Fika

I was not in too much of a hurry to leap out of bed as the wind was up and it wasn’t particularly warm. The time is soon upon us when I’ll be thinking about moving towards heavier clothing at least in the morning and evening.

There was little excitement on the Early Walk other than Ursula was waiting for us at the end of the Promontory. A couple of vans were on the beach but no vehicles were in the beach car park. Not a single fisherman. With a cloudy sky and a chilly wind, I can understand a certain reluctance to stand on an exposed peninsula drowning maggots in the early morning.

We walked back slightly ahead of Ursula as I was anxious the dogs might get too far in front of me. We were back just after seven which was a bonus as I had servers to update of which one is Exchange and needed a C U (Cumulative Update) which takes a long time. I was able to do the general updates and restart the server ready to perform the CU later.

My morning ride took me to the top of the mountain where Kostas and others were shooting with their dogs. I frequently see Kostas on that road or his 4×4 parked on the verge. The only really difficult part of the ascent was where the road changes direction in a narrow section where the wind funnels.

I stopped at the bakers for a cheese pie for Tony and then Petrakis to buy fruit and veg as well as a couple of bottles of gas. I try only to use gas when I run low on electricity as I don’t like ‘burning stuff’ if I can avoid it. Nevertheless, with the price of [Grid] electricity rising steeply [in Greece] my Photo Voltaic (PV) panels put me in a good position. However LPG doesn’t deteriorate and I have plenty of storage so I’ll go into the colder months with 2 x 25kg and 1 x 12kg LPG. Even in the worst conditions, I’d never need to use anything like that amount. The larger gas bottle is now €48 for a refil.

I dropped off Tony’s pie and then released and fed the dogs before starting the Doggy Dinners for later. The wind was getting stronger but at least the sun was stronger too. I eventually put the DDs in the Pot and sat down with a cup of tea for some R&R.

I was called away by Maria as a customer had just arrived but didn’t have the correct cable adaptor for the camping’s outlets. These are not anything extraordinary as they are the ‘standard’ European Schuko socket. For some reason, I couldn’t find a suitable cable amongst my own collection but there was one in the workshop. Happy customer. Hopefully, he’ll hand it in when he leaves as it’s a worthwhile length of cable and connectors.

I spent some while performing the CU on the server as it’s quite a complicated but automated process which just requires monitoring. The services never seem to start correctly so no one can access their mail until I go back into the server and run a script to restart them. I learned to use a script as later versions of Exchange use lots of services which are very laborious to have to start and stop manually. Needs must and all that. It’s all updated until the next quarterly CU. These are particularly important at the present time as they replace code which the naughty people have exploited to do bad things with your mail servers. Tut tut! All work for the working man as someone once used to say…

In between this excitement, I spent time trying to find out why my package sent from UK back in early September, was reportedly stuck in customs in Athens. I’ve used several different consignment tracking services to monitor this item. The ELTA website reports it’s in Athens in customs. This is indeed so. Just that this other tracking site explains that it’s Athens, Georgia, United States of America which is a little further away than Athens, Greece. One reason why I always say I live in Crete, Greece. This is obvious to most Europeans however there are no fewer than five places in US called Crete. Illinois, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, North Dakota and Indiana. Furthermore, there are over twenty cities or other communities called Athens in the US of which one is Athens, Georgia where my package of bike bits is presently residing. Poor parcel delivery personnel!

I spent a little time in the shower as I was destined to attend the popular Swedish ritual of ‘Fika’ together with Tony and Ursula at the neighbours. We arrived to find a neatly laid table with a plethora of small buns and cakes to enjoy with a choice of green or black tea. We were together for some while and have agreed to go for a meal at Third Eye on Wednesday before the departure of Tony and Ursula on Friday.

The dogs are now fed. Isabella is taking up much of the seat next to me with Luis on the other side. Someone keeps producing a terrible farty pong and I suspect it’s not Luis! Despite my earlier indulgence, I shall have something else to eat and spend the remainder of the evening in a state of inactivity.