The Up Side

This is the good thing about the rain. These little fellas spring up everywhere

Disaster!

27th was still more rain.

On the 28th we drove up to the site and found our worst fears realised. The forces of nature hadn't taken our needs into consideration at all, and had callously worn away the road again - neatly avoiding our repair, which we had hoped might work as a sort of drainage channel. The road was completely impassable, and very eroded at the side (the photo doesn't show this properly).

We weren't going to be able to repair it again, and we couldn't keep filling it with rocks after every downpour - there weren't many left in the near vicinity (when the locals came to weigh down their olive nets with stones they'd had for generations there was going to be trouble ...!)

So we called in Vasilli, the land agent who sold us the plot, and he came round on the double and brought a contractor with him. We apologised for calling him out on a National Holiday, which we only realised after phoning, but he said he was grateful not to have to go and watch his kids in the parade!

October 28th is 'Ochi Day' - the celebration of the day Prime Minister Metaxa said 'NO' to Mussolini's Italians and precipitated Greece into WWII on the side of the allies.

Anyway, Vasilli looked at the hole and said 'Concrete': lots of rock and concrete, to hold the corner together. Reluctantly we agreed. We knew we'd be responsible for some concrete somewhere, but we were hoping to avoid this. It's a nasty expense, too - about 2,000 euros we needed for other things.

A little subdued, we drove back down the lane and walked across country for another day's foundation laying.

Experiments with Lime

26 October 2010

Now we're back within living memory (last few days, that is). The rain stopped and the sun almost came out on tuesday 26th, so we got stuck into laying foundations.





We made the outer edges of the base to help with positioning the blocks and to keep the blocks level and square (ish).

This is the site with a drainage ditch dug through the middle


We wanted to use lime mortar rather than cement to set the blocks. Cement production is a highly toxic industrial process that damages workers and environments around the world. Lime is apparently less so. It's an ancient technique, and I understand the Houses of Parliament and Buck Palace are set on lime-crete foundations, so we reckoned it would do for us.


Lime is less popular than cement because it takes a lot longer to set - days, in fact. This is okay if you work at the snail's pace we do. It's also caustic (it's the stuff you bury dead bodies in to make them rot away without a trace - if I disappear, look for me under the shower-shed - quickly!)

Dave mixing mortar

Forces of Nature

So, it keeps on raining - fiercely.

Then one day, about five days ago, we drove up the lane towards Paleokatuna, turned off onto our little track, and screeched to a halt just before the corner of doom: we had a chasm:




So we turned the car round, walked cross-country to the site,
collected the wheelbarrow
and some tools and became road-menders.




Dave collected big stones, and tipped them in the gully, and I infilled with smaller stones and gravel. (My days as a conservation volunteer in Bath, learning dry stone walling, finally came in useful!)










Eventually, we had a passable repair, but we'd lost another day of work on site at Goat Bottom.

- and the Corner of Doom is just a bit of a tighter squeeze.

New Boots

Look, new boots - steel toe caps, waterproof soles, laces you can find in a dark alley ... Everything a working girl needs!

[Eat your heart out, cuz Jane]











Oops, not so smart any more!

Elevated thoughts

And here are some drawings - for the architecturally minded - elevations from each side:






We called on the architect to show him these and discuss the plans, and found out he had been persuaded to stand in the local elections on an independent Green ticket and was busy producing election leaflets. Hey ho, we'll wait to get his attention after the polls in early November.

Modelling

Somewhere in the middle of all the rain I got stuck into cardboard and glue and modelling clay and made a mock-up of the proposed cob cottage. The first fix showed that there just wasn't enough space in the living area, so I cut it up and pushed it out and put in another metre of width.



It's quite cute, isn't it?
(Well, scruffy, and cute)






From the South West:











From the North West:

And the rain, it raineth ...

Three weeks of rain!

There have been a few days of overcast weather when we could get on the land and do a bit, but the damp in the earth has made it thick and 'claggy' as they say in Yorkshire.


Sunny Nidri - one of the better days


The gravel separating technique collapsed completely after rain - the lumps of clay soil wouldn't sort through the grating. Eventually I worked out a system of hosing the soil - laying it on the grating and washing it. It worked ok, but the soil couldn't be saved, and it made the area round the hose even more marshy.

We got into Lefkas town one day - finding the weather just so cold and clammy we decided we needed a little stove in the shed - yes I know: a wood burning stove in a wooden shed? But all the old people here do it, it's just a case of sorting out the inflammabilities. We found a cheap (130 euro) concrete-lined metal stove (sorry no photo as it was drizzling when we unloaded it and I forgot). The plan is to back it with metal and surround it in cob for thermal mass. As a result of this we have extended the shed length to 3.5 m and decided we'll need more foundation blocks for the weight.

One of the days when we didn't even get out of the house for rain - this doesn't do it justice - we were on an island at one point. (Yes, yes - but I mean a smaller island, just round the apartment block!)



When we went to the woodyard for the wood for the base, Panos (we're on first name terms with the staff there, now) refused (it's a very Greek approach to customer service!) to cut 10 cm off the pieces which come in 360 cm lengths, so we're just going with it, and have redesigned for 3.6 m.




Make the most of this one - he won't be taking his top off so much for a while ...

Interiors

Monday 11 October

Banned from getting underfoot by Dave, I turned my attention to the inside of the camper van, and did a bit of clearing up. Our proposed grand new apartment is a little lacking in home comforts at the moment:

This is the 'dining room' (or perhaps what they call a 'through lounge'?)








and the 'kitchen' - a little short on appliances, unfortunately










and the 'bedroom' - very short of a bed.



Bit of a 'project' in fact. I think I'll stick to the mud and rocks for a while - they're less challenging.

Catching Up

Sorry it's been so long between updates. Various reasons, but mostly indolence.

Sunday 10 October we went yacht racing.

We took the boat up to Lefkas town for the evening of Friday and went through the bridge Sunday morning for an 11 am start. The race was from the lighthouse on the beach at the end of Lefkas channel up to and around the first starboard buoy of the Preveza channel.

Just to demonstrate how weird the wind conditions are here: we raced northward with the wind on the nose (making really good time, Tropi likes upwind); reached just short of the buoy: sat for 30 utterly frustrating minutes in a very localised flat calm, watching all the other yachts catch up, and drifting slowly backwards on the 'tidal' flow out of Preveza channel; then, when the breeze finally reached us, raced southwards with the wind on the nose again!

We almost caught the others up, only seconds behind them on the line!


Monday 11 October

Got back up to the land, although the weather was overcast and threatening rain. Dave got stuck into planning the footings for the shed. I really should've been helping him!

The Joy of Socks

Friday 8 October

Despite being a little the worse for wear after our late lunch (and a few beers) yesterday, we went up to finish clearing the shed site. The weather has now turned a little chilly in the mornings, and there had been rain overnight. We gratefully put socks and boots on, much more comfortable and safer than sandals when tackling the prickly undergrowth or wielding the mattock.



We needed gravel to lay under the base stones for the shed. The earth on site is very stony, especially where the roadway has been bulldozed. Digging down there is soil only a few centimetres below a layer of gravelly stones. So we established a process for sifting out the stones to get the gravel we needed: a piece of small gauge wire over the wheelbarrow. This had the advantage of creating some nice usable soil, so I made a space for a herb garden where the soil could be tipped.



















Dave, caught short by a Mythos moment, back from doing what bears do.

Pothole

Thursday 7 October

Rain was forecast, then didn't happen, but as we'd planned to go to the woodyard we went anyway, despite glorious weather. We were after the wood for the shed base - originally spec'd at 3 m x 2.5, we started thinking about fitting in a heater or stove for cold winter days, and decided to add another half metre length.

As it turned out, all the lengths were 3.6 m, and the yard couldn't be bothered to cut down the last 10 cm, so we'll either have to trim them, or just go the extra .1 metre. This time we fitted them all into the small van, tied in tight with one of the short chute sheets.

Having spent all morning hanging about waiting to get plywood cut - we were in a queue behind someone getting a whole kitchen cut - by the time we were on the road home it was early afternoon, and we were thirsty and very hungry. It's always at a time like that that the worst happens - the van hit a deep pothole and bent the front offside wheel rim. Air escaped like a deflating balloon as we limped to the nearest layby.

Since last winter we've been meaning to put the jack back in the van after using it to raise an engine in the boatyard. A decent socket set would have been an advantage too. And a pity to find, after unloading all the wood to get at it, that the spare was flat.

The layby had suffered from the recent rains and was damp underfoot, with that type of mud that sticks in a thick layer to the bottom of your sandals, so you clump around with one inch platforms. But hey, the sun was shining!

A couple of phone calls got hold of a friend: Chris Beer, who had passed us just before the pothole, and he agreed to turn round, bringing a jack. He also scooped up the spare and took it to get air while Dave got the wheel off. In all, the adventure only took an hour or so, mainly thanks to Chris's knight errantry, and after dropping the wood on site wrapped in a tarpaulin, we went for a very late lunch in George's.

Visitors

Weds 6 October

We got on early and did some more clearing and started on the levelling. The site is about 25 cm higher at the top right than the bottom left. Dave still wielding that mattock! We could do the job in 10 minutes with a mechanical digger, but it would take time to organise, cost money, and no doubt cause damage all around, not just where we wanted the work done. Anyway, Dave has decided that there's a pleasure in honest toil - especially when he has any aggression to work off.

Pete and Naomi came to visit. Naomi demonstrating that she's incapable of behaving normally when there's a camera around - or at all, in fact.


We also had some four-legged visitors, who foraged in the field and made us realise we're going to need some good vegetable garden protection in due course.

We have now officially named the site 'Goat Bottom' until a better name comes along.

Scrumping

Tuesday 5 October

Here is our haystack, well wrapped up against the forecast rain.

We did our first serious 'scrumping' today - there were some broken kerb stones by the side of the new bypass, dumped in a heap. In the interests of environmental clean-up and our need for strong base blocks for the shed, we helped ourselves. They are seriously heavy, those kerbstones!


We also got started on clearing back the undergrowth a foot or so to make space for the shower shed. I tackled this job with the secateurs, until Dave decided this was too slow and started in with the mattock.

























The undergrowth is a mixture of brambles and the indigenous prickly oak, a small leaved tree like miniature holly, which grows acorns. It's very pretty, but between that and the brambles, we got rather lacerated.

The Return of the Pumpkin

I just thought I'd stick this one in: a couple of weeks ago the Pumpkin needed collecting from Bill's Bar after its triumphant 3rd place, so I found these five likely lads to do the heavy lifting.

Adam, Finbar, Mike, Pumpkin, Ned, George

Let the Games Commence ...

Sunday 3rd & Monday 4th October

Two days of torrential rain; four days out on the boat with Linda & Ian (some torrential rain continuing); two days of end-of-season band night hangovers; one day helping Rob scrub out his apartment ... and now we're ready to start the next phase: building the shower-shed.

After dropping Linda & Ian at the airport on Sunday we thought we'd try Ag. Nikolaos for straw on the way back. We'd been told to ask in the shop, so we pulled up in the Plateia and having bought some potatoes, asked if the shop lady knew of anyone selling straw. She shouted at her son to go to the Kafenion to look for someone called Christos, he refused, she shouted some more, then went herself (it was two shops along). Christos wasn't there, but a taxi was just pulling up, so she shouted to him, he got back in the car, telling us to follow and drove into the village hinterland, where he shouted to someone called Nikos. This one talked normally, and said, yes he had straw, how much would we like? We arranged to call back on Monday (due to our Saturday night hangovers and wanting to veg out on the sofa rather than drive back to Nidri and come back in the van).

So we cleaned out the van, and on Monday afternoon drove to Ag. Nik and loaded eight bales of straw into the van - just about. Luckily we had a perfect length of thin rope to lash the bales in, as the door wouldn't close. The rope comes about because we bought a length to use as controlling ropes (known to the nautical as 'sheets') for our borrowed cruising chute on the yacht, but they weren't long enough; so we have these spare 'short chute sheets' ready for emergencies.

Experienced a small frisson of excitement on the drive home - our first straw bales! Quite momentous, really.

Drove up to the land, unloaded the bales onto a pallet, lashed a tarpaulin over them and went home for supper. Forgot my camera, unfortunately. Wood and blocks tomorrow.