PERAMBULATIONS

Home-made Easter Chicks from Makers Sessions

The spring has been criss-crossed by lots of happenings and travel back and forth between Crete and the UK, so the blog has been a little quiet lately. Mrs Crozier swapped home nursing in Crete with Mr Crozier as patient and flew home to the UK where Gramps Crozier had just emerged from hospital for the third or fourth time after a nasty fall at home and large bump on the back of the head. True to form, our great ex-pat buddies in the CIC helped us out and kept K well looked after and amused while I did battle in UK with a very reluctant, feisty 93 year old at home who was clinging on to his independence with every fibre of his being. He looks much better; the rest of us are exhausted!

Meals out in Panormo

Surreal-ly, the weather in England was every bit as warm as Crete and, with the central heating going day and night (a luxury which we don't have in our little stone house here), I was MUCH TOO HOT! It was unbearable and I had to keep retreating into the garden to cool off. Lots of cooking, shopping, haircuts and wound dressings later, I arrived back in Crete just in time to celebrate our third Easter and looking forward to it immensely along with 48 hours sleep to recover from life in the UK. On a sober note, we spent our first Easter in Crete with UK friends who came to stay with us, enjoying the first few months of retirement and throwing a house warming party. By some quirk of fate, out of the five of us who spent the time together, two more are being tested and treated for varying forms of cancer in England and one guy had a serious problem and was rushed back into the hospital after a biopsy. I could really sympathise and know what everyone was going through. We could not believe that the one single lady and two couples were all dealing with these issues with such synchronization. Growing old isn't for sissies is it … or may be we should never have foraged/stolen those prickly pears?

Makers Cafe ... on a very wet day!

Easy-jet from Gatwick arranged their flight to take off at 7.25 a.m. Which meant arriving at 5.25 and getting up at silly o'clock. My system was creaking alarmingly at all the strange, greasy food items available at the airport and on board, but the plane arrived on time and a friendly taxi driver met me outside the arrivals exit. The flight had been wonderful and from my window seat I had been able to see the Alps, Venice, some Eastern European mountainous land (easily identifiable by the immense paving block arrangements of fields and growing areas in the valleys). Athens, Piraeus and Santorini floated below us in a haze of ethereal blue as we flew over but there were quite thick clouds over the mountains of Crete and though warm and bright, it was not as sunny as it had been in England. Despite all this, it was great to be home.

All the roadsides were carpeted with poppies, mimosa, broom, yellow clovery flowers and masses of bright fluorescent daisy type weeds. The swallows were busy and herds of sheep and goats were moving about the mountain paths as we travelled. I swapped conversation with our lovely taxi driver whose father had died after an operation in the previous year and I was able to sympathise having marked the anniversary of my dear Mum's death at the beginning of April. We talked about hospitals, village life and the journey back to the village went very quickly. We will certainly recommend that driver to our friends because it was a steady, comfortable drive with no dangerous overtaking on blind bends or fast speeds with a charming host. Wonderful.

Shop windows ready for Easter

The house was in good shape and coming back to it with new eyes, I realise that we definitely need to get the supplies of exterior paint and interior paint in stock for a spruce up. Once this has been done, we will think about replanting the terrace pots which suffered from neglect last year. There had been one of the archaeology talks and trips in my absence, which I was sorry to miss but it had been very popular and many more people are beginning to take an interest in Crete's ancient past.

We have to make our own Hot Cross Buns!!

The economic worries are still having a marked effect on Greek people though, so we ex-pats need to keep the situation in mind and the impetus going to help our communities as much we can.

More about Easter events after they have happened.

Keep Well and Kalo Pasca!