Close encounters of the watery kind

5.7 earthquake on 30th August

Since last posting we have worked up to the crescendo of August 15th and come back down with a shock! It has been very, very hot! The consensus is that there were more Athenians than ever in the village for the long weekend of Assumption. This meant plenty of road and restaurant rage, mumblings by locals and Greyrocks giving any car (or Chelsea Tractor) with a Z or Y at the front of its plates a very wide berth! Early dinner or eating at home was also the order of the day! And then it was over

Four friends resident in Kalives came down for a couple of days. They largely did their own thing during the day but at night Greyrocks took them to two restaurants we thought would be a change for them from standard Greek fare. These were The Small Garden - frequently cited here and Kapetan Dimitris which goes from strength to strength. The main feature of their stay though - apart from hours of great conversation - was the intense heat. Here are the maximum temperatures for August as recorded at Paleohora weather station:

Next Greyrocks had another short break in Chania. The purpose was to take Yvette for her "preventative surgery" (cam belt, fan belt, water pump etc) and when completed to come back with Chloë from the airport. The delightful Danaos was full so we stayed a few doors away at another hotel, which was comfortable enough but we didn't get the sea view we were expecting and it had the usual features of Greek rooms in terms of shower and mattress! We did at last achieve "closure" on the duck front by locating the fairly newly opened China Palace restaurant in the square in front of the big church. Not perfect, but having discovered that it is owned by the much-slated one in Platanias we were very happy with what we chose, the very good red wine and the service! We were also able to watch some amazing break-dancing in the square. The beach was not too crowded, the sea was lovely and we had some good meals. Then C's plane was only half an hour late arriving, and we were soon back here for ten days en famille (although with the offspring lodged elsewhere!)

So, over the last ten days we have said "Kalo Ximona" (have a good winter) to a swathe of friends and "welcome" to rather fewer but still with musical instruments! The weather has gone somewhat awry for the time of year, we felt an earthquake, and Sifis still won't come out of the reservoir!