First, some more photos (do they ever stop coming? No...) from a wander around Mandraki and the Old Town yesterday...
Now John, our landlord, has three boats. He has a jetRIB that seats four, a rigid inflatable with a beast of an outboard that will take up to eight and a speed-boat that does 60+ knots. When he's out here on his hols, he frequently suggests that we might like to invite some of our local friends over for a meal and a ride out on one of the boats. As it happened, earlier this season our friends Pavlos and his wife Athanasia (both thirty-somethings) were coming down from town on a Sunday and so we suggested they come to the house for a meal on the terrace with John, his family and ourselves. They accepted the invitation and we told them to bring Pavlo's parents too, who are of a similar age to my better half and I, only sadly, they're not in such a good state of health.
Pavlo's mum, Soula, has battled on two occasions now with breast cancer and her husband Dimitris has very bad nerves and is quite frail physically. John said:
"Tell them to bring swimming gear and we'll get a boat out."
I called Pavlo and relayed the idea, to which he replied, "OK, that would be nice, but mum and dad will more than likely prefer to go and have a lie-down after lunch, rather than do anything strenuous. Would that be possible? I mean, is there somewhere they could take a nap during the afternoon?"
I replied that I was sure we could work something out and that they must come anyway, even if only he and Athanasia went out on the boat with John.
They arrived, took a light lunch with John and Wendy next-door (we'd planned to eat a sumptuous dinner all together [about 20 of us] later, after they'd been out on the boat for the afternoon), and thus began the preparations for the expedition with the boat in tow behind John's Jeep Commander.
Once the Jeep, with the jetRIB in tow, had headed off down the lane in a cloud of dust at somewhere around 2.00pm, we were surprised to find that no one was left behind next-door at all. Soula and Dimitris had gone off to the beach as well. Ah well, no doubt they'd sit sedately on a sun bed while John stormed around the bay with Pavlo and Athanasia.
Soula has really been through it with her cancer. She went into remission a few years ago and was fine for a while, before it returned and she was back on Chemo, which resulted in the loss of all of her hair. She's what they'd call in Wales a "Dut" of a woman, not much over five feet tall and built for comfort, if you get the idea. She has a bubbly, positive personality and I'm sure that's been one of the factors in her beating the cancer yet again.
But she's still recovering from the last round of treatment and so it was only to be expected that she'd probably want to take it easy after lunch, while her son and daughter-in-law charged around the bay behind John, who likes to elicit screams from his passengers before he's happy about the ride he's given them.
Around 5.00pm the sound of the Jeep trundling back up the lane with the trailer bouncing along behind could be heard as we were busy setting two large tables together on the terrace and laying places for everyone to enjoy the feast that was to follow that evening. John's friend and mine, Nick, (also on hols with John and Wendy this time) jumped out and swung open the gates and in they drove, faces and arms hanging out of all the Jeep's windows. Once John had pulled to a halt and begun setting about washing the salt water off the jetRIB, the others were all pouring on to the terrace with tales of their exploits during the afternoon.
It soon became apparent that Soula, far from crashing out sedately on a sun bed under an umbrella to let her lunch go down gently, had instead accepted John's invitation to take a spin on the jetRIB. Not only had she thoroughly enjoyed it, but she'd taken a turn driving the thing and half-scared even John to death with her daring!! Here was this Greek woman, who, to many who know her, was only recently back from staring her mortality in the face, raving about what a great afternoon she'd had and how fantastic was that jetRIB.
Needless to say, me and the beloved were astounded, alarmed, amazed, but predominantly enthused by our friend's account of her afternoon. To call 60+ year old Soula a dark horse would be rather an understatement.
When we'd all eaten our fill and were sitting around the table later in the evening, with the twilight creeping across the terrace and the moonlight beginning to reflect on the waters of the bay a couple of thousand metres down the valley from us, bonhomie ruled and anecdotes were flying this way and that, it was time for Pavlos, Athanasia, his mum and dad Soula and Dimitris to get on the road back to Rhodes Town.
Lots of double-cheek-kissing ensued, hugs, wishes for safe journeys and thanks for a lovely afternoon and all the usual farewell banter, all of that, as one would expect. The Greeks climbed into Pavlo's car and he started the engine whilst John opened the gate for them to drive away.
As the car drove toward the gate, the rear window opened, Soula's head popped out and she shouted:
"You be sure and let us know the next time you're over John!! I want another go on that jetRIB!!"
And they were gone, tail lights lighting up the darkening lane.
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| Nice to see that the Kontiki is finally open for business again, because it affords unrivalled views across Mandraki. Seems to me like it's been closed for a couple of years. |
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| The steps in the corner of the main square do make for a nice snap or two. The Old Town was very quiet yesterday though, rather unusual for the third week in August. Mind you, a strike by some of the coach drivers may have been a factor. |
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| This little corner, by rights, should have been occupied by a few tourists and sightseers, because it's a great vantage point to sit a while. The reason, I suspect, for its emptiness, is the overwhelming smell of human pee that pervades the place. I can only put that down to ignorant people using it as a urinal late at night. Would be good for the local cleansing department to whack some disinfectant around up there from time to time. |
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| I didn't stay here long, I'd have needed a face-mask. But what a nice vantage point for a snap or two. |
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| And the other direction. |
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| Just a nice vista that caught my eye whilst wandering. |
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| "Oy!! You!! Clear off and leave a puss in peace!" |
•
Now John, our landlord, has three boats. He has a jetRIB that seats four, a rigid inflatable with a beast of an outboard that will take up to eight and a speed-boat that does 60+ knots. When he's out here on his hols, he frequently suggests that we might like to invite some of our local friends over for a meal and a ride out on one of the boats. As it happened, earlier this season our friends Pavlos and his wife Athanasia (both thirty-somethings) were coming down from town on a Sunday and so we suggested they come to the house for a meal on the terrace with John, his family and ourselves. They accepted the invitation and we told them to bring Pavlo's parents too, who are of a similar age to my better half and I, only sadly, they're not in such a good state of health.
Pavlo's mum, Soula, has battled on two occasions now with breast cancer and her husband Dimitris has very bad nerves and is quite frail physically. John said:
"Tell them to bring swimming gear and we'll get a boat out."
I called Pavlo and relayed the idea, to which he replied, "OK, that would be nice, but mum and dad will more than likely prefer to go and have a lie-down after lunch, rather than do anything strenuous. Would that be possible? I mean, is there somewhere they could take a nap during the afternoon?"
I replied that I was sure we could work something out and that they must come anyway, even if only he and Athanasia went out on the boat with John.
They arrived, took a light lunch with John and Wendy next-door (we'd planned to eat a sumptuous dinner all together [about 20 of us] later, after they'd been out on the boat for the afternoon), and thus began the preparations for the expedition with the boat in tow behind John's Jeep Commander.
Once the Jeep, with the jetRIB in tow, had headed off down the lane in a cloud of dust at somewhere around 2.00pm, we were surprised to find that no one was left behind next-door at all. Soula and Dimitris had gone off to the beach as well. Ah well, no doubt they'd sit sedately on a sun bed while John stormed around the bay with Pavlo and Athanasia.
Soula has really been through it with her cancer. She went into remission a few years ago and was fine for a while, before it returned and she was back on Chemo, which resulted in the loss of all of her hair. She's what they'd call in Wales a "Dut" of a woman, not much over five feet tall and built for comfort, if you get the idea. She has a bubbly, positive personality and I'm sure that's been one of the factors in her beating the cancer yet again.
But she's still recovering from the last round of treatment and so it was only to be expected that she'd probably want to take it easy after lunch, while her son and daughter-in-law charged around the bay behind John, who likes to elicit screams from his passengers before he's happy about the ride he's given them.
Around 5.00pm the sound of the Jeep trundling back up the lane with the trailer bouncing along behind could be heard as we were busy setting two large tables together on the terrace and laying places for everyone to enjoy the feast that was to follow that evening. John's friend and mine, Nick, (also on hols with John and Wendy this time) jumped out and swung open the gates and in they drove, faces and arms hanging out of all the Jeep's windows. Once John had pulled to a halt and begun setting about washing the salt water off the jetRIB, the others were all pouring on to the terrace with tales of their exploits during the afternoon.
It soon became apparent that Soula, far from crashing out sedately on a sun bed under an umbrella to let her lunch go down gently, had instead accepted John's invitation to take a spin on the jetRIB. Not only had she thoroughly enjoyed it, but she'd taken a turn driving the thing and half-scared even John to death with her daring!! Here was this Greek woman, who, to many who know her, was only recently back from staring her mortality in the face, raving about what a great afternoon she'd had and how fantastic was that jetRIB.
Needless to say, me and the beloved were astounded, alarmed, amazed, but predominantly enthused by our friend's account of her afternoon. To call 60+ year old Soula a dark horse would be rather an understatement.
When we'd all eaten our fill and were sitting around the table later in the evening, with the twilight creeping across the terrace and the moonlight beginning to reflect on the waters of the bay a couple of thousand metres down the valley from us, bonhomie ruled and anecdotes were flying this way and that, it was time for Pavlos, Athanasia, his mum and dad Soula and Dimitris to get on the road back to Rhodes Town.
Lots of double-cheek-kissing ensued, hugs, wishes for safe journeys and thanks for a lovely afternoon and all the usual farewell banter, all of that, as one would expect. The Greeks climbed into Pavlo's car and he started the engine whilst John opened the gate for them to drive away.
As the car drove toward the gate, the rear window opened, Soula's head popped out and she shouted:
"You be sure and let us know the next time you're over John!! I want another go on that jetRIB!!"
And they were gone, tail lights lighting up the darkening lane.
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