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.