Just coming up to 5pm and these are the first words for today.
The first mistake was that I fell out of my morning routine. I’m not quite sure how it happened but there will be a full investigation. I have already explained the getting-ready-to-go-out-for-a-walk routine so will not bore you again. For some reason I forgot to get Millie and Charlie out until I already had Minnie, Oskar and Heidi in my left hand ready to pick up Boris in my right. The normal sequence is (for those who might not recall):
- Princess and Pea on leads at their houses to preempt any faffing about
- Hook them to the ring attached to a tree by the reel table
- Boris out and hook to his fence with his ball in his mouth
- The Brown Dogs hooked to fence by gate
- Go to storeroom to give Dave is tablet
- Millie and Charlie taken out of their houses and hooked to Princess and Pea under tree
- Oskar Heidi and Minnie taken from SDC in left hand
- Collect Boris in right hand
- Pick up ball thrower and ball (hand to be decided)
- Hook Boris to the Brown Dogs
- Hook Princess and Pea, Millie and Charlie to the Brown Dogs and Boris
- Open gate and let right-hand dogs go out
- Prevent left-hand dogs from tangling with right-hand dogs
- Close gate and proceed to camping entrance.
It is a lot easier with fewer dogs or more people! (Come back Ursula!)
There were people with a dog, camping on the Promontory this morning. I could see a couple of cars as we approached the car park. The cars were ‘hidden’ behind the bushes as people seem to think that this makes them disappear. I wasn’t sure exactly where these people might be so I decided to let off Boris and his flasher, Pea, Minnie and Heidi as they don’t present much of a threat. It didn’t take them very long to find the free campers as they were nearby. The Free Campers called their dog and were a bit surprised at being woken up at 05:30. We continued on and the inevitable barking subsided. At the open area at the end I added Charlie to the free brigade. The Brown Dogs, Princess and Millie can be a bit of a nuisance so were kept on. The free dogs raced around and Boris chased his ball for a bit. Another couple appeared and were barked at a bit so we moved away to another location. I don’t know why these people just don’t stay in bed at 05:30 on a Saturday morning. After a visit to the beach, they were collected together and we were back before 7am. Micky and Five were on the beach outside the camping but had the good sense to retreat in an orderly fashion. Dave was pleased to see us as he was hanging around in the storeroom. He is spending more time there at present as he shows little desire to go into the SDC due to the flies and the warmer weather.
Tea and the usual watering and poo-pick before a quick sit down. I fell asleep – probably something to do with getting up early and only sleeping for five hours.
A quick visit to the supermarket for bread and bananas where I got into a conversation with the girl on the till who seemed convinced that I had to use one of the new bags she was offering. I brought out my own bag. I already have more supermarket bags than I know what to do with so try to use them more than once. The local population has little comprehension of plastic consumption and the associated pollution. Crete can be more than a little windy so bags get easily blown into the sea. I won, spurning her bag and stomped off. Sigmund Freud had an interesting take on ‘shop girls’…
Other than give Dave his middle of the day jab, I have done very little other than ponder the meaning of Life, the Universe and Everything to come to the conclusion that the answer really is 42 and well done to Deep Thought for working it out after 7.5 million years.
It is now quite windy, with maximum gusts to 37km/h. I have configured the awning and shading sides differently than last year so I am now having the opportunity to see how they behave in a stiff breeze. I suspect that I would still take down the sides if it got really windy as rolling up the 4.5m (14.76′) front would be a bit of a struggle on my own.
It should be less windy later according the the forecast embedded above. You can click on elements of the forecast to see different days or forecasts which will appear in a new browser tab.
There has been quite a bit of activity in the camping with some young children nearby in T2. Their shrill voices caused a little doggy consternation earlier but generally the dogs have been well behaved today. But then again, I have absented myself only to go quickly to the supermarket and the odd trip to the loo. The building shields the rest of the camping from the dogs and the southwesterly wind blows the sound outside the camping.
My clandestine visit to the secret Poo Dump reveals that the people with the two dogs, camped under the carob trees at the top of the camping, are no longer here. No little dog barking at me as everything has been removed. The couple were working here, probably no more than three weeks, he in the bar and reception and she in the kitchen.