Back to Elleniki - the return

We got to our house in Assos at about 11 o’clock Thursday morning and had problems finding the key in the place where it had been secreted, however it turned up lodged behind some trim amongst some masonry, we had to borrow a ladder (well a thing made from two large Olive branches for the rails with lumps a 2x2 nailed to the branches for treads) from Yanni who lives below us to get at the aluminium trims behind which the key was located. It took us a couple of days to get the place hospital clean the way Sandra likes it to be! We had no hot water as it was supplied from a solar heater and was only sufficient for the maisonette below us so the guy had turned it off but after a couple of phone calls (via George) to the guy who owns the place, he arranged for a “technician” to visit. He had said that we would need an electric boiler fitting in the attic. On Saturday tea time two guys turned up with some pipe and electrical gear and a boiler and set about fitting it up and by 8 o’clock we had hot water. They also fitted an Electricity meter so we can pay for what we use but as the Greeks pay council tax and TV licence via the electricity payment it's not duplicated. It not right that things can’t get done quickly here.

The only other problem that we have at the moment is we only have one bedroom, the owner has loads of stuff stored in the other and it’s locked so we can’t see if there is another bed in there or not. We do need a bed as the two beds which are in our bedroom are really not suitable for adults, one is a single and the other is a ¾ width double but it’s short and my feet hang over the end by six inches which is damned uncomfortable. So I’m in the single and Sandra's in the ¾ . We may have a trip to IKEA in Thessaloniki and buy a new one after the owner has shifted all his stuff out of the other bedroom. We also have a bed – settee in the kitchen so there will be no problems with enough sleeping space for visitors.

Picture the view from our Lounge window sorry a bit misty when it was taken.

We have been bowled over by the kindness shown to us by the people we have had people come to the house with beans, eggs, pomegranates, grapes, walnuts, passion fruit, apples and peppers so far and several invitations for coffee at their houses, I think there may just be a trace of wanting to know what the foreigners are doing in their village!! But never the less they are all very talkative despite the language problems.

Had a little trouble getting a modem dongle on contract as we had to register with a Greek tax number first which meant going to the tax office in Preveza first and filling in some forms in Greek, good old George helped with that as well, he really is a splendid chap. My Internet connection is too slow to Skype with although it is adequate for blog updates and emailing and to keep an eye on the net. It only runs at about 1.3 G although I have had the computer at Lefkas town and had a full 3G signal there. You can switch on windows messenger and/or Skype when you are online and use them to IM people.

For Sandra's Birthday on October 20th, we were invited to the Kafenion for a birthday meal. They killed a lamb especially for the occasion and prepared a lamb stiffado which is sort of a stew and onion speciality, it was the best stiffado we have ever had. We spent the weekend after Sandra's birthday, in Levkas with all the Friends we had met earlier in the year when we stayed at Tony's Villa. We had a really good night out at the Mystrali Taverna in the town with plenty to eat and drink and then stayed overnight with Tony and Liz at the villa. Thanks Tony.

Picture - Me, George with baby Dimitry and George's daughter Effi in the Kafenion

That almost brings us up to date my next posting will be about the heating system and the Greek christening of Dimitry, which happened last week.