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Introduction
Welcome to March's missive from Corfu.
Unfortunately, the long-range weather forecast for Corfu doesn't look too good for the immediate future. We have to confess that the continuous rain has become quite tedious.
The construction of our gateposts continues and having seen how long it has taken so far, we are becoming concerned as to what the cost will be. Hopefully you will get to see an image of the finished article this month. Assuming that to be the case, the amount of work will become evident as every stone has to be cut by hand. It is not like a wall where stones can be laid in a random fashion. As the pillars have to be (relatively) square it means that each of the stones on each of the four corners have to be cut accurately. It all adds to the expense.
I guess that as Easter is early this year, the island will start to get a little busier with villa owners returning to sort their properties out for the forthcoming season. As we get nearer to Easter, the village will begin to fill up with families returning from the mainland.
For our part, we actually have nothing planned. It would be nice to get a start on the garden, particularly the vegetable plot. It has been so wet for so long that we wonder if it will ever dry out. Added to that is the fact that the mild winter has meant that the grass has grown at an alarming rate and I can see that there is going to be a massive onslaught with the strimmer when things get a bit drier. Fortunately (or is that unfortunately?) Tricia insists that I leave the majority of the strimming until the majority of the wild flowers have died off.
I guess we are going to have to see what the month brings forth.
Read on!
March 2010.
Monday, 1st March was what we guess meteorologists call 'part cloudy'! - Neither one thing nor the other.
Milios continued working and I spent some time on my makeshift wall down to the first terrace. In doing so, I committed a cardinal sin. I broke up and used some of the stone that Milios had earmarked for the gate posts. Oops!
The 2nd March was sunny and mild. Tricia and I began to wonder whether spring was finally on its way.
Milios finished building the first of the two gate posts but had to get some suitable 'plaka' for capping off the top.
Tricia and I went off to Corfu Town, mainly to collect our pink slips from the bank but also to visit the market. For once, the pink slips were obtained with remarkably little fuss.
It has been a while since we have visited the market. We were hoping to find some prawns that we have been looking out for over the past few months. "What's so special about these prawns?" we hear you ask. The truth is that we don't know, that's why we have been looking out for them! What we can tell you is that when fresh, they are a brilliant blood-red colour and we have been told that they are delicious. There were none on display and so we made do with a couple of mackerel! Talk about from the sublime to the ridiculous!
We did manage to find something that was blood-red though - blood oranges! It has been years since we have had any and we can report that they really tasted good!
We returned home quite late to find a bunch of 'sticks' on the doorstep. They turned out to be grapevine cuttings from our local benefactor, Costas! They were labelled, 'for wine'. What else?
We discovered on 3rd March that spring definitely wasn't here yet. It was cold and showery.
Despite the weather, Milios worked on building our gateposts which were looking quite impressive now. (To us, at least!) Apart from pottering around the house, we didn't get much done ourselves. Some work on our websites was completed but there was much more to be done with them yet.
Despite showers continuing on Thursday, 4th March, Milios continued to work. Work continued on the websites until lunchtime when we went to Zephyros Taverna with John and Michelle. We had a lot to catch up on as we hadn't seen much of them since their return to the island.
It was a really nice meal. As we were leaving, Marios presented Tricia and Michelle with a bag of fresh eggs each. We were all suitably grateful! This is not an unusual occurrence with Marios but one that is always appreciated. Really fresh eggs are one of our simple pleasures.
We couldn't believe that Milios failed to appear on Friday, 5th March because the weather was dry. We later discovered that his car had developed a fault whereby he had lost all of his lights. This had resulted in him spending most of the day at a garage in Corfu Town.
For my part, I spent another couple of hours stripping down various parts of the rotovator in an attempt to get it running at full power. My efforts were in vain. I decided to pay a visit to Robertos, the supplier.
Robertos was adamant that the fault lay in the carburettor. Having stripped it and cleaned it more times than I can remember, I wasn't convinced. Robertos suggested that I took it to a repairer, Stefanos, who has a workshop on the Acharavi to Peritheia road. Interestingly, Robertos wasn't the first person to suggest this. I knew that Stefanos came from our village although I had never knowingly met him.
I visited Stefanos without delay. Despite never having met, he knew who I was immediately. That's a bit worrying! After a brief discussion, he also assured me that it was the carburettor. I undertook to return the next day with the offending rotovator, always assuming that I could get it into the back of the old Ford.
That afternoon we were having something of a 'siesta' when there was an almighty banging on the front door. Why does nobody think to ring the bell? This struck me as unusual, not least of all because I had been faintly aware of a woman's voice bellowing something unintelligible for about five minutes before this. Jake and Bella went ballistic, adding to the general sense of mayhem!
Having dragged myself to the door, I discovered that our caller was Spiridoula. Many of you who have visited Thomas at 'O Foros' in Old Peritheia will remember her as the cook there. Her presence was easily explained.
I had left a message for her in the village that I had received some photos for her, via the Internet, of her granddaughter, Lucy, and her new baby. This, I think, was probably Spiridoula's first great- grandchild and to say that she was emotional was an understatement. I was hugged. I was kissed and all the time Spiridoula was making the sign of the cross. I am sure that those of you who know Spiridoula will appreciated when I say that this was all quite scary. I was also pleased that there were no witnesses! Joking aside, it is quite nice when you are able to do something that brings a little pleasure to one of our Greek neighbours.
It was dull and showery on Saturday 6th March.
Milios did a couple of hours work in the afternoon but the best news of the day was that the rotovator was fixed.
Tricia had helped me to get the rotovator into the back of the car and I had taken it to Stefanos' workshop. It took him precisely ten minutes to fix it and I have to confess that both he and Robertos were right. It was the carburettor. There was a jet that I had overlooked. Doh!
That evening, we went for dinner at Alan and Pauline's. We had a nice time with nice food - not to mention nice wine! Amongst our evening of conversation we had discussed our cat Adonis and how long that we had been his servants. You can guess what's coming. When we returned home, there was no sign of Adonis. Superstitious? Us?
It was dry the next morning and thankfully, Adonis returned home unscathed to a severe telling off!
It was very cold - about 6°C and if you add to that that the power went at about 8.30am, you will understand when we say that it wasn't the start to the day that we would have wanted. There was nothing for it but to do a little cleaning up of the vegetable garden. To add to the general air of gloom, Milios failed to appear. In fact, we were not to see him again until the 14th March as he had returned to Albania to resolve a family matter.
We did little of note over the following few days apart from general household bits and pieces.
It started to rain as Tricia and I took the dogs out for their first walk of the day. Did I say rain? Strewth! It rained all day and all night and it wasn't just rain. It was torrential. I managed to fall over again during one of Jake's walks. For once though, it wasn't his fault and only my pride was hurt!
Most of our day of the 11th March was spent on February's newsletter. We managed to get it finished, proofread and published by around midnight. Such devotion to our loyal reader(s)!
On Friday 12th March, we were awoken at 6.40am by what was probably the loudest clap of thunder that we had ever heard. I rushed to check the computers that had been left uploading the newsletter overnight. To our amazement, the machines were all fine and more surprisingly, the power hadn't tripped. We dismissed the event as one of those freak strokes of luck that one occasionally has.
However, whilst doing a bit of shopping later that morning, I discovered that a couple of our friends hadn't been so lucky. One had lost their computer and television. However, the other had taken a direct hit from the lightning. The result was even more serious owing to the amount of equipment that had been either destroyed or damaged. Add to that the amount of wiring that had been burnt out and you will begin to get the picture. It is a miracle that nobody was injured or worse. If I had not seen the electricity distribution box that had just exploded, I would never have believed it.
Apart from the lack of injuries, you could be forgiven for thinking that little good could have come from this incident. You would be wrong! There was ample evidence of the effectiveness of power surge protection. In one instance, the surge protector had literally been blown apart but the equipment attached to it escaped unscathed. It was a salutary lesson on the value of these devices which should be learnt by all of us living in the region.
I started working on updating our first website, www.thecorfiot.com on Saturday 13th March. It was long overdue. My work was interrupted by a phone call from our daughter Corinna who was mortified as she had not arranged for a Mothers Day present to be delivered to Tricia. I was dispatched to the local florist on her behalf!
Apart from the aforementioned good deed, I guess that the highlight of the day was Chelsea thrashing West Ham 4 - 1! (Sorry David!)
The sun shone on Sunday, 14th March. It was obviously something of a good omen as Milios returned to continue with the gateposts and we had a really nice dinner that day at Apnoea Taverna.
There had to be a downside though. A warning light came on in the car advising that there was something up with the emissions. We knew where we were going the next day!
Monday, 15th March was sunny which made our trip to the Volkswagen dealership in Corfu Town less arduous. The fault on the car was rapidly diagnosed and the parts ordered. (I sometimes wonder what stock they carry locally.) They promised to call us when the parts arrived.
As the parts were going to cost around €150, we were pleased that for once we had done the right thing by paying for extended warranty when we bought the car. When you take into account the labour costs, we have probably recovered most of the cost with this one repair.
That evening, the newly repaired rotovator was put through its paces. As the earth has not dried out yet, it wasn't too bad a job. About half the plot was prepared before darkness set in.
On Tuesday 16th March, Tricia and I treated ourselves to lunch at Zephyros taverna. It was the usual understated lunch but well prepared. Sofrito was the order of the day and jolly nice it was too! As we left, Marios presented us with a bag of fresh eggs. What joy they are to eat.
The wet winter has meant that we are a bit behind in the vegetable garden. Some things we are going to risk planting a little later than we would normally, others we will forget for this year. I think that the biggest victim of this policy will be potatoes as they have been poor for the last two years. We may chance a couple of rows but nothing on the scale that we have normally planted. One of the things that we planted late was garlic. We use such a lot in a year and the sets are that cheap that it seemed worth the risk. As a result we managed to plant four rows on Wednesday, 17th March.
The sun shone on Thursday 18th March. We worked in the garden all morning until lunchtime when we went to Gelati's for a nice lunch. There wasn't much done after that!
Milios finished the gate posts and presented us with the bill. This was pretty much in line with what we had anticipated but the estimate that he gave for the three columns down the side of the garage was way larger than we had reckoned on. I guess they are now going to be plastered! Don't get us wrong. We don't think that it was extraordinarily expensive but we have decided that it is an expense that we can do without. Some high interest rates and a weaker euro would certainly be a help to us. Sorry, if you've got a mortgage!
The 19th March was sunny but still cold overnight. Tricia and I headed off to town to have the parts that were on order, fitted to the car. Whilst this took place, we generally ambled around the nearby shops. As we mentioned earlier, "Thank goodness for the one occasion that we decided to go for the extended warranty!"
That afternoon we managed to get the strawberry bed replanted along with the chives. (Not in the same bed, of course!) Let's hope that the thorough work that has gone into preparing and generally cleaning up of the vegetable plot pays off after last year's disasters.
That evening I paid a visit to the kafeneion as our (un)trusty architect had apparently sent a missive to Phillipos that was too difficult for her to send direct as she thought it was beyond her level of competency in English. More like beyond the pale in my humble opinion.
It was the usual line in bull**** and amounted to yet another reason why she could now not finalise the IKA payments until after Easter. I had already a plan in place to test the truth or otherwise of this latest attempt at evading her responsibilities. More on that later. Maybe!
The next couple of days remained dry and sunny and saw more work being done in the garden. It has been a real pleasure to finally get on after so much rain.
We had a visit from John and Michelle during the morning of Sunday 21st March. We had asked them around, knowing that it was John's birthday. There was a small matter of a (joke) present, not to mention a couple of drinks to catch up.
We had to curtail things on account of the fact that we had promised to meet Alan and Pauline at 'Thomas' Place' in Kalami for lunch. We arrived late as usual! Well, be fair, this is Greece and time has little meaning! As always, the location was superb and the company great. As for the meal? Well, I will be polite and say that generally, it was uninspiring.
<rant on>
I think that we should explain what really makes us mad when it comes to eating out. Eating out is one of our greatest pleasures. During the winter, when there are no tourists around, menus generally don't exist. You are offered what the taverna in question has fresh. It is invariably a much more limited menu than those on holiday would expect and generally less cosmopolitan. In short, one gets local dishes, comprising fresh food, cooked freshly.
Don't get us wrong. If you want burger and chips, you will get it but you have to accept that it has come from the freezer. There is nothing wrong in this but it is not generally what we look for when eating out during winter. (I can get my burgers and chips at home thank you!) Where some eating places get it wrong is that they assume that as one is a 'Johnny foreigner', we don't know what we are eating. That really hacks us off!
We take great exception when we are presented with food that is clearly not what it is claimed to be. For example, keftedes or keftedakia (meatballs or small meat balls) are a joy when they are freshly prepared with just the right blend of herbs. Try them at Apnoea Taverna and you will know what we mean. However, when told that the keftedakia are fresh, to be presented with what are nothing more than chunks of skinless sausages in a questionable sauce, makes our respective bloods boil!
I don't like being taken for an idiot before being proved that I am one! Upon reflection, maybe we are both idiots for not commenting to Thomas upon the food. Maybe we have done him and his cook a disservice. It is particularly galling when the establishment in question knows us and knows that we are permanent residents. God help tourists! God help the Greek economy! All I know is that we won't hurry back. Phew! where did that lot come from?
<//rant off>
We finished the day by having coffee at Alan and Pauline's house. Alan also kindly lent me a telescopic chainsaw so that we can lop a few offending branches off of some of our olives.
The sun shone on Monday 22nd March - until the afternoon!
I had arranged with Alan to meet his builder, Stamatis, about whom he speaks very highly. There were two reasons for this meeting. Firstly, I wanted to run TBW's latest line in suspected lies past him to see if I got any response. Secondly, I was keen to get a quote on a small building job that we have considered.
When I outlined the message that I had received from TBW to Stamatis he rolled his eyes. After a short conversation, my mind was a lot more easy than it had been the night before.
Then came the second reason for our meeting. We have been considering putting steps from our veranda down to the terrace nearest the garage. More specifically, we want them made of concrete and want them to be unsupported. I know, it sounds odd but it is no different to what we already have at the other end of the veranda. To my amazement, Stamatis offered to come and have a look at the project there and then.
We drove back home in procession. He took one look and agreed that the project was feasible. One phone call later and we had an estimate. It was not just an estimate but an exceedingly competitive one. The icing on the cake came when I asked how much it would cost to have the three pillars opposite the garage plastered. That too was a competitive estimate. We will be speaking to him some time next month with a view to getting both jobs under way.
The next job of the day was a trip to the accountant. It was tax return time again. For once, this visit was completed without any histrionics from me or the accountant. Amazing!
The day ended in the vegetable plot. For the first time in a few days, the rotovator was returned to the garage as it looked like rain.
Tuesday, 23rd March was grey and showery, although warm. I put Alan's telescopic chainsaw to work and lopped a few branches off of the olive trees during the morning. - A little more firewood for next year!
For the first time in a while we had a problem with one of our websites. To be exact, the forum on www.thehelm.co.uk was decidedly sick! Try as I may, I couldn't resolve the issue and so had to contact the ISP. There followed an extended series of emails between us. There was an admission that changes had been made to the installation but nothing specific. This went on over a couple of days. In desperation I updated the software and had to upload a backup. Job done - no thanks to the ISP!
We have to move forward in time to the early hours of Sunday, 28th March for perhaps the biggest news of the year (for our family at least!). Daughter, Corinna gave birth to Maggie Jean at 1.10am. Everyone is doing fine, although the jury is out on how long Dave will take recovering from the prospect of another female in the family. Still, he has Ryan for support!
That day, we went to Yialos Taverna for lunch with Dave and Alex and John and Michelle. It was a new venue for us and one that we will return to. The food was good, the venue had atmosphere and the owners were very hospitable. We finished the day in Yiannis's Kafeneion in Acharavi. I think it fair to say that we well and truly wet the baby's head!
On Monday, 29th March, Yiorgos, our local builder and friend knocked at the door. He was looking decidedly sheepish. He had borrowed our pressure washer a day or so earlier. He was returning it claiming that it wasn't working properly. The application of insulating tape on three separate parts of the hose bore testimony to this. I undertook to get a new hose before we discussed blame.
The next day I was up early and started strimming the garden which was beginning to look like a wilderness. Things went well. I stopped around 9am for breakfast before taking Jake for his first walk of the day. Tricia was already out with Bella. I stopped to admire my handiwork and discussed it with Tricia. It hadn't occurred to me that Jake had frozen rigid as we discussed where I was going to strim next.
As I turned to continue our walk, Jake took that as his cue to make his move. He had spotted a cat. He (we!) took off with me flailing in his wake. As we cleared the second terrace, I was horizontal, still clutching Jake's lead and resembling the performance of Edwin Van De Sar's efforts at (unsuccessfully) keeping a Chelsea attack at bay!
I hit the ground flat out and head first, still valiantly clutching Jake's lead. He wasn't going to lead me on a chase around the village, at least until I was sure of the extent of any injuries I had suffered. Thankfully, I only had yet more pulled muscles and aching ribs. Jake suffered a sore backside and probably a severe ringing in the ears following my tirade of abuse in his general direction.
To be honest, my ears were ringing. Not as a result of of my fall but from the ear piercing screams emanating from Tricia as I performed my latest series of acrobatics. They were enough to waken the dead. Predictably, nobody came to see what was wrong. I guess they must be used to us noisy foreigners!
Unlike our Greek hosts, I was not whizzed off to the hospital or to be found in the queue for the local doctor. I returned Jake home and resumed strimming! I anticipated aching a bit the next day! Tricia made great inroads into weeding the flower beds.
I was not to be disappointed the next day. I decided not to do anymore strimming for a day or two. Instead, I went Robertos' Hardware store for a replacement hose for the pressure washer. True to form, when I tried to fit it, it proved to be the wrong one!
The month ended with us both working in the garden, generally cleaning up.
Conclusion
There's no doubt about the highlight of this month. Despite having to wait until the end of the month, the arrival of our fourth grandchild, Maggie was worth waiting for. As neither Tricia nor I were able to be in the UK it was particularly difficult for us but thanks to the Internet and Skype were were able to get an early preview of her. Add to that the photographs taken soon after her arrival and I guess that we got the second best thing. We are sure that you will forgive the proud grandparents if a photo or two of Maggie slip into this month's publication!
Tricia will be visiting to see Maggie next month but I have to wait until May. Knowing how fast kids grow up these days, she'll probably be at school by then!
The weather, although improving continues to be something of a 'mixed bag'.
The wild flowers have been truly spectacular this year and hopefully this has been reflected in the large number of photographs that are included this month. Don’t hold your breath if you are coming out next month for it is the ‘strimming season’!
Our gate posts are now complete and the bank account suitably depleted! I guess that the gates will have to wait a while but hopefully we will get around to this later in the year. Yes, the economic downturn has begun to bite!
April will see us celebrating an early Easter this year. We have a couple of things planned that you will have to wait to hear about in the next edition. Suffice to say, there should be a monster amount of photographs to accompany it provided that the weather is reasonably fine. Fingers crossed!
That's all for now.
Have fun!
Bob & Tricia.
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