"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