"Wild Night"

................................................. Thelma & Louise

“The Wild night is calling
All the girls walk by, dressed up for each other
And the boys do the boogie woogie, on the corner of the street
And the people passing by just stare in wild wonder, yeah
And inside the jukebox roars just like thunder”


August is so different here compared to the rest of the season. It’s Hot, hot, hot, too hot! The island is in a blaze of heat and sunshine, and whilst the sea breeze is soothing on the beaches, it can feel a bit like a fan-assisted oven sometimes! The temperature has really changed, the days are hotter but shorter and the evenings are really warm and sticky. The landscape is not as green, there are a lot less flowers, and everywhere has become dustier.

And busy, busy, busy….. This is the 4th month of the tourist season and the bar and restaurant owners have become frazzled. The atmosphere generally is not as chilled as the rest of the season. Usually everyone is frazzled due to overwork and too many late nights, but this year it’s been compounded by the lack of tourists, lack of spending and the lack of any real income from the season! Traditionally the bars have dropped the live music in their bars in August because the punters are coming in anyway but not this season. They are all being so affected by the current economic climate. Therefore Keith is still doing 6 gigs a week (so we are getting frazzled too!!)

the empty beach early in the season

The beaches are a lot more crowded, including more Greek families. We often sit on our fold away chairs on the beach; watching the world go by and the Greek families usually provide us with great entertainment. The way they park on the beach is hilarious, double parking is almost compulsory and they bring everything but the kitchen sink with them; all shapes and sizes of sun beds and elaborate parasols and tents, radios, cool boxes and the all essential bat and ball games! They are masters of outdoor living!

The same view of our beach in August
The roads are full of transfer coaches, hired cars and scooters and Italians!! They come to Corfu in August in their 100’s. And the visitors in our annex apartment were no exception! Eleonora (Keith’s niece) and her friend Venessa (aka Thelma & Louise); arrived in Corfu on the Venice ferry for a 2 week vacation/road trip! Their little ford fiesta was loaded to the gills with supplies of food and clothes and of course lots of shoes!! If all the Italian tourists arrive here as well stocked up as this, it’s no wonder the locals class them as ‘poor spenders’, cos you name it…. they had it, food, drinks, toilet rolls and lots and lots and lots of pasta!!!!!!

They soon settled in and from a quiet beginning of just going down to the beach,

..............in a beach taverna

and having dinner on the balcony and sometimes coming to Keith’s gigs they soon spread their wings and ventured into the night in Sidari. They explored the clubs and bars arriving home just before dawn like vampires, having left a trail of lovesick puppies in their wake!!!

It was the same when they had a day out in Paleo (with Liz as chaperone.)

the harbour in paleo

Paleokastritsa is a traditional Italian holiday destination on Corfu and full of beautiful people. So Liz was dispatched to a beach side taverna to spend a couple of hours, drinking frappe and people watching from afar, whilst the girls sunbathed on the beach and swatted off the speedo clad masses with supreme ease.

It was astonishing to watch the young Greek/ Italian and English boys fall over themselves just to take a second look, on the beach, in the street and in the bars, it was always the same!! But the girls didn’t seem to notice; they were more interested in buying shoes or sampling elaborate cocktails.

a lunch in corfu town

Over the years we have met lots of people who have told us about mishaps they have had with hired cars on the island, mainly burst tyres or going off the road or hitting potholes but we must say this has never happened to us (yet!) So as part of our induction to the island we warned Thelma & Louise about potholes in the road, oncoming coaches and motor bikes. But what we didn’t say was don’t run over the edge of pavements in Sidari!! So guess what? They accidently ran over a pavement, and got a puncture right in the middle of the main Sidari strip of bars @ 2am in the morning!!!
So being the enterprising, good looking, Italian girls that they are, they got a local man and his son to change the wheel for them! He was out picking up his teenage daughters from the nightclub opposite, so when the daughters noticed the girls’ plight, they persuaded their dad to help change the wheel and the local girls disappeared back into the nightclub! Much to the irritation of their dad who’d had a struggle getting them out of there in the first place!!!!

With the wheel fixed they made their way back to base and the following day we arranged for the tyre to be changed at a local garage. And with a smile and a wink from the girls the price was dropped from 80 euros to 20! It was a bit like a scene from one of those ZZ top videos in the 90’s (Legs!)
On the middle Sunday of their stay a beach party was advertised for our beach in San Stef. Live bands & a DJ, starting at 6pm sounded a good idea and although Keith was working we said we would get back to see the end of it. On the day not much seemed to be happening, they’d organised the bar and oil barrels as tables but no sign of a stage or electrics etc.
Then at 7pm using the local speedboat and JCB, a spare pontoon was dragged from the corner of the beach to become the stage

The stage arrives

and in ‘Greek time’, a generator, lights, band gear and BBQ all arrived and were set up. It all started close to midnight and at 1am when we returned a local trash metal band was in full flow playing Pink Floyd covers and some original material (quite well as it turned out). At 1.30am the DJ took over to play dance music and bass and drum stuff, we left about 2.30am and went to be bed but the party continued till 5.30am with our windows rattling away from the bass sound ½ mile away!

the band on the beach

The 2 weeks rapidly drew to a close and we got up at 4.30am to accompany Thelma & Louise to the ferry port for their return trip. The night before Keith had played locally at the Athens bar, we escaped there at about 1.30am and with the ferry due out at 7am we left home at 5am to get to the port on time, but as we passed the Athens bar, it was packed and still going strong with drinkers, tourist & locals alike.
We waited till the girls drove onto the ferry before returning home. It was so nice to drive through Corfu town at that time of the day with the sun coming up and the town just starting to come alive without all the noise and ‘caffuffel’ of the usual daily routine.

on their last day soaking up the sun
“…..And everything looks so complete,
when you’re walkin down on the streets
And the wind catches your feet, sets you flyin', cryin'…..”

.........they are missed so much, someone has built a memorial to them on the spot where they sunbathed everyday!

"Tempted"

“…I bought a toothbrush, some toothpaste,
a flannel for my face
Pajamas, a hairbrush, new shoes and a case.
I said to my reflection,
Let's get out of this place….”

When we first planned to come back to Corfu this year, we extended an invitation to a huge list of friends and family to come and stay with us for a week or 2 of rest, relaxation, rock hard beds, over indulgence, stomach upsets, sunburn and mosquito bites……….and apart from our family visitors, so far only one of our friends has been ‘tempted’ to come over. Jules arrived on her own last Friday for her ‘Shirley Valentine’ experience.
............Jules finds a stoney faced companion......"Hello Rock"

a selection of "Jules"...Shirley Valentine moments! " hello shoes"

In an action packed week, we tried to tick as many boxes for her as possible, with trips to Corfu Town, Mouse Island, Afianos (our local Greek theme park village!), lots of bars and tavernas; a BBQ on our balcony and of course Keith’s gigs, where Jules made 2 guest appearances, which delighted the punters.

Jules & Keith "rock" the Athens bar

Jules is an experienced biker; she has a full licence and owns a bike in the UK. So we hired bikes and had a fantastic day out exploring the North of the Island.

........... Biker Chicks!

We collected the bikes and the first stop was to get fuel, but as we left the garage forecourt Jules set off first and proceeded to drive on the left!!!!! Liz frantically shouted and blew her horn until Jules eventually realised what was wrong. A worrying start to the day! We had a final destination in mind…… The 3 Brothers restaurant on Astrakari beach (where else would you go for a “Shirley Valentine “ meal)

...so with Keith leading the way we visited or drove through every village in a 20 mile radius of home ending with the letters “des” Kavadades, Magoulades, Armenades, Rachtades, Karousades and Velonades (where we got married - 3rd August 2005)

Above, the wedding day and now 4 years later

& Agrafi !!!! (Well there had to be one odd one that didn’t end in ‘des’)

As we drove through Armenades, Keith spotted a tortoise in the road just close to a tight bend, he slowed down to show us and we pulled up to take a closer look. Liz decided she would pick the tortoise up and move it to the road side, where it would be safer, but in the time it took to stop the bike put it on its stand and walk over to the little jaywalker, a local man on his bike sped around the corner and hit the tortoise, which sent our little friend flying! It ended up spinning around, upside down in the road, amid screams of shock ‘n’ horror from the girls. Liz picked up her new friend and placed it gently on the roadside to the sound of hissing and spitting (…from the tortoise I think?) and we drove off…..shell-shocked!

At Agrafi we accidentally did a little ‘off roading’; where Keith followed a road sign instead of his sense of direction and we ended up down a dirt track and into a field of corn. We turned around and made our way back to the road through a track full of huge bamboo plants and onto our destination, where the lunch was as expected, with quality sea food and eye candy for the girls.

But the highlight this week was the day we all went to see Eric Burden and the Animals (yep he’s still alive) in Corfu town at the old fort!!

With Jules and our friends Bob and Bev, who live just up the road from us in Avliotes.

Bob & Bev

We’d tried to by tickets in advance but to no avail, so it meant get there early have some food in town then go to the gig and pay on the door. Not knowing what Greek security would be like at the venue, and being seasoned outdoor concertgoers, we decided to take our own ‘disguised’ drinks with us. We had 4x500ml water bottles; one filled with Ouzo; two with Gin & Tonic and the other with water to mix with the Ouzo!!! We needn’t have bothered as no one checked bags or anything all we did was save money on the bar in the arena.

This was the most beautiful venue, in the grounds of the old fortress and with the church as the backdrop to the stage overlooking the sea front,
lit up with various coloured spotlights; it was the perfect setting for an evening of live music.

note the empty space between the front row and the stage ....soon to be filled!!

However, whether it was local organising or Eric’s rock star persona, the concert that should’ve started at 9pm still hadn’t started by 10pm! And with no support act, even the locals were getting restless. With lots of slow handclapping and whistles echoing around we were eventually told it would start in 5 mins. A seating arrangement of plastic chairs in front of the stage had quietly filled up during the wait for the gig to start with 300 chairs;

But by now a crowd of over 1000 people had gathered and chairs were being jealously guarded and it became like musical chairs if one was left unattended for any length of time. The front row of chairs was a discreet 30 feet away from the front of the stage, far enough back to allow the people sat there to see above the raised stage.

But as the music started all the people lingering around at the back without seats moved forward to make this space a “mosh pit” and as Eric Burdon & the animals came on stage, any hope of sitting down to watch the band disappeared.

The band was good, none of the original Animals though, just some very good session musicians, Keith reckoned that the drummer was the same one we’d seen with Crowded House last year. Eric Burdon looked great, with a shock of white/blond hair, more than he had in the 60’s and looking very cool in his shades, which disguised the fact that he is probably in his late 60’s now! They played all the hits including of course “House of the rising sun” ..................which made the crowd all sing along, it was a short set just over an hour, plus the encore with “We gotta get out of this place” which was preceded by a spectacular drum solo, and as the band came back on stage, one by one each one solo’d; 15 mins later it was all over, it was an event worth going to as a spectacle not sure if any of us would pay 25euros to see Eric Burdon again but we all agreed it had been a good night out!

And to round the week off we all piled in the car to Corfu town for a last minute shop, sightsee and to meet Keith’s niece Eleanora and her friend Vanessa who arrived on the Venice/Corfu ferry to stay with us for 2 weeks!!

................................Thelma & Louise Arrive

“We gotta get out of this place

If it's the last thing we ever do

We gotta get out of this place Girl,

there's a better life for me and you”

Eric Burdon

"All Summer Long......"

".....It was 2009, my thoughts were short, my hair was long
Caught somewhere between a boy and a man....."

"CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW???!!!......."

During our second week with Becky, Pig and Hannah we decided to risk trespassing on Paul Deuchlands land once again, and took them to see Afianos village.

This time however we were offered the most priceless photo opportunity. There were 4 little Greek old ladies sat on a wall, and when Becky asked them if it was OK to take their photo, they beckoned at Hannah to come and sit with them. But Hannah was too scared so Pig very enthusiastically took the opportunity to squeeze in-between them and have his photo taken and they became very giddy and excitable.
Pig with his Greek Biatchos

Becky has very enthusiastically embraced Liz’s unhealthy obsession with “Greek Little Old Ladies” and never missed a chance to photograph them!!

................here is just a small sample of some of her great photos.

We hired a boat again, but this time we sailed round the Sidari coastline, we had been here before and seen young lads jumping from 1000 foot high (slight exaggeration) rocks into the sea. Keith & Pig decided to re-live their youth and do the same. We moored the boat and they swam off the boat and over to the rocks, but getting out of the water proved tricky, as the rock had a slippy mossy ledge and a difficult surface to climb onto. So instead of coming out of the water like Greek gods, they both emerged on all fours like a pair of grannies on ice!!!

Then to the rock itself! Keith had jumped off here last year with Gemma and Caitlyn but he said it looked a lot higher than he remembered and so he opted for diving in off a lower ledge. Pig on the other hand, was so inspired by the nubile local girls jumping from the top rock, that he just went for it!!!

Pigs can fly!!!....

He said afterwards he was in the air a long time, long enough to reflect on the wisdom of what he was half way through doing! They both survived and swam back to the boat, which had drifted somewhat, so they had a few hundred-metre swim to add to their death-defying feat.

We had another trip to Corfu town for some more sight seeing and some shopping therapy. It is getting much much busier now, it felt so much more lively than previous visits. As we meandered through the streets we suddenly found ourselves following a procession of traditional Greek musicians and singers, all in traditional costume, they looked like a salvation army band in gondoliers outfits; With guitars, an accordion player or two and a couple of women with tambourines They were fantastic, the singers were singing perfect harmonies as they strolled through the crowded streets, to the delight of shop owners customers and tourists alike, they were clearly busking for money encouraging all to leave money in their upturned tambourines, we followd them to the exit point of the narrow streets near to the old port.

Where Keith & Pig had to do another typical blokey thing!! Try on hats with hair!!! They were not alone in this pursuit as several German Dutch and Italian men were making equal fools of themselves much to the delight and embarrassment of their wives girlfriends and teenage children.

............................................................Chuckle brothers!

As usual we had lots of meals out in Restaurants and Tavernas but there was one treat that Becky had insisted on having, and that was to go to one particular restaurant…..The Three Brothers on Astrakari beach. It is a Fish Taverna that we often visit, although Liz doesn’t eat fish she is always very enthusiastic about going there. This is because the three brothers are great Greek ‘eye candy’ and always flirt with her. And having been there last year Becky (who also doesn’t eat fish!!?? )Was very enthusiastic to take us there to treat us to lunch for Liz’s birthday. The food was fantastic as usual, the girls had their flirt with the decidedly average looking George & Yannis, his equally plain twin brother, we all agreed it was a superb meal except for one minor detail, the wine, which was something else! If you ever want an example of a wine not travelling well this was it, it couldn’t travel off the beach it was undrinkable!!!!! The boys politely finished off the 1/2litre we’d ordered, then we all moved swiftly onto beer to wash the taste away.

On their last night Keith was doing his weekly gig at The Athens bar in San Stefanos. (Hannah couldn’t wait to see her favourite International rock star again!!)

This time we were treated to a guest appearance from a tourist who could sing!! A couple had been in San Stefanos to get married and the bride groom was a singer in a rock band, so with a little prompting from his new inlaws, he and his best man who was also a guitarist, got up and did a couple of songs much to the delight of the crowd of family and well wishers they had brought with them.

Whilst they were playing the mother-in-law came up to Keith to say thanks for letting “Damo” and “Dave” sing and play, and as she shook his hand she slipped a rolled up note into his hand! Thinking it was probably a 5 euro note; he didn’t look at it and transferred it into his pocket before going back up to play, it was only later when everyone had gone that he looked at this note to find it was a 50 euro note!!! Amazing what a thank you that was.

So our 2 weeks of having some great company came to a rapid end and we returned our visitors to Corfu town and the airport, and settled back into our usual routine, to prepare for our next influx of guests at the end of July.

“Sipping whiskey out the bottle, not thinking 'bout tomorrow
Singing Sweet home Alabama all summer long……….”

p.s.

Keith has done 50 gigs since we got here.......it's knackering and he says he is starting to feel like an old man......so I went and got one for him!!!

"Trains and Boats and Planes........"

...............Well no trains but we do have boats and planes and a carriage…. A horse drawn one!

This is a quick summary of our days out with Becky, “Pig” and Hannah, our most recent visitors from the UK.

Hannah

Becky and Pig

Although they are not staying with us but “slumming it” at the local boutique hotel, Delfino Blue www.delfinoblu.gr

As they are in the poor part of town we thought we’d take pity on them and take them out to see some of the wonderful sights on this island. We started off by showing them the highest point of the island and the monastery, where Becky and Liz managed to get a swift peek at a local “hunky” monk.
On the way up to the monastery, we noticed something slowly crossing the road, we thought at first it was a hedgehog but as we got closer it was a tortoise!!! Which live in the wild here; Keith had read in books by Gerald Durell and co that they existed in this area but we never expected to see one, we stopped and had a 5 minute photo opportunity with him then carried on up the hill.
We followed this with lunch in a mountain village where we planned the next few days. On our way back we called into the fishing village of Kassiopi, where our intrepid guests spied boats to hire and having negotiated an excellent rate of hire arranged to come back later in the week for a 6 hour adventure around the north eastern coastline. We’d only ever hired boats around San Stef. So we were very keen to join them on their adventure into what was for us an unknown area.

Liz, prepared a huge picnic including sandwiches, cheeses, ham, salami and of course beer and wine, we picked up our intrepid travellers and set off for life on the ocean waves!

B,H and P are experienced ‘boat people’ so we felt very safe setting out from Kassiopi harbour.

We travelled north towards the sandy beaches of Kalamaki Bay, and strayed a little further north to the edge of Almiros close to where Keith plays guitar on a Sunday night. then turned back and travelled south along the coast down to the beautiful and expensive resorts including Agni, where the beautiful and the rich play and dine out in top quality restaurants.

We stopped several times to swim and snorkel and introduce Hannah who is now 7 to the delights of swimming in the sea. We dropped anchor and picnicked in a beautiful bay just below San Stefanos on the east coast (yep they have as little imagination in place names as they have in naming their sons and daughters)
With fish swimming all around the boat in crystal clear waters. Becky and “Pig” or as we were now calling him “Captain Jack’s Eye” took turns at the wheel, as we sailed past beautiful luxury villas with pools

and even some with their own beaches and jetties, and at one point there were so many villas with pools that even 500 metres off shore we could smell the chlorine from their pools.

We arrived back in port late afternoon very happy and tired Keith and I saw areas of the coastline we didn’t know existed which we will explore again maybe on land or maybe hire a boat and visit some of these hidden gems of villages that are not evident from the road.

Another day we visited the marina at Gouvia, where the sea planes are based, with the idea that Becky, Hannah and Pig could maybe do the trip we once did to the local island Paxos, however the sea plane service is not running this year, but we did have a good old brows around the 100’s of very big stylish yachts and cruisers in the marina (how the other half live)

Then onto to Corfu town, as we’ve said before we never tire of visiting the town and its always nice to show people around for the first time, so as usual we parked in the old port and walked into the old narrow streets that surround this area. It was so hot that we had to keep taking refreshment stops; so on to the Liston for an ouzo meze and into the back streets for a lunch in a ‘locals only’ taverna.

Hannah was fascinated by the horse drawn carriages parked up on the edge of the liston and as we crossed the area leading to the old fortress the old guys who drive these carriages started to try and draw us in to a carriage ride we resisted then walked away discussed tactics and offered them a silly price to take us all for a drive, they said Yes!!!! So ½ hour touring the streets of old Corfu in a horse and cart with Hannah sitting proudly up front with the driver was a great treat!!
We’d planned to finish the day out by visiting Mouse Island again; this time we did route one straight to the key side just as a plane was landing (it was Friday, transfer day) and we all looked at each other and said ‘wouldn’t it be fab if we were on the causeway at the end of the runway when a plane came in’!!!!!!

As we waited….. Piggy spotted the lights of a plane coming in towards us, we positioned ourselves right in the middle of the flight path and braced ourselves on the footpath for the plane landing 100 metres away from us and flying right over our heads. What a noise, what a scary but exhilarating experience, which made us all scream!! it was a real white knuckle moment!!!

But not quite as crazy as the scooter riders who use this causeway to short cut the journey to Corfu town by 5 miles by driving along the narrow concrete track over the waterway; where there is just enough room for the bike or a pedestrian but not both but that doesn’t stop them hare-ing along oblivious to the dangers or anybody on the footpath……….just one kick……. !!
Anyway back in the car but before we set off home time for a couple of more photo opportunities as 2 more planes landed and 2 taxied to the end of the runway and took off, it was just like Keith’s lunch breaks at Yeadon tarn, next to Leeds Bradford Airport!!!

Thursday was the highlight for Hannah, she was going to actually go to one of Keith’s gigs!! She really is very excited that she actually knows a proper’ rock star’…..in real life! Thursdays gig is local in San Stefanos and is always a very lively one. Hannahs’s only issue, (which she pointed out to Keith) was that he played Sweet Home Alabama wrong!! It sounded nothing like Kid Rock? But she had a ball and was allowed stay up til 1am!!
What a perfect end to their first week here!

……..You are from another part of the world
You had to go back awhile and then
You said you soon would return again
I’m waiting here like I promised to
I’m waiting here, but where are you……?