HIGH SUMMER AT THE KENTRO

You can tell that the really hot weather has now arrived here in Crete as there is a loud chorus of cicadas at 8 o’clock in the morning and we have been running the air conditioning for a good part of the night. While the thermometer has been creeping up to the nineties and hundreds (in old values) I have been preparing for my flights home and then on to catch up with our daughters down under. So, I will try to keep up the blog from borrowed computers for the next few weeks. It has exercised my packing skills to prepare for summer in the UK plus winter in New Zealand – but hopefully I will have enough summer shirts and winter woollies to cope with both!
In a previous blog we mentioned that Kimon had completed the first hurdle in getting Greek number plates for our British car and then went to find out from the harbour police how much it would cost because despite the fact that we have paid British tax on the car, the authorities in Greece demand that importers of foreign cars pay a swingeing import tax which is on a sliding scale. The older the car – the more tax they demand. The sum was 5,000 euros – a ridiculous amount for our beloved, well maintained but rather old car. [And what is the European Union all about?} Hence, we have had to sell it to people returning to the UK before our insurance runs out. So, Kimon will be on the look out for a second hand run-about, which is very cheap to run, if we think we can afford it. Using the bus looks like an attractive alternative for the time being and will be planet friendly.

We received our first bill from OTE which seemed to be charging us for all the time we spent waiting for our line to be installed! There were all sorts of discrepancies on the bill lined up each with the additional charge of 23.5% VAT – cost enormous. Then we went to the town hall to sort out the water bill, which had not been paid by the previous owners of the house, and we had not received a bill since 2009. Again, cost enormous - but the people there were actually quite kind to us and said that we could pay it in 10 instalments before they put the water bill into our name. It is just as well that all the lovely people in our village are so caring and sharing with their produce because we have been overwhelmed by their generosity.
It started with a bag of courgettes and cucumbers left for us by Nikos. OK, I would make a lovely big flan and take a piece to Nikos and a piece to Costas and Angeliki to say thank you. C and A said thankyou for the flan, brought the plate back FILLED with MORE courgettes and a whole pot of myzithres cheese (a cross between cream cheese and cottage cheese – ideal for cheesecakes!) Nikos was out but anyway brought us a plate of buckwheat stew garnished with the Cretan delicacy of snails. This was a bit more awkward and we are struggling to work out the best response to this as neither of us like snails but it was so kind and generous of him to prepare it for us! Nikos learned to cook when he was a young man in the Army so he is very good at growing stuff and looking after himself. We carefully transferred the contents to a plastic container, washed up his plate to return and now the buckwheat and snails are staring reproachfully at us every time we open the ‘fridge.

Angeliki offered to give me lessons in Greek. I had bought the books at vast expense in a Rethymnon bookshop for lessons with a young Dutch lady but these have stopped for the summer til September. So every evening at 6.30 outside the cafeneon while all the aged males are yarning away we wade through pages of Greek questions, answers and text. I am reading it phonetically but only understand 20% of everything! However, I can now go to Costa’s village shop and say ‘Thelos ena Psomi, parakalo’ – meaning I would like one loaf of bread please etc. instead of the mime and charades I had been employing up until now. Slow progress indeed but every little helps!

We had an interesting experience last Saturday when K and I walked around the village with the movie camera to take a video so that the family can see what the house and village is like. As we emerged from the church and the mill, we noticed that the fortress like building on the opposite hill was completely lit up. We reckoned that there would be a wedding party that evening and we were in for a noisy night. When we reached the Village Square, all the cars and people were walking in the same direction and we ended up being the only people left in the village who had not been invited to the Baptism Party up the hill. By the end of the evening, with the very loud music, celebratory gun fire at various intervals during the night until early morning and the ashen faces of all the villagers the next day, we realised that the only thing worse than not being invited to the party – was to have been invited!! I was really glad to have a quiet sun downer on the roof terrace and watch the proceedings from a safe distance – and we went inside before the guns went off because those bullets have got to land somewhere!