I did it again. I sat down outside around 21:45 and fell asleep until 23:55 when I was woken by the sound of someone inflating their air bed and erecting their tent close to the fence! I went to bed for about five seconds when Luis responded to a brief pussy-event nearby. Luis has had to wear a collar for several nights in a row. To save any complications tonight, I’ll just put one on him when I retire.

The morning was dark as well as warm. There were two dogs tied up to the caravan on the beach. Isabella was under the caravan when I arrived apparently relieving one of the dogs of its bone. There was a small protest on the part of one of the dogs.

I kept them close to me as we walked back up the beach to Plakaki so as not to disturb the inhabitants more than necessary. Indeed, a man emerged from that direction as we were walking back. He seemed to be heading towards the sea apparently unaware that seven dogs were walking towards him. The biggest dogs went to say good morning to him but I called them back to me as he didn’t seem too relaxed. He was loafing in one of the loungers when we were walking back to the camping a little later.

There were no other excitements, not even Kostas although he may have been and gone before our arrival.

I swam from Grammeno Beach then put my boots into the bike bag to go to ACS to return them for a larger pair. I discovered my bike battery had not charged up because I’d swapped over the plugs on the timer socket for some reason. It was at 40% but soon went to 20% once I started riding. Certainly not enough for trips up mountains and required lots of work from me to avoid running it completely flat which is never a good thing.

I rode straight to Petrakis for some shopping, then to the Perrakis hardware store for some more rat bait and a bait box to prevent unintentional poisoning of other animals. The bait I bought was not the same as that provided by Tony and is far more poisonous to dogs. Luis would need to eat 1.5kg of the original bait to receive a fatal dose which would be difficult as the container has only 150g or 1/10 of that amount. I shall hold off for a few days before dispensing any more bait as it takes anything up to a week to kill the recipients. If the bait is too quick to kill them the rodents won’t come back for more. By making it slower to kill, the rats don’t associate the bait as the cause of their demise and increasing unwellness. I was offered a trap but didn’t really fancy having to dispose of a dead or maimed rodent.

At ACS, the nice young lady processed my package for it’s return to the shoe company. I will then be able to reorder.

I swam off Alonaki and then rode my bike with an almost flat battery back to the camping. After a quick visit to the office, I went to release the dogs and get a shower.

I’ve been a little more disorganised today as I notice the dogs’ collars are still in a heap on the food bin and not put on their board as usual. The board adorns the table which is cluttered with a bike battery, a couple of kilos of tomatoes, a box of rat bait, the receipt for my package, a new spray can of lubricant and a T-shirt. I’m going to need to clear that lot before the dogs have their DDs.

There were a couple of support calls but nothing too exciting or demanding. I’ve spent the remainder of the time very busy at something…

The manifold which enables me to plug in additional hoses to the other tap has failed. The main body is aluminium and other parts are copper. So far, so good. The inside of the connector is plastic… I’ve put the hose I use most on to a new single connector which will have to do for now. I’ll plug in the neighbour’s watering system when needed.