The night was chilly and a little windy. With the tent door open, Isabella was active early and romping around at 04:45 bothering Charlie. I gave up at 05:00 so we hit the beach just before 05:30. Bad luck for Stephanie as she was stuck waiting for us to come back from the end of the Promontory as she missed us as we went up. She joined us for the remainder of the walk and was surprised how little notice the dogs took of her considering she emerged from the darkness a comparative stranger. She went off back to her apartment when we’d finished the walk. She mentioned her walk to Anydroi with Frank went well yesterday however it was at his pace as she says he’s rather unfit.
I put the dogs inside and did some meditating and other cranial activities. With plenty of layers, I set off on my bike to climb the mountain in progressively windy conditions. My route was truncated today as I visited Perrakis the ironmongers to purchase a ladder and some metal plates in order to mount the second battery on the rear rack of my bike. The ladder is not needed to mount the battery but I plan to give the carob trees a serious pruning to stop them banging on the roof. Several of the overhead cables connecting the buildings require attention so a reliable ladder is needed to access them. The Grammeno ladder is even more dilapidated than before so I consider the expenditure of €130 on a safe ladder a worthwhile investment. It will be stored under my PV panels out of the way of prying eyes and careless users. Antonis says he’ll pick it up for me tomorrow.
Whilst out, I received a message from Maria stating there was no TV and no WiFi (read Internet connection as the WiFi was just fine). When I got back, I visited the office to check the router and associated gubbins to discover there was no DSL connection. Bad news if you need to connect to the Internet! Maria called a friend who is someone important in OTE to be told that one of the road improvement technicians had inadvertently dug up the fibre (I suspect) and that someone would be along tomorrow to take a look at it. I recall there being no Internet for several days after a similar event.
The ‘no TV’ problem was due to the fact that the TV channels have changed on the local repeater so the TV sets need to be retuned to the new channel numbers. I have completed this to the joy of Maria as now she’s able to watch TV in her boudoir this evening. She’s sleeping in the big room because it has a TV cable. Manolis, Georgia’s brother, is renting a flat until April so has temporarily stored some items of furniture in that room. She says accessing the loo in the middle of the night requires forethought. The price of TV in bed!
I went back to continue the installation of my second bike battery which is now fixed to the rear rack and nicely connected to the cunning device that stops everything from spontaneously combusting. The sturdy metal plate purchased from Perrakis is under the rack and appears to hold everything in position. I will charge the second battery during the night and give it a trial run in the morning. My bike now has a lot more range and I would be extremely inept if I were to allow BOTH batteries to get low. Range Anxiety should be a thing of the past.
The day has been warm and sunny but the northerly wind which has been with us since early on is chilly.
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