We are still in the middle of our forced Pandemic retreat. The days seem to be blending into each other and most days I have no idea what date, day or time it is. I write what we ate and did in my calendar so I can keep track of days and dates. Its a bit like ground hog day, although we try to do little things to add a bit of variety.

Today Tim is polishing the deck and Nina is peeling some stickers off the boat from the charter company. Last week Tim washed down the deck as the boat looked filthy after those strong winds and the rain. A brown dust settled all over the boat and we found out later that it was part pollen and part dust from the Sahara desert. The boat looked so shiny after the wash down.

Armando, the guy we bought our boat off, has kindly allowed us to send courier parcels to his private address. He brought our water-maker over last week and Tim unpacked it and tried to figure out where to put all the parts. We were so grateful the water-maker just made it in time.

Nina and I went to do our weekly grocery shop and we looked like camels coming back. I did make it to the jetty, but had to get Nina to get Tim to help the last few meters. I had one backpack on the back, one on the front and 2 bags either side in my hands. Nina had a backpack too. Its quite something to carry groceries for a whole family for a whole week, but we try to limit our outings to places where other people are as best as we can. The supermarkets are fully stocked and not too busy, its pretty much in and out really quickly and efficiently, none of the long lines and empty shelves we hear about from New Zealand.

We try to take Lucy for a walk every day, but she has to be on a lead most of the time, which she is not used to. She used to run free in the dog park in New Zealand, so I try to take her to the beach sometimes for swim so she gets exercise in. But she doesn’t like the waves, she only goes in if the water it is still. Last week an older Greek Lady shouted at me and Nina when we were at the beach with Lucy swimming. Of course I had no idea why she was shouting or what she was saying, so it left us a bit shaken. The Greeks in general seem so speak very loud and to be shouted at is something I haven’t got used to yet. The other day a police men shouted at me and Nina when we were walking Lucy in the marina, when we told him we lived on a boat he waved and drove off. Then the toilet cleaner shouted at us too, because we had Lucy with us. I think she thought we let Lucy do her business on the pubic toilet, which of course we don’t. When Nina and I walked to the supermarket the other day we witnessed 2 woman having a serious looking shouting match in front of a bank with one woman pointing her finger at the other gesticulating wildly entertaining the whole street, while the other woman backed off looking slightly worried but shouting back. It frightened us both. So now I am walking around slightly worried, because each time I get shouted at I have no idea what they are talking about and how to defend myself. Tim keeps saying its the culture and its true, there is so much shouting going on in the Marina and I am pretty sure it doesn’t have the same meaning as if someone shouts at you in New Zealand. Nina and I still try to collect smiles on our walks. Nina recons its like collecting Easter eggs – collecting smiles and we have collected a few more smiles than shouts to be fair.

Jonathan and Dot are an Australian couple we met on the opposite Jetty. They bought a Catamaran called Sunday and are the loveliest people. We are so lucky to have them around. Dot gifted us a Tupperware chopper pot thingy, with which I can now make hummus, whip cream etc. They loaned us their scrabble game, so we have something to play with the kids and their movie hard-drive, so the kids can watch some movies.We played more scrabble in the last few days than in our whole lives. They also found a football for Luca on one of their walks and he was so happy and thrilled about it. We had them around for scones one afternoon and yesterday they made a Easter hunt on their catamaran for the kids and we had tea and scones together. It feels like we have known them for ages. Also they have a washing machine, so Dot did 2 loads of washing for us after all those rainy and windy days. Tim and the kids went over to their Cat to look at their mast light, which is broken. Jonathan is not keen on going up the mast and Tim and Luca didn’t mind. They didn’t manage to get it off though to investigate further.

The last few days have been beautifully sunny and calm. The days before that we had the most unpleasant strong wind and rain. One night looking on the weather map the wind indication was all bright red. I was lying in bed all night waiting for the mast to break off. It didn’t luckily but it was very rowdy. I was so glad that we were tied safely in a marina and not out in an anchorage somewhere. It was a good opportunity to get used to the noises the boat makes when its windy and how sturdy it really is
Tim and I had a try to record some yoga sessions on our deck once the weather improved. We had a few trials and errors, but managed to figure out video and sound finally we think. Tim is just uploading the first video today. It felt good to get back into teaching even its just camera’s I am talking to. Those videos will be available for our Patreons and people can subscribe to our Patreon channel just for the yoga or just for the sailing or for both. I have had the chance to do a few practices myself too, which feels so nice. There is no real space in the boat to practice when the weather is bad, other than the bed, so I am grateful for the summery days to practice on the deck.

I have been worrying about our boxes being stuck in New Zealand alot and at the same time I feel guilty, as its such a miniscule problem in the scheme of things looking at whats going on in the world. But those boxes have all our precious last things in them, that would be so useful right now. Games, movie harddrives, the kids school things, arts materials, boat books, guide books, yoga books and journals, sunscreen, our whole medical kit, supplements, our togs, tools, speakers, kids toys, kitchen stuff etc. etc. At this stage we don’t know when airservices might recommence for cargo to Athens or if we might be able to ship them. Its not only the financial value of everything that is in there, but also the sentimental value of the few things we have left. Fingers crossed we can reunite with our belongings soon.

We live in an ignorant bubble at the moment, as we can’t watch TV news or read the newspaper and only have limited data to read what is going on online. Armando comes over some days and checks that we are o.k. and he tells us if there is anything new happening.

Other than that we are well and healthy and we hope that things are starting to improve for everyone soon and some sort of new normal can be re-established.

Thank you for being here and following us on our journey.