Anniversary 2

Today is the second anniversary of our move to Skopelos and Sean is stuck in Volos! He was supposed to be on the ferry this morning but the weather turned overnight and the boats are no longer running. If you couple bad weather with a not very full boat then you get no sailing, however if you couple the same bad weather with a full boat due to it being Saturday, then you get sailing! Sean has been told that if the weather is the same tomorrow then the ferry will still be going although it won’t be going to Alonissos. Poor people of Alonissos seem to get the cacky end of the stick.
I didn’t expect the turn in the weather as junior and I were on the beach yesterday where, although cold, it was bright.

Okay, that big dark cloud should have made me realise a change was on the way but I just thought it would rain, not throw up gale force winds.
We were both well wrapped up against the cold but we still had to run around quite a bit just to keep warm. I love running on the sand (especially when no-one’s looking) as I just feel like a child again, helped by the fact then when junior and I are alone together I become a 6 year old as well. I don’t mean I abdicate all responsibility but rather I see things as she sees them, see the pleasure in dragging a stick along the sand, drawing pictures on the beach, throwing pebbles and climbing rocks to claim the beach as our own.

Junior has now spent 2 years’ in Skopelos after spending her first 2 years’ in Ireland and then the next 2 in England. What have I learned after my 2 years’ here?

1. I should have started to learn Greek whilst we were still in England, before we moved here and got bogged down in the minutiae of life.
2. Just the process of moving to a small island does not mean life will suddenly become more relaxed.
3. If you need money to survive then you have to follow where the work is.
4. Island life isn’t for everyone – it depends if you can live with everyone knowing your business, or if they don’t know it, then making something up!

There are lots of other things I have come to realise as well but I can’t put them down without being accused of libel! Junior is happy though, life is good for her, although Sean and I seem to be in the same position as we were in England, him out or away working and me holding the fort at home. Time for a change? I think so.