Catching up on the paperwork

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 with several stamps to prove it’s legit. My friends dog waited patiently outside while this was going on. The KEP is in a pretty part of Artemonas where there are many, sadly ruined villas, Italian style. It’s a shame they don’t get renovated, instead of new ones built elsewhere. Here is an example of a building that could be renovated, not quite big enough to be called a villa.


After this I bought myself some breakfast fruit, and some turkey chews for my friends lovely dog, why should he miss out on the turkey! He was due to have his monthly jab to keep him mobile. 
After dropping my stamped form off at the accountants I had decided to walk back to Kamares. It’s downhill and a nice walk given how quiet the roads are now. Before I left Apollonia I went to the cafe we visited before and had a pie and a Bugatza. I tried and succeeded in asking for them in Greek, but of course they realise you are English and ask you where you are from and how long you are staying. Before leaving the village I took a photo of a real old world coffee shop, we go there now and then.


As I left Apollonia up on the hillside was a house with a two thirds size windmill. On Serifos where I used to live, there were three, all proudly with sails, but not working as they are accommodation now. 


The walk down to the port was uneventful but near the end we got a flurry of rain. It did not last long thankfully. It’s interesting to see other plants coming up after the heat of summer, fennel for example. There were some goats, up on the mountain, I heard a kid crying out for its mum. 


After taking a photo of the goat on the beach, I went back to my friends house and stayed there until after dinner time. At about five, the log burner was lit, as it was deemed to be getting a little chilly. Not long after this the rain arrived and we saw lightening and heard thunder. Our dinner was in the middle of being made, and unfortunately the power then cut out. So we had to resort to cooking the pasta in the log burner, which proved to be a success. After a while the power came back on, and we had our dinner bathed in electric light. We then watched the first two parts of the latest Strike series before I walked back, thankfully it wasn’t raining then.

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