Eerily Quiet

Luis spent the evening close to me and was quiet all night other than a couple of brief woofs during some distant pussy events. He managed to get out with the others however it was evident he was struggling somewhat. He did his best to keep up and I tried to keep Isabella from pestering him excessively.

Walking along the beach towards the entrance to the Promontory I heard a brief exclamation from the darkness next to the water. On the way back from the end, I noticed an awkwardly-parked car at the edge of the car park. We continued to Plakaki along the track for a change and I was involved in my thoughts most of the time.

As we approached the Promontory for the second time, a man appeared from behind some rocks and approached me. It transpired they had arrived late at night, the [rental] car had become stuck in the sand and had sunk further during attempts to get it out. I sent a message to Antonis asking if anyone would be able to give the car a put out of the sand. Stellios has a large 4×4 pickup so Antonis gave him a call to see if he’d be willing.

I went around the Promontory for the second time and assured the guy someone would come along eventually and that, in any case, I’d be back around 09:00 for a swim so would see him then. Skinny had been absent for the second Promontory walk and had moved in with the German couple. He was certainly not welcoming to any other dog which approached within a certain distance of their duvet on which he was sitting. The couple are doggy people and have two at home. I eventually extracted Skinny and took the dogs back to the camping, Balanced my mind and Elevated my brain before trotting off on my bike to complete my cycling workout.

The car was still in the sand when I arrived after my swim to the buoys and back. Usually, it takes me over 20 minutes but with more effort I did it in around 17. I made reassuring noises that Stellios would eventually appear and the guy had managed to clear much of the sand from under the car. Later, I received a call from him to say that he’d managed to extract the vehicle with some help from another.

Just after that, as I was preparing the Doggy Dinners, I received a text from Juergen to say he’d managed to lose his passport and wallet containing his payment card during a boat trip on Monday. He needed some cash to get by so he transferred money to my account and I could give him some cash. I suggested this would be easier and much cheaper than Western Union and might preclude a lengthy wait at the post office. Juergen said he’d pop by around midday. He’s since heard that the wallet and passport have been found aboard the boat and will be returned to Paleochora on the bus from Sougia.

I completed the DDs and then sat down with a cup of tea. The morning had made rapid progress so there was not much time until 12:00 when Juergen would be arriving. I took him to the seating area by the vending machine as I understood he had a number of commissions to undertake in Paleochora so wouldn’t stay long. Soon after, we moved to the bar where we must have remained for around four hours. He was drinking cola and water whilst I drank fresh orange juice. I should come down from my juice high in a couple of hours. He eventually left to return to Sfakos around five.

In the meantime, Maria had delivered a smelly package which she’d left on my bike as I didn’t respond to her entries to take the package from her. The package contained a selection of incense products including my Aromafume incense block burner which I’m looking forward to trying out this evening. I now have a huge choice of incense sticks which will be ideal for the winter evenings.

On my way back from seeing Juergen off, Manolis called out to say he was bored which was handy as I wanted to pick his brain about windows. We chatted at length about constructing some rudimentary windows to replace the tent sides under the rigid awning. The tent sides have seen better days and flap a lot when it’s windy. With his guidance, I know where to make the necessary purchases for the materials and will ask Diane if her husband might obtain the wood for me and perhaps cut it on their machines. The wood from Polychronis is reliably twisted and the most expensive: his motto is premium price and poorest quality.

The day has not evolved as I’d planned which should teach me to make plans and to expect them to come about! The dogs were quiet during my prolonged absences however, between them, they failed to process their Doggy Dinners and then put the beetroot for this evening into the pot to cook. As a result, I’ve had to process the DD and will shove the beetroot into the pot once the DDs come out. Hopefully, the beetroot will be cooked by the time I’ve fed the dogs, cats, plants and so on. The fluffy mother cat is a frequent visitor to Manolis and Litsa who also feed her, skinny though she remains. She only comes to me when they are at home in Chania. I’ve not seen the young female, her daughter, for several days however this is not unusual for this time of the year.