I hardly remember setting the thirty-minute timer when I woke up at 04:55 so it was a surprise when it went off at 05:25. The morning was dry, chilly and without wind as we marched off towards the Promontory. Everyone was present as even Luis decided to join us. The new walking regime appears to be working more efficiently now they are used to it. Isabella makes a bit of a fuss at being left behind with Oskar, Luis and Charlie but it’s good for her to get practice at being left with the others. Jojo was on the eastern rock fishing today so we didn’t get to chat.
After the Early Walk, I set off in the direction of Paleochora for a ride to Anydri but didn’t make it due to a punctured rear tyre. I suspect I picked up the four-inch (50mm) nail as I rode through the roadworks as they use wooden formwork to shutter the concrete which is used to bed the curbstones which separate the pedestrian/cycleway from the main carriageway. The concrete technicians are apt to simply throw nails away as they dismantle the shuttering. The Green Slime I only recently added to the inner tube helped to keep the air in the tyre long enough for me to ride back to the camping without damaging the tyre for which I’m thankful. I became aware of the presence of the nail from the rhythmic clicking on the road on each rotation of the wheel. Further inspection showed the nail head in the tyre.
I set about removing the rear wheel to inspect the damaged tyre and to change the inner tube. Luckily, I had the forethought to purchase a spare with the bike. I changed both tube and tyre as I want to repair the tube and patch the inside of the tyre to prevent anything from entering. I could see by the size of the nail that no amount of GS would prevent the tyre from deflating. It’s not that difficult to change the rear tyre just a matter of removing the wheel, disconnecting the power to the motor and dealing with the tyre. The tyre is quite a loose fit so getting it properly seated and centred on the bike is quite a performance as I discovered when I was infusing the GS only a couple of days ago. Hopefully, my new consignment of Green Slime will soon arrive from China so that I can treat both the front and rear tyres.
Other than the tyre and the new socks, the day has been extremely lazy. The socks were kindly donated by Kirsti. She knitted them as special dog socks so as to be utterly unique. Each sock is unique as they bear different designs. They are very warm and comfortable and, I’m told, machine washable at 40℃! I will take a picture of them when I’m not wearing them next.
It is still the weather for thick socks although the middle of the day was sunny and quite warm until clouds came over later on. The warmth, comfortable chair and silent dogs encouraged me to fall asleep so a part of the day simply slipped away. I cannot use the excuse of lots of exercise since my ride was just to Paleochora and back! I did manage to get some small jobs done including preparing my supper before going out with the dogs. I’d noticed the AirSoft lads were out on the Promontory so wanted to wait until they packed up before going out so as not to spoil their fun.
A phone call from Georgia earlier was in reply to my request for information about who to ask for summer reservations. She’d told me previously that I should deal directly with her so I’ve been dutifully involving her. I think it’s good she appreciates how many requests for information arrive via email and the amount of effort it takes to deal with them. If Maria is to be written out of the script Georgia should get a good idea as to what she does. I’ve already sent any Greek enquiries to Georgia. It would appear that the new person is not operational yet as Georgia referred me back to Maria. Maria had already emailed to say that she was dealing with the bookings but this conflicted with what Georgia had said to me directly. The left hand…
The Evening Walk as brisk and extremely pleasant due to the stillness and beautiful sunset. The dogs were chasing each other about with Isabella amusing herself ragging around with the Brown Dogs. I notice that even Skinny has become more tolerant of Isabella. She amused herself by digging up my rhubarb plant and presumably eating it as it was nowhere to be seen when I gathered up all the soil. It would seem that Isabella may be transitioning from her chewy phase into a digging one!
Time for some supper and an episode of Poldark. yes, I know how too have a good time!
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