Going back home

It’s  a day swirling sea,  rain falling and strong winds, it’s as if this island doesn’t want to let me go. If  I do, it’s going to make my departure as uncomfortable as possible! Here is Scoopie, by the church we normally walk to together. 

Above is Freya, sadly she and her mother do not get on at all and have to be kept apart. She usually walks with Scoopie. She has a funny face and often looks sad. But like her mother she loves cuddles too. My last visit to the dog palace, was a half day, just  enough time to walk all the dogs. It’s funny, I think they know when I am about to leave. The howls, as myself and the lady who runs the  place seemed even louder that day. I never look back on the last day. The reason for leaving early was we were we were having a Raclette dinner party at the ladies house, it’s a Swiss thing. There is this little electric stove on the table that you cook your slice of cheese on in a miniature pan, once bubbling, you place it over a boiled potato, and eat it with pickles and all sorts of other goodies. It was Swiss cheeses, brought over by the ladies Swiss friend who spends a lot of time helping at the palace. My part was to make a lemon drizzle cake, bottom right in the photo, a friend of the Dog Palace owner who is Greek also came annd another friend who lives on the island. The Dog Palace’s daughter was also there. My cake was ok, but I think the oven is a bit more powerful even when turned down, and a bit more lemon zest could have been added maybe. 

It’s interesting as a lot of Greek was spoken that night. I do know a lot of words, and I could at the very least identify the topic of the conversation and often much more. So I did not feel left out at all. The next day I planed to do a bit of an island visit, my last full day. I ended up going to Agios Sostis, a beautiful beach, in fact two, with the church on the rocks between them. Sadly one beach and the headland gets badly littered and when I got there this was to be seen. There are a lot of little objects like bottle tops, bits of fishing nets that are small and tedious to pick up. So I spent several hours and I was near the end when I saw some very dark clouds behind me.

I did not need much bidding, these storms come in thick and fast. So I ran over the beach and hunkered out under the pergola by the church. It threw it down.

But in hardly any time it cleared up. Yes a good amount of rain, but not nearly enough I think. I finished my work off and the rubbish, five bags are in the dumpsters now. But the beach had a final surprise for me as the skies cleared, a beautiful rainbow over the beach I was clearing.

My next visit was to look at the reservoir. I was shocked, they haven’t had much rain and it’s still l really low. I can see they are still using the desalination plant on Livadi beach, I expect it will become a regular feature from now on. I normally walk to  the bottom of the mountain, where you can look up and see the water running down like a torrent after heavy rain, but on my own, I decided not too. Last on my visit was the old wash house, where Hora residents went to wash the laundry, years ago. It’s basically a big tank with basins where the washing was done. They have made the road from the reservoir to Hora surfaced now, so I decided to use it. Alas I forgot at the very top there is a completely unnavigable switchback at an angle I could not negotiate ! I had to reverse back, and a friendly Greek helped me turn the car around. I walked down to the wash house, the was a lovely sound of water running down the mountain.

I then had to dash back to the hotel, for my last physio appointment then a dinner at the Dog Palace owners and then a Improving your sleep course that I booked myself on a while ago.

So today about two I get on the ferry back to Athens, and then back to the UK. Thank you Sifnos and Serifos and those who live on these special islands, including the dogs of course.