HIBERNATION

The weather had been so lovely and the sun so hot on our trip to Margarites that I asked K to check the back of my head the next day because it felt as if I had got sunburn. After a couple of days this was covered with a rash and our Doctor took one look and said “Shingles”. Fortunately, he was able to prescribe a good anti-viral medication to lessen the effects and I have spent the time since hunkered down at home. The weather became very wet, and the rain on the mountains and nearer foothills has turned to snow = definitely log burner weather. Over all this lies a thick grey shawl of misty cloud which makes everything feel horridly damp and cold to the bones. I have barely put my nose out of doors and unearthed all the thermals.  Locals on the other hand were grateful that their olive trees were getting a really good soaking.

In the village the kafeneons are busy – which is largely due to their efficient heating! At the nearest kafeneon – Kostas and Angeliki's – their small portable log burner, alarmingly with the trade name of 'Napalm 78' has been set up for the winter. They arrange a sheet of metal on the floor, the stove on top (which frequently supports a large saucepan of meaty stew), and a chimney which is attached to the stove, spreading across the room and out of a hole made in the wall.. This seems a bit ad hoc, but gives off a wonderful heat. (UK Planning Authorities would have a fit!). Angeliki strolls over every so often and pulls the small metal ring from the top of the stove with a handle, drops some olive sticks into the aperture and shuts it off again with nonchalant skill. The heat from the efficient little burner is amazing. On days when the kindling is a bit green, the black smoke from the chimney causes a fog which makes you gasp for breath outside the house, but the system works very well on the whole. As the warm weather arrives, the little stove is stowed away again for the summer months when the hole in the wall is plugged with a branch of Rosemary bush.

K likes to get out of the house a bit and pays a visit there every evening at about tea time to have a chat and warm his hands. He never gets home without his pockets being stuffed with oranges and mandarins from their fruit trees or a bag of freshly laid eggs. On my one egg per week diet, this is a little problematic and we can't get through either the eggs or the oranges by ourselves, so we make sure they go to good owners.

At the bigger kafeneon run by Apostoli and Christina, a lot of changes have happened. In the Autumn, the place had a makeover with a new kitchen, toilets and the addition of tables and chairs for simple meals at the back of the building. A new local dance move has developed: the toilets now have up-to-the-minute lighting systems which turn on automatically when you enter and theoretically turn off when you leave. The dance begins when you first wonder who switched the lights off and then realise that you have to somehow activate the motion sensor.  The unsuspecting are frequently left in the dark clapping, swaying and waving their hands about madly and, as a dance, it is much more difficult than Zorba's!

Swiftly moving on ... the biggest impact has been made by a huge cinema screen used for watching football matches on Friday and Saturday evenings. On these nights, the atmosphere gets very noisy and Christina is very busy producing souvlakis for the boisterous soccer fans. In the meantime, an even louder card game is a nightly fixture at the front of the cafe and a lot of shouting accompanies this. We have to remember that this is never a quiet night out, but the customers are a hospitable lot and we frequently go to pay for our drinks, only to find that they have already been covered!

K's quad bike (= “mobility scooter with attitude”) needed to go for mechanical service and because parts needed to come from Athens, he was confined to barracks for 10 days or so. However, it has come back in a much more reliable state - although in wet weather, his movements are still a bit limited and getting into and out of waterproofs takes ages.

Days at home have been confined to spending time reading, knitting and summoning up energy to complete a crocheted blanket. I have been making thick soups, with all the wonderful vegetables available, to keep us warm and satisfied – even a sort of haggis on Burns Night. Filmon gives us a good choice of programmes on TV. Sadly, the two hour difference means that the UK programmes we like start too late at night to keep awake for! I have also to revise for my Greek lessons because there is a test on Friday – eek!

All our letters and parcels from abroad arrived eventually in one fell swoop. This was great and we have enjoyed all the Christmas goodies, albeit in mid-January.  Not great timing for Christmas lights or music but they are early for next year!   We are so grateful to have the ability to use Amazon which delivers quite a number of goods and foodstuffs, such as Marmite, teabags or oatcakes to Crete. The post in December is hopeless and don't get me started on our internet service which cuts out about 20 times each day. However, Kindle keeps us in books  and Amazon can deliver a surprising range of things to make life easier, so long as we don't order at the end of the year.

This is a bit of a dull blog, but I hope it will be more exciting next month because (in fear and trepidation as well as three re-connections to the internet) I have booked flights for New Zealand! Yippee! Oh, and I have just looked outside the door to see the first sunshine in two weeks. Great!