Clean Monday

Yet another week has flown by, does time really pass this quickly or just as one gets older?

We were in Agios Nikolaos standing around talking to some friends and a small Albanian boy came along on his bike. He knows our friends, his name is Remmy and he is 10 years old, we had seen him many times before. He is very proud of his bike, which he got for Christmas and is as least three sizes too big. I remembered I had my phrase book in our bag and I showed him a picture of a bike and a car with the parts identified in both Greek and English. We had several minutes discussing the various parts, him telling me in Greek me telling him the English. He was very interested and asked if he could have the book. I told him I needed the book but Ashley would scan it into the computer and print out the two pages for him. That night Ashley spent nearly three hours and the next day we drove into Agios Nikolaos to find Remmy. As we pulled up we could see Remmy walking towards us waving happily. I gave him the print out for which he thanked us and he folded it very carefully and put it safely in his pocket. While we were with Remmy some friends joined us, they had walked down from the nearby village where they live. We offered them a lift back and we spent an enjoyable afternoon chatting and admiring their beautiful village home.

The cement has now been pumped into the iron for the roof support, which means in a few days the roof can be started. The electrician has been back and only the top floor is left to be finished and we now have stairs that lead up to the bedrooms. The plasterers have started putting the first coat on the inside of the house this is dark grey and looks like cement which makes everything look dull; they should finish it Tuesday as Monday is a Greek holiday, Clean Monday!

Before Lent, here in Greece, it’s carnival time for three weeks when children dress up in fancy dress and there are parties and dancing. The Monday following the last Sunday of the carnival is Clean Monday, the first day of Lent. Clean Monday is so called as in olden times it was the day when housewives cleaned their kitchen utensils to rid them of any trace of carnival food. Traditionally at this time families and friends go to the mountains and seaside resorts and the children fly kites.

On holiday Monday we had to go into Kalamata unexpectedly. We received a text message from a friend who wanted us to pick her up in Kalamata, as she had been in the UK for two weeks, and had just returned. It was a beautiful day and we went in as soon as we were ready. We walked along the sea front watching families enjoying themselves flying their kites, or trying to is more like it. There was quite a swell on the sea and several people were caught out by the waves while they were concentrating on their kite flying, and got a little wet around the ankles.