Boaty things

Friday 19 November 2010 to Sunday 21st

Spent Friday morning finishing the rafter triangles, then went to meet Josh at the boat, who had agreed to clean the barnacles off the bottom before the two days of racing this weekend. 

I took a photo because he was looking extremely cool in a wetsuit, which isn't easy:

 We had a fantastic race on the Saturday, starting 1 pm out of Ligia and racing round Agios Nikolaos island (off One Tree Bay) and into Vathi on Meganissey.  The conditions really suited Tropi and we finished fourth over the line - well up with the fast boats in the racing class (we're cruising class).  As a result we had loads of extra drinking time (due to being a little exhilarated), and it was an hour before the next boats after us came in.

There was a good evening do laid on in Vathi.  It was a memorial in honour of a local boy who joined the Port Police and was killed by drug runners out of Albania 10 years ago.  There were quite a few Greek boats in the race, and one of the crew struck up on this bazouki or mandolin (don't know the difference!).  A very good night.

Sunday's race back wasn't quite as good as it was all downwind, which isn't our best point of sail.  But we did all right, coming second on handicap by 5 seconds!

Carbon monoxide

Thursday 18 November continued

The rain cleared up a bit in the afternoon, so we went up to Goat Bottom and started making triangles of rafters and joists for the roof.  This involved using the jigsaw, which meant firing up the generator, which entailed choking us to death with diesel fumes, so the first job was to fit an exhaust pipe to the generator box.

 We used the pipe we'd bought to go with the little stove.  Poor Dave had to fire up the generator, to run the jigsaw, to cut a hole in the back of the box, right where the exhaust is - very unpleasant.

Professional Help

Thursday 18 November 2010

Went into Lefkas in the morning as it was rainy, to visit Constantine the Architect who had asked for the model of the cottage to see if our ideas were in agreement.  He doesn't look too confident ...!

He suggested we come back in about a week, and we said we would come when it rained.  'Like snails' he said, 'you only come out in the rain.'


He also told us that rockwool is not good to use - it is a by-product of some nasty industrial processes, and apparently it only lasts about 7 years.  He had tried to get sheep's wool as well, but it's not easily available in Greece, so he recommended a polyester version which is much nicer to handle and more eco-friendly than the rockwool.

Save Tuna

This is a bit of an aside - as people who enjoy fishing we've been concerned about the declining fish stocks around here.  It's no fun fishing if there's nothing to catch.  A local study of dolphins shows a reduction from hundreds to only about 15 over the last couple of decades, presumably because the fish they eat are in short supply.  Apparently it's the result of over-fishing especially of bluefin tuna, with powerful technological weaponry that the fish can't compete against. 

We recently watched a documentary movie called 'The End of the Line' which explains some of what has been going on in fishing, and how global fish stocks are becoming seriously endangered.  Anyway, there's an international meeting to decide quotas happening in a few days, and a pressure group is calling for people to sign a petition to show public support for reduced quotas.

If you're interested, it's at: http://www.avaaz.org/en/tuna_at_risk_2/?98.php?CLICKTF

The film website: www.endoftheline.com is worth a look, and has info about which fish are endangered and should not be bought in restaurants and shops.  Unfortunately, it doesn't cover the Greek market, only the US and UK, so we can't find out whether our favourite: fried Gavros (a type of anchovy) is an acceptable choice.

Framing the shed walls

Tuesday 16 November 2010

Another trip to the wood yard, and we have the pieces for the wood frame walls.  The wood is cheap and unseasoned, and probably very ecologically unsound.  I asked the architect whether it was possible to get FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) approved wood in Greece and he said he had asked, but they laughed at him.  I said at least he could ask in a way that was understood, being Greek.  He said that's why they laughed, because it was a Greek asking. 


The wood turned out to be twisted and bowed, and Panos at the woodyard had been a bit lax with the cutting - some pieces are 1.5 cm shorter than others meant to be the same length.  So we did our best, trimming some bits and chocking others, but it's not a work of millimetre precision.

It is, however, fast.  We got the two sides done, and the front and back, and went back for more wood for the rafters, before being rained off on Wednesday morning.

Digger!

Monday 15 November 2010

We got back from our little site to find that the expected development in the field next door to the apartment has started.  We can now expect heavy machinery and all the joys of a conventional building site from 8 am every morning, for as long as it takes.

The initial dig, presumably for the concrete slab foundation, is directly along the line of our fence - so close that the roots of the wisteria that I had cheekily planted through the fence into the field were hanging in the air, all the earth scraped off them.

A good reason, we think, to get on with our build asap - we won't want to be living here much longer!

The Olive Harvest

Sunday 14 November 2010

We'd bought some olive nets on the last trip to Lefkas, so we spread these around the foot of Richie's tree-house tree.  Following Christoforos' instructions I'd taken the shears to the surrounding grass and levelled it all off a bit.  I'd also found a long stick off a fallen branch and trimmed it straight.

We set to work beating the branches we could reach, taking turns until the stick broke.  It's not an easy job, but we were fortified by the thought of our own olive oil - if we get maybe a sackful we can take the olives to one of the little local presses and they'll press the oil in return for a tithe of the olives.

Unfortunately, our trees have not been kept cut short, as most that are regularly harvested are.  This one in particular is a majestic tree, but impossible to reach the higher branches from the ground. 

When shopping for olive nets we asked about the top quality netting, but it was very expensive.  It can be left on the ground for months, so you don't have to beat the tree, just wait for the olives to fall when they're ready.  We couldn't afford that netting, and the two large nets we did get were 35 euros each, so we didn't get enough for more than one tree at a time.

The harvest will need picking over, as well.  The disadvantage of beating the tree (as well as the violence it does to the soul) is that a lot of leaves and twigs fall into the nets too.

Sheep

Saturday 13 November 2010


We put in a couple of days in the boatyard, then got back to work at Goat Bottom with more painting and nailing, until the floor was finished - but unfortunately too newly painted for dancing a jig.  But it's a nice stable solid structure, if rather yellow, so we are very pleased with it. 

Nearly finished, we looked up and found the field had filled with sheep.  A whole herd had wandered in and was munching it's way around our site.  Perhaps a message from the universe to say, 'use sheep's wool next time'.

Some time after the herd had passed through we had another visitor.  We got talking, he introduced himself as Christoforos, and said he was seventy-five.  He had two large fat clean fluffy sheep that followed close on his heels, completely unfazed by us. 

Christoforos was very interested in the works, asked us where we came from, and pointed out that the base wasn't level.  He spoke village Greek, so we were mostly guessing what our conversation was about, but this bit seemed very clear.  So Dave had to get the spirit level and prove that it was - we hadn't checked it since putting down the floor, so we were greatly relieved to find it spot on!

He asked Dave if he was a builder, to be making something like this, and our pidgin Greek enabled us to respond with 'we know nothing!' (kseroume tipota!) which made him laugh.  His sheep, which he referred to as his dogs (does that make them dog-sheeps?) snuffled around a bit in our straw but turned their nose up at the mould.

He seemed the very person to talk to about our olive trees, so we asked his opinion, and he walked down to the large tree and shook one of the low branches - lots of olives fell off - time for the olive harvest, before the next big winds, he said.

Compromise

Wednesday 10 November 2010

Dave did some research into straw clay insulation (maybe a little late in the day) and discovered that the two things you don't want in your straw are mould and hay.  Surprise, surprise - we have mouldy hay!  If we continued with our insulation plans we would have walls full of fermenting mould. 

I already have Broncho-Pulmonary Aspergillosis (no, really!  it's an allergic reaction in the lungs to mould spores - developed from living in damp concrete buildings here in Greece)  so the last thing we want is mould in the walls.  We were stumped.  With the base in position on the blocks, the floorboards purchased and stacked up in the Camper truck, we were all fired up and ready to go ... with only these gaping holes between the joists to fill.

We did some more research on the net, and discovered the insulation to dream of is sheep's wool.  It's made in the Black Mountains in Wales and is highly desirable on all counts: efficiency, fire and infestation resistance, and cheapness - but it isn't available locally -despite all the sheep.  There's an American company setting up production in Italy, but not till next year.

So we investigated a product we can get locally: rockwool - some sort of extruded mineral fibre.  Sounds as if it needs nasty industrial processes to produce, but the websites are very upbeat about its sustainability: apparently it offers thermal, acoustic and fire resistant insulation, and is (quote):

• vapour permeable ("breathes")
• resistant to aging and decay
• resistant to micro organisms and insects
• resistant to chemical substances
• chemically inert and completely recyclable with an ecological production process

But it makes your skin itch.  And may go soggy if it gets wet - not so clever in a shower-shed.  Anyway, other than scouring the tip for reclaimed polystyrene (which has no fire resistance) this seemed to be our only option.

We crammed three bales into the back of the van, and got on with installing the floor. 

I painted the underneath and sides of each board and Dave nailed them down.  We'd picked a light coloured wood stain at random - selecting only for available quantity in the shop, on the vague principle that popularity must mean the colour's okay. 

It turned out to be this bright yellow!  We should've guessed from the number of bright pink apartment blocks around that the Greeks don't go in for colour subtlety!

Dawn Patrol

It must be something to do with Pauline leaving - we've had a week of fabulous weather while she's been here, but as soon as she leaves the country the wind and rain starts again.  We had a disturbed night listening to the wuthering, and wondering if the boat was okay and the tarpaulins on the land properly weighted down, then I remembered the camper truck awning was still out, as the weather had been so still recently. 

At first light Dave went up there to check, then he rang to ask where the keys were (he'd left the awning handle out and I'd put it away) and when he went the second time I went too.  Luckily there was no damage, so we put the awning away and scuttled home out of the rain.

Straw Clay

Sunday 7 November 2010

Notwithstanding some slight fatigue after the night before, we were up early-ish to see Pauline off on the road to Athens, then decided to go for a cup of tea at Goat Bottom and revel (calmly and sleepily) in the newly positioned shed base.

But the cup of tea spurred us into unexpected action.  It was so good to be through to the next stage we couldn't let it alone, Dave got on with painting wood stain onto the top of the base, while I started sieving soil to make mudslip for the straw-clay.

 Painting the base:

 My mudslip-making paraphernalia: two layers of wire mesh, pre-soaked earth, little trowel for rubbing through the mesh, bowl to catch the slip, and a comfy chair ...

 A bowl of prepared slip - should be the consistency of chocolate milk (Mmm - yummy)

As it was Sunday when the shops close in Greece (yes, they do in the winter) and we didn't have a garden fork, Dave imaginatively constructed this homemade pitchfork from twigs











A big moment - opening the first bale of straw.  And very disappointing - most of the bale was unusable, full of mould, possibly as a result of our storage as the tarpaulin was dripping inside (should've made a proper thatched haystack, obviously)

 We salvaged what we could, and poured a couple of cupfuls of chocolate milk into it before turning over with the pitchfork to mix

Dave then constructed a tamper (he's getting very good at rustling up tools at need)

And put in the first line of insulation.

After this our hangovers caught up with us and we called it a day.

Bingo

Saturday Night 6 November 2010

We went to Byblos for Pauline's last night, feeling good that the shower-shed base had been shifted into position, and, another miracle: Middlesbrough won a game of football, breaking the longest run of losses of any league club this season (apparently).  Clearly this called for an impromptu game of Bingo.  Or, at least, it did to Rob.  Pauline was thrilled (well, initially dubious, having never played Bingo before) but within minutes she was analysing the numbers, spotting anomalies, and predicting future trends - demonstrating that management consultancy never leaves you, however long ago that job at Arthur Anderson was.

For some reason the luck was with us.  I won the first line: seven euros - whee!  Then Pauline got Full House: fourteen euros - hurrah!  We couldn't resist a second game, so we reinvested (three euros a ticket) and Dave won a line: ten euros (prize money had gone up, more people were playing) - yippee!

I had a profit of one euro; Pauline had been buying two tickets (despite the risk of going cross-eyed), so her profit was two euros; which left Dave the clear financial wizard of the group with four euros on the bottom line.  Flushed with our riches we headed to George's to celebrate.

Angels

Saturday 6 November 2010

We needed a miracle, and these guys made it happen:

 Mike (half Greek), Martin (all Dutch), Rob (man of the world), Pete (Planet Zog) & Dave

(Vince intended to be there too, but he wasn't well and was late for the rendezvous by 2 minutes - sorry we missed you, Vinnie, and thanks for making the effort)

 Moments before - Dave and Martin making plans

In action - turning it over 

(not a good photo, the sun was behind them, but they didn't seem to want to 

hold the pose while I took a better one)

In place, with Pete bravely checking the structural stability of the construction.  

A moment after this photo, Pete missed his footing and trod down on the plywood base - by another miracle he landed over one of the mudsills, instead of going through the bottom, which would've meant taking it back off for repairs.

Mr Cool

Saturday 6 November 2010

Yup, he's made it.  Rob finally came to see what we've been up to.

Release the 'Nidri One'

3rd and 4th November

As it was Maggie's birthday on Tuesday night we'd gone up to Bill's again for a curry spree, which was excellent and very jovial and we'd taken the car but were leaving it there overnight.  Fine.  We arrived too late to squeeze into the car park, so it was on the lane.  And we happily hiccuped our way down to Nidri early on Wednesday morning by foot.

I woke up some time later on Wednesday morning wondering if Paleokatuna (where Bill's is) had a bus service, and would the car be in the way.  Sometimes a premonition has to work really hard to get through the mists of hangover, and still doesn't have the impact it should.

About half past two in the afternoon, we'd just got up to the land - forgetting the car entirely, when I got a call, saying, 'It's not your car in the lane outside Bill's is it?'  Apparently, the bus driver was furious, the various building sites couldn't get their lorries through, the police had been called, no-one had known whose the car was, the police computer showed an Albanian owner, the number plates had been removed, and the car was in danger of being impounded. 

This is not good information for a hungover brain.

We slunk up to Paleokatuna and removed the car.  There was one man there who was a little incensed, and I was mortified not to be able to understand and apologise properly for his grievances.  The number plates were missing.

I didn't feel like tackling the police just then, so it waited till this morning.  We went to Vlicho police station, Dave and Pauline chanting 'release the Nidri One' in a very supportive if terrifying way.  But the police were their usual unconcerned selves.  I had to take my ticket to the post office in Nidri to pay the fine (20 euros) and then come back, so I did all that.

They looked at the receipt, shrugged a bit, asked for the registration document, asked why it wasn't in my name - I pointed out that it was, they shrugged a bit more, looked at each other in a 'phf, computers!' sort of way, didn't ask for my passport to see if it was my name, gave me back the number plates, and pointed out that I should be careful not to lose the screws, shrugged a final time and went back to what they were doing before. 

I emerged into the fresh air of Vlicho high street, grateful indeed that only my number plates had spent the night in police custody.

Reaching first base

3 November 2010


The underneath of the base got finished.  The structure is almost too heavy even to push around on the decking.  We need a good many helping hands to get this moved.  It's going to take a miracle to get enough people together at once - we only need five minutes, but it's going to be very difficult to find people with five spare minutes all at the same time.  Help, please, universe (please, please).

 Pauline bringing a relaxed and calming attitude to the final stages, 

then we checked out the road works, although there was no progress this time, but we did see Marvin the Paranoid Cat again,

before repairing to George's for a frugal supper ...


(actually we stayed for seven hours, eating many leisurely courses and talking forever).

We had had a call from Constantine the Architect, saying he would be in Nidri, and could he pick up the model of the cottage, but in the event, he didn't turn up - the pressures of electioneering prevented it.  So we showed the model to upside down George, who was very interested, and said that Albanian village people used to build with earth and lime plaster, and it's considered a very healthy living environment.

Building the Base

Tuesday 2 November 2010

We got back to the land on Tuesday, after Tropi had a trip out with Pauline on Monday. 

Moving on from stone blocks, we're now into building the shed base.  We want this to be insulated, with straw-clay, so we have to build it upside down, initially, to fix a plywood base, and then 'flip' it over (heavy, heavy, heavy) once it's made.

 Dave screwed in all the joists, and then I got a go with the hammer.  We used the short galvanised nails that you can't get in Greece, that George located in England, but they arrived too late, and Jim had to send them on.  These are nails with history. 




 Me getting on with the nailing, using the decking as a work bench - that tree is going to be lucky to last till Christmas!








After the nailing, we realised we'd forgotten to get any protective wood stain, which we needed for the plywood, before fixing on the mud sills (decking planks to raise the plywood off the stone blocks).  But luckily we had a few scrapings in the bottom of a tin from when we were doing the generator box.  So we set about painting the base in entirely the wrong way - from the outside in, not knowing how long the wood stain would last.

This led to some interesting gymnastics, but the stain lasted well, and and we were just beginning to hope it would go the distance ...

 ... when it ran out.  Honestly!

Luckily Pauline had brought essential supplies of wheat-free biscuits (take note, potential visitors) so we were able to assuage our sorrows in comfort food ...

... before walking up to the Corner of Doom to see if there were any developments.  Which there were - the wall had been extended and infilled, and the road is passable again - although we're not going to risk being trapped by wet concrete, so we're still not using it.

Halloween

Sunday 31 October 2010

As we walked up to inspect the road works, we met this mysterious character, who has the saddest face imaginable.  It was only later that we realised it was Halloween.

 

 We continued on up the hill to Bill's Bar, for some light refreshment.  He had gathered together all the abandoned pumpkins from the pumpkin competition and left them out the front with a sharp knife.  I wouldn't have thought most of Bill's clientèle were safe around sharp objects, but they did okay to produce this row of unsavoury characters.

 We adjourned to George's restaurant for some late supper, with a few of the usual suspects - and Pauline, all unsuspecting - where we found Mad Robbie's winning monster pumpkin had taken pride of place:

I'm here!

Sunday 31 October 2010

Pauline got here, driving from Athens in record time, just before supper on Saturday.  This resulted in a late night and a gentle approach to Sunday.  Pauline is very thrilled to have arrived, and the words 'I'm here!' just keep erupting from her.

After second breakfast we walked up to the land to show it off, she's an avid follower of this blog (showing much taste thereby) and knew more about what we'd been up to than we did.  But even so, she seemed impressed by the reality - apparently in real life, the project is quite a bit bigger than it seems on screen.  She also loved the calm and peace we have - it is good for the soul, up here.

 After tea, we walked on up to the Corner of Doom to see what, if anything, was happening, and found that work was progressing well.  This enormous wall has been built to hold the road in place - it's about six feet high on the other side.

Looking around

Saturday 30 October some more

The rains have turned our land into almost-meadow.  It's still scrubby and dry, but daisies and dandelions have sprung up everywhere, and even some tiny white tulips in one area.  The pear tree shivers in light breezes,with pale green gold and freshly orange leaves.

This is Richie's proposed tree-house tree, a very majestic olive.  The neighbours have started to lay olive nets in the surrounding groves, so we are planning to get some netting on our next trip to Lefkas town.  Olive picking is relatively simple - lay nets underneath for a couple of months for the windfalls, and then use long sticks to finish off - George, Richie, this might be your job at Christmas!

 This is the bottom NE corner of the land - four ancient olive trees seem to guard the entry between high hedges.  This is the route we take across country, when the road is impassable.  There are old tracks, footpaths or goat ways, that converge on this corner.

And this is the cross country route - this is the neighbour's land - we haven't met them yet, but we hope they don't mind us using the footpaths all the time at the moment.  It's not a bad commute to work, is it?