Saturday was a wild night out on the beach. Alex was still residing on the beach so we met up when I took the dogs out for their evening walk. Alex had decided that he needs to go back to Latvia as he now understands that, to spend a comfortable winter in Crete, one needs accommodation. He was unable to get a sensible answer from Maria about renting a static van on the camping for the winter and flights to Thailand were all booked up and more expensive than he wanted to pay. His last night before leaving for Paleochora was Saturday so he decided that we should dine in style in his luxury beach accommodation. He’d been shopping at the supermarket in Kountoura so we had olives, oranges, feta, figs and similar Greek fare. We also got totally out of control and drank half a bottle of red wine between us! Meanwhile Boris was fetching his ball, the Small Dogs were wandering around together and Dave was laying in the sand. Twilight came, the moon had already risen and there were lots of interesting clouds massing over the mountains. It really is a wonderful place on a warm Saturday evening. I left around 21:45 and went back to Grammeno to feed the dogs and to put them and myself to bed. An evening of debauchery takes a lot out of one.
Wild night out!
Following my 05:30 (07:30 EEST) alarm call to you, I thought it would be nice to do breakfast on the beach. I didn’t have a lot except for some of the previous day’s bread, jam and coffee. So I boiled the kettle and wrapped it up in a couple of beach towels (from the Danes) before stuffing it in my backpack with a couple of mugs and the rest of the stuff. Grabbing the dogs, except Boris who was too tired from the previous day, I headed for Alex’s Pad where we enjoyed some fresh coffee with bread and jam. Alex had decided he had too much stuff to take back so offloaded some of it to me. It included a thick, zip-up woollen jacket with a fur-lined hood, a shirt, a scarf, a foldable foam pad to sit on at the beach and an mp3 player with about 3.5Gb of music. The battery was flat, he couldn’t charge it, so he thought I might like it. The jacket is huge and weighs a lot so I can understand why he doesn’t wish to carry it but it will be great for the winter.
We walked together as far as the east beach and then I turned back to go to Grammeno. Alex walked on to Paleochora where he will stay until Tuesday when he’ll catch the bus to Chania and then to the airport to catch a plane to Riga. He had a bus driving job which he says he will go back to for the winter and then decide what to do. He has tried to find some property in Paleochora and been to a couple of agents who seem reluctant to come up with a price. I suggested the best way to get something is to put the word about and buy privately: so long as you have a decent lawyer, there should be no problems.
For me, the Tiny House route is a good way to go as the house is small enough to be moved easily but big enough to provide practical, economic accommodation. Just a matter of finding a plot of land, putting down some concrete blocks, connecting some water and electricity and off you go.
I have one less mouse which I caught very quickly with the glue boards however I managed to release it by removing it from the board although it wasn’t easy as the glue is very sticky. It’s not a very nice way to catch rodents so I have created some bottle traps baited with dog food as well as my original trap which I have relocated to one of the overhead lockers. The Little Blighter has discovered that it is possible to access the overhead lockers which I thought were rodent proof. There is an interconnecting void beneath the lockers which carry cables for speakers and lights. The rodent manages somehow, to squeeze through the cable hole between the sections. I have removed all the food from the overhead locker and replaced it with one of the traps. I have also moved a lot of other items about however there are many locations, such as under the shower and behind the heater, which are far more accessible to a small rodent than to me. I have ordered more [humane] traps so that I can stack the odds against the rodents.
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