The old saying, as I remember, is ‘a new broom sweeps clean.’ The new ‘mayor’ of the village, Manolis (forget his surname TBH) is certainly making his presence felt. Lots of overgrown trees that had overhung the narrow walkways of the village, plus some along the roadside too, have now been heavily pruned to facilitate ease of passage. Great piles of tree clippings that were at first left beside the road have now been taken away and the place looks clean and tidy, one has to admit. Although we were aware of him over the past couple of years (we first met him at his mother Poppi’s place when he came home on his tractor one day while we were having a drink with her in her patio room) we’ve only exchanged the occasional hello, nothing more really.

That all changed this week. Since he was elected he’s swept past on his motor scooter once or twice whilst we’ve been passing the time of day with Maria, our neighbour, and on those occasions we’ve exchanged polite greetings and he’s gone on his way. The day before yesterday, however, we were graced with a personal visit. We both recall that we thought him a little brusque on earlier occasions, and wondered whether he resented us foreigners moving in. Angla’i’a is his aunty, since Poppi is her sister, and yet she’s not all that enamoured with him for some reason. Of course, to have her nephew beat her in the village election and take her place as the village ‘proedros’ can’t have been easy for her, but apparently they’ve not talked much to each other for a couple of decades. Families, eh?

Anyway, we like to speak as we find, and try not to adopt viewpoints about people based purely on the opinion of another. There we were pottering around outside the house when we became aware of a motorcycle zipping up our driveway. No one ever comes up there unless we’ve invited them, as a rule. He swept up to the turning area beside our front door, flipped his stand down and dismounted. Then he came over to us and gave us both a warm handshake. Must admit, at first we were both thinking, ‘what does he want from us then?’

I felt quite ashamed to have thought that way when he told us that he just came to check in with us and explain that he was always there for us if we had any issues needing to be addressed in the village. He’s evidently been made aware of the frequency with which Yvonne cleans up the leaves and street debris on the steep lane outside our garden. He also knew that, at our own expense, we’d bought some ready-to-use pitch and filled in a couple of potholes in our little lane a while back. It seems to have made him quite positive about us, a fact that we were grateful for. 

‘Are you sure there’s nothing you’d like me to get done, or at least look into then?’ He asked, which did prompt me to ask one question. 5 km up the road is the village of Meseleri, and they have no less that three blue dumpster bins, the ones specifically for recycling, whereas our village doesn’t even have one. Why was that, I wanted to know.

“I’m already on it,” he replied, “I’ve asked the council and they say that there are no more blue bins, but they do have some on order. When we get one I’m going to have both it and the green one (for general rubbish disposal) placed in a new ‘bay’ that we’ll have built beside the road, so that they can be parked tidily and be less likely to be blown over when it’s windy.”

Can’t say fairer than that, I suppose, always assuming that it does arrive one day. He’s already put our lane on his ‘to do’ list as regards the few potholes there as well. Things are looking up. Mind you, Angla’i’a, during her years as village mayor, accomplished a lot too, and was always down the council offices getting on their case about something or other.

Talking of Angla’i’a, it was high time we dropped in for coffee anyway, since the last time was way back last year. We’re both conscious of the fact that she probably has a lot less to do now, since she’s handed over the ‘mayoral’ reins as of February 1st to her nephew. So yesterday we strolled down there at around 11.30am, and found George outside using a blunt axe to split some kindling wood for their tzaki. As always, the kitchen door was open and Angla’i’a bade us come inside for an Elliniko. Needless to say she also placed some loukoumades and a few koulourakia on the table too. You never leave their house hungry. She has, it seems, already adjusted to not being mayor any more and seems to be just as busy as ever. Both she and George had been down with Covid a couple of weeks ago, and were laid low for five days or so. Nothing worse than a cold though, she told us. Just as well we hadn’t thought about dropping by sooner though, we thought. 

Her granddaughter ‘Gogo’ is now working as a chef in the hospital in Agios Nikolaos, which explains why we hadn’t seen her around for a while. In fact, what village news there was we were soon apprised of, while we sipped her excellent coffee. Her daughter Maria (you can never have too many Marias, eh?), Gogo’s mum, popped her head in the door to greet us too. She’s warmed immeasurably towards us of late and I was particularly touched when, a couple of weeks ago, after I’d posted a couple of photos of us two on the sea front, she’d replied to my comment, using the expression, “Γειά σας χωριανάκια να’στε καλά!” Which means, ‘Hi there villagers, all the best.’ For her to have called us ‘villagers’ is a compliment indeed, as we’ve only been in the village around four and a half years and, by usual standards, could be considered outsiders, or newcomers, for another couple of decades if we weren’t being accepted. 

Our visit drawing to close, we were given a bag of freshly laid eggs, which Angla’i’a placed on the table for us to pick up, remarking with a grin on the fact that she still wouldn’t run the risk of actually handing them to us (see this post)! She also gave us a bag of fresh oranges, which she said would be excellent ‘juicers.’ I can confirm that they were indeed too.

So, that’s the ‘two visits’ dealt with, but what about this ‘crisis’ then? Well, it’s a very long story, but it appears there’s a major crunch coming to the seafront in Ierapetra, because all of the cafés and restaurants along the waterside apparently have illegal structures out the front, in which the majority of their business is done. Many of these structures are built elaborately using expensive folding glass doors, roofs and awnings, not to mention having electricity installed and some even have bars inside them too. They’ve been there for decades, but the council in its wisdom has decided that they all have to be bulldozed, which will, with no doubt whatsoever, not only wreck the sea front for a couple of years while it’s being re-developed, but also bankrupt most of the restaurants and bars that will be affected. Tomorrow there’s a huge demonstration planned since the bulldozers are apparently poised to begin the destruction any day now. I’ll say more about this in due course. But it’s all rather unsettling, and seems rather self-destructive on the part of the Dimos. We’ll see what develops.

Above: No, it’s not me. I’m afraid I don’t feel like braving the water at this time of year, but you can see that some do. We know a few regulars who swim every day through the winter months. Good for them!

Above: You see all those structures on the right, those with tables and chairs inside and out? Well, if the Dimos has its way they’ll all be bulldozed imminently.

Above: Sadly it looks nothing in the photo, but that moon, being partly obscured by a nighttime cloud, it looked wonderful at the time when we were in the town the other evening.

Above: That little beauty is standing outside Angla’i’a’s front door, and there’s a Poinsettia beside her!

•

Click HERE to go to my Amazon Author Page. There you can browse all of my written works.