Today is Monday - Epiphany has been and gone - the festive season is over and we are returning to some sort of normality except that waking at 5.00am is not normal for those of us who do not work and do not have to be up at any particular time!
It was a wild and wet night but the measures that John has taken to alleviate our flooding problem seem to be working well and apart from a little seepage there was nothing too much to contend with. Over the last couple of days the temperature has really dropped - the view of the coastline doesn't look to inviting - the water looks cold and wild with plenty of white horses.
My lovely mornings of art are back on and I must admit I have really missed them. Poor Sheila and Klaus did not have the best of times as they were both ill over Christmas and the New Year with the dreaded 'flu that has been doing the rounds. It is such a shame when you get yourself all geared up for the festive season and then you don't even feel well enough to get out of bed. They were even too ill to enjoy their birthdays.
Fortunately they are feeling better now so it was back to Klaus in the kitchen rustling up something tasty for lunch and Sheila and I sat at the dining room table chatting and working on our respective pictures. Sheila is currently working on a picture of her daughter's late boxer and I am still working on my lily picture. I cannot believe that all that blending for the background takes so much time either that or Sheila and I do too much talking!! Still it is coming along slowly and I am now about halfway through and the bottom half of the picture has more flowers in it and they don't seem to take so long to reproduce but I reckon I still have several weeks' work ahead of me!
John came and picked me up and we went down to Prodromi where I dropped him off for his Monday badminton session. He had asked me to go and get the tyre pressure done on the CRV - deep joy - it can be complicated enough at the best of times but the pressure here is measured differently and the machines are labelled in Greek. I pulled up at the Ecko garage outside the air station and a lovely man rushed over and did it all for me - result!!!!
I had some time to kill and decided to go and have a quick look in Festival Shoes as both Wheelie Helen and Crafty Jane had picked up some 'moon boots' for €10. If nothing else they would have made some good warm indoor slippers with a sole suitable for outside so I thought I would take a look. They had several pairs ranging from €8 to €12 in various colours and designs but none of them really seemed to fit properly so I decided not to bother and was about to leave the shop when I spotted the pair in the picture opposite. Now that is what I call a nice pair of boots - great colour and good heel. I asked if they had a 36 but the assistant said she was sorry there was only one pair left in the shop and when I looked on the bottom it said 35 - now depending on the style and fit I really ought to take a 35 so I tried them on and BOOM they fitted like a glove (well like a boot really) and I just had to have them so was delighted that in the sale they cost me €20 - bargain!!! Twice as much as I intended on spending on the moon boots but these will be much more hard wearing and I loved them and I just had to have them. It is not as if either John or I have spent much on clothes and shoes over the past 20 months that we have been here and I just knew that if I didn't get them when I saw them they wouldn't be available when I needed some.
It was my first Greek lesson for weeks and I was pretty apprehensive as I get little chance to practise and my head felt like it was full of cotton wool. I have been in two minds as to whether or not to continue - I do enjoy it and on days like today when I can hold a reasonable conversation with Phillipos in the bank I think it has been worth it but I sometimes get a feeling of dread on a Sunday that I haven't done enough homework and that is not what I retired for!!! Anyway I said to John I would see how it went today and then make a decision. It actually went pretty well today and so I have decided to continue for the time being but the minute it stops being fun will stop.
I collected John and we made our way back home - the temperatures were beginning to drop but it was a bit early to get the wood burner going so we had the gas fire on for a while. It has actually turned out to be a good standby source of heating as it is instant - the damn thing still plays up and drives John nuts but when it is going it is great.
Before settling down for the evening John made more of his lovely banana muffins as we had bananas that were on the turn and I used up some of my poor persons food parcel to make a tasty sausage casserole for our tea. I need to try and empty the fridge freezer we have borrowed from Budgie Smuggler Mark and get it back to him sooner rather than later or else I will get too used to having the extra storage.
Have just looked at the weather station to see that the outside temperature has dropped to 5 degrees at 8.00pm. This time last year I see that we had a beautiful sunny day and we did some maintenance on our flat roof. We have now started the battle against the condensation - let's hope spring comes earlier this year than it did last year.
It was a wild and wet night but the measures that John has taken to alleviate our flooding problem seem to be working well and apart from a little seepage there was nothing too much to contend with. Over the last couple of days the temperature has really dropped - the view of the coastline doesn't look to inviting - the water looks cold and wild with plenty of white horses.
My lovely mornings of art are back on and I must admit I have really missed them. Poor Sheila and Klaus did not have the best of times as they were both ill over Christmas and the New Year with the dreaded 'flu that has been doing the rounds. It is such a shame when you get yourself all geared up for the festive season and then you don't even feel well enough to get out of bed. They were even too ill to enjoy their birthdays.Fortunately they are feeling better now so it was back to Klaus in the kitchen rustling up something tasty for lunch and Sheila and I sat at the dining room table chatting and working on our respective pictures. Sheila is currently working on a picture of her daughter's late boxer and I am still working on my lily picture. I cannot believe that all that blending for the background takes so much time either that or Sheila and I do too much talking!! Still it is coming along slowly and I am now about halfway through and the bottom half of the picture has more flowers in it and they don't seem to take so long to reproduce but I reckon I still have several weeks' work ahead of me!
John came and picked me up and we went down to Prodromi where I dropped him off for his Monday badminton session. He had asked me to go and get the tyre pressure done on the CRV - deep joy - it can be complicated enough at the best of times but the pressure here is measured differently and the machines are labelled in Greek. I pulled up at the Ecko garage outside the air station and a lovely man rushed over and did it all for me - result!!!!
I had some time to kill and decided to go and have a quick look in Festival Shoes as both Wheelie Helen and Crafty Jane had picked up some 'moon boots' for €10. If nothing else they would have made some good warm indoor slippers with a sole suitable for outside so I thought I would take a look. They had several pairs ranging from €8 to €12 in various colours and designs but none of them really seemed to fit properly so I decided not to bother and was about to leave the shop when I spotted the pair in the picture opposite. Now that is what I call a nice pair of boots - great colour and good heel. I asked if they had a 36 but the assistant said she was sorry there was only one pair left in the shop and when I looked on the bottom it said 35 - now depending on the style and fit I really ought to take a 35 so I tried them on and BOOM they fitted like a glove (well like a boot really) and I just had to have them so was delighted that in the sale they cost me €20 - bargain!!! Twice as much as I intended on spending on the moon boots but these will be much more hard wearing and I loved them and I just had to have them. It is not as if either John or I have spent much on clothes and shoes over the past 20 months that we have been here and I just knew that if I didn't get them when I saw them they wouldn't be available when I needed some.It was my first Greek lesson for weeks and I was pretty apprehensive as I get little chance to practise and my head felt like it was full of cotton wool. I have been in two minds as to whether or not to continue - I do enjoy it and on days like today when I can hold a reasonable conversation with Phillipos in the bank I think it has been worth it but I sometimes get a feeling of dread on a Sunday that I haven't done enough homework and that is not what I retired for!!! Anyway I said to John I would see how it went today and then make a decision. It actually went pretty well today and so I have decided to continue for the time being but the minute it stops being fun will stop.
Before settling down for the evening John made more of his lovely banana muffins as we had bananas that were on the turn and I used up some of my poor persons food parcel to make a tasty sausage casserole for our tea. I need to try and empty the fridge freezer we have borrowed from Budgie Smuggler Mark and get it back to him sooner rather than later or else I will get too used to having the extra storage.
Have just looked at the weather station to see that the outside temperature has dropped to 5 degrees at 8.00pm. This time last year I see that we had a beautiful sunny day and we did some maintenance on our flat roof. We have now started the battle against the condensation - let's hope spring comes earlier this year than it did last year.
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