BUGS AND BEETLES

 On Friday, about thirty of us gathered in a central meeting hall in Rethymnon to discuss free Greek lessons. Hoorah! After making enquiries and asking about for the last couple of years, we have stumbled upon Operation Odysseus. A joint initiative between the Greek Government and the EU to provide free language tuition for 'immigrants'. (That word stopped us in our tracks a bit, I can tell you) but we had heard that this had been available several years ago, and had assumed that lack of funding had stopped all these niceties! The teaching involves a high level of commitment – meeting twice per week for 3 hours for a few months and taking a little exam at the end of it. All, we retired folk from the CIC looked sober as we decided whether we would be able to last the course. The most important question to get right was the “Where” - so that as many as possible were able to get to the school appointed by car or bus, as necessary. However, this is progress of a sort and I am hoping to have reasonable conversations with our inquisitive neighbours in the village soon instead of the current games of charades!

K has been unwell for a few days. We are not sure whether he has caught a bug, (lurking perhaps in the hot, dusty winds from Africa, which has been known) so I am minded to take him to the Health Centre with his IKA book for an MOT. In fact, we could both do with a good check up, so this will be our next Herculean task to accomplish.

Ian with his spray bottle and mask

Or, it could be the effects of the wood preservative that we have been using to treat the huge tree trunk like beams of our upstairs loft and floorboards. Our mate Ian, arrived brandishing gloves, masks, spray bottle together with vim and vigour to get all the beams and ceiling done. I rollered one third of the floor and although the finish was not as transparent as I had hoped, it did the wide boards quickly and easily. We have all but used up one large can and need another to complete the job, but it will be a relief when the task is complete and we can get everything sorted out again. The down side is that the smell is so strong that we think we will have to finish treating the wood – go away for a day or two – and come back to do the final sorting out of furniture, rugs and disposal of rubbish. An assorted collection of “old boys” from K's school are arriving in June for a reunion, so time is definitely not on our side and we both hope to be feeling much better before then. We will need to be de-bugged, one way or another.

Time for a coffee break - check out the size of these oranges!

Cheerful sounds are reaching us from the street as neighbours shout “Chronia Polla” (many years) which means that it is somebody's name day today. Name Days after the saints of the Orthodox Church are a greater celebration than birthdays here. I have put together a brief list out of interest because it is always good to have an excuse to celebrate something:

Jan 7 – Janna (Jane, Janet?)

April 15 – Leonidas

April 24 – Elizabeth

May 9 – Chris

June 29 – Peter

August 30 – Alexandros

Sept 17 – Sophia

Oct 18 – Luke

Nov 25 – Katerina

Dec 2 – Merope

Dec 6 – Nicholas

Dec 9 – Anna

Dec 26 – Emmanuel, Emma

Dec 27 - Stephanos

30 June 2013 is the commemoration of All Saints Day here when all other names are celebrated! Lets hope that we are feeling much better before then.