Invasion

There was some fidgeting in the night probably as it was cooler. We went out for an Evening Walk so they were not under-exercised. We were out of the gate and walking into the field at 05:35 but it was still possible to see quite soon after. There were no particular events other than a trio of young people who’d spent the night sleeping on the beach outside the camping and who came to go snorkelling off the Big Beach. They seemed happy to interact with the dogs and we exchanged pleasentaries.

I went off for a ride to Paleochora where my bike completed its 4000km

I went down to the harbour to have a look around ending up out by the entrance lights.

I went back to Grammeno via the roadworks where I was confronted by a massive heap of aggregate on the right-hand-side of the road. Being used to Greek driving, I simply rode around it as one does. The road improvement technicians appear to be getting it together with this stretch of road so I’m hopeful we may see some actual progress and everything will be completed by June.

I’d made my breakfast earlier so just fed the cats and dogs before eating it. I was expecting a delivery today and I knew everyone would be busy getting the bar ready, so opted to man the reception to help out. As it was, many of the arrivals were English who live nearby, one even in Paleochora. The Greeks who arrived all spoke much better English that I speak Greek so we all got on fine. One group I knew from two previous visits so I simply gave them the keys to get on with it.

I’ve done quite a bit of walking around the camping including with a couple who just wished to walk through the camping to the beach. I took the time to give them a quick tour so they said they would probably come back and stay at some point.

My package never turned up but at least my time at the office wasn’t wasted as I was dealing with the arrivals. There was a list of prices which someone had written down so I didn’t have to worry about that. What wasn’t clear, without consulting the booking website, was which people were arriving today and which the following day. I tried to make it out from Maria’s comments but the present system doesn’t have much room for comments and notes so it’s all a little jumbled. A further complication was that some of the arrivals were groups but not all members of that groups were arriving today. They were all very understanding and we eventually worked out which people wanted to be near which accommodation so it looks as though tomorrow will be busy once everyone is here.

The bar is open although not all the usual services are available as there hasn’t been time and there have been equipment failures. We need to connect the tills to the Internet using the cables I installed last year and were, in fact, never required as the government scheme was not ready to launch. The idea is to reduce the VAT on some beverages to enable businesses to make a little more profit after the pandemic.

Georgia warned me there are some new cases in Paleochora and that I should watch out. She, or rather Dimitris told me that Xanthippos had been around wanting to talk to me about an incident involving cats causing a nuisance at Cedar Bay Villas. As far as I know, this is all a fabrication and Xanthippos just wants to get back at someone to do with the camping having been threatened by Georgia over the smoky fire incident several days back. He decided to light a fire close to the camping one evening and burn loads of green wood and leaves which sent a dense wall of smoke through the fence into the entire camping.

Strangely, Georgia was not best pleased so made Xanthippos aware of the fact in no uncertain terms. He hurriedly put out the fire but is now looking for any reason to find a fault with the camping in order to get his own back. Georgia has instructed me to refer any interaction with Xanthippos back to her and she will deal with it. I happened to mention I had some embarrassing video footage captured from the CCTV which Xanthippos would rather never came to light. This I’m saving for a time that he pushes me just that bit too far…

The dogs didn’t get a walk this evening as there’s been a lot going on and so I’m somewhat knackered. There’s an English/Greek family in M4 with two girls and a boy. One of the girls has been appointed by me as kitten monitor for the duration of their stay giving me one fewer thing to have to deal with. The mother comes from Stockport. There are several English families on the site at present and a couple of Greek ones too. Maybe more will arrive however I think I will let the others deal with the reception tomorrow now that the panic with the bar is over. Otherwise I can see myself lumbered with Maria’s job until she arrives.