A last thought on poor Jack, who later became a coach, and I remembered how I used to giggle uncontrolably when I visualised his little pupils in future, doing their delicate ballet steps all over the tenniscourts of South Africa and maybe abroad, with their opponents languishing like the 'Dying Swan' on the other side, waiting for a ball to come over the net!
I spent the next day going around to all the small farms to say goodbye to all the wonderful people I became friends with, although we almost never spoke a word, just communicated with hands and facial expressions. The old woman who baked the lovely bread was quite sad, and we both shed a few tears.
The next morning I just dressed Ermioni after she had her bottle and the two of us went down to the jetty to wait for the Flying Dolphin which would bring Petra. I had a last coffee and a croissant at the taverna, which the waiter said was on the house, and after promising that I would come back one day, we said our goodbyes, with advice from all of them to bring my own bicycle next time, which made us all laugh uproariously! I was so so sad when Petra arrived, and I threw a last glance over the little harbour where I had so much fun!
Poor Petra almost went bezerk when she saw the car, and gave the old woman a good piece of her mind, which was taken badly by the Ya-Ya, and for about half an hour the sparks that flew between them was enough to light a bonfire!
But at last they cooled down enough to go on with life, and within an hour all was ready for us to leave.
The trip this time was not very different from the previous one, as the old Ya-Ya sat in deathly silence, Petra was just catching my eye in the mirror now and then, then smiled as of course she could not speak English, and Ermioni slept. We stopped for lunch at the most beautiful cafe amongst the mountains, with vines growing far up the slopes. This time the Ya-Ya, still stiff and cross, asked me what I want, so I ordered Pastitsio, which was delicious, and I fed some to Ermioni. The Ya-Ya, who have an amazing sweet tooth, again bought us ice creams, but this time she got a yogart for Ermioni, and both Petra and me thought about the havoc with Ermioni and the ice cream when we came, and how we sort of induced the Gran to clean up the mess, and we turned our faces away and giggled deliciously! It was early evening when we at last got home, and as Ascala was still on holiday, we had to get everything into place again ourselves, but it was not too late when The Ya-Ya called me for dinner which we ate in silence, but not a hostile silence, and the Ya-Ya's 'calinichta Christina' was quite friendly. I slept like a baby that night as I knew that in the Morning Nikos would be back, shattering our quiet times!