Wednesday 6 December 2023
Xmas and More
Friday 1 December 2023
Olive Oil
Wednesday 29 November 2023
Home
Tuna on a tile.
Friday 24 November 2023
Dogs and Drugs
To continue on from the last post.....
If you don't own a dog or are more of a cat person, like me, then big barking dogs are fearsome beasts.
Years ago when we lived in town I used to walk around the smaller island in the morning. On the back road there was a small herd of sheep guarded by two dogs. The sheep were usually found down a small bank near the sea and could only be heard but not seen. Somewhere nearby were the dogs. Every damn time I walked that road they would suddenly leap out at me barking and snarling.
I knew more or less where they were but their appearance was so sudden and so menacing that I almost had a heart attack. I was so angry at being frightened that I would shriek at them and run passed. In the end I stopped walking that way altogether. It was too much for my nerves.
A few of our neighbours have hunting dogs but they are kept under control and are well fenced in. Hunters are not keen on losing a good hound. There's a sweet little white dog called Snoopy who runs free. He barks like mad protecting the house and grounds but will actually wag his tail when approached. He's the epitome of 'his bark is worse than his bite'.
Then there are the other dogs. Big and noisy. Behind fences but free. They follow me along the fence line barking and growling.
Unfortunately there are some on almost every route I take.
My girls both have dogs and I am quite happy to dog-sit them on occasion, and give them back again. They are dogs I know and trust. Unlike the 'strange' dogs I meet or hear on my daily ramblings.
Now for sneakers on powerlines.
This appears to be a worldwide phenomenon.
They've appeared in Beijing, Beverly Hills, Chicago, Spain, Lebanon and now Poros. Australia apparently is a 'hotbed of errant show throwing'.
Wikipedia calls it 'folk sport' and there's a site called 'Shoefiti' that apparently tracks hanging shoes.
Does it mean
-that this is a place for drug deals
-or is it a commemoration of a wedding or the end of the school year.
Scratching of head..??? Ehhhh?
-that someone was just bored and had nothing else to do with their old trainers.
-its simply a prank
-a young guy who lives nearby lost his virginity
-its a form of art
Heavens to mergatroyd, what else will I hear.
The only young boy who lives anywhere near is 10 years old and his idea of fun is doing wheelies on his bike so I'm crossing that off the list.
It's not the end of the school year and no one around here has got married recently.
A place for drug deals?
Beside the rubbish bins way out in the wop-wops?
Wednesday 22 November 2023
Walking
Monday 20 November 2023
This and That
Tuesday 14 November 2023
Peppers and a Pumpkin
Friday 10 November 2023
Photos From Our Home
Thursday 2 November 2023
Hear All About It
Hear the news that is not on the front page.
- Greek drama -
Over the summer 2 turkish tourists were apprehended for flying a drone over the Navy Base here on Poros. They ended up in court but it was finally decided that they were indeed ordinary tourists who just happened to come from Turkey and who liked flying drones, not international spies.
There was a bit of a brouhaha but it was over quickly. There's nothing to spy on in Poros.
The central building at the Navy Base is a fine example of neo-classical architecture but there are no submarines hiding in the shallows, no torpedo boats on stand-by.
- Corfu -
Up over there on the island of Corfu, one of the popular holiday spots for partying Brits, there were some real shenanigans going on. Kavos, in the south of Corfu, consists of endless bars full of 17-30 years olds drinking and revelling till dawn. 'The Kavos strip' is the place to be after dark. You had better watch what you're drinking if you're partying there but most party goers probably don't care and any drink is fine as long as it's alcohol.
7 bars were shut down for reselling dregs and unfinished drinks from customers glasses. The leftover beverages were collected in a barrel and served as shots. The bars were shut down for 48 hours and fined.
They were also fined for selling illegal and possibly adulterated alcohol.
28 places were closed, temporarily, for tax evasion.
They lost a few thousand euros and were open again after two days raking the money back in.
- Sheep on a high -
from 'Greek Reporter'
A herd of sheep in the semi-flooded plain of Thessaly 'invaded' a glasshouse that cultivated medicinal cannabis and ate around 100 kilos of the stuff. The sheep developed strange behaviour and the shepherd realised they had eaten a large part of the cannabis crop....reports say
The owner of the greenhouse said ' I don't know whether to laugh or cry. We had the heatwave and we lost a lot of the crop, we had the floods and we lost almost everything. Now this. The herd of sheep ate what was left'.
There was no clarification of 'their strange behaviour' but they didn't suffer any serious damage to their health.
- To burn or not to burn? -
Floating round the web on blogs and youtube channels I follow is the theory that carnivores, those eating an animal based diet, like me, don't get sunburnt.
Some think it's a myth, some think that people on an animal based diet are less likely to burn and others that they heal faster.
I didn't go swimming till mid-August this year and my legs from the knees up, arms from the elbows up were lilly white. That goes for my shoulders too. I spend as little time as I can in the sun. It's too hot and I hate sunbathing. I'd rather sit in the shade and read a book.
I didn't get sunburnt swimming on Poros exposing milk white limbs. However when I was on holiday at the Navy resort I sat in the sun rather a lot. It was late September and I needed to warm up after each swim. I didn't use any sunscreen and my knees got a bit red. The rest of me got tanned .
The sun is strong in summer, and probably if you overdo the exposure you're going to suffer whatever you eat.
November 3rd and it's still hot. No-one sits in the sun. It still burns.
Sunday 29 October 2023
Greek Pride Day
28th October 1940
Hitler ordered Mussolini to invade Greece. Mussolini gathered his army on the northern Albanian border and issued an ultimatum to Greece
Surrender and let the Italian forces walk in, or it is war.
The Greek Prime Minister replied with a resounding
'Ochi' 'No'
and
'Alors, c'est la guerre'
So Greece joined WWII and the battle carried on with fierce fighting for 219 days.
To give you an idea of that resistance, look at how other European countries reacted
Norway 61 days of resistance
France 43
Holland 4 days
Denmark 0
The Danish king gave his crown to the Fuhrer's messenger to take back to Hitler as a sign of compliance.
Greece not only pushed the Italians back over the Albanian border but took back territory they had previously lost.
German forces invaded a few months later occupying the mainland and islands.
Tuesday 24 October 2023
What's up
I heard a lone cicada yesterday afternoon. The sun during the day is still very hot. This time last year we had the last batch of visitors and they were still swimming. October, the best of months. November is usually in that category too.
My oldest grandson is doing his compulsory military service at the moment. He's tall, the tallest in his company during the 3 weeks training and was selected for special service. He could have been one of those guards you see in Syntagma Square guarding Parliament but opted out of that. Instead he will be one of those in the squad that ascends the Acropolis in the morning and evening to raise and lower the greek flag. He will also do duty on official occasions guarding the President of the Republic or marching in parades.
So, if you're coming to Greece this next 9 months and going up the Acropolis, as every tourist does, then watch out for the best looking lad. That will be him.
Every Greek male has to do service in one of the armed forces. It used to be a 2 year stint, now my grandson is only serving for 9 months. He'll be finished in time to enjoy the next summer.
They get paid next to nothing. I remember years ago they received 1,000 drachmas. Just enough to get a few packets of cigarettes. Now G told us he will have 10 euros credited to his bank account. Every month? He says it's a one time payment. It's peanuts, whichever way. They get fed and clothed, uniform only, and I think they get travel vouchers too so they can go home and see Mama.
Christmas is coming whether we like it or not. For some years now we have been talking about doing a Secret Santa gift exchange and we finally got it into gear a few weeks ago, We put names on paper and into a nice greek pot and everyone drew a paper. You only buy a present for the person whose name is on your piece of paper. 3 of the grandchildren drew their own names. What's the odds? Redraw!
So now we only have to buy one present for our secret-santa-receiver. I thought it would be easy but in actual fact it's not. We have all the money to put on one person. One good present which they will enjoy opening. There are still the xmas stockings for the grandchildren though they're really too old for that. The youngest is 15. Trivia and sweets go in those.
Talking of trivia, after the 'lottery' we played a greek version of Trivial Pursuit. No feasting this time, just coffee and excellent brownies and carrot cake. Thanks kids
The trivial game was hilarious. Thank goodness I managed to answer enough questions to save face. Who sang 'Singing in the Rain'. No, not Frank Sinatra but good ole Gene Kelly. What was the mascot at the French world cup football final in 1998. Thank goodness for rugby, which has nothing to do with football finals. But I know the Australian team is called the Wallabies, the South Africans are Springboks, England are the Lions and amongst others I know that France is represented by the Rooster. WIN!
I left most of the greek questions to the others in my team. But I did know the temple at Delphi is dedicated to Apollo. I've been there 3 times.
Next I have to order xmas cards and xmas crackers. Xmas cards are cheap on the chinese giant Shein. Xmas crackers I'm not sure about. We used to buy them from Ebay but we can't use that anymore because we have to pay ridiculous import tax on everything coming from England.
And finally the cinema. That rooftop movie theatre is still running. Blankets provided on these colder nights.
This time the movie I saw was based on an Agatha Christie book. A Haunting in Venice is the name. Based very loosely on one of her books I might add. It was great entertainment. Very dramatic. Kenneth Branagh with his huge walrus moustache as Poirot. I loved it . I'm thinking I'd love any movie shown on a rooftop on Poros. It was fun, it was noisy. I had great company once again and ohhh, that aroma of buttery popcorn!
This week The Exorcist is being shown. The new version. I take my words back, that is one movie I would NOT enjoy at a Poros rooftop cinema. I won't be going. But my granddaughters will. Ye gods and little fishes. They've got strong nerves.
Saturday 14 October 2023
Walking the Ruins
I am walking daily now the worst heat is over so I took my quad bike up to the Temple to Poseidon to see if there were any wild cyclamen growing up there and walk along a different stretch of road. The cyclamen love to grow around rocks and in the pine needles where little else will grow.
I took a few photos of the area while it is still dry and brown. Soon it will be green and grassy and the stones that remain, very few, will be covered.
Thursday 12 October 2023
August September October Garden
October . Autumn.
It has been an unusual growing season
My garden is a few weeks behind it's usual production. Last week my grandaughter came up to do some heavy lifting. She's the rower, has very strong arms. I got her to prune back the white bougainvillia. It's nasty spiky branches were reaching for the sky again. Normally by the end of September it has virually stopped sprouting and is full of snowy white flowers. No flowers so far.
Further down the garden in the pumpkin patch I was ready to pull all the plants out. They didn't start flowering till the end of September and I couldn't see any pumpkins growing. Little Miss Sharp-Eyes found 7 small pumpkins, or squash and now the flowers are producing more, almost daily. Will they grow? Is there enough hot sun to give them strength?
Meantime K bought me cauliflower, broccoli and lettuce plants and there's no where to plant them until the end of the pumpkin season. They are going into pots at the moment, and the old wheelbarrow.