KALOMINA – KALOMITI

This morning I was in a taxi with friends from the office on my way to St John’s Church, Waterloo dropping off some pots of flowers and I realised that I had left my handbag in the office. After the delivery to the church, it hit me with some force that I had to try and get home or back to the office without my Oyster Card, Season Ticket or purse, which are always attached to me. How would I be able to explain this to the ticket clerk at the tube station?  As I crossed the road, I was narrowly missed by a lady on a scooter with no helmet and …..

then I woke up. 

What a relief to find that it had all been a bad dream and it was now FIVE TO ELEVEN IN THE MORNING (8.55 British Time!) It was also 1^st April so my sub-conscious had obviously decided to play a trick on me just as I would have been starting work on a TGIF day.

While I had been asleep, Kimon had been shopping, fetched six boxes of books from storage and I was feeling very lazy indeed. However, we unpacked one load, and checking the sky which showed a big rainstorm over the mountains heading for us, went for the next load. He said “Kalimera” and an extra “Kalomina” to everyone he met because it was the first day of a new month. We have also been reminded that it is Saturday morning tomorrow and we need to be around for the weekly street sweeping/hosing event which K calls RIXIE, RIXIE (I will get him to translate this – he thinks it means “Fill, fill”). This is great fun and needs to be initiated at our house, because we have the water tap at the top of the hill. We turn on the hose and sweep out the front courtyard of the house and the narrow roadway outside and everyone in the village comes out of their house with a broom or a hose - if they have one - and the village starts sweeping furiously down to the bottom at the village square!! We have been away or out for the past two Saturdays, so we have not been taking our civic duties seriously!

Overnight there have been some unusual gusts of wind from the direction of Africa and every surface outside the house is covered with red desert sand. It is almost impossible to see out of any of the mirrors of the car so it will be a good opportunity to give the car a clean in the morning also.

The lady next door to us (being of an inquisitive nature) is dying to know how much we paid for the Kalomiti*. We are not quite sure why because she has a shady patio outside her door already – but we think this is just a way of making conversation in Greece. Everyone asks you how much things cost, say you have spent too much, their cousin could get it cheaper but end up going to the same place to buy something identical to the one you have! This does not bother K, but I find that it takes some getting used to. We are also resorting to retrieving boxes from storage after nightfall to avoid any more relentless questioning about all our pragmata. Nobody could believe that we have so many books –which is hardly surprising because I cannot imagine how we still have this number of books after getting rid of so many!! Still, our bookcases do look homely now, I can look up recipes and we are beginning to see more floor space back in the storage room in the Mill.  Photos will follow when complete.

*(the Greek word for bamboo canopy from Mr Bamboozle but we hope that it will be an asset rather than a calamity!)

SATURDAY – RAIN STOPPED PLAY

2 April 2011. Hideous day - dark, cold and raining relentlessly all day. No opportunity to redeem ourselves with civic duty and RIXIE ..ing as God did it for us! I resorted to climbing into a sleeping bag and watching terrible TV and trying to decipher greek writing in the advertisement breaks.

Sunday was Mothers Day and we set off to Panormo for a lovely Sunday Lunch of sardines and lovely mixed salad. More of the businesses were beginning to open up.  When we arrive each summer for our “relaxed” holidays, we have no idea of the big production involved in preparing all the hotels, shops and tavernas for business during the tourist season. As we made our way down to the restaurant, we could see all the hard graft beginning with pressure washers in the tavernas, decorators and new furniture being delivered. It must be disheartening to be so dependent upon the arrival of hoards of tourists to make enough of a living for the winter and we hope that all the locals have a better summer than last year. Sunday afternoon was much more proactive with lovely sunshine and we spent time outside planting seeds and filling large ceramic pots ready for planting up. 

Kimon laughs as I check my boxes and planters every morning for signs of life but we have a few lettuce and tomato seedlings sprouting which have not needed any watering lately!