Apokoronas Our Home

So far a fairly routine day. Emails, Phone calls, down to the village for a bit of shopping. We also had to find the doctor to write C's prescription he arrived later than expected at his surgery and it was quite cold waiting! however he wrote the prescription and we got the medication to last us at least over the weekend. On the way back whilst dropping of some rubbish at the skip, we found two good quality bedside cabinets thrown out, only in need of a clean up and a fresh coat of paint. We called in to see someone about some work and found a delivery of wood in progress, this of course meant that we had to go inside with the couple and the person delivering the wood and have several rakis. By the time I got home I was running rather late with my other work. I managed to get 4 loads of washing pretty well dried by late afternoon and hung the rest over the stove to air. A phone call to the lawyer gave me an update on the situation with the new council - which takes over tomorrow.

The day started fine but cloudy. About 10.30 when I had gone to get my road tax and a bit of shopping the heavens opened! The rest of the day the mountains were hidden and the temperature dropped considerably.  Winter seems to be here at last and the temperature is likely to stay low as snow is likely to  stay on the mountains now. Last year we had very little snow - I wonder if we will have more this year. The rain continued into the night and I was dreading driving to Hania in the early morning, but luckily the rain had stopped and the roads were quiet.  Visiting Hania hospital is always a social event - you can be sure of meeting somebody you know as you are walking through the corridors. Today was no exception and I bumped into three or four acquaintances. On the way back we discovered that the Pharmacy in Vamos was closed. This is a slight problem as the cardiologist husband of the chemist is also away and we cannot get the prescription filled in. -  Xristos' pills run out

The new council was sworn in on Boxing day. The ceremony was well attended by civil and church dignitaries and MPs from a variety of parties. After the official service, taken by the Bishop and several priests ( the communist leader was sworn in separately at the end) there was the usual Cretan hospitality. This consisted of local wine, kalitsounia and roast lamb. Being full of a surfeit of roast Turkey and all the trimmings from the day before I did not indulge. The day was warm and sunny and the road outside the town hall was packed and lots of "networking" was going on. We took lots of photos for use on the website later - I suggested that anyone wearing a suit and tie should be photographed - even if we were not sure who he or she was, we could find out later!  Today I had a good purge of my office. Cupboards were tidied, old paperwork filed or shredded and old newspapers disposed of. I will continue in the coming days so everything is ready for the New Year. ( The cupbo

Winter arrived overnight! Friday we were basking in 25 degrees and Saturday night we had snow. Quite a shock to the system. We were lucky. Some places woke with no electricity, no water and no internet. Our wood burning stove certainly earns its keep as  it provides not only heating, but cooking facilities too. We had salmon with jacket potatoes, sweet potato and red cabbage today. The snow is melting now and there is not much left. Tomorrow will be back to the olives if the weather keeps ok. Yesterday I made Christmas puddings and steamed them on the stove all evening. Today is the first anniversary of the death of Uncle Georgo. the time seems to have gone very quickly. It is the name day of Spyros today so lots of parties going on....

Well you may have noticed ( or not) that there has been no blog for a couple of days. The last few days have gone by in  blur and I could not even tell you where the days have gone! A lot of trips into the electricity office in Hania, chasing around paperwork etc. We are still waiting for the court to make a final pronunciation about the elections - though no body really expects things to change. The council members, new and old, are continuing with daily business and planning for the new.  We have been working on the newsletter and the updated website, I hope they will both be launched before Christmas. The weather is still very unseasonal and is warm and sunny, we really need some rain, but at this point it would be nice to get the olives collected before the weather breaks.  Had an interesting conversation about Rethymnon - Friends love it, I don't. We are talking about everyday shopping and business here not about holidays. I suppose it is where you get used to! I find the sh

Yes. I got back to the gym! Started off planning a quiet day. Went to Vamos at about 9a.m. to the pharmacy and from there on to buy some ham from Jon the butcher. From there off to the hardware store and bought paint to do my louvre doors out the back. So much for my quiet day - painting the french window shutters and the shutters of the two windows in the living room took me up to lunchtime - as well as dealing with phone calls etc. After lunch I shook myself and went of to Vrysses to the gym. I was there from about 2p.m. and took it fairly gently as I have not been for a couple of months due to the elections. On my return home it was time to feed the animals ( dogs, cats, chickens and rabbits) and make more phone calls! today I received several calls about council business so I must collate the information and speak to Mr Markakis about it tomorrow. One twinning request from the Uk, one offer of help from someone who works for the EEC development department and various other items.