It Started With an Ouzo

by Stavros Allanopolis

  Vassilis looked first to Valerie and then to me, smiled and said, “I’ll talk to Giannis, I’m sure we can work something out. But, let’s not worry for the moment, you must be excited to go and see your new house. Giannis has finished it as he promised. I will ‘phone him and arrange to meet him at the house now. I will drive you there. Ok?”

  Yet again, we had experienced the friendly nature of the people of The Mani. No fuss. No drama. No shouting or frantic waving of the arms in despair etc. As I had anticipated, Vassilis is a businessman and he understood what was going on in the UK and I got the feeling that he felt that the offer was a fair one, assuming that he could get the Lawyer to complete the translation any time soon.

  As we walked to his car, Valerie asked me, “What do you think? Do you think they will agree?”

  “I’m hoping so, yes,” I replied. “I’m sure Vassilis and Giannis will see the opportunity to complete the whole deal. So, let’s be positive and go and enjoy the moment.”

  So, off we went to see our ‘Dream’ home in its finished state. Remember, the last time we had seen it had been in the last week of September. Back then, it had simply been a ‘shell’ and even the proposed fireplace was just a hole in the wall. The kitchen was just an empty space. The rooms were also just blank spaces, plastered but waiting for paint. The shower room and toilet waiting for the fittings. The terraces were not tiled and neither were the steps on the curving staircase up to the studio apartment.

  The studio apartment had been just one large empty room and the gate to the garden had been two wooden pallets tied together to stop the cows, goats and pigs wandering in. What was in store for us this time?

  On foot, the walk from the harbour to the house is about 12 minutes, but in Vassilis’ car it is only about two, so we were there in no time! As we turned onto the track leading through the olive groves, our hearts were beginning to beat a little faster. The tension of expectation was palpable. As we turned off the main track onto the tiny track that led to the house, we saw it. Wow! What a sight. What a difference we could see even at 100 metres distance. No longer a ‘shell,’ there was the finished house; our house; our ‘Dream’ house in Paradise.

  Photo: The ‘Dream’ House Is Finished.

  Instead of a wooden pallet as a gate, there was a shiny black, sliding metal gate across the three metre entrance. We parked by the gate and just stared in wonderment.

  There were tiles on the terrace, tiles on the steps up to the studio apartment, a chimney complete with weather vane and glass in the windows and the louvered shutters were in place in each window frame.

  Giannis stood there at the gate grinning and beckoning us in.

  Vassilis said, “Go! Go and look and see if you like the finish and I will wait here for you.”

  Jeanette and Bill were following close behind us and marvelling at their first sight of the house. We all climbed the steps on to the terrace and I had to shout at Bill because he was about to cross the threshold ahead of us.

  “Hey Bill, get back! Valerie goes first.”

  This wasn’t like carrying the bride over the threshold at the Wedding, but it came close and I wanted Valerie to be the very first person to venture inside. After all, this was the ‘Dream’ house and the ‘Dream’ had come true at last.

  The next 15 minutes are almost indescribable. We went from room to room going, “Oh!” “Ahh!” “Wow!” “Gosh!” and it went on and on.

  This was not the house as per the printed specification of that A4 leaflet that we first saw just over three months previously; this was so much more! The terrace tiles were a perfect fit. We opened the door into the living space and “Ooooooh!”

  There was the finished fireplace in traditional stone; floor to ceiling and with a great big hearth. There was the fitted ‘L-shaped’ fitted kitchen. The units were two tone; beige and chocolate brown to match the chocolate brown work surfaces and the chocolate brown hob of the ceramic stove we had chosen. The built in fridge / freezer was a perfect fit and looked even better than we had envisaged when we bought it.

  Then we had a big surprise!

  No, not ‘big’ but a major surprise. There was a large double radiator fitted at the end of the units. Giannis had fitted oil-fired central heating and this was an ‘extra’ we had not expected!

  There were more surprises to come too. We found double radiators in each room plus fully fitted floor to ceiling wardrobes, and a heated towel rail in the shower / toilet / utility room! This was unbelievable! We were happy with the original specification at the agreed price, but these ‘extras’ were not in the original printed specification.

  It seemed that Giannis had always intended to include the central heating and fitted bedroom furniture as part of the finished house. If that wasn’t enough, he had also fitted wall-mounted mirrors in both of the bedrooms and a very large mirror in the shower / toilet / utility room that was edged by decorative tiles. The washing machine that we had chosen was fitted behind the door to the shower / toilet room and thus making it the ‘utility’ part of the room. The two tone marble tiles on the walls were fantastic and were a perfect complement to the marble floor tiles.

  Remember that this was the week before Christmas? Well, Giannis and his girlfriend Eleni (now married with baby Giorgos), had even put up a special Christmas decoration; a traditional circular Christmas candle holder for lights suspended from the ceiling. Such thoughtfulness and it was so pretty. We were speechless!

  We stood in awe. It is so hard to describe the emotions that we both felt, but yes, you guessed it, tears of joy came along with the smiles and there was more to come. We stood, we stared, we smiled, we hugged each other and we ‘whooped!’

  We turned to see Vassilis and Giannis now standing in the doorway, “Kalla? (Good?) Do you like it?” they said.

  “You bet!” we chimed in unison; Grins and big smiles all round.

  We went outside and climbed the stairs to the studio apartment above.

  Here again we discovered ‘more’ and we found that Giannis had installed a central heating radiator in the main area and a heated towel rail in the shower / toilet room with additional plumbing for a washing machine if we chose to have one at a later date.

  Golly what a moment in time and to think that ‘It Started With An Ouzo’!

  Finally, Vassilis said,

  “Giannis wants to know if you approve and if he has finished the house as you requested? He wants to know if you like it.”

  As I said before, Giannis does not speak English, but he does understand the spoken word. Also as I said before, he understands more so than he lets on. He was looking at us intently. He is a very considerate and proud man; proud of his ability to build and finish houses to a high specification, and now, he was waiting and wanting our approval.

  We turned and looked at each other and then at Giannis and together said,

  “Nai! Nai, nai, nai!” (Nai is ‘yes’ in Greek). “Eferesto!” (Thank you)

  We had almost forgotten about Jeanette and Bill! They too were walking from room to room and marvelling at the finish and in particular the marble tiles that we had selected for the shower rooms; floor to ceiling, they were both in effect ‘wet’ rooms.

  Next we went outside to look at the property; a 360° tour. Also, we went to look more closely at the adjoining plot of land which we had purchased since our last visit.

  Round and round we walked, just looking and looking and looking and smiling.

  We had done it! Yes! This was our ‘Dream’ coming to fruition and this was our ‘Dream’ house and this was the defining moment; the ‘Dream’ had come true.

  Out came the camera and we took pictures from all angles; every nook and cranny; each room and each aspect of the house and the land. Previously, we had taken the same sort of pictures when we first saw the plot in order that we could make a ‘before and after’ record.

  Since that day, we have made a special photograph album of ‘first sighting’ to ‘completion’ and th
en ‘one year on’ and we have the photos in sequence and in an order that we can see (and marvel at) the change, and some are featured in this book.

  Vassilis then said, “Here are the keys. We will leave you here and you can come back to the village when you are ready.”

  We were almost exhausted just by the shock at the ‘extras’ and the excitement of it all. We decided we had to go and celebrate. Where?

  You guessed it! Back to the ‘scene of the crime!’

  This time, we needed two tables to accommodate the four of us.

  As we were sitting down, Nikos approached and was smiling,

  “Parecello (Please, what do you want)?”

  We ordered our drinks.

  “Tesera Ouzo (Four Ouzos), Eferesto (Thanks).”

  Whilst we waited for our drinks to come, Jeanette and Bill stared out at the harbour taking in the view and watching everybody in the village going about their work.

  Sometime later they were to tell us how taken aback they were by the beauty, the tranquillity and the size of the village. They had not appreciated just how small the village was and they could easily understand how we fell in love with it all, and turned the ‘Dream’ into reality.

  Meanwhile, Valerie and I were just ‘gushing’ at each other about the finish of the house and in particular about all the ‘extras’ that Giannis had fitted as standard. It really was a Christmas present, and it was all ours!

  After about 10 minutes, I said, “I’m just going over to Vassilis’ office; I’ll be back in a minute.”

  I left them sitting at the table and they all seemed happy enough as I walked across the slipway to the Tsoumeas Real Estate Agency office.

  “Stuart. Welcome. Come in. Sit down. Well? Is everything ok for you and Valerie?” This was Vassilis, sitting at his desk, smiling at me and gesturing for me to sit down.

  “Fantastic. Thank you for everything. What happens next?”

  “Giannis and I will meet later to discuss the situation and I’ll let you know. Meanwhile, I would like you all to come to dinner tonight to celebrate. Ok with you?”

  “Sure. Where and at what time?”

  “The Arches tavern at 8pm if that is ok for you?”

  “Yes, thank you. See you there. And Vassilis ....... thanks for everything. Valerie and I cannot say just how happy we are and appreciative of all the support that you have given us.”

  I left the office and walked back across the slipway to the table and I picked up my glass of Ouzo and declared, “Yammus!”

  “Yammus!” was the chorus of response.

  We couldn’t help it. After finishing our drinks, we sneaked back to the house for another look around!

  We showered and changed and by 8pm we were arriving at The Arches. Vassilis was already there and seated at a table set for six (he had also invited Heather to join in our celebration), and already had the wine poured awaiting our arrival.

  Suella rushed forward to greet us, “Kalispera! Kalla?” (Good evening. Is everything Ok? Good?) ”

  We hugged and kissed and smiled at her warm welcome. I introduced Jeanette and Bill and then we sat down.

  Minutes, later, Freddi arrived and came over, “Kalla?” (Good?) I rose from my seat and we shook hands and ‘hugged.’

  “Nai. Polli Kalla!” (Yes. Very good!), I declared.

  We couldn’t help it, but throughout the meal, we could not talk about anything else but the house and we had such huge grins on our faces. So too did everybody else as they were all so pleased for us.

  Towards the end of the meal, Freddi came over to me and asked if I wanted some Tsipporo? Did I!

  The Tsipporo was duly served, with Suella now in attendance at our table too, Freddi announced, “Gazua!” (Albanian for ‘cheers’).

  “Gazua!” came the roar of reply as everybody stood and downed they small glass in one gulp; the traditional Albanian way!

  Tsipporo is pure spirit and so not surprisingly there were a few coughs and splutters as the ‘fiery’ spirit went down!

  “More!” cried Freddi. And we had more, and then yet again another!

  Suella and Freddi were so pleased for us too.

  The evening passed in a blur of happiness, eating, drinking and animated conversation. Vassilis also tried to teach me some of the Greek gestures. The best I remember was the ‘shrug’ where you push your arms out forwards, palms upward and your chin is raised slightly. This is a male gesture that indicates ‘so?' / so what do I care?’!! As I practised it, it looked like my neck had disappeared into my shoulders as I couldn’t put my hands out and raise the palms of my hands without lifting my shoulders at the same time! Hey! But who cared, we had done it – and on time - we were all so happy!

  Towards the end of the evening, Vassilis took me to one side and said, “Giannis and I have had a conversation and we believe we have a solution that will suit us all. Let’s speak in the morning. Good night Stuart. We are all so happy for you and Valerie and we are also pleased to have you as friends and look forward to you being part of our community.”

  A ‘hug,’ a handshake, a smile and then he was gone.

  The following morning, we went to see Vassilis in his office. He said that Giannis had agreed to our proposal of another 20% payment to be transferred today and for the contract to be signed and the balance fully paid by no later than 31st January.

  This was excellent news and suited us just fine. It meant that the timing would fit in with the payment for the sale of our apartment. Result!

  Vassilis said that he was going to contact our Lawyer and explain what was agreed and to chase up the English translation of the contract. We agreed to meet Vassilis in back in his office early in the evening.

  We went back to the house for yet another look. It was still there and it still looked as good as it had the day before! This time we measured out the plot of land that we had agreed to buy and were pleased to note that it has wire fencing on three sides. We decided that eventually we would put a proper fence around it or have a stone wall built around the perimeter.

  That evening we went to see Vassilis once more. He didn’t look so pleased.

  “We have a big problem. Giannis has changed his mind. His Accountant says that he must register the sale of the house by 31st December or he will end up paying extra tax that he does not want to. Also, the Lawyer has not completed the translation of the contract yet”

  We were stunned to hear this news. What were we to do now? There was no way that we could raise the money within a week.

  Also, there was no way that we would sign the contract, or approve the Lawyer to sign in her capacity as our Power of Attorney, without first having read the English translation.

  We trusted both Vassilis and Giannis but never the less we really needed to see the contract and read it in our own language just to make sure that there were no misunderstandings. All the joy and good feelings evaporated in an instant! To try and buy some time to think,

  I told Vassilis that we would see if we could borrow the money after all, but we were not going to sign the contract and we would not transfer the money until we had the translated version.

  I reminded him that when we visited the Lawyer with him back in September that she said she would get the translation done very quickly. We had wanted to see it in advance of this visit.

  Vassilis said that he would go to Kalamata to see her first thing in the morning and that we should meet him for coffee in Kalamata before we drove back to Athens for our return flight.

  Not surprisingly, dinner that night was not as happy as it had been the night before. We went to ‘Smokey Joe’s Grill,’ thus called because, in the winter, the doors and windows are closed and everybody smokes, but the food is fantastic!

  The grill is situated in a back street behind the harbour. It is nothing to look at; dull, drab decor both outside and in. It is where all the fishermen come to eat because the food is good, inexpensive and they have a large colour TV for the football! We go for the food w
hich is freshly grilled right in front of us.

  The grill is family owned; Dad mans the barbeque; Mum cooks the chips and other vegetables; Nikos, the eldest son, runs the bar and the till; Litza, the daughter, takes the orders and serves the meals and Thomas, the youngest brother, lays the tables and serves the bread, water, beers and wines. This is a place to eat and talk. The food was as usual excellent; the talk was all about finding the money. I decided that I would ask the widow lady if she could pay us the amount we needed now, and the balance of the purchase price when we completed. There was nothing more we could do.

  The next morning we duly set off for Kalamata and for Athanasiou Cafe which is where we agreed to meet Vassilis. The centre of Kalamata is a little like the Parambalas in Barcelona. Whereas in Barcelona the area for meeting for coffee and for talking, and generally passing the time of day, is fully pedestrian, in Kalamata the road runs alongside the row of coffee shops.

  The coffee shops are all huge affairs with tables and chairs set in a square in front of the each shop. Athanasiou is our favourite as it has the best pastries and very trendy, stylish black and white furniture.

  As we were sitting down, my mobile rang and Vassilis said he was just leaving the Lawyer’s office and that he would be with us in about 10 minutes; he arrived 20 minutes later. Being on time is not one of Vassilis’ strengths!

  When he arrived, he sat down next to me and said he had news.

  “Stuart, the translation is still not finished. However, I have the Lawyer’s assurance that it will be faxed to you within 48 hours.”

  He went on, “I have also been thinking about the problem with Giannis and you and Valerie. It has not made me happy. This is not the way I usually work. So, here is my proposal.”

  We looked at him, all ‘ears’ and anticipation.