Great excitement

The last couple of nights have been cooler so I’ve resorted to using a thin blanket having previously only had a sheet over me. The weather forecast predicts slightly lower temperatures from Wednesday onwards.

It was just before 05:15 as we were walking across the field out onto the beach. The moon is nearing the end of its cycle so there’s little light from there. It’s mostly from the eastern horizon as the sunlight is reflected by the atmosphere over the horizon.

Anyone who wonders why I’m up and out at 05:00 or before should give it a try. Even in UK, where the weather is cooler and much more unpredictable, I would be out very early even in winter. I’m not suggesting for a minute that I didn’t catch up with my sleep at some point during the day.

On the second passage of the rocks, the dogs were attracted to a large rock so began digging and barking frantically. There was something holed up underneath which they were keen to get to.

I wasn’t sure if they would finally get hold of what was there but I could hear Luis’ muffled barking from under the rock. The larger dogs were disadvantaged at this point. I finally resorted to some technological assistance to get them away and Oskar was particularly reluctant to let go. Earlier, I’d seen the cat, or whatever it was, sneak past the dogs to go and hide elsewhere.

We were a little later back at the van so I took the dogs inside with me as I prepared the Doggy Dinners and put them in the Pot to cook. Next, I went up the office on my way out on my bike. I’d actually remembered to put the battery on charge so I had the benefit of a well-charged power supply other than the vestige I would have otherwise had.

Maria arrived at the office door at the same time as me. She looked like someone who’d just got up. I was at the office to see why my Windows PC was offline to discover the power plug was not fully into the socket. Maria had sent a message asking why she was unable to scan multiple documents to her computer. She’s a little robotic when it comes to operating her computer so tends to do things by rote rather than logic. She fails to read the messages then wonders why the results are unexpected. The software might not be the most intuitive in the world but, so far, it seems reliable.

Maria asked me to purchase some cigarettes from the tobacconist in Paleochora so I went there before taking my bike up the mountain. The nice lady waited patiently as I read my drug order from the message on my phone. She easily concluded I was no regular smoker.

The trip up the mountain was enjoyable, especially with a well-charged battery. I didn’t go right to the top as I wanted to get back to go in the sea.

I gave Maria her tobacco order and then she went off to the bar to pass it to whoever had asked her for it. Michael was now in the office so we had a little chat. He’s been here almost a week so has discovered the ‘Grammeno Way’ of doing things. He tells me he has an MA in Business Management so finds he’s struggling a little. He says he would be prepared to share his thoughts once he’s finished his stint. I’ve been here long enough so I doubt I’ll learn much new.

It was almost 09:30 so a little late to go in the sea. I released the dogs, fed them and made myself a cup of tea.

The DDs were cooked but still to depressurise. I sat and watched a couple of YouTube videos on keytosis and the effects of fasting. It’s an interesting topic as apparently eating three healthy meals per day is unhealthy although some dieticians may disagree. I’ve not eaten three meals per day for years but one will do I understand. It would appear that by not eating, your body is encouraged to fuel itself by other means. It starts by robbing the liver of sugars then moves on to turn visceral fat back into sugars which is more difficult. It then breaks down all the dead cells littering your system. When there’s plenty of food from eating, the body will use this rather than do a clean-up. Autophagy is the technical term for this process. It would appear that, after the first couple days of fasting, you no longer feel hungry so, if you plan to fast, a five-day fast could be the best value. The takeaway from this is that fasting has benefits for the ageing process. It might contribute to the ability to live a healthy and productive life and that spending the last ten years in gradual decline isn’t a requirement.

I was called out to view the latest iteration of the bar tables which are being converted from a marble top to wood. Several of the marble tops had become damaged so needed replacing. Whilst wandering past a couple of days ago, Michalis stopped me to ask my opinion of the stain he’d used on the wood. It was baby-poo yellow which looked pretty awful to me. He’s now bought some dark oak stain and wanted to know what I felt about the colour. He said that he didn’t ask me for nothing and acted on my feedback.

Janne and Erica went off into the mountains for a walk and returned mid-afternoon. They say the small black kitten was not present when they returned so we had a look around to see if we could find him. I suggested he may have been kat-napped by some small child so they went for a wander round the camping to see if they could find him.

It’s now almost dark. The dogs are mostly under the awning with me. Music emanates from the van thanks to Radio Paradise. I’ve already broken my fast so will shortly retire inside to watch something before bedtime.