INVASIONS ….

Yassus from the blistering heat of Crete. The clouds seem to have disappeared from the mountain ranges and the snow on the peaks is getting quite sparse now. After such a winter and spring though, there is much more lush green than usual and the roadsides still have a few bunches of coloured wild flowers until the heat finishes them off and it is all burnt ochre and dried grass again.

The Croziers have been out and about, partied a bit, explored the weekly new fish and chips option available on Wednesdays in Panormo set up by a local taverna who had to move and wanted to encourage business at his new venue.

We have met lots of people at Vinzi's Cafe up on the battlement clifftop in Panormo. Loads of tourists, ex pats (why so many from Yorkshire, we ask?) relatives and friends visiting from home and soaking up the sun for their short week and wondering whether they could find a way to stay for longer! It is great to catch up and practice our dodgy Greek but our memories do not retain new words for long. Fortunately discussion of the weather and the state of the roads seems to be sufficient for day to day purposes!

The village school broke up for the summer last Friday night and had a big concert, barbecue and prize giving in the village square. K went for a while to listen to the music and have a chat with people but I stayed in the cool at home, out of the range of mosquitoes! It seemed to be a jolly party and nice that all the village is involved. Schools broken up means much more sound of children's voices round and about and strings of youngsters lining up to jump off the end of the harbour wall in Panormo. I like it - and all the children are personable, polite and look after one another, whatever age they are. It is so good to see. Even the youngest of the school kids want to practice their English and (giggling to each other) say 'Hello' and 'Goodbye'.

On Saturday, our dear friend Angeliki from the Kafeneon turned up at the door really early and presented us with eight lovely eggs. Wonderful. I decided to make some Oaty Raisin Cookies to say “thank you”. So I put the new kitchen and various gadgets to use and whipped up some cookie dough. As soon as they were golden brown and cooled enough, I took her a plate round. After two minutes she returned with two more boiled eggs! I really cannot get used to the fact that Angeliki and Kostas do not like to be thanked for anything! Anyway, I tried.

“Afta ta cookies enai yia na po efharisto yia tis omorfes afga”

Two of us made the road trip to Church in Kefala on Sunday and, as we had a margin of extra time, took the old road from Rethymnon to Chania which takes in a few delightful villages and beautiful countryside. We emerged just at the turning for Georgopoli and continued from there arriving in good time for the service to begin. The journey there and back is a great chance to chat and catch up, so it was a good morning from all points of view.

Niko-the-Wood managed to get his tyre fixed at the garage in Perama after his wood delivery (see previous blog) and has been seen driving back and forth past the house with wood, tools and sheaves of bamboo. Eventually K pieced together the information he had been gathering and realised that Niko is building one of the roadside booths which spring up about this time every year. We often wonder why the villagers plant so many melons when they end up having to give them away, so this is a new innovation for him. Anyway, he needed to borrow our step ladder to finish the work on his new shop, so we will take a photo when we next drive past. We sampled this year's vintage of melon at a lovely party last Saturday both pink water melon and the yellow piponi variety which were fabulous – cool, sweet, juicy and irresistible.

The sea is now wonderful for swimming and indeed it is hard to get through the heat of each day without stopping for a dip at some point. Kimon has taken his first swim for two years. It took a bit of manoeuvring but we got to and from a beach chair without too much difficulty and had a nice quiet morning before the lunch crowd turned up and the beaches were jam packed when we made a smart getaway.

Nationally, Greece approaches yet another deadline for repaying of ECF loans. We cannot predict how all this is going to play out and it has all been going on for so long now. It's hardly surprising that markets have got the jitters and youngsters are disillusioned with no prospect of work. Pensions have been cut already, unemployment is very high. It seems that many young people are at home and extended families are reliant on pensions of the older generation to survive as there is no other income. Locals are concerned that foreigners think that they will not have the amenities they need for a good holiday and there will be no cash in the cash machines. There have been no problems of any kind for us so far and the businesses are all as good as ever and our hosts as warm and welcoming. Then on Friday we received a phone call from a friend who had been contacted to say that all Greek cash machines were being shut down from Friday and banks would close over the weekend and on Monday. We phoned all our friends in case they were short of cash. Shortly after this, we were contacted by the UK Overseas Pensions Office to check on our contact details. Immediately on the alert, I asked a few searching questions … what did he know that we didn't know? In the meantime we have seen photos of people withdrawing cash from machines after the deadline without any problems at all. We wonder where all this scaremongering is coming from. We hope it is not from the British Press approaching the not-much-happening-in-world-so-lets-make-it-up-silly-season. People in our village are not at all worried and Nikos' Melon Stall is full of fabulous home grown produce fresh from the fields. Everyone we meet is enjoying a wonderful holiday. No-one here wants to leave Europe or thinks that it will happen. Hoping that I am not recording "Famous Last Words", let us hope that there is some equitable way out of this confusion.