Up with the lark and before the alarm, just, and we were out and running by five-fifteen or near offer. Still a couple of cars in the beach car park and only one tent on The Promontory. It was warm but not terribly well illuminated as the moon is beginning to reach the final days of its cycle. The sea was much noisier than recently due to a slight westerly breeze. Plakaki and Azzuro held no excitements on the way out however there was an inquisitive dog on the way back. Some of the smaller dogs were being a little aggressive towards him although he had little to worry about from them. Just that I won’t put up with needless aggressive behaviour from small dogs which winds up the others. The dog accompanied us a little way along the beach and then disappeared into the distance. He looked like a dog which was cared for and belonged to someone.

We stumbled upon the tent on the way back from crossing the rocks: it was in the same location as yesterday but no sign of activity. I took the boys back then came out with the girls and round again. We didn’t meet anyone and I carried the ball thrower uselessly as Isabella only found her ball just as we were coming back into the compound.

I went off up the mountain on my bike then around my traditional route stopping for nothing as I had bread and will go to Petrakis tomorrow. I had a chat with Tassos who was bemoaning the fact that Cosmote took all of the money on his account when he failed to top it up at the prescribed time. I suggested he looked upon the payments as rental and not money but he will still not satisfied.

I stopped at the office on my way through as Maria wanted something but I don’t remember what. I went back to release and feed dog once I’d dealt with some administrative matters.

I received a message from Litsa about their Internet connection. When swapping switches yesterday, I had a cable left over however their switch was unplugged so it showed an open circuit. Plugging in the switch made a difference and the little lights on the switch illuminated. Litsa needed to tinker with her phone to get it working. I lingered in the office whilst Maria went to do something important then went back to the dogs.

After some relaxation I got all of the supplier invoices up-to-date as it’s a long time since some of them have been paid. Why don’t the suppliers issue monthly statements?

We’re trying to find someone to bring a toner for the printer from Chania. I suggested an original cartridge and found one in Plaisio in Chania. I left it to Maria to deal with the logistics. I offered to order one and have it delivered but was told everything was in hand. I shall get some reset chips from China and we’ll refill some of the cartridges we have and change the chips before reintroducing them to the printer as new replacement cartridges. The current situation is rediculous.

I discovered the sole WiFi access point at the bar was having a holiday so all the traffic had migrated to the AP by the kitchen. I went down to give it a restart but had to open the box with the switch as one of the retail cool cupboards was right up against the plug socket. The result was an operational WiFi which was the aim. The power went off this morning which might have caused it to have a touch of the vapours.

Maria just called me again about the dreaded toner cartridge. I found one this morning in Chania but the person who went to buy and collect it was told they had none in stock. I offered to get one from one of the stockists on the mainland who deliver next day supposedly. Poor Maria has more than enough to do so doesn’t need to be struggling with forms and toner cartridges. Now, of course, if a spreadsheet was used, this would save mountains of paper!

The guy with the wonky computer was happy as it was working today so he was kept busy outside Ξ4 whilst his wife read.

I’m watching Isabella and Sasha fooling around together on the rug which is now much more comfortable thanks to the foam tiles I put underneath it. I’m delighted they get on so well together and are able to play almost unceasingly and mostly quite vigorously. Once Sasha is fully grown they should provide great company for each other much to the relief of the other dogs. It will be interesting to see how things develop when Kirsti and Jorma are here as I doubt they’ll wish to take both together.

Today has been noticeably cooler and was quite cloudy at times. There is now talk of thunderstorms tomorrow evening and night with a 72% probability although rainfall of only 2mm. The weather is still very pleasant so the camping should remain reasonably full for the next ten days or so. Some heavy rain might change things. I’m told there has been flooding on the mainland due to heavy rain on parched ground.

I’ve been watching an interesting series on the Somme during WWI where an entire French village was completely replaced with huge craters where the German and French sappers competed digging bigger tunnels and mines. The aim was to gain control of the high ground which provided a view over the entire area and an important railway link. During the early phases, wave upon wave of Frenchmen were simply mown down by the German machine guns as they attempted full-frontal attacks. During the tunnelling phase, comparatively few were killed after the previous score of thousands in one day! And this was just one small section of the front line. The German sappers built huge underground shelters when the men could take cover during the days of shelling which preceded the attacks. Then, once the French were convinced there would be no one left alive, they’d attack to find the Germans waiting with open arms. It was the same in the British sectors where the Germans had successfully infiltrated the British telephone system so knew in advance everything they needed to thwart the attackers.