The above photo is of a building in one of the sidestreets of Ierapetra Old Town. It’s nowhere near as pretty as some ‘old towns’ it’s true, but it’s still surprising what it turns up when you go strolling around looking for something photogenic. What I love about the artwork above is the cat on the upstairs shutters. Takes all sorts, I suppose.

It’s an overcast day today and it’s drizzling outside. It’s what we tend to call a ‘British’ kind of day. It’s still about 17ºC outside and only went down to around 13-14 last night, so we shouldn’t complain really. We’ve just come back from the town, where I had to drop by the EFKA office to renew my health insurance cover. It’s funny how sometimes things go ‘omala’ as the Greeks say, when you least expect them to. That word means ‘smoothly’ by the way. It’s a word you don’t often associate with visits to a Greek government office. Yet that’s exactly how the visit went. Each year in March I need to renew my health cover, and that entails dropping into the EFKA office, filling out a standard form (Yep, you guessed it, an A4 photocopy) and then signing it. It’s only logical, because it’s basically to prove two things, 1. I’m still alive and 2. I haven’t dropped everything and hightailed it back to the UK. The whole process took no more than fifteen minutes and the lady behind the desk is actually not only courteous, but friendly, dare I say.

I don’t like to mention it, but by and large our experience of the staff in government offices here in Greece has led us to the conclusion that the majority of them wish that the public would just go away. Their lives would be a whole lot better if they only had to shift piles of papers around, stare at their computer screens now and then, and sip their iced coffees, then go home. Oh, and nip outside the front of the building for a crafty fag now and then too. Whether it’s the KEP, the Tax Office, or the Police Station, the person that greets you usually gives you the distinct impression that you’re interrupting something and they are keen to make it clear that they don’t want you messing up their day. The lady behind the desk at the EFKA office in Ierapetra obviously missed the training session where staff are taught how to make members of the public feel small and irritating, because, even though she was rubbing the side of her neck when I approached her to wish her a ‘kalo mina‘ and ask about renewing my health cover, she smiled at me. Maybe it’s just my natural charm and charisma, what do you think? (Don’t answer that!) I began by asking her if her neck was hurting, and she replied (with a smile nevertheless) that not only was her neck aching, but most parts of her body. I wished her ‘perastika‘ and mentioned that I’d try not to add to her burden of pain with my request. Chaps, if you want any lessons, you know who to ask.

Winter weather in this part of Greece is quite varied. Yes, we get those bright, sunny, cloudless days that get all the ex-pat bloggers and Facebookers all in a lather about rushing outside and taking lots of photos to show just how great life over here is during the winter, and I am among that number, I must admit. It does rain, however, and sometimes heavily. What’s so encouraging though, is that it never rains for very long. We (as most people do here) have a solar heating panel on the roof to heat our hot water. Most of these systems also have an electric element (immersion heater) inside the ‘boiler’ (as they call the cylinder section) and that’s wired into the main fuse box in the house, on an individually switched fuse, so that it can be switched on to heat the water electrically when needed. When we had our system installed, we opted not to bother with the ‘thermosifono‘ as they call the immersion heater over here, and to rely totally on sunshine to heat our water. As a measure of just how often the sun shines, even on days when it rains, I can honestly say that in an entire winter (December thru March) you could count the number of days on which we go without hot water (and even then it’s still lukewarm) on the fingers of one hand.

When we get ‘British’ days like today, it’s OK, because at least, like I said, we can be confident that the sun will be out again tomorrow. If it isn’t, the day after it will be for sure. Here are the photos for today’s post then, starting with another couple of corners in the Old Town…

Another of my nighttime power walks around the village produced these next few. I took them at around 10.30pm last Sunday evening…

One of our favourite cafés in town is the Cup (I’ve mentioned it numerous times I guess). Not only is their Americano one of the best in town, but they also do our favourite ‘bar’ of all time. It’s produced by a wholly Greek company, called ‘My Greek Taste‘ and they’re very into healthy products. The best in our book is the Tahini Bar (see wrapper in one of the photos below) which is entirely made of healthy ingredients. There’s no sugar or salt and no preservatives. it’s mainly tahini, carob honey and oats. It’s delicious and is fast becoming a must every time we sup a coffee in the Cup.

Finally, a couple of shots in the upper garden from yesterday (Thursday 29th Feb) at 11.30am:

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