Out in the Cold, Round the Horne & Up the Creek!

Since the last posting we have been around! We left a very sunny Corralejo on 20th November, flying to Stansted to arrive late at night, so we had booked into the Holiday Inn Express. . It was desperately cold, and all we wanted was a warm room, comfortable bed and a warm shower in the morning. First two OK but the boiler had broken down and there was no hot water. We only learnt this after Bob had spent 15 minutes wrestling with the controls and drenching the floor! We were given a compensatory voucher , but we ventured forth on our 4 hours coach journey in a disgusting state! The trip (via Heathrow and Gatwick Airports) was quite fun and we had a very comfortable and conveniently located hotel on Brighton seafront. It was just very, very cold, and were barely equipped on the clothing front! One of the coldest places was up on the downs at Falmer on Chloe's campus (see summertime photo left above). We met up three times - including for shopping and a Sunday roast. She is very happy at Uni and shares a flat with 7 other 1st year girls. She is the consultant on cooking and a nag about recycling.

She had politely told us that she would not be available on the Saturday evening so we went to the Theatre Royal (lovely place!) to see for the third time a performance of Round the Horne Live. Some improvements on the London ones, and a great night out!

Then we took a 3 pound sterling each pre-booked train to East Croydon and stayed as before at the Travelodge. This time we were given a room so big that the heating was insufficient and we had to move! In icy South London we visited both rented properties and the estate agent, did a little shopping and consumed some real ale and an Indian meal. We didn't linger in the local pub, though, as their heating had broken down. Bob did a GP and dentist visit and we spent far too long in building society branches getting bad information from people aged about 16! On the Tuesday we went by train for a day in Hampshire including lunch with the parents, sisters and partners. Cold down there as well!

At 4.30 am on Thursday we checked out to go to Gatwick for an early and fairly cheap Easyjet flight to Gran Canaria. The sun was shining when we arrived, but there was a cold wind - and so it was for the rest of our stay on GC! We stayed in a similar complex to the one in Feb. but Bob had gone down with a heavy cold so with that and the weather we only made the briefest visits to Maspalomas beach (windswept) and never got round to hiring bikes. The icing on the cake was when the laptop stopped playing DVDs and during attempts to solve the problem Windows siezed up, leaving us stranded.

After 8 nights we transfered to Las Palmas and the Hotel Astoria. We think it is good value and so well-located that its faults - including the cat pee smell - are worth tolerating; but others take a different view! http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g187472-d506816-Reviews-Astoria_Hotel-Las_Palmas_Grand_Canary_Canary_Islands.html#

This was the two-Bank-Holday weekend in Spain. There was no rationale to what was open on each of the Sat, Sun and Mon, but a nice computer specialist told us we would need to completely re-format the hard-disk of the laptop. Fortunately he didn't have time to do it!

To hide from the cold wind and occasional rain we went to the Elder Museum of Science and Technology, which is a slightly strange selection of exhibits, but interesting. There is a Maths section with puzzles and displays. This failed, however, to inspire Ruth to go back to work. The best exhibit is the Maquina de Betancourt - a sort of simulated perpetual motion mechanism with 30 balls, see above and http://www.museoelder.org/maquina_sp.htm.

Other highlights were a return visit to Galia - the French restaurant - this time with Beaujolais Nouveau - and a Brazilian rodizio.

We flew back on Monday in one of Islas' new luxury planes and were back to Corralejo by bus remarkably quickly for a Bank Holiday. Aswe walked back from the port we dropped into La Luna to see if Computer Dave was there. He was, and took a look at the laptop right away. This was the beginning of a series of daily consultations with him as he worked away on rescuing the situation. The man is a saint! We have lost very little, and there are some improvements in performance; but that week was odd - terrible weather and no computer!

Chloe arrived on Tuesday from Birmingham. We borrowed Mike's car for the day and went round the out-of-town shops of Puerto del Rosario. She brought a foul British end-of-first-term cold and needed nursing for a few days. Meanwhile the weather was poor for five days or so.

Some things old - some things new..

and a lot of business blues!

November has seen some better weather - with the last five days being very hot and sunny!

Bars and cafes open and close here with depressing regularity, but this must be a record! The "local" on the corner of our block first opened as a cafeteria called "Tu no vas!" ("Don't go!") about 18 months ago. It changed hands in March but was closed when we arrived last month. We then saw a lot of activity and were told it would re-open on November 1st. On the Saturday night we went in early for a drink. It was lovingly decorated with nets, knots and baskets. There was a new name and T-shirts with it for the staff. There was a range of generous free food for the punters and it was very busy. Next day it poured with rain and we went in again around lunch time. The boss (former president of our complex) said everything was fine - but he was tired after a late night. On Monday it was closed, and on Tuesday they stripped the decoration and it hasn't been open since! There's a story in there somewhere!

Rather more successful was the Sunday afternoon at our second nearest bar - Cafe Lounge. Here they tried a Book Sale. Aussie chef Sean brought along about a thousand books to sell at bargain prices. He also did a free sausage-sizzle BBQ and the German neighbours made cakes. A big and jolly turn-out and Sean publicised his new weekly Thai evenings. Delicious!

Another new experience was the "big fish" Sunday the following week at Blue Rock. Eileen the Cook brought a huge sea bream caught a few days earlier and we shared it - followed by pumpkin pie and ginger ice cream. The sun shone!

Meanwhile there is much pessimism about tourist numbers and spending. Flights in from UK and Ireland are to reduce and the Euro-pound exchange rate is depressing. Only the best places are going to survive it seems.

Pretty Gruesome

Halloween and The Blue Rock in Corralejo's old town had been lavishly decorated by Jules (left) and Claire (centre). No money had been spared to enhance Claire's frontage for the night! Meanwhile Sandra (right) was still thinking about the Carnaval Theme from March and turned up with a Yo-ho-ho and facial hair that had many of us fooled as to her gender - let alone identity.

Gruesome describes the weather of the last fortnight since we arrived. No beach time, fleeces out and some torrential rain. The temperature has frequently been around 25 C in early afternoon, but there is so much cloud that the sunny spells don't last. Not too good for those on holiday! Ruth developed a heavy cold 12 hours after arriving.

.. and gruesome is the procedure for getting the green sheet of paper that replaces the residencia card. (see March 08 entries)! Last week we took the 7.30 bus and three hours later were allowed into the police station. By 12 noon we had worked our way to the desk where we were told the paper from the Town Hall was out of date and we would have to start again, but the nice lady marked our papers to spare us the queue. Back to the town hall, excessive photocopying and today the 9.30 bus! Total chaos in the police station again with at least four types of queueing systems in force - ours took 1 hour 20 minutes - but just 8 months since we started we have resident status and privileges!

Things can only get better - and if Obama wins tonight...... out with the Cava!

Putin Fan Club on Tour!

Continuing the saga - here are some of the former comrades dancing the midday away on the Friday on the magnificent Cruise Bacelona. http://www.grimaldi-ferries.com/england/index.jsp?lan=ENferries.com/england/index.jsp?lan=EN

It is a huge ship - which has only been in service since July. Boarding with the car was a bit shambolic - only about 30 private cars but poor signing! We endured it with a young Aussie couple who had been touring for 9 weeks in a British registered VW. Superb vessel - but very short meal service slots - and in the morning (it's a 20 hour voyage) a bit boring! Up on the pool deck the Russians got out the music (Barry White, Volga boatmen and Eurovision song contest) and had a bit of a boogie! Well stabilised ship - but nausea was just held at bay!

5. Friday to Monday - Costa Brava!

Very interesting sailing into port of Barcelona around 3pm! Several cruise ships with waving passengers - good views of city features! A we drove down the ramp a thunderstorm started, an we had to traverse the city on the coastal autopista in heavy rain again (as in 05!). Nonetheless we made it to our chosen spot with ease. This was chosen more or less at random from the bottom of the Thomson bargains website. We figured that at 84 pounds sterling for three nights half-board for two it could be quite bad and still good value! In fact the Indalo Park in Santa Susana is pretty good but the weather wasn't! On the second day the Russians (!) checked out en masse at 7 am and the Dutch families checked in. There was some pressure on the buffet service - especially at breakfast (10 mins to get a cup of coffee) but the food was very good and on Sunday there was excellent live music by the pool. The town is quite small and runs into larger Malgrat where we spent soem time. The sun came out for part of Sunday too!

6. Monday - To Girona and Madrid

There was no chance of flying direct from Girona to Fuerte this year as Ryanair have switched to UK routes (We heard today at a 5 Euro subsidy per head!) so we parked up near Girona airport as last year (though car wash place out of order - sorry Yvette!) and flew Ryanair to Madrid. This and the onward Tuesday flight came to 70 Euros total for two so the 75 Euros extra for excess baggage with Ryanair was tolerated! We took the free shuttle to the booked hotel arriving mid-afternoon. The Hotel Auditorium is the largest hotel in Europe. http://www.auditoriumhoteles.com/en/nuestros_hoteles/auditorium/auditorium.asp

Not surprisingly it is luxurious (with ADSL in each room!) but eating without choking on the prices was going to be a challenge. We followed instructions and took a very cheap and fficient public bus into the city. We had no tourist info - so just went to the underground bus station and followed our noses. We found an old-fashioned tapas bar - delightful - walked around a bit amongst traditional shops like this - bought a bottle of wine and took the bus back.

7. Tuesday - to Fuerteventura

We had a swim in the indoor pool at the hotel and then breakfast from the ultimate buffet! We checked out at noon as required and took the shuttle back to the airport. We had ages to kill but Bob discovered that the Easyjet desk was open and happy to relieve us of bags (which weighed bang-on 20kg each so nothing to pay!) The day's Guardian, some beers and a long walk round the enormous Barajas took us to boarding, some decent seats and an easy flight. Mike was there to meet us (his own Lanzarote plans having been scuppered by the Fred Olsen maintenance schedule!). Home again - and a chance to discover defects, breakages and confused keys!

This Season's Odyssey

Our route was a modification on that of 2007:- less Italy, no France, a pause on the Costa Brava and two flights needed at the final stage.



It all worked out well. Some highlights:

1. Monday - Chania to Piraeus overnight. We stopped off to pick up a small spare part at the Fiat dealer. Unfortunately the 100 m stretch of road outside it was closed to traffic and being dug up. Bob waded through ankle-deep mud to get the little but vital part and we fitted it in the car park at the port. On board we were hailed by two elederly couples -in Greek - "You come from Paleochora and have bicycles on your blue car!" With some French (!) we established that they live in Athens but spend every summer as we do. We had been saying kali spera to them each evening as we passed their home. In a fit of economy/meanness we had not booked a cabin. We found some so-called reclining seats but had a very bad night owing to a Bulgarian/Albanian coach party with no sense of personal space. In the morning we had a tedious wait to get off with the car - but not as silly as last year.


2. Tuesday - to Patras and the Bari ferry. We clearly need more training on "How to get out of Piraeus and onto the Corinth road in under one hour". We took a long break and after Corinth took the "non-national" road -slower and with odd conichey bits. Patras still has all the Asian illegals lurking and being chased, but we had a mellow time inside the port area in great sunshine and were boarded early. We had a very good value inclusive ticket, and were shown to a luxury cabin with pseudo-Japanese decor and a TV. A nice voyage!
   

We landed in Bari at 10 am Italian time. There were very few private vehicles to disembark, but it still took some time! We went to the back of the upper car deck and saw this! It smelt pretty good too!

3. Wednesday - across Italy. Bari port had gross roadworks causing huge delays for HGVs - much but not all of which we could pass. Then solid - not too hairy autostrada over the Appenines etc. Bob wanted to stop at Monte Casino which we had seen from the road last year. We made a detour and then realised that driving up to a hilltop fortress was going to be a challenge to those with vertigo, so we visited only the 1944 military cemetry. Very moving!

As evening came - and the threat of rain - we decided not to push on to Anzio, but to return to the Rose hotel in Latina (a most unprepossesing town- but well located!)



We got a warm welcome and a good returners' room price. We ate some good Italian stuff in the same (only?) nearby ristorante and had a leisurely start next day.







4. Thursday - Civitavecchia to Barcelona ferry. We took the coast road via Anzio (a bit run down - but interesting historically) and Ostia, then a fairly easy route round Rome (Don't mention the 10 km detour for diesel - how can a brand new shopping mall have no fuel?!) to arrive in C with lots of time to kill. We started a quiet late lunch outside the ferry terminal then the coach pary from Hell arrived. 50 Russian middle-aged women! (Again - no sense of personal space!)
Read on!

Summer 08 - Looking back - Yia-Yia Gaga Club!

Our migration is complete!
Paleochora this year was as delightful as ever as a village for summer days and nights. The down side was the weather - excessive wind and the early onset of autumn, and the absence of the kantina - missed conversations with the regulars and a disincentive to pitching up on the beach in dubious conditions!

Amongst a good few high spots were the series of meetings during July and August of the planning commitee of the Yia-Yia Gaga Club. The idea was hatched a couple of summers ago. None of us getting any younger, but determined to spend our time in the village! Answer? A day centre - with funding assitance from the EU - and all the services and pastimes we could desire. Various venues have been considered. The name refers to yia-yia - Greek for grandma.

In Fuerteventura we have the Saga Louts - older ladies who sing along at the Rock Island of an evening. A clear link!

The ragbag of people who should know better is seen here after yet another session of the Planning Group.


Clockwise from the front left we have:
Gaby: Wine procurement, personal hygiene
Ruth: Social calendar, mental agility programme
Julia: Animal protection,
Catherine: Youth Outreach, recruitment
Susan: Domestic services quality control
Jim: Investment strategy
Sam: Marketing, grant applications
Eion: Employee/TU relations, fraternal links
Bob: Financial control, planning and recruitment for over-80s
Eva: European integration (especially the Ja-Ja Klub!)
Charlie: Archivist, local history & cameraman

"Left hand down a bit!"

Yesterday there was a mystery appearance off of the Western shore. An enormous twin-hulled maritime lifting vessel of some sort (mobile dry dock?) was being towed by a relatively tiny tug. It had been seen two days previously about 20 km west, so progress is pretty slow! All through the daylight hours it revolved on itself virtually stationary and eventually passed round the Crocodile headland in the evening. What on Earth is it, and where is it going? How many months till it gets there?

Sunset

Everyone agrees the weather has been "all over the place" of late.

This has included some sunsets like this when the heavy cloud hangs low over the mountains,but in there is a warm bright sun.

Last night we wrapped up warm to go to Flora's Water's Edge dinner - our last and her penultimate. The menu included dumplings - appropriate for the conditions. Last week she had 50 covers - this week 15 - so the Brit-Norwegian- German- Swiss melange all sat at the same table. Afterwards there was community singing - enough said!

A hot lemon tart to die for! See : www.paleochora-holidays.com/watersedge.htm

Flag End of the Season

Today is the third consecutive lousy-weather Sunday! We have had gusts of wind to Beaufort 9 in the early hours, and rain on-and-off through the day. Whenthe sun goes in it is cold!

During this week, however there has been some real sunshine and the sea is still warm. It turns out that our last Greek sea-dip will have been on Thursday 9th. Not bad really!

The toll of the recent frequent wind problems is evident in the state of the three flags on the west beach. Greek and EU ones hang in tatters. The Blue Flag accreditation flag has collapsed completely and is tied round the post!

Last Sunday a fair number of the Northern Europeans here were oblivious to the rotten weather as they were nursing their heads. On Saturday highly talented German artist Martin - newly returned from nasty back operations - held a party in his new studio. There was a vat of red wine from his favoured kafenion in Kakodiki - accompanied by its maker who also offered his own special honey tsikoudia (raki). Which of these it was that did the damage is unclear! There was wurst of course, and Ruth made tortilla espanola. Martin has a magnificent music collection, and there were candles in the garden, which survived a sudden downpour. We retreated early enough to miss the nasty incident involving a headlock, broken camera and a better-left-nameless Frenchman.

Over The Hill

Kalo Mina! - greeting for the 1st of a month!



















September was not a great month!
The statistics from the weather station:
Max >= 32.0: 7 days, Min <= -18.0: 0 days - so not much beach time!


Max Rain: 17.81 ON 20/09/08 Days of Rain: 3 (> .2 mm) 2 (> 2 mm) 0 (> 20 mm)

and then there was the XL/Kosmar thing and the overall low tourist spending.

There is a real "end of the season" feeling here now - and in the poorer weather some of the tat looks worse.

We walked round the headland. In the "white elephant" commercial port there is the hulk of a boat that was brought in with illegals four or more summers ago.
Further round is the unfinished shell of a hotel or rooms which has been in this state for as long as we can remember. This year it has been tastefully embellished by a grafitti artist with a sense of irony.

Today we visited Mollie's shop which is up for sale.
Other shops have brought out their stock of woolies and rainwear.

On the other hand the better restaurants are still doing well - often with the grey (and/or pink) Euro, and our house cat Scaredy has ventured over the threshold - recognising how pleasant the flat is for cooler days and nights! We are spending time refining the migration plans.

It never rains but it pours!

This has not been a good week for the village.
Kosmar guests all got away on Tues 16th - one way or another, but then the (justified) worry amongst room-owners spead and a fair number of people with another week to go were "evicted" and taken to Georgiopolis on the North Coast. This was once comparable to Paleo as a large village, but is no more! Apparently some of those moved discharged themselves and came back!

Then on Wednesday - as foretold by the meteo- it rained. Not a great deal and the first since May - but it was in the context of increasingly cloudy, hazy or overcast days that were only just beachable!

Saturday was foul! We ventured out in the evening, and the main street was wintery. We sat outside and the temperature was allegedly 21 degrees, but with a bitter wind chill we didn't stay long. On Sunday and Monday there was more rain, thunder and lightning. Today it has been a little better, and some time was spent on the beach. The sand has been moved agin by the high tides and wind - so that the plate rocks are exposed as earlier in the year.

This evening the last Kosmar clients left. The end of an era!

Just what we needed - not!

Whilst we were away camping on the North Coast we blithely checked email and saw the news that XL and associated companies had collapsed,

Kosmar is by far the larger of the two British companies with a package-holiday presence in the village, and XL is widely used for flight-only deals through Chania. Flight day is Tuesday so this has given a bit of time for arrangement of alternative flights for the Kosmar people. The rep has been working her (possibly unpaid) socks off to keep them infomed and the assumption is that those due to leave today will have done so - though with disruption to time and/or possible UK destination.

Flight-only people are getting no help! They should get their money back if they paid by credit card. The three couples we have met so far in this situation have extended their stay by a few days and will be flying back through Heraklion or Athens. All were remarkably cheerful!

The only villainy we have heard of is a room-owner (un-named but we have suspicions) who has been refusing to clean since the announcement.

Of course it means a clear reduction in September tourists- even if some re-book, and there are plenty of businesses that were counting on them (more money- better tase!) to help after a poor summer. So - if you have the chance - get out here soon. Barry's blog has advice on how to get here.http://calypsocrete.blogspot.com

We will fight them on the beaches!

A theme through the peak season has been changes and conflict on the northern part of the sandy beach.

For at least 25 years there has been a length of beach where naturism is tolerated (despite being technically illegal in Greece). The end points are well-understood to be two large rocks. At the far end this boundary is reinforced by two notices like this. As for many years there has also been a thriving kantina beyond the border and accessible from a car park there has been very little confusion about where clothes are required.

This year, however, there has been trouble!

First, following the fire, there were very few sunbeds and umbrellas in the "textile" area in front of the kantina ruins. Then far mre were set up and managed along the whole "naturist" length of beach. In early August following some complaints the first block of beds etc was designated "textile" by the placing of notices on posts at either end. Edmond - the fabulous sunbed man - said it would probably only be for the month. It certainly implied that naturism was at least tolerated beyond that point. Towards the end of the month those few items left at the kantina site were unceremoniously removed in the middle of the day. Nevertheless all seemed clear and everyone seemed content, but on a Sunday - when we were not on the beach at all - there was a raid! Up until five or so years ago this would happen on one August Sunday each year, but for many it was a new event! The reason was explained to us by Noreen (Irish - not Brit - sorry!) who has a great spot for her party under the tree near the kantina site. It seems a Greek-Canadian had been getting increasingly agitated about unwanted views of dangly bits and was raving about all the depravity with which this was - in her mind - clearly associated. It is she or partner who re-painted the sign! She rang the mayor and/or Port Police, who had to do something. They spoke to everyone who was even topless and would take no pleas about "custom and practice" or "toleration". They did not however come back, and normality soon resumed. Later in the week they repeated the process causing further distress to the simply topless who just like that bit of shore!

We don't know where the mayor actually stands on this. One look at the numbers involved in the context of falling tourism ought to bring all to their senses, and presumably next year with a functioning kantina there will be more clarity about it all.

Gone to Gavdos!

In July we had the pleasure of meeting Dick and Jane at the bus stop. They have sold their house in Suffolk and now spend winters in India and summers wherever they fancy.

This year it was Paleochora!

We could not compete on the ageing hippie front (although of course competition doesn't figure in those stakes!)

They asked what we knew about Gavdos so we lent them this article from Travel Guardian http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2008/jul/05/greece.beach and pointed them towards Stelios at the Almyrida.

They bought a tent and spent a blissful month there. We missed their eventual departure and so never got their full run-down on Goa for February.

The Golden Kri-kri

The Annual Paleochora Tavli Tournament
Order of Merit

Winner of the Golden Kri-Kri for 2008:

………Ruth…………………………………

Sponored by the Paleochora Yia-yia Ga-Ga Club
& Yanni’s Place

(The Kri-kri Poo was awarded to Chloe for the lowest score)

Tavli is essentially backgammon! Ruth taught Felix and Lucas to play many years ago. Now they are better at it, so it was great surprise when in this three-round contest she emerged as winner following a "gammon" against Chloe. (We may need to revise the scoring pattern!) As a consolation we allowed the boys to take the actual trophy back to Germany for the year.

The kri-kri is a goat with distinctive horns which is native to Crete. Not everyone finds goats benign. For example a former resident of our apartment has a conspiracy theory that is worth a look! http://evilgoats.blogspot.com

Live Music 2 - "Well I woke up this morning!"

Felix and Lucas performed alternate evenings on the seafront as they had last year - making a similar amount from unsolicited donations!

For larger sessions they chose the new grill room opened this year by Mima and Giorgos. All the instruments were brought into use and extra customers were drawn in.

On one occasion we/they were joined by a young French couple from the campsite, who offered a bizarre but charming French number about life being full of cacti!


Later all present (including a mystery Scots singer - Alan - not seen since!) were asked to offer a verse of blues. Topics covered included muesli and yoghurt, sunbeds, snow in Kandanos, goats, camping.... etc etc. Sadly it was not recorded!

During this period the glorious Angel Skordalis and his band returned for a second session at the Atoli.

Live Music 1 - birthdays on the beach

Tuesday 26th August - Felix reaches 17 and Arvid reaches some rather larger figure! He and Jo also arrive for their holiday.

The Hains planned a magnificent party on one of the small hidden beaches before Gramenon.

We were taken out there in the camper van and found a huge bonfire, delicious food cooked at the campsite, punch in a watermelon, but not much light!

As well as the birthday boys and family and ourselves there were Eion and Julia from Surrey and Felix and Antonia from Vienna. We were treated to great jamming, setting the tone for the next two weeks.

Reluctant Hero (and half of a pair of plonkers!)

Friends Rainer, Doris, Felix and Lucas arrived from Germany in their new camper van for an extended stay from 22nd August. Many Brownie points were awarded for their itinerary:- by land all the way to Piraeus passing though a handful of Balkan countries.

Points were then forfeited by the boys for gross stupidity on their first night here! On their way back to the van they played volley ball with the keys using telephone wires as the net. Inevitably the keys got caught up there, and the boys then threw up a wallet to dislodge them. This (containing inter alia passport and a very valuable travel pass) landed on a random balcony. It was about 1 a.m.! Disaster! Many fruitless strategies were adopted but eventually young Nikos from Yanni's Place - not known for his proactive behaiour stepped in, found a ladder from somewhere (no questions asked!) and retrived the items. He wallowed in the praise!

Harvest moon!

A full moon again, so time to update! Chloe joined us from 3rd to 13th September filling the gap between her gap year and going to Brighton Uni.

It was the first time she had seen the new apartment and she was particularly taken with the bougainvillea and view on our balcony.

We had a week in Paleo with plenty of beach time, wind-driven days at Anidri and the Viena, good meals and stories from Chloe of Cuba, S America, Morocco, our flat in Fuerte, Tribe of Doris Festival and Oxford japes. She made a collection of photos around the village to share on Facebook with all those similarly-aged guys and gals who no longer loaf around here in August.

We then had three days camping at Mithimna (see earlier postings) - very quiet and a bit windy! On the Friday we went to do some business in Chania and had a Chinese meal - with duck!- bliss! On Saturday we investigated the Akrotiri and found a very pleasant beach at Kalathas. Then Chloe took the ferry back to Piraeus and we drove back to Mithimna.

Yesterday we came back home to Paleo. The weather had apparently been very good whilst we were away. The main topic of conversation in the village - of course - is the collapse of XL and Kosmar.

Hanging out in (C)Hania

The Ch is pronounced as a hard H so the C is sometime omitted!

We are halfway through our 15 week stay in Paleo so last Tuesday we went for a break in Chania. We were armed with helpful directions from Pascale, Canadian Pete and Calyso Barry so we began with trips to out-of-town superstores various, with some success, but it was at least 39 C, so soon we repaired to the fab fish restaurant by the Nea Hora. They don't publicly hang out their octopus to tenderise as here -this is nearby!

We had a recommendation of a small Norwegian-owned hotel and that turned out to be very comfortable and cheap. In the evening we set off to find a Chinese restaurant for the much-missed duck, but with no hints on this we failed, Ruth twisted her knee and so we fought our way back round the Old Harbour (crowded and naff!), hobbled back to Nea Hora, had a beer in a very civilised little bar and went to bed with no supper!

Next day after Norwegian breafast we resumed the shopping quests but panicked at the sight of enormous queues at the few petrol stations that were open. We had little idea what was going on - just part of Crete affected as shown on national news - so we reluctantly decided not to waste diesel on trips round the city. Hence the lighting shop was never found! We did however get two sunbeds en route back (they just fitted into the car) and have a little stop in Kastelli-Kissamos, which is always nice! On return to Paleo we found we had missed two pretty good beach days. Later on the Living in Crete forum. (http://www.livingincrete.net) we discovered the story of the fuel protest (It lasted just those two days)

That's more like it!

... flacid flags at last!

On Saturday afternoon the wind dropped and the rest of the Bank Holiday weekend has been as warm and still as one wants it - with perfect sea as well!

The beach has been crowded of course - and the traffic ghastly, but they will be going back to Chania or Athens tonight or tomorrow!

All good news for the Brits like Noreen and Tamara expected on Tuesday and possibly despondent after reading of the last moon cycle's weather! Things can only get better!

We had a red(dish) moon this evening following the partial eclipse last night.

The figures here are based on an old sepia photograph of intrepid early foreign visitors. A Dutch guy made the metal statue in the 90's and donated it to the town. This is its second resting place - the sunset mirador on the sandy beach. Currently it has chalked-on visual features - last month it was lime-green paint!

A blip on the weather front!

Here is the town end of the beach at peak beach-time on Friday 8th August! On dear!!
Note the demise of half the semi-permanent straw parasols, the "white horses"in the sea and the complete absence of sunbathers!
Our records show (how sad - retired - nothing better to do!) that for the lunar month since the last (red) full moon we have had 16 out of 28 days that most people thought unbeachable.
Eight days or so have been lovely and four debatable. This is not how it should be!


Particularly cheesed off will be the Brits who had Tuesdays 22/7 to 5/8 as their time here. You needed to be very philosophical and into unbeachy things to keep your karma!
We heard that other places - even on the South coast - were having a better time, but how to get there?

This is the Samaria having a rough time docking one evening, and you would not have wanted to be on that boat!

Almost every day Meteo Greece has forecast 5 or 6 Beaufort and the "realtime" weather station just above our apartment (http://www.meteo.gr/stations/paleochora/) has told of gusts around 60 km/hr (which we now know to be high 7/ low 8). It has felt worse!! No structural damage (to anything permanent) but a lot of minor casualties - from wine glasses via lilos (off to Libya) to lethal sharp-pointed parasols and flying metal sunbeds! Tempers are fraying!! Climate change - what climate change? .. and today is the dreaded 15th - about the only reliably profitable weekend for many business-people here. Doom and gloom prevail!

Desperate Measures

Last Monday the weather was perfect - what a relief!

It didn't last! Ever since we have had gale force winds everyday - with especially noisy nights. Add to this a sense that tourism (or tourists who spend) is in decline, and we have desperate measures!

Kostas at the Cosmogonia has responded with pancakes - but note the translation to Czech and Finnish. He was so desperate that he edged up the street so that he was in front of the radio station studio. The staff didn't know whether to laugh or cry - images of pancakes on turntables!

On the other hand Kostas' place was heaving a few days before when there was live music:- Swedish Mats, NZ/Kenilworth Mike and Spaniakos/Leamington Richard playing Rock & Blues very delightfully. The tale of what Fluffy Alex's girlfriend did to need reprimand can wait!

Anyway, this left us with days too windy for the beach. One morning we saw that Yvette had a bare rear-end! The wind had ripped her special cover. So we took it off and went out for two short drives. One was to the Hotel Viena on Thursday -a great little place that few know about (well- till now - no! few know about!) with a quiet grassy garden well above sea level and a clean swiming pool.

On Saturday we went to the newish taverna at Grammenon which was packed with out-of-town Greeks and a bit sheltered from the wind. Some dramatic statistics for wind gusts on the real-time weather station site - but the forecast just keeps on saying Beaufort 6, which must be wrong! Metal sunbeds have been reported as flying!

Blowing hot and cold

We have had quite a bit of "weather" this week. Last Sunday and Monday were very still and hot with muggy nights. Possibly as a result of air-conditioning demand there were power cuts on Monday evening.

Then came the hot winds, cloud and most recently the colder West winds. Only the very hardy went to the beach - we tried a couple of times, but no!

But every cloud....

Exiled from the beach we investigated the brand new taverna beyond the Water's Edge. In April and May we had seen it being fitted out and landscaped (including Astroturf). No expense has been spared, and there is a new little pebble beach across the road with fancy sunbeds.

They serve beautiful traditional food!

Czech mate!

This week the village is hosting an International Chess Tournament - yes - we have grandmasters! - and last night there was mass playing by youngsters outside the town hall!

We ate at P's only Czech-run restaurant! Mima and Giorgos - who had the kantina on the beach for so many years - have taken over one of the two grill houses between the Sunrise and Captain Jim's. There are some interesting twists to tradition on their menu, which get frequent translations into Czech!

Summer's here..time is right.. prancing in the street!

The weekend signalled the full arrival of the tourist season!
Eating at Calypso's 10 Euro night we were treated to street entertainers:

• The same old Romanian accordionist with repetoire of three short numbers
• New Age fire dancers
• The Italian troupe from last year involving dancing with a manequin partner velcroed to the legs!
• A puppeteer

We also a magnificent red moon on Friday - and (more muted) on Saturday.

The Annual Report

July 8th marked one year of this migratory lark!

This is how where we have spent the 366 nights:

Managing the UK properties, planning the next move, banking on the internet and bailing out the "Youth Wing" have prevented this being a year-long holiday.

The Treasurer reports that external factors - particularly the Euro exchange rate - have led to some dipping into contingency funds......

Hello, Sailors! (Yiassou, Nafti!)

.. although there are precious few in sight!

This has been Nautical Week with much bunting, several concerts at the little port, and on Saturday night an impressive fireworks display.

We have also had house-guests:- Ruth's niece, Kirsty and her friend Rebecca (both 17) stayed for the week. As both temperature and humidity have been high they spent a lot of time asleep and have gone home a bit red!

Sailors they are not!
On Sunday evening they went dolphin-spotting with Captain Manolis. They saw some, but the sea was lumpier than it appeared and they returned a bit green!