April 2009 Newsletter

Introduction
Welcome to April's newsletter. As everybody knows Easter is a movable Christian celebration. I guess that those that have been following our exploits for some years now will recall that invariably the Greek Easter falls on a different date to that in the UK. This year Easter is a week later in Greece and Easter Sunday falls on 19 April. It is a far greater cause for celebration in Greece than we have ever experienced within the UK. It is truly something to look forward to.

This month will see the first of our friends from the UK coming out for a break. I would like to say that they will be experiencing a break from the dire weather back home. To be honest, the way this winter has been going, we are not going to make any rash predictions!

The "credit crunch" is biting here as it is everywhere else. When discussing this with some Greeks you could be forgiven for thinking that everything is okay but they are in denial! We are beginning to realise that many things that we purchase during the course of normal day-to-day living are as expensive here as in the UK and in many cases more so. Simple things like soap powder or dishwasher tablets are, in many cases, more than twice the price. That wouldn't be so bad if the products had to be imported but the truth is the majority are manufactured here in Greece. With the low wages here, it is impossible to see how these price hikes are justified.

We expect to pay more for what we call "British" items such as tea bags because they do have to be imported. Now several of you will understand why we ask you to bring them out to us when you are visiting!

Enough of this bleating! We must think positive. I am positive that daily life is becoming more expensive! However, I'm also positive that we are looking forward to Easter! Let's get on with our ramblings.

April 2009
As if to answer our prayers, 1st April was both sunny and warm. This gave me the opportunity to plant a couple rows of carrot seeds. I only grew half a row last year as an experiment and as the experiment was successful decided that we would be more adventurous this year.

Whilst in the garden, I found a very tiny tortoise. Of course, it has been photographed and we have a shot of it alongside an apple to give an indication of its size.

To give you an indication of how warm it was we actually had our lunch outside. That was the first time this year.

The major part of my day was spent finishing off rebuilding our network server. This exercise was accompanied by a suitably foul temper and language to match! Tricia knew better than to offer the benefit of her experience!

The warm weather continued into the next day which encouraged us to start decorating our modest hallway. I know it's small but it does contain three doors that needed painting as well as the walls and ceiling. Fortunately the inside of the main doors are in good condition and being varnished I wasn't going to touch them. The same cannot be said for the outside of the main doors as they are extremely weather-beaten. I didn't feel that I could tackle this until we could guarantee the weather was going to be good for a few days.

Again the weather was good enough for us to have lunch outside. Yes, before you ask, Tricia does allow me to stop work for lunch! Whilst I was working in the hallway Tricia took the opportunity to start tackling the garden.

We went out for dinner on Saturday, 4th April to Apnoea Taverna. We would have preferred to have gone on Sunday lunchtime but we had made an appointment for Aristides, our (not so) trusty plumber to come and have a look at our central heating on Sunday. Needless to say, Sunday arrived but the plumber didn't! To make things worse, he had suddenly become incommunicado. He wasn't answering his mobile or business phone.

Monday, 6 April saw us up very early to drive into Corfu Town. The car had to go in for a new fuel pump and some work to be done on the gear change. Thank God for warranties!

We had a few hours to kill and so we went right into town, had a coffee and a general wander around. We also took the opportunity of signing some papers with TBW which hopefully may, and I stress may, help to resolve the issues that we have with her. We're not holding out too many hopes!

Tuesday, 7th April was dry and only partially sunny. It was actually a good day to do some weeding in the garden. Both Tricia and I got stuck in and needless to say, by the time we finished, we were both aching in a variety of places!

Just for fun, I decided to upgrade one of our laptops that evening. You would think that after my recent exploits with the network server I would have learned my lesson but no, true to form I managed to trash the laptop as well! Still, it provides a bit of entertainment!

Wednesday, 8th April was sunny and not too cold. Tricia got stuck into one of her periodic monster housework sprees. It seemed like a good idea to go out and so I went to our accountants. Be fair, I wasn't going to get in the way!

I'm pretty sure that I've previously mentioned the unrealistic demands that were being made upon us by the tax authorities here to prove where we get our money from. I decided to go and try and plead my case with the accountants to see if I could get these requirements reduced. To my amazement I succeeded!

The next day I worked in the garden weeding and tying up the grapevines before returning to our accountants. After signing our returns (yes both mine and Tricia's) I returned home with a promise from our accountants that everything should be okay. If you don't hear anything else on the subject, assume that all is well!

On Sunday, 10th April the weather was bright and sunny but not too hot. We had a visit from John and Michelle who were on their way to the fish farm. We put in an order for a couple of large sea bass which they subsequently returned with just before lunch. The fish were a beautiful size and Tricia was delighted with them because she has a new recipe calling for sea bass which she wanted to try.

It was such a nice day that we decided we would go to Zephyros Taverna for lunch. The fried salt cod was particularly nice and I think it fair to say that we enjoyed the meal. As we left we were presented with a bag of fresh eggs which we thought a nice touch.

March’s newsletter was finally brought up to date. All that was necessary now before we could publish it was for my ace proof-reader to complete her duties!

We had some overnight showers which meant that the vegetable patch did not need watering. At this rate I can see our water bill being much lower this year! We have often been told that it is rarely necessary to water before June. The way this year is going, we think this could be true.

Tricia completed proof-reading the newsletter which meant that we were able to publish it that day.

The weather was fine on Sunday, 12th April and as if to get back into the swing of things we went to lunch at Apnoea Taverna with John and Michelle. It will come as no surprise when I say that it was a very long lunch!

The vegetable garden got another good soaking on Monday, 13th April. The weather was bad enough to stop us going outside. By the evening the rain had become torrential. There was very little we could do apart from a little work on the new website and watch the occasional DVD. That night the torrential rain was accompanied by thunderstorms and showers which continued all through 14th April.

Between the showers I ventured down to the vegetable plot and found that the heavy rain had actually washed out many of our carrot seedlings. We were not happy!

Our displeasure was to continue! I went to the bank in Acharavi to transfer money from our Sterling account to our Euro account. Despite having paid in a cheque into our Sterling account on 6 March, I was advised that the money had not been cleared. I was furious and I think it's fair to say that the bank staff realised just how furious I was.

Needless to say, despite all my rantings they would not budge and would not give me any money. It transpires that the bank had changed their rules over the years. The last time that we transferred money in this way, the bank only required 20 working days to clear the cheque. However, it appears that they had now changed this to 25 days!

I began to panic! To say that our Euro funds were low was an understatement and I had visions of us being penniless over the Easter holiday that was coming up. After the panic subsided, I thought that I would use my Barclays bank debit card in a cash machine.

Wrong! The ATM refused to accept it. We have had this problem in the past where Barclays have blocked the card because we never use it in Greece. I returned home and immediately phoned Barclays security. There was no block on the card and just for good measure I made sure that the card on a second account was also clear.

Later that day I returned to the bank and guess what? The ATM refused to accept either of my debit cards! By this time I was definitely not a happy bunny! Upon my return home I again phoned the bank and confirmed that both cards were clear. I decided not to bother trying again that day.

At least one thing went right that day! Chelsea drew 4 -4 with Liverpool in the second leg of their Champions League match. It was a thrilling match which meant that Chelsea had won on aggregate due to their previous outstanding performance at Liverpool! They were through to the semi-finals. That brightened up what had been a pretty miserable day up until that point.

Wednesday, 15 April was sunny and definitely not cold.

That morning I went to see the accountant and found that she had made some enquiries with the tax office and they were prepared to accept the limited documentary proof that we have provided. That was a good start! Feeling that things were going better I decided to return to the bank and again try my English debit cards.

Neither worked! My anger of the previous day returned. I was now seriously worried that we were going to run out of money by the end of the week. I began to wonder whether the problem actually lay with the ATM. I don't know why I never considered that before. I should have!

I tried another ATM from a different bank and guess what? It worked! The only problem was that I was now going to get charged for using a bank's machine. My joy at being solvent again completely negated that.

At lunchtime we met Pete and Carol at Zephyros Taverna for lunch. They have been very busy working on their shower room and generally getting ready for a visit by Carol's mum and dad next month. Because of this we hadn't seen much of each other and so had quite a bit to catch up on.

I guess it would be uncharitable of us were we not to mention the fact that both Manchester United and Arsenal were both successful in their Champions League quarter-final matches. There was definitely going to be at least one English team in the finals. Who knows, it could end up with a repeat of last year and see Manchester United and Chelsea again locked in mortal combat!

Thursday, 16th April was not particularly notable although it was sunny and warm. The truth was we spent the morning shopping locally and the afternoon shopping in Corfu town. Joy!

Friday, 17th April was a public holiday here. It was the Greek version of Good Friday. Remember that the Greek Easter was a week after that in the UK. We took it easy and just occupied ourselves in the garden.

In Greece, Easter Saturday is a day of great celebration. In town there are massive parades accompanied by brass bands, schoolchildren and youth groups such as the Scouts and Sea Scouts were marching together. Just about every priest on the island also parades along with the mummified remains of Saint Spiridon.

This all kicks off at around about 9 am. The parade in Corfu is one of the biggest parades in Greece. It is followed at 11am by pot throwing! It is a couple of years since we have been into town to witness the spectacle but we would urge anyone who can get to Corfu at Easter to go and see it. Terracotta pots are thrown from balconies all over the town but the main centre for this activity is centred around the Liston. Needless to say, nobody stands near the buildings! The sizes of some of the pots are incredible.

Again this year we had decided not to attend the parades. Instead we had arranged to go in to Corfu town in the evening with John and Michelle. Michelle had booked a table at an Italian restaurant called ‘La Famiglia’. The choice of an Italian restaurant might seem unusual on this most important day in Greece. The reality is that the majority of Greeks fast up until midnight on the Saturday. Consequently, there is not much on offer in Greek restaurants until midnight.

We had been warned that the prices were not the cheapest. If we say that the salad for starters cost €20 you might think that a little extravagant. However, it was massive, served four and included mozzarella and ricotta cheeses, prosciutto ham, rocket and all the usual ingredients of a salad. It was very impressive. Between us we had a selection of main courses, all of which were good if not a little pricey! It was one of those meals where we came away feeling that we didn't mind paying that bit extra for quality food. I don't think that we could afford to make a habit of it though!

The firework display at midnight was outstanding. It probably rated as one of the best that Tricia and I have ever seen anywhere. The crowds were massive but we are undecided whether they were as large as the previous time we had visited two years ago. It was a very enjoyable evening.

We have forgotten to mention that we had one worrying incident during the day. I had been working on my computer and Jake was lying down next to me. He would not stop licking himself to the point where it became annoying. I put him out into the kitchen and thought no more of it until Tricia called me. She was quite concerned about how he was behaving. I had a look at him and realise that one side of his face was quite swollen. He became very lethargic.

I decided to see if he would respond to the promise of a walk. He made the effort but to be honest he was not too enthusiastic. There was definitely something wrong. We managed to get down to the garden and he just lay down in long grass. Despite my best efforts he refused to get up. By this time I was very worried. I called out to Tricia who came down to see what the problem was and fortunately Jake responded to Tricia.

I walked Jake back home and he just lay down in the lounge. Poor Bella couldn't understand what was wrong and kept wanting to play with Jake. Jake couldn't be bothered to even tell her off.

The strange thing about this whole incident was that within an hour, Jake was back to his normal self and was no sign of any swelling around his face. Upon reflection I recalled that he had been snapping at a couple of hornets in the garden during his early morning walk. We can only assume that he actually got one and was stung. Fortunately, he has shown no ill effects since then.

Our Easter celebrations continued on Sunday, 19th April when we attended a barbecue at Dave and Alex's house. It was a really nice affair as always. Again, as always, it continued on into the early hours of the next morning!

Monday, 20th April was also a public holiday here in Greece. It stayed dry most of the day and we decided that we would go out for lunch. We decided to go to Liberty’s Taverna in Acharavi as we hadn't visited Angelos for quite some time.

True to form, it transpired that Angelos had had an extremely late night the previous evening! In fact it appears that it was a very late morning! Consequently he was not there but his daughter was, along with a couple of other staff. We had a very nice lunch. In particular I had a very good paella. It was a very nice way to finish the Easter holiday.

It was as if somebody had put in a special order for good weather over the Greek Easter period. Suffice to say, that on Tuesday, 21st April the weather was dire. It poured! I spent all day trying to copy one particular DVD and I must confess that I was only partially successful! In the evening Tricia and I watched the Liverpool versus Arsenal football match. It rated as one of the most entertaining matches we have ever seen particularly as Arshavin put all four of Arsenal's goals into Liverpool's net! It was an outstanding performance.

At least the noise of our cheers helped to drown out some of the thunder which was scaring Bella stiff!

The rain continued overnight but fortunately stopped by the time we got up. The only good thing I can say about 22nd April was that Alpha Bank finally condescended to let me have some of the money that I had played in on 6th March!

We had light rain overnight but it was not bad enough to stop me doing some strimming on 23rd April. I didn't finish until 1.30 pm by which time it seemed a little late to make lunch. We decided to go down to Gelati's.

We had just finished our lunch when we saw Yiorgos and his wife Eleni drive past, obviously on their way home. We suddenly realised the date and more importantly that it was Yiorgos’ name day.

We paid our bill and dashed over to Spiros's supermarket and bought a (liquid) gift for Yiorgos. Without any delay we drove to Yiorgos and Eleni's house. Yiorgos was surprised to see us but seemed genuinely pleased by our presence. Mind you, the gift wrapped bottle may have had something to do with his pleasure!

We stayed chatting with them until gone six o'clock. If nothing else, I think that we had brightened Yiorgos’ day. He had been suffering with toothache and was on antibiotics. However, he managed to convince Eleni to allow him to have one or two drinks with us!

Friday, 24th April started with grey skies and it wasn't too warm. On the upside it was just right for doing more strimming! I stopped for coffee around about 11am and had just returned to the garden when Tricia called out that Aristides, our missing plumber, had turned up. That was the end of my strimming for the rest of the day!

Aristides and his mate were here for over two hours. They drained our central heating system, replaced two valves and fitted a tap. This tap meant that should the one-way valve ever block again, it could be replaced without draining the system. Of course, the entire heating system then had to be bled. We are keeping our fingers crossed that we have no further problems with heating system. Alternatively, we hope that the weather becomes that warm that we will not require it until next winter.

It was Sunday, 26th April before we had anything else worth reporting! It was our friend Dave's birthday and we had been invited along with nine other friends to join him and Alex for lunch at 'The Invisible Kitchen' restaurant.

It was the first time that we had ever been there and our expectations were high. Again, this was a place that we knew would not be cheap. However, we are not talking about a place that serves regular Taverna food.

We were very pleasantly surprised by the establishment. The owners, Ben and Claudia had clearly spent a lot of time, money and effort in renovating the building. It was beautiful. The food was good and the wine flowed all afternoon! There was however a slight hiccup with the wine when they ran out of house red!

To be fair, we should point out that the restaurant was shortly to close for the summer period and they had clearly underestimated our capacity! Those of you who are regular visitors to the north and north-east part of Corfu will be aware that Ben and Claudia provide a catering service during the summer for those who do not wish to do the work themselves! We hope that their business continues to thrive. They are certainly working very hard at it. To us, as outsiders, they appear to have discovered a gap in the market. Then again, as outsiders, they appear to be amongst the very few who come here and start a successful business.

Dave's birthday celebrations did not end when we left the restaurant. We were all invited back to their house. Fortunately the weather was really nice because we were all banned from entering the main house as Dave and Alex had guests arriving the next day! It was a really great evening made even better by an impromptu meze conjured up by Doug, John, Daryl and Dave. The wine and beer did not run out - surprisingly! I think it's fair to say that by the time we all left Dave had had an enjoyable birthday! Suffice to say, it was an extremely late night or should we say early morning!

Nothing of any note then took place until Tuesday, 28th April and then it was Chelsea's outstanding result against Barcelona! They succeeded in holding Barcelona to a 0 - 0 draw. Chelsea were the first British team not to have been beaten at Barcelona for very many years. Well it made our day anyway!

Wednesday, 29th April started on a low. The weather wasn't particularly good but that was the least of our problems.

As always, Tricia and I took the dogs out for a walk straight after breakfast. I had gone on ahead with Jake when Tricia called out to me, "We're locked out again!” Despite having a spare key concealed outside the house, we were still unable to get in as we had left the key in the lock on the inside of the door thus preventing us from inserting the spare key.

We are quite well versed in overcoming this problem now! I smashed the window! However, previous experience has taught me that is only necessary to break the corner of a pane of glass with a hammer and screwdriver. This means that there is the minimum of glass to clear up from the floor and all I have to do is then lift the window out and take it to the glazier who does the rest! It is one of those jobs that is relatively cheap but it is damned inconvenient!

On our way to get the glass replaced we decided to stop at Gelati's for coffee. Whilst we were there, we were presented with a can opener and six beer glasses. I know that they were promotional items but there was no reason to give them to us. It was a nice touch.

However, I guess that the best thing about our visit to Gelati's was that there was a delightful aroma of Kleftiko being cooked in the kitchen. At this point we should state categorically that, in our opinion, their Kleftiko is probably the best that we have ever eaten. We did not need much convincing. We told Spiros to make sure that he saved two portions for us that night!

We left Gelati's in a much better frame of mind than when we arrived.

We left the window with the glazier whilst we did a little shopping and returned to find it complete an hour later. All in all, that was one way to while away the morning!

Suffice to say, that evening we went to Gelati's for dinner and true to form, the Kleftiko was superb!

Thursday, 30th April was totally forgettable! The weather was dire and we decided to catch up on our supermarket shopping in Corfu town. As this decision was made late in the day we didn't get home until well into the afternoon.

It was a dull and dreary end to April.

Conclusion
To be honest, I have been very remiss in typing up the April newsletter. As a result, I have finished it almost at the end of May! As a result this is going to be part one of a two-month edition. The reasons for my apparent laziness will hopefully become apparent before the end of part two!

May 2009 Newsletter
Introduction
May 2009 is going to be a busy month. We have another public holiday to contend with; visitors to the island from the UK; a short trip by yours truly to the UK and finally we have Louise and Steve visiting at the end of the month. I should add that we anticipate a lot of work catching up with the garden, always assuming that the weather improves. There are also many things that we want to do about the house in preparation for Louise and Steve's visit. I guess that by now you get the picture and so we won't dwell on this any further.

Friday, 1st May was a public holiday in Greece. I know that in the UK the May bank holiday is always the first Monday of May. However here, it is always 1st May. Our Greek friends have difficulty in understanding how 'May Day' can be on a different day every year!

Despite the overnight downpours the weather brightened up. Tricia decorated the front door and our car with flowers. Those of you who are familiar with Greek tradition or who have been reading our newsletters for some time will realise that this is quite traditional.

We went to Agni Bay for lunch with David and Eda at Taverna Nikolas. It was nice to see old friends again. Periklis was on good form. It was the first time that we had seen him for quite a while although I had spoken to him by phone at the New Year. We brought up the subject with Periklis that we know is dear to the hearts of many of the visitors to nearby Kalami - the jetty from which the water taxi runs between Agni and Kalami.

Periklis assured us that the jetty was to be replaced within a few days. There had obviously been problems which we suspect were caused by some of the Taverna owners in Kalami. I guess that you can understand that they don't want prospective customers shipped away from them to Agni Bay! Knowing Periklis, he will get round this!

We had a very long lunch whilst we caught up on everything that had been going on in our respective lives. Before we left, we arranged to take David and Eda for lunch on the following Sunday.

The weather cheered up on Saturday, 2nd May and to be honest I cheered up when Tricia announced that she was going to make a 'special dinner' that evening. The downside of this was that I had to go out and buy some of the ingredients that she was lacking! Tricia spent most of the day preparing the meal but it was definitely worth it. I honestly don't know what I'd done to deserve it!

Whilst Tricia slaved away in the kitchen I did some work in the garden. I managed to do some planting and prepared a lot of the ground. We had been prevented from doing too much in the garden due to the bad weather but by the end of the day it at least looked tidy.

To round off the day we witnessed Chelsea beating Fulham 3 - 1!

Sunday, 3rd May was sunny. I managed to get some tomato plants planted before Tricia and I went to collect David and Eda from Agni Bay.

Before we left, Adonis decided to leave us a present on the veranda - a dead snake!

We brought them back to our house for a few drinks on the veranda and to show them some of the work that we had had done since they had last visited. In return we got Eda to identify a mystery plant that has sprung up in our garden.

It turned out to be an Allium. Tricia later identified it precisely as being a Rosy Garlic Allium (allium roseum). Tricia later gathered the seeds in the hope that she can propagate it.

This brought us to Monday, 4th May. It was time for me to say, "Goodbye!" to Tricia for a couple of days. I was off to the UK for a very brief visit on matters medical. It really was a flying visit because I returned to Corfu by 11 o'clock in the morning on Wednesday, 6th May!

In that time I had managed to fit in visits to the doctors, the opticians, John Lewis’s, Tesco's, brief visits to daughters Corinna and Louise, not to mention a walk round Lakeside’s shopping mall!

Upon my arrival in the UK, I picked up a hire car and drove straight to John Lewis’s at Bluewater. I had ordered a new 'toy' in the form of an Acer Aspire One netbook computer, online. I followed the directions to the pickup point where I was met by a lady wearing a high visibility jacket who, upon confirming the reason for my attendance, directed me to leave the car in a parking bay right next to the store!

Within five minutes of presenting my proof of purchase, I left the store clutching my brand new toy! For anyone who is interested I can say that I could have obtained the computer for £10 less elsewhere but this purchase was so convenient as it was on my way from the airport and the service was so good that I consider that extra £10 well spent.

I first drove to Louise and Steve's house in Hextable where I spent the night. Next morning I was off bright and early to Cambridgeshire to visit Corinna. It seemed like I had not been there five minutes before I was off to the doctor's surgery followed shortly by the opticians.

It had been my intention to take Corinna to lunch but I was thwarted as, like so many women, she was on a diet! In fairness I must admit that her weight loss was incredible.

I left Corinna’s house that afternoon and finished off my shopping expedition on the way to Louise and Steve's house. Louise and Steve's reward for putting me up overnight was a takeaway Indian meal! (Much to Tricia's annoyance as there is nothing she likes better!)

I Left Hextable during the very early hours of Wednesday 6 May for what should have been a very easy journey home. The journey was okay. The car check-in was okay. Then I encountered an Easyjet jobsworth!

I presented myself at the Speedy boarding desk which is when my problem started. "You are 1 kg overweight," said the check-in girl adding, "Would you like to pay excess baggage or transfer something into your hand luggage?" I knew that her second suggestion was a non-starter as my carry on bag was bursting at the seams! I agreed to pay the excess baggage. Then, as if to rub salt into the wounds, the girl instructed me to place my hand luggage into the rack to check that it was within the permitted size.

As I've already said it was bulging at the seams! I placed it on top of the rack and pushed. It got as far as the wheels. I turned to the young lady and smiled. She wasn't impressed. "It has to go right in," she said. I first pushed and then sat on it. It went in! "That's okay," said the Easyjet official. "It might not be," I retorted adding, "I don't think it will come out!" The poor girl looked quite perplexed.

Satisfied that I had exacted some little revenge I bent down and gave the bag an almighty tug. Needless to say, it came free much to the relief of the check-in girl. I guess that she had the last laugh as I had to pay nine pounds excess baggage.

I'm pleased to say that the rest of my journey home was totally uneventful. It was quite a relief to find Corfu warm and sunny upon my arrival after all of the very suspect weather that we had previously been experiencing.

Thursday, 7th May was quite hot. I decided to celebrate my return by doing a little bit of work in the vegetable garden.

That evening we went out to dinner with David and Eda to the Roumeli grill room in Nisaki. Tricia and I had never been there before but David and Eda had previously been there with Periklis. For those that are not familiar with it, it is situated just before Vitamin’s Taverna on the Coast Road. It is pretty new.

Those of you who have been following our tales will be aware that Tricia and I both enjoy eating in grill rooms. The food is generally simple but is invariably very good. Roumeli’s was no exception. The food was excellent and because they were not too busy, the owner, Vangelis and his wife had time to chat with us.

I think it fair to say that we all enjoyed the evening and we would highly recommend a visit to this grill room. The only proviso we would make is that vegetarians may have difficulty in finding much selection there!

Friday, 8th May was hot and sunny. We had been invited to John and Michelle's for an Italian lunch along with four other friends. The deal was, that they provided lunch but we provided the dessert. Of course what that actually meant was that Tricia provided dessert!

As always, lunch was superb and I think it fair to say that Tricia's desert of limoncello semifreddo with home-made limoncello to follow went down well. Let's put it this way, we didn't take any home with us! It goes without saying that it was a very late night!

It was as much as we could do to do any work the next day partially because it was hot and partially because of our late night.

Whilst everybody was enjoying themselves at John and Michelle's, I returned home to walk the dogs and found that we had had a gas delivery in our absence. I wouldn't have minded but I had specifically requested that the delivery be made the following Monday. We have no concerns about the reliability of the delivery driver but as we had not been there to pay him, it meant that we had to make a specific journey into Corfu town to the depot in order to settle the bill. Ho hum!

Sunday, 10th May was very hot and sunny. It was also a very busy day for us. We should add that it was also very pleasurable.

We had arranged to meet David and Eda at lunchtime for a meal at Taverna Nikolas in Agni. They were due to fly home the next day and at that stage we were unsure when they would be returning to Corfu. Considering that it was early in May the Taverna was quite busy. We never tire of visiting Agni and consider it one of the most beautiful spots on the island.

Having said our goodbyes to David and Eda, we made our way home for a little bit of a rest before our second meal out of the day!

We had been invited to a barbecue at friends, Dave and Alex's house. It was to be the last barbecue for a little while as they had guests coming the following day. It was an excellent evening and for once in our lives, we were not the last to leave! There is after all, only so much fun you can have in one day!

Oh did we mention that Chelsea beat Arsenal 1 - 4 at the Emirates Stadium?

The next few days were gloriously hot and sunny. Much of our time was spent working in the garden planting and strimming. We had one disappointment, namely our leeks. Out of 80 plants I doubt that we had 1 kg that were usable. They had all been attacked by onion worm. We are hoping that our garlic and onions do not suffer the same fate.

It goes without saying that Tricia did her share in the garden mainly weeding and similarly it goes without saying that she did her back as usual!

We also managed to plant some Canna lilies that John and Michelle had donated from their garden. Hopefully when they grow they will disguise a water drainage pipe next to the steps down on to the land.

We were up early on Thursday, 14th May as we had decided to go into Corfu town.

Not long after getting up, Tricia discovered a nasty looking bug on the veranda. It looked like a very large centipede. We have, of course, included a photograph of it!

The weather was glorious and the journey was quite pleasant. We paid the gas bill before starting our hunt for some new chairs to go with our outside table. We could not believe our luck. The first place we tried had chairs similar to those used in kafeneions and better still, they were at a price that we could just about afford! Eight chairs were ordered for delivery 10 days later.

We visited our usual selection of supermarkets before calling in at the garden centre in Kontokali. Needless to say, we came away with a few plants.

It hadn't been a bad morning's work and we were really happy that we had achieved quite a lot.

Friday, 15th May was duller than the previous few days but was not cold. It was ideal weather for strimming and I spent the whole morning strimming the area of our land that we laughingly call the ‘Orchard’.

I had been threatening to strim this part of our land for ages and to be truthful, I was somewhat embarrassed by the state of it. It didn't help that our neighbour, Vangelis had strimmed his garden that adjoins our land twice!

I could not believe the number of tortoises that I found in just this small section of garden. They ranged from little babies to some quite large specimens. You will find several photographs in the photo gallery for this month.

I know that some people have expressed concern in the past that the tortoises can be injured by the strimming. I am not so concerned about the larger specimens because they clearly have the common sense to either dig-in and/or withdraw fully into their shells. However I suspect that the very young tortoises don’t possess this common sense, probably due to their lack of experience. These can be a worry. Up until this date I have never knowingly injured any tortoises whilst strimming.

We are always concerned that we are destroying the tortoise’s habitat but it doesn't seem to bother them. They just move on to another piece of land that we have yet to strim. We continue to see tortoises all through the summer. This year, we have started photographing them from above in an attempt to identify those who remain on our land.

To be truthful, we really know nothing about them and so are unaware of whether they are territorial. There is certainly one tortoise that we have seen regularly for a few years now. It is easily identifiable due to the marks on its shell which we suspect have been caused by somebody strimming with a metal blade rather than cord.

If anyone is concerned, we can put them out of their misery and say that we have continued to see many tortoises throughout May!

Whilst venturing down the steps beside the house during 15th May, I almost stepped on a snake! It was only a grass snake but looked as if it had just eaten or was pregnant. I managed to get my camera and take some images before it shot into a hole in the wall.

Sunday, 17th May was hot and sunny and as a reward for all of our efforts during the previous week we took ourselves off for a very long lunch at Apnoea Taverna!

I was working in the garden on Monday, 18th May when our neighbour Vangelis called out to me, "What do you think of my new dog?" His new puppy, Max, was indeed a cute little chap but to be honest I cursed under my breath. This was the third dog, to my knowledge, that Vangelis has owned since we have lived here. His garden is not fenced and Max was too small to tie up. The question of a Greek dog being kept indoors is almost unheard of.

Vangelis was unconcerned when I suggested that Max would run away as soon as he went to work. (Vangelis that is, not Max!) During the course of the rest of the day we rescued Max twice! The last time was very fortunate as Tricia had discovered him trying to get up the steps from our land. It was even more fortunate that it was Tricia who was walking Bella. I think that had it had been me with Jake there would probably have been a bloodbath. Upon reflection it would probably have been my blood caused by Jake dragging me off around the garden!

With Louise and Steve's arrival little more than a week away much of our time was spent preparing for it. Tricia prepared food which she froze down whilst I worked in the garden. The weather was very hot and sunny and it looked like summer was finally well and truly on the way. Despite our preparations we still managed to get out for the occasional meal.

On Wednesday, 20th May we suggested to John and Michelle that they might like to join us for lunch at the Three Brothers Taverna in Kassiopi. They had previously discussed having some really nice fish meals there and to be honest it had whetted our appetite.

The Taverna was empty upon our arrival as indeed, was Kassiopi. John and Michelle were greeted like old friends. We have only ever eaten there 2 or 3 times in the past and on each occasion we have enjoyed our meal. We ask to see what fish they had and were led into the kitchen.

The chiller cabinet was opened to reveal a selection of fish. Our eyes lit up! We put in our order for their last two sole and a number of red mullet along with a couple of salads and of course, the ubiquitous chips! The meal was outstanding.

As we've mentioned, John and Michelle are quite well known there and so when it came to leave John requested the bill in his very best Greek! Well actually he said that he only wanted the bill if it was a small one! Bearing in mind that fish is generally expensive, Tricia and I were surprised how reasonable the bill was especially considering that John, Michelle and Tricia had devoured about four bottles of retsina between them compared to my modest couple of beers! It was a really memorable lunch.

Our friends Neal and Bev were having a short break at their house near Petriti and had arranged with us to meet at Taverna Nikolas in Agni on Thursday, 21st May for lunch. Being experienced sailors they had offered to accompany their friends Den and Heather who had recently purchased a new boat.

They certainly had a really nice day to make the journey from the south on the island. It had been a while since Tricia and I had been able to catch up with Neal and Bev. Den and Heather were not total strangers to us as we had previously met at Neal and Bev's house. We had a really good time catching up on each other's news but we did hear one disturbing piece of news whilst we were there.

We learned that the Andreas, the boyfriend of Alexia, (Periklis' daughter) had been injured whilst riding his motorbike. Having previously been discharged from Corfu general hospital, he had suffered complications and was now in the University Hospital at Ioannina. We wait to hear any developments. We left Neal, Bev, Den and Heather to sail back to Petriti and returned home.

Later that night whilst walking the dogs we were amazed at the number of fireflies on our land. We had only seen one or two previously and were beginning to wonder whether they had become victims of the bad winter. We were hoping that they would still be here when Louise and Steve arrived as we didn't think that Louise had seen them before. We know that there have been plenty of fireflies around Agni for some time but is always warmer there than here, part way up Mount Pantokrator!

Just to continue the theme, we were out for lunch again on Friday, 22nd May! This time it was at John and Michelle's house. John, being the wizard of the barbecue had wanted to try out cooking a large sea bass on the grill. I guess you could say that we were their beta testers! We supplied the dessert, strawberry granita, on account of the fact that we had a glut of strawberries!

For those that follow and are treated to sea bass cooked on the barbecue by John we can confirm that they are in for a treat! Mind you, we were all a little concerned when John ate an eyeball for a dare!

Saturday, 23rd May was very, very hot! As a result we did not exert ourselves at all that day. However I did have something of a minor panic first thing in the morning! We had just finished breakfast and I was standing at the railings on the veranda admiring my previous handiwork where I had strimmed 'The Orchard'. I noticed some movement in the corner of the vegetable garden where we have a large bowl sunk on the ground which once had contained liquid manure.

There, struggling to get out, was a tortoise. He was just about managing to keep his head above water. I dashed down to the vegetable garden at breakneck speed and managed to rescue the tortoise before he came to any real harm. I guess that he must have been trying to get out for some time as that part of his shell (it was a male) which he had managed to keep above the surface was bone dry. There is no doubt in my mind though that he must have careered headfirst into the bowl whilst trying to get a drink! Needless to say, he was relocated.

My exploits at rescuing critters did not stop. On Sunday, 24th May I responded to a frantic shout from Tricia who had spotted a young sparrow flapping around inside our mop bucket and yes, there was water in the bucket. The sparrow was also rescued and suitably relocated although he was soaking wet. In the end, this turned out to be one of my less successful rescues as I later found it dead, having obviously fallen foul of Adonis or another of his feline friends.

Oh yes! Just for good measure, we had lunch at Gelati's!

Monday, 25th May was very, very hot again. It reached 32° C by lunchtime. Tricia and I were up early to go into Corfu town shopping. I also wanted to see Spiros Souvlakis, our old car mechanic because despite him being retired I was sure that he would know where to get a new light lens for our Ford Fiesta. We had discovered it mysteriously missing and no, I didn't hit anything!

As luck would have it, Spiros was in his garage. It appears that although he has retired he just can't keep away from the place! True to form, Spiros made one phone call and located the lens for us. I arranged to collect it whilst collecting Louise and Steve from the airport on Wednesday.

With the imminent arrival of Louise and Steve, Tricia and I had a few things that we felt needed doing before they got here. I particularly wanted to get some beans planted in the vegetable garden and so, that evening, I finished the job. The most I had to worry about in the garden now was watering.

On Tuesday, 26th May we had our last great fling preparing for Louise and Steve. In fairness most of it was down to Tricia!

When Louise and Steve had originally said that they were coming out in May we were concerned because the weather can sometimes be a little unsettled towards the end of May and at the beginning of June. However, their other commitments meant that this was the only time this year that they were likely to be able to visit us and then, only for 10 days.

Wednesday, 27th May was hot, much to our relief. At least Louise and Steve would be arriving to nice weather. We were particularly concerned because we had seen that the weather in the UK had been pretty good prior to their departure. Knowing how much Steve likes the sun, we were really concerned whether the weather would hold for them.

Their flight arrived on time. I think it fair to say that they were both pretty shattered as they had had a very early start for the airport. We stopped off on the way for coffee and spanakopitas (spinach pies). This was particularly convenient as it was directly opposite Spiros Souvlakis’ garage from where I had to collect the new lens for the Ford. The significance of this was that Louise and Steve will be using the car!

We returned home and let Louise and Steve recover after their travels before taking them down to Spiros Gelati's for dinner. There was an ulterior motive in choosing this venue. It meant that we could watch Barcelona beat Manchester United 2 -0 in the final of the UEFA cup! It was a great game and Barcelona were worthy champions. Even Sir Alex Ferguson and the Manchester United players were gracious enough to admit that.

Although Thursday, 28th May started cooler it soon warmed up. To our amazement we discovered that Louise had been out running first thing in the morning before we had got up.  We thought that she was barking mad and to be honest, I think she was beginning to have doubts about her own sanity herself!

Despite offering to get shopping for Louise and Steve prior to their arrival, Louise had insisted that she did it herself on her way here from the airport. It was very noble of her to save her mum and dad the expense but true to form she managed to forget a few items! As a result, Tricia and I went shopping during the morning of the 28th whilst Louise and Steve walked to Old Peritheia.

I made a phone call to the furniture store where we had ordered the chairs for outside and discovered that they were available for collection the next day.

It was hot and sunny on 29th May and you can guess where I was going first thing. I set off to collect the chairs for Corfu town whilst Louise and Steve took Tricia bird-watching at St Spiridon.

Believe it or not, I actually managed to get the eight chairs in the VW. It wasn't without a little difficulty and I almost had to physically restrain the shop assistant from helping me as I could see that if left to her own devices, she was going to damage the headlining!

That evening we all went out for a meal in Acharavi. The venue was the Italian restaurant which we had visited once before. Our meals were a mixed bag. Everybody was happy with their meal. Everybody that is except me! The seafood pizza should have been named the kalamari pizza because there was absolutely no other seafood present. It was a great disappointment to me as I have previously eaten seafood pizza there which had been delicious. I'm now led to believe that the place is under new management. I won't hurry back.

After our meal we took a stroll up the main road through Acharavi and called in at a kafeneio for after-dinner drinks. Their prices were much more to my liking!

The hot sunny weather continued into 30th May. Louise and Steve went to the beach during the morning whilst I did a little gardening. We had arranged to eat dinner at home that night but had far more important matters to deal with first. We had to witness Chelsea's glorious victory in the FA Cup final against Everton which they won 2 -1!

For the second time in the space of a week we had witnessed two football matches in which the winning teams had been rightful victors. We are not just saying that because we are Chelsea supporters. Honest!

The month ended with another hot sunny day. Much to our surprise Louise and Steve wanted to visit the Pirates Bar in Roda for breakfast. We didn't mind. To be honest there's nothing I like better than a full English breakfast! The other advantage is that they do a vegetarian breakfast which suits Louise just fine!

After breakfast we left Louise and Steve who went off for a day on the beach at Seki Bay. That evening we had a barbecue at home not to mention the odd one or three bottles of wine! Tricia even managed to come up with a vegetarian option for Louise. That is, a vegetarian option for the barbecue not the wine! What a way to end the month!

Conclusion
To be truthful, it has taken me far longer to reach this point with the newsletter than I would have liked. We have even had e-mails from non-family members asking what has happened to the newsletter! (Thanks for your continued interest Ady!)

The last couple of months have seen quite a transition in the weather following the very long winter. Most of the wildflowers have been and gone. The olive trees are in blossom and doubtless many people will be suffering from hay fever! Following the wet winter, the summer heat has caused the grass to grow at an alarming rate. I swear that it has been 5 feet high in places by the time I got round to strimming it. You can see that I'm going native because if I'd cut any sooner I had to cut it again by now!

On the wildlife front, our summer birds have returned and the sky is full of swallows and swifts. Nests are prevalent everywhere but to date we have yet to have any swallows building nests under the eaves of our house or under the veranda roof although we do have sparrows nesting there.

Despite the fact that the tortoises can cause more than a little havoc in the vegetable garden they have not been a real problem except for the one to that helped us to finish our strawberries a little earlier than we would have liked! To be honest, we like to see them and we are forever mindful that they are an endangered species. With the number that we have seen this year you could be forgiven for forgetting that.

Then we come to the snakes. We have seen quite a few albeit none that cause us any concern. They have mainly been grass snakes with the occasional four lined snake thrown in for good measure. There have been a few slow worms which of course send our Greek neighbours into the mad panic. It seems that nobody can tell one snake from another or indeed a snake from a slow worm. It won't be the first time that we have seen them kill snakes on the basis that they are dangerous, for us to later discover that they were merely grass snakes.

We make it a point not to kill snakes or scorpions that matter. Having said that, it still gives us a start when Adonis, our cat, leaves a dead one at our feet!

Of course the highlights of the last couple of months have been the visits by Louise and Steve and our other friends who have returned to the island either for a short visit or to stay for the summer.

Of course next month we anticipate catching up with even more friends who will be coming out for holidays. On the downside, I have to make yet another very short visit to the UK. (11th to 14th June).

I'm not going to ramble on any further you will be pleased to hear! All that remains is for Tricia and I wish you all the best until the next edition.

Bob and Tricia