Things are gradually warming up. Yesterday, on the west-facing, shaded wall in our courtyard, the thermometer read 33 degrees with humidity at 40%. The rising temperature means the walking, if being done, needs to be done earlier in the day. On Saturday, I went up to the monastery overlooking Pedi, known locally as ‘To Vrisi’ because there’s a natural spring there, and a tap, so you can fill your water bottle. (To Vrisi means, the tap.) I went in the afternoon, and lovely though it was, it was probably too hot for the upward journey.
Lovely walk, nice views and all that, but what with things heating up, the walking’s not the problem, the problem is what my nephew calls chafage. A couple of years ago, a friend visiting from Denmark brought us something very handy called Klunke Voks, and I am still using it. (Thanks Millie.) I don’t intend to go into details about this product, but if you want to know the English translation, the Voks part means ‘wax’, and your Klunkes are what they sound like, so there you go. That reminds me of a conversation I had to have with the oldest godson after he’d spent a lot of time walking around Rhodes with his mates, aged 15, wearing boxer shorts (and other clothing). Not the best garment for keeping away the chafage, I told him, and explained why as we made our way to his English proficiency exam. No doubt, that gave him something to talk to the examiner about when he did his conversation test.
That aside, the walk was a pleasant one that involved goats at some point. It always involves at least ten ‘Kali mera’ along the way, to real people, not the goats, because these days, I’m more inclined to walk up through the village, and then down the road. Whichever way I go there’s always someone to say good morning to, and, plenty to see. I aim to go a wandering again later this morning before it gets too warm and I need to voks my klunke.
