Rain and cold

Today’s theme is cold and wet. It was cold but not wet early on. The sky was clear as Venus shone brightly as she raced ahead of Jupiter which was already well on course. As time progressed, the clouds came back and there was little to see just before I herded the dogs back to the camping. Just in time once more as rain was on the way. A succession of heavy showers has punctuated the day, some with hail just to add to the excitement. Rain hammers the roof as I write at 19:50.

The sound of the hail battering the metal insulated roof above my head drowned out the sound of the video I was watching. I had to transfer it to the external speaker in order to hear it.

My weekly call was interrupted by the arrival of Brian from Northern Ireland who had been on Crete for a while but having difficulty finding open campings. He’d been to Sissy and Elizabeth but they were both technically closed although they allowed him to stay for a night. He has paid for one month however he may stay longer. He has taken the spot just up from me where Ulrike was for one month.

I resumed my call then decided to ride to Paleochora for some shopping as well as burn off some energy. I had a feeling the Evening Walk might not take place so a ride would help matters. The road was wet even though it hadn’t rained for some time. Fortunately, the rain held off until I reached Petrakis so only my bum got wet due to the soggy saddle on the return journey to the camping. I needed to pay the nice solicitor lady as I knew she was in Paleochora for the weekend. I discovered she was visiting a friend in Kountoura so returned to the camping. I arrived back shortly before the next heavy shower which had relatively little hail.

My phone eventually rang announcing the arrival of Αγγελικη so I was able to go to the entrance to meet her and to give her the dosh. She is a pleasant young woman who came to Chania from Athens where she was practicing Commercial Law. She is setting up again and taking whatever comes her way having decided that quality is better than quantity and lifestyle better than money.

I’d planned to take the dogs for an Evening Walk but a look at the sky from the beach confirmed that idea to be a folly. They have since been fed and put to bed.

The temperature inside the van is gradually crawling from 8℃ to something more reasonable. It’s still not very warm and my knees are chilly. The Brown Dogs appear happy enough with Fido and Luis sharing the newly-washed blanket I spread on the seat for them. All dogs are however curled up tight as it’s too cold to afford to lose warmth by stretching out. That will come later.

The others are in their houses and Oskar in his cage in the storeroom on his extra blanket. The cat is hopefully curled up on the huge stack of palm leaves being stored opposite Oskar’s cage. She has been around quite a bit today and it’s even possible the dogs are getting used to her. She sensibly keeps a low-profile when they are around.

I’m just glad I’m not one of the sheep in the field next door as the minimum so far has been 4.4℃ but is currently a heady 4.5℃. The coldest I have recorded is 3.1C. There is plenty of snow on the White Mountains.

This is turning out to be another wet winter as the graphs below indicate. The rain year starts and ends in October rather than January since most of the rain falls during the winter which gives a more realistic comparison.