Treasures??

 Treasures still treasured in our back yard

A trolley.  Essential for hauling washing machines and ovens in and out of the yard

A pile of paving stones.  Leftover from the front entranceway I presume.  Some day, some inheriting child will have to remove these.  Or maybe they could be used for making paths.  That's probably what 'he' had in mind.  Another project dreamed up and never completed

Metal awning posts and various pieces of heavy pipe.  Another project.  A retracting awning for the back terrace.  We even had a huge yacht sail which was to go on top.  That has disappeared into someone else's backyard

Two rusty ends of a big hot water heater.  The rest of the heater was used to make a bbq.  I must make a note, these can probably be chucked in the next clean-out.  Without too much resistance.

The BBQ was completed and gives him much joy.  It's the third he has made from old water heaters

Bit hard to see amongst the rest of the junk but these are the two wrought iron ends and the back of a wooden bench.  Great idea.  Could possibly come to fruition though they look in need of lots of TLC

Rain

 A moody Monday. Overcast and noticeably quieter. Schools open next Monday and visitors are disappearing fast.

A film is being shot on Poros.

It's called Kyuka. In Japanese it means 'holidays'.  Not sure where the Japanese fits in.  It's a  film about 3 family members, father and two children who come to Poros on a yacht. 

All locals who want to take part can/could register.  I didn't

We were down in the harbour for shopping very early this morning and found a legal parking.  But really, why bother.  You only get blocked by some idiot and can't get out.

We waited 10 minutes for this guy to turn up and I waited for an explosion from K and an

open palm gesture

A real insult and usually accompanied by some very salty words

But instead this guy got a smile and some friendly banter.  A friend of K.  He got off with not even a slap on the wrist.  And then waited till we backed out and took our park so he could go off and have a drink with his friends.

GRRRRRR says the grumpy bear

It was quite cool this morning and while we were having coffee it started to rain.  Hurrah.  

But it was only a 10 minute, quite heavy, shower

Still it has cooled us down and given us a glimpse of autumn

A Big-ish Clean-up

 September. We are finally having overseas visitors. An excuse to get rid of a little more rubbish and do a little cleaning.

They've all been here before so they know what sort of house we keep. A rather disorganized one.

But one where you won't go hungry.

Yard work and removing big rubbish always seems so much easier to me.  Instant rewards.  Whereas I'm the only one who is going to notice if the furniture is dusted or the floors are cleaned.  Or there are smudges on the cabinet doors, or the windows are clean, or the doors need scrubbing after pouring rain and red saharan dust, or, or .  In fact if all those jobs got finished I think anyone entering would notice a shine.  The biggest indoor job is going to be taking down all the pictures and plaques around the fireplace and cleaning the soot off the wall before we start this winter's fires and smudge it again.  That's what I hate,  it all gets dirty again.  All our windows and doors are open 24 hours a day still, with bug screens.  The dust floats gaily in settling all over the room in a nice thick coating.  Spider webs can be removed but the spiders are still here and more webs will appear overnight.

So, to outdoors.

We needed all the help we could get. Yes, that's Another washing machine to be removed from our back yard

Still a bit of cleaning to be done here but big rubbish has been removed A young lad fits a very large fan. All ready to cool us down when we have a family gathering.  We won't be bbq-ing because there is still a fire hazard but the outdoor cooker and gas grill will be fired up.

Another 'mastora', as in a whizz at fixing motorbikes, and second cousin once removed, had a look at my quad bike. It has been out of action for a month. The lights went out one night coming back up the mountain. Not a good time for bike lights to fuse. K on his motorbike drove alongside me to light the way and I turned on the flash so others could see me .

The road was damn dark but mostly empty.

I'm over the quad bike and would quite happily just use the car but the boss has decided that it must be fixed.

Consultation

This carpet should have been cleaned and stored for the summer but it's huge and it got left, folded up outside.  Now it's finally cleaning time

In amongst the folds were a dozen or more of these wasp nests.

They are made by a wasp with dangly legs which here is called the 'builder wasp'.

They come away easily but leave a muddy mess.  The carpet had to be scrubbed back and front.  It's cleaned and dried now and put away in it's protective bag.  

And now what is left to be done is for K to bundle up all his tools and fill up another rubbish bag with old rubbish bags, empty oil cans and the like so I can wash down the tiles and clean all the outdoor chairs in time for our welcome meal for the first family visitors from Downunder.

Aliki Beach

 And our second day trip. A taxi boat ride along the harbour and across to Aliki Beach on the mainland.

In days of yore when the tourist business was booming - in the 80's - there were little water taxis plying back and forth from the island to this sandy beach all day long.

Then the little British travel companies started to go bust and anyway it was much easier to book a flight straight to Crete or Rhodes or any island with an airport.  To get to Poros english visitors had to fly to Athens, wait for their travel connection to take them on an hours trip  to the harbour, wait for the boat and then it was 2 1/2 hours  to the island.  Where they waited in line for a taxi to take them to their accomodation.  A long tiring trip.  Slowly tourist numbers dwindled, bars and souvenir shops closed.   It wasn't till about 15 years ago that business picked up as the new road from Athens opened up and greek city dwellers wanting a few days of relaxation started to appear, even on sunny mid-winter weekends.  It's a 2 hour drive from Athens, onto the car ferry and then a park at your hotel.  

The water taxis to Aliki beach, and all the other beaches, stopped running.  There was no money to made sailing without passengers.

In the last few years three new routes have opened up again, subsidised,I think, by the EU.  One of our sons-in-law is captain of the good ship Socrates and he has nabbed the run to Aliki beach.  A sandy beach, shallow and children friendly.  There are two tavernas close by and now one of them has put out umbrellas and sunbeds.  The perfect place for a few hours of fun.

I used to take my kids there for a day out.  My grandchildren went not long ago to see what it's like now.  Still sandy, but too much seaweed they say.  No-one likes that creepy feeling of dark seaweed  waving under the feet and strange shadows amongst the fronds.

On the far side of the beach is a small lagoon where locals gathered salt from the rocks and looked for shellfish.  The lagoon is a bit sad now and the water that is left is dirty looking. 

We didn't go across to swim but to eat at one of the tavernas.  My english friend lives nearby and she came down to join us.  Another day of nattering in English. 

Our son in law has the Aliki Beach run this year.  

It takes about 15 minutes to go across, a nice cruise along the waterfront and then over to the mainland

First stop is Plaka beach.  No one got in or out.

You can see it's a bit choppy but not enough to be uncomfortable

Arriving at the beach dock.  I had a bit of difficulty getting in and out of that little boat.  Lucky my s-in-law was there to help.  It's the step from boat to shore that gets me.  I dither and make a very uncertain step towards land, sure I'm going to land awkwardly or suddenly the boat will drift out and I'll be left susupended, one foot on boat and one foot on land.  I managed to disembark with some sort of dignity  but I won't be taking any of these little taxi boats any time soon.

If I want to go to the mainland I use the car ferry.  Walk on walk off

Looking from the dock along to the taverna we were going to eat.

K and J waiting for kalamari, greek salad and chips

The tables along that back wall were occupied by greek men gossiping between themselves.  K listened in but was not impressed by their conversation and for once did not join in.  Men hiding from their wives and having a furtive beer or two or just moochers with nowhere else to go.  The taverna is out of the way, not so easy to get to from land.  But the locals know.  A great hideaway.

Ignorance is Bliss

There was a broken sewage pipe in the road behind these beaches with a spill into the sea. My daughter, who lives right there, was told not go swimming.

They didn't tell the tourists though.

What you don't know can't hurt you.   Can it?

 

Health

 I got a gyno appointment at the rural hospital at Korinth, 1 1/2 hours away, half way between the island and Athens. K had an op there a few years ago and was impressed by the doctors. 

I was impressed by the gynocologist, a woman thank goodness, but with a male assistant . Ho hum 

She actually sat down and explained what she'd found, in simple detail, and gave us a picture of what they can do and what they can't and why.

She says, the rural hospital and also most of the big hospitals in the cities, only do emergency ops  during the summer and everything is behind schedule anyway because of covid.  

I'm not a life and death situation so if I come back in October and see the head of the Gynaecologic department I can probably get a date for surgery, sometime in the future .

Now we just have to find out if we need to 'oil' the Head of Gynocology and how much. I'm sure he will expect an 'envelope' under the table.  

We learned the other day, while talking with a group of friends who had 'been there and done it' that if we had oiled the doctor at Nafplio I would have had my cataract operation by now. If we don't go back and give him 250 euros then forget it. He'll simply 'put us on the list'.   

Quite frankly, though I hate this system, I'd rather hand over 200 or so euros than have to traipse into Athens or Piraeus . 

First the gyno problem then I'll tackle the cataracts .

The going rate for most doctors seems to be 250, plus if you need an anaesthetic  another 100 to the anaesthesiologist.  Doable.

We went on one of the hottest days of summer but left very early in the morning to avoid most of the heat. The hospital was not on duty for emergency cases so it was a lot quieter than usual and cool. We had to have a rapid test before entering, 5 euros at the pharmacy opposite, and of course wear masks.

There were half a dozen other women/girls waiting with me. All pregnant Roma (gypsies to put it bluntly). They usually have most of the family with them but thankfully rapid tests must have kept them out. 

All these rural hospitals have a large Roma clientele. A lot of the menfolk with big cars and dripping in gold. The women still wear the old style of dress, long skirts and long hair tied up in a scarf. 

We came home without stopping at our usual souvlaki place. To hot to eat or think about leaving the air-conditioned car.

We stopped at a big supermarket half an hour from home so I could do some essential shopping and K could get an iced espresso.  The  number of cars parked at this place was amazing. The supermarket was full and at the coffee shop next door the woman who runs it was literally running.  These few busy August weeks help them to get through the winter 

Then it was a dash to get the car ferry. We got there with 2 minutes to spare so no waiting in the heat on the boiling deck. No bad tempers and impatient tooting of horns 

Home to a cold shower and an afternoon nap .

This morning we were down town before 7 am for a blood test.  All well there.

It was wonderful down there at that early hour. There was a crisp coolness, quiet and peace. I haven't been to the centre of town for two months. The noise and crush of people, plus the heat and lack of parking is unbearable.

Empty cafeterias

An empty waterfront.

Only one water taxi

So early the streets lights are still on, the rubbish waiting to be collected

Festivals and 'Fruits'

15th August is the biggest holiday in Greece. Far more important than Xmas or New Year, maybe not Easter.

It's midsummer, an important church festival and this year, after years of quarantine, it's a 3 day holiday weekend that everyone can enjoy. Greece has gone on vacation and a huge number have chosen our little island.

It's the commemoration of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, in other words when she died. The Orthodox acknowledge her ascension to heaven with great celebration. The cities are emptied as everyone goes back to their village or island, their family or simply to enjoy a bit of summer fun.  The islands, especially those in the Cyclades, are filled to overflowing.

Little blue and white chapels, large cathedrals, any church  dedicated to the Virgin are decked out in flags and flowers. Festivities continue for days with feasting, music and a lot of sea bathing, coffee and family reunions.

It's the name day of anyone named after her, names like Mary, Maria, Despina, Panayiota and for men Panayiotis and Marios.

Poros is overcrowded with tourists, Greek and foreign. There is a constant stream of quad bikes and cars down to our local beach. The roar of those quad bikes interrupts our siesta. Downtown every tiny space is occupied by a parked car and still the car ferries bring more.

We left the house early to find parking, pick up a box of sweet cakes for our own Panayiota who we will visit this evening.

Today's 'harvest fruits'

Figs, really sweet, and tasty organic tomatoes, local wine and oil and a box of cakes to take to the name day dinner

Coffee time.

 Thank goodness we came down early. The sticky cakes were already disappearing from the bakery even at 9.30am . Parking spaces were limited but by leaving the tail of the car slightly exposed we managed to squeeze into a space under a tree, ensuring us shade and a cool car when we returned.

On the way down a neighbour and good friend stopped us to give us a 2litre bottle of his own olive oil. Before we made the cafeteria another friend stopped and handed us bags of figs and tomatoes. He went away and came back with three bottles of his wine which he left in the back of the car, unlocked of course.

We spent a couple of hours drinking coffee and later beer and when I went in to pay discovered that one of the other friends at our table had beaten me to it.

We were blessed by the Madonna methinks .

The island of Tinos is packed with pilgrims this weekend, waiting to light a candle, give blessing or pray for a miracle and touch the miraculous icon at this church 

Many pilgrims (women) crawl almost a kilometre in the blazing sun from the harbour to this church dedicated to Our Lady of Tinos to touch the icon and ask for a blessing or favour.

Over 40 years ago Panayiota, the mother of our son in law, did just this and carried him up those last steep steps on her back, to pray for his good health. That was over 40 years ago. He's healthy and married to our daughter and has given us all 2 grandchildren.  She thinks it was worth every step, even though her knees were bloody and torn by the time she reached the church.

A Greek mother