Friday 2nd November

We had a very early start this morning, so I think it is time to tell the story of the pine trees. When we bought our land the northern border was marked by a row of very tall, very thin pine trees, probably about 8 in number, which were all dead or dying. Once upon a time they were probably used as a barrier to the north wind, but as they had lost all their lower branches and been allowed to grow so tall and thin they were totally ineffective. We planted a new row of tight cypressus trees in front of them to do this job. We have kept them low and taken out the tops every year so that they have spread sideways to form a thick hedge, see blog of 26th October.
John cut down 4 of the trees as they became very dry and brittle, 3 very well, 1 not quite so well, which is another story. Two years ago we came back in March to find that 2 more had come crashing down as a result of very heavy falls of snow and strong northerly winds. Fortunately they did not damage the house, they scraped down the back wall, just bending a water pipe a little. They did take out a couple of lemon trees and almost completely fill the back garden until John could get the wood cut and stacked away.
So that leaves 2. They are in a position that if they fall they will certainly come crashing into the house. One is very dead and the top looks dry and brittle, and if it falls it will probably snap off. The other one is more robust, and about 25 metres high, looking at the most likely angle it could easily go right through the outdoor kitchen. Every time the wind blows strongly and I am hanging out the washing I keep glancing upwards to see if I ought to make a dash for it. For the last 2 years John has been trying to get these trees cut down. The problem is not just their height, they are also very close to to the electricity cables. They are also at the back of our land, and the only vehicular access is the old lane leading up to the church, which is several metres away and several metres lower, so a 'cherry-picker' isn't an option. Finally after months of to-ing and fro-ing, consulting all the agencies he knew of, and several he hadn't previously known about, he has been given a permit form the Forestry Department to get 1 tree cut down. The next thing he had to do was find someone who was prepared to cut it down and coordinate this with the Electricity Company, who would come and disconnect the cables. A week ago today he was told that they would come Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday of this week. Nobody came. Yesterday, when he went to ask the woodcutter if he knew when they would come, he met the man from the Electricity Company he had been speaking to. He came home with the glad tidings that they would be here at 07.00 to cut the tree down. So we set an alarm and John got up at 06.30. I was not so optimistic and stayed in bed until 07.45. Nobody came.
John went down to the Electricity Offices yet again. The new day is Tuesday. We will see.
With the early start it felt like lunchtime by 11.00 o'clock. It was a beautiful day again, it is so warm and sunny. I did a bit more pruning, cutting the grape vine out of the fence, and went down to see Koula. Effie, our Karystos Estate Agent brought a group of French/Greek people to look at the house. It was like a whirlwind, they rushed through and didn't really look at anything very well, so it wasn't a very satisfactory experience. I expect they have other properties to look at in the area, maybe we will learn later if they are interested.
After they had gone we decided to treat ourselves and go out to lunch at the port again. November 2nd and it was too hot to sit in the sun, although there was a brief 10 drops of rain. I had my same plate of small fish and John had squid.
We went mushrooming yet again, but this time brought them home to clean as it became increasingly more overcast. There were lots, obviously the season has really begun now. There was a light shower, but it is still very warm.