Thursday 30 December 2010

When the show was Over

What a great Christmas we've had, if only all the kids and Grand kids could have been here it would have been sensational.  It started with a seventieth birthday party on Christmas Eve for Denise given by her partner Andrew at the Oasis taverna in Lefkas town.  We all had a superb evening with plenty of good food and wine and of course the great company of friends old and new.  Denise was delighted with all her gfits and revelled in being the centre of so much attention.

Part of the party.
Deb and I
Christmas day arrived and Santa hasn't brought me a chain saw :-( but he had brought me some other lovely gifts and the chain saw is being fetched from Athens by Jeremy and Deb as they drop Deb's mother off at the airport so hopefully the firewood supply can keep rolling in.  Sandra is paying for it as a slightly early birthday present.  Sandra's Christmas was a lazy one for her as she is normally doing everything for big family meals at home and this year we were were going to Vlicho Yacht Club.  After a chilled morning we Skyped all the kids in the UK to see and hear what was going on with their Christmas mornings.  Skype is fantastic for keeping in touch with the kids as being able to see them in real time as well as hear them makes it the next best thing to actually being with them.  Sandra's Dad is well impressed with it and has said that he'll have to have a computer so he can share in it without having to go around to the boys houses!  I think when he masters the VHS video player we may consider it!!

Tony, Sandra and Liz
Lunch at Vlicho was great, again plenty of good food and copious quantities of wines and great company.  I must really thank Ruairi, Vicky and all their staff involved  for their tireless efforts throughout the day which has helped to make this one Christmas which neither Sandra nor I will forget.  After Christmas lunch we were very professionally entertained by Bob on the guitar and  his glamorous assistant on a home made sound box which produced a very impressive percussion noise.  We left at around 9:30 as we had promised to call in at Tree & Mike's next door to have a Christmas drink with them.  They were still entertaining when we arrived so I had to help him clear some of the whisky.

Boxing day we had at Tree and Mike's house with about another dozen or so people again all food, drink and talk.  Unfortunately I had to excuse myself from the food as I had still had enough from the day before and just joined in the Christmas pudding (because I just can't resist it!).

Bob and his Glamorous assistant! 

The boat in Paleros plaza


Monday dawned and it was off to Nidri for the start of the Paleros race.  Not much wind to be had but we managed to get started and to be fair once we had cleared Nidri bay we did get a little spurt on but then it deserted us.  Tony, Liz and I were on "Izola" and spent most of the afternoon seeking what bits of wind we could find but Liz had brought along some food supplies so it didn't really matter.  Slowly during the mid afternoon most people gave up and switched on their engines and motored into Paleros we gave it until 4:30 but in the end had to bow down to reality and start the motor if we were going to get into port before night.  The distance is about 8 or 9 miles and we probably didn't do much more than half in four and a half hours.  As "Izola" is really only big enough for two to sleep in any comfort Sandra and I had been across to Paleros a couple of weeks ago and booked into an Hotel so Sandra went around in Mike's camper earlier in the day and had got herself all comfy.  The Hotel was the Thalassa just outside Paleros and was excellent they actually gave us wine sweets and coffee which we had ordered and wouldn't take payment for them and at 55 Euros for the room wasn't too expensive for a good quality hotel.  Our evening was supposed to have been at the only Indian restaurant within a million miles of here and I was so looking forward to it but unfortunatley it hadn't been booked and was closed so we all ended up at a Greek tavernas which was good but not Indian and I'm getting withdrawal symptoms!
Paleros evening - Mike and Tree nearest.
Don't cry Liz the food will soon be here!!!

Next day sailed back to Nidri in a bit of a blow, you wouldn't believe the contrast to 24 hours earlier.  We should have sailed back to Lefkas marina with "Izola" but the channel down the side of Lefkas was so rough with the northerly wind coming straight down it that Tony, the master marina aboard, said that we would be all day tacking through it and the engine wouldn't be powerful enough to make any headway so we decided to leave it overnight at Nidri again.  Two hours later and the wind had moderated somewhat so perhaps it could have been done, if only we all had hind sight.  Anyway we had a great sail across with a little genoa and no main up we still got almost 8 knots out of her in winds we learnt later were blowing at 28 knots about force 7ish - Great stuff.

Wednesday Tony, Liz and I took the yacht back to Lefkas marina and had another amazing sail although the wind wasn't as strong and certainly not as gusty, we seemed to have caught the best of it and again with it being out of the north we had to tack all the way down.  Tony even let me be skipper for over half the journey so I was as happy as a pig in the wet smelly stuff.  Thanks Tony and Liz you made my Christmas!!

Today we've just been chilling for the day and getting some stamina stored up for the new year festivities on Friday night.  I have managed to wash the car and get it looking smart again so not a completely wasted day.  See ya soon...

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