93 today!

The wind subsided into a very calm night with the occasional gust just to keep everyone interested. I needed to pull a sheet over me as I lay in my hammock but it would have been too hot inside the van. Some cats were having a discussion just before getting up time so Luis, sans collier, wanted to tell them off. Instead, I told him off.

There are fewer and further happy campers near me but still one tent with a baby quite close so I’m conscious of noise when I’m moving around early morning. I got them all together and we finally left just before five.

Even fewer cars in the beach car park although I spotted a tent when I went swimming later. We completed our laps and headed off to walk up the river and back. Had I waited a few minutes, we would have had Sascha and Zora to add to the numbers. As it was, we were overtaken by BullDozer Man as he drove up to where his machine was parked.

Other than Charlie, who went off on little excursions, the walk was uneventful except for the occasional goat bleating from higher up. Skinny always gives an upward glance and would be up there after the goats given the opportunity. Charlie eventually caught us up and I don’t mind too much if he goes WalkAbout as he’s pretty harmless on his own.

We followed the seashore but only Isabella went in for a swim. Back at the camping, the dogs were put inside and I walked down to the beach for a swim. Today, as a departure from the normal routine, I dug out a snorkel so I could take a look at some of the fish. It’s a little strange but today was the first time I’ve been snorkelling at Grammeno. I’ve only been here seven years!

There were some quite interesting fish and, with the wind behind me, I was out at the small island before I knew it. Usually, I don’t get to see anything under the water. Some of the fish were sizeable and others were not frightened as I swam close to them, almost touching their tails with my fingers.

Interestingly, I was in the water for around forty minutes but I didn’t register anything like the activity rating scored on previous days to the identical location. I took a hot indoor shower as I walked up from the beach as it was a little too breezy to be standing out in the open.

The Jean laptop saga continues as I tried to make system copies of the two machines in case some vital document has been omitted from the old laptop and so that the new one can be restored should ever there be a problem. Sadly, having spent much of the day copying data across the WiFi network, there was an error message telling me why the process hadn’t completed successfully.

Other events included the arrival of the replacement fan to replace the one with the bent shaft. The fan is mounted on a hook attached to the awning roof with a rubber grommet to prevent the transmission of noise. As this is an open location, air can blow in pushing the blades of the ceiling fan into the roof structure. This time, I’ve installed an additional support which should prevent the blades of the fan banging into the metalwork of the awning roof in case a strong gust of wind catches the fan blades. I discovered that the fan axle is not particularly strong so banging into the metalwork is far from a good idea.

The new ceiling fan was delivered to the office so I had a chat with Sascha, Steffi and Zora on my way up. Apparently, they plan to move their caravan up to Spaniakos on Wednesday. Someone with a 4×4 pickup will be along to tow it up there so I understand. It is almost one year since they purchased the land and no one could have predicted a Global Pandemic. It’s good that things worked out the way they did as now most of the heavy work is out of the way.

I received a notification that someone was selling another remote collar and transmitter on eBay. This one can control six dogs at once, has a range of 1,200 metres and has been used only a few times. To buy new, they are very pricy. I put in an automated auction bid but mindful of my previous experience where the seller accepted a stupid offer and ended the auction, I made contact and asked what he was looking for. As it turned out, he wanted almost exactly the same amount as I’d set my automatic bidding software to go to. The guy came back later to tell me he’d had a better offer elsewhere so it looks like another one that’s got away. I made a very low offer anyway. Maybe people will sell more stuff in September when they have to pay for their holidays or start saving up for Christmas.

Chatting to Aris in the office, we conclude the camping will go quiet either at the end of the month or after the first weekend of September. It’s about that time when foreigners start to arrive but they may be few and far between this year. As for Maria, I’ve no idea if she’s likely to get another teaching offer for the upcoming academic year.

My fan is rotating quietly above me moving the air around nicely. Whether it stops the mosquitoes from biting is another matter.

There is an annoying dog barking annoyingly nearby as the camping slips into darkness. The dogs are out on the decking and the solar lights are starting to turn on. I’d better go inside to get some food on the go as I’ve not been motivated so far. Some people are probably too full of chocolate cake to be eating anything else.