When we moved into our house, several of the local cats started giving us funny looks and wondered what we thought we were doing planting things and making changes to the local feline public convenience. How dare we! It was not long before we discovered what the little patch of earth in the corner of the front courtyard had been used for in the last year or two while our backs were turned. We were also surprised to find a new form of lighting on the lamp post outside the house – more reminiscent of football stadium spotlights than of a little village in Crete. These horrid lights had appeared all over the village since last Autumn and now give off a daylight halogen glow until 6.00 a.m. Unfortunately we are in the minority that dislike them and for some reason the rest of the village think that they are marvellous – so we were delighted when recent very strong gusts of wind blew the lamp at the front of the house off its hinges and left it dangling at a strange angle. We had a celebration late night drinkie up on the roof terrace and were able to enjoy the stars again. Sadly when we returned from Art Class on Tuesday, someone had called the Electricity Company who had efficiently mended the lamp and put it back again. Botheration! Oh that the telephone company was as efficient as this … we are still waiting for our telephone line.
While we have been busy trying to plant things and get the garden going, Top Cat and his local gang have been undermining our efforts to establish control of our patch. While our friends Steve and Liz were here, we scratched our heads to find a solution to the problem. We have tried pepper, citrus fruit peel, souvlaki and cocktail sticks together with large stones to persuade the local ‘puddums’ to find a nice corner of a field (of which there are many) to relieve themselves instead of our minimal garden. (We also bought a water pistol, but they are much too quick for us!) The end result is a patch, which looks more like the town tip than a lovely garden, but we hope that this is temporary. I will post more pictures as soon as possible, but we are still operating on borrowed computers and today the internet has rationed me to one photo only!
Meanwhile, we filled up all the large ceramic pots K bought last year with new compost and have planted two creeping trees to give some cover across the pergola; there is a nice hibiscus and some jasmine and we are just praying that the winds stay light so that our plants can get established before being blown away. Winds in Crete are often very strong indeed and frequently bring red dust from Africa which takes a lot of sweeping up and we have to be careful to bring things in or tie them down each night because we never quite know what might happen from day to day. Things seem calmer now though and we have had time to top each pot with a positive arsenal of sharp sticks to ward off marauding felines … oooch!
I took my first swim yesterday. It took 10 seconds max because the water was still freezing but the air temperature was well into the 80s – so we made the most of the sunshine and spent the day at the beach. It was lovely to have friends over for the housewarming party but we were amazed how tired we were even 4 or 5 days after the event – a few restful days pottering about in our patch have been just what we needed.
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