Watching the Olives Grow

by Stavros Allanopolis

  Photo: Wild red Anemones.

  The following day, we were back to the problem of getting the floor tiled. As it turned out, hope got us absolutely nowhere!

  By the time that the 12th of April arrived, there was no sign of the man who said he could lay the tiles “sometime soon,” or even Giannis, It was a good job that we did have a Plan B. I decided to re-install the toilet for Sally and Pete to use, and for them to use our shower and bathroom whenever they needed to wash etc. Not ideal, but workable. At this stage they had no idea that we had this problem, and I wasn’t about to tell them either!

  In the end, Nature intervened and saved the day. On the evening of 13th April I set off for Athens to see my Client on the following day. The plan was for me to work on the 14th and stay over in Athens and meet Sally and Pete at the Airport on the afternoon of the 15th and to travel back to Meerkat Manor together.

  On the morning of the 15th, I received a telephone call from Sally.

  “There’s a problem. A volcano has erupted in Iceland and the volcanic ash has formed a huge cloud and all flights are banned. We won’t be on time today, and that is for certain.”

  By the early afternoon, it was confirmed that the situation was worsening and that flights from and to UK would be seriously delayed; maybe for days.

  Sally and I decided that it was better for me to travel home and if they were able to fly on the following day (Friday 16th) then they would travel by coach to Kalamata and for me to collect them there.

  We both agreed this was a better plan rather than me staying in Athens waiting for them on the half chance that they may be able to fly. So, I travelled home and arrived late on the Thursday evening; a day earlier than planned. Just as well as I was due to return to Athens again on the Sunday afternoon to do more work on the Monday and Tuesday!

  However, in the final event of that weekend, Sally and Pete decided to abandon their planned holiday because all flights were to be cancelled until the Wednesday of the following week.

  When they arrived back at their own home, we agreed for them to try again in June. So, it was ‘all’s well that ends well’ because they never knew about the problem with the shower room!

  As you read this book, you will know just how much the volcanic eruption affected world-wide travel that week, and in the months to follow the initial eruption. During the following three days it affected not only my travel plans, but also Sally and Pete’s, but it didn’t affect the timetable for repairs to the shower room floor!

  Three days later, I duly returned to Athens to complete my work, however, even by the time I returned on the Wednesday evening, there was still no sign of the floor being re-tiled!

  In the final event, it was completed by the Sunday morning the 25th of April. So, we were ‘back to normal’ in terms of having a habitable studio apartment at Meerkat Manor.

  It was now ready for the next scheduled visitor; Valerie’s Mother due on the 9th of May.

  For the last few days of April, I got back to work on my terrace; ‘Watching The Olives Grow’.

  As I sat there, I marvelled at the amazing sight of all the wild flowers, and the ‘swathes’ of wild Barley and Wheat growing in the Olive tree groves surrounding Meerkat Manor.

  There is a great variety of birds too.

  The most noticeable arrival was the Hoopoe. It is truly a magnificent bird; brown and with very distinctive black and white striped markings. The head looks pointed, but the ‘point’ is in fact a crest of feathers that, when ‘fanned’ out, makes it look just like an exotic parrot!

  It nests all year round in South Africa but many make the journey to the Mediterranean for the nesting season.

  Photo: Hoopoe With ‘Comb’ Raised

  During 2008 it was declared the National Bird of the State of Israel. Its call is very distinctive too, and the Olive tree groves were reverberating to the ‘hoopoe, hoopoe’ call. When Hoopoes call to each other it goes on for a long time.

  Actually, the call is interesting in so far as it sounds a bit like a telephone ringing unanswered!.

  Photo: Hoopoe Feeding In The Grass.

  The call of the Hoopoe was not the only sound on the airwaves. I could clearly hear the continuous ‘tap, tap’ of a stone mason at work

  When I ventured out up the track, I discovered that it was our Albanian neighbour, Gert and he was busy cutting stones by hand, in preparation for building the second story of his house.

  It is quite remarkable that all the local builders cut their stone this way. The rock is delivered from the quarry in, sometimes the quarried stone rocks are up to 2 tons in weight.

  The builders cut them down to make stones of a variety of sizes in readiness for building. It is tough work especially in the extreme heat of the day, but that is the traditional way around here.

  This process sometimes last for a week or more until they have cut sufficient stones ready to start the actual building.

  Photo: Gert Cutting Stones By Hand.

  On the last day of April, my brother Bill telephoned to confirm that he had mailed all the copies of ‘It Started With An Ouzo’ (the prequel to this book).

  Was it destined to become an International Bestseller? Only time will tell!

  MAY 2010

  The 1st of May (May Day) is celebrated in Greece, and the celebrations usually involve Marching Bands, Parades and Dancing in the streets. However, this year (2010), the celebrations are a little muted due to the fact that Greece is embroiled in a desperate financial restructure, and there are strikes and riots on the streets of Athens; working people are unhappy at the proposed austerity measures.

  Only time will tell whether or not the situation will improve and be resolved. However, we did go to the celebration in the mountain village of Neochori.

  It was a party, held in the school hall and attended by what looked like the whole of the village. As usual, for this type of occasion, the ladies of the village had cooked; spit-roast pork and salad.

  So, we duly purchased our meal, plus some wine, and took our seats at one of the plastic tables positioned around the room. There was a live band playing; Two Bouzouki players and a man on a keyboard piano. They played all night; non-stop. They weren’t that good, and not only were the sound speakers too loud, but also the music of each song sounded very similar! Still the villagers were enjoying it and clapping in time with some of the songs.

  Towards the end of the evening a lady singer joined them. She sang some songs that were very slow and obviously they told moving stories as everybody was listening intently.

  Between verses, she did some dancing to show off her boots; stunning cowboy boots, although somehow they didn’t quite match her glitzy dress. Her face was a picture on concentration as she sang her heart out whilst she twirled around the floor in front of the stage where the band was playing.

  It was quite an unusual sight. However, it was obvious that all the villagers appreciated it and followed the tradition of throwing flowers onto the floor around her. They were in fact the heads of bright red carnations and it seemed that the trick was to dance and sing and not tread on them as her way of showing them her appreciation of the flowers thrown in tribute and their appreciation of her singing.

  Photo: Boots And Red Carnations.

  The 2nd of May saw my brother Bill and my Sister-In-Law Jeanette come to visit us for a week; the first time in six months.

  They had arranged to meet up with their English friends, Bill and Sue, who now live in Bulgaria, and to spend the week with them in a rented apartment in the centre of Agios Nikolaos.

  Having two Bills around? Well, we foresaw a few problems in conversations, so we decided to name one Bulgaria Bill and the other just Bill. Lines of communication sorted!

  Bulgaria Bill and Sue live in a remote mountain area of Bulgaria near to Varna. It transpired that they had had similar experiences in making the move from the UK to another land, and all the associated problems when key points are ‘lost in translation’ and also those
experiences associated with living in a small rural community!

  The plan was for them to make the 48 hour drive from Bulgaria, via Kalamata Airport to collect Bill and Jeanette, and to stay for a week. The four of them staying together in an apartment in the village centre.

  At around 2pm on 2nd May, the ‘phone rang,

  “Hello? Stuart? This is Bulgaria Bill. Hello. Hello. I have ‘Good News’, and ‘Bad News’.”

  This was my first time talking to Bulgaria Bill!

  “The ‘Good News’ is that we have arrived an hour ahead of schedule at Kalamata Airport to collect Bill and Jeanette. The ‘Bad News’ is that the clutch in the car has gone!”

  He went on to say,

  “How bad are the mountain climbs to your house? Will we make it? Is there a garage locally that could repair it?”

  This didn’t sound like a good start to a relaxing week!

  So, I told him that if he took it steady, he should be ok. Also, whenever he saw a car in front at a hairpin bend and then to slow down, and not get too close in order to get a smoother run at the climb up the hills.

  Well, they eventually arrived and settled in to their apartment and then telephoned to say that the four of them were coming over to Meerkat Manor; Bill and Jeanette to say hello, and bring us some much needed items from the UK, and for Bulgaria Bill and Sue to meet us for the first time.

  Bulgaria Bill and Sue turned out to be a very nice couple, and both had a very good sense of humour. After a couple of glasses of wine, sitting on our terrace watching the sunset, we made our way to Smokey Joe’s grill bar for dinner. Over dinner, we decided to get the car to the local garage first thing in the morning and then to decide what to do about transport for the week, pending the prognosis of Vassilis the mechanic.

  On the Monday morning, we duly went to the garage and the decision was that it was indeed the clutch cable. It was possible to mend it quite easily, but there was a problem.

  Vassilis explained that as Bulgaria Bill’s car was a right hand drive British Citroën that the clutch cable would have to be ordered. It transpired that it would have to be ordered from Citröen’s French factory, as the Kalamata and Athens dealers did not stock the longer cable required for right hand drive cars. Vassilis said that it would take 10 days to arrive. This was only problem number one.

  Problem number two was that, due to the riots in Athens and the strikes by Civil Servants, the cable would be likely to be held up in Customs for days on end. This would not be a quick repair.

  Problem number three was that all four of them were only due to stay for one week and they had planned to use Bulgaria Bill’s car as their mode of transport. This they could no longer do, so alternative transport had to be considered whilst they waited for the repair!

  Time for some creative thinking to overcome these three problems!

  Bulgaria Bill sent an email to a friend of his who lived in Manchester in the UK, and he asked his friend if he could source a clutch cable and mail it to Meerkat Manor, as this should be quicker than the order from the French Citroën factory. He soon received a reply confirming that this had been done; result! Meanwhile, my brother Bill would set about hiring a car for transport for their next few days. So, everything seemed to be sorted for the time being and the four of them could now set about their holiday together and wait for the cable to arrive, and for Bulgaria Bill’s car to be mended.

  What had started out as a good idea for Bulgaria Bill and Sue to go on holiday and meet up with friends had turned into somewhat of a nightmare. However, both of them seemed to take the whole episode in their stride and managed to fit in some travelling time to ‘see the sights’ of The Mani.

  Along with Bill and Jeanette, in the hire car, they drove to see some of the mountain villages and the local inhabitants at ‘first hand’ which they observed as being very similar to Bulgaria, in so far as the ‘older folk’ seemed to enjoy taking one day at a time and looked healthier for it too!

  Obviously, no Emails to have to check!

  Photo: Older Lady From The Village.

  Photo: Older Man From The Village.

  Each morning, I went to the Post Office to see if the cable had arrived. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday morning’s visit proved to be disappointing as there was no mail and no parcel containing the clutch cable. Further, as the Post Office did not open on Saturdays, there would be no chance of receiving the cable until Monday morning at the earliest. This delay was not allowed for in their plans, so it was time for further remedial action. Therefore, it was decided to keep the hire car until the Monday and that Bulgaria Bill and Sue would drive Bill and Jeanette back to the airport on the Sunday for their return to the UK. This decision suited us fine as Valerie’s Mother was due to arrive on the Sunday on the ‘plane that Bill and Jeanette would travel back on. So we agreed that Bulgaria Bill would drive Valerie’s Mother from the airport and bring her to stay with us at Meerkat Manor and save us going to Kalamata airport to collect her. This was a good plan!

  It was also decided that Bulgaria Bill and Sue would look for somewhere else to stay whilst they waited for their car to be repaired. This was going to be a bit tricky because they didn’t know how long they needed to stay for, and this was the beginning of the ‘tourist season’ and most apartments were already booked.

  However, the owner of the apartment that they had been staying in with Bill and Jeanette had said that they could stay for the Sunday night whilst they sorted themselves out. For now, they were in the hands of the Royal Mail and the Greek Mail services and this was not good news as both organisations are decidedly unpredictable in their service levels!

  However, the package duly arrived on the Monday and Bulgaria Bill and I took it to the garage to see when Vassilis could schedule the time to fit the new clutch cable and get them on their way back to Bulgaria. Now, this is where the Maniot friendliness and helpfulness shows itself for all to see and experience.

  As soon as we arrived at the garage, Vassilis immediately stopped work on the car that he was busy repairing and set about fitting the clutch cable. He knew that Bulgaria Bill wanted to return to Bulgaria as soon as possible, and he wanted to help him. Hence, his immediate attention, and not the expected “maybe tomorrow when I have finished this other car,” which is what we were expecting him to say when we asked when he would be able to work on the car now that we had the new cable.

  Half an hour later the job was done and the car started. Vassilis frowned and said, “Big problem. It is not just the cable. Yes, the original cable was broken and you needed the new one. However, the clutch itself is broken and needs replacing.”

  A big problem? No, two massive problems! To replace the whole clutch is a very big job, takes a lot of time, and costs a lot of money. Bulgaria Bill could afford neither the time nor the money. So in fact this development generated two problems for Bulgaria Bill and Sue; the actual cost of the repair and where to stay. First, the cost as the whole of the front of the car would have to be taken off to get at the gearbox and to remove and replace the clutch mechanism. This would take a lot of time and in all probability cost a lot of money. Secondly, was the time element; where to stay and for how long?

  Vassilis had said that he could get a new clutch from Kalamata and that, as soon as it arrived, he would work non-stop to make the repair. So, that answered the problem of the repair being confirmed and completed as soon as possible.

  Our friends Elaine and Tony came to the rescue with the second problem of where to stay. When they heard of the predicament, they suggested that Bulgaria Bill and Sue stayed with them in their ‘visitor apartment’ and for as long as they needed to.

  During the last few days of Bulgaria Bill and Sue’s extended stay (forced upon them by the need to repair their car), I had to leave to travel for another work assignment in Athens. Valerie kept me informed of all the developments and progress by ‘phone. So, I knew that the car had been repaired very quickly and that Bulgaria Bill and Sue had left Agios
Nikolaos and headed for their home in Bulgaria.

  It seemed that they drove non-stop (taking it in turn to do the driving), and got home in just under 18 hours! During the Greece part of the journey, Bulgaria Bill purchased a ‘bird’ for his chimney stack! Earlier in the week, he had declared his liking for our metal Meerkat, and had set about finding one to take back to Bulgaria.

  He found one; an Eagle. Part of the ‘speed’ of the journey was because Bulgaria Bill was obviously keen to get the ‘Eagle’ installed! The problem became should he install it on his chimney stack or on the top of his barbeque kitchen?

  Photo: The ‘Bird’ On The Chimney Stack In Bulgaria.

  Photo: The ‘Bird’ On The Barbeque In Bulgaria.

  All in all, the last few weeks, the end of April and the beginning of May, had been very hectic; a work assignment, followed by the ‘on / off’ visit of Sally and Pete, which was immediately followed by another work assignment. So, lots of travel to and from to Athens, and then the arrival of the two Bills and their wives, plus the problems with the car and the need for a period of extended accommodation.

  These three events were followed by the arrival of Valerie’s Mother and yet another work assignment in Athens whilst she was staying here at Meerkat Manor.

  When was I going to get back to my proper job of ‘Watching?’

  Valerie’s Mother left after just a one week stay.

  This visit had been the first time that she had been able to just relax in the peace and quiet and sunny climes of Meerkat Manor. Previously, she had been roped in to help do the weeding and garden construction during her stay. This time, she had been able to enjoy looking at the fruits of her endeavours.

  So, by the middle of the month, we were back to ‘normal’ and everyday life at Meerkat Manor; peace and quiet; Valerie doing the weeding and me doing the ‘Watching’, but, it didn’t last long!