Thursday 29 May 2014

Just chilling

(Still no photos - see previous entries for pictures of Lakki and Arki)
We stayed in Arki till Sunday 25 May, meeting new people, having wonderfully cooked simple food with Nicolas and Carolina, walking to the ancient watchtower (some say a pirate's castle) and to Tigana, the idyllic beach with turquoise water at the south end of the island, where we swam a couple of times - the water was not warm, but it was refreshing after the hot walk.
We came back to Lakki on 25th - motoring all the way as there was no wind, and tied up on the town quay, where we have been ever since. We saw Ian and Jo, who have driven out to unload their boat, which they hand over to the new owner at the end of the week, and they go back to the UK in a couple of weeks. They come for a cup of tea after their early morning walk each day. We have done a lot more cleaning and polishing, odd repairs and sorting out the lockers. Usually we go for a beer at the Cafe Escape at lunchtime, and after another beer with lunch fall asleep over our books in the afternoon. We had a few really hot days, when Lin went for a swim, but it has now cooled down, with rain forecast.
On Wednesday 28th Simon cycled over to Temenia to leave the spare alternator and water pump motor to be fixed and then went to the chandlers at Evros marina to buy some hose. He was warned to mind his head upstairs, but walked straight into a beam, which whacked him on the forehead. He was not knocked out but collapsed in a heap and when he got up found that he had pulled a muscle in his thigh. When he got back to the boat Lin tied ice to the lump on his head with a scarf and rubbed Voltarol into his thigh. When he went back to the electrician later, it turned out that he did not have time to do the work because he had a big job for the navy which would keep him busy for at least two more weeks. He sent us instead to another electrician up the hill towards Platanos.
In the evening we went to the opening party for Tacis and Marietta's new shop, with drinks, pastries and the priest blessing the shop. The shop is now a very swish delicatessen, over the road (in the former bank premises) from the old shop, a traditional grocer which Tacis's dad had started in 1962. We felt very honoured to have been invited because we, Jo and Ian and an English family who had been friends of Marietta since her teens were the only foreigners there. We knew quite a few of the guests - the butcher, the baker and the candlestick-maker and it was good to feel a (albeit peripheral) part of the community. We forgot to take a camera, so no pictures of the party!
We have been hanging around in Lakki partly because we love the place and have made many friends here, but also hoping to see Sue and Steve who were planning to come up from Crete to see us all, but they have been waiting for new batteries, which have still not arrived, so have had to cancel the trip.
Tomorrow (Friday) we will stock up ready to leave, probably for Agathonisi, on Saturday morning, when we will still have southerly winds to help us on our way.


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