Our guest passed a peaceful night between the decking and the awning area. She showed interest when I picked Fido up and escorted him to the awning door. He’d woken me up but when I opened the van door and he saw a large Rug outside, his desire to go out to pee evaporated. Having woken me up, I wasn’t going to stand for that and he was going out whether he chose to or not.
Eight dogs went out on the Early Walk which was vigorous and reasonably quick. I’d decided to go into Paleochora for some grocery and other shopping. My Dr Martens boots, which I brought with me from UK in 2013, had started to show signs of fatigue. I’ve only just started to wear them however I suspect the incidents in the river and the sea didn’t help matters. The uppers have separated from the sole so I wanted some glue to fix them together. I also wanted to fabricate a sturdy replacement for the broken kitchen unit. The ratchet strap and washing line did the job but were not altogether practical.
My first visit was to Petrakis where I bought some oranges, bananas, tomatoes and some leafy green stuff which looked a little like the stalks and leaves from beetroot but wasn’t. I then purchased some more lentils as we use lots of them as well as rice too. We are well stocked up for the next few days which could be quite inclement.
Riding on a little further, I found the hardware store to be without customers but only a rather exasperated server. He got on with his exasperation as I searched through the multitude of little drawers for the items I wanted. The plan was to use the remaining length of Skinny plastic-covered wire rope together with some tensioners to replace the washing line and ratchet strap. I found everything except for the tensioners which the nice lady knew where they were. Together with some adhesive for my boots and various hooks and self-drilling screws, I was done. Self-drilling screws are great and much easier to use than self-tapping screws which require a hole to be made first. The wonders of technology!
I made my way back to Grammeno through the roadworks which are progressing at a measured pace. It should all be finished before June…
I fed the dogs, glued my boots then put away the shopping and made breakfast.
I planned to complete several tasks today and actually managed everything on my list. The first item was the kitchen unit which has forward tensioning wires and adjusters.
My next activity was some overdue maintenance on the battery bank which I messed around with the other day to exchange the ordinary shunt for the SmartShunt. I had left some wiring in an untidy mess and the whole thing needed cleaning off due to all the dust and debris from the summer. I also reconnected the voltmeter and the hall-effect ammeter. Not because I’m interested in State Of Charge (SOC) from these gauges but they provide an instant reminder of the Volts and current flow. The SmartShunt is zillions of times more accurate and it now talks to the software which monitors the inverter/charger/solar controller. The meters are just handy to look at when I’m passing and give an indication of what’s going on.
As I was finishing off, there was lots of barking to welcome Rugg’s owner who’d come to pick her up. He was suitably effusive and appreciative unlike the previous bloke whose dog I’d looked after for two months! We are now down to seven dogs again so Obi and Charlie are, once again, taking incoming as Isabella has no big playmate anymore. I’m sure they’ll survive and I expect The Rug will be back before long…
Somewhere amongst this lot, there was a support task for EG.
We walked at around 18:30 and I was wearing my old boots as I felt it better to leave my glued ones a little longer. It was a brisk walk which took in the rocks unlike last night as it was windy.
My unidentified greenery has now completed cooking so I shall retire within to prepare my nocturnal repast.
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