Well, we are still here
and have survived the first round of the Coronavirus lockdown.
Greece fared better than many other countries. It has close links
with Italy and the first emergency alarming news footage from there
sent the Greek public health system into full operational mode. Text
messages were sent to all Greek mobile phones. The Prime Minister
and the Public Health expert appeared each night on TV and quietly
told everyone what to do, what the news was each day and what the
authorities planned to do about it. We were very quickly told to
remain at home and not go out unless it was absolutely necessary and
adverts by medics in full PPE said “Thank you for helping us by
staying at home”. For the emergency period, we were not allowed
out of the house without a written document stating our reason for
being out or the reply from an SMS message giving permission for the
reason for being out. Nobody could exit for anything but a short
distance from their home. Let's hope we can keep things under
control as life opens up again because there is an entire island population here with no immunity at all. We are just trusting in the first class healthy Cretan diet to keep us going!
Daily life took on a
completely different rhythm and our experience can't be much
different from many others. We do not have a garden, but we do have a
front porch with a patch of shrubs and a big roof terrace over the
kitchen which has a nice panoramic view over Mount Psiloritis. So we
were able to get fresh air and take exercise without too much bother,
although movement for Mr Crozier was very limited with only the front
porch at ground level. However, the weather for the first few weeks
was very cloudy and a bit miserable so even getting out onto the
terrace was hit and miss. I tried a few Tai Chi exercises, looked
for on line yoga and exercise type videos on line to keep at it, but
enthusiasm waned a bit after a week or two. Gareth Malone's Great
British Home Chorus met on line every tea time for a daily choir
practice which was great for about 6-7 weeks. I think daily got a
bit much for him and I was finding it getting quite a tie, but he has
wisely cut it back to once a week now and we have seen and heard a
few snippets of our sound and video clips spliced together. It will
be lovely to see and hear a whole song and feel like a huge choir!
We were recommended a
very good Greek language programme which prompts Mrs Crozier to do
two grammar exercises every day and nags her if she takes Sunday off,
but I think (after all this time) that the Greek has improved
marginally. Shame that there are so few people to practise on!
There was a very impressive daily timetable posted on the kitchen
cupboard door. It lasted about ten days but I did keep the weekly
shopping and disinfecting routine going to keep any unnecessary bugs
outside the front door together with the daily kitchen and bathroom
scrub down each night before turning in. We found using old
fashioned green soap very satisfying and therapeutic for making as
much bubbly foam round the surfaces as possible, leaving it for a few minutes before wiping everything down and then rubbing all
the touch points with Dettol spray! Sundown at the worst of the lock
down could be a very depressing time of day, so we lit a big candle
each night at dusk by way of prayer for friends and family and the
world at large. We also found marmalade sandwiches helped. For a while, I got very worried about Mr C, who was
very sleepy and had no appetite at all for days at a time, but he
seemed to perk up a bit once we could go out and about again. After
all this grief, we can only hope that some good comes out of a world
pandemic.
So, Spring sprung while
we were all shut away. The birds seemed much noisier and
argumentative than usual. Craft work came out of the cupboards and
we persevered with any materials, fabrics or yarns we had at home
already when the shops were not available. There was minimal post …
so nothing from Amazon. However, we took apple pips and pepper seeds
and tried to plant them. The apples didn't take but the peppers are
quite decent plants now. The small olive tree from last year is
growing fast and has a few smallish olives for this year's crop.
I have the pots and compost from the garden centre to do a re-potting
transfer when I am brave enough. The good news is that our internet worked really well and
provided both TV and reliable papers to read and messages from
friends without any problems along with Zoom meetings for church services and family parties.
The weather is hot now
and we took our unfit and rather overweight selves down to the sea
for a lovely swim in Panormo. With the beach nearly to myself and
the choice of any beach bed, but no running water for my sandy feet I
jumped in the sea for welcome exercise. There were only a few locals
there … no tourists yet. We do hope some will come to keep the
local businesses going for next winter but, for ourselves, we will
probably stay out of the way a bit during peak season! So many
people with this sneaky virus seem to slip through the net without
ever knowing that they have it.
Take good care wherever
you are!
Summer greetings from
Crete
