Week 248

15th September, 2013

Lovely day to start the week. Interesting mackerel cloud formation over the port at 7.00 am had disappeared by 10.00 am and the rain forecast for Monday seems to be written out of the story now as well. We were looking forward to that.

Normal Sunday start – down to the café for coffee and news gathering. Back home to read the papers. Out for a lovely swim in crystal clear and virtually deserted waters and then home for late lunch – about 3.30 pm – of pork, onions and peppers and a bottle of champagne. Lovely!

A football match between West ham and Southampton was interesting but no more. It certainly didn’t set the world alight with a 0-0 draw.

16th September, 2013

Very useful meeting with the Notary this morning. We agreed to meet for fifteen minutes and stayed an hour and a half. We have agreed to meet again for coffee on Friday.

For a few days we have been promised rain. Gradually, promises softened. As we prepared to go for a swim, light cloud gathered. We forced ourselves on and enjoyed the sea but didn’t linger. Pauline cooked a delightful meal of chicken in garlic and tarragon sauce with mushrooms and onions. Suddenly, as it went dark, the rain came. It wasn’t heavy but it was welcome. I don’t think it will be significant.

17th September, 2013

It wasn’t – the rain significant. Just enough to stain all the outside areas. Never mind. One can’t complain. The weather generally is wonderful. Unfortunately, the weeks are running out. Just two left after this.

Went out to eat at Kamaron Restaurant because we couldn’t be bothered cooking tonight. We only had chicken souvlakia with griddled vegetables. I got into an argument with them about paying taxes. Rania said it wasn’t worth running the restaurant any more because they paid more in taxes than they earned. I couldn’t let it pass because it was so patently untrue. One minute she was telling us about the wonderful time she and her daughter had just had in Athens and the plays they had been to see and the hotel they had stayed in and the next she was telling us that they earned absolutely no money at all. She wasn’t pleased to be contradicted and it is definitely the Greek psyche at the moment but it will change and they will gradually accept the change.

18th September, 2013

The day started off well with warm sunshine. We did lots of jobs around the house and garden. On-line banking – paying a window cleaner for cleaning windows of our Surrey Duplex while in Greece feels strange but useful. Moving money out of Current Accounts and in to Investment Accounts although we still fail to achieve the CPI of 2.7%. We have more or less resolved to move out of cash ISA’s and into Equities when we get back in the Winter.

Watered all the trees and shrubs as the rain was so dismal. Washed the patio down and, at 1.00 pm, looked up to see where the sun had gone. A cast of cloud had crept up on us and blanketed the sun. The temperature is still warm at 28C/83F but it definitely feels cooler. We have decided against swimming.

Pauline is cooking Chicken & Sage casserole with onions, peppers & peas. I’m looking forward to that. Pauline will be allowed bread with hers.

Almost looks like a winter dish doesn’t it.

We were just finishing our meal when the plumber turned up. He had been summoned to replace two leaking, outside taps. They were only replaced two years ago. Is there something substandard about Greek taps? They are certainly cheap. Anyway, a ten minute job was completed satisfactorily and everything is back under control.

19th September, 2013

We have English friends coming out to Greece this weekend. Sunday officially marks the first day of Autumn but many Britains have already turned the central heating on because temperatures dipped to an average of 14C/57F this September. Autumn has made an early appearance in Nature.

Forecasters expect a gradual return to average temperatures for this time of year, with a high of 20C on Sunday and possibly 24C early next week.

The summary for policymakers of the most recent report from the IPCC – Inter Governmental Panel on Climate Change, states that the world is warming at a rate of 0.12C per decade since 1951, compared to a prediction of 0.13C per decade in their last assessment published in 2007. Another admission in the latest document includes the suggestion that forecast computers may not have taken enough notice of natural variability in the climate, therefore exaggerating the effect of increased carbon emissions on world temperatures.

One of the central issues is believed to be why the IPCC failed to account for the “pause” in global warming, which they admit that they did not predict in their computer models. Since 1997, world average temperatures have not shown any statistically significant increase. The summary also shows that scientist have now discovered that between 950 and 1250 AD, before the Industrial Revolution, parts of the world were as warm for decades at a time as they are now.

The proportion of people who do not believe in climate change has more than quadrupled since 2005, according to a government-funded survey. Public support for wind and solar power as an alternative to fossil fuels has fallen sharply over the same period, with gas the only form of electricity production now perceived more favourably.

20th September, 2013

Beautiful, cool – 20C/68F – morning at 7.00 am. The sky has a pinky orange hue and a silver moon still shines through the thin cloud.

Looks like some illegal work is going on on the community path at the side of our land today. Thought we’d go up and invite an official – maybe the Mayor – to witness it.

It may be his fever but Skiathan Man seems to have become obsessed with IKEA bags and crushed boxes. Never mind, I’m obsessed with Pinot Grigio bottles and crushed ice. The only difference is, I don’t bother to count them!

As Skiathan Man will recall, the 19th century, romantic poet, William Wordsworth, wrote in his celebrated poem, Ode: Intimations of Immortality:

…trailing clouds of glory do we come
From God….