Living in the UK again

On my recent walk back from Apollonia I spotted two fruit trees, in a front garden, a lemon and an orange one. The photo is not very good, but you sort of get the idea. Today has been a shopping, walking and litter pick day. The taverna in Kamares that my friends thought of going to on New Year’s Eve is actually closed on that day, so we are going tonight. Tomorrow my friends plan a mixed grill; burgers sausages and lots of other treats to see the New Year in. We went to a butchers in Apollonia for the meat and a new supermarket that I have never been to before. My friends are really good at spreading their patronage among the various shops and tavernas on the island and I am sure it’s appreciated. Even in winter they have a good choice in Kamares, a baker, cafe, pottery shop, supermarket with its own butchers, a ferry ticket place and one taverna. In the summer months, there is a lot more open, like more cafes, tavernas and numerous tourist shops. There is another shop I forgot to men...

 One of my friends here, says this is the longest sustained wet and windy weather he has known. I can believe it. I have been here over a week and it’s rained pretty much every day. But better weather is on its way. Here is a photo of the mountain both myself and friends look out over from our respective houses, when blue skies prevailed for a brief moment. I did some cooking the other day and made a cottage pie ( with two types of mince ) with a potato and leek topping. Of course it was finished off in the log burner. There was enough left over to go into the freezer for one person. Tonight I am doing a spaghetti bolognaise using a recipe from my friends who have the chocolate Labrador in the UK. I have finally finished the online entry form, after a frustrating few days, but we got there in the end, it’s up to a couple of committee members to pass judgement on it. Last night I spent another night in my friends house as it was just too wet and windy to walk home. Today on my way b...

 One of the positive things about the internet is contact with my friends all over the world. Being in Greece separates me from the ones near where I live but it’s been good to hear that everyone is having a good time. I got some photos and my favourite has to be the two dogs in Oxford, that I looked after my return to the UK having been here in October. The black lab loves rubbing her face in wet grass, but this time it’s wet with snow. We still don’t know why she does this. My friends dog was a bit off colour Christmas Day, but he seemed back on form yesterday which is good. He did some goofing and playing with his toys, doing tug with his owner. We went into the port yesterday with him ( Christmas Day he refused to go for a walk) and had a coffee at the only place open. As we left it started to rain so we beat a hasty retreat back home. But it stopped and the predicted storm that we expected in the afternoon did not materialise. But as it darkened we saw lightening, it seemed fa...

Sometimes when you are travelling you bump into objects that surprise and flatter our opinion of our home country wherever that is. So in the KEP in the entrance hall was a printing press, made in Finsbury London. It’s meant to be refurbished soon, so maybe it can be used again. I hope they keep the green colour.   On Christmas Day, I walked to my friends house and we had crumpets for breakfast, the ones I had brought over several days ago. But as I left my place, a voice called my name, it was the partner of the guy who was helping my friends make the Christmas lunch. She had the stuffing she wanted me to carry to my friends house. He is one of those people who can probably turn his hand to anything, he has done so much. Hand is the non plural which is correct in this case and not one of my numerous typos. Sadly he lost one of his hands to a terrible accident many years ago. So the fact he is a single handed chef is even more impressive. I had never tasted anything he had cooked b...

From my numerous balconies in my temporary palatial home I can see the tiny beach my friends go down to in the summer to swim. It’s very tricky to get to, but it doesn’t have the no dog restriction as on the main beach in Kamares.  The wind is picking up again, another storm of fury to sweep over us. A bit of last minute shopping and a tax situation to resolve. When I was going to live here, I had to register myself with the tax system. Now I have reversed that decision, I need to opt out using my friends local accountants. I brought some evidence paperwork with me from the UK, which I handed over to the accountants, with a little Christmas surprise for them too. There was of course a form to fill in, to start this process, this needed to be signed and stamped at the local government office, that they call the KEP here. Armed with the form, we went to the KEP where my friends are known. It’s a bit of a running joke here, but whenever a form is signed and approved, it’s gets covered...

In the morning, the wind had dropped and it was peaceful out there. A single cat, hangs around the apartment and my friends feed it, which I did in the morning. It wants to come in the room, but that is not allowed. At this time of the year and in this climate, walls can get very damp. So in houses you will hear the whir from a small box on the floor. It’s quite amazing that these little boxes can reduce the humidity and extract so much moisture from the air. Mine needs emptying every day. At least I had a better nights sleep with the calmer conditions out there, although another storm is predicted on Tuesday.  After the recent rains, grass can be seen growing, but clover stands out with its familiar leaves and already there are some with the yellow flowers on them, very different to our own. Horta is also to be seen, it is cooked a bit like Spinach, but I don’t really like it at all. On the beach there was some kind of bulb type flower, that had seeds scattered around the plants, ...

After a long and tiring journey to Greece I got to the island of Sifnos. Long and tiring, because I had to take the last flight to Athens, arrival time one am local time. We had a medical emergency on board, with the familiar, is there a doctor onboard message. This happened just before we landed. I had elected to stay at the airport until six, to then catch a taxi to the port instead of getting a hotel. It did not seem worth it. I had ideas of sleeping after my arrival in the airport, somewhere but it was too noisy. I gave up at four, and did the Wordle! I had a friendly taxi to the port and boarded the Anemos, same as last time. On board I managed to get a couple of hours sleep on what became a progressively windier voyage. I had arranged to briefly meet a friend when we berthed at Serifos, she had some home baking treats for us. At Sifnos, I met my friends and their lovely dog at the port, they told me the body of a local was on the ferry, the person had died in an accident a few da...

 The dog work is still going on. Quite amazing really. But I was stepping in and helping a friend who does dog walks. I particularly enjoyed walking a Cocker Spaniel, that she normally walks, I have known her since she was a puppy playing with a dog I was looking after. I visited a friend of mine, who had a cocker, this one I just mentioned looks a bit like her dog, now sadly passed away, and after a walk with me, she lies between us, so my friend can stroke her. It’s a magical moment.  Meanwhile back to cakes. This is a boozy fruit cake, but I did not feed it with booze, it’s really a fruit cake with walnuts. It was a bit crumbly but still very nice.  The jigsaw is getting sporadic activity, but bit by bit, progress is being made. I am still trying to fit in the Pilates during the day. The next job was to marzipan and ice the Christmas cake. Apricot jam goes on the cake to glue down the marzipan and then more jam before the icing layer is put on that. The top  is ea...

Well it is December but this outside Christmas decoration went up a few days before the new  month started. During the day these decorations are all flat on the ground, presumably pumped up with an air compressor. At the weekend I was looking after these two rascals. The princess on the left is obsessed with me and as usual I had them in my bed. Princess sleeps on the pillow next to mine and the pup  one on the right moves around in the bed, usually at the expense of my comfort. They live in Twyford and it was nice to be in a different part of the village for the two days.  I had a surprise when I put my boots on the other day. I saw a flash of orange in the pond? Newt ? No wrong colour. Then it reappeared and it was a goldfish it was say two centimetres long. How did it get there? Probably a fish egg ended up on a birds leg and then fell off when it was having a bath in our pond. There might be another or perhaps it’s been eaten. I don’t want to net the pond for one fish...