Wild waves

I can hear the sea crashing against Gremmeno Beach much as it was doing when we stood on the rocks at the end of the Promontory. The dogs wanted to go up onto the rocks as much as I did I think. The sea was very agité as the French might say. The wind is from the south at present although I woke to hear the waves bashing against Alonáki Beach. It was the alarm which woke me as I was fast asleep. The southly wind has filled the lagoon and prevents us traversing the rocks.

The Early Walk was one of more marching so that I could run a shorter distance today. My running shoes are still wet from yesterday so I had to wear my dog walking shoes which are very uncomfortable by comparison. The running shoes are designed to absorb some of the impact against the road whereas the dog-walking shoes are former walking shoes with hard soles. I ran only 6km as I’d already completed 5km on the Walk and expected to be able to walk again in the evening. My Rings were pretty much closed early on so I had no need nor desire to cycle.

Breakfast followed a little leisurely loafing about updating the firmware on my drone. It was windy so I’d decided that flying might not be such a good idea. It also kept threatening to rain which was another reason to not fly. I contented myself with flying in simulator mode which turned out to be extremely boring although perhaps useful.

Olivia came to the gate to remind me she would be leaving for two weeks leave today. She is going to see her son in Athens who celebrates his twenty-fifth birthday tomorrow. She will then be spending time with her Nephew in Iraklion. Most of this she explained in English as she is getting a little braver now. I helped her out a little as my knowledge of Greek is better than her knowledge of English. That said, it is always easier to speak a foreign language when you’re in your own country I feel.

Morning became afternoon, the wind seemed calmer, so I ventured into the adjacent field for a little flying. My session would be quite short-lived as I knew the controller battery was a little low as a result of all the updating earlier. Nothing amazing was achieved and the furthest I ventured was to the end of Grammeno Beach car park whereupon a message popped up warning me of high wind speed and the need for careful flying and landing. I decided to turn around and go back to the field.

Kris, the guy who sold me all the kit showed me a great way to ‘land’ the craft without having to go through the actual landing rigmarole. Bring the craft down to a reachable height and leave it to hover. Grab the unsuspecting machine and quickly flip it to one side. This triggers a system in the computer which says it’s crashed so automatically cuts the power to the motors. Et voilá!

The controller battery was now too low for anything and one of the flight batteries was exhausted too. I decided to go back to the van, charge them all and get on with something else. I’ve been playing with the Grammeno spreadsheet which I use to take down customer details and deal with invoicing. Maria insists on using nasty little pieces of paper. I’m improving the spreadsheet and learning Google Sheets at the same time. It’s pretty much like other spreadsheets to work with.

Monika came to drop me some clothes pegs as she was so disgusted by my offering when she wished to borrow some. We chatted for a while, I fed the pregnant cat by reception and she left to set herself up for the night having examined her map with me in the office.

Sunset came so we set off across the field to find that the sheep are back for the winter. I didn’t wish to be mucking about trying to find a way out through the nicely blocked off fence so we turned about and had the excitement of going through the camping. Exciting for them but not for me.

There were a few drops of rain as we crossed the beach on the return leg and also whilst I doled out the food. They are all now tucked up having been fed and watered. My rice has cooked so it’s time for me to be fed too.