Today is Thursday

14.00

Another great start to the day for Heidi and myself .  She was pretty desperate when I let her out this morning… silly girl didn’t make use of our wander in the dark yesterday … but… with a reinforced bladder you are on a winner.

We drove  up to Schinias again which takes 15/20 mins at 06.50, so it is a bit of a waste of fuel money, but I don’t know anywhere closer where Heidi could be let off the lead and be safe. This time the day had a whole new complexion as it was sunny and nearly warm. We avoided the muddy creek area and Heidi chose to walk close to the sea , rather than through the pines. She is completely at home on a beach and seems to know what to do and how she thinks she should behave.

Scattily and  adventurously that is how she behaves. Full of spirit and mischief, she careered into the distance along the narrow strand of sand , away from the weedy areas, and towards the curve of Marathon Bay.

I stand and look  out to sea, morphing into an Athenian, gazing at the massive Persian fleet which is just offshore.  I imagine the view the Persians must have had of the shore with its  leaning and low lying pine trees and dense shrubs. No motorhome or restaurants then.  And the scrub was probably fairly impenetrable and more forbidding.

The smell  of the pines would have been as heady then as now.  The scent of Greece – the essence of it all.  It is one of the first smells I used to notice when stepping off a plane – the scent of pine,

Always  mixed with that of jet  fuel.

The French are still there though they moved their strange truncated container on wheels a few hundred yards west.  One of them was up, but not very lively.  It seems a bit  over/customized for a trip to Greece.  Perhaps they are taking it further afield .  Across the sea.

French van

Once Heidi  decided she would reappear, we returned home to allow me to shop for lunch.

She made friends with the cat.

18.40

They are almost bedfellows…

Heidi is starting to rent out her accommodation

Self service supper goes with it… if you are quick and don’t let Heidi see you self serving. As a black cat found out to his cost.  Which in turn crystallised Heidi’s mind into eating up what was in her plate.  Oh the shame of it – a cat burglar!

21.16

Heidi has had two strolls thus evening and is now tucked up in bed.

However, she resorted to crying when T and I went to Rafina, the nearby port, to  try and convert our open ticket to Crete,  to a ticket with a date.   Despite there bring an ANEK  office there, they were unhelpful and told us to go to Piraeus , the port we sail from.  It’s only the other  side of Athens.

Don’t really want to arrive there to find we can’t get on the boat.  Another nail in the coffin for the most inefficient shipping line ever.  They are a company  of contrasts.  From being extremely helpful, to bring obstructive and in need of appreciating customer relationships.  They could also do to bring their IT systems into C21.

The view across the port was of a busy place as three large ferries  were in the harbour discharging , not only polluting fumes, but also crocodiles of cars and bustling foot passengers, all moving purposefully away from these floating transporters.

We also found a ripe avocado … this morning, I had hoped to make some  guacamole , and even managed to find limes  and fresh coriander, but ripe avocados was a step too far.  We put the unripe little blighters  I did buy, in the sun,  in the hope they would soften up, but they stalwartly resisted all the sun’s overtures.

So I reckon that our trip this evening was not entirely wasted- we have the only ripe avocado in the whole of Rafina.

Prizes to anyone who can guess the contents of the outdoor oven .

It’s late .,,