Sanders Blog

9th October, 2011

Went down to our apartment to do some cleaning and tidying after leaving it empty for six months. It is was a beautiful day. We were delighted with how the landscaped grounds around our building were looking. The trees are in magnificent colour. The apartment is set in the grounds of an old convent. As we were driving in, I noticed a little grey haired old lady teeter on the top step of huge step ladders with electric hedge trimmers in hand, cutting back a huge conifer. As we passed her, I turned down the window and shouted, “I expect to see a peacock in that conifer when I come back!” She looked so astonished that she nearly fell off the ladders.

We cleaned and measured up the rooms so that I could produce scaled plans ready for ordering furniture. When we left, the old lady was just getting down the ladders from a perfectly shaped conifer (in a conical) with the electric shears. We stopped the car in the road to say, ‘Hello‘. She told us that she was 82, her name was Joy and that her husband had been Head Gardener in the Convent where our apartment was built. She was clearly a character and lonely. It was hard to get away because she soon started rambling on about lots of stuff like her grandaughter getting a university place and then dropping out, etc.. Unfortunately, traffic came the other way and we had to move on.

10th October, 2011

Today I phoned Sky to book an installation of a package containing television, phone line with free calls and unlimited broadband. It will cost £70 – £80.00 per month which will save us about £40.00 on our previous arrangements.Went down to our apartment again and parked for the first time in our underground garage. We noticed that our nearest neighbour was parked in her space so we decided to go and introduce ourselves. She is a single woman who told us she’d been retired for four years and was now 54. She had been in the army and looked ‘well clipped’ – it turns out she was a General. She told us that she spent her time playing golf and travelling abroad. There is a meeting for the Management Group of our Development soon and we agreed to go together.

11th October, 2011

Today we went in to order fitted wardrobes for the bedrooms. We are almost the only people shopping in this huge store. Later in the day, we go in to an empty bed shop, an empty carpet shop, an empty Bathstore and an empty sofa store. Everywhere they are putting up ‘Reductions’ signs. We booked a man to come and measure up for the wardrobes with fitting and some bespoke additions. We know, roughly, the price of the carcases but are told not to pay anything until next Saturday when the price will be reduced by a further 15%. Later in the day, we get a phone call from the salesman to say that, if we pay a deposit, we can have 20% off.

12th October, 2011

Phoned my web space provider today because I still haven’t got access to my Blog after a whole week. I am quite dismayed and very angry. They tell me they are still working on the database connection. I asked how many people it affected and they became quite evasive. I became more suspicious.

13th October, 2011

This morning, coincidence??, my Blog became available again. Thank goodness for that. I can get on with updating it. I am nine days behind.

Had emails from friends in Yorkshire who we are going up to see next week. We also learned that a girl we taught with for about thirty years and who was about three years younger than us, died in her sleep last night.

14th October, 2011

Bought two settees and footstool for the lounge plus a sofabed for the study. We then went on to the carpet shop and chose two carpets. Pauline insists on an 80%/20% mix of wool/man-made fibre. We asked for two swatches and took them down to the furniture shop. It was obvious which of the two went best and we returned to the shop – Carpetright – to order. We will have the carpet laid right through the apartment – lounge-diner, stairs, bedroom 1 and bedroom 2. The price was 50% off but just as we were going in to the shop, they were putting out notices for an extra 10% off. We didn’t complain.

15th October, 2011

We now have a timetable for the next few weeks. We have jobs still to achieve but this is the barebone list:

October 18th Leave for Huddersfield
October 19th Visit friends in Oldham + go shopping in Leeds
October 20th Anti-Coagulation at HRI + visit Huddersfield friends / Dinner with M&V
October 21st Final Diabetic Clinic + Say goodbye to our Doctor.
October 22nd Carpets & Hard flooring measure up
October 25th Sky Specialist to install box – 12.00 pm -6.00 pm
November 10th Openreach Engineer – 8.00 – 1.00 pm
November 21st Wardrobes & Shelves fitted
November 23rd Carpets & Hard flooring layed
November 24th Bed delivered
November 25th Suite delivered

2nd October, 2011

Lovely sunny day which we spent cleaning the car and packing ready for leaving tomorrow night. Because of the strike situation, we had to go down to the ferry ticket agency – Aegean Thesaurus – to confirm that our ferry would still be running. They confirmed.

Watched some pretty awful football on the part of Bolton and QPR an d was delighted to see Spurs beat Arsenal.

3rd October, 2011

Our last day in our Greek house for this year has arrived. We got up early and gave the cats their last breakfast. They will get an evening meal and we will leave food out for Tuesday breakfast but they will almost certainly eat it during the night. I have just phoned Nova TV to cancel my satellite subscription until next April. After coffee, we will start to pack the car for the journey.

Next, we will drive up to Apollonia and fill up with petrol, cancel our internet service and do some shopping for the journey. That is why this Blog is predictive rather than reported today. By 10.00 am, I will have no internet connection until I reach the hotel in Italy on Wednesday. There is satellite internet on the ferry up the Adriatic but it is painfully slow and unreliable. Hopefully, I will write again from Lake Como.

I’ve been up and cancelled my internet provision but, because I pay in advance, I learn that I will be able to use it at least up to tomorrow and, maybe, even on the boat. Having packed the car, we will go out go out to eat early and then get our boat at 23.59 pm. We will aim to sleep for most of the six hours of the trip and drive off in to the Athens traffic at 6.00 am tomorrow. It will take about three and a half hours driving to get over the Korinthos Canal and half way round the Peloponnese to Patras but we will be there by around 10.00 am on Tuesday. We can then get some breakfast, ‘Check-in’ and get our tickets and drive down to the dock where we will board at about 3.00 pm. We sail at 5.00 pm Tuesday and dock in Ancona about 12.30 pm Wednesday having called in at Igoumenitsa on the way – an approximately 19 hour voyage.

4th October, 2011

The ferry arrived thirty minutes late last night but docked fairly much on time in Piraeus this morning. By 6.30 am we were spilling out in to the busy, Athens rush-hour traffic. By 10.00 am, we had arrived in Patras – the main Pelopponese port. This is the Patras Bridge of which they are so proud.

I bought my first newspaper for six months and, after checking in and getting our tickets, we parked up and snoozed in between reading the latest news. We boarded Anek at 3.00 pm.

5th October, 2011

Pauline is 60 today. Neither of us can believe it. We have different views on ageing. Pauline sees it as a guilty secret to be denied even to one’s self on the basis that if you deny you are sixty, you aren’t 60 and you don’t feel 60. I always believed that I would die, like Dad, at 49 or earlier. I have always felt older than my age and, when asked how old I am, I always anticipate my next birthday by saying, I will be 61 in April, or whatever. I see it as a real achievement to get to the next birthday. Yesterday, when we got on the ferry and went up to the Purser’s desk to get our cabin key, I told him she would be 60 when she sat down to breakfast on Wednesday. It is late season and this ship is almost empty. When we got down to breakfast at 8.30 am, we were the only people in the restaurant. Normally, it is usual to queue for a table. The waiter had already been told to treat us royally. Our breakfast was free and we could have as much of anything we requested brought to our table. Fresh orange juice and fresh coffee were poured and constantly replenished until we asked the waiter to stop. We had bacon and scrambled eggs followed by croissants with butter and jam until we could barely move. We were just summoning up the ability to get out of our chairs when the waiter appeared with a glass dish full of thick and snowy Greek yoghurt, which he insisted we finish our meal properly with, topped with Greek honey from Crete (the home of the ferry). You must have a sweet, he said. (For breakfast?) We couldn’t upset him.

We staggered out on to the deck and into the sunshine. It was 9.30 am and warm. There was no sight of land and we dock at 12.30 pm. After a few minutes fresh air and sunshine, we stagger back to our cabin. I have my lap top and the ship has a satellite internet connection. It also has Greek TV through satellite. We watch the news coverage of the General Strike across Greece today. I check my emails and the newspapers on the web while Pauline reads her book on her Kindle. Suddenly, the cabin phone rings and the Purser speaks to Pauline. He wishes her Happy Birthday and says she must be pleased to be 16. He says, You are only as old as you feel and today he feels 100. Pauline tells him she will check with him when we return in April. The Purser says that then she will be 15. Pauline is happy.

Before I went to bed, I tried to access my Blog to write it up. I got an error message which I’ve never seen before. I will have to do it tomorrow.

6th October, 2011

Up early. A cup of tea but no breakfast. I have to drive from Grandate, Como via Colmar in Alsace to Metz in France today. It is a 370 mile journey which is estimated to take 6.00 hours. The weather was lovely, the roads were deserted and the journey was wonderful. The Hotel Metz Technopole is a pleasant stopping off point with a wonderful restaurant. We stayed there last year and decided to repeat the experience.

7th October, 2011

Just a 4 hour journey to finish our trip. Our Tunnel crossing is booked for 6.00 pm but we will certainly go earlier. In Italy, we stocked up with wine and cheese. Now we drive straight to our favourite wine store – The Calais Wine Superstore.

By 4.00 pm UK time, we are back in England and on the motorway to Surrey and West Byfleet. After six months, it feels very strange. This evening, I try to update my Blog but I still can’t access it. I email 1&1, my hosting company for an explanation.

8th October, 2011

We spent the day going through a backlog of mail and feeling very tired. In the evening, we went over to Mandy & Kieron’s to celebrate Pauline’s birthday with steak and potato rosti.

25th September, 2011

As a wounded soldier, I had to take it easy. My ear – big in the first place – has swollen considerably and is miserably uncomfortable. Pauline has cleaned the splits and dressed them with antiseptic cream. I have been holding an ice pack on my ear until I couldn’t feel my face in an attempt to get the swelling down. It was stopping my hearing.  We were supposed to be going swimming but I have been banned in case I get an infection.

To add to my woes, there was just one, poor quality, Premier League match today – QPR v Aston Villa and it ended in a boring draw.

26th September, 2011

My ear is still swollen, throbbing and weeping a bit but we have to get on. We go up to the tile shop to pay for the waterproof treatment of our pergola roof. Six man hours plus the solutions comes to €500.00 which seems a bit steep but we are assured of a ten year warranty so we pay up.

We have coffee with Panos & Rania

27th September, 2011

Pauline & I are very similar in our reactions to things. As soon as we reach our final week, we are desperate to get on with it. We leave on Monday night, strikes permitting. We have done all the planning, bookings, etc.

• Monday: Sifnos – Piraeus on F/B Adamas Korais leaving at 23.59 and arriving next day at 6.00  am.
• Tuesday: Patras – Ancona on Anek Lines leaving at 17.00 and arriving next day at 12.30 pm. (Wine buying)
• Wednesday: Ancona to Lake Como – a four and a half hour drive.
• Thursday: Lake Como to Metz in France – a six hour drive.
• Friday: Metz to Calais – a four and a half hour drive. (Wine buying) 6.00 pm crossing through Tunnel to UK.

We have made lists of all the jobs we must do before we leave and we are ticking them off as we get through them. Teachers to the last.

28th September, 2011

This morning it was blood test, shopping, frappe and sweet pie at the cafe and relaxing in the sunshine. Our friends and restaurant owners, Panos & Rania along with their daughter, Nefelli and Anna, their chef, came round for coffee this afternoon.

My INR is all over the place again. I had to phone Huddersfield R.I. and they advised a new warfarin dosage. Tonight I am switching between Arsenal and Chelsea. The Chelsea match looks the best. Goodness knows what Man. U. were up to last night.

29th September, 2011

Can you believe that tomorrrow is the last day of September and we leave our Greek home in four days. Actually, the weather across northern Europe is lovely at the moment, dry and sunny, and would be ideal for our drive. It seems to have come a week early for us. It can’t possibly last. We really don’t want to be driving through heavy rain in Italy and France or snow in Switzerland.

We have food for three meals in the fridge/freezer and four days to eat. We decided to go out to eat. We went to Meropi restaurant. It is one of the traditional tavernas in the harbour which we first ate in when we came here in 1984/5. Meropi is an ancient Greek name – a girl’s name. In our naivety, we thought it was owned by Mr & Mrs Meropi when we first frequented it. We were served by a girl – daughter of the owner – who wasn’t even born when we first went to the restaurant. She is Katerina and she is 25 years old. She told us that she is getting married in November and she invited us to the wedding. Unfortunately, we won’t be there. We sat by the sea and ate chick pea balls with garlic sauce and then beef in red sauce (tomato) with potatoes. Red wine made us even more relaxed.

As we walked back to our car, we met Christos, the cafe owner, who told us he had just come back from Santorini where he and his wife and new baby had spent a week’s holiday. He didn’t like it. The island was ‘full’ of Japanese tourists with cameras. He wants Greece to leave the euro and return to the drachma. We disagreed on that. We went on past the ‘supermarket’ where we saw Giorgaikis (Little George) who is 27 years old and 6′ 4″ tall. His brother, Nikos, is on crutches. He was hunting on the mountain and fell and broke his ankle quite badly. We drove home for coffee and to sleep off the food and wine.

This evening. our feral cats who have been fairly scared of most human contact throughout the period we have been feeding them became incredibly affectionate. We are already feeling terrible that we are going to leave them to fend for themselves in the next few days. We don’t know if it is the cooler nights sleeping outside or the increased confidence that they have in us or the animal sixth sense that something is changing and we are going but today, Little Ginge & Little Tabs, followed Pauline around everywhere she went outside – opening the shutters, collecting the washing, etc. They even started rubbing her legs and kissing her foot when she fed them and she managed to stroke Tabs’ back as he ate although Ginge still shied away.

Little Tabs really does take after his adopted father. He is as fat as a house while Little Ginge is still more delicate. Even after they had been fed this evening, Little Ginge sat on the windowsill and continued to cry. We went out and told her she was a cat and that it was her tradition to go off catting at night time but she took a lot of persuading.

30th September, 2011

This morning Pauline is picking olives for bottling and taking back to England. Then we are going to the accountant to ask about the lost legal papers on our house. First we will call in at the Post Office to ask them to save all our mail until April when we return.

When we get to the Accountant’s office, we are told that the papers have been found in the Tax Office in Athens and are on their way back to Sifnos. Suddenly, all worries are waved away. It is a typically Greek resolution to a problem that has concerned us for two or three weeks but which Greeks around counselled us not to worry about because everything sorts itself out in time. And it has!

My ear is a lot better today but my arm has come out in an angry bruise from the fall.

We leave the island at midnight on Monday and just manage to get our ferry before the Seamen’s union goes on strike. The air traffic controllers have already arranged theirs and the buses, trains and taxi drivers are in the midddle of theirs. To add to our luck, the five day weather forecast says our journey across Europe will be warm and dry.

1st October, 2011

I can’t believe the days are flying by so fast. I thought retirement would slow them down. Anyway, Happy October to you all.

It feels like the end of term. All we have to do is tidy our offices, make a few speeches of gratitude for all the support colleagues have given us over the past few months and then head off on our merry way only to return after a short while to start all over again. In those days, of course, all our personal organisation was crammed in to spare, non-professional minutes. Now, we have lots of time and almost everything is done well in advance. Today I will have my hair cut outside on the terrace. The falling hair will drift away in the breeze and remain on my land while we are away. Pauline is ironing and packing the last clothes while I will be watching the football. We are planning how to eat the remaining food over the final three days and drink the last bottles of wine. We have just enough food for the cats and we’ll leave their Tuesday breakfast for when we’re gone. After that, they’ll have to hunt out their food.

18th September, 2011

The swimming just gets better. Nobody else in the sea. Warm, clear water. Air temperature almost permanently hovering around 28C/83F.

Had the pleasure of watching United destroy a rather ageing and shabby Chelsea.

19th September, 2011

The woodman didn’t turn up to finish the job today which worried us a bit but we were told to go to the tiler’s shop to arrange for him to send someone down to put the final coatings on the roof. It gets a red, rubberised coating followed by a white coating to reflect the sun away followed by a varnish to keep the whole thing perfect. The tiler’s wife said it would be a week before they could get to us so we are keen to follow up on that before we leave.

The sea seemed even warmer today and the swimming was delightful.

20th September, 2011

The  woodman, Konstantinos, his brother in law, Adonis, and his wife’s Uncle, Giannis, arrived at 9.30 am to complete the work on the roof. It has been a really professional, high quality job.

Amazingly this afternoon the sky has turned cloudy and we are told that we have a 30% chance of rain tomorrow. Everyone here will love that – apart from a few tourists who are left. We haven’t seen any ‘weather’ since May. Every day is hot, dry, blue sky and sunny. Nice to have a change at last.

21st September, 2011

Last night we thought there would be a huge thunderstorm. At 11.30 last night, we were sitting outside watching almost continuous sheet lightning flashing just behind the mountainous bowl in which Kamares Bay sits. The lightning was not followed by thunder but it was fairly hot and humid. We went to bed expecting to hear the beat of torrential rain on our flat roof in the middle of the night. It didn’t happen and this morning brought blue skies with fleecy clouds. It feels a little fresher than normal so, maybe, the prospect of rain is going away.

We are continuing jobs in preparation for closing up the house. We leave in twelve days and there is lots to do. I have written before of our hardwood windows & doors which were supplied by Sylor. The paintwork is electromagnetically applied which means that rather than having to repaint every year as most islanders do, we have a ten year warranty which is already in to its sixth year and standing up well. In order to keep up the standard, we are supplied, free of charge, with a ‘Care Pack’ which contains a bottle of liquid detergent and a ‘water-based impregnating agent’ both of which we apply each Autumn. We are also given a WD40 can for the hinges and other metal work. However sceptical we may have been at the outset, Pauline has religiously done the job each Autumn and the warranty will easily be fulfilled and, probably, another ten years.

We went up to the woodman’s to speak to Maria, his wife, and to pay the bill. It was €1100 but worth every cent. As we drove home, I suggested we call in at the tiler’s shop to speak to his wife, Katerina, to see when they were coming to put waterproofing on our new roof. It just so happened that three men had returned from a tiling job early so they were immediately despatched to our house. It is so un-Greek-like but it was magical. With thunderstorms predicted for tonight, we now have a waterproofed roof which will do the next ten years. The workers will come back tomorrow to put the white coat of paint on and then again on Friday to varnish the whole thing.

22nd September, 2011

Well, it’s happened. We’ve had our first rain since early May. There was no thunder & lightning,  just a heavy drumming on the roof as a ten minute monsoon style rain hit us. It was 3.00 in the morning and we got up to watch in excitement. Little Ginge & Little Tabs were cowering under the outdoor furniture. This was their first ever experience of rain. We opened the door and smelled the freshness before leaving the cats to their fate and going back to bed.

The morning has broken with warm sun and clear, blue skies. Isn’t this how life should be organised? Heavy rain at night and warm, bright skies during the day. Pauline is painting the underside of the pergola roof. I’m cleaning the bathroom. It may be a reversal of traditional roles but we each do what we can. We are a good team.

It is two and a half years since Pauline & I did a day’s paid work. Our pay arrives every month at a rate that means we notice no difference from when we were in work. Every day I feel something of a fraud. In April, while Teachers’ pay is frozen until the end of 2012, our pay will increase by 4.5%. In a year, Pauline will receive her old age pension in addition. We won’t need it but we will invest it if we can find something worth putting it in to.

23rd September, 2011

Pauline is painting the edges of the pergola in a freezing, early morning temperature of 22C/70F. No wonder the cats wolfed down their food and went off to snuggle in the garage. I don’t think we will be swimming today.

The temperature eventually did reach 26C/79F but we didn’t go swimming. Two young men appeared for the third day running with huge cans of varnish to put on the pergola roof. It now has a thick, red, rubber layer covered by a white layer covered by a clear varnish. That is it now. Pauline painted the edges white today and she will do the same to the underneath tomorrow. I will not write about it again – unless it blows down.

Greece has no money. Local government is cutting back everywhere. Amusingly, all local, Greek Authorities will be expected to balance their books by 2013. What one would be able to correctly infer from this is that they don’t balance their books currently and haven’t done for years. They just go cap-in-hand to central government for hand outs to make up the shortfall. Often the shortfall is scandalously large. We went for a drive round the island and were surprised to find that large portions of the road system were being freshly re-tarmaced. Some of them, in our view, didn’t really need it. Something fishy is going on!

24th September, 2011

Woke up early this morning …………… on the bedroom floor with blood pouring out of the side of my head. It was just after 6.00 am. The room was pitch black because the shutters were closed. I wasn’t drunk.

As I woke, I felt myself falling – not surprisingly because that is exactly what was happening to me. I had rolled off the side of the bed and caught my ear on the pointed corner of the bedside cabinet tearing my earlobe. I take a long time to come round in the morning. I didn’t this morning. I knew immediately that I was on the floor and something hot and wet was dripping from my ear. Pauline was instantly at my side with a huge towel to mop up the blood. I take Warfarin and my blood doesn’t clot. The fall had torn my ear lobe and the blood flow was insistant. The photograph below was taken four hours later and the blood had just begun to clot.

11th September, 2011

After a football free weekend last week, I was looking forward to some good entertainment this weekend. Apart from United’s slaughter of Bolton, 5 – 0 (Sorry, Ruth but Bolton were lucky to score 0.), the other five or six games I saw were poor quality and boring.

The day was saved by the most wonderful weather. The sea temperature is 25C/77F according to our forecaster and the air temperature was 28C/83F. It’s not boiling but it feels very pleasant. We had a beautiful swim in crystal, clear water.

12th September, 2011

With the possibility that the woodman might appear with his team ‘after 9.00 am’, we were up and outside by then. We have got an ongoing job of land clearing and leaky pipe checking (for leaks). That’s what we got on with. By 12.00 am, it was clear the woodman wasn’t coming today. We were tired and sweaty. Showers and out shopping. Back for coffee and then it was time for swimming. Once again, we did our mile in wonderful water. There were about three ‘wrinklies’ couples on the beach. Since June 1st, we have swum about 100 miles.

Back at the house by 3.00 pm and, after a shower, we have a little snack of a few crisps & nuts and some little bits of garlic sausage with a glass of wine. We are going out to dinner tonight so we just want to get ourselves through the next four or five hours of hunger. By 4.00 pm, Pauline is reading her Kindle and I am snoozing in front of the News. The Greek government are talking about a new property tax. The next thing I know, it is 6.00 pm. The cats are clamouring at the windows to be fed. The small snack at lunchtime is still filling our newly shrunken bellies and we cancel the dinner out. We’ll do that tomorrow.

13th September, 2011

The wonderful weather continues. After a bit of gardening, Pauline phones the electrical shop about our broken brush cutter. It’s repaired. We go up to collect it and it illustrates one of the delights of Greece. When we get to the shop, the machine is repaired and working. The shop hasn’t done it and they make no charge. Why? we ask. Because Georgios was passing on the bus and he knows about these machines. He repaired it. He doesn’t want paying. What can you say but Thank you.

A few days ago the Garden Centre man said he was waiting for insecticide for the blight on the lemon trees. Today, he said it had come in. We bought it and a sprayer. He told us how to dilute it and apply it. We will do it tomorrow. We really are going out to eat tonight.

First we have had a lovely swim. Although there are only a few wrinklies this year, this is the sort of transport that they seem to like to arrive on:

We did another mile of swimming in wonderful water although today the tide was going out strongly and we had to fight it. The photograph below illustrates our swim:

14th September, 2011

Still, blue skies and 33C/92F today. After breakfast, we did three gruelling hours of garden clearing, testing and repairing the leaky pipe network. After a short recovery period, we went off for our swim. The water was warm and still.

When we came back, Pauline phoned the woodman who confirmed that he is delivering materials tomorrow evening and his team will start work on Friday morning. Tonight we have to spray our lemon trees with an insecticide. Apparently, all the citrus trees of Sifnos are suffering from thrips which can be erradicated with this spray. We have six citrus trees and I have to cover my skin, my mouth and nose before I start the job. At least the evening is still.

We are a bit worried about our cat family. They are incredibly close and supportive of each other. They are constantly kissing and cuddling each other; they don’t fight over food; they are together all the time. In the past few days, Mother has started to change. She has gone off on her own, been a bit moody and struck out at the kids. We are not sure but we think she might be pregnant. The kids are finding it very hard and Little Ginge, particularly, spends all her time near to us, crying. I can’t take it. I’ve told Pauline, she’ll have to come home with us.

15th September, 2011

A hot (33C/92F) but difficult day today. We went up to the electricity shop to change the clarify our billing address because we had not received our last two paper bills even though the charge had been deducted from our bank account. The man at the electricity shop did that on his computer but told us to contact the accountant, because there was a problem. In order to get ‘full’ electricity, one has to submit the paper which the planning/building authority issues after the building is completed. This paper says that the final building has been checked and it adheres to the original plans. Only then can people have full electricity switched on. Our papers were submitted four years ago but we still haven’t been granted full electricity. Apparently, our papers were submitted to the Authorities in Milos as normal. Milos sat on them and when finally questioned, said only Greeks could submit their papers to Milos. Non-Greeks had to submit them to Athens. The papers were submitted to Athens and passed. In this process, the original paper has gone missing and only a photocopy remains at the accountant’s office. The electricity shop says it cannot switch on full power without the original paper. This is not good news and could delay matters even more.

16th September, 2011

After six months of asking, the woodman says he is coming today. We will see. Today has reached 33C/92F with a slight breeze. We worked hard in the garden for two hours or so and then had a wonderful swim. Pauline made pizza for our meal. We eat so little now, one, homemade pizza absolutely fills us.

The woodman arrived at 6.00 pm bringing wood and saying the job would be done tomorrow. We cannot believe it. I got so emotional I kissed him. He seemed quite pleased.

17th September, 2011

At 9.00 am, we were outside drinking coffee when the woodman and team arrived. They set to work and we sat and watched. The woodman’s wife’s uncle began in the laundry. Because non of us speaks a common language, I had produced diagrams on my computer of what we wanted and where. He seemed delighted with those. The woodman and his brother-in-law began to dismantle the pergola. Half way through the morning we offered coffee which they laughingly declined because it was Nescafe not Greek coffee. But the homemade tyropita or cheese pies that Pauline baked were wolfed down with a bottle of water. They will work until 3.00 pm so we will miss our swim today. The first football match is at 14.45 pm (Blackburn v Arsenal) so we won’t have time. We will have to do double tomorrow.

4th September, 2011

Do you remember Sundays as a child? Church, breakfast and then ‘quiet activities’ for the rest of the day. Maybe a family walk in the afternoon. Nothing like a normal day. We  had one of those today – not out of any religious convention but because we couldn’t be bothered. We didn’t even go swimming today and hardly ate anything. In the afternoon, we went for a slow drive across the island to assess the tourist position. There was little position to assess. Few tourists remain.

We sail from Patras to Ancona on October 4th in the afternoon and arriving mid day on October 5th. Leaving a Greek island with a deadline to meet like that is always a little problematic. Ferries can be cancelled at the drop of a hat and without notice. Usually, this is because of the weather. To add to that risk at the moment, Greek Seamen’s Unions are prone to strikes. For that reason, we have always played safe and left the island at least one and sometimes two days early. This time we had planned to leave the island on Sunday, 2nd and stay at a lovely hotel – Patras Palace – for a couple of days before sailing. We booked the hotel ages ago. However, it would cost us £300.00 – £400.00 and we would be kicking our heels for two days. The other problem with Greek ferries is that their timetables change regularly according to demand. Suddenly, a ferry service has been announced for the night of Monday, 3rd and arriving in Piraeus on Tuesday morning. We can then just drive straight up to Patras some three or so hours away and get on our boat for the Adriatic. We have decided to take the risk and do that. We leave four weeks tonight.

5th September, 2011

Glorious morning forecast to reach 31C/89F with just a little breeze. We have got gardening in the morning followed by swimming in the afternoon and the dinner out with Panos & Rania in the evening.

The temperature was actually 34C/93F as we plunged in to the crystal, clear Aegean. The temperature rose considerably later in the afternoon when we learnt that the new Principal appointed to take over our old school which has combined with an Asian intake school and to be the sixth Head in as many years is to be the notorious Creationist, Nigel McQuoid. He believes that biblical text should inform every area of the curriculum which should enthuse the 50% Muslim intake.

6th September, 2011

Lovely warm day. We pushed ourselves to do a couple hours of of very tiring gardening followed by an hour of swimming which was delicious. By the time we got home, we were exhausted. Our meal was a simple Spaghetti Bolognese where only the meat sauce was homemade. The pasta was bought in but it was bought in Italy.

The cats – Mother, Little Tabs and Little Ginge – are becoming bolder and more amusing when they are desperate for food. Suddenly, when they think it is time (and their body clocks are quite good.), they become very visible. The kittens are now as big as their Mother and they stand on their hind legs to look through the glass panels of the back door or the sit on a window sill and stare in. They scratch on the insect nets until we chase them or they roll about on the patio furniture and dive into the cushions because they know it annoys us.

Little Ginge is the most appealing and she is pushed forward to beg for food first:

Little Tabs is not far behind and absolutely beautiful:

As you may have noticed, Mother is much more wary and always watchful in the background:

7th September, 2011

We are seeing real signs of Greece’s lack of money. The woodman’s wife, Maria, was telling us that they had been asked to donate their children’s books from last year for the new school year’s intake. The school has no money to buy new books. They can’t even afford enough teachers. Just like their centralised, command economy, they have a centralised, common curriculum and it is controlled via combined text-exercise books which deliver the curriculum almost without specialised, subject teacher intervention. The teachers are there as crowd control really. The children read the text and write answers to questions alongside. By the end of the year, the book is useless to new pupils because they are filled with other children’s writing. However, this year, there is no choice. The education minister has been on television explaining the position and suggesting money will come through in October but that is unlikely. The idea was put forward last year for an on-line curriculum and the reasoning for that is becoming clearer but they couldn’t afford the computers. Each classroom only has one. I would offer to sort it out but my language skills aren’t up to it.

Another sign of the Greek economy’s weakness is in its mainstay – shipping. As I have already written, out of the blue our ferry company, Anek, with which we had bought tickets from Italy to Greece and back joined forces with one of its main rivals, Superfast, because the passenger traffic was so low. They didn’t even tell us. I found it by accident on the internet. Now, we learn, that the trusty old faithful Sifnos-Piraeus ferry, Agios Giorgos from Ventouris Ferries has stopped running. We don’t know why but we suspect economic conditions. We hope they aren’t terminal because it would limit island communications badly.

8th September, 2011

Woke up and opened the shutters this morning and saw a cloud! What is happening?

Well, now the tourist season is over, Unions are resuming strikes. Today it is taxi drivers. Tomorrow it is doctors. The schools go back on Monday and teachers start a strike a week later. It will make Winter in England seem attractive – as long as the seamens’ union allow us to get there.

Went up to the Garden Centre with a specimen of new leaves from our Lemon/Orange trees. They have some sort of blight which is making them curl. As soon as I spoke to the owner of the Garden Centre, I was reassured that I wasn’t doing something wrong. Everyone across Sifnos has this problem. It is caused by Citrus Thrips attacking the leaves. The trees have to be sprayed with an insecticide which he had ordered from Athens and which would arrive in the next few days. I also took a photograph of a flowering plant which I had photographed on the island and thought would look good in our garden. He knew it immediately and gave me the latin name: Bigonia Meganthis. He has one in his garden centre and I will plant it in April.

On to the Post Office to look for letters. Nothing today although we should have had two electricity bills. Then to the coffee shop for frappè and sweet pies. On to the Accountant to see if they have heard about our electricity supply. We are told that a letter has been sent to Athens and a reply is expected ‘imminently’. Don’t hold your breath. Up to the hardware shop for a padlock to secure our water drill while we are away. On to the supermarket and then to the woodman. He will be with us ‘soon’. Don’t hold your breath.

I’m not good at shopping. I always find it exhausting and today was no exception. Even so, we are still going swimming although it is an absolutely freezing 26C/79F.

9th September, 2011

A wonderful day. Still, peaceful, 28C/83F. We went up to see the Woodman.

In April, we asked Kostas to replace the traditional, bamboo matting cover for our pergola with a solid, waterproof roof. Bamboo has a short life span, lets hot sun and wet rain through the cracks and encourages huge, black hornets to lay eggs in the tube ends. We also asked Kostas to put shelves up all round the laundry room.

We celebrated with a wonderful swim. The water was warm and crystal clear. We shared it with a couple of other people and lots of little fish. Quite magical. We drove home to feed the cats.

You may have read my entry for 7th September about Ventouris Ferries and the f/b Agios Georgios. The mystery is now solved. This ferry has served Sifnos for years – 10 or 15 at least. Because of new European regulations, the Greek government has been doing investigations and found that Ventouris have been running the ferry ship illegally all this time. They have never done the required paperwork or paid the required taxes. What’s new? This is standard for Greece. If they stump up the money, they will be granted a licence to get back on the sea. If they have the money!

28th August, 2011

We have 34 days left on the island. At night time now there is a slight Autumnal feel. The temperature goes down to 22C/70F which feels freezing.

Pressure cleaning the patio this morning. The pressure pipe burst. It is a Black & Decker I bought on the island. I use it for cleaning the car and the tiled areas around the outside of the house. This latter job takes four or five hours even with the machine. I am forced to take the rest of the morning off.

I don’t think I have ever felt sorry for Arsenal but I did today. United made them look a complete shambles.

29th August, 2011

The trouble with island life is that most commodities have to come from the mainland which will take a long time and cost more money than it’s worth. We know before we set out this morning that a replacement pipe for the pressure washer will not be obtainainable until we are close to leaving. We go to the two DIY shops and the two electrical shops. They have only one pressure washer between them. We buy it for €70.00 because we need one and we’ll source the  broken part in UK in the winter. Then we’ll have two pressure washers. How exciting!

My stomach is a little upset today. I either ate too much olive oil or drank too much wine yesterday. I decide to do computer today. We are in the process of creating a contacts book. We have built up a network of trades people from plumbers and electricians to wall builders and tilers and we need to record them all.

30th August, 2011

Lovely day. Quiet, warm, still. The final, big batch of holiday makers left last night. The island is returning to normal. Of course, there will always be some tourists around and this, particularly, is a time for the ‘Wrinklies’ to come on holiday. Still, it will be much quieter and particularly on the roads.

31st August, 2011

Can you believe it is the end of August? Another beautiful day. Hot, still and quiet. The cats have had their breakfast – dried biscuits and skimmed milk – and are now playing with a ball on the patio. We have had our breakfast – Yorkshire Tea & toasted homemade bread and homemade marmalade – and will soon be out patio cleaning and window cleaning before swimming.

1st September, 2011

Once again, White Rabbit Day.

We went out into an upper level of the garden (field) to clear over grown and dead grasses and weeds. We were using the electric brush cutter we bought in Athens in June. After twenty minutes of useful work, the cutter just refused to start. We check all the connections but, ultimately concluded that the internal motor was at fault. Once again, this immediately illustrates the dilemmas of island living. In England, we would take a nearly new machine back to the shop and either get a replacement or our money back. Here, it would cost us more than three times the value of the machine just to get to the shop and back. It would also take a couple of days. We thought we might look at it ourselves but soon gave up when we found the casing itself was sealed with some fifteen different sized screws. We will take it to the electrical shop and see if someone is prepared to take it on. Failing that, we will have to wait until next year and a new machine. The current one is a Nakayama XH1000 and is only sold in Greece as far as I can find.

2nd September, 2011

Absolutely lovely day today. The whole family had breakfast and then cats stretched out under the dining furniture on the patio and slept for about six hours while we went out to see people. We took our brush cutter to the electrical shop and they will try to repair it. On to the Accountant who will know by Wednesday about our electricity supply. On to the Woodman who has to go to the island of Folegandros tomorrow but will start work at our house next Thursday. He will put lots of shelves up in the laundry, put a solid roof on the pergola and measure up to produce doors for the garage. The woodman, Kostas, is a lovely chap but it is impossible to go there without him getting out alcohol – today it was two types of wine – and homemade cheeses. At 11.30 am we were full and drunk but we fixed a date for the work.

By 2.00 pm we are on an almost empty beach and swimming in an empty sea. It is the most wonderful condition. The air temperature is 32C/90F. The sea temperature is 23C/70F. The water is sparkling and so clear I want to drink it. The sand is still a bit too hot to stand on for any length of time but we don’t stay on the beach. We walk on to the beach and straight in to the sea. We swim across the bay each way which takes just under an hour. We get straight out, walk to the car and drive up to the house, shower and then prepare a meal. Because of all the cheese & wine from the woodman, we weren’t very hungry.

3rd September, 2011

Something strange has happened with my weight loss. Our diet has drastically reduced over the past six months. This was not a conscious decision but conditioned by the weather. I weighed myself in July and found I had lost two stones in weight. I didn’t change my regime and lost another half stone or so. Since then – for the past month at least – I have not lost a single pound. Pauline has continued to lose weight.

The new growth on our lemon trees is producing gnarled and blighted leaves. I discussed this with the woodman yesterday and he said I need to spray them with something which I can buy from the local garden centre which is owned by his wife’s brother. I am off there today to nip this problem in the bud.

Stavros has four guinea fowl and they roam the rough areas of our land pecking for seeds but also performing the useful operation of irradicating the snakes. They are large, turkey-sized birds to look at although the don’t appear so in the supermarket. Today, when we got up, we were so proud to find our kittens stalking two guinea fowl. Little Ginge leapt at one from behind a bush but soon found herself being chased. Little Tabs had a go and managed to drive the birds down the bank and away. Both kittens strutted for quite a while until Pauline called breakfast.

21st August, 2011

Thought it had all been going too well. Got up in the middle of the night to find the floor of the en suite bathroom soaking wet. The water boiler had sprung a leak. We had been warned that they only had about a five year life span because of the hardness of the water but one normally dismisses those things until they happen. Unfortunately, the second boiler is in the laundry room so we will be expecting that to go now. We have turned the water off to the boiler and the electricity. It is still dripping a little but we can cope with that and we have the main bathroom for showers, etc. It would happen on a Sunday but we have gone down to our nearest neighbour to see if he can help us get a plumber. We have been told that one will arrive in a couple of hours but we haven’t been told which day.

22nd August, 2011

Mum would have been 88 today. Happy Birthday, Mum. I am away as usual.

A man did arrive and said he was a plumber but he was rubbish. Things went from bad to worse and now we have no pump to send water around the house. We bought a new water boiler from the electrical shop for €137.00.

The rubbish plumber who was an Albanian called Thomas and didn’t speak any English, turned the water off but forgot to turn the pump off. Consequently, the pump’s chamber ran dry and now needs a proper plumber to reprime it. We are fetching well water in buckets to flush toilets and heat up for washing. We are drinking just bottled water at the moment. Stavros has phoned the real plumber to see if he can come out on emergency but he hasn’t turned up.

23rd August, 2011

We went to bed stressed. Woke up in the middle of the night with cramp in my leg, shot up and the base of the bed collapsed. We put the light on, looked at each other and thought, Can this really get any worse? Our lovely, big, pine bed that we had had expensively made in Huddersfield six years ago had suddenly failed us. The runner that held the planks of mattress support had obviously dried out in the Greek weather over the past six years. It had been glued and screwed but the glue had flaked, the wood had cracked at the screw points and, with Pauline’s weight, it had given way. Sometimes even a fantastic England cricket performance and an imperious Man. U. destruction of Spurs can’t raise the spirits. It would be fair to say that we are a little down today.

24th August, 2011

To just add to our misery last night, the cats turned up at 7.00 pm for their evening meal and Little Tabs – the male (teenage) kitten – had an unrecognisable face. It was hugely swollen. Wasps do plague them when they eat so we thought it might be reaction to a sting but he was so swollen, we believe he had been bitten by a snake. When the cats didn’t arrive for breakfast at 7.00 this morning, we thought the worst. Fortunately, they all arrived an hour late without explanation and Little Tabs’ face had returned to normal.

Nice pictures in the paper this morning. The first is from Greece. The second is not:

We went up to the Accountant’s Office to ask about our electricity account. They had heard nothing about it but they had a ‘special’ bill for us to pay. One of the Greek Government’s austerity measures is to levy a one-off tax on property-owning non-Greeks. Between us, Pauline & I had to pay €700.00 or just over £600.00. It wasn’t desperate but it was money we could have used elsewhere. We went to the café for a Frappé and a Bougatsa (sweet pie).

And then, with one bound, we were free:

We went to the Bank to pay the tax bill and then on to the Medical Testing Centre to have my INR anti coagulation test. Last month it had suddenly doubled inexplicably. Today it was entirely back to normal. One problem solved.

We went on to the woodman to talk about Pauline collapsing our bed. No problem, he said. Bring the two sides in and I will repair it immediately. We did exactly that and will collect them tomorrow. Two problems solved.

For weeks now we have been looking for Luciana & Nikos, a Romanian couple we befriended when they arrived in Sifnos in 1994 looking for work. We want them to look after our land while we are away in the winter and we want Nikos to supervise a team to build about 40 metres of walling in front of our property. As we drove home, we spotted Luciana and asked her to bring Nikos to our house. He came up at 5.00 pm and agreed to do the work. The wall – all 40 metres including digger hire, cement and stone plus labour will only cost €4000.00. I was amazed. He will do it in November while we are away. Three problems solved.

For three days now we have been washing and flushing toilets with buckets from our water drill. We haven’t enjoyed it and it has felt like a life time. We haven’t been able to use the dishwasher or the washing machine. Yesterday, the plumber said he would have to send the pump to Athens to be repaired. It would take about a week. He obviously saw our faces at that news because he arrived at 6.00 pm this evening with a brand new pump. It took twenty minutes to fit. Ok the cost of the pump was another €700.00 but who cares. We have water. Four problems solved.

Little Tabs came for his tea tonight and his face was beautiful and normal. His coat gleams with health. He could feature in a TV advert. He ate all his food and drank his milk and then went off to play.

Life is so wonderful. We are walking on air.

25th August, 2011

Picked up the repaired sides of our bed. We don’t have to sleep in the spare room tonight. The woodman said, No Charge. We bought him a bottle of wine.

We’ve paid out a lot of money, unexpectedly, recently so we had to phone our Bank in UK to send more funds. Of course, the £/€ exchange immediately weakened against us but it always does.

26th August, 2011

Went out to find the plumber’s house to pay his bill. We found his apartment where his wife, Poppy, and his two little girls, Irini and Katerina were in the kitchen. Poppy and the girls invited us in, sat us down and immediately started offering us coffee, cake, anything they had on the table. These are the genuine Greek people.

27th August, 2011

When Pauline & I took redundancy two and a half years ago, we had been working with our third Headteacher in as many years. It had been incredibly stressful and we were glad to be out of it. The Government’s solution to the racial divide in Oldham was to socially engineer through creation of an Academy. Weeks after we left, a fourth Headteacher was appointed and resigned within ten months. This week came the news that the fifth Headteacher had resigned, 25% more staff had been made redundant and the rest had had to reapply for their own jobs, some up to three times. And against this backdrop, they were expected to teach, perform miracles and obtain the best exam results ever. We are happy coping with water shortages, bust beds and cat’s faces.

Today would be Pauline’s Mum’s 97th Birthday and we miss her dreadfully. Happy Birthday.

14th August, 2011

A quiet day of swimming and watching football. It was good to see Chelsea held to a draw by Stoke although it wasn’t a particularly good match. It was great to watch United get the winning goal against West Brom. It was a bit lucky but the Rooney goal was excellent.

15th August, 2011

A difficult day. Soon after toast and tea and before we got out in the garden, Pauline began to feel unwell. She felt rather faint – a little dizzy. She lay down on a settee and slept all morning. She had no interest in lunch and still felt unwell. She looked unwell – drawn and lacking in colour. Her condition was unpleasant although not desperate but it presents one with an awful dilemma. In a foreign country on a little island with two, young doctors who don’t speak English, what do you do for medical advice? Today is a National Holiday and the Medical Centre will be closed. All I could do is call an emergency mobile number. Pauline’s condition was not an emergency although I didn’t know what to suggest to help her feel better.

Although her condition continued throughout the afternoon, she felt well enough to eat my meal of 3Ps – Pork & Peppers with Pasta. We bought a lot pasta in Italy on the way down and we have really enjoyed it. It may be all in the mind but the pasta we bought in Italy seems to be far more flavoursome than that bought in Sainsburys. Of course my meal really perked her up and I allowed her to stay up to watch the first goal by Man. City before sending her off to bed.

16th August, 2011

We both got up feeling well today. After breakfast we went out to do a morning’s gardening. By mid day we were shattered in the heat and came in for a shower and a huge bowl of fresh fruit salad. We have been eating this once or twice a day for the past few months. Peaches, nectarines, huge purple plums, grapes, pears, strawberries and bananas all cut up and mixed in a juice. It is like eating pure summer and so refreshing.

Lovely long swim this afternoon and then I made rissoto for our meal. Tonight I’m watching Arsenal trying to qualify for the Champions’ League. Thank goodness Joey Barton isn’t there.

17th August, 2011

A hot blowy day today. We went out early and worked ourselves senseless in the garden. We have about three acres of land planted with trees – olive and fruit. It sounds nice but it is incredibly hard work to keep under control. Every tree and bush is fed by a leaky pipe system. It was laid down five or six years ago when the trees were planted. It is fed from a central system that I control manually when we are here and automatically when we are away. A lot of it has become overgrown because, in the early years, we were only here for five weeks at a stretch. Now we are trying to get to grips with it – clearing pipes and repairing any splits, making sure sprinklers are not clogged, taking out weeds from around the base of trees, etc. Soon we will have to get a little man in but, at the moment, the effort is doing us good.

Fantastic swim after we had recovered from gardening and then Pauline found the energy to cook Rack of Lamb with a wonderful barbecue sauce and roast potatoes. I contributed roasted peppers stuffed with two cheeses – Feta, Danish Blue and then coated with Parmigiano. Lovely!

18th August, 2011

Another lovely day but we have 35C/36C (95F/97F) forecasted as maximums for today and tomorrow. Gardening, shopping, swimmming, eating, Test Match will all fill the day. Had a horrible dream that I hadn’t done my marking last night. I suddenly woke up telling myself – John, you’re not a teacher any more and you never did your marking when you were. So that was alright.

Lovely report in the newspaper this morning about the top ten strangest items left in a rental car from Europcar. All the usual suspects appeared like false legs and furry handcuffs but what amused me was an ammunition case and a stretcher in Bradford, a wheelchair in Sheffield and, the best of all, half a pint of beer with a CD titled The Art of Speed Seduction in Reading. Priceless!

19th August, 2011

Coincidence is a surprising and barely explainable meeting of occurrences. Pauline & I have been together for 33 years and you would expect, after that length of time, for our thought processes to mesh at times. I had been thinking about what I fancied for Dinner and garlic chicken sprang in to my head. I don’t know why. We hadn’t eaten it for months. Pauline walks in to the lounge and says, Do you fancy garlic chicken for dinner? I am surprised but not absolutely amazed. A few days ago, I woke up thinking about the keys to our Greek house. We have a front door key on the ring and a small, silver one which we haven’t used for five years. It opened the temporary garage doors which no longer exist. As we lock the door to go swimming, Pauline asks, Can you remember what this little, silver key was for? Now I was really quite taken aback but an event this morning really took my breath away.

We swam in the sea for an hour, walked back to the car and, as we did so, I said to Pauline, I wonder what Lisa Mills is doing now? Lisa Mills was a girl we worked with in School for about ten years. We weren’t particularly friendly but she was a good teacher and I cultivated her for a project I was launching. Pauline said, Did you see her in the sea? Which, of course, I had. We had both seen a woman in the sea who bore a strong resemblance to Lisa Mills. There is nothing very surprising about that although neither of us had seen her for two and a half years. However, I could not believe it when I had an email from Facebook this morning – It was a ‘friend request’ from Lisa Mills.

20th August, 2011

Blowing a gale this morning although hot and sunny. Swimming is going to be ‘choppy’. Test Match and Football will dominate the afternoon. Four matches today, three on Sunday and one on Monday night. I will be exhausted!

I can’t believe it’s Saturday again already. We only have six weeks left before our journey back. We are already looking at dates and routes for our return next April. We may sail from Venice to Patras next year instead of from Ancona.

7th August, 2011

The strangest thing happened to us today. We are sitting in our house, thousands of miles from UK, watching BBC Current Affairs. Suddenly, the school which we left two years ago, the staff which we worked with until two years ago, the doors we went through and the corridors we walked along for almost 40 years popped up on our screens. How far does one have to go to get away from it all? The BBC have been following our school as it combines with an Asian school across the town in an experiment of social engineering as an answer to the race riots of ten or so years ago. It is an experiment doomed to fail as the BBC were keen to highlight but Oldham LA don’t get much of the spotlight and when a running documentary following the experiment was proposed, they jumped at it. Soon it became apparent that the publicity was not going to be as positive as they had hoped and, before the second term was completed, the schools were refusing to co-operate with programme makers. They continued to report but from outside the school. Interviews with pupils from both schools appears to be establishing entrenched views which will take generations to wear down and evidence from the schools were not very positive. This conclusion had been arrived at by the staff long before the merger took place. What was most striking was the stressed and drawn faces of the staff, those very people who we had seen fall short or fail over the years, as they sat in the school hall after a long day teaching. They were listening to Sir something or other as he lectured them on his experience in uniting Protestants & Catholics in Northern Ireland. I could see exactly the spot on their heads over which it was all flowing and we rejoiced to have spent the last two years elsewhere.

8th August, 2011

The Greek Government, as it flails around and tries to solve its economic problems is caught between a rock and a hard place. While liberalising the guilds or closed-shops like the taxi drivers, they are using classic toools of the command economy. Today, their reaction to a rising oil price has been to set a ceiling on petrol prices in different areas of the country. In our group of islands, the Cyclades, the ceiling for Unleaded has been set at £1.49 per litre. Unfortunately, the price was lower before they set the ceiling and it was immediately put up. Quite the opposite reaction than they had intended.

9th August, 2011

Supposed to be the first day of our next heatwave with 40C/104F forecast. We had a busy morning planned. Fortunately, the forecasters were all about 24 hrs premature and we were able to conduct our business in a mere 30C/86F. After watching the third day of rioting, arson and looting on the BBC News, we watched it all over again on the Greek News. The Greeks, of course, find it highly amusing. Their riots were minor squabbles compared to these.

At 10.30 am, we drove up to Apollonia. We went to the Post Office and there was a letter from my friend and ex-colleague, Brian Robinson. He had posted it on June 7th but it was delivered to Sifnos Post Office on August 7th. We were probably lucky it was delivered at all. We went across to the cake shop and bought a selection of delicacies for Nikos & Chrissopigi. Nikos was our electrician on the house. His wife, Chrissopigi, works in the National Bank. They have been helping us with advice so we thanked them with some cakes. We walked on to the cafe for a frappe and I read Brian’s letter to Pauline. It was lovely to get it and filled me with a warm glow of pleasure. We then went on to the Woodman. He will come to do our work after the holiday on August 15th. When exactly he didn’t say but, as we were there, I remarked on the wonderful success he was having with his vegetables. I was about to ask him about watering when he took a knife and cut huge tomatoe, aubergines, cucumbers and peppers, stuck them all in a plastic bag and insisted that I take them. We were supposed to be going to the supermarket but we hardly needed to go now.

10th August, 2011

The Test Match starts today and I’m looking forward to it. Rioting will not stop it but rain might according to the forecast. Yesterday I enjoyed a letter from old colleague, Brian, and this morning I received a lovely email from another ex-colleage, Rizwan, who is now teaching in Saudi. He sent me a photo of him and his wife and child on holiday in Paris.

Phoned Ruth yesterday to find out how she enjoyed her holiday. Of course, she wasn’t in. She was at the supermarket but Kev was there and told me they really enjoyed Slovenia. Not only that, he told me the fantastic news that they had two buyers for their property in Bolton. Just as with us, information came through while they were away. The answer is there. If you want to sell your house – go abroad!

Made a real breakthrough today. I was desperate to watch and not just listen to the Test Match. I found a free streaming download site that gives me all Sky Sports. On this occasion, Sky Sports 1 was streamed from India to my computer in Greece. Great, I saw all the India wickets fall and couldn’t believe it when I watched Cooke & Strauss not just survive but make 84 before the close of play. Once again it was Broad & Bresnan did the damage with 4 apiece.

11th August, 2011

Wonder of Wonders – we have woken up to cloudy skies and a cool breeze – after months of sunshine the cavalry has arrived. I took the opportunity of watching the Test Match most of the day. I had an Australia ‘stream’ of Sky Sports which was fantastic. The only two downsides were that I used 670 Mbs in one day of my allocated 10 Gbs for the month and I felt heavy and lazy from inactivity.

12th August, 2011

Unbelievably low temperature today – 25C/77F – which make life quite delightful. We have luxuriated in it. Today is the official Greek Exodus when the townies leave their hot homes and head to the breezier islands. It all centres around August 15th which is the the Ascension of Virgin Mary. A few old people go up to the Monastery to give thanks while they majority gorge themselves on sun, sand and white wine.

13th August, 2011

A busy day today. Breakfast – Gardening while it’s cool – coffee – swimming – food – Cricket (Maybe we’ll finish them off today!) – Football (Liverpool v Sunderland / Fulham v Aston Villa / Newcastle v Arsenal) Exhausting! You really have to be fit for this regime.

Great win for England. I’ve really enjoyed it. The football was fairly pedestrian by contrast.