Where did the Last Week Go?
I can't believe it's over a week since I posted on the blog. It only seems like yesterday, I can only assume that now I'm working & it's all new the days are flying by. The job seems to be going fine by the way & I'm enjoying it.
I've been keeping in touch with Justine & Simon since they left on their travels to Australia. They spent a few days in London & also in Hong Kong & I can report that they have now arrived safely in Sydney, Australia. I have to now be really concious of the time difference when texting etc as they are now 9 hours ahead of me.
I was able to enjoy a web cam conversation with them both this morning on MSN. It was great being able to see & hear them from so far away. Simon pulled me up about not having updated this blog as I am always pulling him up for not regularly doing his. I thought I had better make a concerted effort tonight to get it done.
I also got a phone call from my landlady Sia & her husband Otto yesterday from Switzerland. They were just ringing to say hello & see that everything was ok. Now remember, at present I speak very little Greek, Sia speaks Greek & very very little English & Otto speaks Swiss & no English. I really don't know how we managed to get through the call but we did. The main points were yes Sandra is ok, yes the dogs are ok & eating, yes the house is ok & yes the garden is ok, yes it is cold in Switzerland, yes Sia & Otto are ok - we did a lot of laughing too. So everything is - ok.
I'm still trying to finalise all my tax affairs in the UK. I'd sent them 2 forms a couple of weeks ago which I wanted to chase up, particularly as one of the forms could well lead to a tax refund which would be nice. I use one of the new Tesco Internet Phones which makes calls very cheap, just as well when you are calling places like Inland Revenue & National Insurance offices from Greece.
I spent a very pleasant evening last night at the home of another English lady I had previously only been in contact with by email & phone. She was having a get together over nibbles (which turned out to be a very impressive spread) & drinks. I got to speak to quite a few other people there, mainly English ex pats which was nice. As I was driving Simon's car I stuck to drinking lemonade & just had a small glass of Rose shortly before leaving.
Driving along the main road almost at the turn off to home I suddenly noticed I was being flagged in to the side of the road by the police. On stopping I immediately wound down my window & the police officer said something to me in Greek so I informed him I was English. Luckily he spoke a little & said he needed me to get out of the car. All I could think about was that I had just had the small glass of wine, silly really because I knew I was nowhere near the limit but I could still taste it on my breath. I walked around to the boot of the police car & noticed someone else had also been stopped so at least I realised it was a spot check of some sort & not just me who had been singled out.
The officer asked if I had had a drink & I said that I'd had the small glass of wine. He was actually smiling which did put me at my ease a bit as he then said fairly light-heartedly 'vodka' 'whisky' to which I said no. Then I saw the breathalyser kit - I have never ever taken a breathalyser test before so had no idea how hard I was to blow into it or anything so I just took a deep breath & blew.
Like I said I knew I was fine but kept thinking, what if the machine is defective or something. As it turned out I had absolutely nothing to worry about - my reading was a big fat ZERO so I completed my journey home, grateful for the fact that I don't chance drinking over the limit & driving.
Tomorrow, as it's my non working day, I'm meeting up with a couple of friends in town for coffee which I'm looking forward to.
I've been keeping in touch with Justine & Simon since they left on their travels to Australia. They spent a few days in London & also in Hong Kong & I can report that they have now arrived safely in Sydney, Australia. I have to now be really concious of the time difference when texting etc as they are now 9 hours ahead of me.
I was able to enjoy a web cam conversation with them both this morning on MSN. It was great being able to see & hear them from so far away. Simon pulled me up about not having updated this blog as I am always pulling him up for not regularly doing his. I thought I had better make a concerted effort tonight to get it done.
I also got a phone call from my landlady Sia & her husband Otto yesterday from Switzerland. They were just ringing to say hello & see that everything was ok. Now remember, at present I speak very little Greek, Sia speaks Greek & very very little English & Otto speaks Swiss & no English. I really don't know how we managed to get through the call but we did. The main points were yes Sandra is ok, yes the dogs are ok & eating, yes the house is ok & yes the garden is ok, yes it is cold in Switzerland, yes Sia & Otto are ok - we did a lot of laughing too. So everything is - ok.
I'm still trying to finalise all my tax affairs in the UK. I'd sent them 2 forms a couple of weeks ago which I wanted to chase up, particularly as one of the forms could well lead to a tax refund which would be nice. I use one of the new Tesco Internet Phones which makes calls very cheap, just as well when you are calling places like Inland Revenue & National Insurance offices from Greece.
I spent a very pleasant evening last night at the home of another English lady I had previously only been in contact with by email & phone. She was having a get together over nibbles (which turned out to be a very impressive spread) & drinks. I got to speak to quite a few other people there, mainly English ex pats which was nice. As I was driving Simon's car I stuck to drinking lemonade & just had a small glass of Rose shortly before leaving.
Driving along the main road almost at the turn off to home I suddenly noticed I was being flagged in to the side of the road by the police. On stopping I immediately wound down my window & the police officer said something to me in Greek so I informed him I was English. Luckily he spoke a little & said he needed me to get out of the car. All I could think about was that I had just had the small glass of wine, silly really because I knew I was nowhere near the limit but I could still taste it on my breath. I walked around to the boot of the police car & noticed someone else had also been stopped so at least I realised it was a spot check of some sort & not just me who had been singled out.
The officer asked if I had had a drink & I said that I'd had the small glass of wine. He was actually smiling which did put me at my ease a bit as he then said fairly light-heartedly 'vodka' 'whisky' to which I said no. Then I saw the breathalyser kit - I have never ever taken a breathalyser test before so had no idea how hard I was to blow into it or anything so I just took a deep breath & blew.
Like I said I knew I was fine but kept thinking, what if the machine is defective or something. As it turned out I had absolutely nothing to worry about - my reading was a big fat ZERO so I completed my journey home, grateful for the fact that I don't chance drinking over the limit & driving.
Tomorrow, as it's my non working day, I'm meeting up with a couple of friends in town for coffee which I'm looking forward to.
posted by Sandra at
6:24 am
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