Still wearing shorts in the mornings although there is less of a propensity to shed clothes as I run around my 500m circuit. I started running earlier this morning as Boris seemed to have lost interest in his ball. I completed the now usual 2km and we went back to base following a quick stop on route to gather them together and administer biscuits.
I went into Paleochora having walked Dave around the Promontory and partook of another manic pre-Festival shopping extravaganza. Today this consisted of the purchase of a brand-new mop, bucket and bottle of ecologically-inclined general-purpose cleaner. I also paid for another bale of hay as this seems to be quite successful. It’s necessary to keep adding hay as, eventually, it starts to turn to dust and small pieces. A certain amount gets dragged out of the houses and redistributed around the storeroom, SDC and most everywhere else. At 10€ a bale, in the Grand Scheme of Things, I reckon it works better than blankets, requires no washing, can be dug by the dogs when it’s colder and thrown away in the Spring.
I had a conversation with Yannis Petrakis about barcodes, to replace their current system where items are individually priced and the amount manually entered into the till. This boils down to a labour-intensive system where you have little idea as to what you are selling, what stock you have or need to order. He is aware of the shortcomings of the present system but is unsure as to how he should replace it. My first encounter with EPOS (Electronic Point Of Sale) was the hardware store in Maidenhead or wherever. Then Inter Sport, so I do have experience of EPOS systems, their application and effectiveness. I was explaining the difficulties confronting the sports shop tracking brands, sizes and colours in the various types of footwear. These are expensive and fashionable so, for example, it makes no sense keeping 10 pairs of pink size 12 trainers in stock.
Petrakis have lots of the same item on the shelves. I suggested he might be better served to have fewer of the same item, providing more variety of different lines offering more choice to his customers. Knowing what you’re selling is therefore very important if you don’t wish to run low on stock. He has a warehouse in Kountoura where they store bulky items such as straw, animal food etc. These are relatively low-value products so he might be better served to store groceries there as well. He now has to compete with the new supermarket which forms part of a national chain. They have the buying-power due to their size and number of orders. Previously, he was competing only with the Paleochora branch of Vlisidis, hardly a cut-throat organisation!
I amused myself by looking on the roof of the main bathrooms this morning. What a shambles! I can at least see why one of the fuses blows each time it rains. It appears that the lid of one of the junction boxes has melted into the box. I was checking the Ethernet cable from the office as I shall soon be replacing it. Not before time as it’s totally rotten through. No wonder it’s so unreliable when it moves in the wind. It is also lashed to other cables carrying mains electricity. Not a good idea as the mains cable’s magnetic energy interferes with the low-power Ethernet signal. I shall run all the Ethernet cables separately. No wonder it’s so slow. I was checking all the cables with my inductive tester. You just put the device near the cable and it flashes red if it’s live. An indispensable tool around here.
Later I fixed up a dog-flap for Boris to keep out the wind and retain more warmth in his house. It could also help with driving rain.
My supper, reheated Thai Green Curry, is ready so I’d better get to it before the rice turns to mush.
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