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Introduction
Hopefully, the weather will show some improvement this month, if not for us, for those friends who will be returning from the UK.
We would like to start planting in the vegetable garden this month but it will depend upon how quickly the ground dries out. Before we can plant I would need to rotavate it. We particularly want to get the potatoes in.
As the weather should be getting warmer we hope to start decorating. The first room will definitely be the kitchen. From there we will move on to the hall and possibly follow with the lounge. There are two painting jobs outside that will have to be done this year. The first will be the railings around the veranda and the terrace. It is important that this is done before the weather gets too hot. Similarly the main door to the house needs varnishing as it has taken the brunt of the bad weather over the past year. There are plenty of fine cracks on the outside walls that will need to be dealt with but they will definitely have to wait until later in the year.
We have a new website up and running detailing our exploits with the house build and we are working on extending it to cover the building of the garage, the apartment and the landscaping. If anyone wants to check out our progress just navigate to www.thehelm.co.uk.
Potentially this month could be quite busy for us but there again things may slide! Let's just see what happens.
March 2009
Sunday, 1st March was sunny and warm enough for us to have coffee on the veranda. We did a bit of gardening but other than that nothing much.
As those that have been following our exploits will know we like to go out for a meal over the weekend if we can. However we moved this treat back a day until Monday, 2nd March. Those of you familiar with Greece and the Greek calendar will be aware that this was ‘Clean Monday’. It is a religious day, the start of Lent, but it is also one where many Greeks go out and fly kites. Many also tend to eat out that day. We joined them!
Having learned from our mistakes last year, Tricia and I had booked a table at Apnoea Taverna. Yiannis had saved us a table by the window near the beach. The place was packed and true to form there was at least one table where we knew people. This table was occupied by Spiros, the owner of the pet shop that we use, and his family. We were halfway through lunch and were just on the verge of finishing our litre of wine when Spiros sent over another half a litre of wine. We must have been spending too much money with him.
It was a really nice lunch, one of the best that we have had out in a long while and definitely one of the longest!
Tuesday, 3rd March was quite frustrating. It started with me telephoning TBW and getting her usual evasive answers to all my queries.
Things got worse later in the morning. It is that time of year when we have to make our income tax return to the Greek tax authority. I had all my papers ready and took them along to the accountant. I should have known that things were going too well.
I'm sure that I've explained this in previous newsletters but it might not hurt to explain again! In order to satisfy the Greek tax authority that we are not liable for tax here, we have to produce proof that our income has come from a tax paid source within the EU. For this purpose our bank here provides pink slips detailing the money that has been transferred into Greece from our UK bank account.
The accountant asked me if I had proof that I had paid tax on this money. I explained it’s source. She then told me that I have to produce proof that I have paid all the tax on my income. I pointed out that we receive a form P60 that shows details of income and tax over the previous financial year. This, she said, was acceptable but had to be translated into Greek! That wasn't the end of my problems because the amount that I had transferred was in excess of my income! The concept of having savings doesn't seem to exist here! They now want me to prove where I have obtained our savings from and that we've paid any tax due on them!
To say that we are not happy is an understatement! It is almost as if the Greek tax authority believes that they have a duty to police the British tax system!
It rained on Wednesday, 4th March and as a result we did very little day. Our thoughts are with our friend Billy who was due to have an operation on his thigh.
The rain continued into 5th March and developed into a series of really bad storms. The winds were extremely high. I spent a little time with Tricia preparing the kitchen for decorating but I have to confess I spent most of my day working on computers!
These bad weather conditions continued over the next couple of days. Bella was terrified of the thunder and lightning. She definitely doesn't like loud bangs. There is no doubt in our minds as to the reason why her previous owners had abandoned her, because she clearly would be unhappy around the guns.
Our new website (www.thehelm.co.uk) had taken on a life of its own. I found myself working all hours trying to develop it. One of the suggestions I had received was that a forum on the website would be very useful. As a result of this I obtained the software and integrated it into the website. It seems to work very well.
By way of contrast the weather changed dramatically on Sunday, 8 March. It was very warm and we had glorious sunshine. I took the opportunity to sow grass seed over an area of our land that I had previously cleared. True to form I ran out of seed before I had finished. I guess I had been sprinkling it rather lavishly! Tricia was obviously spurred on by the weather and she started spring cleaning. It seemed a bit early to me as I’d only mess it up again!
The preparation work in the kitchen for decorating had been completed and come March 10th we had to make a decision. Were we, or were we not, going to install air-conditioning? After some debate we decided that we would go into Acharavi and check out what we would need.
We had remembered to take the dimensions of the kitchen with us which meant that the size of air-conditioning unit that was required could easily be calculated by the suppliers. We actually visited three suppliers all of whom stated that we required an 18,000 Btu unit.
I had done some research a couple of weeks previously. It was nothing very scientific but was based on the manufacturers of air-conditioning that several of our friends have and also the more popular ones that we see dotted around.
In the end, the decision came down between three manufacturers - Fujitsu, Mitsubishi and GREE. In the end we decided upon the GREE system. There were a number of reasons for this choice but we won't bore you with them! Needless to say, it wasn’t the cheapest system! We were promised that the installation would be done during the following weekend but as always, we take such promises with a pinch of salt. Remember! This is Greece!
I think that we must be turning native! Despite the fact that we were due to have holes knocked through our kitchen wall to install the air conditioning we decided, in true Greek fashion, to get on with the decorating first! Suffice to say, the air-conditioning plant did not turn up on time but much to our amazement, we did receive a phone call in advance advising us that they had had difficulty obtaining the unit. I won't say that that was a first but it's pretty close to it.
On 18th March we were sitting on the veranda having coffee during the morning when the phone rang. It was the air-conditioning supplier who advised us that the unit was now in stock and that they would like to install it that day. We put them off until the next morning.
Sure enough the installers turned up during the morning of Thursday, 19th March. Being total novices where air-conditioning is concerned, we needed advice as to the best position for the unit. We favoured having the internal unit over the French doors and fortunately the installers agreed with us. The outside unit was fitted up under the veranda roof where it would receive some protection from the elements. Our only concern with this was that we had no idea how intrusive the sound of the unit running would be if we were sitting outside at the table. No doubt we shall soon find out!
I would like to say that the installation went without a hitch, but as always, this is us we are talking about, if anything can go wrong it invariably does!
We have two electrical junction boxes situated on the wall near to the internal unit. Needless to say there was not a suitably strong enough power source in either! Neither the installer nor we had thought to check this out first.
The nearest place that I could find a suitable power source was about 4 metres away and on a different wall. It was clear that the engineers were not going to make a permanent connection to the unit. They rigged up a temporary supply to test it and once satisfied that it was working they left.
After a little thought I did what we normally do under such circumstances. I telephoned Yiorgos the builder! He promised to call in and have a look at the situation later that day and for once he was good to his word! Having checked out the situation Yiorgos promised to return the next morning to undertake the job.
It was very cold on Friday, 20th March and we had intermittent very heavy rain. Yiorgos turned up as promised and worked miracles! Prior to his arrival, I had attempted to feed a wiring ‘mouse’ through the conduits which already contained six cables with no success. However, with more than a little patience and a few choice Greek swear words, Yiorgos succeeded in getting the mouse through. We were then able to run cables to the junction box nearest to the air conditioning plant.
Yiorgos produced his hammer and chisel and cut out the channel in the wall into which we fitted a piece of conduit to carry the new wiring. Tricia and I were overjoyed that he had succeeded where everybody else had failed - including me!
I told Yiorgos not to worry about rendering the channel that he had cut as I wanted to do it myself. There is no easy way of saying this, but there is a considerable difference in the way which most Greeks finish such jobs compared with what we wanted!
Yiorgos had one last surprise for us. You will recall that he had previously trimmed a large olive tree behind our garage. He had taken no payment for this. Without giving away too many secrets I will just say that we had helped him out prior to his daughter's wedding!
However, we were genuinely impressed at his willingness to help us out and not for the first time. I told Yiorgos to deduct a certain sum of money from what he had owed us. He looked me straight in the eye and said, "That's too much!" I reduced my offer by €50. He decided to take that offer!
You will be pleased to know that I did render the wall and I would defy anybody to see where the repair was done. I can't wait to show Yiorgos having seen some of his repairs in the past! It must have been good because Tricia said it was!
Saturday, 21st March was a day that both Tricia and I would sooner forget. Chelsea lost 1 - 0 to Tottenham!
It was Mothering Sunday on 22nd March in the UK. That didn't stop us celebrating it here. Tricia and I went to Apnoea Taverna for a very long lunch. The meal was first-rate and well within our budget!
The next couple of days were nice and sunny. The temperatures had not increased noticeably. The paint work in the kitchen was touched up following the installation of the air conditioning. I spent a lot of time working on the new website, spurred on by some very nice comments that we had received from some of those who had accessed it.
Wednesday, 25th March caught Tricia and I out. We went shopping. Well actually, we didn’t go shopping! We had totally forgotten that it was Independence Day here!
Some of you will be aware of the number of e-mails that we receive as a result of our three websites. I was flattered to receive one asking if I would agree to be interviewed in relation to the building of our house. I agree to this and as a result was interviewed for an hour and a half on 27th March. I wait to hear whether the article ever gets published. Watch this space!
Tricia had a very busy day herself as she was preparing food for the evening. We had invited our friends Alan and Pauline to supper. We had a really nice evening and I think it made a change for Alan and Pauline as they have been going through similar problems with their house build to those that we have previously suffered.
We visited Alan and Pauline's house build on Saturday, 28th March and were surprised to see how much it had progressed since we had last seen it. They had dismissed their original builder and the new one had made great inroads.
Before returning home, we drove down to Kassiopi to buy a newspaper. We could not believe the amount of road works that were being done in the confined roads in Kassiopi. I know that there is a lot of work being undertaken around Acharavi but the work in Kassiopi seemed worse.
There are so many road works around Corfu that we can only surmise that there must have been an influx of EU money!
After lunch, I worked in the vegetable plot and finally managed to get our potatoes planted. Tricia started work on the strawberry bed. I have to say that we (I) had allowed our strawberries to become overgrown. So many runners had taken root over the winter it was difficult in places to see where the original plants were.
That evening we managed to find a Greek channel that was showing the England -v- Slovakia football match. After some of Chelsea's results recently it was a pleasure to see England win 4 - 0!
On Sunday, 29th March we did little during the morning in preparation for going out to lunch at Apnoea Taverna with Alan and Pauline. We did, however manage to watch the first Grand Prix of the season. What a thriller!
It was the first time that Alan and Pauline had been to Apnoea and it was as if Yiannis and the rest of his staff pulled out all the stops to make it an enjoyable afternoon. It certainly was a long lunch! We think that Alan and Pauline enjoyed it.
Monday, 30th March was more or less taken care off for us. I had booked the car in for a service as I have had a problem in the previous week getting the car to start. We left the car and went off in the courtesy car to do some shopping that, to be honest, we would not have done had we not been forced into going into town.
On collecting the car we were advised that there were two faults that had been picked up by the diagnostic computer. A new fuel pump was required along with some component in the gear change mechanism. This came as a total surprise both to us and the service manager.
Fortunately the car was still under guarantee and so there would be no extra charge incurred. It was a bit of a worry. Needless to say the parts were not in stock and had to be ordered from Athens. Fortunately, the fault did not stop us from driving the car which was a relief!
When we returned home we detected that the house felt quite warm although the central heating should have been off. I have been suspecting a fault with the central heating system for some time. My suspicions were realised! It appears that the heating circuit is not shutting off completely and that some of the hot water from the hot water system is bleeding into it. Ho hum! It's just another thing to worry about!
Tuesday, 31st March didn't start too well. The boiler was still playing up which I had anticipated but to add to my problems I managed to trash one of our computers. It wasn't just any computer, it was the server.
I was tempted to upgrade it to the latest version of the operating system pending the release of yet another upgrade later next month. My learning curve as far as LINUX goes was about to rise steeply! Such problems usually precede an intense period of general cursing, swearing, and downright irritability but in truth, it's the sort of challenge I enjoy.
Fortunately we had arranged to go for lunch with John and Michelle who had returned from the UK last week. We had an excellent lunch at Zephyros Taverna accompanied by several bottles of retsina! As it was a few months since we had seen each other this was the perfect opportunity to catch up on each other's news - not that Tricia and I had much!
It was a nice way to end the month. Not only did we have a really nice meal in good company but the owners presented us with a bag of fresh eggs each. It seems at this time of year everybody who keeps chickens has a glut of eggs. Needless to say we don't complain!
Conclusion
I can't honestly say that March hasn't passed without some incident considering the problems with the car, the computer and getting the air conditioning installed in the kitchen. On the positive side the kitchen has been decorated. Needless to say, Tricia still wants a few 'finishing touches' added!
The weather has shown some signs of improvement after what has been an extremely long winter for us. This has meant that we have been able to do some work outside, mainly in the garden.
The spring flowers are in full bloom and the whole island looks very pretty. Those who will be visiting Corfu next month for Easter, the Greek Easter that is, will find the island looking very beautiful.
As we are so far behind with producing this month's newsletter I'm not going to dwell any further on March. Next month promises to be quite busy as Easter gets nearer. It is without a doubt the biggest celebration of the year in Greece.
That's it for this month. We hope that this missive finds everybody in good health and look forward to regaling you with our accounts of life in Corfu next month.
All the best,
Bob & Tricia.
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