Almost Tourist Season

At our house, the roof has been completed for some time now and work is once again surging ahead. The lower floor is all but finished with the tiling completed and the marble laid for the windowsills. This now means that the exact measurements can be taken for the windows and doors and the aluminium units prepared for delivery.
The men are working on the front verandas at the moment; these together with the stairs to the garden will be the last external stonework to be done on the house. After that the rest of the work is inside except for the finishing touches such as cleaning the outside, stones and porrie (corner stones). Vagelis is a bit of a stickler for having things aesthetically right.

We had decided right from the start that we would paint the ground floor ourselves to try and save a bit on costs. We ventured back to our friendly local builders merchants, as we thought we owed him some trade after the saga with the wood stain, and stocked up on primer, rollers, sandpaper etc. No one told us the ceiling and walls had to be rubbed down and primed before they could be painted and we have already spent three very long tiring days rubbing with sandpaper trying to achieve a professional finish.

Many Greeks returned to the area for the Easter holidays and many of the tavernas opened giving everywhere a good feel. On the Friday of Easter weekend we walked down to the church late in the evening as Mass was finishing. Everyone held candles and after the Mass formed a procession through the village and back to the church where they were blessed and given a flower from the epitaph. Since Easter we have seen many tourists in the area and the place has come to life. Work is being done on tavernas and shops and the whole area has been tidied in readiness for the main tourist season. The holiday reps have also returned this week and are getting ready for their first tourists to fly into Kalamata in May.

On the 17th April we saw a helicopter carrying a large ‘bucket’, which it had filled from the sea. There was obviously a fire somewhere as about half an hour later two seaplanes made several journeys down to the sea to fill up. A bad omen perhaps as the fire hazard is considered to start from May. At that time a fire crew is stationed at a viewpoint on the Kalamata road from which they can see for miles over Kardamyli, Stoupa, Agios Nikolaos and right down to Trachila. A friend has since told us that what we saw may have been a practice run as they had one last year at about the same time.

For anyone not bored hearing about our two cats, they have both had their stitches out and have recovered from their operations and enjoying their freedom once more.