The harbour is increasingly full and many of the boats are liveaboards who have signed contracts for the winter so it should be an interesting experience starting with a weekly BBQ held on Sundays.
A marina radio has also started up 3 days a week and is bilingual and we now have a clubhouse where various activities are held (open house, exercise classes, book swap, etc.) and to which we donated one of our old genoas as an acoustic barrier together with lots of flags for which we have no more use.
Svein has repaired the doghouse where the extraction fan is located. The next task that we attacked was to clear the deck to prepare it for the work to be done. Yes it really is flush and the problem will be to keep it clear afterwards! Svein has started to check all the caulking with the help of a friend and then we will attack the repair of the deck. Unfortunately this good start has been stopped by an accident. Svein fell on the quay in the dark while carrying out the rubbish and cut his left hand very badly on an empty bottle that he was carrying. Fortunately there was a car available to take him to the hospital and he came back bandaged all over. He has since been up there several times to change the bandages but he will be unable to use his hand properly for at least one month. The rain that we have had recently coincided very well with the enforced inactivity of Svein so he has been busy on the computer for himself and others in the harbour with PC problems.
On 23 October we went into town to watch the Olympic flame pass through the town on its way to Vancouver for the Winter Games in 2010. This is the second time that the flame has visited Mesolonghi as one of the co-authors of the Olympic hymn is a native of the town. After the run through the town (where the spectators were a little thin on the ground) there was a ceremony in the “Heros Garden” before the flame continued on its way.
On Sunday (25/10) we went to Athens to visit the Acropolis (under a very heavy thunderstorm) and the Athens boat show (where we found lots of interesting products for the boat). The harbor laid on a bus for us and we were over 40 people from the harbour. We really are a big liveaboard community.We got back very late that night as we were not allowed to use the motorway as there had been a landslide.
Caryn has been sorting out her French pension and returned to France for a short trip at the end of October where she managed to catch up with friends and Alex who has now moved to Antibes.
Svein organized a special dinner for Caryn’s birthday at our favourite restaurant in town.
Since the return the days are just flying by and there are so many activities: different types of exercise classes, games night, music nights and jam sessions, weekly BBQ, theme evenings, visits to local towns and now navigations courses – where will we find the time to work on the boat!!!!!!
Svein’s hand has greatly improved although it is still not back to normal but he is still not able to use it fully. Hopefully it will not be too long now and we can get back to doing the deck. He has been busy making our annual DVD of our travels.
The weather has been so good that a bunch of us went swimming on 26th November. We cycled down to the beach at the canal entrance and had a quick dip (18°) and then cycled back.
Caryn has started Greek lessons given by Yiannis whom we met through the owners of the restaurant where we go to listen to Greek music every Friday. Hopefully she will be able to converse soon.
Svein has also experienced a local dentist where he went to make an appointment and ended up having a tooth taken out on the spot – Very efficient. Caryn has also visited the dentist and will be having work done in the New Year.
It is the build up to Christmas and the liveaboards are decorating the clubhouse and making all the preparations for the occasion. In the meantime we will be having a French cuisine evening this Thursday and hopefully that will be as successful as the Curry evening held a couple of weeks back. There has also been an Asiatic evening and it is really amazing to see the culinary skills of the people living in the harbour.
We are now getting ready to spend Xmas in the UK with Caryn’s mother but will be back in Greece for the New Year. We are not sure where the best weather is at the moment as the UK seems to be having snow and here in Greece there is wind and rain.
The next update will probably by in the New Year so it only remains to wish everyone a Happy Xmas and a Happy New Year with lots of good health, prosperity and happiness.