DESKTOP JOURNAL

I didn’t like to complain or anything, but typing on the Laptop presented more than a few problems. Whether the touch control was too light or we pressed a button for a strange setting or something I do not know but every time I went to shift for punctuation or capital letters the cursor would jump up two lines and continue typing the next piece of print in the middle of the previous paragraph. The best way to avoid it was to type with two fingers and it drove us completely wild but things are on the up. We have unpacked our old desk top and – aged as it is – it is so much easier to use so I can touch type again. If some of these blogs seem a bit longwinded, it is because with no phone line, and being a bit off the beaten track, the blog which I can post once or twice per week is the best way I have of keeping in touch with the far flung members of the family.

The weekend was full as we fetched 4 or 5 boxes at a time to unpack and uncovered a few more necessities and hundredfold things that we do not really need at all! However, we have found a lady not too far away who sells second hand furniture and will visit her to see if we can find ourselves a desk, some more shelves or cupboards and – we may have to make the best use we can of that enormous wooden chest after all. The upstairs “Art Studio” has evolved into an office too because we only have one usable table (used formerly when we went camping) and this will have to act as a working surface and desk for the time being.

 On Sunday, some friends of ours from England with a flat in Panormo were arriving in Crete so while Kimon was meeting them and their two friends from Heraklion Airport, I braved the CIC Coach Excursion. These run once per month and I was trying to decide whether they were really my sort of thing or not! I guess I will know a bit more as time goes by.

The changes in the clocks on Sunday caused a few muddles with coach times and flight schedules! Only a bit behind, we set off for the first stop on the trip via Spili which is one of my favourite places to visit – a tiny town very high up lodged between two mountains where wonderful fresh water tumbles down and can be collected at the 25 lion head fountains in the centre of town. The first stop was a lovely monastery where nuns live in a fairly open community and there is an orphanage attached. A wonderful atmosphere permeates the grounds and inner courtyard of the place, which in spite of ancient origins, had been recently rebuilt in a lovely way. We were shocked to learn that an ancient icon on which the monastery had been founded had recently been stolen from the chapel.

We peeped into the textile workshop and saw some finespun fabrics, which could be made into church vestments, table linen and had been beautifully woven with very intricate designs. After this we set off for the Southern Coast of Crete at Agios Galini. A sweet little resort built up the side of the mountain dropping steeply into the sea. The coach took us via Tympaki to Voro a pretty village where we visited a potter in his workshop and then the Museum of Cretan Ethnology – which was right up my street with examples of all kinds of textiles, tools, weaving and household equipment going back several centuries. I was having a good look at the log baskets and other household items thinking how useful they would be in our house! However it was a bit dark and stuffy in there, so we were glad to get outside into the sunshine again.

After a very convivial meal at Taverna oi Belyoi (Taverna of the Belgians), we piled aboard again and went to another beach called Matala where hippies used to live in the 1970s. Right up in the cliffs you could see sand caves and there was an interesting wood carving at the entrance to the town but otherwise, most of us agreed that it was a long way to come for a very unattractive beach! However, it was good for me to get the measure of how long it takes to get from North to South (not too long) and from South to North on the way home (absolutely ages!)

Not much to report other than no telephone line or bamboozle person. I bought the most inexpensive Greek mobile phone today after getting a Greek SIM card to slot into my old UK Nokia phone on Saturday– only to find that it would not work over here. So, today and K and I have spent nearly all day with a dictionary and phrase book trying to work out what all the menus and options mean! Honestly with Spanish or French or Italian you would be able to take an educated guess, but with the Greek alphabet (which we both read out in the street but these options were too techie-specific) it was too hard. We really do need Greek lessons! It took several hours to puzzle out how to change the working language from Greek to English and some of our translations had hilarious results but we got there in the end. I will put our Greek numbers in an Email shortly.

Warm here today, Monday at 21 C but it is still cold at night when the sun has gone down. We have seen many more swallows – so summer must be on its way.