MRS MOP

We have not made much mention of the little house in Crete because it is a little hard to describe and any photos – taken from the other side of the alleyway do not do it justice. However, we are cooped up inside today because the cold and wet weather which has been chasing us across Europe has caught up with Crete again today and it is blowing a hoolie outside!

We met up with Kimon’s sister Anna yesterday after we had emerged from a sleepy cacoon late and flopped about unpacking suitcases and taking our time over unloading the car. The only sounds we could hear on waking up were birds singing and a few bleatings from goats or sheep nearby. All our neighbours were mighty interested to see all the “pragmata” which emerged from our car. Heaven knows how they will react when the lorry arrives. K and I are rapidly discussing new cupboards and shelves needed for the kitchen and bookcases required for the living room to accommodate all this stuff. 47 box loads plus miscellaneous bits of furniture. All I really need is a woolly jumper at this moment in time but I have unearthed a few cotton tee shirts from the bedroom cupboard and have layered them with a light weight poncho over the top. K and I look a real sight for sore eyes. Our lovely friend, Angeliki came to the house with her apron bulging with 6 lovely fresh laid eggs as a welcome to Crete present. I hope the novelty tins of English tea I brought with me are a reasonable offering in return.

As all the shops were shut, Anna advised that one or two tavernas might be open in Panormo and we jumped in the car to see what we could find open. Wonders that the Aphrodite Supermarket was open and we could buy a stock of necessities for the larder. They gave us a loyalty membership card – just like Tesco – except the benefits were on display on the shelves – more pragmata, but still! There were lovely large beef tomatoes, bread, cheeses, potatoes and onions – so in spite of it being a bank holiday, we would still have all we needed. I had packed at least 3 large packs of English Tea and a few other flavours to bring with us and K had packed an enormous jar of Marmite and several packs of Oxo cubes requested by friends.

A welcome light at the Italian Restaurant beckoned us in and we were delighted to find a wood stove burning and lovely food and wine on the menu. We pondered whether we would have to order something fishy or not but they did not seem to be bothered and were happy to see some customers on such a foul day. (You can tell by these posts that our reducing diet has not yet begun – but we will have to go native during Lent and try to lose some of this journey weight … starting tomorrow). We felt much more cheerful as we drove home with a lovely hot meal inside us but the rain had not stopped all day and snow had been forecast for the day following.

The next morning we were woken by the sound of pouring water, dripping water and strong winds but fortunately no snow … yet! Worryingly, we had noticed two damp patches on the upstairs floor of the house which would need the attention of our friendly builder. (Hopefully still under guarantee as it was only finished last year. Hey ho, we will see! ) We can’t wait for the weather to improve because it is really dark inside the house with all the doors and windows shut which is not a problem in the heat of the summer but it’s bit dingy while the weather is like this.

K and I have a list of jobs to do. We need to fix the door of the log burner as the insulating rope-like material on the door needs attention and we also need to know where to get hold of some logs to burn.

We have to find the telephone company and work out the best deal for telephone calls and broadband as there are several to choose from. And after cleaning the house we left in the UK from top to bottom – there are cupboards to clean out and window sills to rescue from cobwebs, sand, cement dust here too so I am away with my bucket and mop for a while. A woman’s work is never done!