JULY WEATHER ..... As promised last month, the temperatures
have soared. Humidity has been high and the nights have been very
sticky. Towards the end of the month the wind changed to the west
and we had several cooler, fresher days.
Current Cretan Weather
Link
_____________________________
Guess
who's coming to dinner?
Village Life..
It’s
that time of year again, when Wilf gets to put his feet up and Ann and
Richard step into the breach….
July
– probably the hottest month of the year, when the tourist industry is
in full swing. It is noticeable this year how few Brits are holidaying
here – but with the economic climate in the
UK
and the poor exchange rate against the euro, it is not surprising. There
has, however, been a huge surge in visitors from Scandinavia and
Poland
; many tavernas have reprinted their menus to include additional languages
this year.
The cicadas are now at maximum volume, bursting into life at around 6 am
and continuing until about 9 pm. It seems to be a bumper year for them as
well. We don’t object to the noise they make, but don’t much like
being showered with cicada wee when we walk under the olive trees in our
garden!
Richard and I decided this month that it was about time we returned some
of the hospitality we have received from our friends in the village, so we
thought we would bite the bullet and have everyone round at the same time.
Initially we confused them a little by giving out a written invitation –
and for two weeks in advance! If everyone we invited came, there would be
twenty six of us – the youngest being three years old, and the oldest
eight-five.
We drew up a military-like plan for the occasion. We knew it would be
pointless to provide anything other than Greek food, as it would not have
been well received. We opted for catering-sized quantities of pork chops
(Richard starring on the barbecue), village sausages, pasticcio, roast
potatoes, salads, bread, olives, cheese, wine, water, raki, etc. etc. We
also knew that the comfort factor is to have everyone sitting down around
one big table, so we asked permission to borrow a couple of long tables
and hard-backed chairs from our local church hall. Not only was permission
gladly given, but they were actually delivered to the door for us, two
days ahead of the event. We were going to eat outside, so we positioned
the tables and chairs under olive trees decked with Christmas fairy
lights, and started cooking.
Richard suffered a bad attack of opening night nerves the afternoon before
kick-off, when he decided that no-one would come and that we would be
eating pasticcio until Christmas! Then two hours before the official
start, one of the village ladies turned up 'to help' - her idea of helping
was to sit in the shade, drink cold water and chat. All very well, but I
was still unshowered, unchanged and running behind schedule! She
was, however, able to reassure Richard that there would be a good turnout
as our party was the talk of the village. Sure enought, one by one and two
by two, everyone turned up, the wine flowed and they all tucked in with
enthusiasm. There was just the one bad moment when two of the village
ladies who have a years-old feud ended up sitting opposite each other at
table, but fortunately they decided to ignore each other rather than throw
food and insults.
Everyone ate plenty and drank lots of the local village wine. At the end
of the meal we brought out some of the usual tsikouthia (raki), together
with a more unusual version flavoured with honey, one we made ourselves
flavoured with bitter oranges, another we made ourselves with cherries and
brandy, and a bottle of Bailey’s Cream. All the men did a taste test,
and it was decided that tsikouthia
was still their number one favourite, but that the cherry brandy would be
good poured over ice cream, and Bailey’s would be nice at breakfast
time!
We think they enjoyed themselves, because they all stayed
quite late. And when the tables and chairs were collected a few days
later, we were asked if we were going to do it all again next year!
One of our neighbours had brought a gift of about two kilos of mizithra
cheese, so we spent the next few days making boureki (courgette, potato
and cheese layers) and kalitsounia (cheese pies) for the freezer.
And the leftovers? Well, there weren’t many, and all the
bones were collected up for our favourite village dog, Manolis, a real Lassie-lookalike,
and a daily visitor to our house.
Poor Manolis. Owned by the local shepherd, he was a dog with a huge heart
and an incredible brain. He adopted us on our arrival in the village and
would come down in the early days to offer advice on digging holes and to
aid in watering the garden(!). He soon sussed that we were dog people and
we got into the habit of saving our bones and leftovers to supplement his
diet.
Like the majority of dogs here, he was sadly under-appreciated by
his owner, and was showing signs of arthritis and general misuse. I think
it is fair to say that when he died at the end of the month, no-one other
than us would have shed a tear over his passing. Sadly, he died from
eating rat-poison (not an uncommon event here), which is not an end you
would wish on anything other than a rat.
