BUREAUCRACY FOR BEGINNERS

In case people back home think that we are lazing around a beach or pool with long, cool drinks in our hands and idling all day long, we need to put the story straight. ...And we thought the saga of the IKA book was unparalleled!

K's Greek Driving Licence expired and he started the process to renew it about five weeks ago. We went to the local market town of Perama where the Citizen's Advice Bureau (KEP) gave him a sheet of paper with the list of requirements he had to supply. The whole process cost in excess of 200 euros. He had to go to the Photographer for a large number of photographs – two for the licence and one for each Doctor consulted. There was a list of Doctors and Ophthalmologists he could choose from, two cheques or receipts from the Post Office in different sums of money for different government departments and a labour of Hercules to complete in sizzlingly hot weather on crutches. Each appointment has necessitated a trip to the very busy and hot Rethymnon, parking and taxis to get to different Doctor's Surgeries. Fortunately (or not, ) I had five appointments at the Dentist for root canal surgery, so could assist with lifts most of the time. We feel as if this process has been going on for months. It was only at the last visit to the Dental Surgery that I realised that I had been consulting the wrong Dentist. But, that … is ... another ... story! Two Dentists with identical shaped and arranged surgeries – one on the first floor of the building and one on the second! However, that relieved us of a further 180 euros and I digress!

K visited the Optician and had his glasses upgraded. Then, the GP Doctor (10 euros) referred him to an Orthopaedic Specialist (10 euros) which we left until the next journey into town; this Specialist referred him to a Neurologist, so we had to make another trip. After a few weeks of travelling backwards and forwards, queuing, and consulting Doctors, we arrived back at KEP with all our papers, fees paid, photos taken; they told us that we had to go back to the GP Doctor for the final sheet of paper. The Neurologist found that both legs had problems and we were beginning to think that the quad bike might have to go into mothballs, but eventually, we emerged from the KEP office on Friday with a one year driving licence and the advice to start with a different GP next time! Each Doctor gave us a sealed envelope to be presented at KEP as part of the process, so it was all a bit unnerving. K and I are completely exhausted and a bit annoyed as we feel sure that none of the locals in our village bother about licences anyway!

In the meantime, we have both been in the wars. Regular plant pot watering outside leaves the porch and terrace tiles wet and slippery so K had his first fall when his feet just shot out from under him and we were struggling hard to get him up again. Then a tangle with his feet as he dismounted the quad bike landed him with a huge bump on the back of the head, which is just beginning to heal. Worn ferules on the crutches slid out from under him and the elbow piece gouged a large chunk out of one arm most recently. Every time we take the car out, we have to clean up residue from the swallows and sparrows who gather on the electric wires above our head and leave the car in a horrible mess. Yesterday, I was adjusting sun shades over the car windows and managed to catch the bridge of my nose with the boot flap … so, maybe we just shouldn't be allowed out at all!

However, we are getting ready for the arrival of visiting children and grandchildren in mid July and gathering beach towels and buckets and spades in readiness. We are sussing out the most interesting beaches, train rides and tavernas to prepare an action packed or sleepy holiday as they choose. I regularly stop off at the Church of the Four Martyrs in Rethymno to light prayer candles for safe travel and a happy holiday as well as all the other requests of the time.

Our regular walks with my energetic walking buddy have continued. We have explored a back track between our village and Panormo through the olive groves and market gardens and will follow this early one morning with K on the quad bike and myself walking, when we have a spell of cooler weather. Last week, we found a lovely unspoiled beach – well off the beaten track with shady seats and a beach bar and … most importantly for us, accessible car parking just at beach level. It is really great that our walks are helping us to find hidden treasures both inland and unexpected coves on the coast. We spent a happy morning in Fodele, where El Greco is reputed to have been born and enjoyed a tour the little village and followed the shady nature walk along the fast flowing river.

Almost by accident, I have joined an on line Group entitled the Upcycled Clothing Collective which seems to have spread round the world via Facebook. There are a good few posts day by day showing what lovely clothes and upholstery/furnishings have been designed by reusing pre loved materials and not buying anything new. I had no idea that donated clothes to Charity Shops commonly end up in land fill so have found it inspirational for ideas although I think that the occasional frock made out of a table cloth looks a bit odd!  I had a go at using natural dyes from eucalyptus and then with tea bags on white cotton to see what would happen. I have a work in progress by way of a quilt sampler. Sewing and embroidery is so much less hot and sticky than knitting this time of year. I had a hilarious interval in the Stationery Shop trying to explain what transfer paper was. The assistant didn't know whether I wanted a pen, paper or an iron by the time I finished my charade. Slow progress is under way

… watch this space.

Crete is HEAVING with people. We have to leave really early to get a place in the car park on our trips to Rethymnon and then pay much more because we have been there longer! People are spilling off the pavements, tour parties are doing the circuits, hire cars are filling the roads and the beaches are chock a block! It must be a good year for Greece, but we will be glad when the hot, crowded season is over and peace reigns again!

Kalo taxidi;  safe travel and happy holidays!

BOTANICA

The week has been a full one with a fair amount of mileage in various directions seeking different destinations in Crete. This has been in-dispersed with clean up operations because the legacy of recent dust storms is still with us and is taking some persistent effort to clear away. However, we are on the last leg of blankets and carpets which have all had to be soundly beaten and washed this year before being rolled up for the summer with moth proof formulas. Panormo, our nearest resort, organised a clean up last Sunday and we donned rubber gloves and black sacks to pick up rubbish from the road verges and alley ways while other groups cleared the rocky harbour edges and the beaches. 

This Sunday, all the young folk of our village were weeding and clearing rubbish from the lanes and verges. 

 On Monday, my walking buddy and I picked a big bouquet of Spring flowers and made little wreaths to hang outside the house. There are a few around the village and these stay there from 1^st May until 21^st June – the Summer solstice - when they are burned. My little wreath has completely dried out already.

Our first road trip out was by bus to the Historical Museum in Heraklion. This is a lovely old Venetian building which has been lovingly restored and converted by the family who own it. As there were about 20 of us in our party, it was, by necessity, a taster tour and most of us wanted to return on our own later and spend time reading more thoroughly and spending time between floors to take it in at depth. I found the WWII displays particularly interesting with many original pencil drawn maps, letters from the dignitaries of Australia and New Zealand, General DeGaulle and other well-known personalities of that era fascinating. It deserved a lot more “sinking in” time and I will go back and pay for the headphones next visit!  Apologies for lack of photographs on this day out.

We had heard lots of enthusiastic reports of a fantastic herb emporium on the South Coast and decided to drive down to the place on Friday. The road south leads through the mountains at Spilli and our convoy threaded its way through masses of tourists, parked cars and delivery trucks before emerging on the route down to Matala. It is a good road, with imposing mountains towering above and beautiful downlands and chalky hills between. The journey was longer than we remembered and we had the crowded market town of Timbaki to negotiate. None of these passages have the space for a by-pass! Emerging relatively unscathed, we found the tiny village where the herb shop was doing a roaring trade and found very little parking space in the centre of the village. Long racks of brightly coloured chilli peppers hung from the rafters at the entrance and the little traditional shop was stacked with shelves and shelves of books, bottles and jars of every shape and size. The smell of herbs and spices was wonderful. Clutching my purchase of Golden Slumbers tea and some herbal tea preparation for arthritis, we had a quick refresher and made our way back along the road to a lovely mountain taverna for a late lunch where goat was on the menu. It was a jolly party, but the journey had been long and the hour late, so I begged everyone's pardon for leaving early and started the long trek home. Quite a long way to go for herbal teas!

This Sunday, our Church group trio made the journey to Kefalas to go to church. The little Anglican Chapel has sadly been without a Vicar for a while and were making preparations for the Churchwardens to fly to Brussels to attend interviews at the Diocese of Europe to find a new Incumbent. Quite a tortuous process! Let's hope there is someone who fits the bill and will be happy to venture forth in Crete.

Knowing that hospice care in Crete is not really available, a good friend who is a retired nurse and I discovered a hospice organisation in Athens which we would like to try and visit in the Autumn to see what might be involved within the Greek way of doing things. We have been thinking about it for a while but what with her hospital treatments and our time away, have been a bit unsuccessful in our attempts to pull anything together as yet, but slowly, slowly – sega, sega (as the Greeks say) we will see what we can find out. The Orthodox Church, the legalities of hospice care, the application of medicines and the practice of Greek families caring for their own will all have an effect on the outcome, but not all people have families to look after them and we need to find out what could be workable.

All the hotels and apartments seemed to be very full – even for so early in the season – and hire cars are at large – which we can tell a mile off. They are the very shiny ones, travelling very slowly in the middle of the road! In Crete, slower moving cars hug the hard shoulder and use it to allow the more speedy animals to overtake more easily! While the tourists are all in shorts, sun dresses and scanty wear, we inhabitants are all still wearing our cardigans! We think that our blood must have thinned since we arrived here.

So, between our outings, we are still trying to get the house and garden cleaned up. We are nearly ready for summer now and looking forward to our daily swim! Happy Holidays!

SCARECROZIERS!

There just haven't been enough hours in the day for all the doings of recent days and weeks. After leaving the little stone house for two months, there was a lot of work to do on our return. Severe storms from the Sahara desert had left red dust in every corner of the house, terrace and garden and the air has been filled with a dusty mist every morning since, which only really clears for an hour or two in the middle of the day. Cretans aren't used to fog! The level of clearing out and sorting winter and summer clothes was a bit overwhelming.  Water is likely to be in short supply also, we hear after such a dry winter.

Our lovely neighbours were glad to see us back and refused to believe that K had caught such an enormous fish while out on the boat in the New Zealand. I'm not sure that they have an accurate idea of where exactly NZ is because it is a world away from their world as farmers and smallholders. However, our friends at the kafenion were delighted with New Zealand chocolate and didn't complain that it wasn't English! Offerings of oranges, eggs and potatoes were very welcome on our return. Sparrows had been making merry in our absence by trying to burrow out holes in our insulated porch roof and I had to improvise way of blocking their entrance and making a makeshift Scarecrow to keep them away! All the scraps of polystyrene from the roof insulation added to the mayhem.  What a mess!

Easter was confusing because Greek Easter was one week after Catholic Easter and all my UK family were surprised to be wished a happy Easter one week after it had actually happened. We had a big meal at the Taverna in Achlade, which was fun. We smashed the red coloured eggs, conker style; had some lovely appetizers followed by the choice of nicely roasted lamb or chicken. K and I were still in a time warp from our journey home, so we did not make Easter services locally. However, I did manage to visit the Four Martyrs Church in Rethymno to light some prayer candles.  In response to the two I lit before our long journey, it seemed right to light two more for our safe return and lovely holiday. This weekend, I eventually managed to get to the Anglican Church in Kefalas and it was good to catch up with the church family over there after a long break. 

Last Monday we had booked a treat on our walking day. The taverna at Kastellos Armenoi organises and conducts foraging walks and the early Spring is a perfect time to learn about green sprouting stuff. We constantly see Greek ladies (the older ones) out with their plastic bags and little knives returning home with “horta” - spring greens a bit like spinach. We wondered whether we could learn what was edible and what was not by paying to go on a special walk. Arriving up at the village, which is much higher in altitude and has different trees and plants from the coast, we had a marvellous day out. We sat down to breakfast of local yoghurt and fabulous honey, followed by small, sweet cheese pastries and a Greek coffee. Then came the raki (strong alcohol) – a bit early for us but … in for a penny, in for a pound and we felt like WWII resistance fighters or Andartes downing our rakis before adjusting our backpacks and setting off!

The day was fabulous with bright blue skies and just a little cloud to prevent it being too hot. Vassilis' dogs scampered alongside us we ambled along and visited the little church at the top of the hill.  Here we lit candles first thing before starting off and stopped for a few moments to gaze at the expanse of countryside stretched out before us. We visited a marvellous cottage which a craftsman (not at home) was restoring by hand. Its dear little workshop had a pane of glass inserted in the roof to make it lighter and two large terracotta urns – one on top of the other – for a chimney pot. All sorts of scrap pieces had been upcycled to make garden furniture and ornaments. We wished that we could have met him because the overall effect was charming. After this, we crossed a lot of oak woodland and copses until we reached Vassili's farm and said hello to the chickens, geese, goats and pigs. At this point we had to intervene to stop the larger of the dogs worrying a lone goat but Vassilis got her under control and we set off deeper into the woods. It was a paradise for dogs … well it was paradise, really.  My wood-collecting walking buddy was blown over by the amount of logs and wood lying about from dead trees but we were too far from civilisation to go collecting today! We uncovered an enormous mushroom, though - and an artichoke plus a handful of oranges. As we walked along Vassilis would dive into the hedgerows, walls and bushes finding oregano, marjoram, thyme and rosemary – all growing in abundance and showed us how to identify the young wild asparagus tips which we found so hard to see, but became experts quite quickly. Arriving back at the Taverna with armfuls of greens and herbs, we washed and sorted everything and Vassilis and his wife set to in making a wonderful meal. Hummus with chick peas and fresh olive oil, mixed salad with avocado, scrumped artichoke and herbs, asparagus omelette and pork cooked with fresh herbs and horta. Followed by more raki, and sliced fresh fruit. All delicious and great fun. We would like to go again at a different time of year to see what can be found. Building on our new experience, on our weekly walk this week, we easily spotted loads of asparagus tips and were surprised to see that there were so many of the plants in the hedgerows! We just hadn't noticed them before.

The early part of the week was taken up with Doctor's appointments and check ups, which seem to take days at a time and swallow any spare time we have these days. Tomorrow we have to go to Cosmote, the telephone company to negotiate a better deal on our telephone and broadband. We hope it won't be too gruesome as Thursday is market day in Rethymno and always really busy.  

Christos anesti! Alithos anesti!

I LEFT MY SLIPPERS IN SINGAPORE!

View over Rangitoto

The Croziers have returned to Crete after a couple of months on the other side of the world. The north shore of New Zealand is definitely a world away from sleepy Crete, but it was a wonderful adventure and Pa Crozier looks very fit on his return having left in rather poor shape after the fall at home and a chesty cough caught on the journey.

First of all, we need to record our thanks and admiration for the Passenger Assistance offered by Olympic Airways (Heraklion and Athens), Emirates (Athens, Dubai and Singapore) and Air New Zealand who took care of Mr Crozier providing wheelchair assistance at all these airports. We can hardly believe that we made it right across the world and back with such good care and the only damage was a cracked suitcase on arrival at Heraklion. Nothing went missing at all! Hats off to all those people because it worked!

Dubai mosque

Our first two day stopover in Dubai was interesting. Somehow we had managed to book a super luxurious apartment with two bathrooms, fully fitted kitchen, two TVs in a sitting room and bedroom with air conditioned super-duperness! We were awakened by a call to prayer from the Mosque next door and enjoyed the Dubai sunrise. Sadly though, the free self-serve breakfast was held in the worst possible design of dining room I have ever experienced with no thought given to the dynamics of 200 people needing to get plates of food and cups of coffee from one side of a scrum to another. It was like eating in the middle of a market place and having to fetch trays of food for K (who cannot manage this with crutches) and then repeat the process for myself was exhausting. We will never get used to chicken sausages either! A bottle of wine and four beers from room service set us back over £100 – so we decided not to go there on the way back. We took a taxi ride across the city to a new build shopping mall .. a bit like Arabian Nights meets Bluewater and after having a cup of coffee at Costa(packet), we jumped in the taxi and returned again! Not very adventurous unless you like shopping but we knew we had no space in our suitcases!

Gardens by the Bay, Singapore

We looked forward to Singapore – thinking that it would be a little more relaxed only to find that we had booked a hotel with a very small room. The two twin beds were in a sort of corridor – one on the left, the other on the right with a flight of steps in the middle. There was no window, no bedside tables, no wardrobe and it cost us a lot of money. This is the place that I left my slippers under the bed but nothing would induce us to book the same place for the journey home even to retrieve my slippers! We were too far away from shops and cafes but were surrounded by “Spas” and 24 hour massage parlours! We took a taxi to the Gardens by the Bay and tried to get a feel for the city. Masses of skyscrapers, amazing plant life and trees in the steamy heat, and shopping malls everywhere. I took a walk around the neighbourhood to investigate Silk and Carpet shops and to look at beautiful Mosques but sadly Raffles was surrounded by hoardings and I didn't manage to taste a Singapore Sling. We were amused that every taxi driver in Singapore asked us how old we were!

Singapore Botanical Gardens - fabulous

Our arrival in Auckland was lovely. The grandchildren had prepared banners, flowers and all sorts of goodies to welcome us. The weather was atrocious and about three or four cyclones passed over or near Auckland during our visit. Parts of South Island were badly flooded and under emergency status. Fortunately, in Auckland there was plenty of sunshine in between.

Walkway around the East Coast Bays

We stayed in Mairangi Bay. All the bars and coffee shops were buzzing. Men were doing deals, joggers and dogwalkers dropped by for marvellous Brunches. Kiwis certainly do the big breakfast thing with panache serving fabulous breakfast dishes (some healthy, some not so healthy) but they all came to the table with appealing style and we have a lot of dieting to do as a result!

I did school pick-ups, swimming galas, reading books, birthday parties, trampolining and walking! The children are wonderfully healthy, engaging and interesting. We revisited places I had been to on my first visits to NZ which had changed from open countryside to completely new towns in the meantime. The houses are LUXURIOUS, cars are LUXURIOUS, people lived in great locations in the most beautiful surroundings. The cost of living is horrendous! We know that our pension would never go anywhere! However, all our plans went well. Pa Crozier went fishing a couple of times, we ate fish and chips a lot, ate curries a lot, ate eggs benedict a lot and generally had a jolly time while drinking in all the lovely countryside and seaside places.

For the journey home, we were not quite so much innocents abroad. We recommend the Ibis Hotel on Bencoolen in Singapore and the Airport Premier Inn in Dubai which were comfortable and had everything at hand with pleasant service. I eventually tasted the Singapore Sling, which was interesting but nothing like as good as Cretan fresh orange juice!

After taking in all these palaces to the gods of materialism mid journey, it was great to return to our little home in Crete. Look what was waiting for us!

Flowers, potatoes, oranges, lemons and eggs!

I wanted to post many more lovely photos with this blog from my new camera, but each photo has taken about half an hour to upload, so I will have to do some homework on photo storage files.

YULE BLOG

The blog has been a bit quiet over the festive period due to partying and dashing about, but also Mr Crozier collided with a dehumidifier in the middle of the night and had a bad fall a day or two before Christmas which cramped our style a bit and meant that we had to stay at home. A couple of weeks and a lot of moaning and groaning later, Mr Crozier is back in the land of the living again and ready for some adventures with our far-flung family abroad. We are encased in bubble wrap in the meantime – just in case anything else happens!

Christmas and the lead up weeks were just beautiful in Crete. We watched, enthralled, all the snowscapes from the USA and the UK, while looking outside at the pristine snow covered mountains sparkling in the bright skies around us. I made lots of country walks with my energetic friend-come-personal trainer and she managed to collect huge quantities of driftwood from beaches and abandoned olive trimmings from the hedgerows. These keep her stove going without any charge, for the first part of winter at least. A few days ago, I parked the car in the quayside with K enjoying the sunshine glinting on the sea and took to the beaches on either side of him with large sacks to collect washed up plastic flotsam and jetsam. A truly ghastly prospect, right in front of our eyes, with plastic water bottles being the worst culprits. Thankfully, Greece has brought in new laws this January so that we all need to take shopping bags or be charged at the supermarket for the plastic bags which they had been doling out with wild abandon at every shopping place and stunning other travellers from Europe by placing plastic bagged items into their shopping bags! Aaghh! Hopefully, the message will catch on and give people a chance to think about the use of plastic and cut down a bit. I would love to sponsor kids to design enticingly large and attractive beach bins so that they will be tempted to throw away their rubbish, just to see how an animal's mouth will open or how things would tip away a bit like a marble run. Just a thought!

Just for fun,  I took some photos of our big day out! Guess where we are? Comfy leather sofas, wall mounted TV, coffee machine, coffee table loaded with New Year cakes and bowls of sweets? A new, winter taverna or home from home?  See if you can get a close up of the Christmas decorations ... it will give you a clue!

This is the MOT testing station where we needed to take the car this week.   It is so comfy there, its a bit like a nice day out!

The New Year break was a bit more gloomy, with heavy rain and thunderstorms, which cooled down the atmosphere a lot and made us bring out the stewpots and stoke up the log burner. I have been learning how to make socks at the Makers Group which is now meeting in temporary winter quarters and almost next door to the wool shop in Rethymno, so it is an ill wind that brings nobody any good with it! Remember NOT to order a cappuccino, though … Mountain tea is a better option.

We kept warm on wet and gloomy New Year's Eve making marmalade and spreading sticky mess all around the kitchen. We have lots of boxes to tick and chores to complete before leaving Crete for a few weeks. The dodgy electricity supply means that the freezer needs to be emptied and turned off. This action results in some strange and eclectic meals, but the first one was a raging success. Some swordfish steaks defrosted and oven-baked with the first home made chips I have eaten in years! Today will be prosaic veggie pasta bake and we look forward to a variety of ready made dishes – left over from previous cook days. A rummage round the freezer uncovered all the black bananas from the summer which ripened all too quickly and we will be making banana bread later. A box load of home made pickles and treats made superb Christmas presents from friends nearby. The post hasn't arrived yet with parcels that K ordered ages ago for Christmas but we should know this by now!

Crete is resting and very nearly in hibernation. It was the busiest summer for many years so all the workers are exhausted. However, there is a movement to make Crete a winter destination also with more flights via Ryan Air. Certainly this winter has been fabulous so far and would have given anyone a welcome boost of fresh air and sunshine - but people who own and work businesses here would be reluctant to do it year round as the winter months are set aside for harvesting the olives and other building and refurbishment work.

Intrepid CIC members organised a swim on New Year's Day in Rethymnon and there is, of course the annual blessing by the Orthodox Priest at the harbour ceremony at Epiphany as he casts the Cross into the water to be retrieved by young lads who dive in after it. The winner is rewarded by a year of blessing – as the tradition goes. Otherwise, the port and harbour are deliciously quiet and nice to walk around to enjoy sunrises and sunsets as well as wonderful walks though the glowing abundance of the orange orchards and the olive groves which have only recently given up their treasure!

Chronia Pola! Happy New Year!

BACKPACKS

Autumn and Winter weather have been delayed this year and the long, drawn out heavy rains which we usually expect in October have been little more than a couple of short, sharp showers. By and large the days have been sparkling, the olive harvest has been in full flood and the humming noise from the village olive mill has been heard running day and night.

This means that all the buzzing around for different things has been uninterrupted and we have been out and about quite a lot. Greek Class keeps us busy as our teachers – the two lovely ladies from the nearby village Kafeneon in Achlade – tag team us on alternate weeks so that they can administer the business at their Olive Mill or work on their agricultural business in the intervening times. We are learning a bit more grammar these days and trying to get our heads around genders, personal pronouns and different tenses of verbs. It will be a very long process but we are persevering.

Weekly walks have continued and I was reflecting the other day how the contents of our backpacks vary and evolve around the seasons of the year. In Spring, we needed to take waterproof coats, shoes and/or wellingtons to cope with muddy tracks, we added secateurs to snip odd cuttings of thyme and rosemary and bunches of parsley growing along the way with plastic bags to keep them damp. As the weather warmed up a bit, we needed sun hats and water bottles, paper bags for collecting seeds, and the odd carrier bag in case we spied some apples or oranges hanging over the path. Last week, we packed a couple of night lights and a lighter so that we could stop and have a quiet moment at any chapel we happened to pass by. There are so many small churches hereabouts, that I have decided to pack them every week for perfect prayer time. We were also glad to have some heftier carriers with us on our last walk because there were sackfuls of firewood available just lying about in the road and by the hedgerows. We also need to retrace our steps over this footpath because there are some wonderful oranges which will be lovely and ripe for Christmas! We never set off without bananas, to give us some energy for the steep slopes and scrambles. Next week, we plan to make our way along the promenade of Rethymno – to take advantage of the sea views but be able to take cover if the weather gets too showery. We are also finding out where the new Chinese restaurant is so that we can pay a visit in the near future. Today, we went back to the riverside walk that was in full flood last time we passed by finding the river bed all but dried up and one or two puddles and eddies for the terrapins who basked on large stones in the middle of the water and dropped into the limited stream as we passed by.

The dried up river bed

Kostas at the Kafeneon/Hairdressers nearly next door has been very busy. We have tasted our neighbours' wonderful raki and home made wine. Beautifully clear and with good flavours. Meanwhile, the younger villagers are setting off for work early every fine morning to gather the olives before the rains start. The mountains, which have been spectacularly beautiful for the past week disappeared for a day or two behind a white, misty curtain and we thought that this would be the last we would see of them for a few months, but they reappeared with a dusting of snow on the top. The full, bright Super Moon woke me this morning; I wondered why street lighting was angled right into my face when I had made curtains thick enough to block it all out .. but it was the beautiful moon appearing from behind wispy clouds and waking me with its brightness.

The strong sunshine has obscured the ripening oranges

The cooler days have given birth to all sorts of art and crafts. Our table has been buckling under all the activities, with card, paint and glue for a week or so while Christmas cards were printed, jam jars were gathered for decorations and we spent a day in the kitchen making Christmas bakes and we are starting to put together a few Christmas lists and work out where in town we can get the supplies we need for making stuff. Heartier stews and winter bakes are on the menu to ward out the winter chills inter-dispersed with the latest knitting project.

The Makers Group struggled to find a winter venue as our trusty Kimolia Cafe wished to close for the winter season, so we foraged about and found another close to the Post Office in the centre of town. We enjoyed the coffee, but it was heaving. We didn't calculate for the business of Thursday Market Day, and we will need to find somewhere not so noisy and full. Many of the bright, open cafes on the sea front have closed up for the winter season, so it has not been easy to make the change and trying to make contact with all these ladies is a bit like attempting to herd cats. We are either dotting backwards and forwards to our original countries in Europe or dealing with medical appointments or bureaucracy. 

 December is the month for renewing car tax and sending Christmas cards which keeps me busy for a few days at a time. The man at the first Post Office visibly goggled at the thought that anyone on earth would write one letter, let alone want to send forty! No, he did not have the stamps and the main post office was full of people queuing.  Then there was the long wait at the bank to buy road tax behind a very large queue of busy farmers.  Having sorted this, I had to literally untangle the lady at the third Post Office to buy stamps, because the building was being gutted and she was inside working behind heavy duty nets hanging from the scaffolding.  I couldn't believe she was still working but she was very good-natured and having attracted her attention, I explained that I needed a large number of stamps.  We scrabbled about on the pavement with stamps, money and a hand held calculator backwards and forwards underneath the netting and I took 40 stamps home.  It was high finance for a village post office!  After sticking them to our Christmas cards, I returned to the village with the stamped post, unraveled the lady again and scrabbled about in the gap of netting to hand back the batch of cards.  Only in Crete!

How brilliant have got to early December with very few breaks in the weather and the prospect of bright, hot sunny days every time we put our heads out of doors. It can't last and other parts of Greece have had some terrible flash floods and destructive storms, but, so far, the storms have passed us by. So, we are in good heart and looking forward to Christmas, Cretan style with warmth and good cheer without all the hype of Black Fridays, Cyber Mondays or anything else! Enjoy Advent!

THE TREES ARE DANCING!

Jolly holidays being over for this year, we seemed to be ever so busy catching up with friends who had been otherwise engaged over the Summer season with lots of house guests. We know how much Greece needs this valuable revenue, but it is lovely when the crowds thin out a bit and we can enjoy the outside space and amenities with a bit more peace and quiet again.  We have conveniently forgotten that we were just such tourists, not so long ago and twice as annoying!

A chum from K's school days and his wife - Geoff and Karen arrived in Panormo having spent a few interesting days close to the Venetian harbour in Chania and were keen to enjoy all that Panormo had to offer. Great enthusiasts of seafood, we were a bit disappointed that many of the fishing boats had been lifted out of the harbour and the dish of the day will now come via the freezer! We had a terrific rainstorm which cooled the temperatures right down and washed lots of dust and earth down the gorges into the sea. Geoff and Karen being keen walkers had found their way to the local Klados Winery and brought back some lovely bottles which ended up as a gift to us as they couldn't get them into their suitcases. How lovely! We will save them for a special occasion.

Feeling the need for some walking and exercise, a few friends decided to walk the Milli Gorge, which is quite close by on the way to Rethymno, and not too demanding (usually!). There were three of us in the expedition, all wearing outdoor trainers and carrying backpacks as we parked one car at the bottom and were given a lift to the top by a helpful friend. Off we set in high spirits enjoying the shady trees, waterfalls and the lovely sound of running water down in the stream in the bottom of the gorge, but something was wrong. The track seemed very demanding and it didn't look anything like the path I had taken a year or two back. Somehow, we had taken a wrong turn and ended up on the wrong side of the stream scrambling over felled trees, blocked in by fallen rocks, being scratched by ghastly brambles and creepers and after a goodly while we realised that we were not going to meet the proper track any time soon and we had to scramble back up all the muddy slopes, climb back through all the brambles, tip toe across stepping stones in the water and find out where we had blundered. There is a small taverna at each end of the gorge and so we decamped back to the beginning, ordered a coffee, sussed out the conveniences and having “limbered up”, looked at the map! We started all over again an hour later! The new path was fenced all the way, had three bridges, lots of deserted churches, buildings, caves and a mill and made a lovely morning walk in the hot sunshine counterbalanced by the cool shady trees and stony donkey tracks down the stream. It was a great morning, but I was so stiff the next day! My shoulder still hasn't recovered from my Tarzan swing from an overhanging branch to try and scramble over a huge rock and down a very muddy slope.

The cooler nights mean that one sheet on the bed is no longer enough and we have been experimenting with add ons delaying the big decision of hauling out all the winter clothes and bedding from their hidey holes and doing the big swap over. What with lots of gatherings, meals out, coffees at Vinzi's overlooking the harbour in Panormo, the house has become extremely neglected and in need of a thorough clean, sort out and tidy. The exterior has had its waterproof coat of paint and the log pile is back in the porch. It must soon be Winter again.  Boo!

The electric power has been off for most of today after bouts of heavy rain and thunderstorms. K and I were amused to hear from  the locals in the cafeneon turning up soaked to the skin having braved torrents of water up to the ankles and hoping for a nice, hot cafedaki* - maybe even a raki*.  On being greeted with exclamations of “What Weather!”, one man said “Its horrible for us … but the trees are dancing!”. A picture to capture anyone's imagination and a cursory glance at the groves all around tells me that it is going to be a great year for olives and other fruits.

We were agog this morning to hear the most appalling, scary din coming from nearby. It sounded like the War of the Worlds had begun with a loud bleeping, metallic clanking, shouting, screeching and a cacophony which would have frightened the boldest of soldiers. Worried that a battle had begun, quite without our knowing, we gingerly peeped out of the corner of the front door to see whatever was being destroyed in the road outside. Not our car, please? Down in the little square a Bobcat bulldozery thing was pulling a telegraph pole chained to the back of it and was trying to manoeuvre it round a corner towards an even bigger bulldozery crane thing further down the road. My grandsons would have LOVED it! What a noise! This explained the lack of power all day (just as there was a slot of fine weather to get some washing dry … but no electrics!). The local authority were replacing telegraph poles and once we had taken a look at the old ones, we could see why. They were completely rotted through at the bottom. This was definitely a job which needed doing before the winter storms. Just think of the damage one of those huge tree trunks could do in a small village!

It is Oxi Day tomorrow, so we will see whether it will stay dry for the schoolchildren on parade out side the school in the big square.

Keep warm and dry, wherever you are! 

Just in case you didn't know:
*Cafedaki - a small Greek coffee
*Raki - the local hooch distilled from all the residue of the grape vines after winemaking