Summer in Skopelos
Is going to be very long now that junior has finished school for 3 months’. No, my finger didn’t slip, she has 3 whole months off school to prevent me getting any work done. She finished last Wednesday and then on Thursday evening we went to her school and looked at all the things she’s made and collected her folder full of drawings and various other scribblings. The next day we went back to collect her plastic bottle penguin, pasta mermaid, egg box octopus – you’re getting the general idea of the way things are going now aren’t you? They’d been following on from their recycling theme and re-using things to make other things that I’ll eventually have to recycle into bin fodder so that the apartment does not become overrun with ‘crafty’ things junior has created! She also proudly collected her certificate to show she’d been to school and her teacher informed us that not only was junior very intelligent but also very certain of what she wanted (we call that being a bolshie little madam) but hey, if they want to make that into a plus point, who am I to disagree?
Come July, junior will be spending the mornings at a friends house being entertained by her favourite teacher who is staying on the island for the next few months’ in order to supplement her income by looking after 5 or 6 children every day. Unfortunately come September she has another job to go to on the mainland which I know will break junior’s heart as she has really bonded with her. It’s a strange and rather cruel system over here that means when a teacher has just started out they have no say in where they are posted and they are moved on after a year. So come September junior will have another teacher to get used to, in fact not just one but two as one of the other teachers is leaving. Junior’s a resilient little sprout though so she should be okay.
Weather is really hotting up now although doomsayer Sean keeps telling me to wait until August and then I’ll know about heat! He is such a little ray of sunshine isn’t he? God knows how tabby will behave when it gets hotter as she has already taken to sleeping in the bath. I blame Sean (I usually do) for running some water into the bath for her to drink. She now considers it her private bowl and will spend hours sprawled out in there getting her belly and tail soaking wet.
We were in Alonissos at the weekend which really has a completely different feel to Skopelos. It’s a lot quieter (hard to believe I know) and more relaxed. Junior posed with a local for the photo below!
When we returned to Skopelos everything seemed so much bigger which shows really how immersed we have become in this island living. When there is a sudden influx of people, as there was over the bank holiday weekend, you really notice the difference in the feel of the place. Yet again Sean tells me I ain’t seen nothing yet as in August it will be wall to wall people and I won’t be able to get down the front let alone get a seat for something to drink. After August however, when the season starts to wind down, I can look forward to cooler days, less people and junior going back to school!
