Loving Droushia

There was something about lockdown which made us feel like we had all the time in the world and now we don't seem to get five minutes to just sit and relax,  we used to set aside an hour or so each day and read and that went out the window so today we decided to divide our day into hourly chunks and do something for just an hour before going to do something else.  That way we didn't get bogged down with a chore that overtook our day and it worked!

For my first hour I got round to having a sort out of my clothes and tidied drawers and put stuff into a charity bag.  I didn't go mad I just did my hour and found it hugely satisfying.  John got inspired and did an hour himself - it didn't have to be the same hour - it didn't even have to start and finish when mine did it was just an hour so even though going through all our clothes might take a couple of hours we are now at least half way through.

We then both decided to spend an hour reading - John is well into A Man Called Ove even though the print is minuscule (probably why Mum didn't read it) so he has to wear his glasses.  In fact he is worse at reading small print than I am!

He bagged the most shady spot in the garden.  It is the area we cleared most recently - previously there was a rather uninspiring hedge there and now we have two chairs and a little table and we use it probably more than anywhere else.  The only trouble was that as the sun began to rise I was in the other chair and the sun kept nipping at my feet so in the end I had to move.  

I retired to the Do-Jo to sit in amongst the washing!  We hang it in there so it is not in direct sunlight so that John's tops do not shrink.  On that subject I am trying a new on-line clothes shop because he struggles to get things to fit.  I shall report back on whether or not it is a success in terms of (a) delivery and (b) the sizing and quality!  Until we know whether or not they are suitable he is loathe to fill the charity bag which is understandable.  It used to be a standing joke that he would give me his washing and I would ask what size and colour he wanted it back because everything seemed to shrink in the wash and in the whites there was always an errant coloured item which would bleed out!

It is good that John is back reading.  He normally likes to read a biography or something factual but we have loads of fiction books so I like to try and read something which I can then recommend to him.  I have started a Harlan Coben novel Six Hours.  We have watched a couple of TV serialisations of his books and liked them and so far so good plus the print is infinitely larger than in the book John is currently reading.

We had a little shopping we needed to do so allocated one of our hours to nipping down to Prodromi for some essentials and en route found and stopped at a new little shop that has opened in Droushia.  It is located in a little room in a traditional house complete with a four poster bed and sells hand made natural soaps and lotions.

As we pulled up we were greeted by Sotiria and between her English and my Greek established that her husband and in-laws were from Droushia (I think!) and that there was a shop in Platres.  

Everything smelt so lovely I couldn't resist buying a scrub soap for the shower - Orange and Clove.  I bit of a luxury treat for me - the soaps are €7 and would make a lovely gift and I shall definitely look forward to using it in the shower!!

It would be so nice to see more little shops like this opening up in Droushia.  I think this is the way that mountain villages can attract more people and survive.  The only problem with Droushia is that there is no village square and central parking so often people drive in and just carry on driving through because they can't park.

We heard this morning that Lakis was out of Covid Jail!  All clear at 2b meant that we were able to go over and catch up this afternoon.  Everything back to normal thank goodness and thankfully Lakis had only felt poorly for a couple of days.

We decided to take a walk down into the village this evening and check the post.  We have been meaning to go down for the past week and not gotten round to it.  It was a glorious evening and the village was buzzing.  We checked the post and nipped into Finikas garden for a drink.  They had several tables taken and some lads waiting for a massive souvlaki takeaway order.  They were so busy that we left and said we would come back to pay tomorrow so they could get on with the cooking!  As we were walking past Mario's Bar we saw John's hairdresser Christakis and ascertained that he will be back in the village coiffing next week.  We sat down for a night cap and bless Christakis he paid.  You have to love our village!