Eddie,
I've always taken this to be your thread and I am thoroughly enjoying hearing the stories of your musical life and encounters. My life has been one of many occupations as well as musical and perhaps that was its downfall, but it was the way I chose to live it. Working backwards, the story of how I came to be in Crete is a relatively simple but longish one.
One of my many interests, interwoven into some of the last 30 years or so of my life, was mine research, more precisely metalliferous mine research, i.e. silver, lead, copper, and similar mines mainly in North Wales & the Yorkshire Dales, i.e. derelict. So my holidays were usually taken in these beautiful areas. I would drive up as close as I could to the site of one, park the car, my late wife would lock herself in with her book, and I would go off exploring with maps and other documents, suitable footwear and lights, etc., and thoroughly enjoy myself, returning after two hours or so, and without taking too many chances as I was on my own.
One time we got back from one such holiday in the early 1990s and my daughter, then unattached and living at our home in Bournemouth, asked if she and her cousin could go on a cheapie week's holdiday in the sun, but with us. Despite protesting that I'd just had a fortnight's holiday in the Dales, she kept on until I relented. I told her to go into one of my former employers, Cooks, see what was available at short notice and cheap, and phone me at the office to discuss, and I would come in at lunchtime and pay. Well on offer were three places, including Malta, so we thought we'd opt for that, but by the time I got into Bournemouth, Malta was no longer available, but we could have a week in Crete, accommodation allotted on arrival at the deadly hour of 3:00am, and we chose that.
To cut a long story short, my daughter & her cousin wanted to go clubbing in Aghios Nikolaos every night and that was not our scene. The following mornings, we were up bright & early and they were fast asleep in bed! We all used to go for a coffee about 8:00pm every evening and on the last evening my daughter introduced us to her future long term boyfriend and father of my two eldest grandchildren. Eventually after much toing & froing she moved to Crete and we were taking holidays here three of four times a year. When she got pregnant, she eventually moved to Bournemouth and he followed in time for the birth, getting a job as a tiler and staying for more than three years.
Due to some quite sad circumstances they split up and he returned to Crete and both married someone else. A few years later my wife died, I moved up north for a year or so, and on moving back south met up with Jan, a widow. Shortly before that I'd been to Crete again and had looked into buying a cheap cottage and doing it up and moving here. It didn't happen like that. When Jan and I decided that we wanted a more permanent arrangement, she said "Where do you want to live?" as she wanted to get away from Wiltshire. In short, we came here for a holiday, she liked it, and we came back to look for a property, twice as it happened because the first sale fell through. The story of the renovation of that property is here
https://www.janmo.com - go to
Limnes->
House build ->
Page 1
You
did ask, Eddie!
Maurice