a puddle in Livadi today 

A couple of my fingers have cracks in my skin, I get this sometimes and hand cream seems to help, so that was a purchase from the chemist today.  I also got the ingredients for the meal below and a visit to Grans, where else. The people in Grans say I am their lucky customer, which is nice. We always have a laugh, which is really good too. I must ask the delivery guy if he is doing his late night music nights again! The slip road is still flooded, so no one, is really using it, which means it’s a little busier in the centre than usual, with both cars, lorries and buses using it, but it’s not Piccadilly Circus. 

I decided I wanted to go somewhere as well as the reservoir, so I went to Agios Sostis, which is an odd name for a beach, but it’s named so, because on a rock promontory off the beach, is a church. It’s really lovely and the waves were not heaving as much as they would have been a few days ago, but they were good to see. It’s two beaches, with the promontory in the middle. Unfortunately the left beach gets all sorts of litter, I went armed with a huge cat food bag and I filled that twice, plus another bag I found and various other bits and pieces. You get to the beach by going down a rough track, so all that rubbish has to be dragged up. It took two goes. There is still loads of little bits there, but someone else can deal with that. They are building at least two big villas by the beach, there are already a few. These look big. 

I drove onto the reservoir, I was a bit disappointed again. I expected it to be fuller than it was.  There are    still some more rainy days I am sure, to help top it up. My two friends who were thinking of coming in March, and myself have decided together that the weather might put a damper on things then, so an autumn visit might be better. Even if they come in October, it should be good. I am going to visit them when I go back to the UK next month. 

I made the Sausage and Lentil mix using the local sausages and bacon. But it’s come out good and is a nice hearty meal to have today. It’s definitely warmer now, the washing I did this morning is a testament to that, I decided to do another lot as well. It should be dry by tonight, if not it’s not a disaster. I need to think about the sheets, maybe the weekend. I had my call with my friend on Sifnos, it’s been a nice day, it’s been good to get out in the fresh air. A proper walk tomorrow I think. I have a Serifos map that i am going to mark up with the walks I do with the friends dog from Sifnos when he comes over later this month.

The good news is the hot water was not without using the heater,  and the stew was excellent too, even if I say so myself. I had six portions, five are now freezing.