THE PIRATES OF PANORMO

The Pirate Ship in Panormo

Within one hour, it seems that all the “must haves” and “must do's” on my Jobs To Do List have resolved themselves without any effort on my part. What a relief - as it is too hot to move at the moment.

Last weekend was a busy time away from home visiting the Kalamitsi Arts Group presentation of 'Sandcastles' by Bob Larbey produced by the Toneel Theatre Company and featuring our long time pal, Nigel from Gravesend, in his role as William Patterson. We had our friend Beverley with us and had booked a night in Vamos at our favourite little cottage “Jasmine”. Locals in the village of Vamos had been distressed to see so many tumbledown houses and had fixed up a few in the traditional Cretan way to let out to tourists. We picked up the keys from the charming crew at the picturesque Vamos Tourist Office which has a bougainvillea canopy around the door and sleepy cats on the front steps. K shamelessly chatted up his friend Klio from last year and managed to secure a bargain deal and, remembering our stay of last year, I took a couple of mosquito machines with us and packed a few breakfast essentials!

Stage Set for Sandcastles

The play was close to our hearts because we are long-term enthusiasts of Beach Huts and the play was about the adventures and misadventures of the occupants of three beach huts on the South Coast. Nigel was a bit of a star, in spite of his stage costume of woolly socks and sandals and a thick jumper in red-hot temperatures; the after play party at Vamos's best restaurant was also great fun, but I was put out to discover that I had arrived back home the next day having left a full pot of home-made marmalade behind in Jasmine Cottage's little fridge. After all the massive marmalade production of last year, I am also shocked to find only ONE JAR LEFT … Bother!

"Back Stage"

We had been following the fortunes of British weather via the Internet News and were puzzled to hear about such cold temperatures and heavy rain in the UK. The spectacle of the River Pageant to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee had been so well organised , but we were sad that the weather had not been kinder for such a big day. I kept wishing the Queen could go inside, sit down for an hour or so and have a nice cup of tea. Meanwhile in Crete, the temperatures have crept up and up so that it is now 38-40 C and a bit steamy at night. We are trying not to use the air-con too much but it so good to have a 10 minute blast now and then. K had his first proper swim today, not counting the ducking from the pedalo, and the water was silky smooth and nearly warm! Mount Psiloritis has lost all but a few scrapings of snow while the atmosphere is hazy and hot, hot, hot.

Lunch at the Ocean Office closely monitored by the Pirates

Bev had been to Greece before but never to Crete. She arrived with a suitcase full of goodies (including thermal underwear!) and seemed to enjoy her week and the opportunity to unwind in the sun. We introduced her to our favourite beaches and worked down through a succession of sun protection factor tanning lotions as the week progressed. We visited Anna's newly renovated house in Filaki and lunched out with a lot of our chums under the trees before some of our number had to return to the UK. 

Lunch under the Mulberry Trees at the Bear Sanctuary Garden

We managed to show Beverley a bit of Rethymnon whilst I was on a brief trip to the Dentist for more root canal treatment and I stood my ground at the Dentist who insisted that the treatment was painless and I would not need an injection whilst I said that I wanted one anyway unless he wanted me to screech loud enough to bring the surgery down and frighten everyone in the waiting room! The Pirate Ship seemed to be keeping an eye on Bev as it appeared twice in Rethymnon on Friday and again in Panormo on Monday but we managed to keep her safe from their clutches!

Georgoupoulis

After Bev's return to the UK on Tuesday and a week full of driving, K's eyes were on stalks. I decided it was time to have a bit of a sort out of the dusty bedroom cupboards and I had just said to K that we needed to dispose of the large old TV which had been encroaching on storage space for AGES! We were wondering whether we could just dump it by the village rubbish skip or would have to take it somewhere in particular. After a dusty half hour, we made off for a welcome cooler in the sea. I even had time to do some Greek language study today. At Chapter 5, I have reached the startling progress of being able to introduce myself, say where I live and say that I have a husband and three children. Pathetic really after all this time, but I do understand much more of people's conversations.

Relaxing later after an innovative supper whistled up from eggs (gift from Kostas a the shop), grated courgette (gift from Kostas at the cafeneon), onion, carrot, herbs, potatoes – which magically seemed to end up as a frittata, I was just having a quiet coffee on the terrace while K was chatting with the village chaps on a nearby doorstep. Five minutes later, all by co-incidence, he returned with a bag of oranges (from the cafeneon) and a request from newly retired bodyguard Kostas (one of three neighbours all called Kostas) that his TV had blown up and he would be very grateful for our old steam driven one! Yay! It is great to see the benefits of recycling close-up and I have nearly enough oranges to make another supply of Skepasti marmalade.