I was pleased to discover there was loads of solar hot water when I went for an indoors shower at bedtime. I hadn’t realised quite how filthy my feet were and had forgotten the mud from the riverbed sticking to my leg.
Our walking pattern was similar to yesterday where we completed two laps of the Promontory before going along to the river valley. One reason for three laps was to be sure it was light enough when we arrived at the river, another was to knock up more Exercise Minutes for the September Challenge. So far I’ve racked up 3,383 Exercise Minutes and there is another week to go so hopefully, I should complete the challenge before the end of the month.
Our two laps seemed to fly by and we were walking along the track towards the river valley. There was little action on the Promontory however Skinny, who has a very keen sense of smell, detected someone was sleeping someone near the Small Beach.
It was quite dark as we squelched through the mud where the river meets the beach. It was too dark to make out the mud so avoid it. Once under the road bridge, the going is easier and it’s dryer when we climb up to the riverside track. VGD was making a racket from within the machinery compound probably as I was looking for dogs with my head torch. He’s usually at the gate but the barking came from within.
It was just starting to get light as we were walking back down the riverbed to the road bridge so we were not making particularly rapid progress. As we walked along the beach I could see Luis, Fido, Charlie and Oskar inspecting something particularly interesting on the beach some way behind. I could get the larger dogs moving as they had collars but Luis has cottoned on to the fact that his collar is not remote and Fido wasn’t wearing one. They made a little more progress when the other two set off but it was like watching the grass grow. Fido was first to me and eventually, Luis put in an appearance. I wanted to put them on the lead to stop them from dawdling.
It was when we arrived at the field entrance that I noticed Oskar had reverted to trailing behind more interested in digging around on the beach. By the time I’d motivated him, Charlie had used the opportunity to slope off for a quick inspection of Ammos Bar’s sunbeds on Alonáki Beach. I was keen to get them back in as I wanted time to take Skinny and Isabella before going to the supermarket.
Skinny was quiet today and refused Isabella’s invitation to play which infuriated her although she tried very hard to motivate him. He seemed more interested in just walking along following me. In fact, I didn’t use the remote at all as they didn’t venture far other than some initial charging around. A walk around the Promontory is quite quick as they keep moving unlike when all seven are out together.
I rode to Paleochora and stopped by the post office to collect a package. It turned out that the package listed on the notification docket had already been delivered but there was something else for me anyway. The disparity between the docket and the physical parcel caused confusion and lots of searching around. Their filing system is quite interesting…
Petrakis was not busy as the kids had already started school as I was a little later today. I will have to go shopping tomorrow as I need a fair amount of stuff and there’s a limit to the amount I can carry around the store and on my bike regarding volume as well as weight.
Isabella met me at the gate as only she was loose outside. I’d left Charlie in the SDC with the gate closed so that she wouldn’t be able to bother him. Skinny chose to go in the van with the others and immediately took up a comfortable position on the rear seat.
I unpacked the shopping, got the breakfast underway and fed the dogs. The day was starting to warm up so I turned on the ceiling fan. I’ve not used the larger fan since it’s rained so it can probably go away until next summer.
There were no support calls so I caught up on some gentle relaxation. I noticed the ACS delivery bike at the office so quickly walked up in case Maria wasn’t at her station. The courier was leaving as I arrived but the package was on the table. Maria was surprised that I turned up just at the right moment until I mentioned I’d seen the guy in the camera.
The package contained another, brand new, remote collar and controller which I’d won in an auction a while back. The delivery process had been less than optimal. This set is capable of 700m as opposed to the original two collars and remote I purchased in the days of Dave and Boris which were 400m. I can see that the collars are the same despite the range difference: it’s the power of the controller which determines the range. Consequently, any of the collars should have an equal range when using the 1,200m controller. Strangely, to buy the collar or the controller separately is expensive. To buy the set new from a reseller is also quite expensive however buying a new set privately on eBay is significantly cheaper even than the price of the collar alone!
Obi will be the recipient of the most recent collar and Skinny will be allowed to run free on the beach tomorrow with Obi. It would be really good to be able to go out for a walk without having any dogs on the lead as it’s so much more relaxing.
Janne and Erica went to Chania to look at Chromebooks for Erica however they were disappointed to find there were none in the shops. The sales executive suggested they order from Athens and have it delivered by courier but we know how long that takes!
I disappeared for a brief swim, the first since Saturday, despite some noisy workmen in the camping. The dogs did bark a little but only for a short time. The wind was from the west so I could hear Luis ‘singing’ from the sea. I was gone less than twenty-minutes anyway.
Maria announced that she will be going to Rhodes next weekend as her sister-in-law is having a haemorrhoidectomy so Maria will look after the children whilst their father is at work. I don’t expect Maria will return to Grammeno as there is very little going on as the season has virtually ground to a halt. She was gone before the end of September last year but I went away in October so Dimitris was holding the fort. As I write, the restaurant kitchen is in darkness and half the bar is shuttered so I suspect it will not be long until that closes as I cannot see it’s worthwhile paying to keep it open.
I have lots of fresh food as a result of my supermarket visit so I’m going to eat some of it!
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