And Takis said "Let There Be Water!"

And there was...



The afternoon after I posted last Chris and I went down to the far beach for his first swim, but unfortunately it clouded over, and wasn't as nice as that morning. Chris went for a huge, long swim though, and had fun. After we got home we cleaned ourselves up and went for dinner at the nearest taverna. The sovlakia was wonderful. We went to bed almost immediately though, as we were both pretty knackered.

Yesterday I woke up far too early (4.45 AM), and gave up trying to sleep at 6.15, getting up and making coffee, then going out and watching Greece wake up. The village went from dead silence to a hum within about twenty minutes, after the local bus came into town. Everyone gradually emerged and we had breakfast, realised that there were excavations going on, and then clicked that it was the new water supply being begun. Takis is more effective than we realised!

We went to the beach, and Chris spent the entire time we were there (well over an hour) swimming around the bay.

The afternoon was leisurely and relaxing for some of us and busy for others, and then mid-evening some guests came for pre-dinner drinks. They were a British pair, Pip and Chris, and Barry and Jane (still without luggage), and after a couple of hours of drinks we wandered down to the same taverna we ate at the night before for a meal. We left P&C and B&J to it at about 11.30, and went home to bed. On the way back Chris pointed out to me how the contractors had left the new water supply line on the ground, and just dumped a whole lot of cement on top of it. Very classy.

This morning we were delayed going to the beach, as we had to wait for the green grocer's truck to come. We also found that the contractors working on our water supply had cut a bloody great trench across the only road into and out of the village. You can't beat a resource consent-free nation for half-arsed ideas.

By the time the groceries had been purchased the trench had had some soil dumped into it, so we were able to drive down to Metropoli for bread, then on to the far beach for our morning of whale impersonations. Once again Chris spent the entire time (aside from a wee hike around to the dock to take a series of photos for a panorama - see above) swimming around the bay, and Takis and Marie and I just chilled out on the beach, with the odd cooling dip.

We've now come home, desalinated, eaten, and while T&M are having a siesta Chris and I have watched the F1 qualifying (strangely good with Greek commentary).

Tonight we're having a large gathering of ex-pats down in Paralia for dinner. I'll post again in a couple of days with that and more.

I hope you're all having a good week.