349 days ago
The last good trees ( two of them) were at the rear of the house. In a normal year they would not be deemed fantastic but this year they were the best of the best and worth twerking with mats as you can see below.
586 days ago
In years gone by, almost my first phone call when arriving at the Greek Hovel in spring was to my late uncle, Christopher Booker, to discuss the state of global warming in the area. This year my uncle and godfather would have been especially delighted as you can see below.
586 days ago
We all know that Versarien (VRS) will be running on vapours by June so its only hope is a bailout placing. Soundings must already be underway. As I prepare to bring 5 litres of Greek Hovel olive oil back to Wales you can win 500 ml by winning this contest
612 days ago
The river Dee is still outside of its banks and I am still rather worried about the killer cows and thus on Saturday morning, for my second Rogue Bloggers for Woodlarks training walk, I opted for the most boring of walks: my house to the service station on the Wrexham ring road and back.
1035 days ago
All bar three of the c250 olive trees at the Greek Hovel produce the tiny pea, or two pea, sized fruit used only for crushing and turning into oil. Three of the trees produce larger, edible fruit.
1230 days ago
Hat tip to Roger for pointing out what Britain’s leading chanteuse is missing out on as she celebrates her 38th birthday. No it cannot be true can it? Elsewhere I look at Hurricane Energy (HUR) and the antics of Crystal Amber, at Verditek (VDTK) and at how TR1s are abused by penny share hucksters and rampers.
1307 days ago
Okay that is not a huge number. Despite being behind a paywall my main site, www.ShareProphets.com has achieved almost ten times as many reads in one fewer year. But some might be surprised that my ramblings on rebuilding and living in hovels in Greece and Wales, on life on both, on politics, on jokes and on all sorts of other matters, mainstream and obscure, get any readers at all. So this is a modest landmark. When this website started it was therapy for me at a very difficult time in my life and I’d be lucky to get 30 page impressions in a day.
1811 days ago
On today’s podcast I discuss Brokerman Dan, the Tory canvasser and the half way house for heroin addicts. I issue a podcast challenge to Justin the Clown as I discuss the joke Vox IPO, I look at a pathetic deadwood press ramp for Woodford Patient Capital Trust (WPCT) and offer up another reason to shut down all open ended property funds. And i have a prize contest for election day, deadline to enter is Monday midnight.
2897 days ago
I have loaded the photos of pressing the olives from the Greek Hovel HERE. There may not be a bearcast tomorrow as I am about to start travelling soon. Today I look at LGO Energy (LGO), Milestone Group (MSG) and its CEO Deborah White who has committed market abuse and should be fired, Strat Aero (AERO), Fox Marble (FOX), Golden Saint (GSR) where I suggest a rule change is needed at AIM to deal with share dumping parasites like PR genius Steffi, and Proxama (PROX).
3091 days ago
At night in summertime the one habitable room at the Greek Hovel is unbearably hot at night, after a long day of 33 degree heat. But opening the large windows would allow all sorts of wildlife diversity to gain entrance to a room where I have sealed every crack and hole to make it secure. As such one just sweats it out. Or at least that used to be the case until I bought an electric fan. However...
3120 days ago
The lack of progress on getting permits to rebuild the Greek Hovel is starting to concern me and I am keen to make contact with George the architect ahead of my next trip on Saturday. And so I pick up my battered 1990s Nokia phone and scroll the directory and finding a George with a Greek number I call. For once I get an answer...
But the fellow does not seem to understand a word I say and is babbling away in Greek. It dawns on me quickly
3787 days ago
I have procrastinated for as much as I can. I have sat here in a comfortable pool catching up on nearly all of my work because my mi-fi internet system at the hove at the Greek Hovel may not work. I say that because a) I am an IT loser and b) it was bought in Greece and this is Greece so things do not always work. Okay that is one excuse.
The other is that I left sticky board rat traps out last night in my bedroom for tonight. What is worse?
a) finding no dead rats so assuming they are still there somewhere
b) finding a dead rat killed by the poison I laid and having to dispose of it.
c) finding a half dead rat on the sticky boards and having to kill it & then dispose of it.
d) finding a snake inside eating a rat which it has either caught and killed or was killed/half killed by me?
My mind is naturally pondering all these matters. A good friend emails to urge me to stay in the hotel another night. But I can procrastinate no more. I might be online later…off I go, into battle.
3787 days ago
I had forgotten just how remote our new Greek hovel was. Leaving the small village of Kambos (three tavernas, three food stores and a place that sells snake repellent) myself and Susan Shimmin from the Real Mani drive our respective cars past a small church. The road as we head downhill is, at first, pretty good. That is because the first building on it – and my nearest neighbour – is a monastery. At this point there are only a few potholes to deal with.
I shall return to the subject of my neighbour, the monk, later. And also to the relationship between State and Church here in Greece. Suffice to say that in an enormous building there is now just one resident. I plan to pop in and say hello at some stage next week.
As we pass the monastery the road deteriorates rapidly. While the Greek Sate must ensure that the Church is not put out in any way, caring for the needs of its ordinary citizens is no longer affordable. At this point the pot holes become cavernous and the tarmac disappears as we head to the bottom of the valley. I am in first gear and driving at five miles an hour.
At the bottom of the valley there is a river in winter which flows over the road. It is now totally dry but a pond still exists hidden behind the trees. I guess there must be a spring there. That is something else for me to investigate at some point. But now we start the steep climb up the other side of the valley.
Susan pushes on in her battered van
3793 days ago
This may be my last video postcard for a while. The Mrs has bought a hovel in Greece and I am off late on Thursday night to start its renovation. It really is a hovel and right now has no internet and is a 15 minute drive from the nearest habitation. But I will work hard on getting connected ASAP.
And then I shall keep you updated on gripping matters such as the construction of an eco-loo and a humanure system and on bush clearance and digging out an earth floor or tow. Oh.. and on the snake situation.
From humanure I turn to the Westminster paedophile cover-up. It is a cover up and everyone on Fleet Street knows who is being protected and why the ripples could spread far and wide. The age of those directly involved is no defence as I explain.
My weekly financial video postcard starts with a discussion of those bears who have attacked Quindell (QPP) and blinkx (BLNX) inter alia. Tom explains why they need to be more transparent. Having said that, I also explain why bears play such a key role in protecting investors on AIM. This video can be watched HERE
