I was awake before the alarm so was delighted to hear the gentle sound of a light rain striking the metal roof. In the dark I grabbed my phone to check the forecast which indicated a 60% chance of very little rain. Suitably reassured, I was about to get up and get ready when the intensity of the noise above increased. I retired back to bed to await a lull. Altogether, 9mm precipitation was registered by my weather station and we didn’t get to go out until just after 06:00.
The remaining darkness was appreciably reduced so I felt it better to get in as many circuits as possible before it got light or rained again. We managed almost 4km before I called it a day and took all back to the van. I then changed into runner uniform and set off with Isabella. One man and one dog in the distance. So long as I don’t actually run into the arms of anyone, how can they know who it is? My running footsteps were carefully designed to cover the sea of doggy footprints exposed in the damp sand which had previously been nicely flattened by the rain. I ran another 3km or so but Isabella ran a great deal more. Time was marching on so I set off back to the camping keeping in line with the trees to break up my outline. Isabella was running around on her own but was never very far away and made it back to the camping before me.
I fed the cats, went for a shower and then let out the others. I made breakfast then sat down to digest the news. Luis was particularly noisy so it wasn’t long before he found himself tied up by my chair. The others find it hard to settle if he’s making a racket. His focus is to bark at the cats. Remove him from temptation and peace is restored.
The greyish sky improved a little as the day progressed but it also got windier and is now cooler. The wind is mostly from the west. The forecast looks unsettled for the next few days with more wind, showers and cloudy weather.
I was able to go for little wanders during the sunny spells and the dogs managed to snooze outside as well as in. The cats were round and about so we had a couple of pussy love-ins on top of the pallets which are just inside the gate. We sat together and communed in the warm sunshine.
There were no support calls today but I kept busy with some updates and tests on the servers I was working on yesterday. I feel certain you’ll be delighted to know that the Active Directory on the Inter Sport network is now more robust and more reliable than before. I’m glad I’ve taken the time to get it properly configured.
Xanthippos was in the camping continuing work on his new showers. He’s moved onto tiling the floors now and assures me his part of the job will be done in the next couple of days. He and I agreed that we felt it unlikely the camping would be open before the end of May. Even so, who is going to come? Travel from outside Greece is bound to remain restricted and visitors are likely to decide to stay in their own country anyway. Greece has been under lockdown for the past couple of weeks, people are not working so have no money. Paying their rent and feeding themselves are likely to be higher priorities than going on holiday for most locals.
Fortunately, Skinny has Isabella to play with so the two of them are regularly fooling about together. Noisily but at least they expend energy in a non-destructive way. They are currently larking around on the decking outside.
I emailed Chris and Claire who were at Grammeno for the majority of last winter. They were in Spain when we last communicated in the middle of March but fled ahead of the more severe lockdown so are now to be found sheltering in Wales. I reckon it will be quite a lot cooler there than in Spain. Last year they went to Chris’ daughter in Australia so it might have been nicer to be marooned there.
My tomatoes are ripening and I still have half of a gigantic one in the fridge, which is starting to look a little bare. It needs a clean anyway so I’ll wait until it’s empty and defrost it too.
My supper is in The Pot and the dogs have been fed. Isabella and Skinny are still playing together so I’m planning to go inside where it’s warmer and wait for The Pot to depressurise and go plop.
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