Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Christmas in Katakolo

There were many articles on what's been happening in my travels but not too many on what's happening with me here in Katakolo so here's a Christmas letter.  There was an orchestra at Kastro Bar last night for Christmas Eve but I didn't go.  However, they will be playing again today and I just might go up there this time.  It's not such a big journey as Kastro Bar is so close that the scooter hardly has time to warm up in getting there.

Lately I've been spending quite a bit of time at Cat Boucher's MusikCircus online as she presents a highly eclectic array of talent and it's been most entertaining and rewarding to see and hear such gifted performers.  Cat is quite charming as well as she's very humble about what she does but she built the MusikCircus and she brings it all together.  She lives in Germany and she's the reason I'm now butchering that language in addition to Greek.  No, this doesn't mean I'm suddenly going to go flying off to Germany as, even though it's cold just now, I love it here in Greece.

For the real world stuff, the coughing and hacking is still annoying but there was a medical epiphany last night that perhaps it would be a good idea to put a bowl of water near the heater in the bedroom as drying the air out too much was likely a big part of the coughing.  That seemed to help and hopefully that will take care of things.  Nothing is turning odd colors so there's no reason to see a doctor.  Ridin' the storm out!

Riding went very well yesterday as Christmas Eve was warmer than it has been and there wasn't any chance of rain.  This gave me a clear shot to take the scooter to Moto Center in Pyrgos and Babis fixed it right up by putting a new front tire on it and balancing the wheel.  The scooter now rides in a much more mannerly way and she's as safe as she's going to get.  Mary wanted a ride on it the other day and I wouldn't do it as go-faster stuff means you never ever risk your passenger.  It would be ok now and I really have started driving a little more sensibly as it's clear the scooter won't break 100 kph and it will just break the scoot if I push it.  She will do 99 kph with an assist from a tail wind but she's not going to break 100 kph (laughs).  Riding at 80 kph gets it done and that won't burn up the scooter.  (Relax!  That's not even 60 mph!)

After getting things fixed up on the scooter, I went over to see Harry and we're closing the deal on selling it.  He has been paid, along with the rent, and the papers for the transfer are in-process.  I've been carrying the money around in my pocket for a month and it wasn't burning a hole in my pocket, I just wanted to get it to him, but he knew there was something not right in the front end of the scooter and he wanted to get it fixed too.

Yesterday Harry took my papers to the police and that completed the process to get an official resident card to permit legally staying in Greece pretty much indefinitely.  There is one more step to get a tax ID from the Tax Office and that will even permit me to work, assuming there is something anyone would really want me to do (laughs).  It's not so ridiculous, tho, as perhaps teaching English is a possibility ... or something that hasn't even occurred to me yet.

Getting online to play took a jump yesterday as Harry suggested testing a direct connect to the router he's using here.  He's got it located quite close to the house and he said he would move it here if there's sufficient speed in that connection for streaming.  Greeks are highly-motivated toward avoiding spending any money that doesn't need to be spent and I'm sure the austere times bring more focus to that but it seems a general philosophy that has existed for much longer than that.  Harry is one hell of a good guy and has helped in all kinds of ways.  He has seen the Web site I made and that will get shifted over to a permanent home as soon as I work out the details on the setup Mary uses for her Web site.

One very cool thing is that Lotho has sent some long johnnies and they didn't get here for Christmas as Greece is regarded as an 'it gets here when it gets here' destination by the Postal Service (laughs).  Unfortunately, even using the Postal Service is expensive so it doesn't seem this is a practical way to send things back and forth on a regular basis.  The long underwear will be very much appreciated as you've heard the whining about the cold and it really isn't so terrible but suiting up for it is one screaming bitch!  Getting the jeans over a pair of pajama trousers was funny the first time but it got less amusing as time went by!

The dental stuff is on hold for the moment until the euros catch up with the bill but that's ok as Georgia has already done a tremendous amount of work in an incredibly short time.  It's the short time that surprised me as my original understanding was that it would take two years but in actuality it didn't take a whole lot more than a month.  It was quite a grueling month but she's a very sweet lady and she took a huge part of the sting out of it.  She had another lady dentist over to review things the last time I was there and, damn, these girls are lookers, man!  If you think you know dentists then come to Greece and be prepared to be surprised (laughs).  Thank you again to Lotho who has been such a tremendous help with this.

So it's all very good and I'm not alone as I feel you all and hopefully you all feel it from me.  It is a merry Christmas and hopefully what I'm doing is making it a little more merry for you as well.  I hope it's a wonderful Christmas Day for everyone!

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