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Post by dennisn on Sept 20, 2015 18:44:53 GMT
Sunday 20th September.
With empty rooms around us, last night Angela's daughter and her friend were granted the excitement of their own room for the night. Supposedly on their promise to clean it behind them. We were invited in to witness them already in bed at 4pm!
We are now in a rut of not waking early, so it's the best we can do to get to the beach by 8:30am. Hey ho, we have no schedule, so fiddle-Di-dee and simply stay in the sea until 9:30. The goats now come running to the fence when I click my tongue, but it's getting harder to find some decent grub for them.
In town, we had our first ever crepes, at the Plateia sandwich place by Tries Hierarches. Very good, but next visit we'll revert to his terrific toasted sandwiches.
And so on to the Bourtzi, where after a short wait Amy arrived and recognised my Minions T-shirt. A nice lady - I had feared the worst, you know, the single lady traveller, fearsome dragon. But she's great and told us her excuses for not posting earlier feedback, which we gracefully accepted, even though they were a bit old hat! Amy got the second drinks, but the silly waitress who knows it all got it wrong. One of the glasses of wine we found later on the bill named as Sangria, which should have been my sweet, but I ended up with white stuff. Amy's glass of red came with ice and a slice of lemon! Worst of all, Vera's frappé was very strong and sugary. Vera wouldn't let me get it changed so she just sat and didn't drink it. We enjoyed a very pleasant couple of hours in Amy's company, relaxed on the Bourtzi. As we sat there, our next door neighbour - UK next door - came over to say hello!
In Sunrise Taverna tonight, I maintained my unfailing ability to get it wrong. Over the years, I have found that Vera orders the right meal and I don't. So she had moussaka and I had spare ribs, which arrived as a small mountain, which I knew before I even laid hands on my cutlery was going to put me to shame. When I started on them, I thought I might survive, as there wasn't much meat on the first I tackled. But the rest were well covered, so I had to surrender just over half way through!
I won the UK lottery last night, although I didn't find out until this morning. But I'll still be talking to you - I came so close, only three numbers short of a share in 4+ million.
I wish you all goodnight to the faint strains of the Greek night coming across the field. Angela's son goes away to the mainland for university tomorrow and we have to be up to wave him off at 7am.
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Post by kelso on Sept 21, 2015 11:56:28 GMT
I've just been looking at some pictures of the horrendous conditions. I hope that you and Vera are safe out and about in your Jimny. Bob
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Post by dennisn on Sept 21, 2015 18:41:21 GMT
Monday 21st September.
Last night saw us get a change to the weather. If you haven't already seen it elsewhere, we were hit by thunderstorms in the night, at different times across the island from what I've read, our turn was from 2:30 to 3:30am, with shocking blasts of lightning and thunder claps like you wouldn't believe. We slept very poorly after that, so we were not at our best when we gave up trying and got up at 6:30 to make ourselves presentable for giving Nikos his send off to university. With advance hints, we had not left any washing on the line overnight.
So having wished Nikos Godspeed and a successful stay at uni, we had to wait until 9am for delivery of our jeep. It didn't come until 9:30 and we then persisted in going for a sea swim. We didn't get there until 10am and gloomy skies prevailed. We had hardly done one "length" when it started to rain, so we got out after the return leg to try and save our stuff getting soaked, in which we were only partly successful. Putting on cold wet T-shirts is not my favourite exercise! The rain stopped before we got back and the weather looked to be easing. So off we went, dressed in good weather clothing, T-shirt for me and light top for Vera.
As we were about to set off, neighbours "the children " appeared ("children to me, because they must be at least 40 if not 50 years my juniors). On their way into town, so we offered them a lift with detours to get petrol, then call into Kanapitsa Taverna to make a booking for tonight. Long before we got anywhere near, the rain had started again with a vengeance. I parked outside the taverna waiting for a dry bit, but eventually had to jump out and dash in through the rain. When I came out, the weather seemed too bad to drop them in a flooded town, so we asked if they'd like to come with us up to Platanos Taverna and they did.
Turns out the lad is not the most confident of travellers so the drive up the waterfall was a decent trial for him. It wasn't that easy for me driving, using 4WD and peering through a windscreen with one fairly reasonable wiper and one useless. However I don't ever drive like a true whitevanman, so the speedometer not working was of no consequence. I had to stop once and get out to move a fallen branch to be able to drive on - I didn't like the wet, but had no choice. We had to run into Platanos through the rain, then I had to go back out to park the jeep not blocking the whole access. All this to the accompaniment of heavy rain, lightning and thunder. As we got inside, the lightning put paid to the electricity, so the much anticipated hot drinks and toasties were "off". Immediately after the cold alternatives had received their first application of teeth, the electricity returned. We were all cold as charity, with nothing warm to put on!
After trying to get close to the patio heater they eventually brought out, we set off back down to drop the children in town. You have to admire their fortitude in the by now dryer, but still cold climate.
We did a little detour to come back via Xanemos, which was as brown as the rest of the seas around, from the runoff of rain. There were a few tree branches in the road. On the way back, we were flagged down by police and waved one at a time through a narrower bit of road where a very big tree had come down, taking out the electricity cables with it. By that time, however, the tree had received the attention of chainsaws and somebody had taped up the cable, so traffic was flowing well and lights were working.
We returned to Kanapitsa later for our meal. Vera's daughter urges us to go there so we did, but it's not as good as our regular hostelries, so I don't think we'll be going again. Our most expensive meal too.
My swimming T-shirt is still not dry and we daren't leave it out overnight as it might end up even wetter. I'll need it in the morning for the beach. We didn't consider an afternoon swim in the pool after so much freezing rain, but we do intend to go for a sea swim as usual unless the weather is disastrous - the sea temperature is great.
After putting 15 litres of petrol in the jeep I wonder where we shall go for the next two days?
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Post by dennisn on Sept 22, 2015 19:27:51 GMT
Tuesday 22nd September
It tried weakly last night to do mayhem, but after a few halfhearted rumbles of thunder about 10:15pm it gave up and allowed us a guy night's sleep. Morning came up gloomy but dry, so off we went for our sea swim. Soon after we got there the clouds solidified and back in the area of our villa, it looked very black, so we curtailed the swim and got out just as the rain resumed. Damp walk back.
What do you do at the seaside when the weather is rubbish? We jumped in the jeep and drove to the airport to see a few of today's arrivals. We watched three in dry-ish conditions, then the rain started again. Once again we took the high road past Panorama and Platanos but without stopping - by that time the views were hidden behind the rain and water cascades were bringing tons of orange brown sediment onto the roads to make another mess. Braving brown fords and manic taxi drivers, we were soon back at Troulos. The papers hadn't arrived and they had emptied the chest freezer of ice cream, so we had a little jaunt to Koukounaries through flooded Troulos. For those of you who have not seen it, neither did we. Entry to the beach was via a big brown puddle deep enough to reach the rims of the Lifeguard pickup so people were climbing the fence to get the bus.
I'm cutting this short tonight as the wifi is so slow and the thunder is getting on my nerves!
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Post by dennisn on Sept 30, 2015 6:33:27 GMT
Sorry for the delay - WI-FI suffered the consequences of weather, so I have been unable to post until we got back home.
Wednesday 23rd September.
Last night was the worst thunderstorm we have ever seen in over 40 years of visiting Greece. We didin't sleep a wink and cowered under the bedcovers, jumping out of our skins every time the lightning cracked ovedr out heads - first a frightening crack as it slashed through the clouds, then a huge thunder ripple. Ripple is too soft a word, it was enormous crashes which didn't just bang once, but thundered on for ages each time. Our doors and furniture seemed to tremble with the vibration of it. We shall prefer never to experience that again, ever! Strangely, the electricity remained on all that time.
It was still raining when we decided we'd had enough of lying awake, so we decided the early sea swim was not viable. Leisurely breakfast and off we went again for our last day in the Jimny - well, rain or no rain, we had enough fuel to get to Volos, so we might as well give it a go!
We started burning fuel by a drive to Koukounaries to witness the flooding. We had decided to buy some sandwiches for a picnic (yeah, in the rain!) so Vera went into the supermarket there and was shown the lady's iPad with the chaos of Skopelos. I couldn't believe it, but Vera had seen it with her own eyes. Apparently, the culvert which carries water under the car park into the sea, had undermined it and dumped cars into the harbour - we later heard it was 79 cars and motorbikes!! On the way into town, we merely had the rain to contend with. The dashcam carried on recording yet another video to prove that all it does in Skiathos is rain. I'll have a look some time to see if anything is worth posting on YouTube to give any of you who haven't seen this sort of thing an idea of what it looked like. We had no WI-FI at Villa Maria, so it was quite some time before I got a free WI-FI connection to see some for myself. Unbelievable, no wonder I found Vera's story of the lady's iPad difficult to accept.
The rain eased off and we had our picnic at the airport carpark again and saw a couple of incoming flights.
Off again, up around Platanos taverna, not stopping, then I suggested as it was all downhill, we could go the road (track) past Olive Thea and down into Agia Paraskevi and Vera agreed to give it a go - as a passenger, she suffers the lack of control in dodgy stuff, so I have to be mindful not to scare her. All went well until one particular spot where the rain had cut across the road quite a deep ragged channel. IT was downhill and there was nothiing for it but to go for it - four wheel drive and carefully go across. It was quite rocky and scared the daylights out of Vera - I'm sure it would have me too, if I had been a passenger. We got through it and came down into the back of Agia Paraskevi and drove past Amy's regular haunts. I wouldn't have wanted to negotiate that road on foot in the dark, thank you, not without wellies, or better still, waders!
To use a bit more fuel, we drfove over to Asselinos Beach where the taverna was open so we went in for a drink and chose to sit inside - to quote me, "Amongst the flood", which they had mostly swept away. I sat down on one of those Greek chairs with woven cord seats and immediately jumped up with a wet nether part - the cord was still soaking wet!
Then on again to Koukounaries, where we ran round the north coastal beaches a bit and went through some splashes and got the Jimny muddy (at last!!).
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Post by dennisn on Sept 30, 2015 7:21:51 GMT
Thursday 24th September, our last full day.
No rain, lovely morning, superb swim in the sea. The water temperature was great, much warmer than it was in June. And I at last saw a few skipping fishes - it was over too quickly for Vera to see them, so it doesn't really count.
Back to Plateia sandwich shop for our last sandwich (until next year). Lovely sunshine, all's well with the world, even though it's our last day. The rain for the last three days had been a nuisance, but we survived and still have enjoyed our holiday.
Up at the Bourtzi for our last visit there too. The boys (waiters) from Salt and Pepper were there again (one of them has a girl friend working there) and they are so kind to be friendly to us. We lazily whiled away the day in complete relaxation.
For our last meal, we went to Salt and Pepper, a sort of treat meal for ourselves, Vera having Kalamari and I had the Sea Bass. When I asked, George said they certainly could fillet the fish next time - it's delicious, but I do find fiddling with bones a pain. So that's the menu next June. We got a photo of the staff with Vera and made a booking for June 24th next year.
Vera has been doing a bit of packing for each of the past few days, so when we got back, it was just the last minute stuff - not that it affects me, as Vera sees to all that. One suitcase was over 16 Kg, the other just over 14Kg.
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Post by dennisn on Sept 30, 2015 7:56:53 GMT
Friday 25th September
Going home day. It's always a pain - we wake early, then having nothing to do until our coach comes, sort of sit around. Fortunatedly, our coach is always the early one, about 9:50am, so it's not too bad and gives us time to be sociable saying our goodbyes, without dragging on interminably.
At the airport, checkin was a breeze, the baggage dropped really with hardly a pause in the queue, so off to Desires taverna to pass a little time. Incidentally, at checkin, the first suitcase weighed 22 Kg and I gasped, but the lady said it was weighing 5 kilos over! I had already used Roaming Data to check our incoming flight was on time, so we left there and went up to the observation place in the airport, where the free WI-FI was good enough for me to follow our flight for a while. Somehow it had lost half an hour and was now due in at soon after 1pm, with our departure due at 1:40pm. So at 12:30 we decided to go through into the Departure lounge. When we went upstairs, the place had been virtually deserted, but now the queue to get in was packed. And went back out the door. And went back to the far end of the raised footpath! Nightmare!
After three quartyers of an hour, we were getting close to the building entrance, when an Olympic rep came out and called out for Olympic passengers to Manchester to come to the front of the queue. Several of us instantly protested and shouted that our flight to Birmingham was due out before theirs and we were so obnoxious that she went back in and consulted some oracle or other. Eventually came back out and called for Birmingham and Manchester to come to the front. We were quite displeased by now and grumbled somewhat about the Manchester people shoving in front of us. When we eventually got to the security scanner, it turned out they were using only one (out of the maximum of two!!) and didn't seem too competent at it either, hence the snail's pace. When Vera and I reached the wretched thing, her hand baggage disappeared inside and the machine stopped when mine joined it as the second policeman came fiddling with the thing. The policeman running the scanner then came out and accused me of stopping it by pressing the button. I was quite loud and firm in denying it and saying it was his mate who dun it. (I thought to myself afterwards, that he was wearing a gun, I must have been having a dumb episode). I can't wait for the feedback email which is supposed to come any day now so that I can give them a piece of my mind over why were there no Thomson reps to sort out the departures queue fiasco
Eventually we got inside - AFTER our plane had landed and was already loading luggage. Amy caught my eye from a side wall to wave and wish us well. As we walked to the plane, Costas came running from behind to tap my shoulder and give us both a hug and wish us Galo Taxidi. The flight home was uneventful except for a bit of extra turbulence to fasten seatbelts (being a terrified flyer, I never unfasten mine anyway!) and the table proves that my belly is not suited to the gap between me and the seat in front (and why does that particular seat not go completely upright? Grrr). The captain's announcements were the worst ever, couldn't hear anything except a faint crackle. I decided, last minute, to have a "hot meal" and when she asked what? I asked what have you got and couldn't hear what she said so when I vaguely heard Fish and Chips I said "That". It was disgusting - about seven chips and two pieces of battered fish the size, texture and taste of poorly defrosted frozen fish fingers (and I assure you I am NOT the 5,000 to be fed). I shall never again go for that option!
In Birmingham half hour later than scheduled, we wisely chose the non-chipped passport line and got through border control without the hassle of the man telling us how to position the passport, then stand on the feet, which always takes a lot longer than the person on the desk - in today's IT status, I can take a picture with my iPhone and turn it up, down, sideways, every which way and the phone simply turns it the right way up every time. Why can't those passport reading things do the same instead of forcing you to insert it the right way up and have the man shout and look at you like you're some sort of moron who can't do what even a four-year-old can?
On to baggage carousel number 4 which told us the plane landed at 3:24 and baggage would take (according to their performance records) 34 minutes. It being later than that already simply demonstrated that once again, Birmingham is very good at departures, but absolute rubbish at arrivals. So we hit the M42 for our two hour drive, in time for the traffic which meant it would take us nearly three hours.
But we had a great holiday and will be back to do it all over again on 24th June 2016.
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Post by kelso on Sept 30, 2015 8:28:16 GMT
Great reading once again Dennis, but what will we do for the next 8 months until you and Vera are back again? Thanks very much for all your anecdotes. Bob
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Post by dennisn on Sept 30, 2015 11:41:35 GMT
Well Bob, my simple solution is to read it all again from time to time (and feedback from everybody else too of course).
For me, it brings it all back again, relive it and get the juices going for next time.
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Post by Tre on Sept 30, 2015 21:46:05 GMT
Gosh Dennis hadn't realised your holiday was over already ! Thanks for the updates. I'm liking your countdown to next June though
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Post by dennisn on Oct 1, 2015 7:28:39 GMT
Y'know, Tre, it has taken me two days to get the tickers to work properly in my signature so that I have both next year's holidays accounted for!
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Post by Tre on Oct 1, 2015 21:37:52 GMT
Keep the tickers ticking Dennis:)
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