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.