THE WRONG SORT OF CRACKERS

Greetings from chilled and wintry Crete. It had to happen eventually and the rains which had evaded us all year arrived a few days before Christmas with a vengeance along with violent crashes of thunder and lightning turning to sleet and snow over the past 48 hours! Fortunately, we had all our winter stores in and a good supply of logs, so we were as well prepared as possible. The biggest problem from our point of view is the power supply which cuts out very frequently during cold weather and needs someone to go out to the electricity meter and push a small red button to switch it all back on again. Through some antiquated rearrangement of our house and the one next door, our meter is on our wall which borders their garden, so we need to get into next door's garden to access the red button. Since that house has been empty, the gate has been locked shut, so we need to release the lower bolt and … sort of … break in two or three times a week, usually in driving rain. This is all highly inconvenient, so we made enquiries to get the meter moved. The electrician would charge us 100-200 euros for doing the work; the electricity company would charge us 500 euros for connecting it all back up again and doing next to no work. Such are the ways of living here and we are used to it. I could get into the whys and wherefores of getting a house that was legal five years ago, legalised due to a change in the law of property in the meantime, but it is all too expensive and depressing at the moment and Greece is too much in debt to worry about insignificant details like the passing of retrospective laws.

We had tried to think of something new to do over Christmas and, as previous Christmases had been reasonably warm and sunny, a short trip to the South of Crete seemed like an adventurous plan. We booked an apartment and tried to contact various tavernas in advance of our trip to see if we could book a table for our Christmas lunch and got no reply (which should have warned us) but the lady renting out the villas said that there would be a few places open. Short answer, there were not. Not on Christmas day, which would be spent with families (who can blame them?) The apartments we had booked were very nice, the owner turned up with a small Christmas tree for each of us on arrival and was very sweet. We had all sorts of bother trying to get the door locks to work and, as the weather closed in, we sat rather grimly in front of a radiant fire watching Greek TV, wondering what we were doing there. By some fluke of second sight, I had taken a scratch meal with us in foil containers which we put in the landlady's oven and cooked for 45 minutes after a bowl of mushroom soup and by some miracle it turned out OK. We had bubbles, we had loads to eat and mince pies to follow. It was OK but not really Christmas as we know it, although the discussion over crackers caused a bit of hilarity. We had crackers, but not the exploding kind.

Boxing Day was a bit brighter and we set off to the Youth Hostel in Plakias.  This has the accolade of being the best in Europe … and I can see why. It is in a lovely spot in amongst ancient olive trees which look like characters from “Lord of the Rings”. We were amused to see one of the notices attached to a tree which said “Please do not smoke in the hammocks!” (obviously put away for the winter as all we could see were olive trees.) The Plakias Lending Library were having a Boxing Day Party at the Youth Hostel and we met up with a goodly number of ex-pats who were in the mood for celebrating. Loads of buffet food and glasses of wine later, and armed with our raffle prize, we enjoyed our morning and scouted around to see one or two places open. Our saving grace was the Bakery Cafe on the corner with wonderful views of the snow covered mountains on one side and the sea at the other fringed with Tamarisk trees bent double in the cold winds. The kindly Baker opened every morning and we shared space with the elderly gents, all well wrapped in scarves and coats, who turned up early each day to drink their little “elleniko” coffees and yarn away for an hour or two. A large farm 4x4 truck pulled up to give one of the fellows a lift home and after a quick discussion, the Baker went out with a plastic bag and gathered armfuls of mandarins from the back of the truck to fill the bag. Returning to the cafe he put one orange in front of each person sitting. It made my Christmas because the fruit was straight from the tree smelling and tasting gorgeous. The Cretan version of a Christmas stocking!

Christmas goodies arrived in time for the New Year!

As there was a fine weather window on 27^th Jan, we decided to head for home early. All the forecasts were for the temperatures to go very low and for lots of snow, so we thanked and paid the lady, packed up our Christmas stuff and left earlyish to get home just after lunchtime. We were so glad we did this because back at home, the early thunderstorms had tripped the main fuse box in the house and as soon as we turned everything back on, there was an ominous bleeping from the freezer!

However, all was not lost as everything defrosted was lovely and cool and has been cooked between Christmas and New Year.    2017 will begin with a fresh start. 

Chronia Polla … Happy New Year to you all.

YEAR END

Just last week we were puttering along through the olive groves in the sunshine weaving around large 4x4 trucks parked on either side of the road where the terraces of olives grow right down to the road-side. Indeed, this is a new road cut through prime olive growing land, so we are travelling through the thick of Milopotamos Olives. The open backed trucks sported all the trappings of the olive picking season: plastic crates, frayed baskets, big black nets, sacks and barrels, generators and long sticky whizzing things stacked in the corner along with trident like forks for hooking the leaves and branches and disgorging the olives. To be honest, the weather had been so dry that the olive crop looked to be very small this year, but everyone was out while the weather was fine to gather in what there was. Up until 30 November, we were surprised each day that the weather was blissfully sunny and fine. 

 Not until the last day of November did things change. The winter storm clouds gathered and the rains came with a vengeance with crashes of thunder and lightning flashes to cut out all the electrics momentarily before cutting back in again. It does havoc with the internet and anything happening on the laptop! However, we are masters at quickly unplugging everything we can reach because we have heard of households who have lost every piece of electrical equipment after a lightning strike! Scary!

Sleep is always very disturbed while the deluge is on. Water spouts from the flat roofs cascade into the alley ways below and pipes gush rivers of water down the hill. It’s a jumbo version of Japanese water torture. Driving the car, even on the National Road is a bit of an adventure with large lakes and rivers plunging down from the escarpments, washing rocks, mud and other slippery debris across the road. Usually police cars patrol up and down to slow the traffic to a reasonable speed but there are still lots of mad drivers going way too fast. Using a slower moving car as a pilot is a good way to deal with the conditions. In this way, you get a preview where rivers and plumes of water are likely to cause problems before you reach them. The rain has cooled the temperatures down rapidly and the mountains have disappeared between their grey cloud blanket for a goodly while. Boo Winter!

Cold weather means lighting the fire and doing stay-at-home things. Making Christmas cards and putting a new sewing machine through its paces. We have been doing a lot of home cooking and baking and have been busy round the house to keep the circulation going. It is amazing how quickly we turn from sandal weather to double socks and crocks attire!

Since many of our number are returning to Blighty for the Christmas season, many groups will organise early Christmas parties to catch people before they fly home. Therefore next week will be Christmas Party Fest with something happening nearly every day! I am soundly ignoring 2^nd December which is supposed to be my “Name Day” in Greece, because it is much too close to the festive season to get attached to.

Each time K visits the little kafeneon … nearly next door, he arrives home with a pocketful of oranges or mandarins. These are a free gift from Kostas, who must have orange trees somewhere, although we have never really found out where his trees and “zoa” (animals) live. We had a great afternoon last week pollarding the tree outside the house and, as Tassos (who is painting the house next door before his family move in) had borrowed our step ladder, we needed help from other people. Niko the Wood backed his ancient 4x4 Toyota (30 years old but still going strong) directly under the tree and started sawing bits of branches off. Then Tassos appeared with the step ladder and climbed further up the tree to do a bit of lopping under Niko’s loud, shouted instructions while we picked up the twigs as they rained down on our heads. Our friend Steph and I stripped all the leaves from the branches and put them in buckets for Angeliki’s goats. Finally, all the wood and sawdust was swept up and thrown in the back of the truck to be taken to the garbage bins at the edge of the village. It was great to have got that job out of the way and not have loads of dead leaves to sweep up every morning. By next Spring, the tree will have grown back as strong as ever and will make a handy umbrella of shade outside the gate.

Local produce!

This morning is the first time I have woken up to a cold start and realise that the woolly hat and bedsocks need to be sorted out. We are so glad for a good supply of logs this year and our trusty log burner. Kalomina! Keep warm in December!