A Last Dip in the Libyan Sea

At the last full moon some friends met at Castello at sunset to celebrate the life Mike Warren. We brought along some pink Crocs to place on his chair as he was famed for wearing his (even brighter) pink Crocs on the beaches, and thus being visible for 500 metres!
Steve says it all in Millie's YouTube video

After the camera battery went flat Greyrocks played a recording of Fairport's "Meet on the Ledge" - both for its message and to remember Cropredy, which Mike also loved!

A very sad loss!
This season has also seen the demise of two notable Paleo locals;- Michaelis from the cake shop that used to be next door to Yannis' Place died in June, and Spiros of the taxi firm died a few weeks ago.

 

RIP

In contrast we became involved in a marriage! We have German neighbours well into their seventies. After coming to spend one summer a few years ago in response to a small ad, the lady has been fully resident; and they recently got married. We saw them at their little party in the Votsalo and were given some very nice fruit pavlova!

.. and rejoice! On 16th August - the day after the dreaded Bank Holiday - the Blue EU Safe Beaches flags were hoisted on the Stony Beach and Limnaki. The status has been there all summer with full details on the noticeboards, but the flags themselves arrived only now. Not that tourism is that important to the municipality!

 

"What is the English for Rampensau?"

From the Urban Dictionary: "Rampensau

3 up, 2 down

Colliquial German for a person, who has got a large history of being on stage either as an actor or actress or a singer or musician or conferencier. A person, who is almost addicted to having an audience, who 'cannot live without being on stage'. It actuall means stage pig - rough words but meant nicely! This actor is such a 'Rampensau', he feels at home at once o any stage." It was "word of the week as we prepared for the night! As teachers (past and present) we sought evaluation afterwards. The negatives were: nowhere to sit, poor sound system and no answers to the quiz! We learnt that it is quite hard to operate Media Player in Greek!

Wine, Chessmen and Song

Greyrocks is just about halfway through its Cretan phase 2012, and this is likely to be the most memorable year for all the wrong reasons. We are still both ailing, and failing to make the most of the beach and sea. Still.. mustn't grumble! During these two months the village has seen some interesting events, and here are some of them:
First we had a tasting evening for Cretan wines. Three companies turned up - keen to demonstrate that there is more to this than the tetrabrik/ box/ barrel/ bucket stuff we like to consume en place for no more than three euros per half-litre! This was quality! For a fiver each we sampled a fair number of the offerings, and would gladly drink any of them again - but not often on pensioners' incomes!
In planning this post Ruth came across on YouTube a promotional video from one of the producers. Here is a truncated version as we don't want to promote the nameless restaurant where the second night took place! (If this video fails you could go direct to  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66XsrYrPOGE, but it is a bit long!) Afterwards we partook of one of the meze plates on offer at Kapetan Dimitri's, and it was good! If you remember the old Captain Jim's this may surprise you! It was transformed last year to become a very sophisticated restaurant with novel twists on Greek cuisine, and particularly good for vegetarians.

A previous year - when prom was used

Second, we have had the annual Chess Tournament organised by the society in Chania. In a development from last year's short notice we this time had no posters up until the first day; but it did cause a stir in the High Street:- particularly on Blitz Night (see the text from the link!)

and finally: our magnus opus:

This arose from a regular practice of the Hamburg posse which has a night of wearing themed T-shirts - typically football. They decided this year to develop this and celebrate the Stones' anniversary, so they had advance notice to bring suitable attire. Günter arrived in the village ahead of most, met Greyrocks and we were soon on a mission, as above. Heidi took wonderful photos. Baited breathe for the next post!