On the first Saturday night we met Janine and John and he suggested we went that very night to look at a sight that would be gone by morning! Near the Lito apartments is a large cactus, which we now know - thanks to gardener John - is an Echinops. For one night only it had three glorious blooms like this. By morning there were just three dangling dead things. How fleeting are some pleasures!
Fleeting too was the visit of our friends from the North! Six chums from Kalives near Chania took their little break down here and we met up with them twice:- on the second occasion it was an evening sampling the finer points of the village as it gentrifies. We met in Monica's Garden - the newish wine bar - and then ate at Finikas, where the food was exquisite and wine expertly selected, but the service dire! Plenty of time for chatting! The first encounter was a little soggier!Soon after driving down through some funny weather conditions they came down to Zygos where Ruth was playing cards. Bob arrived later and we chewed the fat for a while. As we got up to leave the heavens opened. The area has been suffering through the year from drought, but this was a dramatic downpour that lasted all of twenty minutes!
There have also, through September, been short-lived but severe wind episodes, heavy swelling tides and rain showers, with the resulting shifts of the sand on the beach and a mystery daily over where the safe entry point to the sea might be!
The first week in the month as usual saw the "flushing out" of tourists :- primarily Italians, families with school-age children, camper vans and Greeks! There was a lull, with peace reigning on the beach, but fresh sunbeds and umbrellas arriving in anticipation of the great silver influx of mid-September. And that is how the village is now:- busy on the beach but fairly civilised, and with the quality eateries having a field-day. In fact it has only been in the last few weeks that Greyrocks has had attempts to share their tree!
Paleochora Art Week came and went but was much more than a week! There were a few new artists and Dutch Antony erected a geodesic dome near Methixis. One again we eschewed the underwater exhibition, and we managed to miss both opening and closing parties, which was an oversight!
Meanwhile Greyrocks saw a repeat of last September's party season. Within ten days we went to a 60th birthday celebration at The Wave, a 26th at Pantelis, an early other birthday in Kandanos and a 66th at the lovely Hamous in Grammenon. This last occasion was missed by Ruth, who had to spend four days (extended to six) in UK where her father is very ill, Bob had booked two nights in Chania to include returning with her from the airport, and took them anyway returning alone. Ruth's rearranged return flight was over three hours late and compensation is awaited! She arrived at Cosmogonia and the welcome party at 2.40 am. and within a day was suffering a very heavy head cold which - unfortunately - is not showing signs of a quick turnaround!
Finally we note the sudden removal - two days ago - of any form of canopy or pergola from tavernas and shops the length of the Stony "Boulevard"! This is the latest development in the Port Police enforcement of national law and has led to hefty fines for some. Controversy wages on Facebook over what is seen by some as savagery of a ridiculous and inconsistent ruling, and by others as indicative of the Greek tendency to ignore the law!! Hmm. (Greyrocks has been frantically searching the web for a link on this and has failed. Facebook never!)