Clearly, I’m not the best person to ask what day of the week it is. Having thought Wednesday was Tuesday I did wonder why we had water coming in and it usually only does that on a Monday, Wednesday and Friday, but then again, the weather has been all over the place and perhaps the man who turns on the mains wasn’t working on Monday but was on… And so on. Anyway….
No great news today. I am busy working on another story, we’ve not had a storm for a couple of days which makes a change and…? Oh yes. I had a lovely email from the Village Hotel about mother’s booking. We’re arriving from Athens on the Blue Star at 5.30 in the morning, and they have offered to come and pick us up, which is very kind and saves me all kinds of hassle. It does seem odd sending email to a place 100 yards away, but its that time of year and I don’t like to disturb people when they are not at work.
The photos are from a quick walk to Pedi the other day. How long has that bus stop been there? Probably months or even a year, I just don’t notice these things in the same way as I apparently don’t notice what day of the week it is.
EDIT:For Monday, read Tuesday! It’s a winter thing. I spent all day on Wednesday thinking it was Tuesday, and what I say I did on Monday I catually did on Tuesday… Oh dear.
As you can see from today’s photos, the sea was somewhat rough on Monday when I went down to Yialos. The wind was blowing across the top of the waves bringing sheets of spray landwards, and the water was invading the road somewhat. We’ve seen worse. We had a blustery night with a brief thunderstorm, but Tuesday dawned calmer. Boats were cancelled, and the timetable is currently a bit off, but things will return to normal.
I had a successful trip to town. I took all my paperwork to the KEP office and the lovely ladies there filled out my application for a Greek driving licence, straight into the computer system, printed it off, I signed it and they sent me to the bank with the correct form to pay the fee. The National bank was popular, so I went to Alpha and paid the additional €2.00, which was worth it as I was the only customer. That done, I took the receipt to the KEP office to complete the process, and they will phone me when the licence is in. If you are interested, this is what I took:
Old yUK driving licence with a translation stamped by my solicitor who also did the translation, my tax number, proof of my address – in my case an affidavit as I have no bills in my name, and a copy of my birth certificate which explained why the licence was under the shortened version of my third name and not my first name. Also, a stamped copy of my passport and, for good measure a tax return form which I don’t think I needed. I also supplied the asked-for folder and that receipt from the bank.
After that, I paid our annual post office bill for the PO Box we have – it’s not necessary but we’ve always done it, and there’s something exciting about opening the box and seeing what you’ve won. In this case, it was a phone bill and a birthday present for someone. I also picked up a curtain from the bookshop (a delivery point for certain couriers) and as that was an awkward size to carry, took a taxi back up to the village for a bit of shopping, sorted the washing which had dried very well in the warm wind, and made lunch, leaving me free to write in the afternoon. All in all, a successful day. Oh, and I also booked mother a hotel room for September. I tried the Village Hotel but there was no-one around, so I grabbed the offer via booking.com. It would have benefited them and me had I gone directly to the hotel, but I didn’t want to miss the room. There, that was Monday.
We are still wandering around Rhodes in our catch-up today. On Saturday, under a clear sky, we sat outside in the sun for an orange juice after buying our boat tickets back. Sadly, Plaza Travel has closed, but there are several other travel agencies nearby where you can buy boat tickets. There’s a Blue Star office around the corner from the hotel and another agency at the end of the pedestrian street not far away, as well as all the others you see around Mandraki. That done, and some more light shopping taken care of, we had a wander and chilled out.
In the evening, we went to the newly opened My Thai restaurant. This was in the old town but is now next to the Casino, and the location is much better. Eunice, the waitress we know there, was telling us that they have been especially at the weekends. I guess that being so close to the casino it offers the chance for a special night out. Something different from the usual fare and only a stone’s throw from whether goes on at the casino – I’ve never been in one, so I have no idea, but I am sure it’s fun. The food was lovely, as were the staff, and the setting is rather posh, but the price not so. We had a bottle of wine rather than our usual jug, a curry each and a large special rice, and the bill was just over €40.00, half of which was the bottle of wine. We were also treated to a free sweet of fried bananas and ice cream.
To finish the trip, on Sunday after breakfast, we took the Spanos catamaran homewards, a few bags heavier than when we left Symi. The crossing was smooth and quick, but we lucked out on taxis and so walked home up the Kali Start bags and rucksacks and all. That’s often quicker than waiting for a taxi and with the bus currently off the road, was our only option. We returned to find the next-door ruin more cleared out than before and work is still ongoing there, and the house exactly as we had left it. We aired it and set about unpacking and doing some washing before the next storm (due today) washes in.
The Plaza, all set for the Ascot scene of My Fair Lady?
UPDATE:Due to bad weather, the open meeting with the Consulate on Rhodes Wednesday, has been changed to Friday. 09.30 to 11.00, at the Chamber of Commerce, Rhodes. Everyone welcome.
Having arrived in Rhodes, we walked from Akandia harbour around the seafront to the Plaza where we took advantage of their €40.00 per night for a double room offer. It was a good job we had booked as, come Saturday night, the hotel was full. They were catering for a tourism convention, the breakfast room was full in the later morning, and it was more like summer than winter regarding numbers of guests.
If you’re in H&M, pop down to the men’s department and check out the ancient ruins that run through it. Where else can you see ancient history while you bemoan skinny-fit jeans?
I had to sort some paperwork for my Greek driving licence, and my solicitor came to visit us at the hotel, signed a couple of documents and brought the translation she had done for me, total cost €50.00 and it took about ten minutes, most of the time spent in a general catch up chat. After that, it was a day for shopping and looking in the various clothes shops where, unless you are slim-fit or skinny-fit, you don’t stand much of a chance finding suitable trousers, at least, not if you’re a man. Our son calls this design ‘leg condoms’ and I, for one, am looking forward to the day regular fit trousers come back into style. I think the polite term, used at Zara’s among other places, is ‘relaxed fit.’ Why not just call them jeans for normal people and have done with it? You see some horrific style errors as even a normal, non-skinny youth can look like a potato on sticks wearing this allegedly stylish fashion. Mind you, these days, the young men of Rhodes, and elsewhere no doubt, all look the same with skinny jeans, hipster hair and beards.
Basmati. (Out of the Plaza, turn left, turn right at the end by the kiosk and it’s along there on the right.)
So, fashioned bemoaned and a couple of shirts later (also hard to find ones that are not slim fit), a quick lunch and a walk, and it was back to the hotel for a siesta. That didn’t work out as planned and ended up being an afternoon chat in the bar with various Symi folk over for the day or weekend. We went to the Basmati curry house in the evening. This one has been open a few months now, and I’d never noticed it before. It’s Pakistani rather than Indian, but more or less the same thing except what we had was hot with a capital H and several exclamation marks. I enjoyed it, but Neil found it too spicy, and he’s usually the one who likes his curry hot. I took a couple of photos but hey make the place look empty; it wasn’t.
Tomorrow I’ll continue with the weekend catch-up, but I’ll warn you now, it’s more of the same.
Back from Rhodes. Lots done, lots to do and not much time to do them this morning, so not much text here but a few photos. Let’s start with the journey there. On a Friday, the boat comes in at 7.30 and leaves at 7.45, so not too much of an early start. The weekend was probably the first good weather for weeks, no rain, not windy and so the boat was busy with foot passengers and cars. We walked down from the village and along the side of the harbour to the new jetty, queued to pick up our tickets, by which time the boat was in, so walked straight on and went to sit outside on the top deck for the views. The Blue Star Patmos has six cafes that I can think of, plus a restaurant and a self-service which are open at various times. A coffee and a bottle of water saw us across a calm sea, and before you know it, you’re there. More on this trip tomorrow, but for now, I need to catch up on admin and emails and other bits and pieces I didn’t get around to yesterday while I get back into the usual routine following the short holiday.
