How to translate 'cream crackered' into Greek!

How to translate 'cream crackered' into Greek!

The alarm goes off at 6.45 this morning. I groan and switch it off. After a wonderful evening last night, when we were honorary Dutch,being the only non-Dutch people in the party we eventually got to bed around 2am! Waldo and I have no knowledge of the Dutch language at all, but everyone speaks excellent English. The linguistic skills of the Dutch people really do out us to shame. It is rare that one of the party has to search for a word in English, but when they do a Greek word might be inserted into the language. In deference to the Greek taverna owner we order in Greek and the food just keeps coming. There are so many started on the table to sample and so when it comes to main courses Waldo and I share a beautiful fish of pork pieces cooked in a lemon sauce, served with potatoes and there are ample dishes of vegetables going around the table: all are grown by the taverna owner's family, totally organic and with minimum water. They are absolutely fantastic, full of taste and cooked to perfection. The only problem our Dutch friends had was that spread branches of the two walnut trees under which our long table had been set, were too low; with people of 6ft 7", 6ft 4", 6ft 2" leading the pack of almost six footers it was noticeable. Waldo and one lady in the group had no such problems.

Amazingly Waldo is up bright as a button and by 7.15am is dressed, breakfasted and out at work. Firstly he strimmers along the edge of the driveway where the extension will be laid. This was done last week but it is amazing how Triffids have grown! Then he puts out all the tools that he knows will be needed today: shovel, rake, wheelbarrow, brush, long hose pipe connections, power leads and pieces of wood to form edges for the cement. It never fails to amaze us how little equipment the workmen here bring with them. A young man turns up around 8.15, but no sign of Louli. Mario's first request is for water as he has just climbed up our mountain road. Louli arrives a short time later and similarly his first request is for water. I soon realise that each man drinks around one litre of cold water per half hour. Thus I have to set up a system of bottles of water in the freezer; they have no time to freeze but are good and cold.

At the back of the AcropoLiz is our old bath which we took out some years ago and replaced the space with a 'his 'n' hers' walk in double shower unit. The bath is made of caste iron and unless it is cut up, will be difficult to get rid of. Thus, Waldo has left it at the back of my office where, complete with bath plug, it collects water in the winter which is piped to our vines. As a turquoise enamelled 60s bath it does not enhance the garden but it is tucked away in a place where few people see it. This is now filled from the hose pipe so that there is ready water for the cement mixer. Waldo brings eight bags of cement down in the bucket of the Bobcat (aka Herakles) and sets them down near the cement mixer. The front edges of the extension are shored up, iron netting, which will strengthen the concrete, is laid. the work will be done in two parts to allow everyone to have a break. The division of labour is agreed. Louli dons old wellington boots for his job is to lay the cement, smooth it and angle it as required; this is where the skill lies. If the angle of flow of water on the finished area is not correct then we will have damp in the AcropoLiz or water collecting in some unwanted place. Mario is designated to spend the whole day filling the cement mixer with sand, cement, water, gravel and stone dust, making sure he keeps an even consistency and that he keeps up with Louli's requirements. Waldo's job is to drive Herakles and bring about 3 tons of gravel and stone dust from the top of the driveway, round the corner and down a very steep slope and tip it within shovel's distance of Mario. Because it is so steep he has to half load the bucket and then lift and tilt it to shake the contents to the back of the container. Then he repeats the movement, making sure that the bucket is not quite full. It has to be lifted and tiled on the way down, otherwise he would be leaving most of the contents over the back driveway. The slope is so steep that Waldo has to reverse Herakles back up the slope to stop the machine turning over.  At first Louli is concerned and tells Waldo to slow down, but after two trips he realises that Waldo is an experienced driver and knows how to handle the machine.

Although I am just about up by the time Mario arrived, I can't get myself moving very much today. But Waldo is having none of it and gives me a list of things to do. The first is to telephone the contractor who was due to come and smooth our mountain road by yesterday. The handsome Michaelis tells me that his driver will come in the afternoon. I question him as to whether it is today, afternoon or some vague afternoon in the future; but he assures me that it will be today. So I then call our neighbour to give her the good news. She says she will wait until the end of the day before telephoning the mayor to complain about the road. I decide to make some cakes. Louli and Mario will welcome some and our Dutch neighbours are bringing their extremely tall young visitors down to see the house some time over the next few days. I'm just deciding what to make when Waldo comes in for a drink. He has in his hand a large carrier bag of plums; one of the farmers who tends to his fields up this road stopped and gave them to Waldo. They are an amazing blue black with a silvery sheen on them and they are the real old fashioned egg shaped fruit, rather than the more round imported varieties that seem to be on the shelves of supermarkets these days. I wash one and cut it up. We share it. It is beautiful, but not squidgy ripe. I know that they will just go mouldy in this heat and decide that I must do something with them.

When Waldo has returned to his work, I plan mine. I have decided to make a sticky date and walnut loaf, some vanilla cupcakes into which mix I will add some chopped up home made loukoumes (we don't call it Turkish delight here!), some sultana scones and I will use the plums to make plum and cardamon jelly which will go nicely with the scones. I spend the while day pottering in the kitchen, in between being on water duty. I can here the shouts and calls between the men and marvel at the communication: Mario is Albanian and speaks little Greek, but that doesn't matter for Louli is Albanian and because his was brought up on the island his Greek is excellent but he speaks no English, although Waldo is surprised at how many more words Louli does know since he was last here. Waldo just has a few words of Greek but is an excellent and uninhibited mime artist. Louli calls Waldo affendico (a word brought into the Greek language via the Turkish affendi and meaning boss). Whilst it is not used much now, it is a familiar term of mutual respect given by both men. Mario clearly does not feel comfortable to use that, and as he does not know Waldo's name, calls him 'Pappa'; whether this is a reference to his greater age or whether Mario thinks Waldo's long beard means that his is some sort of part-time orthodox priest, we don't know.

My progress is good as the men work and have worked out a way to communicate. Usually I am constantly being interrupted to go and do some translating - Louli, whose Greek is not his first language, really understands me well and I him as his pronunciation is good and he speaks slower than most Greeks. But he is an excellent workman, knows what he is doing and always does an excellent job. Waldo trusts him implicitly and has seen what good preparation he had done for this concrete laying.

By lunch time, everyone is a bath of sweat and are glad of the break. I had assumed that the men would have brought their lunch, but it appears not. Cheese, tomatoes, cucumber, oil and bread disappears quickly, followed by half of my cakes. Waldo and Louli then set off to the builder's merchant to get more wire for laying in the concrete. Whilst they are gone, I return to my computer. I soon spot Mario wondering around the pool, then he picks up the top plank of the lizard ladder. I guess that he is looking for more wood to shore up the concrete. I dash outside and start to tell him why he can't have that piece of wood. In the middle of my speech, I realise the absurdity of what I am saying. Here I am, well past my prime telling this young man about green lizards and geckos going for water and not drowning, and about Freddy, whom I can't see and that I am worried because a big bird, with a big beak came yesterday and had his eye on him. I look apologetically at Mario - most British lads of his age would be laughing at this old woman ranting about pond life - but to my surprise he shows genuine care and concern. In his halting Greek he tells me that the pool needs cleaning and that we should have plants in it to put air into the water, even a fountain would be nice.

Our conversation is interrupted by the sight of our car coming up the road. On top of it there is a big coil of the iron netting. Waldo and Louli had rolled it up, Louli had found two of my shopping bags in the car which he used to protect the roof and they tied it securely on. Everyone in the village would now know that we were having work done around the house. Waldo was smiling at the Greek way of doing things. As it was during the heat of the afternoon, the builder's merchant's was totally deserted. Waldo and Louli wondered around until they found what they wanted and packed it up. Louli would tell the builder's merchant another day what he had taken and it would be added to the running bill.

The afternoon passes quickly. One litre of cold water per person per half hour. I just keep it coming. Realising that by tea time my supply of cakes will be wiped out I start baking again. I reminds me of a weekend when my aunt was ill and all the women of the family took it in turns to go to the farm and feed the men. I was about 16 at the time and at school, but considered competent enough in the kitchen to do a weekend stint. Excited at the responsibility I drove straight from school to the farm. Another aunt was there and had prepared tea - the table was groaning with food. She told me that she had a cooked ham, potato salad and tomatoes for supper. Everything was in place for the cooked meals over the weekend but there was a shortage of fruit pies and tarts for puddings. I set to and made four different fruit tarts, an apple crumble and a deep gooseberry pie. That would do for the weekend. I settled down for a relaxing weekend. I was totally unprepared for the appetites of men who do hard manual labour. The apple tart disappeared after supper. By Saturday afternoon I was shattered having been up at 5.30am to do tea and toast all round, then get a full cooked Welsh breakfast (bacon, sausage, eggs, black pudding, sliced tomatoes, beans and fried bread accompanied by pints of tea per person and followed by more toast) by 9am after the cows had been milked and the yard cleaned. Eleven in the morning was more pints of tea accompanied by slices of cold date tart. Lunch was a cooked meal. Tea meant a table groaning with sandwiches, cheese, cakes, fruit loaf and another of the tarts disappeared. Sunday morning meant baking six more tarts, more fruit loaves, a few sponges, rock cakes and the ubiquitous Welsh cakes. That might just last until Monday! Sunday evening I said my goodbyes to the four men and drove home, looking forward to going back to school for a rest!

Back in the heat the concrete driveway extension was complete. Louli and Mario vigorously set to cleaning and washing the cement mixer, wheelbarrow and all the tools. Not a speck of dust was left. They just stopped short of jumping in the bath of water - both bent over up to their waists in water. I called them up to the back patio where they demolished a whole watermelon between them and the remainder of my first batch of cakes.

Waldo is almost sleeping on his feet. The chaps are still bothering cleaning and he calls from my washing up to come and tell them it is time to go, he will drive them home, but they must go now. He laughs as he tells me that he has told them he is 'cream crackered', but they didn't understand! I wonder how I can translate that! Eventually they are ready. The cement mixer needs to be taken up the steep slope of the back driveway to the road where the owner is now waiting to put it on his trailer. Modern technology is brought into play. Waldo starts up Herakles, Louli steps onto the lowered bucket. He holds onto the cement mixer and Mario stands behind the mixer. No Health and Safety officers are around and so the convoy moves slowly up the slope, Herakles power just pulls and the men's muscles ripple and strain in the sunlight.

Waldo takes the men down to the village. When he comes back he has a smile on his face. he just says one word 'Tipota' - 'Nothing' and I know that yet again a Greek promise has been broken.  Waldo immediately goes to bed and falls soundly asleep. He does not even dream of a smooth mountain road!