This is just a quick note to explain why we haven't posted a blog since 17/6
On Thursday 21st June my brother Jonathan died, we knew he was very ill but it was still a shock. We had visited him on 1st June, on the day we set off and we really thought we would see him in September. So Keith and I flew home on Monday 25th for his funeral and to spend some time with all the family. Keith flew back to Corfu today and I will be flying back on Monday.
Last week we had Jema, Barry, Caitlyn, Finley, Pippa and Lena visiting us, so we will blog next week with all our news.
Love to you all
Liz X
Rest in Peace JD
Saturday, 30 June 2007
Sunday, 17 June 2007
Keith's First 3 Gigs
Keith’s first 3 gigs
Wednesday night at the Roda Tavern, and the bar is packed, (40 people) waiting in anticipation for me to start my first set.
On Stage at the Roda Tavern
The strange thing about gigging over here is that you set up in the afternoon when the bars are empty, sound check then go and do whatever, in our case we usually go to the beach for a couple of hours. 4 till 6 because it’s not too hot (28degrees) After the gig the owners are quite happy for you to leave the gear till the following day, to pick it up!
So our typical days seem to be spent getting up about 10am, having breakfast by the sea and pottering about running errands like going to the supermarket, going to the internet café, setting up, going to the beach, eating a meal, gig, night-cap bed by 2am.
Anyway, the gig felt very successful & got invited back again next week, straight after the Roda gig we packed everything into the car and went back to Our village (Acharavi) because I had been asked to play at a wedding at midnight this went on till 1.30 when the police arrived poolside & we were told to stop or risk a $700 euro fine.
Wednesday night at the Roda Tavern, and the bar is packed, (40 people) waiting in anticipation for me to start my first set.
On Stage at the Roda TavernThe strange thing about gigging over here is that you set up in the afternoon when the bars are empty, sound check then go and do whatever, in our case we usually go to the beach for a couple of hours. 4 till 6 because it’s not too hot (28degrees) After the gig the owners are quite happy for you to leave the gear till the following day, to pick it up!
So our typical days seem to be spent getting up about 10am, having breakfast by the sea and pottering about running errands like going to the supermarket, going to the internet café, setting up, going to the beach, eating a meal, gig, night-cap bed by 2am.
Anyway, the gig felt very successful & got invited back again next week, straight after the Roda gig we packed everything into the car and went back to Our village (Acharavi) because I had been asked to play at a wedding at midnight this went on till 1.30 when the police arrived poolside & we were told to stop or risk a $700 euro fine.
Jon the bar owner serving us one for the road, just before the police arrive!
Thursday nights gig was in Sidari at Buddies bar. Buddies is situated at the start of he town, the trade is mainly passing into & out of the hot spots of Sidari, so the audience are popping in on their way out for the night, or on there way home for a night cap. Still a good night, I played well, people danced, got invited back.
Sidari is a strange place, lot’s of accommodation spread out over a couple of miles, the town is in the middle, a single strip of bars, shops, restaurants, arcades & McDonald’s! A bit like Blackpool’s golden mile & catering almost exclusively for Brits.
Saturday night was in the Acropolis bar in Sadari, right in the heart of Sidari, the owner George is a Corfu famous bazooki player so when he watched me set up and sound check on Saturday afternoon it was a bit unnerving. But he was very complementary and had a go on my guitars.
This was a great gig right from the 1st song people were into it, the bar filled up as the night went on. Played from 9.45-12 with 10-minute break about 40 songs, all covers. At the end of the night George was very impressed, asked me if I could play there 2 nights a week! I’m tempted to do it but would probably mean dropping a night somewhere else. We left there @ 12.30 ish just as the karaoke kicked in, back to our villa for a nightcap @ the poolside bar, in bed by 2am.
Back home again after another late night
We haven’t got maid service in the villa so Liz spends a lot of time in a black dress and baggy black tights sweeping the verandas and spitting at tourists. Just like home really, she’s a bit smug at the moment about the UK smoking ban coming @ the end of the month, as Greece will possibly be the last place in the world to ban smoking. Ashtray salesmen must make a fortune over here.
Today we busy are preparing for our first visitors, Jema, Barry, Caitlyn and Finley and Pippa & Lena are all arriving tomorrow for a week, so I will sign off now and blog again in a week or so.
Friday, 15 June 2007
Our first week in Corfu
Been here a week now, and it already feels better than we had expected, we have quickly chilled out and got into the Greek way of doing things.
Sorry about the delay posting this blog but we have been messing about trying to sort out our Internet connection for the laptop, we got a Greek pay as you go sim card for our mobile to try and go online by plugging the mobile into the laptop, but then discovered it can only be done with a contract phone. So we are using the Internet connection in a local bar for now.
We arrived last Wednesday 6th June, off the Venice to Corfu ferry at 2.30pm, after a fantastic journey
The journey briefly was …….
Friday 1st June Hull – Zeebrugge overnight ferry,
Sat 2nd June drove down to Strasbourg and stayed overnight in a Campanile
Sun 3rd June drove from Strasbourg to Milan through Switzerland and
The San Gottard tunnel, which is 17km long! Took loads of pictures of snow-covered mountains passing by at high speed while Liz drove! Spent the night at Debbie and Franco’s, Thanks for the BBQ! And your hospitality.
Sunday 4th June drove to Sheila’s at Lake Garda, to stay overnight, and thanks to Sheila we all got very drunk on some very gluggable Italian red wine, had pizzas and fell into bed! Also had our1st mini crisis of the trip, in our drunken state we managed to drop the camera in some red wine, and we ended up with some very arty shots of Sheila’s balcony with a hazy red glow all around it!
Monday 5th June a great drive to Venice to catch the 24-hour ferry over to Corfu, we queued in the terminal and everyone parked where they wanted in random rows. Then we were loaded onto the ferry in a very amusing Greek way, the ferry stops at 3 ports Inc Corfu so those on first come off last. All the rows had then to be rearranged to make this happen (Chaos, cig. breaks and lots of shouting ensued!!) This was a great people-watching trip.
Venice has to be one of the best ports in the world to sail out of, as you leave the harbour you sail right through all the tourist highlights of Venice, if you paid for a holiday in Venice you couldn’t have gained a better photo opportunity. (Luckily, we’d sorted the camera out by then, so we clicked away merrily)
On arrival in Corfu we went straight to San Stefanos (West) to see our friend Noula, who helped us with our Greek wedding 2 years ago, she had an apartment for us to stay in for a couple of nights while we looked at several properties to stay in for the 3 months. Also, before we came out we had made a lot of contacts on the web so we met up with Suzanne and Mac in Roda and Steve and Lisa and a guy called Chip (from Leeds) and his wife Sue, and a white van man called Barry. They were all so helpful and we viewed loads of properties.
Next stop Acharavi in the North to see a woman called Sue (I think you have to be called Sue to move out here!) She has her own property agency and she showed us a 2-bed villa by the sea, it’s on the edge of a holiday complex with a pool and bar area and that’s where we are now, it’s gorgeous. It has 2 large verandas and a small garden so we can barbeque
Sorry about the delay posting this blog but we have been messing about trying to sort out our Internet connection for the laptop, we got a Greek pay as you go sim card for our mobile to try and go online by plugging the mobile into the laptop, but then discovered it can only be done with a contract phone. So we are using the Internet connection in a local bar for now.
We arrived last Wednesday 6th June, off the Venice to Corfu ferry at 2.30pm, after a fantastic journey
The journey briefly was …….
Friday 1st June Hull – Zeebrugge overnight ferry,
Sat 2nd June drove down to Strasbourg and stayed overnight in a Campanile
Sun 3rd June drove from Strasbourg to Milan through Switzerland and
The San Gottard tunnel, which is 17km long! Took loads of pictures of snow-covered mountains passing by at high speed while Liz drove! Spent the night at Debbie and Franco’s, Thanks for the BBQ! And your hospitality.
Sunday 4th June drove to Sheila’s at Lake Garda, to stay overnight, and thanks to Sheila we all got very drunk on some very gluggable Italian red wine, had pizzas and fell into bed! Also had our1st mini crisis of the trip, in our drunken state we managed to drop the camera in some red wine, and we ended up with some very arty shots of Sheila’s balcony with a hazy red glow all around it!
Monday 5th June a great drive to Venice to catch the 24-hour ferry over to Corfu, we queued in the terminal and everyone parked where they wanted in random rows. Then we were loaded onto the ferry in a very amusing Greek way, the ferry stops at 3 ports Inc Corfu so those on first come off last. All the rows had then to be rearranged to make this happen (Chaos, cig. breaks and lots of shouting ensued!!) This was a great people-watching trip.
Venice has to be one of the best ports in the world to sail out of, as you leave the harbour you sail right through all the tourist highlights of Venice, if you paid for a holiday in Venice you couldn’t have gained a better photo opportunity. (Luckily, we’d sorted the camera out by then, so we clicked away merrily)
This is one of the many views of Venice from the boat
The whole Journey went so smoothly I would definitely recommend it. This was nothing like a cross channel ferry; it even had a swimming pool on deck! As I said earlier, the Greeks have a unique way of loading & unloading these boats, even before we docked the tail gate was down, cars were started, foot passengers, cars bikes & trucks all left in the same way & at the same time, although some cars whizzed off in reverse, caravans were pushed off by crew, minus the cars, it was as mad as the loading on but 20 times faster.
The whole Journey went so smoothly I would definitely recommend it. This was nothing like a cross channel ferry; it even had a swimming pool on deck! As I said earlier, the Greeks have a unique way of loading & unloading these boats, even before we docked the tail gate was down, cars were started, foot passengers, cars bikes & trucks all left in the same way & at the same time, although some cars whizzed off in reverse, caravans were pushed off by crew, minus the cars, it was as mad as the loading on but 20 times faster.Here is a photo of the swimming pool on board the ferry
On arrival in Corfu we went straight to San Stefanos (West) to see our friend Noula, who helped us with our Greek wedding 2 years ago, she had an apartment for us to stay in for a couple of nights while we looked at several properties to stay in for the 3 months. Also, before we came out we had made a lot of contacts on the web so we met up with Suzanne and Mac in Roda and Steve and Lisa and a guy called Chip (from Leeds) and his wife Sue, and a white van man called Barry. They were all so helpful and we viewed loads of properties.Next stop Acharavi in the North to see a woman called Sue (I think you have to be called Sue to move out here!) She has her own property agency and she showed us a 2-bed villa by the sea, it’s on the edge of a holiday complex with a pool and bar area and that’s where we are now, it’s gorgeous. It has 2 large verandas and a small garden so we can barbeque
"Our house is a very very fine house, with 2 cats in the yard.........."
We have both been actively networking all this first week and have managed to get Keith 4 gigs a week for every week of our stay here,
Wednesday nights in The Roda Tavern
Thursday nights in Buddies in Sadari
Saturday nights in The Acropolis in Sidari
And
Sunday nights in The Smugglers in Sidari
The first one is tomorrow, although Keith did an impromptu gig in the pool bar close to our house, which turned out to be a drunken sing a long till 3am
Bye for now, will post a blog at the end of the week to let you know how Keith’s first few gigs go.
Wednesday nights in The Roda Tavern
Thursday nights in Buddies in Sadari
Saturday nights in The Acropolis in Sidari
And
Sunday nights in The Smugglers in Sidari
The first one is tomorrow, although Keith did an impromptu gig in the pool bar close to our house, which turned out to be a drunken sing a long till 3am
Bye for now, will post a blog at the end of the week to let you know how Keith’s first few gigs go.
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