I am typing away inside whilst outside, K is bashing away with his new axe to make a store of small kindling to get the fires lit each night. It took several days to get to the hardware store for the second load of fix-it supplies because we jumped in the car on Friday morning – only to find that the car battery was completely flat. The only way we could get going was to call out the garage mechanic from Perama on Saturday who drove over and put in a new battery and we returned there on Monday for a diagnostics check. After buying groceries and paying our water bill, we returned home with a length of drain pipe for the terrace tied to the roof of the car. K and I were so glad that the car got us safely to the airport and back last week, when we needed it, and were relieved to trace the battery leak to a faulty boot light – now fixed. The weather has not stayed dry long enough to tackle the new drainpipe but that joy awaits us.
The weekend weather was not too bad with sunshine, lots of cloud and a couple of intervals when we could take a cup of coffee outside on the terrace and enjoy the view of the mountains. On Saturday, the sky had thin wisps of cloud combed across a blue, blue sky with a beautiful shaped formation over my head in the shape of a phoenix. We hope this is a good omen for the Greek economy as all the news reports from Athens via the BBC have been a bit alarming – Athens is a long, long way away from Crete geographically and emotionally but it is clear that things are beginning to bite. There are hardly any cars on the road and some people are finding things hard. Many Brits – mainly the younger generation - are selling up to return home and the older ones, now retired, who live here are now being required to pay both British tax and Greek tax on their income on top of a new house tax, and 23.5 VAT on all other purchases. This, with a devaluation in the value of the pound does make a big difference. What with cutting pensions, also doctors/teachers' salaries and making whole rafts of civil servants redundant, it is difficult to know what more the Greek government can do to reduce its spending and pay its debts.
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| Moving to winter grazing .... |
Meanwhile – far away from the alarming news reports, high up in a blue sky, tiny dots of eagles circled on the air currents and looked far more as if they were at complete leisure than homing in on prey for their next meal. One large eagle, however, circled round for a few times directly over the terrace and seemed to be having a good look at me! I stood up, spread my arms and tried to look as large and indigestible as possible! Enjoying my solitude, I had been thinking about the annual way of life here. We have realised that for many, the year is in two halves based on the demands of the tourist season and had imagined that this was a fairly recent development. But, just as in alpine places, there has always been the movement between summer and winter grazing, living up in the mountains or down on the coast and we have come to see how this works its way out. Many spend the winter in the towns and villages and have a small retreat place/shack for summer high in the mountains when the towns on the coast are jammed with foreigners! I well remember the start of summer last year and the arrival of lobster pink, Hawaiian shirted, crowds of holiday makers in enormous shorts, hunting in packs and wobbling along the middle of the national road in very small hire cars – it all came as a shock to the system after the quietude of wintertime and the sober attire of the Cretan villagers.
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| Cozy evenings ..... |
In spite of warmish days, it is still very cold at night and we are becoming adept at timing the collection and stoking of the last log of the day for the fire with closing down chores then jumping into bed with warm jim-jams and two duvets! We have obviously become much too soft over the years by having centrally heated houses. I was concerned to visit an elderly couple on the outskirts of the village who own a lovely centrally heated house but were having to spend their days in a tiny outhouse/shed where they had a wood burner because they were totally unable to afford oil for their central heating system. Heating oil has doubled in price here over the past year. They are very hard-working people who have spent their whole lives growing all their own produce and living the good life; it seemed wrong that they were the ones to suffer now because of the economic crisis – certainly not created by them or their neighbours. All the people we know in the village are extremely hard-working on the land and in the community and it grieves us to observe that it is typically the ones with the least who have to pay the price. …. And don't get me on the subject of Rating Agencies …. who are they? …. what good do they do? ….. who pays THEIR wages? And how dare they 'rate' sovereign nations with their completely worthless opinions injecting loss of faith. And where did all this sub prime loan nonsense begin? [I've finished ranting now.]
….... Anyway, a friend came over yesterday with a large box of English paper-back books which are like gold dust and very welcome. We really look forward to the evening time when we can fire up the log burner and warm up the living room to get out our books, music and other stuff.
We can't tell you how good it is to pick up BBC Radio via the computer and have soaked up ancient comedy series from Radio 4 Extra and relived Hancock, Beyond our Ken and other series from the 1950s along with panel games, quizzes, Pam Ayres and the Charles Dickens Anniversary of books and plays. Definitely a lifesaver over the dark winter months while we are about our daily chores or relaxing in the evening.
This is a bit of a downbeat blog but we are in fine fettle and looking forward to Carnival next weekend when Rethymnon will be a blaze of colour before the start of Lent and we hope to break out of hibernation!
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