What's all this sunshine then?

The village kids on New Years morning in our kitchen.

 I forgot to mention in last weeks blog but we had a group of kids came around on new years morning singing seasonal Greek songs and playing their own accompaniment.  They were very good and reminded us of when kids used to go around carol singing in the UK before the days of political correctness and paedophiles.

What a beautiful couple of days we have just had, Mike next door has just said that the thermometer on his terrace is reading 28.4C although admittedly it's actually in the sun not the shade, I would say it's around the 18C mark though which isn't bad for mid January.  It is the first time this year that I am writing this outside on the patio though!

On Monday I finally got around to chopping down the bulk of Mike's mulberry and almond trees, and also testing out the new chain saw which Sandra has bought me for my birthday.  It has opened up the view from their villa a great deal and also will make it much easier to prune them all next year as they are now reachable without having to get the ladder out.  The downside is that with being curtailed quite severely they will grow like hell this year but this is a small price to pay.  The plus side is that we have gained a whole load of wood to squirrel away for next winters fuel. We went ten pin bowling in Lefkas town on the night and had a great night, about 16 of us in all but a great couple of hours and a right laugh.  Once again I was beaten by Sandra who seems to always be able to pull out a strike or spare at the last minute.  I think this is yet another sport at which I'm not destined to be world champion!  Thanks to Maureen for organising the event I think everyone enjoyed it immensely.

The view of our house (left) and Mikes from the olive groves.

We decided to go and see the villagers at Assos again yesterday, it was our first visit this year and they were all clamouring to wish us "chronia polla" (many years) the traditional new years (or any other occasion for that matter) greeting.  Not much seems to have changed, life in the kafenion keeps going on in it's same slow plodding way but this is the attraction of rural Greece nothing ever seems to phase them apart from the political shenanigans going on via the TV.  This seems to make the blood boil with all the locals who see their cost of living going up almost daily and are powerless to do anything about it.  Petrol is now about the same price as it is in the UK but Diesel is still a little cheaper although the difference is nowhere near the 30% it used to be a couple of years ago. 

Looking down on our village "Vournikas" from the Olive Grove

We have managed to get a couple of walks in since new year but nothing to energetic as yet as Sandra has been a little under the weather with a slight tummy bug, this seems to have passed now so hopefully we will be doing some local exploring soon and not before time having been here three months now and not seen all the village never mind the local area.  All this socialising isn't good for you!

We are going out tonight for a meal with our good friends Linda and Kevan on their boat.  We are really looking forward to this as it seems ages since we have had the chance of a good chinwag, perhaps more about that next week.