It was chilly when I woke up at 03:45. Once conscious, I needed to get up for the loo. Naturally, that caused a disturbance in the Force so Obi appeared as if by magic followed by Isabella who clumped around on the decking with Obi sounding like only half a herd of elephants. The other elephant and Charlie were inside with the other two brown dogs and Oskar. I went back to bed and so did Isabella enabling me to spend a little more time in my pit. Isabella doesn’t bark or make any deliberate noise however she rustles around in the leaves, chews carob pods or old shoes which all sound very loud at 04:00 when it’s completely still.
I attached Isabella to her lead and escorted her and Obi to the fence by the gate. I then fed the cats and went back for the others having untangled their leads. With Oskar, Charlie, Fido, Luis and Skinny inside, it was an interesting manoeuvre getting out of the van door and off the decking via the steps. With the cats more interested in their food than chasing each other around the enclosure, I was able to get all the dogs onto the fence with their various collars with the minimum of fuss and disturbance. There are still people camping close by although I notice one of the tents packing up earlier.
I counted eight cars in the beach car park so knew we would not be alone on the Promontory. The dogs, and presumably the lady, were still in residence as we quickly discovered. I wasn’t sure about the Big Beach so we didn’t venture down there and stuck to smaller but more circuits. Finally, undetected by the dogs near the entrance, we left for part two of the morning exercise.
VGD was nowhere to be seen in the compound which encloses all of the plant and equipment belonging to the concrete delivery company. That company is, I suspect, something to do with the hardware store although I have yet to confirm that theory. He’d found a way outside the compound so was waiting outside for us. That wasn’t a particularly good idea as there is quite a difference between being on the inside and on the outside. He quickly went back in and I moved the dogs on. Luis, and then Fido, hung behind so it’s possible that VGD came out again to make their acquaintance externally. At one point, Oskar and Charlie raced back to see him but I quickly dispelled any ideas they had and called them back to me. The power of long arms!
We walked up the track and back down the river bed. I’d noticed the bulldozer was parked further up and that more of the riverbed had been levelled and remodelled. BullDozer Man’s Mitsubishi was parked by the track as we approached the bulldozer and the driver also appeared. He was going through his morning routine, checking fluids and lubricant levels. Today, we had a bit of a chat about the Meaning of Life, the Universe and Everything. Well, not quite as we talked about the camping, how much it costs to stay there, the dogs and his work on the river. He likes to arrive early and leave early so as not to have to work in the heat. He lives alone so, like me, is master of his own destiny and gets up early in the morning. I didn’t ask him where he lives but he seems to know the area well. No dog barked and they amused themselves patiently as we chatted.
We progressed to the river mouth then along the beach at the water’s edge. I stuffed the dogs into the van then went for a swim. The sea was much calmer than the previous day so was a delight. I was in the water for around forty minutes as I swam out to the island by the Small Beach and back. Quite a few other people were in the water as it was around 08:00 when I went in. There was not much time for anything else and the swimming more that closed my Move Circle.
After a warm hosepipe shower, I checked the EG web server was not under cyber attack then released the hounds for breakfast.
Later in the morning, I wandered over to the main bathrooms as the nearest loos were being cleaned. I noticed the British motorhome parked by the beach had moved to one of the spaces near the bathrooms. I called by on my way back to introduce myself and see where they’d come from. They left Dundee last October and spent the winter in Spain. They’d intended coming to Crete in the Spring but ended up being locked down in Spain. Once the lockdowns were lifted, they crossed over from Spain into Italy and caught a ferry to Patras from Bari. They said they were swabbed and temperature checked a number of times during the course of their journey however family, who flew from UK in August, were not checked at all!
We talked about Grammeno in winter and I did a bit of a sales pitch. I mentioned the camping was completely different during the winter and also the fact that the weather is not the same as in the summer. I gave them prices then left them to it.
It was 13:30 and the Doggy Dinners hadn’t been started so that was my next task if I was to get it cooked and through the blender and cooled down in time.
The label printer saga in Inter Sport Lewes drags on. Having brought an identical machine from the Seaford store to Lewes we’ve confirmed the Lewes computer and software setup is working as expected. The Lewes printer will go to Seaford to be tested in their identical setup. The plot thickens.
With no time for sleeping in the morning, I fell asleep in the warm afternoon breeze. It was considerably later that I woke up and it felt like it. The Doggy Dinners were still in the Pot which hadn’t yet depressurised so I gave it some help by slightly opening the pressure release valve. The dinners were blended, divided and cooled so have now been fed to the dogs with the other half set aside for tomorrow.
I bumped into Dimitris on my way to the customer kitchen to collect the cabbage for the Doggy Dinners. He tells me the Holiday Weekend was busier than last year! Apparently, there’s a group of thirty yoga people coming but we reckon the season will be over by the end of August or the beginning of September especially as Greek schools are starting back on 7th September. But we may be wrong…
I have some lentils and beetroot awaiting me in The Pot so I shall take my leave and eat it.
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