We had a busy weekend sorting through the last of our stuff. Now we have three piles: garbage, save for cleaning once we get water, and undecided. The undecided pile isn’t very big. Now the house is completely empty and the yard isn’t pure chaos. The mud is slowing drying which is good in some ways, but will make it much harder to remove from the floors and patio, since it dries so hard.
Today I went to the South Pelion Municipal building in Argalasti to get Cookie’s passport. Getting there is its own adventure since the roads going through Milina are pretty rough. Milina is slowly getting better, but there are still cars in the sea.
The government office in Argalasti is lively to say the least. When the clerk told me he would call me back about Cookie’s passport, I politely replied that I would happily wait in the chair next to his desk, and that I had all day. It took 30 minutes. Once I had the paperwork, I had to take it to Therese who creates the passport. Due to the lack of animal welfare in this region, her office always feels like a Chicago emergency room. Today there was a lady with a small stray puppy with mange, another person with a sick stray kitten, and Gabby with one of her sheep. In the middle of it all, Therese is always calm and collected, speaking three languages fluently simultaneously (Greek, German, & English)
Making travel arrangements to get Cookie to the UK hasn’t been quite as easy as I originally thought. Turns out that the quickest and easiest way is to enter the UK by boat. So Cookie and I are flying to Paris from Thessaloniki on Friday, where my dear friend Francois will pick is up at the airport and then take us to the ferry port, Dieppe, on Saturday. Cookie’s new owner will meet us on the other side of the Channel in Newhaven at 9PM. I will go straight to the airport to leave on a 5AM flight back to Thessaloniki. A bit of a whirlwind for sure.
Next on the list:
-dealing with the insurance company
-looking for long term housing
P.S. Moroccan Wedding Blanket
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Great update and it sounds like you are getting things together. Hopefully you’ll get water soon and that will make life a lot easier. Finding Cookie, a new home is quite an accomplishment under normal circumstances, but with the flood damage to your home - it’s amazing. Do you have any estimate when you can move back into your house? It’s good to hear that progress is being made- your dispatches are appreciated. We are praying for you and Jonathan, and your furry friends.