Month: August 2015

The Small Dogs have too much energy and are not finding the communal walks challenging enough so I decided on an experiment this morning. It involved taking the SDs with me to the supermarket which, I suppose, is around 3km round trip. I have not had them run alongside the bike before and know that…

Sounds a bit scary you being on the loose: anything could happen. You might go on the rampage and have coffee at Costa or something dangerous like that. I have to spend some time organising my pictures as they have become spread about over a number of different media platforms. I’m also not quite sure…

I got to the supermarket before all the brown bread ran out today and was waiting at the checkout where Dimitris, the manager/owner was on the till. A local was chatting to him and paid €35.50 for something which had to come from the large metal storage cabin outside. Dimitris put his hands on his…

I am writing this to the sound of a JCB equipped with a large rock breaking tool, bashing away at some of the boulders on the site just up from me. Not the new greenhouse site as I suggested yesterday, but the plot where Fence Man was measuring and putting up reinforcing rods. There has…

You went out for a meal with the Faulkners yesterday and Derek managed to stay awake so I understand. My source tells me the meal was nice too. Are you really going shopping in Waitrose as it’s only Thursday. You wait until next week when it’s a Bank Holiday, it will take you days to…

Sitting in the van last night, I was certain I could hear the sound of large diesel engines. I walked around outside but could see nothing unusual so I came back in. Eventually, the sound disappeared and I went to sleep. This morning, whilst out walking the dogs, I understood why I had heard the…

Sunny and warm here with quite a bit of wind. In fact, I took my awning down yesterday for fear of it breaking loose and creating all kinds of havoc. I’m glad you had a good birthday and the weather lived up to your expectations. It is August, and it is UK and you are…

There are not so many people on the camping now although the Italian family has been replaced by a German couple. The four Germans who were sleeping outside without a tent left yesterday after two nights but another couple of young lads, who have left today, also were sleeping outside. All of these are definitely…

Hopefully you will not Have Been Caught on CCTV for depositing rubbish in the rubbish truck. You could get Deported for That Although I do not think Australia are accepting any more Deportees. They got enough £ 10 Poms in the 1960’s. It’s sunny and warm today as my hands are sweating into the keyboard…

I recall talking to you for around 90 minutes earlier today. This might be construed as ‘contact’. Or was it someone else? The young man with the bright pink shorts and his girlfriend have packed up their tent and either moved to another part of the camping especially reserved for people wearing bright pink shorts,…

I have been sorting out dog food. When it rained last Friday, there were 40kg of dog food on the large table covered, I thought adequately, with polyethene as all of my green plastic bins are already full of food. Since the rain was much heavier than I or any of the weather forecasts anticipated,…

Dave didn’t go out this evening, of his own choice, but he has eaten a bowl of food and seems to be breathing normally so I think he has survived the experience. Hopefully he’ll be more careful and I’ll be more wary. I’m amusing myself watching Luis trying to get to a piece of bread…

Like every day, particularly when it’s hot in summer, I take the dogs to the beach for a swim. After all, the sea is never very far away as we are walking on a peninsula for most of the time. Yesterday evening we went to the beach as normal and I was concentrating on Boris…

As Krauts go, these are pretty tame. They speak English and take the trouble to say hello and goodbye as well as indulge in banal conversation. The UK weather is evidently building itself up to provide you with your traditional birthday weather. It is your 88th birthday soon I believe. Here it is hot and…

I watched Maria and Vagelis as they boarded the bus for Paleochora this morning just as I was returning from the supermarket having bought bread and dog meat. They were busily packing up earlier and gave me some of the stuff they were unable to take with them including some aluminium folding chairs. They are…

For ‘unmark’ read ‘deselect’. I’m not sure which application uses that expression, but probably Outlook. My departing Greek neighbours have just kindly donated 500ml of “very good” [with strong Greek accent] olive oil over the fence. I replied, in my best Greek, “oil, great, thank you very much!”. They are packing up all their stuff…

Don’t the weeks just fly past? The holiday weekend is over and many people left yesterday including some of my neighbours taking, their children with them. I received a reply from Janne yesterday asking if there were many people on the other side of the fence. I gave him an overview of the situation with…

Are you having a birthday soon? All the 8s is it? It’s a pity the rain didn’t save itself for your birthday as it traditionally rains on that day. Not that it will make you feel any better but there is a 60% chance of a thunder storm here tomorrow. Well, that was the forecast…

Not so many sharks this evening as I still have a couple of legs left. More punters on the beach this evening so the dogs got plenty of attention. An English-speaking Greek with his English-speaking wife were asking all about them as they walk back with us. Apparently, their dog hates the water and was…

I got the idea from the Sun newspaper: the headlines should always be striking but not necessarily the truth. I was standing in the water yesterday, throwing Boris’ ball for him to retrieve when I felt this nibbling on my leg. Looking down I could make out, through the ripples on the water, a fish…

I think she knows as she will have probably worked it out from all the rubbish I send her as you asked me to include her when I send to you. I have been updated on the demise of the Magistrates’ Courts by Matthew who says that Fitzroy looks much better on its own. My…

I’m glad to hear you’re getting your money’s worth from the NHS. This morning I met up with a young German lad who was on the beach a couple of days back, camping in the wild by the sea. He appeared this morning with several plastic bottles and some mugs to wash up. I was…

Glad to hear you are back safe and sound. I hope you had a good time away. No great excitements here other than the camping is quite busy with lots of people coming and going. There are new Greek neighbours with bicycles and a tent. They arrived yesterday evening as the sun was setting. Boris…

There was over 17mm rain in Paleochora earlier, about 1/2″ to you. None here yet. That rain fell in about one and a half hours. We’ve been to our usual spot on the beach where we met a young German who is camping out and hiking with his mates. They had a rude awakening from…

I have now washed all the towels and bed sheets I inherited from my Danish friends. So I have disposed of my duvet as I’ve not used it for weeks, and now just have a couple of sheets. I seem to end up sleeping outside for half the night anyway. Boris decided to visit a…

I was outside until 02:00 as it was hot again, however, it cooled right down to 23C early this morning which was nice for our morning walk. Boris appeared a little more sprightly this morning, going rushing after his ball. I read that Rimadyl can help dogs with joint problems so I’ve started him on…

I saw Kostas’ jeep parked up this morning and looked along the rocks but didn’t see him. This evening he was on the rocks having just had a swim. It transpired that he’d been a little ‘under the weather’ today and had spent the day sleeping in the cave near his jeep. How the dogs…

Matthew’s wife’s immigration appeal reached its decision time limit on 30 July so now the appeal has to be heard by a judge in UK. Both she and Matthew are obviously upset and I had a long conversation with Matthew on the phone earlier. I sent an email to the immigration centre in Leicester on…

Between Fido and Luis they were kept busy. Fido because he wanted to be petted and Luis because he was too scared to approach, so barked. Not annoyingly loudly but amusingly, for the punters. Dave wandered around but was more interested to see if they might have some interesting food. Boris was playing ball in…

Today it is windy: my blissful slumbers were terminated by the sound of the awning flapping outside. It was around 5 am so still dark. Since I spent a lot of time dozing in the sun yesterday, and until about 02:30 outside in my lounger, getting up at 5 wasn’t too daunting. Wandering around with…

I was sleeping outside until 01:00 but then decided to put the Small Dogs to bed and go inside. It was quite hot all night and still hot this morning. I even went swimming this morning too. Since you are not on your usual Saturday routine, I will not call you as I don’t know…