Riders on the storm.....

It’s just over 3 weeks since Paddy and Lorraine went home,

Paddy and Keith acting the goat....

........so we have had a couple of weeks to recover before our next visitors arrived last Friday.

On the last day of Paddy and Lorraine’s stay, Liz and Paddy decided to hire a moped each and do some exploring. They assured Nikos that they were both experienced bikers, so he gave them 2 brand new bikes!!

But this was the first time Liz had ever ridden a bike! So a quick 10-minute lesson from Paddy in our back garden

and off they went through the mountains all the way to Paliokastritsa for their first pit stop.

A quick meze taverna lunch then back to base after a 4 hour adventure Liz is now sooo expert on 2 wheels she wants to get a bike for home (Mid life crisis?) And we are considering hiring one here for the rest of the summer, because even the rental people are suffering the downturn and what would normally cost 20 euros a day to hire a brand new scooter we can have for 3 euros.

We all agreed our favourite time of day here is between 5pm and 7pm, when it is still warm but not roasting! So we often went for an early evening stroll along San Stefanos beach; where there is a surprising variety of activities going on at this time of day.

Beach Aerobics (ladies only)

Power walking (fit German ladies only) and jogging

and Fishing,

and Liz havin a fag break (locals only)

and from the safety of our balcony, we have also observed Belly-dancing classes in the evening sun on the beach.

Keith is still doing 6 gigs a week, but things feel very different from our first 2 years here. Hotel and bar owners are all twitchy about the lack of tourists and the limited spending power of those that are in resorts. So as a consequence, they indulge in trying to tinker with everything; the acts that play in their bars, the days and times of gigs, they are watching the clock to see if or when any extra people will be walking down the street to their little empire!!!

A tourist makes a guest appearance at one of Keith's gigs

We have been lucky Keith has managed to keep all his nights booked up and if a venue owner has become “twitchy” we’ve found another one lined up ready to replace it. Some other musicians are not being quite so proactive, trying to trade on past success’s to get work and pricing themselves out of a depressed market and as a result only working 3 nights a week!

A typical audience at Keith's gigs
To add to the local’s misery about the economy etc. we have had a couple of weeks of unusually stormy weather,

whilst you have been having your heat wave in the UK. (the Greeks have even started to talk about the weather just like the Brits do!) We have had a week of fantastic electrical storms lasting for hours, usually at night with the whole sky lighting up, and the noise from the thunder rattles all the doors and windows throughout the town. This has meant cooler daytime temperatures, which we have taken advantage of and done some of the exploring that is difficult to do when it is ‘scorchio’.
Last week we spent a few hours rambling around the remains of the Old Fort in Corfu town. This was built by the Venetians upon the remains of a Byzantine castle between 1400 and 1500. (That’s years, not time of day, cos between 14.00 and 15.00 is when the locals siesta) Then the British made alterations in 16th and 18th centuries.

There is a huge moat around it, and underneath a maze of tunnels to explore.

We climbed to the top to experience the impressive view over Corfu Town and out to sea.

We never get bored of visiting Corfu Town, we just love its unique atmosphere.