Humble apologies for the long gap in posting anything on my blog; this was due to a spell in hospital, grappling with a draconian diet imposed by Greek doctors until I have an operation at the beginning of October. As this date was later than I had hoped, I realised that my Easyjet flights would have been completely unusable and I made a quick trip to the UK to catch up with our new home in Staffordshire. Whilst there, it was almost impossible to do a blog on my Kindle, so now I have reclaimed the laptop from matches of the Rugby World Cup to do a blog. I have had to grapple with constant Internet interruptions, power cuts and a new Google Chrome format which seemed to have lost all our settings and bookmarks. It has taken a whole evening to reclaim my Blogger account, change passwords and shout at help pages which insist on coming up in Greek. No help at all!!
Enough moaning, but while we are on the subject, Blogger also wants me to cooperate with European law and publish something about using cookies on my blog page. I have never knowingly introduced even the smallest biscuit crumb to my jottings, but there are obviously secret things happening in all our computers. Other than raisin and oatmeal 'cookies', I have absolutely no idea what these are - but you have to be warned that somehow the computer will be using them and it will count against me and make me an illegal, bad person if I don't tell you about this - what ever it is! I do not advertise anything from my blog, or sell anything, or earn anything, but anyway, please beware of storing COOKIES. Here is the official warning from the blog site:
When using Google products that incorporate this policy, certain disclosures must be given to and consents obtained from end users in the European Union where EU data protection law requires such disclosures and consents.
For end users in the European Union:
- You must use commercially reasonable efforts to disclose clearly, and obtain consent to, any data collection, sharing and usage that takes place on any site, app, email publication or other property as a consequence of your use of Google products; and
- You must use commercially reasonable efforts to ensure that an end user is provided with clear and comprehensive information about, and consents to, the storing and accessing of cookies or other information on the end user’s device where such activity occurs in connection with a product to which this policy applies.
Swiftly moving on, I will try to get to grips with the news.
Crazy Croziers were in evidence recently. Darling daughter Kate booked flights, abandoned her husband and two small boys to jump on a plane from New Zealand and come to stay with us for a week. She wanted to come and help look after me, but we tried to say this was a long way to come for 7 days! Anyway, she was a star; cooked up a storm and filled the freezer with small pots of food which will be ideal when I am in hospital, so we had a wonderful week showing her all the sights of hereabouts and she realised why we like Crete so much. We swam and sunbathed in Panormo and Bali. Browsed round all the potteries in Margaritas, shopped in Rethymnon and paddled at Camping Elizabeth. We realise that we have to put a plan in place to get all the grandchildren here at some stage in the future!!! Anyway we had a fabulous week with Kate and she would have enjoyed it more if her 4 year old hadn't kept asking on Skype "why she have leaved him for 20 years!"
Just before I left for the new home in the UK, Kimon got himself a small quad bike. This was the best option for getting about the village and giving him a little bit of freedom because he was getting lots of exercise each day walking with crutches, but needed to spread his wings a bit every so often. Now he can pay a bill at the Post Office or, even one day, he ventured into Perama to keep an appointment and got there and back safely. A mobility scooter would be no good whatsoever on these roads and tracks, so I live in trepidation that he keeps his helmet on and his speed down. Pictures to follow in a later blog.
The weather in the UK was mixed. I got to Stone and Stafford to shop and sort out banking. The house is very nice and solid but needs a bit more storage because there are still bags and boxes that can't be accommodated until the loft is boarded and the shed is replaced. So Leo and I set about looking around and getting things started. I was there for the production of A Midsummer Night's Dream (fantastic) by the Stone Revellers and met up with a lot of his friends from the group - a number of whom had visited us in Crete earlier in the summer. Staffordshire looked at its best with long vistas of farmland and woods - very green compared with here and with the Autumn colours just beginning to make themselves known. It was lovely to be able to do so much walking and I really enjoyed my time on a new home patch. It was a great opportunity to get lots of things sorted and I was glad to get back to some coolth after baking in the sun here with temps in the high 30s-40s at the beginning of September.
After a long delay at Manchester Airport, we arrived here near to midnight on Monday night - just in time to celebrate our wedding anniversary on Tuesday. The weather had been stormy and the terraces were full of debris from strong winds and rain, but the temperatures were blessedly cooler and sleeping was comfortable again. Our lovely friends Roy and Jan met me from Heraklion and had baked us a brilliant cake -Jan is so talented- so we are debating whether to wrap it carefully and keep until Christmas, when I can eat normally again and lots of people can enjoy it.
There were more elections on Sunday for a government mandate and the existing leader won. This will help cement the difficult deal which the EU forced on Greece. Our pensioner friends seem to get a few euros less every month and they must feel vulnerable. We hope that all the EEC commissioners realise that these good souls did not borrow any money, but are having to suffer as a consequence of previous governments. Young people here these days seem to be very aware that things had been dishonest in the past and they push for much more transparency and integrity in high office.
Panormo was lovely today. The crowds of the high summer have gone home and there are plenty of older tourists but it seems quieter and more peaceful. It won't be long before we can park outside the supermarket again! Tomorrow, we have to get the roof paint for the annual Autumn waterproofing and outside paint which can be started now the weather has cooled down. Fortunately, we have found a youngish man in the village who is willing to do the job for us. I am still looking for some cleaning help after I come out of hospital as the lady we hoped might be interested cannot since she is working 7 days a week - poor thing! We'll keep looking.
The blog may be a little interrupted over the next few weeks, but I will be back to normal (whatever that is) as soon as possible.
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