Yesterday’s post was titled ‘Quiet Day Ahead (?)’, one of my random, ‘What shall I put as a title today?’ titles, yet, the question mark was portentous, as was my last line: We could be in for a week of not much news. Not that this is much news, but it was the first time ever I have done this…

Neil was at the gym, I’d just finished work and thought I’d pop out for some pastry because we fancied a pie, and if I make pastry it comes out like a flagstone floor. I shut the bedroom window and left the house. My usual routine is to collect the keys from the back of the gate on my way, but as I opened the gate, my mind slipped to our landlord, who used to live opposite, and who recently passed away. Apparently, he’d said some very nice things about us as his tenants, and I was giving him a silent farewell when I realised I’d just shut the gate and locked myself out. A quick check of the bag where the keys always go… No. Nor the pockets, not the pockets of the bag I never use, nor the bag (again), nor my jacket pockets. So, that’s that.

I can’t buy the pastry now as it will defrost before Neil gets back which will be in… Checks bag for phone. No phone. Ah. Stands back to look at the wall, as it’s possible to climb it with a ladder, or from next door’s garden. Agapitos’ moped isn’t there, so he’s not at home. Ah, the bedroom window… I just closed it. Jenine has a spare key, but without a phone… So, I wander off halfway down the Pedi road only to see her moped’s not there either, and Harry will be at school. Back to the village and I think I could pop in on Anne and see if she can ring Neil to make sure he has his keys, if not, I’ll have to find Jenine, but then I think, Anne’s not been back on the island long and she’ll be busy. Or maybe not, it depends on the time, so I pop into Sotiris to find out the time (and check the pasty situation, but there wasn’t any anyway). Hm. Decide not to disturb Anne.

I’ll go for a walk instead, which I do, back past the house to the end of the lane and on the way back, bump into Steve who will ring Neil for me but doesn’t have his number and I don’t know it. Steve will happily lend me a ladder, and I’ll take you up on that if all else fails, thank you. Back to the house. Ring the bell just in case, but no-one’s home yet, so I go and sit in the square to watch the world go by because both cafés are closed.

If you sit in the village square long enough you will see the whole world go by, I’m sure of it. A mother and two young children wandering around waiting for someone, the electrician came past in his van, and then two fully grown guys crammed into a tiny three-wheeler, Michaels from the empty peripteron, the keeper of the Chinese shop hanging out on his steps, sunshine, and other morning activity I don’t usually see because I am at my desk… and now I need the loo, but I’m not going in the corner of the Village square as some do.

So, I sit there and plan the afternoon’s piano lesson; scale of D major at speed, finger exercises, the grade four piece, some work on the Beethoven, then start a grade 4 exam piece… And decide I’d be better off waiting at the top of the Kali Strata where I can see Neil coming up or down. I have to make t a quick journey, because he might come up the side of the square as I am coming down the steps, and I might miss him, but I keep an eye out… And arrive outside what used to be George’s butcher shop to see Jenine at the flower shop and Niel coming from Sotiris’ direction. Luckily with his keys.

So, all’s well that ends well, and at least I got some walking in, and have something to tell you about. Oh, and when I did get in and back to my phone, I discovered Anne had been trying to call me because she had no power and wanted my help figuring out why. I should have called in after all. She might have had some pastry.

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Back to the desk after what feels like a weekend off. Saturday morning was spent preparing for Saturday afternoon: Transforming the sitting room into a dining room, hanging the floating candles, moving furniture, while, at the same time, making bread and putting together a prawn cocktail. The godboys came to assist, one cooking, the other rehearsing his piece and his song, and we four had time to sit in the sun in the courtyard before mother arrived for her birthday day. A great meal, entertainment from the piano pupil, then a slob out on the sofa watching Hamilton (the musical), an action film, a couple of episodes of Have I Got News For You, and the party came to an end. Except Neil and I carried on watching random YouTube videos until a late hour, which more or less wiped out Sunday.

This week, things are returning to normal, as in, no parties or social functions are planned after a week of lots of social things happening. The wind is down, the sky is streaked with morning cloud, gradually changing colour, and I have a book to improve and finish. We are still working on the courtyard shutters and windows, Neil’s heading down to the gym later, me, possibly up the hill before I get so over it I can’t manage it, and that’s about all until piano lesson and model building this afternoon. We could be in for a week of not much news, a few old photos and not a lot of chat, but that’s February for you.

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Here are some more photos to finish of the week. It’s been something of a social one for us, and will continue to be over the weekend. Apart from the trip to Rhodes, we’ve been to Rainbow to see Yiannis before he headed off on his short break, we’ve been to Lefteris next door, last night we went to Scena for our supper, and we may be meeting someone at the bar tonight. Tomorrow, it’s all hands on deck to prepare for Jenine’s birthday. There will be news about that next week, but as the details have been kept under wraps, I can’t go into them now. Next week, I’m staying in and locking the doors and not going out!

Instead, I’ll go into the weekend with a headache (the glue fumes from yesterday’s modelling session, and, probably, wine), and with a list of things to do today to prepare for tomorrow. We’ve also been redecorating the courtyard as the woodwork needed doing before it got ruined by the rain. I bought a tin of paint, the colour label of which closely matched what is already here, only to discover the actual colour is far more green in real life, it’s a kind of… well, I’m not sure if it’s turquoise or what, but you’ll get to see as soon as everything’s finished. So, there may be more painting happening on Sunday as well. That’s then, this is now, and I have to go and promote some books.

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Let’s stay in Rhodes a while longer. As we were there all day, we had to find somewhere for lunch, and out of season, that’s not as easy as it might sound, because many of the restaurants in the new and old town close for the winter. There are still places to go, though, including Pan and Vino, which is where we ended up.

If you like vague directions, this restaurant is situated near the taxi rank that’s not far from M&S, when you turn right at the top of MacDonald’s Street. (Not its real name, and MacDonald’s is currently closed, either for a refurb or for good. Good.) It’s opposite where the Hondas centre used to be, in a building that was once a noodle bar, and in the same parade as Jiz Steak. To be honest, I thought it was only the sign for that strangely named eatery that was still there and the place itself has come and gone, but no. ‘Cheese Steak’ is still there and open for business.

But back to Pan and Vino. A lovely place to eat. I’ve been there three times now, and it’s all great – food, staff, atmosphere and wine are all spot on, and we had a great meal and a nice long chat with the waitress. After, without waddling too much, we went a wandering, and later in the day, sat in the sun at the Yacht Club Café in Mandraki. That’s another place that sounds like it should be more expensive than it is, but it’s a very reasonable place to hang out while waiting for a boat.

There, just a couple of quick tips for what to do while boat-waiting in Rhodes. There are loads of other places, of course, and even more in the summer, and with the weather that day, it could quite easily have been summer.

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Let’s continue to wander the Old Town in Rhodes for a while. It’s so much calmer at this time of year, and if you’re lucky enough to be there on a warm, sunny day, so much the better. The monuments are open, i.e. the museum and the palace, but I’ve not seen the old mosque and library open for a while now, not even in summer. The Palace of the Grand Masters is a great visit and all you’re likely to encounter at this time of year are school parties, which, in my experience, always tend to be polite and well behaved. Once, when on Kos, visiting the Asklepeion, we encountered a couple of coachloads of teenagers arriving not long before we were leaving and had to walk through the flood to get to the gates. In some counties, that would be ‘head down and hope for the best,’ here, it was, ‘Good morning,’ ‘Kalimera,’ ‘Kostas, get out of the way of the gentlemen,’ ‘Have a good day, Sir,’ in both Greek and English as if we were royalty.

Apart from the monuments, you have the architecture to enjoy, and there are places where you can indulge your interest in architectural archaeology. For example, we found protrusions on the outer wall, or inner-outer wall, to be precise, and I was wondering what they were for. They look like they were once a matching pair holding up a balcony, but they were at an odd angle, there was nothing but a wall on one side, air on the other, and no signs of anything ever being attached to or supported by them. Just, roadside ornaments, perhaps? Hard to see in the photo, but if you have any ideas, leave a comment on our Facebook page.

The lanes themselves are remarkable pieces of engineering when you think someone had to collect every stone, bring it and plant it, and the lanes are never uniform. Some are walk-sideways narrow, others wide enough for cars, though there are few of them about once you are away from the main streets. You have to remember you’re walking through someone’s village and directly past their often open front doors, so try not to gawp. Instead, gawp at how well many of the area’s buildings and features are, and gasp at how others are managing to stay upright. For the intrepid, you can even find tunnels to explore.

You also get to see cats, of course, as this is Greece.

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