Keep calm and carry on!

Keep Calm and carry on!

It is not enough to have to cope with the constant heat, but we seem to be at odds with everything we have tried to do this week. I groan when I wake each morning and hear the cicadas chorus and realise that it is going to be yet another hot day. This morning it was 36' by 10am and now it is in the mid-40's. It is one thing to be physically hot and bothered, but add to that a mental state of hot and bothered and it is then we realise that the state of being frustrated can only be fully experienced when in Greece.

We try to book our British Airways flights between London, Heathrow and Athens as soon as possible. This way we can take advantage of the cheapest flights. Because Olympic Airlines have a habit of running forward their existing schedule for 11 months, despite knowing that it will change between summer and winter timetables, we leave their bookings until later. We have long since given up trying to second guess what they are going to do. This trip we took a gamble that the two Olympic flights on a Wednesday from Athens to the island, would still be operating throughout the summer. Hence by booking the 6.30am flight out of Heathrow and the 19.00 flight out of Athens we felt confident that we would be able to come through both trips in a day. This system worked well and we came out last month in just that way.

Now we are due to return to the UK in late August and come back to the island some 3 weeks later. Again I have booked out UK to Greece legs of the journeys with British Airways without problems. For some reason that I now cannot remember I only booked one-way tickets out to Kythera. Two days ago I went to the Olympic Airlines website to book our flight to Athens at the end of the month and returning a few weeks later; what do I find but the flights are fully booked. The earliest available tickets are some 10 days prior to the date we wish to fly.  This seems contrary to the reports in the newspapers about internal flight sales being 30% down on the normal summer booking. This is despite the fact that taverna owners, shop keepers, hoteliers are all telling the same story of reduced number of tourists! Something doesn't add up.

As usual, with our travel arrangements, I revert to 'Plan B'. Thankfully it is quite safe to leave our car in Glyfada, and catch the bus to the airport. And, we will only be away for a short time. Normally when going by car we would take a leisurely trip and visit some of our favourite haunts in the Peloponnese: Sparta, Mistras, Kaifus Thermal Baths, Naphplion to name a few. But in August there is no point in travelling to these places and paying high season rates in hotels. Also, we need to be back quickly as Waldo's son, son's partner, partner's sister and sister's husband are arriving a few days after we get back and we need to get the house ready for them. So we decided to just spend just one night on the way back as we will have plenty of time to travel from Athens airport to stay in Sparta. The following day we could take a leisurely drive to Githion, have a pleasant lunch on the quay side and take advantage of the cheaper fares of the subsidised ferry from Githion to Kythera in the afternoon. This journey takes about 3 hours, but does cut out some twisting minor roads to come down the Cape Maleas peninsular.

We could not take this ferry to Githion on our outward journey as it's schedule does not fit in with our outward flight from Athens. But this doesn't matter; the 'little' ferry from Kythera to Neapoli makes the two hour return journey 2, 3, 4, sometimes 5 times a day in the summer. This  ferry, although a much shorter distance, is 50% more expensive than the other ferry, because it is not subsidised.  And it adds about 2 hours driving each way to the journey. Tickets cannot be booked via the Internet and so today, when we were in Potamos and decided to call in to the travel agency and book our tickets. By catching the early morning ferry we could easily catch our evening flight from Athens. No additional cost of overnight hotels and meals. But, no, nothing is as simple as that. For some reason best known to someone, the schedule is now such that there is only one ferry trip from Kythera to Neapoli on the day we want to travel - and it is far too late for us to make our flight connection! So we have yet another overnight stay to pay for.

I think that we have travelled between Athens and Kythera in every way possible. On a few rare occasions we have come straight through in one day without hassle. Mostly it means overnight stays in Glyfada and the No. 96 Airport to Piraeus bus; a great service which runs about every 20 minutes 24 hours a day. But all buses are driven by wannabe-racing-drivers, there is usually standing room only, and trying to hang on, keep suitcases from sliding around and keep an eye on wallets, purses and handbags makes for a stressful hour. We have flown from Athens to Kythera only to turn back when the pilot finds that he cannot see the airport because of a cloud bank; it is what is known as a visual landing airport, which presumably means that the RADAR is either non-existent or not up to standard. We have come on the ferry from Athens; nice on the first time, but pretty boring after that as there is nothing to see except sea and there are no facilities worth mentioning. If we could idle our time over a nice meal it would be something. I have come by bus to Sparta - a six hour journey. Then onwards by bus to Neapoli - a difficult 5 hours journey where people seem to be taken to their front door's or dropped off at an entrance to a field where a car mysteriously flashes its lights. I have come from Athens airport by taxi whilst Waldo has rushed to the ferry and driven up to meet me. The number of times we have had last minute rushes to catch the ferry, drive to Athens to take visiting friends to catch their flight out of Athens; all because of bad weather, sudden and unexplained changes of flying schedule, even once only one air hostess was booked when the flight required two and thus the 'plane could not fly. Even now when we arrived a few weeks ago, whilst the flight took off on time from Athens, instead of taking our usual straight line flight to the island, we had to detour up towards Corinth and then over to Sparta, south to Githion and on to Kythera - because military aircraft from Kalamata were on exercise. I felt like shouting 'You can't afford the petrol - don't you know Greece is broke?' but who would have heard me?

To add to our frustration this week, we have been on the constant hunt for a man with a big machine to smooth our road. Whilst there are 9 houses and 18 farmers whose fields adjoin our mountain road it is an absolute disgrace, and impossible to come up unless using a 4-wheel drive vehicle. Eight years ago, the previous mayor did arrange for about half of the 8 miles to be cemented. Thankfully this cement road comes past our house and continues for about a mile further down the mountain, although in parts the cement is now breaking up, such was the quality of the mix. Below that is about half a mile of track which has remnants of 30-year old cement in places but is mainly just a rough track of potholes and stones creating craters guaranteed to break the suspension of any vehicle.

The current mayor has been promising for about 4 years now that the road will be finally cemented. Roads to almost every church on the island have been tarmacked, even though some churches are used just once a year. A beautiful road from the village where the mayor lives to the nearby beach has been tarmacked, despite the fact that it is rarely used as there is no taverna, snack bar or shade there. A few miles of road have been tarmacked when there is just one house on the road; apparently owned by some politician from Athens! We have been told that the tarmac plant on the island was not working, we have been told that there is no money for this work. We have been told that the work is scheduled for next year - which, like tomorrow, never comes! We have been told that there is a dispute with the people who live at the bottom of the road, by the corner which is the worst place of all. A petition with 70 signatures was presented to the mayor. He has received local Greek people, business people, Dutch people and us as we all, as individuals have complained about the road. All we get is empty promises about the works.

However, whenever we have been he has sent a man with a large grading machine to smooth out the worst bits of the road. This is fine for the summer, but once the winter rains come the water relandscapes the road again. This year the grading machine has not been sent at all. We have been told that the municipality no longer has a driver because of austerity measures. We have been told that one is coming within a week. We have been told that there is no money. We have been told that someone will be there in three days. we have been told that it is in the plan. We have been told that the engineer has been told to do it and it should have happened.

Last week there was great excitement between the inhabitants of the road - a big grader machine was parked in the village, not 200 metres from the bottom of the road. But that is where it has remained. Waldo has spent hours on the telephone, finding out who owns the grader. Andreas has been most helpful, but he cannot do anything to the road, even if we pay him. It is a municipal road and thus he cannot do anything unless he has instructions from the mayor. he will not get instructions from the mayor because he will not do any more work for the municipality until he gets paid what is owed him. Anyway the machine that usually comes is owned by the company of the man who is the deputy mayor. We have been to see him a number of times but he always declares that he cannot do anything, we have to see the mayor!

Last week the mayor promised it would be done by the end of the week. Since then we have not been able to get hold of him. Whever any of the girls on the switchboard see our telephone number coming up, the connection is disconnected. Waldo is not easily put off and so uses one or other of our mobile telephones. Even then, as soon as he starts speaking in English, and they recognise his voice, he is cut off. So we decided to go to see the deputy mayor and ask him why his machine is not doing our road. The answer was simple; the machine is not on Kythera, it is on a very small neighbouring island called Antikythera! Michaelis, a very handsome and intelligent looking man with kind eyes, not the person we usually see, but one of the three brothers owning the company, has promised that it will be back on Saturday and our road will be done. We wait ......