Shopping expedition to Rethymnon

We were pleased when S. offered to drive us into Rethymnon on a shopping expedition for the house. Not only was the traffic unrelenting in the town but the challenge of finding a parking space would have been beyond me, and was almost beyond S. I am not certain what the parking regulations are but it appeared to be the equivalent of the Greek highway code. However, squeezing into a parking space close to our objective, we wandered into the Greek Currys in search of "white" goods.
As the whole transaction was carried out with the aid of our Cretan friends, our only understanding was the repeated phrase "special price", to which I vigorously nodded. So cooker fridge, and washing machine duly purchased in ready cash, we moved on to a shop specializing in lighting. Only two hours to select the light fitting for the house, interrupted only by the odd cup of coffee and numerous cigarettes.
The only thing missing was a somba, which we hoped to get from the local Co-op, but it was a little early and they were still awaiting their new stock.
Finally we stopped at Lidl's and the infamous Greek B&Q on the way out of town before heading back to Georgioupolis on the National Highway.

House inspection

View from the roof terrace to the village

The only plus to the bad weather was to see how the new house coped with the extremes of the weather. Indeed the pool of water in one corner gave an indication of an ingress of rain water, which caused by a crack in the external plaster by our architect/project manager. However, the floor tiles are now down, the bathroom tiling and plumbing nearly finished and the mezzanine in place. Doors and window sat safely in the dry whilst being stained and weatherproofed.

The bad weather virtually stopped any more serious work and it was estimated another 7-10 days to completion. So it has proved to be a quicker build than we expected, as the foundations were only laid when we last visited in June.

The design of the house is largely as initially planned with only minor changes. Certainly we are very pleased with the outcome and leaving it to our architect to create a house without any interference from know-all amateurs - why should we want to wreck an excellent plan?

Scary Crete

Our flight to Crete turned out to be more exciting (or should that be frightening) than anticipated, as we flew into Chania Airport in the middle of a torrential downpour. Flying has never worried me but coming through low cloud on our descent, having been warned by the pilot that we may have to pull out at the last moment, was not the best start of a holiday. But the pilot was determined and made his landing just before they closed the airport - re-directing aircraft to Heraklion, Athens and Rhodes!

Getting out of Akrotiri was bad, with roads swamped with deep puddles, olive groves under water and tales of vehicles skidding off the wet roads. But, hey then we were in Georgioupolis, without any wet weather gear - good decision, eh? The sky was black and the sea grey with tumbling rough waves pouring onto the beach. A far cry from the sun-kissed beach we knew from summers past.

Even the peaks of the nearby White Mountains had a covering of snow for a day, till the weather improved.

Return to Crete

Our street .... and plenty of parking space for the car next week when we visit the Island again.
The house nears completion and our architect promises a few surprises.

Yeh, I'm coming

Buffy the Vampire Slayer!

New Cretan Dog on the block soon

Yes it's me again, and I'm going to bring my old friend Buffy, if they can find a big enough box to take her.