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FEBRUARY WEATHER ...
Definitely
not funny! Or maybe it was. It was very cold, very wet and,
although there were several clear sunny spells which had the spring
flowers started, this Crete was definitely for enthusiasts only.
Acropolis View, Athens
Above: Manager of the Acropolis View Hotel, Robertou
Gallie. Five minutes walk will take you to the gates of the
Acropolis (Parthenon) by the Herodeon Atticus theatre. Ten minutes
(take 15!) to Plaka or Mitropolis square and the Greek Orthodox
cathedral.
__________________
Astratigos Village life... A Continued
Saga..
Dear Brian,
Hello and good afternoon from a still
bright and sunny Crete - almost all the doors and windows are open. But
for the most part the weather has been 'iffy' to say the least.
In my last missive I promised to finish my
story of the tilers by telling the tale of taking the surplus tiles
(no, we didn't break them all) back to their local point of origin, the
very grand Terzis tile emporium at Chania. So here we go, or more
accurately, there we went. And how!!
Mrs Terzis greeted us like new customers... No, we are bringing
our surplus tiles back from the last job. She didn't look like a
pools winner.. Until we added quickly that we wanted to part-exchange them
for more tiles - this time for the bathroom walls. Bingo. No
problem!! "Take the returns round the back. Give them to the 'lad'.
He will give you a note. Bring the note back here". I comply,
edging the car between pallet loads of tiles on either side about twice
the height of the car at all angles. Being a 'good driver' I
couldn't back out... I made it around the last corner, around an
impossibly obstructed entrance and reversed onto the entrance ramp.
Unloaded my tiles, got my note and made full circle without
problems. No Problem...
"Will you take the new tiles in your
car" Mrs Terzis enquired innocently. "How much do they
weigh", I ask. "19 boxes" was the rapid reply - "you can fit
19 boxes in your car".... Her tone and expression adds, "easily,
can't you, or are you a sissy?" I'm no sissy Brian, I can put 19
boxes in my car..... I had a very uneasy feeling that Mrs Terzis had
not answered my question....
Accompanied by Pam, I repeat my good
driver exhibition. Perfection. I reverse into the loading bay like a real
pro. Pam is clearly impressed. I leap out, hail the 'boy',
hand over my paperwork and await his response. "You must move your
car to the other bay", says he with a big grin.
Not backing
off I do so. Not a pallet knocked over. "Inside" says
he. Inside I go. 19 boxes - boot and rear seat - are loaded leaving
only about 2-3 inches movement left in the suspension. "Put some on top
maybe", I mutter darkly. "It's OK" says he, "just drive carefully
out of the doors!" I suddenly notice a 10 degree ramp which
wasn't there when I came in. I edged out over the drop without
taking my eyes off the wing mirror, which contained a picture of the boy -
hand indicating the seriously decreasing gap between the floor and my
undercarriage... We won!
I am now able to tell you the answer
to my question to Mrs Terzis. 19 boxes of tiles weigh about 302
Kilo's, better known as 668Ibs, 5.5cwt or, one quarter of one ton. I
can also confirm that the number of paces one has to take carrying the
tiles from my car boot to the vestibule of our house is 45-46. for
each box. 32 of them up that 1 in 3 slope, 6 up the 1in1 steps and the
remainder on the level - which is an attitude that my car returned to
after the event. I was more horizontal. Level level.. Counted
out..
Today we are starting the final clean of the big
bedroom. We also have a little more stone to clean in the corridor,
but we should be able to contain the dust easily in there. The new
tiles really do look good, and without taking away the 'village house'
feel - although perhaps a 'posh' village house. The real ones have
earthen floors.
Admirers. Not everyone felt our own sense of a very
fine achievement. One of our occasional visitors, examining our super new
tiles, said that things here wouldn't be the same for her without the
previous concrete floors... Always been 'posh' haven't we?
Well, after we first concreted the floors anyway...
We are
both very well. Katina has returned from he winter sojourn in
Chania. Always a good sign of warmer weather. The sheep and
goats have finished multiplying for a while - though Easter is approaching
and it is not a good time for some of them. The almonds are blossoming,
though not half as well as last year, whilst the other villagers here in
Astratigos continue life as always, the way it is!
However, it is
as well to remember Brian, especially when things are going as well as
they are just now, that somewhere out there maybe gremlins..... And
perhaps even Mrs Terzis!!
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Site News.
And egg on my 'Webmaster'
face!! I know that none of us are perfect (like me) but that was a
classic... The link to our 2005 calendar gallery took anyone trying
it direct to our food & drink page. Apologies... And no, our
calendar does not feature a spit-roasting lamb or Sfakion Cheese
Pie! Try the correct link below yourself.
Cretan Vista
Calendars.
The calendar picture gallery went on line as planned
by 18th February. Being the creator I hesitate to claim accolades,
since the real kudos belong to the people who created the reality -
builders to barrel-makers.
Books & Good
Reading.
Still growing rapidly and is now - the new
introductory pages are open. Hopefully this style of presentation
will make selection and navigation in this area of the site much, much
easier. Further books have already been added, the first available 'A
Place for Us' - is essential reading for anyone who has read Nicolas
Gages 'Eleni':-
1.A Place for Us by
Nicolas Gage.
Photo Galleries.
(Homepage links).
The 2005 Calendar gallery is of course
already on-line, (Cretan Vista calendars - link above). The 2004
Calendar - a specialist product featuring old cars, buses and lorries is
moving forward, although not many of the vehicles featured are moving at
all.. Wild Flowers: The next two pages of the flower
galleries, another 24 wild-flowers will be next, followed shortly
afterwards with a further two pages. The galleries of our Athens
visit at Christmas and New Year will follow soon afterwards.
We
now have 13 galleries featuring several aspects of Cretan life. A
very nice gallery of sunrise and sunset pictures; the Souda Bay War
Cemetery; and a gallery of magnificent wild-life pictures by Anastasios
Sakoulis, author of "Stigmotipa Tis Kritikis Freesis" - (Links
below - bottom right column); our infant gallery about house renovation;
and of course our annual calendar galleries containing 60 or so pictures
of north western Crete. Some of them good!
A total of around 180
gallery quality photographs of Crete. Have a look. All
our site photographs (more than 800 in all) are the result of much
hard work and we hope of interest to our visitors. We know that some
of the general pictures can be replaced with better ones - watch this
space....
There are of course many other developments going on all
the time - including new ones which I have to bite my tongue rather than
reveal until opening day.
Are we listening, do we hear?
We are
and we do. The continuously increasing numbers of visitors and
complimentary e-mails seem to show that our visitors - 21,000 plus
individual visits in our best month last year - appreciate our
efforts.
In previous months I have confessed to being at a
loss to understand the motives of those who bombard with rubbish spam
and viruses the e-mail of a free site, which diverts any offered finance
to sick and handicapped children, a bit difficult to understand... Much of
this has now stopped - Thank-you. But..
I
still find it difficult. We do not compete with
commercial sites and we don't abuse the work of other people. Why
then do some individuals continue to add garbled rubbish to our guest
book? Please, help us keep our site tidy - put your rubbish
in the bin. Please.
If necessary, we will complain directly
to the ISP's hosting the sites abusing our work.
WEBMASTERS PLEASE
NOTE. If you have any of our work on your site without our
consent - we will be contacting you shortly. You may not know that
it is ours, but you still need our consent to keep it.
__________________
MORE FUN & SERIOUS PLEASURE
PLEASE!
To our visitors who have taken the
time to tell us that they have found our site enjoyable/ informative/
helpful/ or otherwise complimented the site - very many thanks. We
are trying very hard and it's really good to know that you like it".
Besides, my wife notes that many of you are ladies! Please don't
stop!!
GUEST BOOK LINK
NB.
Please don't use the Guest Book to place website links - any URLs - or
contact style messages, are automatically disabled/removed in the
interests of minors. Questions can be sent to us privately
at:
cretanvista.gr
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