Blissful as my slumbers were, they were interrupted by the sound of the UPS (Uninterruptable Power Supply) beeping to tell me that the mains power had failed. I languished in bed trying to ignore the noise hoping grid power would soon be restored. Eventually, I gave in and dragged myself out of bed to press the button on the UPS.
It was very quiet when my alarm woke me at 04:30: no sea noise, no wind noise and no dog noise! I stumbled out of bed and dragged on my clothes before gathering up the luminous balls and the tube of biscuits. I resigned myself to the fact that Ursula and Heidi would already be out on the Promontory.
I began to notice that the lightning flashes, already brought to my notice by the app on my iPad, were becoming more frequent. No rumbling as yet, just flashes. I marshalled the dogs and we set off across the field. Without any street lights, I needed a torch, at least for the field bit. Once on the ‘road’, I was able to continue just by means of the lightning flashes.
Ursula and Heidi were lurking in the sandy bit at the end of the Promontory enjoying the lightning. The dogs seemed very lazy today even though Luis managed to find the energy to go off to bark at nothing somewhere in the vicinity of the lagoon. Pea soon joined in followed by Princess until I told them all to shut up and stop destroying the morning peace.
As time went by, the storm approached, the frequency of the lightning increased and was enhanced by thunder followed by some rain. I, fortunately, had taken the precaution of bringing in my laptop in case of such an eventuality. I am not entirely confident in the canopy as it has not been tested using ‘proper’ rain. We all retired to the shelter of the rocks in case the precipitation worsened. By 05:25 I’d had enough of crouching under a rocky overhang so decided to walk the dogs along the rocks rain and all. I could see the drops as they passed through the light of my head torch. Out journey over the rocks was rapid as I feared the rain might intensify.
We met up with Ursula, Heidi, Obi and Princess at the Assembly Point before returning to the camping. The rain, by this time had called it a day. We gathered up the dogs, I administered biscuits, and we marched briskly back to the camping.
This morning seemed even darker than yesterday presumably because of the increased cloud cover. I changed and went for my run, red lamp in one hand and flashing reflective band around my right arm. Even with street lighting, the route is precarious enough, without it, I didn’t feel like taking any chances. It was cooler so I was able to complete my run in under forty-two minutes with comparatively little effort. Maybe the roadside shrine which I use to mark my halfway point has got nearer or perhaps the camping has moved?
Ursula had relocated her Pilates inside the awning despite all the clutter. The decking outside was very uninviting due to the earlier rain. I went for a shower before boiling the backup kettle on the hob as the power was still off. By this time, the power had been off for around five hours so my inside van lights were no longer working due to the van batteries being flat. They are coming up for nine years old so rather past their prime. We drank our tea and discussed various news items from the paper.
The rain had lasted a few minutes and now only the clouds and a bit of distant rumbling prevailed. Grid power came back at 08:30 so I decided to do my daily cycle to Paleochora. The Veg Guy and his younger brother were particularly welcoming and seemed impressed that a geriatric of my advanced years was still capable of riding a bicycle all the way from Grammeno to Paleochora and back on a daily basis! I pointed out that sometimes I come in twice.
The day warmed up, the dogs settled down for some serious sleeping after their lazy walk, and I busied myself doing important things.
The setting sun has disappeared and no longer bothers to bury itself in the trees at the back of the van. The sun angle appears to be changing dramatically and the mornings are much darker. Official sunrise is 07:07, one hour after we return from the Early Walk. The rationale for continuing to go out early was because I wanted to be back from my run before Xanthippos reported for duty and cranked up the New Wreck. He is no longer with us. Another reason was that it was hot for running but this is no longer the case. Perhaps it’s time to leave later?
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