Sitting in the morning sun.........

........... Waiting for the evening to come...

We have settled back into the Greek way of life really easily, it’s as if we have never been away. We have been here for 12 days now and Keith has already done 5 gigs. A couple are the same ones as last year but 3 have been in large restaurants in the Centre of Sidari. Playing to the diners from 7.30 to 9.30pm with free dinner for us both thrown in. Then we still have the rest of the evening left to go out, which is nice!

Keiths first gig this year
Beach bar Gig
Today’s gig was in a bar on the beach in Sidari (the Sea-Monkey) from 2pm till 4pm. In the morning the weather was a bit indifferent, it started off with rain and as we set off for Sidari it was very cloudy, so we set out with no sun block or lotions, Liz even thought about taking an umbrella. We set up in the garden on the beach of this bar, under a tree for shelter (mainly from the rain), then 10 minutes into the gig the sun came out, we misjudged the projectory of the sun completely and Keith spent the next 2 hours in full sun, playing guitar!!!!! It was a fun gig though; great audience reaction and we sold 6 Cd’s. Keith had a few problems keeping eye contact with the audience, as several of the 40 something women decided to sun bathe topless right in front of him, he said there was more flesh on show than a night out in Newcastle!!!!
The Beach Bar Gig
Greek workmen
When we’d been in the house about a week we heard a crashing noise, followed by the sound of running water, the toilet cistern had fallen off the wall, one of the problems with living this close to the sea is that all things metal corrode very quickly, so the screws holding the cistern to the wall had rotted. Anyway we told Stefano, our landlord, about the problem and he quickly arranged for a plumber to call.
We were just about to go out the following day when this tall hunky bloke with long blonde hair, in dungaree’s turned up and said in a B movie voice “ello I’m coming here to fix your plumbing” Liz was a bit too quick to suggest I went ahead down to the beach because she didn’t mind following on when the plumber had finished. (Yeh right)
Been catching up on lots of people we met last year
Once we got here we set about networking with people we met and or worked with last year. During the winter it would appear all sorts of fall outs have occurred, so many of the Greek bar owners have either disappeared or fallen out with the brother that they were in partnership with last year. One example is the Thallasos Restaurant in Arillas where we had many fab nights last year, Yannis the good looking long haired brother has quit the business run by his brother and his wife, and he is now working as a tiler; (Liz now wants to renovate property over here mainly with lots of plumbing and tiling.) We also caught up with “Chips” in Roda; Darren May and Groucho (2 fellow muso’s) and Mick and his wife Helen who used to run the Sundowners bar in San Stef. And our friends at The Waves Restaurant and The Athina Hotel are all well. All seem to be making ends meet in their own way. We also went to The Roda Tavern and had a great meal and chat with Costas and his wife Voula, (who is expecting another baby in the Autumn). It is great to be back amongst our extended circle of friends.
View of Waves Restaurant and Athina Hotel from our balcony
Shopping for local produce and cooking in our new slow cooker
One of the purchases we made before we set off to Corfu this year was a slow cooker. (I think only people of a certain age can get excited about such an event?) We can sort out a meal in the morning, usually a Greek dish like pastistada or klefitico, put all the ingredients in and 6 hours later when we return from the beach we have a great meal waiting for us. We are really enjoying finding little farm shops and buying locally grown products. It really does make a huge difference to the quality and colour and flavour. (Next thing you know Keith will be getting an allotment!!)
Out and about looking for flowers
Skyping from our balcony using the wireless Internet from our local taverna
In the last couple of days we have discovered that after 10 at night we can get wireless Internet from our balcony accessed from the Condor Bar ¾ of a mile away. So we have been merrily ‘chatting’ away using Skype to Helen, Martin, Paddy, Lorraine, Gemma, Sheila and Katarina Liz also got on line by the pool at the Athina Hotel (although you may ask, what kind of saddo takes their laptop to the pool?) Liz does !!!!!!

On T'internet on T'balcony

On T'internet by T'pool

Keith jogging on the beach
We find when we are living here; there are aspects of our life style that are very different from in the UK. Obviously it is very ‘outdoor’ here but we tend to feel a lot fitter because we walk more instead of using the car and we are swimming every day. In the first few days Keith even went out every morning and jogged the full length of the San Stef beach and back, this has tailed off a bit now as the Ouzo nights and excess gigging have kicked in. We needed to burn off the calories because on Friday Helen & Martin arrive, so then we will be back to our usual excessive ways.
First (and only?) sunset photo
Keith collecting pictures of flowers (beats the usual 100 shots of the sunsets)
This year instead of sunsets and silly signs I’ve persuaded Keith to photograph some other aspects of life in Corfu and at this time of year the whole island is in bloom and very green. We are not sure what all the plants are called but the smells and the colours are amazing, something you don’t get in the height of summer as everything is fried to a crisp by then. We will post some photos of them over the next few weeks.
Flora
Locations of gigs so far
Tuesday “Sea monkey” in Sidari 2-4
Wednesday “Smugglers” Sidari 10- 12
Thursday “Calypso” Sidari 7.30 - 9.30
Friday “Madison’s” Sidari 8-10
Saturday “Condor Bar“San Stefano 10-12
Sunday “Calypso” Sidari 7.30-9.30

Hope it is not too rainy in the UK! Love to you all.


Local produce "Yamass!"