Charlie had something stuck in his throat, probably from some disgusting find whilst rooting around in the dross. He was outside but the door was open so I could hear the racket as he tried vainly to clear it. No sooner was I back in bed from letting Charlie in, I heard The Rug outside the gate so got up to let her in. This was at 04:30 so the chances of getting back to sleep after were slim. I finally got up at 05:30 not necessarily in the best of humour I may add.

We walked our usual route with The Rug and Isabella catching up after a few days apart. I sent a message at 04:30 to the Rug’s owner suggesting he might pick her up at his earliest convenience. He tells me she will be on a line from now on. I may decided to arrange a regular play-day for her in the fullness of time.

I rode my bike, with plenty of powered help, against a strong easterly wind up the mountain and round Paleochora. I stopped to pet two little females at the PAWS puppy location. I had to tell them off for excessively testing their teeth on my leg and hand. I stopped at Petrakis for some provisions and seem to have come away with more groceries than I’d intended. The ride back to Grammeno was speedy with a following wind.

I wandered the camping chatting to the punters. Xanthippos was rolling a cigarette as I walked past. He was telling me Cedar Bay Villas would welcome their first customers this Friday and the season was projected to continue until November. He added that the changeover procedure had evolved to be on different days of the week. Previously, they all changed on the same day. He mentioned nothing about works on the adjacent land as he told me about all the chores that needed completing before the first arrival.

I fed the dogs and made something for myself then enjoyed a rest in the sun whilst munching. There was a brief excursion to the office to scan and send the latest phone bill to Maria and Georgia.

It was quite warm so I went for another wander to collect money from Marie-Christine who returned from Elafonissi with Timo. She said they were alone there so Timo had a great time without the continual distraction of cats and people. He’s a great dog and she knows how to handle him.

Sandra was making a collage of shells so needed my hot glue gun which I furnished together with an adaptor as the gun’s for the US market. I then cut my hair and bravely went into the sea for fifteen minutes or so. I was wearing neoprene gloves which stopped my hands from getting too cold. They were still very strange and tingly as they warmed up after a hot shower and a cup of tea.

The guys are busy on the camping cutting reeds to shade the new statics. There are three of them working on the shading leaving Michaelis and Nikos on construction. There are going to be three new cabins next to Z1-2. I can see this from the layout of the ground frame. At least someone has listened as there is a steel frame which raises the base from the ground unlike all of the smaller cabins which sit on the sand more or less. The steel frame is more work and more expensive but should seriously extend the life of the cabins.

Maria called to ’ask my opinion’ about [Greek] customers who will stay over the weekend. She and Georgia had decided to charge them 5€/night for electricity. I said I always offered the customers a meter as they mostly used substantially less than 5€-worth of power. Naturally, she ignored my comment so I don’t know why she bothered me with the call as she’s going to email with the prices anyway.