There were distant rumblings during the night as the storm slid past Crete up the Libyan coast. There were plenty of distant flashes to be seen as we walked round with the dogs. As usual, Heidi and Ursula had reported for duty long before we arrived. I didn’t even get out of bed until the alarm woke me at 04:55! Such decadence! I left Luis and Oskar with Ursula and completed the circuits in the same way as the previous day. I was able to see without the torch after the second time around. The walk was fairly uneventful and we returned, with all hands present and correct, other than Charlie who’d wandered off down the Promontory in search of some horrid bone buried on the beach during the summer season. The remainder walked back via the road as is now the usual way. Ursula appeared with Charlie just as we were going through the gate back into the compound. She put Charlie into his house and departed to take care of urgent business elsewhere. I changed after I’d turned on the water heater and Skinny and I went off in search of a chocolate pie (sokolatopita). In reality, it’s just the same as the French pain au chocolat which is a pastry with some chocolate stuffed down the middle. The proper sokolatopita looks like this.
We ran a little further today as my November Challenge requires me to make more effort to burn kilojoules. I’m not really up for swimming in the morning so I’d prefer to run a little further. We went as far as the church which is on the way to Krios where we turned around and headed back towards Grammeno. It was especially exciting for Skinny as there was a whole, new set of dogs to bark at him. The dogs that we pass regularly have mostly got bored of barking as we pass except perhaps the noisy one above the kafenion in Kountoura.
I deposited Skinny, had a shower then prepared my breakfast. I then wandered down to give Tony his pie or whatever you might care to call it. Breakfast ensued and then I downloaded Viber to my phone which I now discover is very popular in Greece. It’s another messenger app which lets you sent photos, messages, texts and make calls to other Viber users. There is also a facility which, for a fee, allows you to make calls to old fashioned, fix-line phones if you happen to know anyone who still uses one. I fiddled around with this until it was time for me to make my weekly call home.
We chatted until 14:00 and then I discovered that everyone who I might have had contact with had received a notification that I am now a Viber subscriber. One of whom is Georgia. She asked if I’d go to the office to run through generator and poo pump instructions as Alexis was present and he’s the master of these devices. She said that tomorrow would be handover day as Dimitris would be leaving for other work and my duties would begin. The generator and poo pump are new additions during the summer period which I’ve not been acquainted with. The generator is situated at the camping entrance and is self-starting only that as it’s used infrequently, it has to be initiated manually. There are now two poo pumps on an automatic switchover system with pretty lights which signal their condition. Green means good, amber indicates one has failed and red means run for the hills! Or something like that. Apparently, my duties now include looking after the camping mobile phone since most of the wintertime callers are English-speaking and Georgia isn’t. I can probably manage with any Greek callers as they will probably have enough English or I’ll do my best in Greek. Tomorrow we will go through the paperwork, count the money, and have a proper handover. Unlike last year when Maria said she was leaving and sort of just gave me the keys.
Dimitris gave me two packets, one of which contained my new glasses which now enable me to see ever so clearly. The other packet is a solar lamp to go on the side of the building between the loo and my gate so that I don’t have to fumble in the dark or fall over the cats on my way to or from the loo at nighttime.
Dimitris and Alexis brought in the brollies and sunbeds from the beach and stashed them in the storeroom. All tidied up for the winter. Μιχάλισ came and covered the bar with polythene to protect it from the worst of the winter weather. Georgia tells me a boiler will be installed at the main bathrooms to ensure we always have plenty of hot water summer and winter (he stands back in amazement). Also, she mentioned that Manolis was soon to move from the building next to the reception block and this would be converted into a meeting/sitting/community area for all year use. Something we are in dire need of during the winter especially when there are any tent customers during the dark evenings. However, seeing is believing.
I took the dogs out for the Evening Walk after tea and flapjack with Ursula and Tony. They are going back into Paleochora for a meal. They were there to watch the rugby this morning.
A couple were just off the eastern track up the Promontory as we went towards the end. I suspect they’ll be somewhere around in the morning. The couple with the small child, dog and motorhome are still in the car park and Cornelia was to be seen preparing her supper as we walked by on the return journey.
The dogs are now fed, Luis is snoring to my left. Other than Luis, there is silence and my watch has just pinged to say it’s 20:00. My supper is now cooked and the cats need feeding. We are still sitting outside but I’m wearing a hooded fleece on top of what I was wearing last night as well as my woolly hat. It’s much cooler, the tent sides need to go up and it’s probably too chilly to be sitting out here so we may all disappear inside for supper.
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