Happy New Year!!

Happy revellers one and all!

Kev with his Flanagan and Allen coat and not much else!

It was a hectic start to the week with the new years celebrations which were held at a hotel in Lefkas town.  A very good meal was provided for sixty plus ex-pats who came to see in the new year together.  The event was organised by Liz and Debbie and a great job they made of it too.  The hotel put on an excellent spread and the wine flowed all night (and well into the morning) all paid for in the ticket price of 20 Euro per person.  Many people got dressed up for the occasion even a Scotsman in full kilted regalia.  Sandra and I shared our meal because there was just too much food for us to eat and looking around there were huge quantities going into "doggie bags"  bags for people to feed their pets later.  Tony ran a new year related quiz which got everyone's fuddled brains working before the big event.  We saw in new year in Greece and then two hours later saw in the new year in Britain, no complaints at all good food, good company, and a bit of a danceathon for those who need to show their eccentric side (you know who I mean Kev!).  We stayed overnight at Tony and Liz's and were still up for about 8am, Liz seemed somewhat worse for wear so after treating her with Sandra's patent hangover cure we snuck off home to leave them both to suffer in comparative silence.

Sandra Juicing oranges

Monday I made a start on chopping down some of the overgrown mulberry and almond trees in Mike and Trees garden.  I've taken all the new growth out of them but I think I'm going to chop the trunks lower to make it easier to keep them under control in future years.  The plus side of this is it leaves us with some more firewood for next winter when they have dried out somewhat as they don't burn very well when they are sappy.  Sandra and LIz spent the day picking some Oranges for Juicing and also made some delicious marmalade which we shall be making more off in the near future to take back to the UK as presents.

Stacks left though.

Thursday morning we went down to Lefkas to see the blessing ceremony for Epiphany, which is the big day over the Christmas holidays as far as the Greeks are concerned, most of the presents are handed out on this day to coincide with the gift given to the baby Jesus from the Kings.  It's quite a spectacle when after the water is blessed the priest throws a crucifix into the water and the brave men of the parish dive into the water to retrieve it, bearing in mind even here at the beginning of January the water is pretty cold, braver men than I methinks.

Some divers are keener than others as the cross goes in. 

Liz & Tony getting prepared for a good dunking session.

After this everyone dunks their own oranges into the blessed water to ensure a bountiful and productive year to come.  Liz dunked some oranges off the two trees we have here and Tony Dunked two thirds of his entire crop from the tree I planted in his garden two years ago (this amounted to two oranges!).  After this we went in Lefkas town with Tony and Liz for a coffee and some Lunch.  Thus ended a perfect week of calming down after the Yuletide  festivities.