My new shopping Hero, Taxi Driver, Panagiotis

Yesterday I went on boat ride with my daughter and son-in-law to Ermioni. We were on a shopping mission to get everything needed for their new bathroom. Not having a car on the mainland meant we had to call a taxi to go on to Kranidi. Hence my introduction to the lovely Panagiotis.

I'm not the easiest of passengers and nervous of bad drivers, so I was relieved immediately by his excellent driving. Also, I have an annoying habit of asking to stop for unscheduled call-ins or photo ops. Panagiotis waited far more patiently than Harriet and Vassilis!

We were collected from the jetty at Ermioni at four-ish in Panagiotis' comfortable, clean Mercedes, with only short delay while Harriet and I dashed into the only supermarket we know of that reliably stocks Heinz Salad Cream (we're English and can't help ourselves), and then off on a fifteen minute pleasant drive to the M-Max Solutions plumbing, tiling, gardening and tool supply shop just outside Kranidi.

As Panagiotis didn't have anything else booked he was happy to wait for us. And that was really helpful because over the couple of hours we were there, we made use of the huge boot his car has. We filled it with everything from a shower tray, a garden spray pump for me, a tap for Isabella and a big hose for Stamati. It's almost mandatory for anyone on a supply run to add in a few things for fellow-Hydriots. So I can confirm that visitors with lots of luggage won't have a problem with the size of Panagiotis' boot!

While I was waiting for Harriet and Vassilis to finish up, I made arrangements with Panagiotis to stop off on the way back at the Arapakis Garden Centre to pick up some Scented Stocks. So as Panagiotis pulled off the road, our lovely driver seemed to understand that my breezy ascertion, "I'll only be two-minutes" was code for ten minutes and I ignored Harriet's cynical eye-rolling. Five new plants, a rose bush, snap-dragon and thirty minutes later with the plants carefully tucked away in the capacious boot, we were back on the road.

We dropped Harriet at yet another shop round the corner from the jetty so that Vassilis and could load our purchases into what then looked, a much smaller boat than we'd arrived in!