Living in the UK again

While walking this pair, it’s not so bad, the Labrador doesn’t pull at all but over the last few days I have been looking at the Alsatian and how he pulls in response to things happening around him. When he pulls, it’s when he feels that he needs to be in charge, to be the pack leader. I have been trying the trick of keeping the leash short and pulling him back while saying “heel”. You are also meant to turn them around and place them slightly behind you, or at least level. It’s very hard work. Even on these relatively quiet very narrow roads that we sometimes go along where they are barely one car’s width wide, there are things that put him into pack leader mode, cars, horses, other dogs. You can lead him away from things so he doesn’t get stressed, hide in a lay by when a car appears and so on. I changed the walk we were doing to avoid walking down a busy road at the end of the walk, and also where the field path is blocked by a useless style. So it’s a better walk for him and me. Go...

I have talked before about the most beautiful black Labrador I know, I have to be careful how I qualify that, else I would put at least one other dog’s nose out of joint. She is so special. She is like the dog on Sifnos who is a cuddle monster and when I looked after her before, we would sleep together in a small single bed. It needed a clean every day from her fur. Her lady owner came to see me when I got back from Greece with my leg in irons. The black  Labrador came too and she was beside herself when she saw me. She always gives me a super welcome. But bad news, they  were off to live near Oxford. But when  I got better, I went to see them a couple of times and I got my special welcome again.  Before they moved they got a second dog, an Alsatian puppy. How would that be handled by the very sensitive loving Labrador? Well pretty good as it turns out. The Labrador is very adept at letting the puppy know when he over steps the mark. So that’s good. So I am sitting t...

So the last few days, I did a little less, to take time to enjoy this lovely island while I was still here. I went up to the Dog Palace one more time, to walk the dogs, on the same path. Unfortunately the Dog Palace owner caught covid! That messed up the plans for an impromptu party with my cake of course. The rest of us all tested ourselves and we were ok. I had to drive myself in one of the trucks they use to go to the Palace, long time since I drove such a big beast. When I left the Palace, most of the dogs were asleep after their walk, so they did not see me go which is what I wanted. I have noticed they howl when we went on the other days. It’s horrible! But Rita was not to be denied, she spotted me sneaking out. I told her I would be back. I did not look back at her, I couldn’t. On the way back I picked up the guy who has his vegetable garden in Mega Livadi, I think he was a bit surprised when he opened the truck door and saw me! I managed to say a few things to him, he told me a...

One of the jobs I had to do tidy was to try and hand over the guitar to the local school in Livadi. I walked up to it having bought the ingredients for icing for the carrot cake, for those who wanted it. As I walked through the school gate there was someone I recognised just ahead of me, he is the school head and I had met him a few times when I lived here. He asked me if he could help and explained what I wanted to do. He said his son was learning the guitar and was borrowing one from the school, so my gift had found a perfect home. I was so pleased. Next was a quick early lunch at Grans with some Greek, and then a drive around some of the beaches. Before I picked up the car, I popped into the local museum hoping the advertised display on rocks from Mega Livadi would boost its small resident showings. Unfortunately not! But it’s only two euros to get in. They had some nice black and white photos that I liked of Mega Livadi. Back to the beach tour. The road takes you around Livadakia, ...

  I decided to do a little bit for the island on the Saturday. I drove up to Hora and walked down on the road picking up litter as I went. Unfortunately the bins to empty the bag I was putting the rubbish in,  were too far apart and the bag was falling apart  as well. But I managed to remove most of it. As I reached the flat bit of the road approaching Livadi, the fields around were covered in rubbish, a lot of it from the distribution company opposite. It took me weeks to clear those fields, I would do it differently now, buying bags and filling them and taking them to the nearest rubbish skip. I don’t have time to clear them now, so sadly the rubbish will remain and multiply I imagine. I met the delivery rider for Grans on route and spoke to him and the guy who runs the donkeys in Hora as Lorries can’t reach most of the houses. I had a nice lunch and met too other people I know, who had just got off the ferry. I then walked up the donkey track to retrieve the car, which...

 It was early, but not too early to early that I was travelling in the truck with the lady who runs the Dog Palace on Serifos. As we climbed up to it, the mountains were covered in cloud, which stayed with us until the afternoon. So many memories,  how many times did I do this journey when I lived here? The guy who has an allotment in Mega Livadi, he walks there every day, he is at least eighty, we did not see him on the road today, maybe someone else gave him a lift. The lady I just mentioned, she had a fall just after me, at the Palace, and had just returned after having the metal work taken out of her foot. I saw it later, weren’t the screws long we said! A few dogs have died since I left, Maloney, Rex and Victor. A new dog, the daughter of Rita, who was always besotted with me. How would they react? Here is one of the ladies own dogs, wanting to drive her truck. As we got out there was the chorus of excited barking. For sure Rita was super pleased to see me. Aloni who also...

I travelled on the Solomos with a friend who was going to Athens to Serifos in the afternoon. The journey was smooth and we were soon seeing that magical view of Hora atop of the mountain, the view that captured my imagination all those months ago. I checked into my room, by the beach but as I walked to it, I met two people I knew who just happened to be in the town. After a nice shower I walked into the town and had dinner at a taverna that I know is good. In fact most of them are. Sitting next to me was a girl on her own, and we struck up a conversation over the evening. She was Lithuanian and had a Greek boyfriend in Athens. She was going to Sifnos in a few days. I told her of my time here and of course the accident. Unfortunately I did not sleep at all well in the evening and woke up a bit out of sorts. My shower is very unusual. When operating it shines a light which might relate the temperature of the water coming out of it. If you can read the sign on the wall for fun! After hav...

After a mammoth run of dog sitting, I was to have just over two weeks in Greece. First to visit my friends on Sifnos, then to go back to the island I was living on last year, Serifos. It’s a multi transport combination to get there, of  train, bus then  plane to Athens, finishing the first days travel at our usual hotel, that’s Faros in Piraeus using the metro. A lot of staff have changed since I was in the hotel last year, which is a pity but it’s still a god place to stay. As the boarding gate for my ferry was quite a way from the hotel, I ordered a taxi for the following day. The Anemos is a relatively slow ferry, but new to the ferries that ply these islands. Being slower it’s also cheaper than the jet ones. I was in no rush. It’s a nice ferry, even with a nicely kitted out pet room. I liked one of the cafe areas with the big round windows. Unknown to me when we stopped at Serifos a friend of mine boarded, I met her just before I got off. She was travelling to Milos for th...