It Started With an Ouzo

by Stavros Allanopolis

  I arrived in Colmar in my socks but the Client took it in their stride, made a fuss of me for two days, and even complimented me on my determination in continuing to work with their senior sales team as they sought to find new ways to improve their workplace performance, guided by my advice and experience.

  Colmar is a world-renowned gastronomic region of France and I was not going to let my ‘disability’ stop me from going out at night to enjoy the food and wine. The weather was warm and the restaurants had their tables set up in the cobbled streets of the town and the taxi driver collected me from my hotel and drove me right up to my table on the street outside the restaurant on both nights!

  I arrived back to Meerkat Manor without incident. However, it took another two months for my ankle to heal properly. Looking back, it was all worth it both for the experience of the ‘highs’ and the ‘lows’ and the subsequent financial contribution made to fund the various projects we were planning to undertake.

  OUR FIRST OLIVE HARVEST AT MEERKAT MANOR

  In between the visit to Berlin and Colmar it was time for the olive harvest and our first Christmas in Meerkat Manor. The date for the harvest was set as the 22nd December. In total we have 17 olive trees, but only 13 bear fruit at the moment. The other four were trimmed to build the house and it will be some years before they have grown back again. We contracted a team of Albanian workers to come and do our harvest. They arrived at 8am to deliver all their equipment, including a portable generator to power the ‘whirly wands’ that they use to reach up into the higher branches to knock the olives down.

  Photo: The Team Start Work.

  Photo: Harvesting The Olives.

  They started work within 10 minutes of arriving! There were five men and they really worked as a team. First of all they laid out their sheets to catch the olives around just one tree and then two started to knock the olives off the higher branches with their electrical ‘whirly wands.’

  Meanwhile, the leader cut down some of the lower branches with a small chain saw, and using sticks, two others started to knock the olives off these branches (‘threshing’) and onto the collecting sheets. Once the upper branches were harvested, the two assigned to that job moved to another tree, laid out the mats and got to work again with the ‘whirly wands.’ Then the leader followed them and started with the chain saw on the lower branches of the tree. When the two who were ‘threshing’ had finished they collected all olives into a sack, and moved on to join the others and started the process all over again.

  Then the leader returned to the first tree, climbed up into it, and started doing the pruning. Hence there was a ‘circular’ pattern to their team work, and they kept this pattern up for the whole day and harvested all the trees.

  By the time they got to the last tree, the men with the ‘whirly wands’ returned to the starting point and began to burn off all the pruned branches. As the other two ‘threshers’ finished the last tree and packed the last sack with olives, they went to help with the burning and the leader collected all the sacks of olives and loaded them into the pick-up truck.

  Photo: The First Sack Of Olives.

  It was yet another ‘magical’ moment here at Meerkat Manor; taking the photo of our first sack of olives.

  Photo: The Pick-up Truck With The Sacks.

  The whole experience was fascinating! Also, it was extremely exciting to watch as these were our olives from our first harvest! I couldn’t resist taking photographs; the equipment, the men at work, and especially a picture of our first ever sack of freshly harvested olives.

  Job done, I ‘rewarded’ them with a beer and they sat down to drink it whilst the leader took me in the pick-up truck to deliver the sacks of olives to the press. This was such an exciting moment. We drove to the press and unloaded the sacks onto a wooden pallet and registered the number and my name with the owner of the press. He told me to come back around one o’ clock the following day to see them being processed. I just couldn’t wait, but I returned to Meerkat Manor to join the guys for a beer, and there it was! Once again, I had one of those big silly grins on my face; an olive farmer at last and something new to put on my CV!

  Valerie and I returned to the press the following day, located our pallet of sacks full of our olives and arranged for them to be placed in the queue for pressing..

  Photo: The Hopper Is ‘Modern’.

  Photo: The Grindng Stone Is ‘Traditional’.

  There is a combination of new hoppers, traditional grinding stones, stainless steel vats and pressure filtration equipment. Once pumped out of the final filter, the pure, ‘green’ oil is then pumped into large holding vats to cool for a few minutes. The final step of the process is to fill the cans and our oil was pumped into them by what looked like a converted petrol pump! Owners bring their cans and other containers in which to take their oil away; we had 18 litre cans. As we loaded the cans into the boot of the car the oil was still warm, and when we got home, we picked up one of the gold and blue checked pattern 18 litre cans and unscrewed the lid.

  Photo: Valerie With 18 Ltre Can.

  What a fabulous sight!

  It smelled fantastic! Then we poured some into a plastic bottle and from there into a glass.

  The oil looked great; green but with a golden hue; and it even tasted good!

  Here it was then, our very first Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil and less than an hour since it left the press.

  Photo: Freshly Pressed Oil; 1 Hour Old!

  We couldn’t resist it!

  There and then we fried some eggs in our very own oil and had some fresh bread to dip into the yolks.

  Photo: Fried Eggs In Fresh Olive Oil.

  It tasted so very good; the difference in the taste was noticeable!

  The following day, Christmas Eve, I assembled my production line and bottled all the oil and stored it away.

  Photo: The Bottled Oil.

  To top it all, the sun was shining!

  Neither of us could have wished for a better Christmas present for our first Christmas in Meerkat Manor!

  THE FIRST CHRISTMAS AT MEEKAT MANOR

  We had been pleased with the Wedding bookmark and the way in which everybody said, “what a great idea!” so, we decided to have one produced as our Christmas card; our first Christmas in The Mani.

  One again, Liz Berry produced them from the photographs that we provide her with.

  All the photographs were taken by us; the view from the mountain across to our olive grove, the harbour in Agios Nikolaos, Meerkat Manor, us standing on the steps of the terrace, and Owen and Minstrel in the garden.

  Liz added the Christmas Hats to Owen and Minstrel to give them a ‘festive’ image! Bookmark Produced by Liz Berry © Copyright 2008.

  Photo: The Happy Christmas Book Mark

  In the weeks running up to Christmas, many friends, both English and Greek, said “where are you going for Christmas? Are you going home?”

  Our answer was, “Yes, we’re spending Christmas at home.”

  They replied, “Oh, what day is your flight and when do you come back?”

  Our response was, “We don’t have to fly; our home is here in Agios Nikolaos! Since arriving on 9th April, we have always thought of Meerkat Manor and Agios Nikolaos as our home; it is!

  We left England to set up home here, and if we were to go to England now, we would refer to it as, “we’re going to visit family and friends in England for a brief holiday etc.”

  You may remember that in the ‘Exit the UK’ plan that we had a list of ‘What to Take?’ and that I removed all the items in large luggage trunks? Well, one of them was full of Christmas Decorations! Valerie really loves Christmas and wanted to bring her collection of decorations to Agios Nikolaos to be sure that our house was decorated properly in time for Christmas.

  Photo: Father Christmas Arrives At Meerkat Manor.

  She is very traditional and did not put the decorations up until 21st December. I must say, the house looked good when she had finished, and
with a log fire burning, it was very cosy.

  Photo: The Cosy Log Fire.

  All in all, we were happy being at home; watching our new DVD’s that we had bought each other, sitting in front of the fire.

  Believe it or not, as a special Christmas Afternoon treat we watched Mama Mia! Quite bizarre living in Greece and watching a film about the wedding ‘adventures’ on a Greek Island. The sun was shining too.

  Photo: Table Laid For Christmas Lunch.

  Christmas is not so ‘big’ for Greek families, although it is beginning to become more commercialised. Toys and computer games for kids are advertised on TV, but the adverts don’t start until around 14th December. The most important religious festival and celebration in Greece is Easter.

  For those families that do celebrate Christmas, the children are given their presents on Christmas Day but not allowed to open them until St Basil’s Day which is 1st January.

  Just think of those poor kids having to look at their wrapped presents for seven days before being allowed to open them!

  We stayed at home for most of the time, although we did go out for a meal and some drinks with friends on 23rd December after we had returned with our oil from the olive press.

  As the weather was so fine, we went for walks along the beach just enjoying the winter sunshine and paddling at the edge of the sea.

  Photo: Valerie Paddling In The Sea On 26th December.

  WINTER AND SPRING 2009

  On our plot of land, some olive trees had been cut down to make way for building our house, and just after we moved in, we had them sawn up into logs for burning; we used these over the Christmas and New Year. When we had to re-stock with logs, Andonis, the man that organised our olive harvest, delivered a truck load for us.

  Photo: Andonis Brings The Logs To Meerkat Manor.

  I had previously built a temporary cover for the logs to keep them dry, and the store that I had built was a ‘spindly’ affair made of quite thin wooden uprights for support frame and a tin roof which was fabricated in the style of roof tiles. Now I decided that I needed to build a more permanent log store. So, here I was in 2009, graduating from being a plumber to now being a construction worker! Now it was time to design and build something more robust and durable.

  I went to Dimitris at the Builder’s Yard in Agios Nikolaos and ordered the materials.

  Eventually, he delivered them and I constructed a tiled and covered area along the entire back wall of the house.

  Photo: The Old Log Store.

  Photo: The new Log Store.

  I used real timber beams and clay tiles; it was solid! Under it, I stored the logs, the gardening tools and my ‘bits and bobs.’ I also made fittings to store the ladders and Valerie’s bike on the structure.

  For 2009, learning from our experience in 2008, we decided to create a ‘development plan and we listed all the jobs that needed to be done, and the items to be built, to get the house and the land to a state where we were satisfied. Hence the money from the Consultancy work would come in handy, as hitherto we had not made a financial provision for these works.

  First on the list was an outside shower. We remembered how hot and sweaty we had become last year; taking up to three showers a day just to get the dust and dirt off our bodies, and to generally cool down. I did all the preparation ground work and got our plumber friend Kyriakos to make the connection; Cool!

  Photo: Installing The Outside Shower.

  Photo: Shower In Working Order.

  The development of the garden continued and I completed paths all the way around the house.

  Valerie kept up with the weeding, and also continued to grow plants from seed and with great success.

  The ‘nursery’ was now located on the front terrace to keep the seedlings and cuttings warm and make it easier to water every morning and every night.

  These were our ‘babies’ and had to be cared for at all times! Growing Morning Glory from seed was successful, but the most successful germination of plants from seed was the Datura. This is a plant that produces brilliant white flowers; the texture of the flowers is like pure white Irish Linen table cloths

  Photo: Morning Glory Grown From Seed.

  Photo: Valerie’s Datura Seed Nursery.

  From seed, we grew the ‘Mother’ plant and within just six weeks it was one metre wide and over one metre high! It produced around 10 flowers every night. They blossom from around 8pm in the evening until 10am the following morning. As soon as the sun gets hot in the morning, the flowers wilt and die, but others will take their place the following night, and so it went on throughout the spring and summer months. They have no perfume, but they look magnificent!

  Photo: Datura 1metre Wide / High.

  Photo: Close-up Datura Flower.

  A NEW YEAR, A NEW CAR, AND VISITORS

  Apart from financing some of the planned projects for 2009, the Consultancy work also provided enough money to buy a new car.

  ‘Sunshine’ aka ‘Custard’ was fine. However, with a mileage of 165,000 kilometres and just over five years old, it was reaching the stage when repairs and replacement parts were imminent. We decided that whilst we had the money we should invest in a brand new car and we hoped that it would last us until we stopped driving. Being new, it had two years warranty and owning it ourselves from new meant that we knew where it had been and what had happened to it etc. which cannot be guaranteed when you buy a second hand car; particularly in Greece!

  We did our research and within our budget, we chose the largest ‘sheet metal’ model available from a group of about five different marques that we considered.

  Cars are an enigma in Greece! Despite EEC legislation, the Greek Government ignores the requirement for even and fair pricing across the EEC. The taxation is Greece at the time we purchased the car was 19% vat and 25% Car Sales Tax. This made the car almost 80% more expensive for the same model anywhere else in the EEC!

  If you want to be ‘Greek’ then you pay the price! However, it was still cheaper to buy new in Greece than import from another EEC country (for less money) and pay the duty and tax on transfer to Greek registration.

  An ‘interesting’ colour is how many admirers describe the citrus green metallic paint finish. To give you an idea of the shade of green, sometimes when parked in the Olive tree groves it is hard to see it.

  Still, we like it!

  Last year, only our family had come to visit us, but during 2009 we were going to host visits from quite a few friends.

  The first friends to visit were Trish and Martin. They arrived in the last week of March to stay for a week. The weather was ‘fair’ but not scorching hot, however, we got ‘out and about’ and introduced them to life in The Mani and they observed at first hand the friendliness and generosity of the Maniots.

  One afternoon, we were sitting at an outside table of a small taverna up in the mountains. We were so busy chatting away as we waited for our Greek Salads to arrive that we almost missed a lady was walking by with two bags full of lemons that she had clearly just picked.

  As we looked up, we noticed that her lemons were enormous! No! I mean gigantic! So much so, that we looked up and said ‘Bravo!’ and by our sign language, indicated that we were impressed by their size.

  Without hesitation, she stopped and gave us one to look at, and then proceed to give us one each, smiled, posed for a photo, waved and was on her way; just like that.

  Now, we all thought that because they were so large and the skins felt so thick that they would turn out to be dry and not really exciting at all. How wrong we were!

  When we got back to Meerkat Manor, we immediately made Gin and Tonics and sliced the lemons. Wow! Not only an incredible size but also an absolutely fantastic taste!

  Just look at the photos and compare the ‘normal’ sized lemons by studying the scale of the hands compared to ‘normal’ lemons that would be on average the size of a large chicken’s egg, and also the slices in a glass that is some 20cm high!

  P
hoto: Enormous Lemons.

  Photo: Valerie’s Vodka And Tonic + ‘Slice.’

  Whilst they were here, we took Trish and Martin to all our favourite places; we all had a great week as Tourists. We also visited the ruins of the Ancient City of Messene; the largest archaeological dig in the world. The Parliament Debating Chamber is unbelievable! The original marble tiled floor is still intact with almost 90% of it unmarked.

  Photo: In The Debating Chamber.

  The acoustics in this chamber are unbelievable! It is symmetric and 50 metres diameter, yet it is possible to sit and whisper to your neighbour and what you say can be clearly heard on the other side of the chamber!

  Martin, being and amateur dramatic Actor, decided that he wanted to sit on the Emperor’s throne and also ‘hold court’ in the Olympic Sports Arena. The site, situated about 20km North West of Kalamata, takes about three hours to walk around, which is a challenge. Even in the spring when it is cooler. Imagine what it must be like to explore the ruins when the temperatures are above 40 C in the summer!