What did we see? The International Space Station! (ISS). Ursula pointed out a celestial object and commented that it was moving too quickly to be a plane. I guessed that it might be the International Space Station because of the speed at which it was travelling. We watched it pass almost overhead before disappearing 10º above the southeast. There is a website which allows you to see where the ISS has been ever since it was first launched in 1998 so I was able to check that it was the ISS that we saw. As fate would have it, we are able to view it again tomorrow morning at 05:06. I have made a note of the time and co-ordinates.
The ISS was far more active than most of the dogs. Luis was not up for any ball chasing and neither was Fido. Charlie managed to run around a little before he soon tired of it too. Pea was probably the most active as he likes to play a game with me which consists of a little rough and tumble which then encourages him to go racing off like a mad thing. This usually gets the attention of Oskar and Charlie whereupon Pea attacks them either singly or together and they give chase. Oskar and Charlie are now the heaviest, strongest dogs and Pea is the smallest and lightest of the dogs. But then Oskar is all mouth and trousers and will run away at the sight of his own shadow.
The forecast warned of strong winds today and tomorrow however this had not materialised first thing in the morning. Then, all of a sudden, it became very windy making my ride to Paleochora fairly demanding. I wanted to go to the plumbers today but I was unable to find the shop. The place I thought sold plumbing stuff is an electrical trade counter and I couldn’t find the plumbing shop. I have put up a workaround which will suffice for the moment. Other jobs today included fixing a leak on the tap which controls the water to the hose, dog misting sprays and shower. The fitting had split and the rubber washers were deformed. All now replaced and dry.
There is quite a bit of lightning activity but even with the better antenna, my station is not receiving as many strikes as the other station on Crete. Normally there would be two antennae to pick up both kinds of radiated energy from a lightning strike. With only one, this is a disadvantage. I may revisit the electrical shop tomorrow and pick up some more coaxial cable to make up another, different type of antenna for the other signals. I notice that most of the other stations have this type of antenna as well as the E-Field type. The E-Field antenna is very easy to construct.
Quite a bit of activity still in the camping. Most of the Small Cabins appear to be occupied as well as the static vans. There was someone struggling with a tent when I walked up a little while ago. Being in a tent for the next couple of days will be increasingly demanding since the wind is quite strong and gusty. There is a lot of dust and leaves picked up due to the strength of the wind so it’s hard to keep anything clean: particularly the bathrooms when leaves and dust blow in through the windows.
Here is a Google Translation of the latest review of Grammeno Camping on the Google website:
“The place is pretty rubbish – you should not drangehen [expect] with German / Swiss expectations [standards]. Nevertheless, he is somehow homely and the best in the area. Expensive for Greek standards, while Paleochora is rather cheap. Beautiful beach on the peninsula. Organizationally much improved compared to 2015, at that time it was bad. The owner should invest the additional proceeds in repair and demolition work. [Hear, hear!]
I shall make sure this is translated into Greek so that Georgia can understand it. The reviewer awarded a generous four-star rating despite the rather swingeing review.
This evening, we should be able to download the latest software for our phones and watches. This will provide various improvements to some of the applications. The software should be released at 10:00 Pacific Time which is 20:00 EEST.
The top temperature for today is 30.9℃ and the hightest wind gust nearly 60km/h [40mph].
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