The sloths!!

Happy birthday Lizzie! Have a great day. Love ya heaps.

Well, let me paint you a picture......

Picture two extremely lazy human beings sitting on a boat doing as little as possible. At the stern of the boat these lazy human beings can step ashore on the town quay at Sivota (Mourtos). They can then visit the plethora of caffe bars, tavernas etc on offer to stuff their faces whenever they please. The sun shines incessantly (apart from during the night of course!) and the little harbour is a hive of (pleasant) activity. As these sloths have shore power they have limitless access to all the pleasures of their floating caravan and access to water means endless showers whenever required. All this for about $8 a day!

If a little energy can be summoned they can partake of the simple pleasure to be had in the surrounding area. The multiples beaches around the town and the nearby islands (small but very pretty) offer the temptation of a swim on a hot day, however jumping off the boat is really good fun too! The sea temperature for these poor slovenly souls is now around 27 degrees so even the whoosy male of the species has been known to partake in a dip. There is a cute little tripper boat that takes sloths around the islands for the princely sum of 5 euros (including unlimited alchohol which you are plied with continuously) which only leads to more temptation and slovenliness. The owner of the boat is very entertaining and Greek music blares for the sake of the slovenly tourists who are slowly getting pissed as they are carted through paradise.

In the evening as the sun sets (around 9 or 10 pm) the need for more food sets in and a quick stumble to a (very) nearby taverna is in order. Spoiled for choice this can take a while. The female of the sloth family really liked Filakas where seafood was consumed at a leisurely pace while seated at a table at the end of a jetty over the water!

The town quay now becomes a promenade with everyone appearing for an evening stroll. Poseidon appears to have his photo taken with the tourists as does Suzanna the goat with red ribbons in her hair and her owner in tow. An extremely talented street artists does portraits and very reasonable amounts of money exchanged hands to have a portrait done of each of the grand children. They are fantastic!

Social activity abounds and the slovenly ones can have company whenever they choose. One particularly memorable couple of days was with Anne and Andy from Manchester (not too bad for landlubbers!). The energy was found for a lovely day trip to Emerald Bay on Anti Paxos with these gorgeous people where a soothing dip in the emerald green waters (surprising though that may seem) was had by one and all (even the whoosy male of the species). Good luck with your flotilla sailing next year guys. You will be great!

Other occassional bursts of enery have seen Shirley Valentine having a much deserved bath and she is spotless again for the moment. The female sloth is also making attempts to complete a navigation course that she started about 600 years ago (typical sloth like behaviour I believe) and is also making an attempt to actually learn the language of Greece. She now has an impressive vocabulary of about 40 words and can ask for the important stuff like "two glasses of red wine please). Greek, however, is much easier to learn phonetically than to actually recognise the alphabet and very few words can actually be read unfortunately.

Today will probably see the sloth family move about 200 metres round the corner to anchor in the nice sheltered little bay there as they need a rest! Well, their livers do, that's for sure. From there, swimming can be partaken by simply jumping off the back of the boat into the crystal clear waters.

Shirley Valentine gets a lot of attention in Greece (due to her name I suppose, though I like to imagine that it's because of the sylph like figure of the female sloth). What do you mean a slovenly lifestyle doesn't produce a sylph like figure? People actually stop and take photos next to our boat. We are thinking of starting to charge for this priveledge just like Poseidon and Suzanna the goat.

The only cloud on the horizon is the imminent arrival of the Italian motor boats who apparently arrive in droves in July and August. The slovenly ones have had a few interesting 'episodes' already and poor Shirley has a few superficial scratches to date. They drive their boats just like their cars.

Ah well, off to be a sloth. Looking forward to catching up with Sandy and Maree from Freedom in a few days time. Also had a lovely chance meeting with Andrew and Kate (and friends Reneece and William/Bill) from Lady Olivia when they had a coffee stop right here in Sivota! What a treat. Was great to see you guys.

Take care everyone and stay well. And did I say HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my beautiful daughter!

xx

Craig and Lesley (Shirley Valentine)