This is the place where I can write things down and be sure that I can find them again.
But maybe if you are reading this you might be wondering who I am.....Well I am an English guy that now lives on Crete, the largest and possibly the most beautiful Greek island.
I first visited Greece in 1969 on an 'educational' cruise on the British India ship SS Uganda with 1500 or so other schoolchildren (that's what they mean by Murder on the High Seas, I think). All of us were from Sussex, and my group of course were from the Lewes County Grammar School for Boys, which later became the Priory School Lewes and is now some awful College of some sort.
All that aside, I fell in love with Greece from the moment I first set foot on it. Not just the archaeology, but everything else about it. It was like the land had a spirit all its own..........A feeling that was reinforced still further by a visit to Delphi, where I am sure the oracle still resides if you will only let it talk to you.
I spent years promising myself that I would return, and eventually I did, on a £79 package holiday to Crete in 2001. Six months later I was back again for another week. The next visit was to be one year later which was quite deliberate because during the second visit I really did not want to go, and strangely enough, neither did my partner!
Driving back from the Gatwick airport to Brighton we were stuck in a traffic jam, and casually I said to my partner 'Why don't we move to Crete?' By 10am the following morning the house was up for sale.
There followed 12 months of frustration as we dealt with a selection of useless estate agents and what seemed like an endless stream of time-wasting non-buyers! We put the price down, we changed the agents and changed the price again, until finally we changed the agent again and put the price up and found a buyer three days later!
The plan had been to leave the UK mid 2003, and knowing that we now had a buyer we decided on the 1st February 2004 as our departure date.
We were lucky enough to be able to stay with friends for 4 months before we left, surprisingly they are still friends, and as we didn't pay any rent, we agreed that they had about 8 months of free accommodation with us on Crete!
More to come soon, these old eyes are tired of sitting in front of the pc for many hours already today!
Wednesday 28 November 2007
Monday 26 November 2007
The Search for a Home
OK so the house was for sale and following the estate agents word, that it would sell quickly, yes even I can be gullible, I came back out two months later to look for property, that is December 2002.
Flying into Heraklion was like coming home......The familiar landscape....the airport......the drive to Hersonissos where I was staying for a week.
The only thing that was missing? Tourists. Not a single one in sight. The main road through Hersonissos was like a ghost town with newspapers blowing along the street and any minute I expected a lump of tumblewood to follow, with the sound of a creaking swinging sign or saloon door in the background, and to hear someone whistling the theme to a Fistfull of Dollars!
Property searching was the same as anywhere else, a bitter disappointment followed by elation, followed by disappointment when I got to look at the inside. We wanted something traditional but this didn't mean that it couldn't have a roof surely?
I particularly liked the place in Vrachasi and I am sure that we could have got rid of the smell of goat eventually, oh and that nice place that was split in two halves (very common here), it would have done fine because we could have put visitors in the 'sleepout', it was just the sheer climb up to it that was the problem.
As is usual around here I was eventually introduced to someone, in a bar, who had a place for sale. Voila, not quite what was intended but it had a roof, four rooms, one of those bed platforms up a few steps, an amazing stone fireplace, the old wine press as feature (in the bedroom), and three original arches. Needed some work to let a bit of light in, and another floor on top but so what!
Back to the UK in time for Christmas armed with photographs and a rough floor plan. Other half approved but wanted to see for himself, so planned on coming back in February 2003.
Arrived back again with partner....froze to death in apartment block designed for summer use, reverse cycle air con is no substitute for central heating. The wooden window frames let in lots of air, which is fine in summer but no good on Crete in February. (Why do so many people think that Crete basks in eternal sunshine? Blame it on the movies I think).
Choice of house is fully approved, existing owner doubles price, partner is exceptionally polite and resists temptation to tell him to go forth etc.
Back to Vrahasi to look at second choice, the one divided in two, except it is now divided into three as you now have to go outside and round the corner to get from the bedroom floor down to the living area, something to do with the new reinforced concrete floor and the fact they forgot to put a hole in it for the staircase. Never mind it can be fixed. Second look at 'eau de goat' property, still smelt the same.
Rather put off when the agent informs us that 'a lot of British people live here', but never mind the house in three parts will be OK, nice view across the valley and huge roof area. Oh yes and the clincher, it has two vines (believe me when I tell you it was a selling point).
{Short break there to stir the bean stew and pour another retsina.}
Right, so Vrahasi it is.
Or rather it was until that evening. Eating out in winter here is an experience even now. Wear something warm because you will need it on even inside. The woodburning stove is glowing red hot, even the metal chimney from it will give you third degree burns, but sit more than 2 metres from it and forget about being warm ever again.
General conversation among the locals....two more mad English people moving here, translations courtesy of a Greek friend, (amazing how at that time how few people here spoke English during the winter).
Greek mother, 'Where are they looking at houses?'
Her son, 'Vrahasi.'
Mother, 'Oh they can't live there.'
Son, 'Why not?'
Mother, 'It's not a good area'
Greek snobbery? Now that's something new. That was it anyway, Vrahasi was off the list.
I suppose Steve was right, how could we live somewhere if it wasn't a good area?
Back to the drawing board and back to the UK where house has still not sold..........Who buys houses in February? Certainly no one that wanted ours!
Flying into Heraklion was like coming home......The familiar landscape....the airport......the drive to Hersonissos where I was staying for a week.
The only thing that was missing? Tourists. Not a single one in sight. The main road through Hersonissos was like a ghost town with newspapers blowing along the street and any minute I expected a lump of tumblewood to follow, with the sound of a creaking swinging sign or saloon door in the background, and to hear someone whistling the theme to a Fistfull of Dollars!
Property searching was the same as anywhere else, a bitter disappointment followed by elation, followed by disappointment when I got to look at the inside. We wanted something traditional but this didn't mean that it couldn't have a roof surely?
I particularly liked the place in Vrachasi and I am sure that we could have got rid of the smell of goat eventually, oh and that nice place that was split in two halves (very common here), it would have done fine because we could have put visitors in the 'sleepout', it was just the sheer climb up to it that was the problem.
As is usual around here I was eventually introduced to someone, in a bar, who had a place for sale. Voila, not quite what was intended but it had a roof, four rooms, one of those bed platforms up a few steps, an amazing stone fireplace, the old wine press as feature (in the bedroom), and three original arches. Needed some work to let a bit of light in, and another floor on top but so what!
Back to the UK in time for Christmas armed with photographs and a rough floor plan. Other half approved but wanted to see for himself, so planned on coming back in February 2003.
Arrived back again with partner....froze to death in apartment block designed for summer use, reverse cycle air con is no substitute for central heating. The wooden window frames let in lots of air, which is fine in summer but no good on Crete in February. (Why do so many people think that Crete basks in eternal sunshine? Blame it on the movies I think).
Choice of house is fully approved, existing owner doubles price, partner is exceptionally polite and resists temptation to tell him to go forth etc.
Back to Vrahasi to look at second choice, the one divided in two, except it is now divided into three as you now have to go outside and round the corner to get from the bedroom floor down to the living area, something to do with the new reinforced concrete floor and the fact they forgot to put a hole in it for the staircase. Never mind it can be fixed. Second look at 'eau de goat' property, still smelt the same.
Rather put off when the agent informs us that 'a lot of British people live here', but never mind the house in three parts will be OK, nice view across the valley and huge roof area. Oh yes and the clincher, it has two vines (believe me when I tell you it was a selling point).
{Short break there to stir the bean stew and pour another retsina.}
Right, so Vrahasi it is.
Or rather it was until that evening. Eating out in winter here is an experience even now. Wear something warm because you will need it on even inside. The woodburning stove is glowing red hot, even the metal chimney from it will give you third degree burns, but sit more than 2 metres from it and forget about being warm ever again.
General conversation among the locals....two more mad English people moving here, translations courtesy of a Greek friend, (amazing how at that time how few people here spoke English during the winter).
Greek mother, 'Where are they looking at houses?'
Her son, 'Vrahasi.'
Mother, 'Oh they can't live there.'
Son, 'Why not?'
Mother, 'It's not a good area'
Greek snobbery? Now that's something new. That was it anyway, Vrahasi was off the list.
I suppose Steve was right, how could we live somewhere if it wasn't a good area?
Back to the drawing board and back to the UK where house has still not sold..........Who buys houses in February? Certainly no one that wanted ours!
Sunday 25 November 2007
Moving to Crete - Part the umpteenth.
Notice I use the normal size Arial font? This is because my eyes are rubbish and if I can see it so can anyone else!
OK we cannot move to Vrahasi, because it is not a 'good area', so were are back in the UK and feeling frustrated because we still have no buyer for the house.....In addition while we have been away the firm I worked for have gone bankrupt!
We start to de-clutter anyway.......The 6 boxes in the attic that came from my mother's house in 1993 are still there......With only a vague idea of what is in them we seriously have to think about what to do with the contents. Do we really need what is in them? In fact do we really need half the stuff we have collected over 20 years together? Hmmmm family heirlooms. Ebay to the rescue.
Always worry with Ebay that I am not getting a fair price and that the person who ends up with it knows its' true value and is getting a bargain. (Ebay now is a nightmare! I met some wonderful people on it 4 years ago and we still keep in touch. These days it's all dealers with feedback scores of 15,000, who want to buy something for nothing and resell it somewhere else).
We dispose of the things we really do not like, total surprise that anyone else wants them but that is their problem.
April arrives, car boot season, off to BHASVIC, Saturday morning with a boot load of science fiction books. Hoorah, they sell like hot cakes at a pound for three and seven for £2! General bric-a-brac does not sell too well. Strange position to be in, we have to go and buy more stuff to make it worthwhile going again! After the third visit nearly everything has gone, and what is left we give to the other traders at a bargain price.
Use money to buy air tickets for trip to Crete in June and one way ticket in October. Decision made we are leaving 1st February 2004 whatever happens.
Job prospects dire, Steve still fixing car bodies, me un-employable, back to temping. Even became a school 'dinner lady' for a while!
June is back to Crete, seems like all of Brighton and Hove are going to Crete! Flight over contains three people we know and a group of firemen from Hove, Elanora apartments at Anisarras will probably never be the same. Confirmed later that year as they refurbished them. Nearly beaten at Scrabble, in English, by owner's daughter and son, embarrassing!
Not a lot of house-hunting this time, we are coming back in October to do that, this time we are investigating work. Have found that Steve will not have too much problem continuing current trade, need to look for cafe or small bar for me. Have looked at a couple in Agios Nikolaos, very nice but a long way from where we want to live, maybe not a problem could always bed down behind the bar if all else fails!
A litlle house hunting as light relief.....Wonderful place in Hersonissos, two big apartments on two floors, surprisingly quiet considering it's only about 300 metres from the main road. Top floor let on long lease, owner's apartment in need of attention except it has the most amazing light fitting in the dining room. It would look well at home in a building with 'ODEON' written on the outside sometime in the late 20's/early 30's. Contains at least 25 light bulbs that I could count: Could be used as Solarium?
More land to look at...We are widening our horizons now, taking drives out for 30 minutes in each direction to see where we end up.
Sissi, Potamies, Pano Gouves, Gournes (no thanks, but nice bar for sale), Neapoli, Agios Nikolaos.
Lots of talking to Greeks and other migrants, not just Brits, about general situation re: work and general stuff. Nice holiday though.
Back to UK, row with current estate agent about lack of viewers, let alone buyers. Row with council over council tax, row with water board of imposition of charge to remove stormwater from house, surely they should pay us to collect it. Argue with cat over my right to space on bed, lost!
Notice interesting job ad., temporary contract for local company doing just what I am good at, 25K pa pro rata. September 2003 til January 2004, coincides beautifully with planned leaving date! First decent job since selling own business in 2002.
Things are on the up.......Many viewers to house in summer months. Oh God these peope are boring! Half of them from Crawley come to Brighton at the weekend to look at other people's houses. And yes we do know there is one for sale down the road at half the price of ours....Why don't you go and buy that one and leave us alone?
August 2003, change agents and put price up 5 Grand. (Existing agent says you will never sell it a that price). Even better new agent will deal on commission.....Cash in brown envelope!
Four viewings in three days, new carpet bought to tart the place up will be worn out at this rate. De-clutterisation continues, includes finding home for cat....It wasn't even ours in the first place, we adopted it (or vice versa) from next door.
Newly wed wife next door blocks drains with disposable nappies and baby wipes on morning of two repeat viewings, Dynarod (would like to meet HIM sometime) confirms problems are hers and queries why two gay men living together would need disposable nappies, unless they are about to enter Guinness Book of Records on age grounds if nothing else. (People can be so hurtful sometimes)
Success, an offer for house, rejected of course. Why do we go through this rigmarole all the time, we all know how much it is worth, when we bought the place in 1994 it was worth talking the price down as it took it out of the Stamp Duty bracket. We agreed then with the sellers that £3,000 was fittings and just paid the price they asked.
Final offer accepted for house in September. Also got highly paid temporary position applied for, along with permit to take holiday in October.
Silence from buyers.........Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
Off to Crete for two weeks in October....Oh this place is so much like home, every time we leave we get homesick.
House hunting with avengance this time. Sissi it looks like, as a likely place, some good sounding properties at a good sounding price.
Staying at Iokasti in Koutouloufari again...with all our friends nearby.Sissi is not that far is it?
Estate agent has two lots of people viewing at the same time...Good girl that's the way to do it!
First, 6500 square metres of olive grove and citrus, interesting house, not quite big enough, but there is a stone built sleep out with bathroom in the garden for guests. Close to beach where there is a large all-inclusive hotel, sell citrus fruits to passing tourists? And also the income from the olives.
Next, standard reinforced concrete 'blockhouse' from 1970's. Interesting marble floors, nice touch an outside door in every room, bathroom nice, kitchen needs work. Possible to build another floor, steps outside already there, used frequently by goats that owner has kept in garden.
Third, new build, this time one that is a real property (we had lost count of the times we were shown 'holiday' properties, fine for a fortnight but not for life!). Currently used a as a shop, can be reconfigured as a house. Nice garden, big parking area, views, not too many neighbours.
Solicitor in Brighton phones on mobile, "We exchanged contracts, can we complete in two days time?"
Us, "No, we are on holiday, completion date will be 15 th November 2003"
Investigate value of olives, disappointed with result, seems ridiculous considering the price fo decent olive oil, but we can grow more things to sell, OK then offer on first property with 6500 square metres of olive grove.
Offer rejected, other couple that looked with us have already paid deposit (in 12 hours?).
Property number two rejected by us as too built up.
Offer made on number three, accepted by owner, we return to Koutouloufari elated, and to UK in similar emotional state two days later.
You don't really think this is the end of it, do you?
OK we cannot move to Vrahasi, because it is not a 'good area', so were are back in the UK and feeling frustrated because we still have no buyer for the house.....In addition while we have been away the firm I worked for have gone bankrupt!
We start to de-clutter anyway.......The 6 boxes in the attic that came from my mother's house in 1993 are still there......With only a vague idea of what is in them we seriously have to think about what to do with the contents. Do we really need what is in them? In fact do we really need half the stuff we have collected over 20 years together? Hmmmm family heirlooms. Ebay to the rescue.
Always worry with Ebay that I am not getting a fair price and that the person who ends up with it knows its' true value and is getting a bargain. (Ebay now is a nightmare! I met some wonderful people on it 4 years ago and we still keep in touch. These days it's all dealers with feedback scores of 15,000, who want to buy something for nothing and resell it somewhere else).
We dispose of the things we really do not like, total surprise that anyone else wants them but that is their problem.
April arrives, car boot season, off to BHASVIC, Saturday morning with a boot load of science fiction books. Hoorah, they sell like hot cakes at a pound for three and seven for £2! General bric-a-brac does not sell too well. Strange position to be in, we have to go and buy more stuff to make it worthwhile going again! After the third visit nearly everything has gone, and what is left we give to the other traders at a bargain price.
Use money to buy air tickets for trip to Crete in June and one way ticket in October. Decision made we are leaving 1st February 2004 whatever happens.
Job prospects dire, Steve still fixing car bodies, me un-employable, back to temping. Even became a school 'dinner lady' for a while!
June is back to Crete, seems like all of Brighton and Hove are going to Crete! Flight over contains three people we know and a group of firemen from Hove, Elanora apartments at Anisarras will probably never be the same. Confirmed later that year as they refurbished them. Nearly beaten at Scrabble, in English, by owner's daughter and son, embarrassing!
Not a lot of house-hunting this time, we are coming back in October to do that, this time we are investigating work. Have found that Steve will not have too much problem continuing current trade, need to look for cafe or small bar for me. Have looked at a couple in Agios Nikolaos, very nice but a long way from where we want to live, maybe not a problem could always bed down behind the bar if all else fails!
A litlle house hunting as light relief.....Wonderful place in Hersonissos, two big apartments on two floors, surprisingly quiet considering it's only about 300 metres from the main road. Top floor let on long lease, owner's apartment in need of attention except it has the most amazing light fitting in the dining room. It would look well at home in a building with 'ODEON' written on the outside sometime in the late 20's/early 30's. Contains at least 25 light bulbs that I could count: Could be used as Solarium?
More land to look at...We are widening our horizons now, taking drives out for 30 minutes in each direction to see where we end up.
Sissi, Potamies, Pano Gouves, Gournes (no thanks, but nice bar for sale), Neapoli, Agios Nikolaos.
Lots of talking to Greeks and other migrants, not just Brits, about general situation re: work and general stuff. Nice holiday though.
Back to UK, row with current estate agent about lack of viewers, let alone buyers. Row with council over council tax, row with water board of imposition of charge to remove stormwater from house, surely they should pay us to collect it. Argue with cat over my right to space on bed, lost!
Notice interesting job ad., temporary contract for local company doing just what I am good at, 25K pa pro rata. September 2003 til January 2004, coincides beautifully with planned leaving date! First decent job since selling own business in 2002.
Things are on the up.......Many viewers to house in summer months. Oh God these peope are boring! Half of them from Crawley come to Brighton at the weekend to look at other people's houses. And yes we do know there is one for sale down the road at half the price of ours....Why don't you go and buy that one and leave us alone?
August 2003, change agents and put price up 5 Grand. (Existing agent says you will never sell it a that price). Even better new agent will deal on commission.....Cash in brown envelope!
Four viewings in three days, new carpet bought to tart the place up will be worn out at this rate. De-clutterisation continues, includes finding home for cat....It wasn't even ours in the first place, we adopted it (or vice versa) from next door.
Newly wed wife next door blocks drains with disposable nappies and baby wipes on morning of two repeat viewings, Dynarod (would like to meet HIM sometime) confirms problems are hers and queries why two gay men living together would need disposable nappies, unless they are about to enter Guinness Book of Records on age grounds if nothing else. (People can be so hurtful sometimes)
Success, an offer for house, rejected of course. Why do we go through this rigmarole all the time, we all know how much it is worth, when we bought the place in 1994 it was worth talking the price down as it took it out of the Stamp Duty bracket. We agreed then with the sellers that £3,000 was fittings and just paid the price they asked.
Final offer accepted for house in September. Also got highly paid temporary position applied for, along with permit to take holiday in October.
Silence from buyers.........Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
Off to Crete for two weeks in October....Oh this place is so much like home, every time we leave we get homesick.
House hunting with avengance this time. Sissi it looks like, as a likely place, some good sounding properties at a good sounding price.
Staying at Iokasti in Koutouloufari again...with all our friends nearby.Sissi is not that far is it?
Estate agent has two lots of people viewing at the same time...Good girl that's the way to do it!
First, 6500 square metres of olive grove and citrus, interesting house, not quite big enough, but there is a stone built sleep out with bathroom in the garden for guests. Close to beach where there is a large all-inclusive hotel, sell citrus fruits to passing tourists? And also the income from the olives.
Next, standard reinforced concrete 'blockhouse' from 1970's. Interesting marble floors, nice touch an outside door in every room, bathroom nice, kitchen needs work. Possible to build another floor, steps outside already there, used frequently by goats that owner has kept in garden.
Third, new build, this time one that is a real property (we had lost count of the times we were shown 'holiday' properties, fine for a fortnight but not for life!). Currently used a as a shop, can be reconfigured as a house. Nice garden, big parking area, views, not too many neighbours.
Solicitor in Brighton phones on mobile, "We exchanged contracts, can we complete in two days time?"
Us, "No, we are on holiday, completion date will be 15 th November 2003"
Investigate value of olives, disappointed with result, seems ridiculous considering the price fo decent olive oil, but we can grow more things to sell, OK then offer on first property with 6500 square metres of olive grove.
Offer rejected, other couple that looked with us have already paid deposit (in 12 hours?).
Property number two rejected by us as too built up.
Offer made on number three, accepted by owner, we return to Koutouloufari elated, and to UK in similar emotional state two days later.
You don't really think this is the end of it, do you?
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