29th June, 2014
A cooler day which is rather blustery. Out at 8.30 am to the café. Coffee and tea and then a quick visit to the Notary who is putting in overtime on a Sunday. Life is busy for her at the moment and she’s having her new office decorated. She is so helpful and understanding we can’t believe it!
Back home to read the Sunday papers. They make fairly grim reading for any Europhile. Twelve months ago, I wouldn’t have even considered the idea of UK leaving Europe. Now, I think it is odds on we will leave in the next three years. Cameron has played it very badly and, for short term party politics he has appeased the right wing by leaping in the dark. Now he is bound by a referendum which he looks increasingly likely to lose. We will all be the poorer.
For the first time in two weeks, we haven’t been for a swim. It was too windy to be comfortable. Mother Cat has eaten three and a half meals. Holland came back with a dubious penalty in the final minutes to beat Mexico 2-1. The Mexicans were definitely unlucky to lose.
30th June, 2014
The end of June and a warm day again with our car registering 28C/83F. Had an mid morning meeting with the Notary in her newly decorated offices and then off to the bank where were had a enjoyable chat with the newish Bank Manager. Georgia, a Cretan, is a delightful young woman who was extremely helpful.
Swimming was lovely today. The water was warm and pleasant. Our meal today was onion omelette using the eggs donated by the Elinoil petrol station and delicious they were too! The newspapers are full of cockahoop Tory MPs who are now in sight of their goal of getting us out of Europe and returning us to the Dark Ages of isolation and Little Englanders. The Daily Telegraph’s headline is: The “Junckernaut” is driving Britain to inevitable separation. The point they make is that failure to join the euro has made this inevitable.
1st July, 2014
Happy July 2014 to most of our readers. The tradition goes that the first to say white rabbit on the first day of a new month will have good luck throughout that month. I woke Pauline at 4.00 am to wish her ‘White Rabbit’ and my lucky month began by being sent out to clean the patio. Never accept tradition at face value or Greeks bearing gifts!
It seems to be ant season. There are trails everywhere outside and, particularly, on our patio. We brought a huge stock of ant boxes but, already, we are beginning to question if we have enough to get through until October. Maybe the problem will die down anyway.
It took me three hours but the tiles are looking wonderful again and I feel as if I’ve done some ‘useful’, physical work. The reward is to go out for Lunch. We are going back to Vathy. I hope to get rabbit on the third time of asking.
We did and it was wonderful. Roast saddle of rabbit with oregano. I know from experience that roasting rabbit isn’t easy. It is easy to over cook and make very dry. This was succulent, moist and full of flavour. What am I doing eating rabbit on White Rabbit Day?
2nd July, 2014
Wonderful day today. Started mundanely by cleaning the car. Received an email from Bart Simpson who I have missed for a while. He is back on Paros and with a new Blog entitled: Little greek Island. He is a pleasant and interesting man who is well worth following.
We spent the morning in discussions with out Private Bank Manager at Nat. West in UK. It is an excellent service although we pay quite a lot for it. Next I had to communicate with MoneyCorp, a FedEx Bank that is highly respected in UK.
We have agreed a suitable policy together.
3rd July, 2014
Up early this morning – well before 7.00 am.. Mother Cat dropped in to say Good Morning (in cat speak) but didn’t stay for any breakfast for the first time in three months. We had a leisurely start to the morning – Juice and Tea followed by the papers – before the serious work started when I had my hair cut. We did some tidying out of cupboards. It really is amazing how much useless stuff one accumulates over a decade but become reluctant to throw out. Moneycorp phoned to confirm our intentions and we decided to forgo our swim.
We had a wonderful swim yesterday. The water was delightful, clear and refreshing. The wind today is so strong and blustery, swimming wouldn’t be enjoyable. Anyway, we’ve got a very busy day tomorrow so this is a pleasant counterpoint.
4th July, 2014
The TV news included an item on incredibly strong winds frustrating Independence Day celebrations in the US. Here strong winds have dashed hopes of a pleasant swim and will probably do so tomorrow as well. We have been up to Apollonia for a meeting and to visit the café. We met up with Costas, the woodman who supplied our windows and doors. A bit of shopping and then things retired people do like reading the papers, resting, etc. France v Germany and Colombia v Brazil tonight.
Mother Cat has started behaving strangely. She didn’t come for breakfast yesterday and hardly touched her Dinner but drank an entire bowl of water voraciously last night. This morning she ate her breakfast but then walked straight in to the bush where she gave bith last year. We find it incredible that she should be pregnant because their has been no physical sign but she has been eating three meals a day for weeks so who knows.
I would like to say I took this photo in the garden but it wouldn’t be true. I was just struck by its quality.
5th July, 2014
What a wonderful day after a tumultuous night. I think I have quoted a famous line from our erstwhile Poet Laureate, Ted Hughes, before but it is so apposite:
Wind
This house has been far out at sea all night,
The woods crashing through darkness, the booming hills,
Winds stampeding the fields under the window
Floundering black astride and blinding wet
Well, forget the wet but the rest fits perfectly. We closed all the shutters to avoid flexing and creaking. It was just as well because the booming wind was enough in itself. No damage but we were still quite tired at 6.55 am..
Did our shopping and noted the nearly €5Million donated by the EU (Us) for the new school. Later drove up to see the development of waste disposal at a cost of just over €5Million (Us again). People in UK would be horrified to see their subsidy of remote projects and would push even harder to leave the EU.
Our special friend phoned and we agreed to meet her and her husband this coming week. The Notary phoned and we shot back up to see her with paperwork. Life is jogging along nicely. We’ve had a lovely day and pensioners can ask for no more from life than that!