General life

So we have been here 6 months now so pretty much life has become normal so to speak.

I have a job working for an English company www.nwix.net twice a week doing remote sales work using a VoIP phone and as im part of the network if I rang you I would actually come up as being in Manchester! I worked with Nick (CEO) about 6 years ago when nwix first started so when I asked him if he new of anything he offered me a job so that worked out very well as I do the 2 days that Finlay is in nursery. I also train a couple of times a week so am keeping my hand in with the PT and hopefully will do more of it now that winter is here.

Paul has almost finished work as the season is almost over. He has to sit his exams and a few more skills to be done but after a summer of hard work on the beach and almost 50 additional dives he is nearly a dive master. So he will amuse himself by building shed, fencing etc through the winter and fit in some relaxing :-)

The weather has changed this week big time, it is cool at night now, if you have a sunny day you could still sit out but you would wear a jumper now and we have a blanket on the bed!! Had a load of rain yesterday so was strange having our first sunday of none beach time! It is still high twenties though during the day and nov is meant to be lovely so we will wait and see.

Finlay seems to be having fun at nursery and understands Greek perfectly and is starting to speak more of it, he knows lots of words to say when he is fighting with them anyway!

So all in all, we are well and truely settled in down and looking forward to the change of season and seeing what it brings.

Previous problems all fixed

Huge delay in updating the blog as I found that if we were not having problems, I wasn’t writing anything and since we have settled in no one would want to read about normal daily life! However I thought that it is time to give an update on previous problems which I am pleased to say, are no longer J

Electricity – after 3 weeks of no electric in August (good in terms of at least you could bbq everything and were certainly warm enough, bad in terms of no aircon as it was more than warm enough and having to go to the supermarket all the time to get ice to keep the milk cool!!!) we eventually got a meter after a couple of trips to Rhodes meeting lawyers, so we are now connected in totality.

Water meter – this was actually a short process in the end, after paying the man at the town hall and not adding to the stamp collection (couldn’t believe it!!!) and only one follow up trip to the town hall to see if they still remembered us, the plumber turned up next door to connect their meter so Paul cornered him and managed to get ours done.

This only left us with one other thing to really do and that was get the Greek plates for the car which we did all of the paperwork for in England. Paul went along to the KTEO (their MOT place) today and after being sent on to customs he was told that he isn’t aloud to import his car as it is a light goods vehicle (Navara!!!) so after a chat about it and lots of ranting and paper work reading, they are going to phone Athens and come back to us in the next week to see if we can import it or not!! So fingers crossed or it will be drive back to the UK and sell it!!

So that’s a problems fixed and updated page and I’ll write another bit with the daily stuff!

Ancient Cameiros

Today Paul actually had a day off so for the first time since he started work we had a 2 day weekend which was fab! We decided to go and have a look at the west coast of the island and headed to Ancient Cameiros via a scenic route which took us off road accross the centre of the island which was lovely and true to the word, scenic indeed, filled with pine and olive trees all the way.

First stop was Kritinia castle (above), Kritinia clings to the side of Mt Atavyros which is a fantastic sight in its own right.

Some views of and from the castle

from Kritinia we drove to Ancient Cameiros which is now in ruins but still an impressive sight. It would sometimes be better if they labled things better out here so that you new what you were looking at! however som photos of the piazza, founstain square, temple of the gods etc

Finlay being a statue

me and my boy

We then drove back the scenic route again through the mountains but we clearly took a differet track to the first one as we came accross a lovely little church where the boys decided to cool off in the outdoor font/drinking fountain or whatever it was!!!

one of many churches you find about the place

thats nice :-)



update

We have had a telephone line and brooadband (may I add very fast broadband) at home now for 2 weeks and since having it I no longer seem to have time to update the blog!

Spent the last couple of weeks endlessly unpacking our stuff which although we sorted it out in Reading, we still have so much stuff that we dont need and no where to put it! Currently all of the tools, my work stuff, photos, books, ornaments etc are on our roof terrace waiting for a home! We have about 3 months until we'll get any rain so they can stay there until then. That in its self is quite strange knowing that you are not going to get any rain infact the only thing that has been happening with the weather is it getting hotter and hotter! It was 44deg yesterday at 5pm when I left to collect Paul from work!

Went to the Magic Kingdom with Karen and Ailbhie yesterday for a day out only when we got there, they dont open until 5pm (the Greeks are mad its for kids!) so ended up in a taverna with a play area trying to avoid the sun!!

We have a pool licence so the only thing left is the electrcity which seems like a mess! the builder is saying he doesnt know where the invoices are for the house and we can not get an electric meter without the invoices, strange system but thats the way it is, so we live in fear that we will just get cut off one of these days (again)

Paul is now at 40 dives and has done some of his skills tests so thats all going in the right direction. I think a work life on the beach is suiting him!

Ive got as far as putting up some PT posters today but dont hold out much hope in this weather but we will see what happens, until then there is always chocolate!!!

so no major disasters to report, in fact all is well in the Villa Avreo ;-)

The day has come ....... the container has arrived!

So Saturday was the big day we've been waiting for (1 month late).. the arrival of the container and naturally it didn't go to plan!

The previous Thursday I had a phone call to say that our stuff had cleared customs and I had to pay an additional 400euros for the pleasure of it being stuck in Athens for a week (storage) even though it wasn't my fault and I didn't want it stuck in Athens. I reluctantly paid it and it would be with us the next day Friday.

Friday came and went.

Saturday I had a call and they said they were coming and would be leaving Rhodes at 10am and arrive with us at 11am. At 10am I had a phone call telling me there was a problem and they would leave at 12am. At 12 I phoned them and they said there was a problem and would phone me back, at 2pm I phoned them and there was still a problem but they hadn't forgotten about me! At 3pm I phoned them and shouted a lot. At 4pm a bloke phoned me to say he was in Pilona where were we, I rushed off in excitement to meet them and guide them in. I parked behind them to make sure that they couldn't go anywhere.
Half an hour later they were still trying to open the container! I kid you not, 3 grown men were hanging off the back of it trying to get the bolt out! They had hammers and saws and whatever else I had begged and borrowed from the neighbours, eventually with a final blow of an axe it opened and the first thing I saw was one of our plants which amazingly was still alive after the 2 months it has been in the dark. There was then a heated debate about something and they started taking out the boxes and putting them on the drive, I think not so after a heated debate by myself they started taking boxes into the house. I was on my own as Paul was at work so they started using 3 doors at the same time and dumping stuff where ever they liked, I started chasing them round getting them to move things, some they did, some they didn't. I tried taking big things out of boxes like the chairs as they were meant to take the debris away with them but it wasn't quite working like that.
A couple of hours later we were surrounded by boxes, Paul was home and had got them to sign something saying they hadn't unpacked so anything broken we didn't know about. We have managed to unpack quite a lot but there is still plenty to do, due to lack of storage so it is all on the roof terrace!

You may have heard of Greek time, but until you experience it you will never understand it!

Mums holiday

My Mum has been here for a week which was nice and Finlay and I got to be tourists :-0

We went up the accropolis in Lindos on a donkey and explored the little white streets, we visited a couple of beaches and sunbathed. We went to the valley of the butterflies and a long morning in Rhodes medival town

There was also a medival night on the sunday of Mums birthday in Lindos so had some dinner out then watched the singing on the square for a bit

Lovely week 

Bits and bobs

The saga so far....

Furniture, i finally got a phone call yesterday (Thursday) to tell me that my paper work had been received (I had since gone through the procedure again and this time couried it to them!!!) that it had cleared customs and was ready to come to us! yeahhhhh, however.... I had to pay an additional 400euro for storage in Athens for the week that it has spent sat there waiting for my paperwork! So because my next day, recorded delivery letter took a week to get there, we have to pay 400euro for storage, this caused another argument but she said that it was port fee's and that there was nothing to be done about it!! So i'm not holding my breath but it should be here today or tomorrow but no phone call yet!!

OTE (telephone and Internet) it turned out on Tuesday that OTE had cancelled our order although no one knows why! so I had to go into Rhodes with a guy from ECS to try and rescue the situation and get it re-ordered! they saved it on the system and has been ordered and sent through to the engineers. We now sit and wait yet again to see when they phone us to come out

Pool licence - we are now into the process of our pool licence, we have been to the police station for a million more stamps on bits of paper and transferred some money, we even have a receipt!

Electricity - still no further forward

Tax - still no further forward

water meter - still no further forward

however it seems to be a good week so far!!!

Loops now sending me mad!

So following on from last blog about customs! I visited the ploice this morning who told me that they couldnt sign the form because it had english on it! I need a stamp from the embassy! so 4 hours later I have been to KEP (No idea) office got it signed (Icheated by editing document on word to remove Greek) and faxed it, they then phoned to say they also needed it posting, I lost it, shouted a lot and hung up! I have now posted it though so we shall wait and see.................

telephones

We have now been waiting 7 weeks for our connection which should take a week! every day they say they are coming and they dont! last week we had a break through and they gave us a telephone number but then they went on strike and they still havent been!
whenever you chase them they feed you a load of rubbish about having tried to phone you although your phone hasnt rung once!!

Hoops, Loops and Stamps!!!

The Greeks love their stamps and they love making things as complicated as possible! i think it must keep people in work!
I eventually got a phone call from the shipping comany the other day saying that our container was due to arrive in Athens on saturday. They explained that they had sent me an email with an attachement and instructions so up to the bakery I went. I have to fax them a copy of my passport, my tax number and print off a copy of a form, fill it in witnessed by police and fax them that! the first 2 are done now! karen let me use her printer so I have document. Thursday 9am, 1pm and 4:30pm, Friday 8am and 5pm, this morning (monay) 805am I went to the police station in Lindos to try and get the form witnessed and I havent found a police man or the place even open!! what is that all about!
I need a police stamp on my paperwork for the customs clearence and our belongers will go no further until I have this, the Greeks love their paperwork and we have no furniture...still!
There is always tomorrow and a different police station!

Electricity or not!!!!

Sat eating breakfast and the electric went off, by 1pm i moved contents of freezer to neighbours, by 4pm i moved content of fridge to neighbours, we ate out that night!
next day waited for neighbours to get up so could ask for milk for breakfast!! lunch was cold anyway and in cafe as neighbours had gone out, mid afternoon electrictastic Paul jacked us in somewhere!!! 4 days later we still dont have official electrcity but as least its free!
It sure is testing at times here :-)

Beaches

bannana tree's and cats

We have a bannana tree, free of charge :-) we made it to the garden centre last night and after buying a huge terracotta pot and a couple of plants they gave us a bannana plant for free which I thought was very nice of them! it is positioned at the end of the pool.
We seem to have a new out door cat which appears for food every now and then, which is fine by me although I think Paul is worried we might end up with millions of cats :-)
Went for a walk this morning and while passing Karen and Laurences house I heard a meow and eventually figured out that there was a cat stuck in their engine!! opened it and out popped a kitten!
Just taken Finlay to the toilet in this cafe and out popped a kitten!!

views and bbq's

Our house ...

Our house from the front wall

thunder storms and sim cards!!

Well the weather in Greece isnt all that its cracked up to be lol
we have had 2 days of thunder storms this week, on the first Paul had gone to Rhodes to look at fencing bits and to do jobs! I was about to go for a walk when Karen and Alby appeared to play so we went to the famous Donald Duck cafe where i type this from, Finlay and Alby had fun playing and chatting then went to walk home and they jumped in all the puddles, i'm not joking I had to strip Finlay at the door and shower him, I took his pants off and he actually had a tide mark of mud around his waist!!!

SIM cards, we managed to find a WIND ( i kid you not) shop in archangleos so we bought 2 SIM cards, tried them that night and they didnt work. Went to Rhodes the next day and found shop, the man activated Pauls and said that the other shop hadnt! his then worked. Paul took mine back to original shop yesterday where he had an argument about it and

We are here!

Well we are all here now! sorry for delay in update but would have been hard doing this from my phone but have just discovered that Finlays favourite cafe (Donald duck outside) has 2 pc's with Internet access

So Finlay, the cats and I arrived last Saturday night about 10pm, it was quite bizarre stood waiting for the luggage and out popped Foxy and Jack on the carousel!! after a few adjustments to the car I had hired I managed to squeeze everything in and off we set! Once at the house I managed to sort the cats and Finlay out by midnight and then fell into bed myself around 1am!

Sunday morning awoke all excited opened the shutters and it was raining!! was not impressed and thats how it continued for the rest of the day so we did super market shopping and house stuff.
Monday very cloudy so i ventured to Rhodes city to sort my bank card out which had stopped working, what you have to understand about the city is there are no cars parks, so after doing a couple of laps I found a space and then even though it was quite chilly got very hot and flustered trying to reverse park a car on wrong side of road with controls on wrong side of car lol, anyway I managed it with not too big a traffic jam behind me! walked into bank and copied other people by taking a ticket and sitting and waiting for something to happen after about 10 mins I asked a bloke at a desk who said no problem sit down and we make new card now, 10 minutes later I had a new card and pin number!
Phoned the lawyer to enquire about tax numbers and she said to go and see her in half an hour so amazingly I managed to find the building from memory and entered bedlam with her on her mobile, talking to me as a client, her nephew on her lap and her sister yapping away! interesting but another success and walked out with tax numbers and copy of house contract so I was then able to wonder for a couple of hours looking for OTE which is the telephone provider, I found it in the end (after walking past it twice thinking it was a cash and carry!) ordered phone and broadband which they said would be a week and to fax a copy of my passport
Tuesday - located post office in Lindos to try and fax copy of passport to OTE but they has given me wrong fax number! so tried to buy a po box while there but after the bloke trying his keys and failing he got stressed and asked me to come back later! I am yet to return! instead i drove back to Rhodes and handed it over myself, we will see if a week is a week or not!

Paul arrived yesterday (Thursday) 2 days early after a good trip over and I will leave him to tell his tales on this but he is in 1 piece and arrived with lots of wine and pasta from Italy ;-) so as it was hot yesterday we had our first bbq to celebrate his arrival

I have left Finlay with Paul getting the frogs out of the swimming pool so that Paul can clean it and get it filled up. I have had various arguments with the removal company, ebay and the estate agents in England so needed a PC to sort things out and I think I am just about there!

So i will make the 4 minute walk home now and see if the frogs have gone ;-)

The Greek Embassy

For those of you who have never visited a Greek embassy - you should put it on your bucket list.
I've been there twice now to gain a permit to import my car to the sunny Isle of Rhodes.  Let me try to paint a picture for you.  Holland Park is a rich very well kept area with an abundance of foreign embassies there - all in large white beautiful buildings.  Nestled amongst them is a brick edifice that belongs in the sixties.  Inside its like stepping back to the 60's in terms of fixtures and fitments.  So you queue up an alley way (no really!) to get in.  Then you are in the back garden where they have attached 2 offices - one for residency permits and the other for business and vehicle permits.  There is no way to distingsuish which office does which from the outside and I queued patiently for 35 minutes in th eworng one on my first visit.  Still its only part of your life.
Its chaos and not really organised either!  They have a set of mill boards that they write your name on then call you randomly and not in order.  The scurity door is wedged open and they all talk at a million miles an hour, poke each other and rant rant rant gesticulating like people having a fit!  You sit down and show them the documents they have listed on their web site and then they hit you with it.
Where is your wifes and sons passports?  But they are not on the list you say.  A shrug and they say we need them its the law.  So I get them to write me a list of what I must bring. and go home.  £44 wasted of fares.
Second go - Later! 

Getting ready to go

Well there are only 4 days to go until we leave the UK...
Tomorrow Paul will embark on the trip to the Greek embassy (again) to try and get the documents for exporting his car! Thursday morning the removal company arrive and start the task of packing up our worldly goods, we will then spend Friday surrounded by boxes watching the big wedding and waiting for the container to arrive on Saturday morning.
Once we are packed up Paul will drive the cats, Finlay and I to the airport, drop us off and head down to folkstone to continue his journey by road.
I will fly with the cats and Finlay and have an interesting time the other end trying to juggle them, the suitcases, pushchair and hire car arrangements! It could all go Greek :-)