The past week has been very full with trips out to nearby villages and down to the beach. We have also kept the pressure up to get the telephone connected and Kimon has been visiting offices and trying to get the job done at last.
We were just about to jump in the car to set off for Kastellos where the Art School is on Tuesday loaded with bags of oranges and freshly made juice to share with fellow students, when Kimon’s mobile rang and I could hear the OTE Engineer talking in Greek to him. He was down in the village square and wanted to know where we were. As we don’t seem to have a conventional address and there are no road names in the village, Kimon sprinted down to the square by the village school and showed the Technician back to the house. We realised that the long wait was because there is only one Technician for this area and he had to wire up a connection in the big box in the Square, then another in another box at first floor level on a nearby house with his ladder and then he had a look at the socket inside our front door. Leaving his ladder against the wall, he jumped in his van and drove back to Perama (the local Prefecture) about 6 miles away and did something at the Exchange before driving back to the village to test the line and retrieve the ladder. It seemed to be a bit of a long-winded way of doing things but we were so grateful for a phone by this time that we just kept saying “Efheristo” again and again. Thankyou! (And do you want any oranges?)
Pushing our luck, we visited the office in Perama that afternoon to see if we could pick up our broadband router box but this could only be collected in Rethymnon where we first started the process over two months ago – so off we went to Rethymnon the next day and came back with our treasure!
AND IT WORKS (SPASMODICALLY)… it’s progress but not as we know it …. However, we were able to Skype Kate in Melbourne this morning and had a wonderful chat so we are confident that it will work some of the time at least.
We realised that if the Technician had called after we had left for Kastellos, we would probably have had to wait for another six months, so we are thanking our lucky stars (although not counting them due to the efficient football stadium lighting above our roof – see previous blogs).
Art School this term is painting and drawing with a concentration on landscapes. I am really looking forward to it after completing the first session.
We visited the local post office yesterday and glumly queued up at the wrong desk while others arrived and queued up at the adjacent desk and got served first. After a lengthy wait, we asked for stamps to post a letter to Europe and were stupefied when the assistant said that they did not have any stamps. It begs the question – what does a Post Office do all day if they don’t sell stamps? However, the letter remains in my shopping bag until we find … another post office? Our other option is a much friendlier post office where previously we were offered seats and the assistant reached over a no smoking sign to give K an ash tray while we waited for the time lock on the safe to open for the stamps. The assistant waved airily at the sign and said – “Oh don’t take any notice of that; it’s for the tourists … “ so the ordinary things of life take us by surprise sometimes!
A nice young lady came to the door last night with a sheaf of documents, which we gathered were to do with a Census. I got the dictionary out and we did quite well with questions about us, how many rooms in the house, how was it heated and various statistical requirements. She was joined by her colleague who spoke English very well and translated for her. It was all very amicable and we parted from them as good friends (Would you like any oranges? They declined and we gathered that everyone else in the village had offered them oranges too!!)
K and I wondered whether the arrival of the phone/broadband would be the end of the road for the Croziers Blog which was only intended to cover our “dream” journey-of-a-life time across Europe and then somehow continued and evolved to keep far flung friends and family in touch with us while we were incommunicado. However, we will update our news on a semi-regular basis – in case you have not quite lost the will to live - and find all our ramblings of any interest as we adjust to a new way of life.
Our friends Steve and Liz will be pleased to know that we finished the gift to Brod and Carolynn who had an amusing post-it note for their front door in order to ensure uninterrupted afternoon naps. Inspired by the piece of driftwood they left for us, we painted:
I concurred with K's suggestion that we put "fiesta!"on the back.
I have just booked flights back to the UK in early July and a further return flight down under to catch up with children and grand-children during July and August – so one Crozier will be going a bit more global come high summer and we hope to have some more news and photos to add to the mix. Adieu for now!
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