WHAT NEXT?

 

Life has been completely chaotic in recent weeks when the best laid plans had persisted in going completely awry. The weather perked up for a week or so and Spring sprung in all directions. The swifts and swallows arrived back dipping and skimming over streams and rivers. In Perama, the river looked horribly polluted but the swifts were happy enough fast flying and dipping their wings in the muddy waters. As I watched them, a much larger than average turtle swam between the big stones upstream. Sadly, there was lots of piles of rubbish to negotiate.

I was congratulating myself on finding a delightful farm track which led from our village to the next through the olive groves and had nearly got to the next village for a take away coffee, when I realised my car keys weren't in my bag or my pockets and I had to trot at fastest pace back the way I had come to track them down again. I had dropped them just by the back door of the car. It really spoiled what would have been such a lovely day out but it was great to have found the path at last.

The electricity has been very dodgy during high winds and storms and was misbehaving to such an extent that a back up battery combined with surge protection was needed. It did not save the life of the TV though and a new one was ordered by telephone and arrived the next day. However with a lot of jiggling and routing of wires, the two new boxes are up and running. An expensive month. New plants bought to celebrate Spring have to be stowed in safe corners to protect them from the very strong gusts of wind doing so much damage and covering everything in a thick red dusty blanket.

We had not received a phone bill since January which was unusual since they normally arrive every two months. I had checked each time I passed to see if they had arrived in the post but nothing. On Thursday, the phone and internet were cut off. Why the idiots say that you can contact them at a particular web link when they have cut off your internet beats me. This required a road trip to Perama and parting with even more money. The bill had to be settled the day after it had been sent and I did not get it until a week until the cut off date. Sharp practice abounds at the moment and I paid two bills at once to get back on top. I will see if someone can help me with the App to pay on line to prevent it happening again.

We have had to provide so many copy documents to sort out our identity crisis following Brexit. Our residence permits and driving licences were changed in 2018. All the effort in getting a Residence Permit meant nothing after 1^st January when every single one issued expired. We had to gather our wits, paperwork and best telephone greek to acquire a new biometric permit for dealing with any Greek public office even though they hadn't started printing them yet. It left us chasing our tails around Police Stations, banks, accountants, citizens advice bureaus, lawyers and on line guidance in a Catch 22 situation where no office would deal with you without a biometric permit when this is what you were trying to obtain. No sooner had we had our finger prints taken and tried to get a Greek passport photo that didnt make us look like hardened criminals collapsing with the stress of it all. From our lockdown homes we next were chasing our tails again to get the special code from the tax authorities in order to register for a Covid vaccination. My photocopy function on the home printer soon ran out of ink with all the copies of ID required and new ink cartridges were not readily available. So then we had to chase around copy shops and ink refill outlets to try and keep going. In the middle of a 5 month lockdown, running the Covid gauntlet to accomplish all this meant taking unnecessary risks. We are downhearted that German tourists are arriving for holidays when all of us are still in lock down and can't go out anywhere to have a cup of coffee. In spite of all these months of restricted life and social interaction, the infection rates are increasing all the time. Mainly because the indiginous population are meeting with families and friends on a regular basis, don't bother with masks (or half wear them leaving their noses hanging out) and seem oblivious to the consequences. It is so hard not to feel annoyed.

I jumped in the shower on Thursday to shampoo my hair. The water pressure seemed a bit low and as I progressed, it got thinner and thinner so I struggled to rinse foam away under a dribble of water. No sooner did I leap out of the shower than a phone call alerted me to a parcel awaiting me from Perama at the Couriers. The water supply was completely cut off by this point in time. My life is up one minute and down the next. Print cartridges (incompatible ones) had arrived and the Courier was waiting for me to collect them from the village square.

Yesterday a local lad dropped by unexpectedly with a huge bag of oranges, another bag of lemons and a bag of eggs. Lovely! The oranges are fabulous this year; so sweet and juicy but far too many for me to use. Abandoning my original plan to start painting the front porch, I got my preserving pan out of the cupboard and sighed over the prospect of the sticky job of marmalade making with nobody to pass a jar to. Inspiration came by a Facebook post featuring Lemon Curd Crumble slices, and marmalade was postponed while I made lemon curd instead. Google the recipe ... Yummy!

Thursday was the best day. An idle moment dusting the bookcase revealed an old school magazine from Kimon's sixth form days when we had first met. Finding the enclosed poem stopped me in my tracks and I haven't quite got over the loveliness of that moment in time - backwards and forwards.

It is good to get out of the house to escape from frustrating life admin, I have kept myself sane by taking some pretty walks amongst herbs and wild flowers every day the weather is good and the day is free from bureaucracy. I can't believe that I mostly have the entire track to myself, although yesterday my parking spot was outmanoeuvred by two horses tethered right next to the lay by! Walking the tracks seems the best ruse to escape from other people and get much needed exercise but we have to keep changing our plans at the last minute!   I have a nice collection of thyme, sage, dill and chamomile!  Keep well and sane!

CHAMOMILE WAY

 

The sun came out yesterday. That may seem like a bald statement, but Crete being a land of extremes, the winter weather had forced us to hunker down like little animals in hibernation and toast ourselves in front of olive wood fires while icy blasts from the North found gaps in the well ventilated - due to Covid - window panes. The winter has been particularly hard with all that Brexit has done to us and negotiating Accountant's offices, lawyer's offices, doctor's, chemist's and police stations for new third country identity cards and fingerprints has been horribly stressful, just at the time we would all rather be working from home. However, I have the card, I collected the tax number needed for the Covid vaccination process and I have managed to replace the tv which gave up the ghost and get a surge protector/back up battery box to protect my router and laptop each time the power goes off ... sometimes only for half a seond ... but the constant interruptions and thunderstorms are a real threat to all our electrics!

Niko the Wood was kind to me as I had run the woodpile down in the vague idea that winter was nearly over and after translating the sentence “how many barrows of wood can I get for 20 euros”, he dropped by on Sunday morning with a nice little woodpile ... enough for at least a week. So I may have some extra as the warm weather comes which will need to be bagged up and stowed away for a rainy day or next winter. Assuming that I am still here. My life is at a bit of a crossroads but I haven't come to any conclusions yet.

Greece has not come out of lockdown since the beginning of November last year – at least the obedient haven't but it seems that the rules have been flouted because the infection rate has gone up and up and for yours truly living alone since Mr Crozier passed on, it has been difficult. The Government have relented so that this weekend people can move a little further from home to go for a walk and there will be a provision for click and collect shopping from Monday. I think you can telephone and pay for something by card and just collect it at the doorway of the shop or something. There is nothing I need and it would be beyond me to work that one out, so I will stick to food shopping as per usual. And as all the seaside places and promenades will be heaving over the weekend, I will avoid those also. I have other outside places to go where I don't meet anyone at all and I am avoiding people for now until things get safer.

At 8.30 am on Monday morning the appointment for my Covid jab will happen at Perama Health Centre. I will be double masked and gloved and taking full precautions until a few weeks after my second jab on 26 April. I think it will be the Pfizer vaccine. What a relief that will be!

So life has been extremely lonely, but I have surprised myself by being as resourceful as possible and keeping busy. I can't wait for the time I can get to the garden centre and the weather is reliable enough to do some outside painting of the porch and garden walls, which are showing signs of wear and tear.

Everything was rejoicing yesterday with the arrival of lovely warm sunshine and clear blue skies. The garden sparrows were chirruping and building nests, the butterflies enjoying the heat and the spring flowers and patrols of snails were after all my new plants. The snails were all given flying lessons! At mid-day, as is my habit, I sent off my text message to request permission for a short walk near home, put my garbage bags in the car to dispose of on route and made for the Roumeli Highway .. our shorthand way to describe the new road which links our village with Roumeli. Just a short way along was a parking space, just near the track I wanted so I parked up and made my way down this lovely farm track towards Achlade. It was fabulous to be out. I dodged little streams and huge muddy puddles and noted patches of sage, dill and chamomile for a bit of a gathering on the way home. Hens were clucking, birds singing, bees humming amongst the yellowy clovery carpets of flowers under the olive trees. The views of the mountains which sported its fresh crop of glistening white snow were wonderful. After negotiating the length of the lovely track, I christened it “Chamomile Way”. There is another nearby called “Butterfly Valley” but in truth, these tracks are all so similar that it is very easy to get lost! The wild flowers along the verges were a feast for the eyes. Even more beautiful after so long incarcerated!

At the end of the track was the church in the trees. Always peaceful and completely deserted but someone had thoughtfully left a lone candle in the stand and a small lighter on the side table, so I lit the candle and said a few prayers before returning home. Twice, I took the wrong track and had to retrace my steps, but eventually found a familiar pile of rocks and memorable puddle. Once home, I found a vase for my bunch of herbs and wild flowers feeling that I had been released from prison at last! Yes, there is light at the end of the tunnel!

WHAT I'VE FOUND OUT SO FAR

 

Croziers blog has been a bit quiet. Well there has been quite a lot of processing going on.

Greece's second lockdown began about 10 days after Mr Pa Crozier passed away and life got much more than a bit solitary. The first thing Mrs Ma Crozier did on returning to the little stone house was to blitz the cleaning and haul the furniture around to make it seem like it wasn't the same place. A vain ambition but cupboards were turned out, things changed around, shelves cleaned, floors mopped and lots of energy expended on housework that had been neglected in the last weeks when palliative care had taken over our lives.

The little Anglican church barely had time to hold a few normal services before it was locked back down to Zoom services, but it was great that a weekly time with others in our solitary fox holes could link up and think about the bigger picture. In the corner of the workbench of the kitchen, a lovely framed photo taken by a friend in the village has found a permanent spot, together with a tall prayer candle (replaced every few days) and a little list of friends and family which got a bit longer as the time progressed. One of our British in Greece ladies sounded the alarm that her husband had got the virus and was in hospital, sedated, ventilated, she was terrified and, for a while unable to be with him for weeks. We grouped together to surround her with our love and support, I even had some background advice to message her with about recovery from induced comas and life in ICU. We have just heard that they are now through the worst, out of rehabilitation and allowed home. Such great news. Then Maria, the other half of Nigel who helped us so gallantly in K's last weeks, had an episode which meant she was in hospital with a brain haemorrhage and Nigel was not able to be with her. Many weeks later, after a flight to Athens and two operations there, she too is back home going through rehabilitation to move and get around again also. An English friend from our village has gone through the loss of his dog after a good long while. These bereavements seem harder in solitary. Messages from the UK and locally have made the little prayer list into quite a sizeable one, so quiet time for prayer has been a kind of healing in its way too. Even alone, we are not alone but I have a way to go yet.

I have spent a small fortune on candles and think I have cleared the stock from all the local supermarket shelves of tealights and large red prayer candles. When the Christmas tree came down, some of the twinkly lights were reorganised in other places to keep some light shining through the dark winter nights. My neighbours must think I am a bit deranged. Our virtual coffee morning on Messenger continues every Thursday, but it is getting more and more difficult to remember when Thursday is and many of us forget!

So. What to do, when your 'reason for being' over the previous seven years is no longer there to care for? Care for oneself, I suppose.

Mrs Ma Crozier is taking her multivits, making sure to cook one good, hot meal every day. Get the nastiest household chores done as early as possible. If the sun is out in the middle of the day, a lovely long walk, preferable within sight of the sea and a pocket sized sketch book on hand to try and splodge a nice vista or pretty landscape. Painting, jigsaws, and making memory bears has also been therapeutic whilst tv non-stop for background company. The entire series 1 – 9 of Cold Feet DVDs was great therapy. There was also a couple of on line art classes, but the choir on line was too hard to do as it was reminiscent of K hearing all the practices from bed every evening and the recordings being released too late for him to hear the finished product. I sent off for the EP but I can't bear to listen to it.

My one permitted daily outing for food shopping is a brief affair, but as supplies of lovely fresh fruit and veg are available everywhere, the outing is very speedy and washing of the goodies on return home in soapy, bleachy water is still going on. It would be sad to be like a fighter pilot shot down on the last day of the War. We will still need to be on our guard for a few months yet – even if we are lucky enough to get a vaccine jab. Without the option of a nice cafe or taverna for a rest stop, outings are a bit bleak on your own. 'Always winter and never Christmas' comes to mind, but fair's fair. The Greek government have gone all out to keep us safe. This is so reassuring. The chaotic manoeuvring in the UK less so.

Mr Crozier once said that I didn't realise all the little jobs he did around the house, but I do now! Even in his last winter he tried his best to keep the log burner going and I do have to do a tour of the house to ensure that everything is working OK or switched off. It was good to learn for sure that it is the immersion heater that plays up and knocks out all the electrics if there is too much on at once, so I have devised a morning routine to use it for an hour or two in the early morning while I make morning tea on the camping gas stove and wrap up in rugs or energetically sweep out the fireplace. So far, no blips. I now have to negotiate the novel situation of choosing four new tyres for the car and filling up the windscreen wiper bottle unaided. Thank heavens for Youtube. All the information is there!

We are assured of light at the end of the tunnel so stay safe and well. I look forward to huge hugs and a big family party at the end of all this. And a hair cut!

The Cretan Dream realised ...

The nights are drawing in and some lovely cool breezes are taming the heat of summer baking and the tree outside our porch is dropping buckets of leaves day by day.  Any that fall which are still green are saved for Angeliki’s goats who are short of green salad this time of year.  

Sadly, Mr C has had to sacrifice his ‘mobility scooter with attitude’ and sell his lovely yellow quad bike.  It was a bit heart wrenching for both of us but with a new electric power wheelchair arriving any time, the only sensible thing to do.  

So our friends Kostas and Angeliki at the kafeneons/hairdressers mentioned that someone was interested in buying it and made a reasonable offer, so reluctantly Kimon agreed to it.  In his heart of hearts, he kept thinking that he was going to get better but the prognosis for cancer is not a good one and with Parkinson’s in the mix too, driving any motor vehicle has now been ruled out of the question (boo hoo).

The prospective buyer came round with a fistful of euros and a sheet of paper to indicate sale and receipt.  He tried to start it up but the battery was flat after several weeks of disuse so I plugged in the charger.  He came the next day with a petrol can, a set of jump leads of his own and a can of WD 40 as the gear lever was stuck in reverse.  And after an hour or so of work, it fired up beautifully.  

So today, we had to do the formal transfer at KEP , the Citizens Advice Bureau of Greece.  KEP is a great place for getting things done!  The new owner, Manolis and I donned masks and waited for our turn.  Where was the sheet of paper saying that I had my husband’s permission to sell his property?  Deeerrr!  We had every sheet of paper but this.  The official printed out a paper to be countersigned and stamped by the village president (!).  So I rushed back from Perama to speak to our Mayor/President in our village.  His wife filled in all the details such as passport number and gave the paper a bright blue village stamp and I rushed back the several miles to KEP in Perama.  I had his permission!  Next I needed a document from my accountant to show that we had paid the relevant tax on the vehicle, even though all the road tax was current.

I was fortunate that the accountant was across the road and  I dropped in brandishing the wish list from KEP.  Ah yes, she produced the paper but reminded me that we hadn’t paid our tax this year!  Ok, handed over money to the Accountant and tucked away this year’s tax returns,  Meanwhile,  Manolis was at the Pan Cretan Bank handing over a 39 euro transfer fee.  I do hope he thinks the bike is worth it!  

We have been up to our eyes in nursing care.  Following a ghastly two days in hospital, Mr C is having trouble in getting round the house and this is not helped by three steps between the kitchen/bathroom and the rest of the ground floor.

A box arrived mid week and I thought it was his new wheelchair arriving in the nick of time.  I was hopping mad to open a box containing a mobility scooter with handle bars and three miniature wheels which would be lethal in Crete.  They had sent completely the wrong thing.  We waited many weeks for it and what a let down.  It was gut wrenching, especially as Mr C had to see the back of his yellow peril before a replacement got here.

In the meantime, we are doing our best to keep him moving around with a transfer wheelchair and Zimmer frame.  We have many stops, hesitations and wobbles during the day but he is improved from last week and has started to enjoy food again, even though it has to be the consistency of baby food and half an egg cup full.  Home made lemon barley seems easy to swallow, so Ma C has been busy trying to make tasty morsels to keep him going.

 

 Life is hard, but we have found willing help which has made life so much easier and not so lonely. 

I have fabulous friends here who seem to know how to offer the best help.  One friend comes once a week and helps with moving and lifting, especially if we need to go to doctors or offices.  One retired nurse calls twice a week to help with his personal care.  Others make soup or sit with him, while I can do a bit of shopping or get my hair cut. Others adjust and go out of their way to include me in their meetings by coming close to me in the village instead of Rethymno.  Others pick up shopping or items I can’t get hold of.  Another lockdown could well put a stop to all that, however!!    I am so grateful for such thoughtfulness and pass on these nice offers of help in case anyone you know is in the similar situation and you want to do something good.  Loneliness is a killer too!

* * *

PS  Very sadly, Pa Crozier died in Rethymno Hospital on 21 October.  The hospital were marvellous and tried to get his breathing going three times in three days, but it was clear that his time was up.  We are going through the motions of contacting people, doing all the administration, speaking to lawyers and accountants and organising a fitting farewell.  The lovely C of E Vicar came to Anna's house in Rethymno to give home communion and we said our prayers for Kimon and the family together.  A new granddaughter was born the day after his death and we have this to lift us.  I wondered whether the dream of the little stone house in Crete was at an end, but flicking through all the photos we have of the last 10 years, we can see that Kimon lived his life to the full and very nearly made three score years and ten!  We thank God for our good friends at times like this and that each photo we have shows him with a smile on his face.  

The electric power wheelchair ordered in August never did arrive.  It cost a fortune!  Covid is on the rise again.  Stay well, stay safe wherever you are xxx

OUT OF THE FRYING PAN

 

News from the Croziers has been a bit thin on the ground of late. While we were all locked down for all those months of the Spring, there was precious little to say about life at home – getting minimal exercise, shopping once per week, taking every step to protect ourselves from infection. Watching gargantuan amounts of telly. Singing with Gareth Malone. Now, although we know that the Greek economy depends so much on tourism, we have not felt overwhelmingly keen to bid welcome to holidaymakers who had the potential to start new spikes of infection in Greece and on small, hitherto safe little islands which had eluded problems so far. Sorry, we know you have probably been just as restricted and responsible as us, but please keep your distance!

Sadly, Pa Crozier went downhill during the lockdown. His appetite slumped, he missed his little sorties out and about and his mobility slowed down badly. Medical checks have brought the doubly unwelcome news that the prostate cancer has come out of hiding and that he also has Parkinson's Disease. In the UK, we would have a fair chance of a GP being able to direct us in the right specialists in the right order, but here in Greece where we consult all the specialisms separately, I began to wonder whether if the very expensive drug prescribed by the Urologist to reduce levels of PSA was reacting badly with all the other medication Mr C was taking already for other problems. I queried this with the Urologist who directed us to a Neurologist and we gamely set off to the dreaded hospital in Heraklion (which traumatised me in the past) for this scan with face masks, hand gel and certain level of trepidation. We are currently embroiled in a battle between competing “Ologists”.

Zoom Church

Our appointment was for 8.30 am, so we had to stay in a hotel overnight and get a taxi from there early the next morning. It took Mr C about 25 minutes to walk down a straight corridor to meet the other 20 people who all had an appointment at 8.30 am. There were 6 chairs. There was no Secretary on duty until 10.00 am. So we all stood there with pieces of paper in our hands looking at each other and wondering what the hell was going on! However this is so normal in Greek offices and hospitals that we stood and stood accepting the inevitable. Eventually somebody appeared and gathered sheets of paper. It seemed that everybody had to have an injection and wait for 3 hours before the scan could take place. They directed us to a small waiting room with chairs all round the edges and no windows. We took one look, thought 'No way', and found a door to the gravelly yard on the other side of the corridor where we found a rickety seat for two out in the fresh air. Instead of explaining to each of the patients that the procedure took about 25-35 minutes at the outset, they told each patient as they were called into the scanner room that they might need the loo prior to kick off, so each patient – mostly elderly – stumped off down a long corridor while all the medical staff stood waiting for them to return before beginning the scan. It was enough to drive me absolutely crazy! Enough moaning. I did manage to borrow a wheelchair for the return journey to the front door and resolved to get one of our own for any future hospital visits. At least one of us will have a seat.

The next week the Urologist wanted more PSA results so we disappeared to the lab for a blood test. The level turned out to be very high, so we were commanded to get another one done at a different lab miles away in Rethymno … and we would need to get bone scans done and MRI again and and and …

So the signs aren't good. It would be helpful if someone could actually give us enough information to feel as if we could find some sort of back up, support, professional advice. There was one day when I was in absolute bits, and had a lot of trouble explaining to a Secretary that it was just not possible to get a disabled person to all these tests at places an hour's journey away by 8.30 in the morning. Have a heart!

The Choir

On the plus side, local friends have been extremely kind to us. The weather has been settled and not too hot for July and August … almost bearable. And my pepper seeds planted during lockdown have turned into big sturdy plants! Watch this space.

Also Decca records released the record compiled by the Great British Home Chorus which sounded brilliant. What a technical achievement to put together video recordings from 11,000 people!

I'm not sure what the future holds in the next few months but keep us in your prayers as we cope with horrible hospital tests and checks.

Wish us luck and enjoy the Sunshine.

COUCH POTATOES

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

2020 THE YEAR THE WORLD STOPPED and the Planet came back to life ….

Well a few swallows are back! The weather here has been cold and miserable for a lot of the time and we heard that many migrating swallows came to grief in one big storm and very strong winds which have beset us. A large proportion of the poor little things did not get back to Crete to build their nests and raise a new family. There are a few pairs, but not many. However, Spring is sprunging with the hibiscus flowering, geraniums looking healthy, my little olive tree in a pot looking well and few little pots of seeds hopefully being watered every day “to see what will happen”.

We have been under lockdown for five weeks now, just venturing out for shopping, pharmacy or doctors visits. We are faring well, eating a bit too much but Mrs C has been experimenting with new recipes in the kitchen to tempt Mr C's small appetite. Meanwhile, on line all sorts of things have been happening and we are grateful for a good internet connection which has kept us informed, amused, en-rapt and infuriated in equal measures.

As there are a number of singles among our local friends, we set up a virtual friends group and try to catch up with each other weekly and make sure everyone was getting on OK. The idea for a virtual weekly coffee morning is good, but communication is a bit tricky with 6-8 people and it takes a proper MC to keep control of the airwaves and focus on one person talking at a time. The audio is also quite muffley. But we see each other, check that people are OK and send each other silly jokes, quizzes and must try recipes, just to keep our brains ticking over.

Greece locked down fast and contact--traced all arrivals in Greece with the dreaded virus, so have managed to flatten the curve and keep the hospitals from getting totally overwhelmed. It is certainly reassuring to have a decisive government, intelligent medical experts and a community who takes their good health seriously. Most young Greek people are close to their parents and grandparents and were totally motivated to protect them by keeping out of the way of the silent beastie. Easter was kept completely locked down and the roads blocked by police patrols to stop the movement of people on long journeys to celebrate in large groups wherever in Greece ancestral homes were. The tolling bell of Good Friday did not happen, the processions were missing, but there was a joyful bell on Easter morning and loud gun fire with fireworks at midnight, but this was in response to TV services rather than anything happening in the many churches around the country. For the biggest festival of the year, our Greek hosts were motivated to keep to the rules and stay safe at home for Easter this year. I guess one or two barbecues were lit quietly in back yards, but no significant holiday traffic happened at all. For Cretans, this is all the more remarkable because they are known to think that laws were made to be broken, but this has been something different. By the end of the Easter holidays, Crete had had no new reported cases for seven days, and the people began to sigh with relief. K had to go for a blood test at the lab in Perama on Friday and the shops, streets and supermarkets looked almost as usual with loads of people about. I am still carrying latex gloves, hand gel and home made masks, just in case, but for another week or two, we are feeling reasonably optimistic. Children are out in the village again and can be forgiven for being loud and noisy when they have been cooped up in little houses for so long.

 In the meantime, we have made lots of observations whilst overdosing on British TV. Most interviews are broadcast via on line platforms and we have intriguing glimpses into many people's homes. As they talk to us by computer Mr C and I are always having a good nose at the myriad of bookcases which appear in the background and there are some bookcovers which we can easily identify! Children or pets appearing in the distance just make life even more interesting!

Our family also set a few challenges to keep us on the ball with a first week idea to recreate famous works of art, famous album covers etc. This was fun. Recreating Monet's waterlilies with sheets, plants, flowers and saucers kept me busy. The Kiwi families recreated album covers by Queen and the one for Trainspotting. I managed Dark Side of the Moon with a triangle (prism) of cheese graters, white handled paint brushes and a rainbow selection of coloured crayons. Then Leo and Harri in England recreated the Friends poster by taking an armchair and standard lamp into the garden and fashioning some arrangement with a garden hose to look like a fountain. Whew!

The second week wasn't nearly so easy: we had to present a TV Cook type item (which if you are recording and cooking is much more difficult than it looks and impossible without a good cameraperson!) My Kiwi grandsons took to it like ducks to water and made great looking Anzac biscuits and Gingerbread. Amazing TV cooks in the making! Leo made sourdough bread with a drawn on moustache, a chef's hat and a fake Italian accent, which turned out really well. I made Creamy Lemon Chicken with my Ipad precariously balanced on a metal stand (Vrassi's Olympic torch holder) and had to keep turning the camera round to focus on the food prep. Note for the future … focus the camera on the food not the cook!

Gareth Malone's Great British Chorus has kept me exercised (5.30 pm each afternoon on YouTube) and what with that and a free on line Greek Class (half an hour every day) and trying to squeeze in some sort of exercise in the form of yoga, keep fit or Tai Chi, I am a bit too busy at the moment and want to retire again! A heart warming Facebook page called “The View from my Window” has been the most surprising success where people from literally all round the world post the view from their house whilst in lockdown. Some are from our first line workers and they always get a resounding vote of thanks in the comments. Others are from people with fabulous gardens or landscapes and still more from blocks of flats or high rise city views. So while we are confined, we can vicariously take a little trip round the world with a few blessings, prayers and good wishes. A simple idea which has been a run away success.

Nobody quite knows how the future will pan out this year. I imagine things will not be the same again for yet awhile, travel may be much more limited and expensive, and we may have to agree to much more testing and controls before this is over. I just hope that the good will, the offers of help, the response to the emergency by strangers and those overseas will be remembered with gratitude for a long time to come. In many ways, I hope that things do not go back to just the way they were before because it would mean that we had all learned absolutely nothing about how our planet with its inter-dependency of people, plants, animals, solids, liquids and gases needs much more care and attention. The skies have been bluer and the air so much clearer since everything stopped.

Take care and every Easter blessing to you and your family!

BARRIER NURSING -or prevention thereof

The current lockdown in Greece began on 13 March and resonated with the memory of life under the military junta during the 1960|70s.  However, Greeks were, for once, aware of the emergency and the village has been very, very quiet with the school and cafes closed.  It all started with an ear splitting siren noise from our Greek mobile phones sending us an emergency message.  Never having had one before, it scared us half to death!  Duly notified, we kept indoors.  The weather has been changeable but I’ve got lots of deep cleaning, tai chi and on line contacts made.

So today was shopping day.  The internet went wild over the weekend with various versions of the document you need to fill in and sign and the SMS message you have to send to give information about where and for how long you are away from home.  I put together a plan a bit like a military operation.  Hubby would never survive another stay in Intensive Care as he was lucky to come out alive 7 years ago, so we have been self isolating to an extreme level and welcome such restrictions if they can keep us in good health!

Feeling more than a bit ridiculous, I designated the Apothiki (shed)  a ‘dirty’ area (not far from the truth) and set a change of clothes, bucket of Dettol washing stuff and a bowl of soap, hand towel and water inside and shut the door.

Outside the apothiki, I donned an ankle length raincoat and gum boots.  I had visions of my lovely Granny dealing with war emergencies and must have looked a real sight!  Checked I had disposable latex gloves (check), hand gel (check), pocket hankies (check) and all the docs needed (check).  Passport, ID and a special sms notification on my mobile phone.  Don’t leave home without that as it could provoke a 150 euro fine from any policeman who cared to check!  Just remembered my purse and shopping list!  Synchronised watch with specified time on declaration and I was ready to roll.

I put spare latex gloves, kitchen roll and bin bag in the car beside me and set off to the shops.  I had never driven in wellies before.  The roads were absolutely deserted and I was glad that the weather was so awful that not many people would want to go out.

Went to my local supermarket for groceries and there was plenty to be had.  Not many tinned tomatoes, but there were packs of chopped ones, I bought some chicken pieces, bread, cheese, bottle of wine, toothpaste ... everything I needed.  I checked with Kostas at the counter about phoning in an order and he said “yes, we can bring it to you”.  Good.  Not much in the way of fresh veg, so called in the other shop on the way back and they had plenty of lovely fruit and veg.  Good.  Everything on my list, even light bulbs.

All done.  Nobody stopped me or checked my papers.

Drove home in driving rain and arrived back home.  Before I left, I had asked Mr C to put the hot water on and not greet me at the door because I wanted to keep any hint of virus out of the house.  Put the fridge goods by the door along with handbag.  Cleaned the car inside and out and took off gloves.  Then crept into the shed and stripped off Mac and clothes stuffing them in the bucket of water.  Washed face and hands and cleaned wellies.  Used kitchen towels and disinfectant on hands and boots.   

Eventually, made it into the shower ... marvellous!  

Then dealt with all the fridge goods wiping them down with with weak bleach solution.  Decided to leave the rest of the stuff in the car boot for a bit longer.  

Time for a cup of coffee!

Glad not to be going out for another week .. What a phaff;  exhausting!

Stay home and keep well, my friends!  

THE C WORD

A lot of times in recent years, the C word has been reserved for Mr C's cancer treatment, but we have a new enemy in our midst. On Thursday night a loud noise sounding a bit like a car alarm frightened the life out of most of our friends and neighbours. It was a bit like a Civil Defence SMS message with instructions about the beastly coronavirus bug.

Up until then, it had all been bad jokes and dark humour but after bringing it right into the midst of our homes, we began to feel a bit more panicky. In the kafeneon in the village square, we had been amused when Vaso serving coffees gave the place a deep clean after some foreigners had been having drinks. As soon as they left, she appeared with arms full of cleaning materials and set to work just saying “Strangers!!!!!”   The Rethymnon Carnival, which had been so well planned had to be cancelled.

One of the old boys came in and ordered a raki. Raki is very strong in alcohol and this has been widely regarded as the first line of defence. He drank some, poured some on his hands and gave them a good rub-a-dub-dub and then breathed in the fumes deeply from his cupped hands. All this was amusing a week ago, but world events have escalated so fast and I feel will catch up with us here 'ere long. I'm just hoping to stave off infection until the weather gets warmer and we can spend much more time out of doors. As most of our village are in their eighties, we would try to keep germs well away from us and hope that an effective antidote can be found really soon!

A friend, who had been in a nursing home, died last week and many people just arrived from abroad came to his wake – all shaking hands and saying gleefully that there had been no controls at airports. We were also informed jokingly that if anyone had a fever, they could easily take paracetamol to pass the fever/thermometer test. My Cretan neighbour and I were totally horrified by the insouciance of this attitude and I tried very hard not to jump up immediately and go for a wash and brush up! We were impressed by the Imaste greeting adopted by Royals at the Commonwealth Service which fits the bill and shows respect. With all this, we just hope that everyone stays safe in London and elsewhere, come to that.

While we are trying to clean our way out of this virulent corner, it would be easy to miss that there is blossom beginning to show on the trees, budding hyacinths in the garden and sparrows busy building nests and chattering outside as they work. The weather is still quite chilly, but we are having brighter sunshine and showers which are good for the olives. We all hope that warm weather will slow things down all round. Its going to be a bad year for trade and tourism.

We are well stocked and will be at home a lot for the next week or two - maybe longer. We are taking Vit C and Echinacea fizzy tabs every morning, which helped me so much when I had to look after Mr C in ICU before. The only things we need to go out for are bottles of water, milk, bread and fresh fruit and veg. This means … not very interesting blogs, sadly, but it is a good opportunity to do Greek study on line, Lent Bible study on line and lots of experimental home cooking. In the course of Spring Cleaning and Deep Kitchen Cleaning, I came across a whole stock of old DVDs which will make some good watching. We are well stocked with marmalade and I am considering trying to make home made bagels and/or crumpets out of curiosity to see if the recipe works.  We have cracked the recipe for home-made sandwich spread which Mr C loves!

Take care everyone and say a prayer for all the medical professionals the world over who are working so hard.

HUBBLE, BUBBLE, TOIL AND SO ON ...

The house was struck by lightning this morning.  I vaguely heard some thunder just before I dipped into slumber, but I turned over in my sleep confident in the fact that we had unplugged the router and computer before going to bed.  On waking up, I couldn’t understand why my bedside light would not work.  Eventually it dawned on me and at 6.30 am, just as dawn was beginning to break and the cocks were crowing, I got myself up to investigate.

To be honest, it is either the water off while workmen work on the supply pipes or drains or electricity or WiFi and it is rare indeed to have all the services working at once!  The house is in a constant state of pickle with buckets here, torches there, dust buckets, fireproof gloves and drying washing all over the place.  This is the down side of living in a Cretan village but the kindly neighbours and safe environment make up for it.  We also thanked our lucky stars that we weren't like many poor folk at home dealing with days of flooding or cooped up on a cruise liner wondering whether or not we had caught the "corona bug" or not.  

Pulling on any warm clothes to hand, I trudged out into the rain and cold to look at the electricity meter outside.  The red button which often pops out if we are trying to use too much power at once was in its proper position, so it was not that.  All the street lights were on, so it was not our block.  I went back in and hauled out the camping gas so we could, at least, have a hot cup of tea while we waited for relief.  While the kettle was boiling, I  rounded up the oil lamps and found a few torches.

Mr C examined the fuse board when he got up and discovered that the trip switch had fired when a particularly bright shaft of lightning struck which must have triggered it (an uncommon event) and we were soon back in business.  We tidied around as we were waiting for our fourth load of wood to be delivered this winter.  We are so grateful to Niko, our neighbour who always has a good supply.  Now that we have light, Kimon is doing his daily chore of sweeping out the ashes and cleaning the stove glass door for tonight’s fire.

Life has been non-stop bureaucracy lately either in getting forms back to the UK confirming that we are alive, queuing at the IKA health insurance office with passports and up to date tax paid forms from the Accountant to get our books renewed, taking prescriptions from one doctor to another office for K’s meds or battling with Greek websites to make sure our bills get paid.  This morning was spent at the phone company paying phone bills in torrential rain.  Just as I finished typing this paragraph, the Urologist’s Secretary phoned to say that approval had been given for the next three months of Mr C’s hideously expensive medication but I realised I needed to collect the prescription and gallop over to another office quickly so that it could be forwarded to Athens and the pills sent over before the current supply runs out. It all keeps me busily running about like a mad thing and trying not to worry.

Sunny days have been a bit few and far between, but come a bit of sunshine, a portion of Spring Cleaning will get underway so that we can shake the dust out of the carpets and see out of the windows!

On the way to Rethymnon yesterday, we were held up in a traffic jam.  Amid a cacophony of car horns with a police car giving escort,  a procession of school children and teachers all wearing weird costumes filed past pushing homemade "floats".  It’s a bit early for Carnival which is the weekend of 1st March, but with Lent fasting on the horizon, the whole of Rethymnon was celebrating Tsiknopempti. (Greek: Τσικνοπέμπτη), literally Smelly Thursday, or even Charred, Smoky, or Barbeque Thursday "because of the smell of the grilled meat in the air", is part of the traditional celebrations for Carnival (in Greek: Αποκριά) season in Greece and Cyprus.  (Lifted straight from Wikipaedia!) The Carnival proper is a week away but statues from previous years have started appearing around Rethymnon. The Thursday costumes worn resembled hobgoblins or kitchen devils in smokey colours in contrast to the bright colours of Carnival proper but the noise was just as raucous!

 February birthdays are being celebrated in style with mezes at a nice Taverna for Mrs Crozier with a few friends and an Indian meal  is planned for Anna at the end of the month.  We are hoping that the weather will improve by Tuesday so that we can enjoy a visit to the Daedalus Exhibition at the Archaeology Museum  in Heraklion.  We have been looking forward to this;  photos to follow later.

Best wishes from Crete!