To this day, we still see him around the villages and wave, smile and say hello. Mind you, after each of those type of meetings, we always tend to think that he will remember that he hasn’t seen the finished garden and that he may turn up once again unannounced and ask for a coffee and an ash tray whilst he surveys our considerable achievement!
Photo: The ‘Ice Cream’ Plant Spreads Out.
Within the space of about six weeks, we had managed to convert the land surrounding the house from a plot of rock hard soil, with an abundance of weeds, to something resembling a Mediterranean garden.
It had been hard work but very satisfying. We also successfully grew two types of succulent ground cover plants from cuttings. Their flowers open every day and close at night. Both species are photo sensitive and they grow and spread very quickly without the need for water.
Photo: Flowering On ‘Rock Hard’ Soil.
The locals call one of them the ‘Ice Cream Plant.’ It has an abundance of ‘creamy’ pink flowers that look like raspberry or strawberry ice cream!
Valerie had set up a ‘feeder nursery’ where she grows the cuttings in small pots or if they are seedlings she starts them off in small polystyrene cups and plants them out when they are bigger.
Photo: Valerie’s ‘Nursery.’
So far developing the garden and looking after the plants has been very much trial and error and we have discovered that some plants don’t like water at all. After all, they are indigenous to the region and this region doesn’t get much water during the 12 months of a year.
This type of success has been very an encouraging and a very satisfying start to our life here in The Mani.
Everything that we have planted so far has ‘got away’ and is growing and by now, we had a Lemon tree, an Orange tree, two Fig trees, two Wild Plum trees and countless Geranium cuttings in three different colours. Hitherto, we were working of the premise of water in the morning and water in the evening. However, we now know that some plants don’t like that routine at all. So, they maybe get just some water once per week, or once per month even.
This includes the Lilies and the other plants in the herb garden that produce brilliant flowers!
Soon, we will have to invest in a book that not only tells us what each plant is but also its likes and dislikes! We understand that over 600 species of plants grow in Greece, so even when we get the book it may take us quite a time to work our way through it!
We even managed to get a cutting of an Arum Lily to flower within just four weeks of being planted; that was a pleasant surprise.
Photo: Arum Lily.
An even bigger surprise was that, despite the heat, we can grow roses in the garden. We now regularly have our very own home grown rose in a vase on the dining table.
Photo: Home Grown Roses.
Photo: Cut Roses For The House.
As far as pesticides and other additives are concerned, we had agreed not to use them. Whatever we were to grow or manage to cultivate from cuttings, we had decided to make sure that they were totally organic.
Mind you, we had been tempted from time to time as some of the flies, ants and other little insects had proved to be in abundance and quite a nuisance!
Valerie had successfully managed to grow the ‘Rhubarb and Custard’ plant from a cutting, and we had spotted over six different species of butterflies feasting on this plant, including the beautiful Swallowtail.
Photo: Swallowtail Butterfly On ‘Rhubarb And Custard’ Plant.
Whilst we were busy in the garden, the wild flowers were busy growing just over the wall!
Throughout both April and May the wild flowers are absolutely amazing. Photographs just cannot do them justice, neither can they evoke the emotion one can feel just walking along the tracks and seeing a ‘field’ of colour. There are so many varieties of plants, and a veritable kaleidoscope of colour for as far as the eye can see. There is almost a complete spectrum of colours from white, cream, yellow, green, lime green, blue, magenta and bright red. They were just like ‘carpets’ of colour with so many wild flowering plants growing in the olive groves, including a huge variety of Orchids, Euphorbia, and Anemones.
Photo: The ‘Red Carpet’ Of Anemones.
To date, I have counted over 27 different species of wild flowers growing in the olive groves; the books state that there are over 600 growing in Greece! With the flowers of course come the butterflies and the bees and other nectar-seeking flying insects. Combined, they generate an absolutely delightful ‘hum’ as they go about their work in collecting their food; an insect orchestra playing their ‘work’ symphony! The bright red Anemones provide them with a veritable feast! As you walk through the Olive tree groves, it is as if there is a big red carpet laid between, in and around all the trees.
Photo: Close-up Of Anemone.
TIME TO TAKE STOCK OF PROGRESS TO DATE
There is an expression that says, ‘doesn’t time fly when you are enjoying yourselves,’ and this was certainly true for us.
We had been living in Meerkat Manor for six weeks and it only seemed like yesterday that we moved in!
Looking back, it is strange to realise that we put so much effort into creating the ‘Exit the UK’ plan in all its meticulous detail; a plan that we adhered to and ensured our success in moving from the UK and setting up home here in Greece. Yet we soon began to realise that we didn’t have an ‘Enter Greece’ plan!
We seemed to mix the jobs in order to keep up the pace, depending on where the sun was.
As soon as we were up, the sun would still be in the East moving to the South-East and just beginning to get hot, so we would start on the East and South sides of the garden development.
As soon as the sun got hotter, we would move to the front of the house garden and also the Western side to be cooler and in the shade before the sun moved around.
At mid-day, if we still had the energy, we would work on developing the garden in the shade of the house on the West side and towards the back of the house in the East.
Valerie would work on the weeding, digging and planting. She does a fantastic job, especially considering how hard the soil is, and not to mention the heat!
The worst part is that the Oxalis seems to thrive in the sun and within a week of weeding it out new shoots start showing their heads all over again!
So, from that day to this, Valerie has to work in a three week cycle. Two weeks continuous weeding and returning on week three to the plot she had first cleared two weeks earlier to dig up the new Oxalis shoots that have surfaced.
Photo: The Oxalis Is Rampant!
Photo: After Weeding The Oxalis Out.
The whole thing is a little bit like cleaning the windows of a very large building; by the time you have cleaned them all, the first ones to have been cleaned have got dirty again, and you have to start cleaning them all over again!
Whilst Valerie was doing the weeding, I would work on constructing the path which was to be all around the house and building the Meerkat Rock ‘Houses.’
Photo: Meerkat Rock ‘Houses’.
Photo: Meerkats At The Entry Gate.
During those first six weeks we both lost around 7 kilos in weight as we toiled away at the development of the garden and the paths in the heat of the day that was now regularly reaching 30 C. By one o’ clock every day, we were either too hot or too tired to do any more work in the garden, so we would move to the inside of the house or the studio apartment upstairs and continue the odd jobs that we had identified needed attention.
So, for the first six weeks, a pattern had developed of working; either working in the garden in the morning, the house in the afternoon and drinks on the upper terrace to watch the sun go down or, a trip to Kalamata in the morning, the house in the afternoon and drinks on the upper terrace to watch the sun go down.
Until this time, we had been using one of Vassilis’ hire cars and we decided that the time had come to buy a car of our own.
Because of the collapse of the £
GBP against the € Euro (at this time down from our original 1.47 to just 0.99), we had ‘lost’ a lot of money. In fact the majority of this ‘loss’ was the money the plan had earmarked to buy a new car.
We now knew that we would have to settle for a second hand car, which was not what we wanted to do but we had no choice. We purchased a car from Vassilis; a bright yellow Suzuki Ignis (Jeep type shape).
We originally nicknamed it ‘Custard’ as that was the shade of yellow it had been painted in. However, Greeks don’t recognise the word because they don’t know what custard is! So, we renamed it ‘Sunshine’ which they did recognise. And talking about recognition, this was the only car of this colour in the whole region, so everybody knew it was us when they saw it coming!
The trips to Kalamata were planned in advance; either to get the administration and documentation sorted, or to purchase furniture and do the food shopping. In the category of administration and documentation, we were quite prepared for and relaxed at the prospect of the waiting in the queues. Mind you, although we were prepared for worse, the longest that any one visit lasted was 90 minutes!
We registered for permanent electricity, we registered for a water meter, and we purchased Greek mobile ‘phones. At that time, we felt that we didn’t need a landline telephone per se but we did need an Internet connection. Although the Cosmote brand is the most popular and cheapest in Greece, their lines do not come as far as Agios Nikolaos, so we had to settle for OTE, who do have lines in the area.
We were advised that it might take a few weeks to connect us and that we would not know what the cost was until they had connected us. Well, as we had no choice, we had to accept that situation.
Round two to Greek culture!
During that time in the afternoons, we had managed to organise the house properly. All the clothes were unpacked and in the right cupboard. We took delivery of all the furniture we had ordered from Kalamata and it was installed in the requisite position.
There are several commodities that are disproportionately expensive compared to UK prices and furniture was one of them. All furniture is expensive and, good, wooden furniture is extremely expensive and what we purchased was well above what we had budgeted for in the plan.
The items included a bed for us which we had specially made, bedside tables and a dressing table for our bedroom, and bed settees for the front bedroom and the studio apartment. Also on the list of purchases was a settee and chairs for the main room and other tables and chairs for both inside and outside use, as well as crockery, cutlery and pots and pans.
Finally we purchased a TV to mount on the wall in the main room and a coffee table to go beneath it, as well as two bookcases.
One bookcase was ready made and the other we had made; one of our greatest achievements in those early weeks! We had a space between the wall in the front bedroom and the built in wardrobe and we decided to have a bookcase made to fit the space and in the same wood as the wardrobe.
How to go about it was the challenge! I made a scale drawing in three dimensions and with measurements in centimetres and we set off to Kalamata to find a wood working shop. In the old town we found a workshop and entered into the unknown to ask them to make us the bookcase. With the help of my drawings, a pen and paper and some sign language, we managed to reach agreement for the bookcase to be made. They said it would be ready in a week.
We duly returned in a week only to find the workshop closed; Siesta time!
We returned two days later before Siesta time and the workshop was still closed, but we could now see our bookcase standing inside the workshop right in the middle of the floor; progress!
We returned again the following week and we were in luck as the workshop was open, but our bookcase was not to be seen!
Another worker was there and he spoke a little English, “It has gone to be painted,” he said.
“But I didn’t want it painted. I wanted it to match the wood of the wardrobe it is going alongside,” I replied.
Obviously this event was ‘lost in translation’ as it transpired that his grasp of English was such that ‘painting’ meant ‘varnish!’ This was ok, and the bookcase soon arrived back to the workshop; nicely varnished and dry. It was finished and ready to go on the journey to Meerkat Manor’s front bedroom.
We folded down the rear seats of the car and loaded it in. The size is two metres high, one metre wide and quarter metre deep. What a sight we must have looked as we drove it home, half in and half out, but we got it home in one piece. It squeezed it into the predetermined gap; a perfect fit! We immediately unpacked our books and photograph albums and put them in place.
All things considered, we decided we had done a good job sourcing this item.
Now the house was complete; everything unpacked and in place and it all looked good and felt good. Still in the absence of a specific plan of activity, we continued with our early days in much the same way. We woke early every morning and said, “What shall we do today?” We do have a checklist but not laid out in a cohesive plan; still it worked.
Regardless of what we did during the days, in the late afternoon and early evening, we would sit on the upper terrace, watching the sun set and update the checklist of what was still required to be done. On occasions, the checklist seemed to get longer day by day and not shorter! Every night, we went to bed tired but happy and looking forward to the next day of our lives living in ‘Paradise.’
During those early weeks, we discovered some of the realities about living in Greece that had not been too apparent before, and did not appear on our plan. Yet these discoveries generate quite an impact in our day to day living.
First of all the water supply; water is in short supply in The Mani region as a whole and in Agios Nikolaos in particular.
It is so hot for most of the year and it usually only rains during the winter months. In 2008 it was so scarce we could remember the days when it did rain; 21st February, 9th of April, 10th August and the 28th of September, and then nothing until January 2009.
Apart from showers in the morning and evening, toilets, washing up and washing clothes, our other use for the water is the garden. As there is little or no rain throughout the spring and summer, we use the water for the plants in the garden, so ‘use it whilst it is flowing’ is our motto.
The supply is frequently turned off, with no notice, and sometimes for two or three days at a time. When we are cut off, this is either for essential maintenance, or to effect repairs for leaks.
Sometimes it is just to conserve water.
With the latter, the controllers will switch off the water supply to a whole village and rotate this activity across the surrounding villages; one at a time, but with no set pattern and again no forward notice.
Therefore an external water tank became an essential, and we had one installed.
There are also acute problems with the supply of electricity; it also gets cut it off with no forward notice. So, just as with the water supply, the same with the electricity supply.
It can be, and does get cut off, for no good reason and again without notice. It is easier to understand why it happens when there is a thunderstorm and you can plan for the cut off, otherwise, it doesn’t make sense.
As ever, it was always when you least expect it, and when you most want it for cooking or making hot drinks!
One occasion that I can still recall quite clearly was early on a Sunday morning. I am a follower of Formula 1 Grand Prix Motor Racing, and I had got up at 5 o’ clock in the morning especially to watch a race being broadcast live from the Far East. Valerie was still asleep and I was looking forward to a couple of hour’s relaxation before starting work for the day.
I had just got myself settled in front of the television, complete with my cup of tea. Engines revving, the cars were waiting for the green starter’s light to ‘go’ and at that precise moment the electricity went off!
It didn’t come back on again for two hours! When it did eventually came back on again, I tu
ned in the television and they were showing the closing credits on the broadcast, so I had missed the whole race and didn’t even know who had won!
Obviously cooking can have its ‘moments’ too! I enjoy cooking breakfast and most days we stop work around 11am to have breakfast and a rest from working. One particular day, we had invited some friends to join us as they wanted to experience my ‘full English’ including fried bread and for this mal I use all five hot plates on the cooker, the oven and the kettle. I was getting everything prepared and about five minutes before our friends arrived, the electricity went off!
Half an hour later it was still off, so I ended up cooking breakfast on the two ring gas barbeque! It was a bit of a challenge but I got there in the end, including coffee. Thank goodness that I didn’t wait for it to come back on as it was off for the next 14 hours!
Something most of us take for granted is using a credit card for payment, and in Greece it is not always so easy. Many stores take them, but you have to produce your passport for them to accept that you are who you say you are and that your credit cards are bona fida.
So, all in all, we have discovered and achieved a lot during our first few weeks living in The Mani.
By now, we were well and truly settled and we had got ourselves sorted out in the house in terms of agreeing the layout we liked best. We had purchased all of the furniture and other bits and bobs we needed, and we had our crockery and pots and pans. We had also purchased the extra items for cooking like food mixers, blenders and juicers; we were set to go!
It Started With an Ouzo Page 11
