Royal Visitors

My watch was on charge all night as the battery was too low at bedtime and I couldn’t be bothered to get out of bed to get it from the charger once it had charged up a bit. When the watch is not on my wrist the iPhone provides the wake-up alarm which is a whole lot more strident and in-your-face than the watch’s genteel awakening. Some vibration to reduce the slumbers followed by a mild alarm.

Skinny and Isabella were set to go so there was no loafing in bed as they wanted to go outside. So hence the day kicked-off.

It was not too dark nor windy so we made good progress around the Promontory and thence to Plakaki. The only minor holdup was at the beginning where most of the dogs disappeared into a large clump of carob in pursuit of something. I applied a little persuasion to get them back out of the bushes. Then they bolted off all in a rush along the beach in the opposite direction which also required some curtailing.

Antonis had brought me a replacement filter body to replace that which had split the previous afternoon so, with the help of Isabella, all other dogs being inside the van, I replaced the damaged filter body and changed the element in the first stage of the filter. After several years, it was discoloured but not excessively clogged with grot from the pipes. I carefully cleaned the old filter and offered it to Isabella who promptly discarded it onto the soil.

My bike battery was full so my trip to Paleochora was effortless also due to a following wind. There was no one at the electrical/plumbing store so I went into Petrakis for some odds and ends before returning to the store to try again. There was still no one there so I rode back to Grammeno with the shopping, this time against the wind.

The guy who worked at the camping last summer has finished his military service and returned to help Tony prepare for the season. We moaned about the rubbishy weather and they got on with creating clouds of dust, debris and noise.

The dogs were pleased to be let out so I rewarded them by giving them their breakfast. Isabella had to wait for a change. I let the tap run to clear the filters and got on with unpacking my purchases. It’s good to have running water inside the van even since such a short time without it. Brushing my teeth in the dark using the pistol of the garden hose is unappealing at night. I must be getting old!

I made up some dough before starting on my breakfast preparation. It sat and rested for a while then I added a load of starter as I had lots in the jar since yesterday. The starter jar has been relocated from the inverter to inside the van in the hope it might slow down a little. So far, the new dough is looking easier to handle than the one yesterday which turned out disappointing as far a crumb was concerned. It was great to eat but still too dense. The current dough has 80% water whereas the previous was around 70% making the dough less easy to manage. It’s all about gluten. I’m not sure if my oven gets hot enough as I have nothing which measures over 200℃.

I went through my vegetable collection and tried to find out what these are:

Ursula said they are some kind of radish so I tried one and they are good to eat raw.

I shall have some of the radishes with my salad when I’m back with the dogs later. They are quiet now so I’ll take advantage of the peace so walk them just before dark. I expect Skinny and Isabella are recovering from the running about they did along the shoreline this morning. The birds they were chasing were teasing them as usual but it gave them plenty of exercise.

Georgia and Lena arrived with two other couples to spend a few days at the camping. The reason for getting the room ready and denying access to the customers. They invited me to dine with them at lunchtime but I’d only recently had breakfast so declined. I’m welcome to join them in the evenings too if I wish. Of the six, Lena and Georgia smoke constantly so the room will smell great following their stay.

Warm and sunny with significant cloud. The wind is currently from the west or south but will change back to the north tomorrow night to bring lows around 10C

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