Very un-Mediterranean

My bed seemed very inviting as the alarm sounded at 04:55. I was wondering if perhaps it was raining to give a good reason to remain tucked up in the warm. I could hear the wind outside and knew that it was not only strong but cold. Eventually, I prised myself from my pit and made my way to the loo. At least it was just cold and windy but not raining. The three Brown Dogs didn’t seem to be jumping around with their usual enthusiasm so perhaps even they felt it might be better to stay in bed a little longer.

We performed our March and the results are below

By 08:19 I’d returned from my run and decided that cycling to Paleochora was a bad idea. During the run, the wind and been strong and freezing cold. I’d taken the precaution of adding extra insulation and got that about right. The force of the wind was the problem. I didn’t hang around to chat to Antonis even though his car was parked outside his parents’ house. He passed me soon after as he headed towards Paleochora.

I went for a hot shower and made breakfast. I’d taken the precaution of putting the porridge on before going for the shower. You can’t hurry porridge in a pressure cooker. If you don’t let it depressurise naturally, you have porridge everywhere. It sticks like the proverbial to a blanket!

The sun was soon warm enough to made a difference so the temperature within the tent rose accordingly. There is a draught when there’s a northerly wind as the canopy is not sealed against the van. Previously, it needed to be sealed because of the rain: rain is no longer the problem.

There were a few minor IT tasks but nothing too demanding. An email to the dog transporting man to confirm that he will take Princess on his next trip to UK at the end of January. A telephone call from Maria announced the arrival of her brother’s wife’s baby. I forget which flavour it is. She was telephoning from the hospital to ask me to give Xanthippos 280€ from reception. I’m usually taking money in rather than giving it out. 

I went in search of Xanthippos to give him his money and stayed in the kitchen with Chris and Claire as he was nowhere to be seen. They were preparing lots of food using up most of the kitchen to do so. They invited me to eat but I had food all ready to go.

It was only 16C in the van so Obi was curled up tightly. I decided it would be a good idea to warm the place up so that it would be more inviting after the Evening Walk. I turned on the heater and put the convection fan on full.

The Evening Walk was chilly and breezy so I was unwilling to hang around. I fed the dogs and put them to bed. I was very glad to get back to the van which by now was over 20C –  a far more sensible temperature!