The whole job – tidying up the piece of wood from the shed; cleaning up three old coat hooks; centring and spacing them and fixing them to the wall in Amy’s bedroom, took an hour. Those brash and useless diagrammed and illustrated DIY books! Never a chapter on creating even holes in an old wall which, behind render and plaster, is made of undressed stones and old mortar. For the first two holes the masonry drill entered fairly sound mortar, but two and half inch screws through countersunk holes in the wood into rawlplugs, left the hooks insecure. I could feel the give. I made two extra holes in the wood, offered it to the wall with a spirit level, making small marks on the plaster to start the hammer drill, which first hit and pierced a stone. Making the next hole, the drill crumbled the mortar, slipped and made a crater of broken render and plaster. I filled the cavity, and the better holes, with a dollop of quick drying glue from a gun; tapped in larger rawlplugs flush with surrounding plaster; wiped excess glue from the wall; presented the tips of four longer screws to the prepared rawlplugs; tapped the wood slightly home; tightened the screws. Three pulled firm. Where, as expected, a screw went on turning despite being home, I relied on its glue filled hole to do the holding. Half an hour later the hooks were fit for use.
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Nico and Sophia Zervopolou, neighbours, invited us to a celebration at their family church on Monday...
Στην Αγία Τριάδα
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Πρωτομηνιά χθες, εορτή του Αγίου Πνεύματος και η εκκλησία των Ζερβοπουλαίων, λίγο έξω από το χωριό, εόρτασε όπως κάθε χρόνο. Ο κόσμος όπως πάντα αρκετός, ανηφόρισε από τον κεντρικό δρόμο στο μικρό ύψωμα, όπου η μικρή εκκλησία στέκει εδώ και μερικούς αιώνες περιτριγυρισμένη από παμπάλαιες ελιές και μερικά αμπέλια. Την επιμέλεια της φετινής εορτής είχε η οικογένεια Νίκου Ζερβόπουλου, που με τους γιούς του Χρήστο και Αλέκο, είχαν φροντίσει για το καθετί, με τον εσωτερικό διάκοσμο του ναού να έχει ανατεθεί στον Ιωάννη Κοντοστάνο. Την λειτουργία ετέλεσαν ο παπα-Κώστας και ο παπα-Ιωσήφ Γεωργουλάς, που έχει συγκενέψει με κορακιανίτες Ζερβόπουλους. Ανάμεσα στους πολλούς γνωστους, το παρόν έδωσαν και ο Σάϊμον με τη Λίντα, λίγο πριν επιστρέψουν στην Αγγλία για τις καλοκαιρινές τους διακοπές.
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Outside the church as we enjoyed cake and coffee, Dr Savannis gave Linda a posy
Lin said later "It's made up of a carnation, myrtle leaves and something else whose name I didn't catch"
"The Trinity" he'd said, smiling "All are sweet smelling"
"I've never understood the Trinity" I'd said
"Nor I"
