Better weather

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, from the now empty seed pods. We took some to plant in my friends garden in case they germinate and grow.  Although the apartment is half way up the hill to my friends house, I still have the other half to climb in order to see them. For the first couple of days, my legs complain, but soon they get used to the extra exertion. This morning we had brunch at my friends house, an English breakfast, but with Greek bacon, which isn’t quite like our own. But it’s a nice way to start the day.

 

It was decided to go toVathi where there is a beach and a little village. This is the place where I had my accident. It’s a nice drive there, it’s the other side of the island from where my friends house is. We did not go to the exact spot where I fell down, as that side of the beach wasn’t accessible due to a high tide. We went the other way, past its pretty church, and then onto a smaller beach and sat down with a coffee each, and admired the view. Nearby was a big enclosed oven the shape of a huge ball. We think it’s used as a pizza oven or cooking the famous chick pea stew, they often have on Sundays here. There is an eccentric taverna owner near here and I think I saw saw him, he was working on his building. 

As we got back to the car, it started to rain and quite heavily. But by the time we got back to Kamares it had stopped. On the way there was a parade of cars, on the road  at this time of the year, that usually means a ferry has just come in. By the time we had got to the port it had disappeared. After a rest at my friends house, I decided to go for a walk on the beach. I usually do some litterpicking when I am here. Before that, at the only cafe open, I had three scoops of ice cream, I even knew the name of it. ( but not the flavours) At the port there was a throng of people and cars. The ferry was coming back again. It’s the same one I used a couple of days ago. It goes from Athens to Milos by way of Serifos and Sifnos, then makes the return trip in the afternoon. Lots of locals escaping the island for Christmas. I found a couple of big plastic bags, which would be handy for putting the rubbish in. There was a lot of litter after the storm. I filled up both bags. Unfortunately I found a dead goat and cormorant, I need to take photos of them to send to the police in the hope they will see them removed. 

Tonight it’s dinner at my friends house, I have said one day I would like to cook them a meal, but not in my apartment. I am also down to make a lemon drizzle cake, the lemon trees here are festooned with them.