September so far has been September-like! Half the days have had wind that is problematic on the beach, and the sea has several times been very high and rough. This has not deterred the usual "more mature" tourists who have been occupying sunbeds at a level unseen through the rest of the summer. Greyrocks has been reduced to early beach visits in order to secure a spot!
There was heated discussion recently about our big earthquake (magnitude 5.3):- data as follows:
Wednesday, September 12, 2012 at 03:27:45 UTC
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34.811°N,
24.064°E
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27.4 km
(17.0 miles)
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58 km
(36 miles) SE of Palaiochora, Greece
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Half of Greyrocks slept through it completely, but Ruth felt a small tremor(!) and heard three bangs in close succession which she thought was the boulders we have tied into the bedroom curtains to weigh them down. There was no damage in the village as far we know; but in researching it a more recent and closer quake of 3.1 came to light (that no-one felt!)
One Thursday we went once again to Atoli for their rock night and buffet. This is usually just great recorded music; but it bcame clear as we ate the excellent food - price just gone up to 6 euros per head, but still great value - that something live was being planned. We ended up with an Austrian lead guitarist and a drummer who had last played together 35 years ago, an (Italian?) bassist and a couple of other gutarists plucked from somewhere. It shouldn't have worked, and to start with it didn't, which eased the chair shortage; but after the lead decided - or was advised - not to sing we had a couple of hours of classic instrumental rock.
Next evening it was party time! This was the belated celebration of the significant birthdays earlier in the summer of Paleo's favourite two half-brothers and men about town - Duke and Jeffri. The model was Greyrocks' party last year at the Limnaki cantina, and the reason for the delay was mostly so that Duke's daughter Michelle - and hubby Mark could attend during their week here. Thus the drink flowed freely from before sunset, great musical oldies from as far back as the 50's had been assembled, and Yiannis and crew brought out the food at just the right pace. This included - as a surprise - 4 kg of sausages. hand-crafted by Barry and helpers according to his own recipe, and tasting like original Lincolnshire bangers. These were his gift to the boys, and by the time twenty or so guests had partaken there was no need for any more food! The souvlaki went back into the fridge.
It was then time for Greyrocks' contribution:- a celebration cake from the bakers, carefully commissioned earlier in the week, and transported on foot by Bob. Regular readers will recognise a history here:- just what would the cake deorator come up with this time?Before the festivities Yiannis had opened the box and announced a katastroph! The base icing representing the sea had suffered a tsunami and the lettering had slid down the sides and said nothing! As local hero he raced down to Petrakis and came back with icing. Ruth did her sloppy best of a repair job and here we have it! You may be able to spot the Native Americans apparently surfing. How odd that the bakers should know the Pocahontas - Gravesend connection! And how fortuitous that we had ckosen the Friday rather than later for the "do" because Saturday was a distinctly "unbeachable" day with cloud, wind and rough sea!
By Sunday there was storm brewing. We sat at Tassos' watching black clouds mass to the West. The Kandonites sent a text from their home in the mountains to say it was pouring up there. Thunder and dramatic lightning followed and we looked at the kafenion's palm frond roof and decided it was not fit for purpose. We went speedily down to the Jetee where we encountered - unsurprisingly - all the usual subjects. The beach continued to clear, Tony rushed round putting down parasols, and at 3.20 the rain came. We all settled into the breakfast room, received free drinks and it lasted 40 minutes or so. Apparently there was a glorious shallowly-arced double rainbow, but that was "on the other side" so we missed it.
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