Chronicles of the Week 14th May
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Week of 14th May (possibly)
Cretan Gardening News
It’s like a magic garden… everything seems to grow! Most of the fruit trees have had blossom, so we may even get some fruit this year. The vegetable patch is a topic of conversation in the village as it’s in the front garden, but it’s flourishing and gets the nod of the locals, though we probably do very strange things .. the English way. Even my hollyhock seeds seem to have taken!
Village News
Two invitations received, one to attend a wedding in Thessoloniki in June and the second, to join a neighbour on a shooting party in Sfakia. The first sounds fine, the second will illustrate my limited experience of guns to .22 rifles at the Dreamland funfair in Margate as a teenager! Not certain whether the prize will be the same cuddly toy?
Actually, I had a further invite by a neighbour to the killing of his rabbits this morning but I found another pressing engagement. Squeamish? You bet….
Jam Making
J has spent all afternoon putting her “O” level in Home Economics in to practice at long last, making home-made marmalade from local oranges. Maybe I’ll make a marmalade tart or something.
Bamboo
Now in England we used to grow tomato plants and support them with long weedy bamboo canes. We repeated the process here, only for it to be dismissed by our neighbour, M, who immediately took me in his pick-up into the wilds of the nearby countryside to cut proper canes an inch thick and four metres high from a reedbed, which belonged to who knows. M showed us how to construct a low frame which would support the weight of Cretan tomatoes. Just like Ray Mears bushcraft …… (I should have taken more attention to his TV programmes).
Every day life is certainly different here. So many simple things to learn.
Curious Weather
Just as we were patting ourselves on the back for having got an air-conditioning unit installed, the hot weather immediately changed to two days of torrential rain. Water pouring down the road threatened to pour into the saturated garden, but we escaped being washed away – though we had a front garden like the Somme. On the plus side, the house seemed to stand up to the test of heavy rain, with no signs of leaks!
Never on a Sunday
On the issue of water, the pressure from the taps seemed to drop dramatically on Sunday, and on enquiry, this is quite usual … so no showers on Sundays then?
Rufus nearly meets Shawn
It may be uncommon in Crete, but it would have certainly been unexpected in England to find a flock of sheep in your front garden! They must have jumped the wall from the road whilst being driven to a new field. Fortunately Rufus and Bufffy happened to be in the house at the time! Phew!
Week of 14th May (possibly)
Cretan Gardening News
It’s like a magic garden… everything seems to grow! Most of the fruit trees have had blossom, so we may even get some fruit this year. The vegetable patch is a topic of conversation in the village as it’s in the front garden, but it’s flourishing and gets the nod of the locals, though we probably do very strange things .. the English way. Even my hollyhock seeds seem to have taken!
Village News
Two invitations received, one to attend a wedding in Thessoloniki in June and the second, to join a neighbour on a shooting party in Sfakia. The first sounds fine, the second will illustrate my limited experience of guns to .22 rifles at the Dreamland funfair in Margate as a teenager! Not certain whether the prize will be the same cuddly toy?
Actually, I had a further invite by a neighbour to the killing of his rabbits this morning but I found another pressing engagement. Squeamish? You bet….
Jam Making
J has spent all afternoon putting her “O” level in Home Economics in to practice at long last, making home-made marmalade from local oranges. Maybe I’ll make a marmalade tart or something.
Bamboo
Now in England we used to grow tomato plants and support them with long weedy bamboo canes. We repeated the process here, only for it to be dismissed by our neighbour, M, who immediately took me in his pick-up into the wilds of the nearby countryside to cut proper canes an inch thick and four metres high from a reedbed, which belonged to who knows. M showed us how to construct a low frame which would support the weight of Cretan tomatoes. Just like Ray Mears bushcraft …… (I should have taken more attention to his TV programmes).
Every day life is certainly different here. So many simple things to learn.
Curious Weather
Just as we were patting ourselves on the back for having got an air-conditioning unit installed, the hot weather immediately changed to two days of torrential rain. Water pouring down the road threatened to pour into the saturated garden, but we escaped being washed away – though we had a front garden like the Somme. On the plus side, the house seemed to stand up to the test of heavy rain, with no signs of leaks!
Never on a Sunday
On the issue of water, the pressure from the taps seemed to drop dramatically on Sunday, and on enquiry, this is quite usual … so no showers on Sundays then?
Rufus nearly meets Shawn
It may be uncommon in Crete, but it would have certainly been unexpected in England to find a flock of sheep in your front garden! They must have jumped the wall from the road whilst being driven to a new field. Fortunately Rufus and Bufffy happened to be in the house at the time! Phew!
posted by Robert Burrell at
8:22 am
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