Yesterday’s post was titled ‘Quiet Day Ahead (?)’, one of my random, ‘What shall I put as a title today?’ titles, yet, the question mark was portentous, as was my last line: We could be in for a week of not much news. Not that this is much news, but it was the first time ever I have done this…
Neil was at the gym, I’d just finished work and thought I’d pop out for some pastry because we fancied a pie, and if I make pastry it comes out like a flagstone floor. I shut the bedroom window and left the house. My usual routine is to collect the keys from the back of the gate on my way, but as I opened the gate, my mind slipped to our landlord, who used to live opposite, and who recently passed away. Apparently, he’d said some very nice things about us as his tenants, and I was giving him a silent farewell when I realised I’d just shut the gate and locked myself out. A quick check of the bag where the keys always go… No. Nor the pockets, not the pockets of the bag I never use, nor the bag (again), nor my jacket pockets. So, that’s that.
I can’t buy the pastry now as it will defrost before Neil gets back which will be in… Checks bag for phone. No phone. Ah. Stands back to look at the wall, as it’s possible to climb it with a ladder, or from next door’s garden. Agapitos’ moped isn’t there, so he’s not at home. Ah, the bedroom window… I just closed it. Jenine has a spare key, but without a phone… So, I wander off halfway down the Pedi road only to see her moped’s not there either, and Harry will be at school. Back to the village and I think I could pop in on Anne and see if she can ring Neil to make sure he has his keys, if not, I’ll have to find Jenine, but then I think, Anne’s not been back on the island long and she’ll be busy. Or maybe not, it depends on the time, so I pop into Sotiris to find out the time (and check the pasty situation, but there wasn’t any anyway). Hm. Decide not to disturb Anne.
I’ll go for a walk instead, which I do, back past the house to the end of the lane and on the way back, bump into Steve who will ring Neil for me but doesn’t have his number and I don’t know it. Steve will happily lend me a ladder, and I’ll take you up on that if all else fails, thank you. Back to the house. Ring the bell just in case, but no-one’s home yet, so I go and sit in the square to watch the world go by because both cafés are closed.
If you sit in the village square long enough you will see the whole world go by, I’m sure of it. A mother and two young children wandering around waiting for someone, the electrician came past in his van, and then two fully grown guys crammed into a tiny three-wheeler, Michaels from the empty peripteron, the keeper of the Chinese shop hanging out on his steps, sunshine, and other morning activity I don’t usually see because I am at my desk… and now I need the loo, but I’m not going in the corner of the Village square as some do.
So, I sit there and plan the afternoon’s piano lesson; scale of D major at speed, finger exercises, the grade four piece, some work on the Beethoven, then start a grade 4 exam piece… And decide I’d be better off waiting at the top of the Kali Strata where I can see Neil coming up or down. I have to make t a quick journey, because he might come up the side of the square as I am coming down the steps, and I might miss him, but I keep an eye out… And arrive outside what used to be George’s butcher shop to see Jenine at the flower shop and Niel coming from Sotiris’ direction. Luckily with his keys.
So, all’s well that ends well, and at least I got some walking in, and have something to tell you about. Oh, and when I did get in and back to my phone, I discovered Anne had been trying to call me because she had no power and wanted my help figuring out why. I should have called in after all. She might have had some pastry.
