HAPPY NEW WELLINGTONS

Xronia Polla or Happy New Year from Crete. The festive period has been a little affected by strong winds, heavy rains, the usual leaks in various parts of various houses, and most of us stay at home indoors unless we HAVE to go out. The clouds parted for two days over the weekend so that we could take stunning photos of the mountains covered in snow and note that the white stuff was travelling down hill and coming towards us across the lower slopes! K and I were lucky that our neighbour Niko The Wood, or to quote one of our grandsons ...”Just in the Nick of Time” delivered a truck load of wood to replenish the wood pile. This was a big relief as the temperatures are forecast to plummet in the next few days. We cannot believe we have got through the log supply so quickly, even waiting until 5.00 pm every evening to light the stove, but it has gone in a short number of weeks and we are determined not to catch cold.

It is wonderful to be tucked away at home in a warm house. We skimmed through flooded roads to the CIC coffee morning today and it was truly soggy and filthy weatherwise, the torrential rain not giving up for a minute the entire day.  Thunder and lightning have been crashing about overhead all night long and knocking out the electricity and internet at regular intervals. Nobody can quite believe the winter rainfall in Crete unless they have been through it for themselves. I have a large torch to hand in case of a total break down of power. K couldn't get his gum boots on without help, so got completely soaked going down to the shop for potatoes. Damp cold is a bit miserable and I plan to bank up the log burner before bed so that it keeps the house warm for as long as possible. The fireplace is full of a very unbecoming collection of hats, socks and boots drying out.

Tomorrow is Epiphany. Apparently, the Bishop of Rethymnon will say prayers to bless the waters at the harbour tomorrow and throw a large cross into the sea for young men to retrieve. I hope that there are lots of hot blankets ready for those taking part. It sounds interesting, but unless the weather improves, I think we will have to give it a miss. There are also rumours that they will celebrate the festival up at the new reservoir near Amari; having no fear of the crocodile "Sifis" which seems have been abandoned there back in the summer and caused quite a stir in the news. There have been a number of unsuccessful attempts to catch it and lots of video footage which looks similar to the blurred images of the Loch Ness monster.  Anyone diving for crosses in cold water with even a suggestion of a crocodile deserves a medal!

We had good news of our friends Tony and Gianna. Tony is still in hospital but off the ventilator and recovering slowly. His experiences were so similar to K, that we know just how things are panning out, but he is in Rethymnon Hospital, not Heraklion, which seems much smaller and friendlier. Tony is getting good medical and nursing care, so there are less issues to cope with. We saw Gianna at the coffee morning and she looked very much happier.  We were all glad to hear that Tony had turned a corner. It will be a long road to recovery after such a long time in ICU and we are just praying that he will be protected from hospital bugs and gets home soon.  Christmas and New Year have been and gone without their noticing, so 2015 must get better for them.

It is now the morning of the 6^th and we woke up to find water all over the kitchen floor; we wanted to discover if it came from above or below the house, but the lighting was so dim, we could not see anything. Electricity seems to be on half power and nothing works properly except, miraculously, the internet. The microwave was almost comical in its pathetic attempt to get started and sounded like an exhausted gnat. Out with the camping gaz, extra duvets and thermals and on with the log burner! Hibernation seems the best option.