Once more into the Bleach

Thursday 3 March 2011

 Thursday was still drizzling, so we carried on with the truck.  It brightened towards the afternoon, so I could get things outside for scrubbing and drying.  The bed base went back in with the remaining eco-friendly polyester insulation.

 I moved on down the truck, sweeping and scrubbing and bleaching.  This area is planned as a wardrobe.

 Then, with much excitement, we heard from the water heater people that they were able to deliver this afternoon.  The equipment arrived in three parts: a panel, a water tank, and a Mechano set!  The instructions were in English, which was good; but for a different model, which was bad.  So we had to work it out ourselves.

 It's much bigger than expected.  We had been advised by Blind Bill to get a good one of these, as the poor quality ones don't work well, and by Andy Hensman that 'Theros' is a good make.  So we ordered the smallest one they make - 120 litres.  It's very big.

 My little dry stone walled levelled patch wasn't big enough, so it had to be extended for the framework to fit.

 I couldn't lift the tank.  Partly because the glycol bottle had leaked so it was slippery, but even so, I'd never have got it up to head height.  A few emergency calls later, and poor Rob was rootled out of his afternoon siesta to help with the installation.

The instructions failed to clarify the plumbing, either, so Dave had to improvise.  To be on the safe side, we called Andy Hensman, who fits these all the time, and he came on site for a quick safety check.

 Meanwhile, I was still stripping and bleaching in the truck.  All these locker fronts were coming off, as the truck isn't mobile anymore, and it's much easier to have open shelves.

 I stuck some side panels in the projected wardrobe, and started fixing batons.

 Dave, surprise surprise, did some plumbing.

 The poor decking - getting hard to move about.

 The moment of glory - adding the glycol into the closed water system.  The solar panel heats the water-glycol (anti-freeze) mix, which rises into the tank where fresh water is piped through a heat exchanger.  As the glycol mix cools it drops back down into the panel, where it is heated again and circulates back up.  There's no need for a pump.  Clever, hey?

Stripping Out

Wednesday 2 March 2011

Two days hard graft in the boatyard, then it rained steadily on Wednesday.  The boatyard in the rain is not an option - the boats are slippery, the ladders are slipperier, rain gets in the boats, mud gets on the boots, boots get left out in the rain, socks get wet, feet get cold, every tool you need is somewhere else, and I'm not even going to mention the electric supply ...

So we decided to start stripping out the van.  Or, at least, I did.  Dave had plumbing to attend to.

We decided to start at the back of the truck and work forwards.  Lifting the bed base revealed a couple of disused mice nests in the polystyrene insulation.  This went some way towards explaining the interesting smell.

The polystyrene came out in chunks, leaving a snowfall of staticly clinging pellets.  I swept and washed and bleached and swept and bleached some more.

Dave, meanwhile, was discovering that any plumbing joint made with locally available connections has a life of its own.  It may seem not to leak ... until the next day, or the day after that.  Any amount of PTFE tape will not make a difference.  Every fitting is slightly differently sized.  They will leak in the most awkward areas and inaccessible places ...

Morning After

Sunday 27 February 2011

We weren't in much of a fit state the next day, so we went up to the land to recuperate.

Lilias and Sue came to visit, bringing Patrick and his mate, Jason.  They were a bit fidgety until we suggested they go climb a tree (tut, modern kids!)

 Lilias, Patrick and Odie

Jason, down from the tree, demonstrating that a bit of wood and a few stones can prove entertaining.  And yes, the kids' hair is multi-coloured.  This is the start of the week of Karnivali (Carnival) - an excuse for dressing up and general horseplay.

Wild Flowers & Wild Nights

Saturday 26 February 2011

With the rain at this time of year there is a sudden profusion of flowers in the fields and hedgerows.  Something different every day.  

Guessing wildly, as I've no time to check my facts, these are (probably) chamomile daisies, wood anemones and a tall white flower.  Under the trees the ground is carpeted in pink and white and yellow - its all very lovely.

 This isn't a wild flower, but it looked so majestic I stopped to take a photo anyway.

Saturday evening - last night of the Panto and just starting to enjoy it.  Friday was the best night of the run.  After Thursday's debacle, Friday was a joy - everyone remembered everything, I even got a few correct notes in my songs, and we brought the house down.

Dave was there for the last night, and after a post-curtain mingle we took the cars back to Nidri (Panto was in distant Vlicho at the yacht club).  The feeling of release was startling - no longer any need to keep checking my lines were firmly fixed in my head, no worries about sneezing when supposed to be playing dead, no more fear that the director would condemn me for 'spoiling the magic for the kids' by smiling out of character ...

... so we partied!

 At one point, full of the joys of beer and inspired by my new-found delight in photo-journalism, I climbed onto the DJ booth bar to take a shot of the dancing girls.

There was only one possible outcome: yes, I'm now guilty of dancing on the bar in Biblos, just like the real seventeen year olds in the summer.  What a state!  No-one can outdance Julie, so she got up there with me.

In case anyone is inspired to try it - the trick is not to move your feet!

Running low on Fuel

Okay, we have solar panels for electricity (when the batteries arrive), gas for the stove and fresh running water; but the serious powerhouse behind our labours in the boatyard and on the building site is ...

 ... tea.

Which is running dangerously low.  So this is a general appeal to anyone coming this summer, or who happens to be passing a Post Office - please make M&S Fairtrade Extra Strong Tea reappear in our lives!

Look what happens if we don't get enough of the right kind of stimulant!

Burnt Thursday

Thursday 24 February 2011

The first two panto evenings were mostly okay.  The first night was nervy, and I was wooden (but I do get killed off twice in the show, so the ability to play dead is a bonus!).  The second night went very well for everyone, it seems, but I couldn't seem to get it together, and was getting quite miserable about it. 

On Thursday, however, everyone fell apart.  No-one had mentioned 'the Scottish Play' by name in the dressing room before the performance, and this must've jinxed us.  The King forgot all his lines; the musical director had the piano in the wrong key; everyone missed bits out; and I completely forgot to sing one of the lines in my first song (standing there like a guppy, trying to catch up!).  This cheered me up immensely (don't know why), and I was keen for a bit of after-show entertainment. 

A few friends in the audience were going for food, so I suggested Mamma Mia's, forgetting they don't open Thursdays in the winter, but when we got there they were open.  And packed.  It turns out it was 'Chigna Pempti' (or something like that) - which is Burnt Thursday - the last Thursday before Lent, when the last of the meat is traditionally grilled, and a bit of a knees up is had before austerity begins.  Also, as the misogynist tale goes, this is the day when the women are so busy gossiping that they forget to mind the meat and it gets burnt!  Hmmm.

This is a wild night out in the Greek calendar, so there was a bazouki band; Spiros got out his trumpet; and everyone was dancing. 

I didn't stay late - thought I'd better run through my lines one more time before bed.

Bogey the Fungusman

Tuesday 22 Feb 2011

Panto first night.  To relieve the stress, took ourselves up to the land and got on with some stuff.  While checking the compost I found we had been colonised by some wacky fungi:

this one seems to be melting inkily into itself ...

 ... while this one is clearly 'avin' a laff.

Meanwhile, I cleverly did some overhead shed painting: excellent preparation for the stage - to cover yourself in dribbles of toffee-coloured paint!  Especially the bits that stick in your hair.

and Dave started fighting with the plumbing (with hindsight, I can tell you this one is going to be a saga - eat your heart out Beowulf!).

And then, the evening.  Here are a few photos taken in the dressing room before the performance:

My evil stepmother, the Queen

Her wicked sidekick, Count Dracula

 The Prince and the Magic Mirror ...

... and three super-cute dwarves.

Jurassic mark

The weekend 19/20 February 2011

With our tails in the air and our noses to the trail we couldn't let up now, so Saturday morning again saw us at Goat Bottom and not in the boatyard.

At this point in my last writing session, Google decided I'd used up all the free blogger memory and wouldn't upload any more pics.  I have now subscribed to some more megabytes, so hopefully I can catch up with everything that's been going on.

My first action on Saturday morning was to fix this bolster over the door of the camper truck - you have to look down to find the steps, and about every third time Dave would crack his head on the door frame coming out. 

Then I wandered round the back of the shed and found out that I hadn't painted the north wall!  Bit of a shock - that memory could be so treacherous - so I got on with that.

Dave, who is eagerly anticipating the arrival of batteries for the solar panels, started designing a battery box.  Local prices are ridiculous, so we asked Tina and Shrimpy, who have gone to the UK in their van, to bring back a set of four Golf Cart batteries.  These should arrive in early March.

Dave then dug out a channel for the shower drainage which will feed the lemon tree. 

While I painted preservative on the battery box, so it can be fitted to the west wall of the shed.

This is the soak-away hole for the lemon tree.  The tree is placed on a central mound of earth and a ring of stones and gravel surround it, to allow free drainage from the pipe.

Here it is, planted.  A great moment!  Dave gave me this lemon tree for my birthday two years ago and it's been in the pot ever since.  At the time, I remember saying, 'Now I feel like a woman of property here in Greece.'  A statement that turns out to have had a ring of prophecy about it.

During the scramble about the site collecting up loose gravel and stones for the soak-away, I found this very interesting little piece of an ammonite.  I couldn't remember exactly where I found it, but I think it was in amongst the gravel originally disturbed by the bulldozer clearing the driveway, which makes it local to Goat Bottom, and places us on the sea bed in Jurassic times.

(apologies for the grubby fingers!)

The toilet wall

Friday 18 February 2011

A bit hungover, we made it up to the land on Friday around lunchtime, and while Dave fettled up the internal wall in the shed (I'd wanted this up for some time, but it was only when he needed a shelf for the inverter that it got done!) I indulged myself with a bit more dry stone walling.  I'd decided that the remaining spoil heap from the shed foundations could usefully be built up into a raised bed for herbs and salad leaves.  So I went scrumping around the site looking for big stones.

We were there until it got dark, which was a great reason to try out these wonderful candlesticks that Blind Bill made for me for my birthday.  

Birthday Boozing

Thursday 17 February 2011

In between nervy last minute preparations for the pantomime, my birthday was a joy.  Bill's Bar is a lovely venue, and with the smokers banished to the outside (one of the few bars in Greece to be abiding by the ban) a sort of 'kitchen crowd' developed on the terrace, with Mad Robbie and Odd Bob and even Martin playing and singing (and wearing funny teeth) and a few of us dancing.  Here are the photos:

Bill and me - birthday buddies!  Roll on next year.