Something woke me in the night so I was obliged to extract myself from my pit as it seemed like a good opportunity to have a drain down. I think it was Fido but don’t really recall. I just remember the pleasure of slipping back into bed in the knowledge of having a further four hours before the alarm.
It was still windy in the morning which was a little exhausting after several days. I piled on layers and a coat and lead the mob out onto the beach. It was reasonably clear so it got light quite quickly so we could enjoy the view of Paleochora and the sea.
Our trip to Plakaki was unremarkable so we were soon back on the Promontory where the sun was already shining. Things were looking up after all the clouds and wind!
I met Gregory at Krios so we sat together in the sunshine and warmth now that the wind had all but departed. In fact, I felt overdressed by the time I left around 09:15. Being oldies, we listened to The Court of the Crimson King by King Crimson on YouTube. You either like it or hate it I suppose. We talked rubbish, counted the seagulls and Gregory announced it was Tsiknopempti. I recall celebrating this festival once in 2014 the past when Vagalis went spearfishing and brought back octopus and squid which he cooked over Georgia’s open wood fire and drank lots of retsina and raki. Tsiknopempti or Smoky Thursday, was originally a religious feast as part of the buildup to Orthodox Lent however, now it’s mostly considered an excuse to eat lots of meat and to catch up with friends and family. It’s not much of a feast for Vegans. You can read more here.
Back at the camping, I opened up the awning tent for the first time for several days, fed the dogs, prepared my breakfast and started on the Doggy Dinners. I knew today would be busy as EG are having a special online meeting to determine the future of the Guild and to inform the members. The website had a link that took delegates to a web link where they could watch the online presentation. There was a concern that the website would be overwhelmed by several hundred delegates all trying to access the same page in a short period of time. As it turned out, the site only slowed down and became unresponsive once and I watched the statistics to keep track of the number of visitors. I joined the presentation myself and felt it was quite well done. Some of the presenters had some technical difficulties but all are volunteers.
In the meantime, Nikos asked if I’d care to join him for luncheon to celebrate Tsiknopempti which I was happy to do so long as there were vegetables present. Once the presentation had finished, I went to find Nikos by the communal BBQ where he was cooking burgers for himself and vegetables for both of us. He’d previously boiled up some greens too.
We sat down around 15:00 to munch in the sunshine and still air, surrounded by inquisitive cats who also wanted a piece of the action. This was despite the fact I’d given them around ten rooster feet earlier as I’d used the broth for the Doggy Dinners and the feet were more appropriate for the pussies.
We ate then chatted until around 17:30 when we washed up and I went back to finish processing the Doggy Dinners and put on some rice for them once the pot was empty and cleaned. I wasn’t in a rush to take them out for the Evening Walk as there were people about earlier on.
The Evening Walk was under a starry sky but quite brief as it was still chilly even without the wind. It was quite dark so care was needed when crossing the rocks and the causeway. I returned with the same number of dogs and limbs as I set out with so should count that as a job well done.
They have had their food but I will need probably only some fruit and a rusk as I ate at lunchtime. Another day, another dollar… Nice to be sitting outside again without flapping fabric and freezing wind!
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