That September Thing!

They kept coming through the horror of Beaufort 7!
See below! 

 Greyrocks has noted most years that September here has a different flavour - particularly after a crowded and chaotic August. What would it be like in the "Time of Covid"?

For us it started with a continuation of August as Chloë and Jack still had a few days left in town. This then led into ten days or so with our German musician friends and the Oxford crew.  Times at the cantina or Jetee became much more animated (and longer) with a special occurrence on 7th with the first  (and so far for us sole) socially distanced jamming session at the cantina. We stayed until well after sunset and struggled back along the shore attempting to avoid the hazards with minimal lighting. It was just like so many other years!

No sooner hd that phalanx moved on than the "usual September suspects" amongst our friends began to arrive. There had been doubts about who would and who wouldn't. The date of 8th was to be significant for this and the English (sic) government announced that those returning to that place from seven Greek islands after 4 am on 9th would be required to quarantine. In fact the only known no-shows as a result were the two sons of the friend in the YiayiaGaga Club whose 70th birthday we celebrated soon after. So now the club is at full strength except for the French (who cannot come at all) and our Goa-also chums from Cheshire grace the beach and cantina.

New cases over ten days to Sept 13th.

The various UK quarantine rules - all four listing Crete - have angered most folk here! Ruth had been monitoring for weeks the moving averages of new cases in all of Greece, and they were well below the alleged threshold! Now we do have a smattering on the island each day - mostly in the Heraklion prefecture. Where does the blame for these irrational decisions lie?  Youth partying in Malia, ignorance in British civil service or just victimisation of Remainers? Meanwhile the schools return today, so perhaps ... 

Down on the beach September is under way! Gone are most of the families and sunbeds (especially those with parasols ) are at a premium. Yiannis is on the point of planting more, but there is tension in the air:- not helped by some anti-social behaviour in terms of dogs, music, mobiles, loud conversations and "reserving with towels"! Also typically September tourists have more dosh, so the cantina is doing very well, and in response they have decided to serve some grilled meat occasionally.

By way of contrast on Wednesday they did not open at all! That day was the worst of a run of very windy days! It had been expected, with Force 7 showing the forecast. This was possibly the worst wind Greyrocks has ever experienced here! We eventually ventured out to Atoli, where we were given substantial mezedes with every round!

 

Jolly clever Covid seating plan, Teach!

The wind has eased since then so it was not a problem at the 70th birthday party at The Wave. Fifteen "boomers" - of whom nearly half had been teachers - were cunningly arranged to meet Crete's Covid restrictions but see everyone else! Unfortunately plans to borrow at least one guitar fell flat, and no-one thought to bring a speaker so musical activity was a bit limited. And of course everything had to stop at midnight! So not quite like all those other YiayiaGaga socials!