Make up its mind!

My first reheat and rice meal in my new stackable pans worked out well. Having two small stainless steel pans to clean rather than two saucepans was a bonus as was not having to watch a pot on the hob. No steam to fog up the van either as the Instant Pot sits ouside on the decking.

There was supposed to be rain early in the morning so I was listening intently for it to begin, finally. Then it stopped so I supposed it had finished so I went to turn on the water heaters early. As I came back, via the loo, the rain started again so I told Oskar he could have a lie-in and that I’d be back for him later. I decided to go back to bed as I though the rain might continue for a while however it was not to be so. I got up again and went out for Oskar. As I got the other dogs up the rain started to fall again and was far from pleasant as we galloped across the beach towards the Promontory. Joy!

It was on and off as we completed our six laps, one of which, was on my own. The total walk amounted to just over 9km but accounted for only around 50% of my Move Ring. Rain came and went throughout the Early Walk which was much longer than usual.

I put the dogs in their runs, pressed the button on my porridge which had beens set up from the night before, and wandered over to the bathroom for a shower. It was probably around 09:00 by this time – very late considering there was no run.

Breakfast out of the way, I got on with the day. A message from Maria instructed me to give some money to Xanthippos from the office. I wanted to fix the entrance lights so, armed with tools, I walked up to the front of the camping. I looked in on Chris and Claire’s Hymer to be sure the power was still keeping the batteries charged. The illuminated sign outside the camping was maintained a couple of years ago during the time of Manos. Together we’d taken it down and he’d changed the fluorescent tubes and starters. I helped put it back up and insisted on boring things such as earthing the metal frame which holds up the sign and placing grommets where cables pass through the metal. I also installed a short length of chain to prevent excessive swinging, however, this broke a while ago and it was another round ‘tuit’ job. I reckoned that, so long as the sign continued to function, no one would bother to fix the chain..

While fixing the chain, Xanthippos arrived on his chariot and I handed over the dosh. He went to visit Manolis and Lisa presumably dealing with the dogs later. I checked the lights and went back for something to eat.

The remainder of the afternoon shuffled past amidst sundry emails and occasional administrative tasks. I found time to wash the blankets I bought for the Brown Dogs a couple of years back. The weather forecast is for temperatures as low as 7℃ from tomorrow for a few days. Our first cold period of winter. The temperature has dropped a couple of times but only to 8℃ so far. I wouldn’t be surprised if we get lower temperatures that that.

Oskar also qualified for additional bedding as he is in a cage not far from the floor. He has some thick slabs of polystyrene foam in between him and the concrete floor. The polystyrene was surplus to the commercial kitchen construction back in the winter of 2015. I acquired it before it disappeared into oblivion.

Showers were the order of the day with a few sunny intervals. I needed to go on an Evening Walk in order to close my Move ring so wanted fine weather at the end of the day. Not that it was very fine, it just didn’t rain. Luis and Fido played ball and the waves, driven by the strong SSW wind, crashed into the rocks and spilled over into the lagoon. We went up onto the rocks on the west side but did not continue round.

I hurried the dogs back to the camping as the black clouds piled up in the distance, fed them and put them to bed.

My spinach and rice awaits me. Another experiment with the stackable pots. The rice in the bottom pot and the spinach crammed into the smaller pot on top. All will shortly be revealed!