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Introduction
I finished last month's newsletter on something of a positive note. I was positive that I was glad to have completed it and I was positive that I was going to start on November's edition!
Well here I am back at the keyboard, hastily referring to my notes and trying desperately to keep up. I really don't know where the time goes.
November will doubtless see us celebrating Tricia's birthday in style. It is also Jake's birthday! I can't believe that we have had him for five years. I also can't believe how many times that he has escaped or caused me to injure myself!
Of course, if you read last month's offering, you will recall that Tricia has now joined this exclusive club but I am pleased to say that she has made a full recovery.
I also can't believe that it is also 12 months since Bella decided to adopt us. Thankfully she has not caused physical damage to either of us although we have occasionally had to get the mop and bucket out after her.
This is a major problem when you take on a stray dog here. As 99.99% of all dogs live outside, they have invariably not been house trained and getting an adult dog to change the habits of a lifetime is something of a trial. I won't say that it came as a surprise to us but it has, in the past, been ... er ... irritating! Thankfully this problem seems to be behind us now. (Says he with everything crossed!)
The weather is likely to become something of an issue. If it stays dry and doesn't get too cold, I hope to get some work done outside as well as some gardening. Good weather will be a bonus but in fairness we do expect it to be pretty good up until Christmas, if not a little cool.
Let's see what happens.
November 2009
The 1st November was mild. Tricia had recovered from her travels and with her taking Bella for her walks and Jake being exercised by yours truly, things were already far more relaxed than they had been for the previous 10 days.
On the 2nd November, the weather remained dry but became very cold later that night. However, we weren't bothered by the cold!
Friends Dave and Alex had invited us to a 'Cornish Pasty Tasting'! For those who do not know Alex, we should point out that she is fiercely proud of her Cornish heritage and is very insistent that Cornish Pasties should be made properly. In an effort to assist with her quest for the perfect pasty, Tricia had brought a swede back from the UK to supplement Alex's diminishing supply. Swedes (of the vegetable kind) are not available here.
The deal was that Tricia was going to get a lesson on the 'correct' way to make traditional Cornish Pasties. Before anyone thinks that this was all a little bit 'over the top', we should point out that twelve pasties had to be made and freshly baked to feed the twelve of us who were due to sit down for dinner at around 2.30pm. Oh yes! Did I mention that each pasty was the size of a dinner plate?
To get that lot ready on time was something of a mammoth production but sure enough nobody went hungry. It was a great meal and yes, Alex's Cornish Pasties reign supreme!
The promised rain held off until the next day. The weather forecast was again pretty accurate. It poured!
Although I wanted to go to the shops later, my immediate thoughts were about the impending arrival of Adonis, our electrician. I had arranged for him to come and fit a voltage regulator into the circuit that controls the electronics to our boiler.
Last year we had experienced nightmares with the boiler's control system tripping out which we attributed to the power fluctuating enormously. I reasoned that a voltage regulator which maintains a 'smooth' current might just do the trick. It was worth a try as neither of us fancied those trips down to the boiler room which always seemed to occur during the worst weather.
Knowing how many Greek builders use the weather as an excuse for not turning up, I was concerned as to whether Adonis would appear. I should not have doubted him. He turned up and set to work with a will. It took him two hours to finish which included having to make a shelf for the voltage regulator. We hope that it was money well spent.
Wednesday 4th November may have been cold but at least it was dry. I guess that you might say that the only blight on the day was a phone call from TBW, our architect, to say that she was going to do something about the bills that she had not paid. It goes without saying that we didn't believe her!
Moving on swiftly before I become angry again ....
You may have gathered that I was feeling quite smug about the work in the kitchen that I had finished whilst Tricia had been away. I should have guessed that there was more work required. I was charged with manufacturing a plate rack to go along the run of cabinets to which I had recently fixed the cornicing.
Fortunately, having previously made such a rack for the other run of cabinets, I knew exactly what was required and had it installed pretty quickly. I think it took longer arranging some of our decorative plates to Tricia's satisfaction!
The wet weather returned on the 5th November in the form of intermittent showers.
I had arranged to visit the site of a house under construction that is being built by one of our correspondents, Tom, with whom we are in contact through our websites. Tom's house is being built near Gianades which is on the west coast of the island.
The house is being constructed high up, overlooking the coastline south of Paleokastritsa. The views looking north towards Paleokastritsa are probably some of the best views along that coastline.
Tom had expressed concerns over his experiences with the constructor and so we had agreed to meet up to discuss our experiences with his. I guess that you could say that we were seeking to reassure one another!
The house had reached the stage where all the concrete work had been completed and certainly looks grand. Having seen it at that stage of construction, I look forward to one day seeing the completed article.
The road to the house stretches through extensive olive groves and is unmade. It had been seriously affected by the recent bad whether and to be honest, I wished that I had taken the old Ford and not the VW! That was the only criticism that I could make about the site.
Stick with it Tom!
The showers continued through into the 6th November and developed into very heavy rain on the 7th accompanied by very low cloud.
I made an abortive trip to the accountants who were inexplicably closed. The only upside to this was that so too had TBW! She phoned to say that she had been there as she had told me she would during our last phone conversation. Maybe, for once, she was telling the truth. We won't hold our breath!
The rain and low cloud continued into the 8th November. We had a busy day ahead of us. Read on!
It brightened up during the morning which was just as well as we had arranged to accompany a group of friends to the Corfu micro brewery in Arrilas. A tour had been arranged and it appears that the brewery owners were as pleased to see us as we were to see them. I don't think that their pleasure was due to most of us being present but merely down to the fact that one of our number, Reg Drury is a master brewer in the UK!
The tour was really enjoyable and not just because we were able to sample a couple of their ales at the end! The brewery is the cleanest place we have ever seen in Greece, let alone Corfu! As several of our number were heard to say, It is FAR cleaner than the hospital! All of the equipment there was stainless steel right down to the pipe work. I commented that it was a shame that Greek builders couldn't construct houses to this standard! That comment drew a knowing smile from the owner!
It was a great way to spend the morning and I managed to take several photographs which hopefully convey the cleanliness of the place and the amount of investment that has gone into the business. We hope that they do well. They deserve to but they admit that to convert Corfiot taste from wine to real ale is something of a battle. Watch this space!
We all stopped off at Meraki Grill room in Roda for lunch which went down pretty well before we all made our way back to our respective houses for a bit of a rest. I can't speak for the rest but Tricia and I needed a rest as we were all due to meet up again for supper at Sarah and Reg's house later that night.
Sarah put on an enormous spread, as always and I think that it was fair to say that we all had a very late night, or should that be morning!
The 9th November was very wet with a lot of thunder and lightning. By the 10th November, the rain had reduced to intermittent showers.
Tricia and I had arranged to go into Corfu Town. I had an agenda, as too did Tricia. Hers revolved around grocery shopping. Mine was to get her a birthday present. I won!
I had seen a piece of jewellery whilst Tricia had been in the UK. I knew that she would like the turquoise stone but was unsure about the style. It had apparently been copied from a piece in one of Greece's many museums. As always in such situations, I had negotiated a price with the owner and had promised to bring Tricia in upon her return.
We eventually got to this shop having been into a couple of others. Tricia tried the pendant on and to my amazement, it was the correct length and more to the point she loved it. Sorted! Not only that, but the price reduced from that which I had previously negotiated. Everyone was pleased!
I don't know whether it was the euphoria of having found a birthday present before her birthday but Tricia found a novel way to celebrate upon our return home. She fell over whilst walking Bella! Reports of this incident to family members have given rise to the suggestion that her feet are becoming rounded or indeed have been replaced by casters!
We had to endure rain showers every day right up until Tricia's birthday on the 13th November when surprisingly it was dry and sunny.
We had been invited to dinner at John and Michelle's the previous day but there had been a rapid change of plans and dinner had been rescheduled to Tricia's birthday. Before anyone calls me a cheapskate for not taking Tricia out for her birthday, I must hastily point out that I had arranged dinner out for nine people (including Tricia!) the next day! More of that later.
I spent the morning preparing the front door for re-varnishing. As the varnish allegedly took five hours to dry, there was only time to apply a coat of varnish to the frame work. The door is oak and we didn't want a dark finish. The tin said that it was a medium oak colour, but here that means nothing! Fortunately the colour turned out to be pretty much the same as the original.
The meal that night was Chinese themed and as always was superb. In one way, it was a sad affair as it would be the last meal prepared by John and Michelle before they return to the UK over Christmas. As they have almost sold their house here and will only be returning to finalise things, this was likely to be the last meal with them unless we can fit something in on their return.
The weather held through Saturday 14th November which meant that I managed to get the front doors varnished. That should at least proved protection from the anticipated dire weather that we will probably get later in the winter.
As we have mentioned already, Tricia's 'official' dinner party was arranged for that night. I had booked a table at 'The Invisible Kitchen' run by Ben and Claudia. It is worth mentioning for those visitors who are unaware of the service that Ben and Claudia provide during the summer months, that they will prepare food for dinner parties and the like which they will deliver to you in their refrigerated van for final preparation on site.
When we first heard of their plans many years ago, we though that this was going to be another British idea that was doomed to failure. I will happily put my hands up and admit how wrong we were. Their food is superb and their apparent success well deserved. The services that they offer go way beyond what we have mentioned here. We would urge anyone who thinks that they may be of service to check out their website at www.theinvisiblekitchen.co.uk.
From our arrival until the point where we all left very late, the evening was a resounding success. If I had to summarise, I would just say, "Great food, great place and great people". A truly memorable evening.
Sunday 15th November was dry with sunny spells. This meant that I was able to finish off varnishing the front doors. Although it was sunny and dry, it was cool enough for us to light the first fire of the year.
The weather remained dry on 16th November and Tricia and I took ourselves off to Acharavi. As we were returning, Tricia spotted the board outside Gelati's advertising their 'specials'. The baby kalamari immediately caught our attention. This needed checking out and so a coffee was deemed in order!
Sure enough, Spiros assured us that he had fresh baby kalamari and insisted that we came into the kitchen to check it out. We had visions of everyone flocking from far and wide for this delicacy and so we made Spiros promise to save two portions as we would be having dinner there that evening.
We were as good to our word as he was. Our dinner was wonderful, made better by the fact that it was an unexpected treat. It was also ridiculously cheap as all meals at Gelati's seem to be.
We should point out that there is no comparison between the kalamari (squid) that one is frequently offered during a summer holiday. The volume that is sold almost dictates that it has to be frozen. As much as we are great supporters of the frozen food industry, there is absolutely no comparison between fresh and frozen squid. Baby squid is in a league of its own! If you are anywhere where it is caught locally, try it!
This brings us to another difference between dining out during 'the season' and out of season. we learned a long time ago that it is better not to look at a menu but enquire as to what the taverna has when eating out, out of season. You can pretty much guarantee that the list of dishes will all be fresh AND freshly prepared. Often, there will be dishes cooked in the oven accompanied by 'Greek roast potatoes' or maybe Tsigari (spicy horta - wild greens). Use your eyes! Greek patrons will invariably not look at a menu, especially out of season.
For reasons best known to themselves, tavernas seem reluctant to offer tsigari during the summer months. It may be for the same reason that many of our Greek friends roll their eyes and raise their eyebrows if we announce that Tricia is cooking a particularly hot curry during the summer!
Talking of raised eyebrows, we certainly got some peculiar looks from some friends when we announced that we were going into Corfu Town on Tuesday, 17th November to see the latest Cunard liner, the 'Queen Victoria' which was due to pay a visit that day. We had seen the QE2 when she visited on her last cruise and thought that it would be nice to see the latest in a long line of British seafaring tradition. Oh yes, we had also spent our silver wedding anniversary on the Queen Mary.
It was a great day. The weather was fine although it was quite hazy as the 'Queen Victoria' sailed past our house on the way to dock. As we had little else to do that day, we took the opportunity to do the full tourist thing as we strolled around Corfu Town with cameras at the ready.
Of course, our first stop was the new port where we wandered in and took a plethora of photographs of the magnificent vessel. Security? What security? We just joined the locals who were fishing there!
After, we wandered through town. It was great because the only people that seemed to be about were tourists from 'The Queen Victoria' and the shopkeepers who, knowing of her pending arrival had decided to open up to entice those wealthy enough to enjoy such luxury.
Tricia enjoyed looking in all of the jeweller's shops and we even managed to do a deal on a couple of pendants for her. Once the shopkeeper realised that we were local and not off of the ship, the prices tumbled!
Having finished at the jeweller's, we were so close to 'The Olympia', on the Liston, it would have been rude not to have called in for a couple of ouzo mezes! I was a little concerned about it being too early but Stamatis, the waiter, assured us that 11 am was not too early. (It was 10.45 am, but nearly 11 am by the time our order arrived!)
I know that we frequently 'wax lyrical' about the pleasures of just sitting on the Liston watching the world go by but it really is a great way to spend an hour or so, day or night. It was whilst people watching on this occasion that we spotted what, to us at least, was an example of the ultimate 'one-upmanship'!
An American couple were clearly enjoying the winter sun whilst strolling along the Liston. Most of the tourists that we observed were clearly off of the 'Queen Victoria' and this couple were no exception. It was only once they had sat down and were relaxing with their coffees that we realised that their respective baseball cap and fleece were embroidered with badges which at first you would have assumed were from the 'Queen Victoria', but no, they were from the 'Queen Mary 2'!
We can imagine this couple sporting these status symbols whilst onboard the 'Queen Victoria' and almost challenging the staff to improve upon the service that they had apparently previously enjoyed! Sorry, but it appealed to our sense of humour!
By the time we returned home , I guess that we had increased our collection of photographs by a hundred or more images. It was a very enjoyable excursion.
There was pretty good weather almost to the end of the month.
On Friday, 20th November it was so nice without being too warm that I was tempted to do some work in the garden.
That evening we went to Sarah's house for dinner. For once, Sarah was excused from the majority of the cooking duties! Friends Darryl and Paula wanted to provide several of us with what she laughingly called, 'Pikey pies' (Our apologies to any readers of Romany origins!) As there were nine of us and they were unable to fit everyone in at their house, Sarah had kindly offered the use of her kitchen.
I think that we should point out that the 'Pikey pies' were actually a couple of enormous steak and kidney puddings along with a selection of fresh vegetables. It was absolute bliss! Speaking purely personally, I must confess that steak and kidney pudding is one of my all-time favourites. I cannot recall when I last had this dish. It was the best that I can remember. (Sorry Tricia!)
As Darryl and Paula will soon be opening a butcher's shop in Peritheia, we can only hope that these may become available for the occasional dose of winter 'comfort' food. (God! How I hate that expression but I can't think of any other way of describing it!)
This proved to be a very late night out and by the time that we arrived home and walked the dogs, it was nearly 4.30am by the time we got to bed. We didn't do much during Saturday, 21st November!
Friends John and Michelle left on their return journey to the UK on Sunday 22nd November. They were due to spend some time in France looking for possible areas in which to research the possibilities for finding a house as their next project. We will be sorry to see them go but wish them well in their hunt.
We were hoping to see their ship sail past but missed it. I was probably the closer of Tricia and I to witnessing this event as I was up a ladder when I spotted the tail-end of the Minoan ferry vanishing around the headland. I had decided to take advantage of the fine weather and had been filling a few cracks on an outside wall.
I called a halt to my labours in time to get ready before going to lunch at Apnoea Taverna in Acharavi with friends Alan and Pauline.
We had not been there since August when we had visited with Corinna, Dave and our grandchildren. On that occasion, I had ... er ... thrown something of a wobbly on account of the prices charged! Don't get us wrong we like the place and the food is good. Yiannis the owner and his trusty sidekick, Theo are great too. It was just that we were going through a spell where tavernas and indeed, shops, seemed to have lost all sense and were pricing themselves out of the market.
We have generally curtailed the number of occasions that we eat out. To quote an expression that has been bandied about amongst many of our British friends, 'Eating in has become the new eating out'!
Happily, Yiannis didn't seem to hold a grudge. I thought I would break the ice by enquiring whether the new car outside was his. It was, (albeit hired). "There!" I announced, "I told you that you were charging too much!" To my relief, he laughed!
We all had excellent meals. The fresh squid was fantastic. (We mentioned earlier how much we liked it, didn't we?) It was a really great meal made better by the fact that we were the only non-Greeks in there. As it was full, it gives an indication of what the locals think of the place. To round off what proved to be a very long lunch, we were plied with drinks. I cannot recall ever having had to down such large glasses of Scotch!
During our conversations which invariably gravitated toward building, Alan had mentioned that he need some edging strip for his kitchen tiles. For once, I was able to help him out as I knew that I had a couple of lengths. The next day, these were promptly delivered to their housebuild!
The 24th November was warm and sunny. We managed to get some work done on our end wall.
The 25th November was equally warm and sunny. In addition to painting my repairs of the previous day, I managed to get a bit more work done in the vegetable garden. Nothing too strenuous, you understand!
That evening, Tricia and I enjoyed ourselves watching Chelsea win away at Porto, 0 - 1. Even better, we caught the tail end of Manchester United being beaten 0 - 1 at home by some unpronounceable Turkish team. Both of these matches were of course, Champion's League qualifying matches. Sadly, the Manchester United result made no difference to their qualification! (Sorry Corinna!)
The fine weather continued right up until Friday, 27th November. That morning we visited Sarah for coffee and to check out her olive trees. Coffee on her terrace was glorious, although we all were aware that the weather was due to change the following day.
I checked her olives but unfortunately her crop was as abysmal as ours this year. I can see us having to rely on the generosity of others before the next crop is due next year as I think our stocks will run out before then. Ho hum!
With the impending bad weather, I decided to get the mass of stuff awaiting burning in the garden dealt with that afternoon. Despite having been dry, there have been some heavy dews and I was concerned that it wouldn't light. My fears were unfounded. I didn't even have to resort to the old standby - petrol!
True to form, the rain came as promised on the 28th November. Tricia and I decided to visit Corfu Town to get the last couple of Christmas presents for posting to the UK. Job done! That just leaves Tricia.
Every year we mention Christmas posting dates in the hope that some friends and family might send us cards from the UK. Thankfully they usually do! However, we can't emphasise enough the futility of going by the last posting dates issued by the Royal Mail for mail destined for overseas.
They fail to take account of the vagaries of the foreign postal services. That may be a bit unkind. What I meant was the vagaries of the Greek postal service! At the time of typing this, we have been waiting 21 days for a small parcel from the UK. Disregarding lost mail, our record is a Christmas card received in March!
Phew! This isn't bad. I am within a day of being up-to-date with this newsletter!
Despite a few showers, the weather on 29th November was not too cold and we decided to have lunch out. Again, we chose to visit somewhere that we haven't visited for quite a while, Zephyros Taverna in Almyros.
As always, we asked Marios what they had. He got as far as roast lamb in the oven with Greek roast potatoes and my mind was made up! Tricia pondered briefly between that and roast beef in the oven but soon followed my lead! Fresh Tsigari as a starter rounded off our meal perfectly. We were really glad that we had decided to go there.
This brings us to Monday 30th November. Apart from visiting the post office in Acharavi to send the last of our Christmas post, my time was spent sorting out this newsletter, particularly the images for inclusion. Tricia, being well into the Christmas spirit spent her morning in the kitchen preparing mincemeat. My mouth is watering as I type!
Roll on Christmas!
Conclusion
I must confess to being more than a little smug at having finished the typing of this newsletter on time for once!
All in all, this has been a pretty pleasant month. The weather has been what we would normally expect. I promise that the shots of the 'Queen Victoria' set against a clear blue sky haven't been included to make our readers in the UK, and northern Europe generally, envious. Honest!
The good weather has at least meant that I have been able to attend to some of the more pressing outside jobs. In particular, we were very pleased that the front doors have finally received a fresh coat of varnish. There is still much to do, particularly in the vegetable garden. It was so disappointing this year that we are determined to improve the quality of the soil. Our olives are in need of a serious pruning and we are trying to steel ourselves to be a little more ruthless.
We have had some great meals out and were pleased to reciprocate by inviting a few friends to Tricia's birthday dinner.
For us at least, this has been a really pleasant month.
All that remains is for us to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year as it almost certainly will be the new year before December's publication hits a screen somewhere near you! (Well, if past experience is anything to go by!)
Have fun!
Bob & Tricia.
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