Another night with the van door and the awning tent open. I was wearing fewer clothes for the Early Walk as I guessed it would be quite warm as there was no wind only a slight breeze.
We were the only people about unsurprisingly until 06:35 when the Brazilian woman with the Irish passport was to be seen coming towards us as we walked back along Alonáki Beach. She was getting the 07:30 bus from Paleochora back to Chania. She waved but couldn’t stop so as not to miss the bus.
It was a fine, bright morning with few clouds and a calm sea. It was quite delightful to be out walking in the early morning sunshine. The birds were twittering and Skinny and Isabella were rushing madly up and down the beach. The others amused themselves with interesting smells on the beach. It dawned on me that the lambs in the back of the truck the other morning were on a oneway trip to the abattoir as part of the Easter Celebrations.
I was inside with the dogs for a while preparing the Doggy Dinners and putting them into the pot. I then Elevated my brain before setting off for Paleochora for a visit to Petrakis. The mission was to stock up on vegetables and a little fruit.
The trip in was against the breeze and on low power as my bike battery was nearly exhausted as I hadn’t charged it as intended. The supermarket was quite busy as I would expect shortly before Easter. Not quite the same as before Easter in UK as these shoppers were mostly interested in purchasing vast quantities of meat accompanied by bags of charcoal which were stacked high outside on the road.
I made my way back with the shopping which I unloaded into the large fridge taking in the other stuff with me. I released and fed the dogs before wandering off into the camping to pick up the key to Z3 to put on the washing machine for Bona. She asked me about the other arrivals for the day so I suggested she might give Maria a call as I wasn’t certain of the bookings.
I thought I’d better spend some time getting the camping admin up-to-date as I’d left it since the beginning of March as there wasn’t much going on and those who arrived chose to stay which is the ideal situation. I went to the office to get some forms to fill in then counted up the money in my possession. I know that Elias and Mathilde will be leaving soon as well as the Austrian couple so I wanted to get prepared. I also know there are arrivals during the next couple of weeks.
I was in my counting house when the motion alarm on the reception camera alerted me to the arrival of a pickup which contained an American called Jo who is a regular visitor to the camping. He and his little dog are staying for three nights in Z3 which had just been cleaned. Jo might be joined by a friend later. He works at the US Navy base at Souda degaussing warships. He was born on Oahu, Hawaii and his father was a Navy Seal.
I went back to my counting and have filled in the forms and made sense of the money. I need to keep on top of things so that everything is in order for when Maria arrives.
I found time to put the dough from the bowl into the silicone bread mould in order to rise further before going in the oven. The nature of the bread means it will not rise much and it has no gluten strength so cannot be put into an open tray without turning into a biscuit. It has risen a little but should have been started earlier and put into the mould sooner. It is for this evening as I ate all the bread yesterday except for a very elderly piece destined for the dogs.
It has been a very warm day with a high of 28.7℃ which might be a first for me in April. I parted with my layers as soon as we came back from the walk and only put them back on as I was cycling into Paleochora. Since my return, I’ve been wearing summer shorts and a T-shirt but now just shorts. The windows of the awning tent have been open for the first time [this year] and the ceiling fan has been turning all day. Even at 19:00, the fan is still going and I’m not wearing a shirt!
The Doggy Rice is in the pot and is cooking with some beetroot I bought this morning. It might have been a better plan to cook the beets in the afternoon.
As today is a holiday, people have been on the beach enjoying the sea which has been calm much to the disappointment of Jo who brought his board. Would any self-respecting Hawaiian travel without his board? The forecast for the weekend is more of the same so there may even be some more unexpected arrivals.
The three lambs currently residing in the commercial display fridge in the customer kitchen will be put on the BBQs on Sunday morning so that the Easter Meat Fest can take place as usual. How many people will be present remains to be seen as I am not privy to Georgia’s personal arrangements. Rico, the other German guy on the camping with wife and small boy, asked me earlier of the customer BBQ would be free on Sunday. I suggest he might light to get ahead of the crowd and perform is sacrifice on Saturday to avoid congestion and disappointment.
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