July 16 A Series of Mistakes

Saturday morning I went for my usual walk and then decided against cereal for breakfast in favor of bread and coffee. First mistake. I sliced off some bread which was not very fresh and put marmalade on it. I took a bite and broke off a tooth! (That's why Greeks dunk their bread in their coffee.) The tooth broke off at the gum line but I expect the root needs to be extracted. No dentist available on Saturday of course. Thank goodness it does not hurt. I think this tooth had a root canal operation some years ago.
In the afternoon I watched the Tour de France on TV. It was a good race. I could understand parts of the commentary because many phrases were repetitious. I was enjoying it so much I decided against having my afternoon nap. Second mistake. It was Saturday and I should have known the K. family would likely stay up late. Sure enough about 8:30 p.m. they decided to visit Christos' brother, Nikos and his wife, Maria. On the way we picked up another brother and his wife. When we finally got to Nikos house (about 10:00) we were immediately ushered to the balcony where we were offered water and soft drinks. I accepted a can of tea but had barely tasted it when everyone got up to leave - to go to a local taberna for a meal.
Theodosia told me they were ordering wine and I said okay. Third mistake. Nikos ordered white wine, rice pilaf with meat, Crete salad (similar to traditional Greek salad except it is served on bread), tzatziki, and horiatiki (similar to spinach - Greeks love their greens with lemon and salt) and a few cokes for the table. It was all very good.
Just when I thought we had finished the meal, they brought out roasted cutlets. I had a few pieces. Suddenly I felt like I was cross-eyed. There were three women sitting across from me carrying on an animated conversation. I could hear them and my mind was clear but I could not make my eyes focus on them. I told Christos next to me that I thought I had too much wine. He was surprised, as was I - I had not had that much - but I thought I should warn him in case I needed help from the restaurant.
Within a few minutes my eyes returned to normal, luckily before we left the taberna and returned to Nikos' house. There we were immediately served pieces of fruit, and then pieces of the dessert that Theodosia had brought. It was not bougatsa, but similar to it. A thick layer of custard between thin phylo. It was delicious. It is the only sweet that Christos will eat and he had two pieces! Then Maria wanted to know if I did not want pagoto (miniature ice cream on a stick). I declined, regretfully.
Nikos had to work the next day or we would have stayed until 2 or3. As it was we did not leave until after 1:00 and I did not get to bed until nearly 3. It was the next day before I remembered that I had taken an antihistamine just before leaving the house as I was sneezing and figured I had an allergy to something. Now I know why they say do not mix medications with alcohol! The combination of the wine, food, antihistamine and the late hour caused me to sleep to 10:30 Sunday morning. Now I have to get my sleep routine adjusted again.