Pouring oil on troubled waters

Our first olive harvest in 2005 yielded 99kg of oil (which is greater than 99 litres because oil is lighter than water) Olive trees have a good year followed by a lean year and because all our trees were in sync with each other we didn't have another harvest until 2007, which yielded considerably less because several trees had been hard-pruned both for manageability and firewood. Subsequent harvests have produced less and less and some years the harvest has failed altogether. A variety of reasons can cause this; Too dry a summer will cause the olives to shrivel and drop before the Autumn rains come to swell them, high winds pre-harvest time will blow ripe olives off the trees, olive fly grubs will damage the olives too badly for them to be useable. Our most recent harvest was in 2014 and it produced a paltry 13 litres.

Stocks have been running low and the oil has not tasted good enough for salads, we have been able to use it only for cooking, but now at last it has run out and so for the first time since November 2005 we have had to buy oil from a supermarket. We keep our fingers crossed that the trees might be kind to us again this year, though it is looking increasingly doubtful.

Meanwhile, following the lodging of my complaint, the delightful Ioannis Kalaphas called me from Sony and said that he would speak with Adeltech to see exactly what is the situation with my camera. He called me back much later on to inform me that “The problem with the camera was very small. It has been repaired and is ready to be returned to you. It is still under warranty.” I presume the point of the closing remark was to make me feel lucky that I wasn't being charged for the repairs. I am sceptical to say the least and shall be rolling my sleeves up for the next round before it has even reached the Post Office in Glossa.