Happy New Year!

I could see that things would get difficult by the number of incidental bangs during the evening, despite the TV volume being quite high. Fido is not a fan of bangs and goes into meltdown each time. Skinny gets edgy when Fido goes into meltdown causing general disquiet. I had the volume turned up in an attempt to mask the bangs, which mostly worked. At bedtime, I put on Radio Paradise with the volume much higher than usual but I knew the midnight bangs would still be heard. We were all awake at midnight with Fido giving his all. The bangs stopped, as did Fido, so I turned off the radio and we all went back to sleep.

2023 dawned dark but reasonably mild and clear. There was not a single van in the beach car park only two along the beach road. We performed our usual walks and returned to the van all except Luis who Jorma discovered when he went to walk Happy who was on a sleepover with them.

I took out the girls and looked for Luis on the way back. He appeared with Jorma and Happy so came back with us. I then went up the mountain all the way to the top, round Paleochora and back to Grammeno. There were not many people about although the bakery was open. And I nearly ate all of the bread the night before but resisted in case it was closed for NYD.

I released and fed dogs then started fiddling around with the TV monitor as it has never been very stable since I installed it. The central bolt was insufficiently tight so the screen tilted to the right which required a little packing to keep it level. Today was the day to tighten the centre bolt which required removing the 43” monitor. Hence the reluctance to do so during the initial installation or since. But today was the day!

I tightened the bolt and replaced the monitor so now it remains level as there’s sufficient friction to overcome the disequilibrium of the monitor. I can also reposition it in a way which provides better access for dogs to go underneath as well as a better viewing angle for me. The MacMini has moved up onto the shelf above leaving only the SoundBlaster on the lower shelf. The previous configuration was prone to disaster due to skylarking dogs. Now, all is out of the way and tidied up. I vacuumed up some dust and mosquitoes too.

Jan called to use the washing machine as he plans to leave tomorrow so wanted a final fling. He’s going to the Peloponnese in search of a family with young children.

Litsa and I went to reception to put up the New Year 10€ note and lucky 2023 charm as we have done each year. I was later invited to lunch with them but declined as I had loads to do.

The other Norsemen are off today so have paid and packed up. Pierre returned with his cable to make the video he was unable to make yesterday and I fiddled around putting Android onto a Raspberry Pi. So far, there appears to be a glitch as the monitor does not register correctly with the installation. Maybe tomorrow.

Jorma and Kirsti went for a meal with Johannes and Saga so the dogs didn’t get an afternoon outing. Fido and Sasha decided to run the gate so were recaptured then confined to the SDC until supper time.

Some munching and entertainment then NYD is out of the way for yet another year. Not that I’m wishing my life away, just not much of a fan of the Festive Season (enjoy the link).