It was five years ago today that Boris, Dave and I were joined on the Early Walk by four soggy little puppies who had been abandoned on the Promontory near Grammeno. I can remember that Boris was not very welcoming. I initially took them back to the camping and put them in the travel cages whilst I decided what to do with them.
My first plan was to take them to the old kantina on the beach where they would be fed and watered by me. The hope was that someone might adopt them. As it was, one of them disappeared after a weekend. The puppies got to know my routine so intercepted me on the daily walks. I tired to transporting them back to the kantina so decided to keep them in the camping. Then, one evening, I discovered another little dog lurking under the clothes washing sinks. I left a bowl of food for her close to the van and next morning she joined the other three.
It was in April that I returned to UK to sell my house and possessions. I’d arranged for two of the dogs to be rehomed and planned to find a home for the third. I left Crete with six dogs and returned with four, not quite as I’d planned.
Fido and Luis are still with me five years on. Sadly, Dave and Boris are not. But then other dogs have come and gone in that time as will Princess and Pea at the end of the month.
We completed our three circuits of the Promontory in around 35 minutes today then started slowly back to the camping. It was warm again so I’d taken off my coat after the first circuit. I wanted to get some washing done as I was running out of clothes and the bedding was in need of a visit to the machine. I shoved the first load into the washer then went off for a run. I only ran the shorter route as I planned to do some core work when I came back.
I bought an app a while ago and had been meaning to get into the habit of working out each day. Intentions and actions do not always coincide and I’d only worked out a few times. It’s a useful app as it shows the exercises by means of a very lifelike animation and the instructor counts the repetitions as you work. The app takes care of exercise and rest time and progresses the routine after each session. I find it motivates and incentivises me to keep to a regime as well as to progress and push myself. I completed my workout before getting out the first load of washing and going for a shower. The shower was cooler than I might have wished but I’m not sure if that’s due to the leaking mixer tap or the fact that I’m usually first in the shower and not last.
Breakfast and another load of washing later, I put in a huge load for the Spanish couple just before my weekly phone call. The beginning of the day was fairly intensive.
I’d planned to cycle to Petrakis in the afternoon but was unsure of the weather and busy with other things. There was no urgent need to go into Paleochora anyway.
After a predominantly dull morning, the sun managed to break through providing a little sunshine. I went to make my bed and decided to use the opportunity to turn my mattress around. The mattress was replaced in April 2014 when I took the van back to UK on its last roundtrip. I’d ordered the replacement from a UK company which made to measure. The Hymer bed is not rectangular as the long edge next to the windscreen curves in towards the glass. My mistake was to order a curved replacement which would, as I discovered later, prevent me from turning the mattress and give it a rest. The upshot of this is that I have slept in the same position for nearly four years so there is now a dip where my bottom lies. Not so good for the back I suspect.
I’d decided to turn the mattress over, placing the memory foam layer towards the base of the bed. Not ideal but perhaps more ideal than having a dip. I took the mattress out onto the decking in front of the awning and turned it around. The dip was still in evidence. I then decided to cut the mattress into a rectangle so that I could turn top to bottom. I measured and cut then managed to stuff the mattress back into its cover. I may have a more comfortable night tonight.
My bed is remade, the washing in although not absolutely all dry. I took in the washing as I’d planned to take the dogs out for the Evening Walk. Just as I was getting ready to take them, Carol appeared at my gate to say that they didn’t want the washing machine tomorrow after all and that they would be leaving the camping on Wednesday. They’ve been here for around a month and will soon return to UK before leaving for India. As we talked about the approaching clouds, the first few raindrops fell. I came inside and Carol returned to her van.
If I’d checked Blitzortung, which I provided data for, I would have seen the storm approaching and would not have even considered walking the dogs. The decking outside has a layer of hailstones and a while ago it seemed as if someone was throwing
The storm has now rumbled off into the distance to entertain the remainder of the island. The rain has stopped, the dogs are fed and in bed and my supper is reheating in the Instant Pot. The rice is in the top half of the two inner pots and the main event in the bottom. I’ve set to steam for 8 minutes which should hopefully reheat the bottom and cook the rice.
I have some slightly damp Brown Dogs next to me. For some reason, despite having perfectly adequate houses, the dogs insist on wandering around in the rain. That applies particularly to Princess who appears to be oblivious to rain/hail/storm and apocalypse. I extracted Fido and Luis from the compound as well as Oskar. It was only as I crossed the lake outside the gate, did I understand the amount of precipitation during the storm. A healthy 11.8mm in around 55 minutes! Oskar paddled through and ignored the cat perched on top of the fridge/freezer opposite his abode. I fed her and put Oskar in his house. He got his food last as I wanted to feed the others whilst it was not raining.
More rain to follow methinks. A pity about the Evening Walk but it would have been a disaster! The high today was 17.3℃ and the low 11℃.. A lot of rain is forecast for Sunday night/Monday morning.
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