We woke up today to thunder and lighting and the hills or mountains were covered in low lying cloud.........must be because Pearl and Dianne are leaving today. Yesterday evening, whilst writing our list, Maice and I decided that we would give P&D a good send off by serving them breakfast and preparing them a packed lunch to take with them for the trip home. Of course, the fridge and the cupboards were bare and we anticipated going to buy the provisions this morning. Being so wet and miserable Maice volunteered to go out and get wet, adorned her sunhat, to act as an umbrella and raced off to the local mini-market, dodging the rain showers as she went.
We decided to be creative with the breakfast parfaits and made little faces in the eggs and bananas, made a vase of 'flowers' out of sunflower seeds and Maice's hair grips and we acted as the Maitre'D and the waiter (think Fawlty Towers.......can you guess who was Basil Fawlty and who was Manuel?). They were totally bemused by the hospitality and excellent service they received from the M&A Cafe, we're sure we saw a tear in their eyes!
At 10.10am their coach arrived and we bid them a sad farewell and presented them with their packed lunch all nicely prepared in a pink plastic bag with the handles tied into a bow........we don't think they noticed the effort we’d gone to due to the heavy sobbing at the steps of the coach!
So four became two. What to do now? Well, due to the worsening weather and the increased volume of rain we had no option but to opt for Plan B......... shop, cafe and taverna crawl all the way to the end of Alykes….again. Our challenge to ourselves was to go into every tourist shop along the way and also to not get wet! Easier said than done! We headed off in our sunhat, sundresses, flip flops and cardigans, standing out amongst the tourists who were wearing their €2.50 plastic macs that were on sale in every shop, and did well to get to our first refreshment stop, the DNA bar where we enjoyed a frappe and a continuation of our rummy tournament, without getting wet. It appears that Maice has once again chosen the winning seat as she won every single hand. I'm sure there's some underhand activity going on here.
By this time, the weather was inclement, the thunder was rumbling and the lightening was lighting up the sky but we were nicely holed up in the bar, totally enjoying ourselves. When there was a break in the weather we decided to pay up and visit a few more tourist shops as we headed towards Alykes. As we were strolling along the river, admiring the black clouds overhead, we were soon compelled to sprint to the first shop where I purchased a pair of leggings to replace the fancy shorts I’d destroyed the previous evening. Feeling very pleased with myself that I’d managed to haggle the price down by €1 we made a dash to the next shop.
By now, the roads were flooding and the water was up to our ankles, no kidding, and we sought refuge in the next tourist shop where Maice felt compelled to purchase a pair of leather flip flops. By now, the weather was worsening, the rain had seeped through our sundresses to our knickers which were now very damp and we needed to dry off somewhere. We made a dash for it and as we were running past a taverna the waiter opened the door for us, and in we fell. It was a rather bizarre moment, as the whole taverna, which was full, became quiet and all eyes were focused on the two drowned rats that had just fallen through the door. Honestly, we felt like doing a song and dance routine! The waiter gave us a roll of kitchen towel to dry off and we sat down and ordered two beers, a Greek salad and the most delicious hot spinach pies......fortunately just before the power cut when the whole of the north of the island lost electricity. Out came the cards and the rummy tournament commenced. We were both desperate for the loo, but the toilets were outside and by now we were in major storm mode......torrential rain like never seen before, and watching the news we saw that four Greek men had been killed in flash floods in Kalamata, mainland Greece. We ate slowly, drank quickly and after about two hours we glimpsed blue skies, yes indeedy, although the power was still out. Safe to go to the loo, we did just that, paid the bill and continued with our quest, which had now changed from not getting wet, to not getting any wetter. Can you believe our knickers had actually dried whilst sitting eating! We continued on with our tourist shopping, purchasing a hamman towel for me before heading off to the beach whilst the going was good and the rain had stopped. Taking the opportunity to take unique photos on an empty beach, we ended up, once again with very soggy bottoms!
With shopping list in hand, we headed off in the direction of the big cheap supermarket only to find that it was closed, due to their being no power, so we went to the bar next door which just happened to be the DNA bar, which if you recall was where we first started our journey. Both desperate for the loo, no surprise there then, we had to tinkle by candle light due to their still being no power.
And here we are still at 7.29pm after two giraffes of wine, numerous hands of rummy, and a bit of blogging!!!
We finally paid our bill at 8pm and went next door to the supermarket which had now opened as power had been resumed and we purchased our breakfast and G&T supplies for the remainder of our stay and then headed across the road to the creperie for a cheap meal out. We were well chuffed when the bill arrived at just €11. Bargain food!
Stopping off at a gift shop called 'Harmony', recommended by Pearl who had bought a lovely piece of pottery, Maice bought herself a wall plaque with a herb on it. The woman in the shop gave us a piece of what it was.......I think it's sage and Maice thinks it's Rosemary because it looks like Rosemary, but it smells very much like sage to me.
We got back to the apartments at 9.30pm and received a text message from P&D at 9.31pm. We've yet to receive the full details of their journey home but apparently they were delayed by five hours, we presume due to the storms, and eventually arrived at Stansted airport, which is a shame really, as they should have been landing at Glasgow! No doubt we will hear all about it tomorrow. After inspecting our purchases, we then changed into our pyjamas and resumed our rummy tournament. I am lagging behind but did win a spectacular hand with 245 points. What a result.
Tomorrow we are hoping for a beach day. We have decided we would rather get wet in our bikinis than in our clothes. Fingers crossed then..
M&A xx