Night on Bear Mountain

Sunday 5th February 2023

We had a lot of rain late last night, but more is expected today. I am going out for lunch with a friend today, so my lost lunch is not a show stopper now! I decided that, I don’t want to get wet walking to the car park, so after feeding the cats, I drove to Marinos. I  then drove to this house, and left the car on the track, something I don’t normally do. There was only one guy in Marinos, whose name I know. I sat by him. Marinos now wants me to wear a hat. I think my hair is a bit thicker on top, than his, so no need I said. I had to use Google Translate to ask the guy by me if he was working today and he said the word for church, which I did not know, but he gesticulated, with his hands, so I understood. Marinos indicated the church was the one the priest who goes in his coffee shop preaches in. The Greek Morning TV program, I knew one bit of its name which means “Now”, the other word was only four letters, but it means “Together”. I was looking at the so called news ticker tape thing at the bottom of the screen, even though it wasn’t moving, it wasn’t there long enough for me to decifer it. What is clear is that they have the same fascination with the weather, that we do, and football. The lady who did the sport bit, had the reddest lipstick on that I have ever seen, Marinos looked at it, said something and pointed to his lips. I said “why” and the guy next to me said “yes”. So a little conversation then! Another guy came in, I recognised him but I know his name now. I did my one, two three, but my friend helped me too much. Not long afterwards, both the guys went to go, to the church I was told. They weren’t in their work clothes, but not in shirt and ties like UK people do, or do they still? I then got up to leave, I looked up the word for house and told Marinos I was going to the house to have breakfast.

Photo Interlude - Sunlight through the clouds

It’s Greek, cleaning and guitar, then lunch with my friend. They have a fire so that will be warm. I am going to try the air conditioner again, to heat the house  as Marinos had his on today, his bar is smaller than the living area in this house. I wonder if he leaves it on overnight or on a timer. If I leave the house, the electric gets cut off, but not the fridge! The house is now cleaned, it’s pouring with rain outside. As we are not going to get much sun today, I will need to remember to turn on the water heater, else I am going to have a cold shower. As the morning moved  towards lunchtime I had a nice river running down the track. I heard that snow was  falling in Athens, maybe on the top of the mountains here it might be.

Photo Interlude - Ruined building on the donkey track, it looks  different with the green around it.

Below is a photo of what we call Ground Elder in the UK. It’s a horrible invasive weed, but not as bad as bindweed. Anyway here it seems to grow much taller and I am sure from the crushed smell of the leaves, it’s from the same family. What  is interesting is it’s not invading the ground in the same way as the UK variant. if It dies off like ours does, there will be roots underground that will regenerate when there is moisture and it’s back growing again.

Weather update, we now have hail, falling at an alarming rate, thunder and lightening too. I would love to see the stream by the Wash House now! 

After booking the flights to go back to UK in March, I drove down to my friends house. I had been told I was getting soup. As I drove down the mountain, there were loads of waterfalls streaming down around me. This was one opportunity too good to miss. I parked at the Wash House and walked down the track to it. There was almost a roar of water around me, echoing off the mountain sides. It was quite a sight. It wasn’t raining at this point I might add.

As I drove over the bridge over the dry river bed in Livadi, it was a streaming torrent. That was something else I wanted to see. I drove into the port and carried onto my friends house, is. A friend of theirs was there also. A little while later on, lunch was served. So yes there was soup, but what had been cooked was what we would call a casserole. The gravy is removed, put into soup bowls. This is served first. Then the solid part of the dish is eaten, but with a twist. Before eating, it is sprinkled with Olive oil then some pepper and a special salt, that I have forgotten the name of. There was a side dish of Butter beans with tomato and other goodies in it. I must ask for the recipe for that. We then had a light dessert, the sliced apples they seem to like as a dessert and a  tart my friend had cooked up. It was a lovely relaxed afternoon, really enjoyable. Both myself and their other guest left, into a storm of wind and rain. We both had an interesting drive back up the mountain, our cars light beams cutting through the gloom.