After yesterday’s marathon, today’s walk was very restrained. The FreeLoaders had disappeared but left a plastic chair on the beach. I suspect the aforementioned was acquired from Ammos Beach Bar. There it will remain until someone purloins it. We did two walks as usual but the second was rather half-hearted as the three participants lacked enthusiasm. We completed one circuit of the Promontory without going on the rocks as the two guys with the now much larger boy were Parrot fishing or going to. Dimitris, the Bulgarian was collecting salt and I reckoned he didn’t need any help from Isabella.
We headed back then continued along Alonáki Beach because Isabella’s Little Fiend from a couple of days ago showed up. He’s quite a young dog, black and small with white socks. Not particularly attractive but lively and playful. He and Isabella chased round a while although Skinny was not at all impressed initially but seemed ok with the little chap later on. Both Skinny and Isabella are much larger than he. I sat on the beach watching the sea with Skinny and then the four of us headed back. I closed the field gate and carefully deposited her little fiend on the outside. She sat by the gate a while and I got on with the morning.
My primary goal for the day was to lay another cable to serve all the clutter in the comms. box attached to the storeroom. I could get round it another way but would prefer a second cable for flexibility. I installed the main electricity feed from the storeroom a couple of years back and included my own fused distribution panel so I could turn off my own power without having to go into the workshop which is usually locked. In the winter I have a key but not necessarily in the summer although the door is often left open. I wish to retain the present cable arrangement but install another cable from the solar power setup back to the storeroom to power all the gubbins.
When the initial cable was installed, it was not put in very deep as the ground is not at all easy in places. I covered the cable with large rocks saved from the excavation and then backfilled it knowing that the rocks would provide some level of protection. Also, since the initial installation, I’ve had the roof over the van added which has a leg directly on the line of the cable. This actually passes through the concrete it appears. The return cable needed to skirt around the leg and its concrete overshoe before rejoining the line of the feed cable.
I’d decided I would follow the line of the feed cable so as not to have two buried cables. The first section was really hard work as I had to dig up new ground around the leg and concrete foundation. The ground is also very rocky here. I was quite tired by the time I’d completed that bit. I continued after breakfast which was later than intended.
There was some easy ground but then it turned difficult again. I cannot believe how compacted and how embedded the deliberately placed rocks have become! Having worked virtually all day, I’ve managed to go about halfway. This does include putting the cable into some spiral tubing for protection but that wasn’t a very long job as the cable has plenty of room inside the ducting. I must also mention that I had ‘help’ from Isabella, Oskar camped out in the trench and Luis came to inspect my handiwork. What would I have done without their input? At one point in the morning, Oskar was in the trench and the others were scattered about under the decking snoozing as I hacked away at the ground close by. Tomorrow I shall go into Paleochora and buy some new gloves and another trowel. My present implement is suffering from ATF (Advanced Trowel Fatigue).
It was much cooler and windy this morning and the sea was a little rough. This combination persuaded me not to swim and save my energy for the digging. My Watch still says I have three minutes of ‘Exercise’ to complete and a couple of hundred kiloJoules of energy to expend yet I’m completely knackered! Considering I walked nearly 8km this morning and have been digging all day!
I took out time for a support call and to make the doggy dinners as well as wander to the kitchen where the team were about to install a huge new refrigerator. It’s a repurposed chilled display cabinet with doors, and better than the previous monstrosity! They were about to remove the fridge-freezer as I arrived to get some chicken for the doggy dinners. I suggested this would be a bad idea as it’s the only freezer available to the punters in the summer. Furthermore, we’re not going to run the huge display cabinet all years but still need some fridge space during the winter. More importantly, I use that freezer to store my stuff! I see they moved the fridge-freezer to the adjacent room.
I backfilled my last piece of trench then departed for the showers having decanted the Doggy Dinners. The Dinners have to be left to cool otherwise they’re inedible, even for Isabella I expect.
Hopefully, my supper will soon be ready so that I can officially collapse into a heap, eat, watch something gripping and then fall asleep,
The top temperature for today is 25.7℃ which is around 10℃ cooler than the previous days. I wanted a cooler day for my digging which is why I got on with it today. The Pot has gone plop so now I can add the cauliflower for the final two minutes. Also, Isabella is protesting from within the van.
Leave a Reply