Forever in my dreams my heart will be, hanging on to this sweet memory...

….Take me back to the place that I know....On the beach

Gemma and the kids!!!!!!

They arrived in fine spirits and ready for their 6 weeks! stay.

We had rearranged the spare bedroom to accommodate them all with a blow up bed and a travel cot for Arwen, we all had a good nights sleep and awoke at 7am!!!! ready for our first full day of kids on the beach, kids in the pool whilst still maintaining 6 gigs a week!, Unfortunately it was still very windy, too windy to go anywhere, we even had to eat in the kitchen it was so blustery, which was strange for us as we have always eaten out on the balcony here. We did manage the Athina pool later on that day as the winds died down.

On the beach…….

We took them all in the morning to the Athina pool, home for lunch then a quick siesta

...then we thought we’d take Finley & Arwen for their first taste of the beach; literally! as it turned out, both of them sampled eating sand

before they realised it was more fun splashing in the sea and watching their granddad dig in the sand!!! (Keith welcomed the excuse to finally be able to dig holes in the sand and make sandcastles)

The following day we went back for a longer spell, armed with parasols, buckets & spades, toy trucks and a borrowed Lilo from one of our friends who runs the local sun bed hire, we also had armbands for Finley so he could really go in the sea.
We’d picked the hottest day so far to do this (40 degrees) and although we kept the little ones smothered in lotions we all had to spend a lot of time in the sea and under the parasols to keep cool.

Finley never stopped running all day, until he finally fell asleep on the lilo under a parasol after a long play in the sea.

We all arrived home exhausted after a full day on the sand.
Keith got involved with a bit of sand castle wars with the German family who parked themselves next to us on the beach. Keith & Caitlyn had gently built a Pyramid /sand castle with the basic plastic bucket & spade set we had bought at the local shop but Keith was a bit gob-smacked when the father of the family appeared with his folding, all metal shovel come pickaxe and proceeded to tunnel his way into the sand.

It was just like watching a military operation, we had to drag Keith away before this major earth works was completed or before he went and jumped on the turrets.

At the end of the first week the weather changed again and we had a couple more windy days, so we decided to go out and about looking for some sheltered bays to play out in. After a hearty breakfast we all piled into the car and set off for Paleokastritsa only 30 mins away. But 10 miles and 20 minutes later Finley woke up and promptly threw up everywhere, all over Gemma and the back seat of the car. And because he is 2 years old and at the ‘touch every button’ and ‘play with every switch’ stage, we had centrally locked the windows and the doors of the car, poor Gemma couldn’t even stick Finley’s head out of the window to avoid the deluge. We pulled over, hosed Gemma and Finley down, threw away some of the stuff in the back of the car (including a book that Keith had borrowed from his colleague Andrew at work) that had been hit by Finley’s tsunami, then we returned home without further incident, day out cancelled, another lesson learned, don’t fill a 2 year old with yoghurt before going on windy Greek roads!

Thursday was a really rainy day and having learnt the lesson of the previous day, we didn’t fill the kids with food as we set off for a day out in Corfu town. It poured down all the way into Corfu town and it appeared that everybody else with a car had decided to do the same thing, the traffic was chaos, and many of the traffic lights had stopped working, possibly due to the rain storm. We couldn’t get into any of the town centre car parks so we headed up the main road to the airport where the supermarkets and toy shops are, first stop the Corfu branch of “toys r os” where we purchased some toy trucks and diggers. Then to another store called Jumbo where Liz was in shopping heaven, aisle after aisle of toys, toiletries and general stuff that only Liz would want to buy! 1 hour later, armed with more toys and toiletries than you could shake a stick at, we emerged into sunshine and headed back into Corfu town. This time we parked and spent a couple of hours sightseeing, eating & Caitlyn shopped till we all dropped, we even managed to fit in a visit to a children’s playground near the old fortress before going back to the car at 5pm and then home.
What an eventful first week with only 5 more to go….and as the season gets busier, more requests for gigs keep coming in, Keith is now doing 6 gigs a week and with the change in our sleeping pattern (the kids wake up at 7am) we are now finally living a Greek lifestyle and taking essential siestas in the afternoons so we don’t burn out with the pace we are keeping. Ah well back to the pool !

“Oh how I wish you were here”....

....we're just two lost souls, living in a fish bowl, year after year.....

Be careful what you wish for …….

We had expected to have 3 weeks of recharging our batteries and detoxing, but as usual, things don’t always go as you plan them. As Helen and Martin left they were saying how much they were missing Emily their granddaughter, and we were saying the same about Gemma and the kids, and how we couldn’t wait to see them in 3 weeks time! Well we didn’t have to wait that long we got a phone call on the Sunday from Gemma, saying she was fed up and an hour later she’d booked a flight to arrive on the Tuesday, THIS Tuesday!!! Only 3 days of peace and tranquillity!!!!

There was a gale force wind blowing when we woke up on the Tuesday morning so we decided to have a day out in Corfu town seeing some of the things we’d meant to look at when the weather was not so hot, this seemed like an ideal day for it. We parked up at the old port

and walked along in the direction of the Liston and the old fortress. We passed old Venetian style buildings some with plaques telling of the famous and not so famous people who’d lived there including Edward Lear.

We walked through the archway

and into the grounds of the palace of SS Michael & George,

which houses the museum of Asian Art. It is a fascinating building, which started life in 1819 as a summer royal residence for British monarchy. We wandered around the grounds

which also contain throw backs to its time as a residency including a spiral staircase going down to a jetty from which private bathing could take place.

We went from here to the old fortress, which dominates the east side of Corfu town, dating back to pre Byzantine times, and was made into an island by the Venetians in the 15th century when a channel was dug between the fort and the Town. We climbed to the highest point of the fort which gave us impressive views over Corfu town

...many photos later and very windswept we climbed down and returned into the heart of the old town. We had a nice meal in one of our favourite restaurants in the square near St Spiridon Cathedral then off to the airport to pick up our next visitors.

View of a massive cruise boat from the grounds of the palace

The wheels on the bus.....

......go round and round...

Do you know? Visitors are like buses….
(Apart from Helen and Martin who appear to be permanent residents!)
We didn’t get any visitors for the first 5 weeks then 4 lots come along one after the other!
First Becky, Piggy (Steve) & Hannah, (Keith’s friends from work) stayed in San Stefanos for a week,

then as they left on the Friday, Liz’s mum (Do) arrived

along with Paddy & Lorraine (Liz’s brother & his wife) on 2 separate flights, then as we took Do back to the airport this Friday, Paddy’s son Michael & his friend Kim arrived

and Liz picked them up on the same airport run. Friday really is transfer day here in Corfu. We have had some great adventures with our guests and visitors and of course some great meals out!

We took Becky & Co to view Paleokastrisa (from a distance as it is a tourist trap) then lunch at the Three Brothers on Astrakari beach. Keith & Pig drooled over the beautiful sea food on offer, while Liz & Becky drooled over the brothers serving us Hannah befriended a young Greek girl of a similar age, who lived at the restaurant in the summer, and by the time we’d finished eating, both girls were playing well together despite having no common language between them. Liz’s mum stayed with us for a week, Helen & Martin moved into an apartment with Paddy & Lorraine a short distance away, (as the crow flies, but up and down 2 big hills). Doreen managed to swim in the sea most days at the pool at the Athina and had a couple of days out in the car. First with us, then with Paddy & Lorraine, with a couple of lunches in mountain villages,

where we bought fresh oregano to hang up and dry and some local olive oil. Paddy and Lorraine also took Do out for a day in their hire car including up to the highest point on Corfu, where a monastery is situated, with the biggest and ugliest radio mast who’s four legs are strategically placed within the four corners of the monastery yard. We also had yet another BBQ at the house on the hill this time as well as the lamb chops we cooked fish & some prawns marinated in chilli & garlic sauce, and of course all washed down with beautiful Greek wine.

An almost compulsory element to visiting us is you have to sit through at least one of Keith’s gigs; Becky & Co managed to get a way with one, Doreen did the same, so far Paddy & Lorraine have done 3 gigs, and Paddy still hasn’t had a cigarette!!!
On the Tuesday afternoon the girls became ladies wot lunch (and shop!)

and the boys went to the Sea Monkey afternoon gig in Sidari, and despite all the tales of semi-nakedness on the beach Paddy was stilled amazed by the sight of a young couple, (in very skimpy swim wear) who had set up camp right in front of where Keith plays, and proceeded to kiss, cuddled and generally climb all over each other on one sun bed in full view of everyone in the bar, Maybe they couldn’t get a room anywhere! Luckily they decided to go for a swim to cool down; just before Keith started playing (his guitar that is and yes, on his own etc…) the boys definately needed a cold swim & shower after that gig.

There has been a real increase in the temperature here in the last 2 weeks, it is now an average 33 degrees during the day although some days it has been as hot as 38. And in the evening as high as 24 /25 degrees, we are soldiering on with 2 fans going at night and I think we have acclimatised to the heat. It helps being so close to the sea with a breeze to help to cool us down. The apartment the others are sharing has air con as they keep reminding us, but as the units extract onto their balcony, the heat from them makes it impossible to sit out! So when we go round to collect them all 4 are sat inside, air-con on, with the temperature at about 17 degrees (just like at home then!!)

Randomly saw this 'big bird' whilst driving around.....?

At the end of this week calm will descend as we have no guests or visitors for 3 weeks so we will ‘try to’ detox and cook at home and recharge our batteries ready for the next invasion of tourists.

Every Day's an Endless Stream of Cigarettes and Magazines........

............................ Now Helen and Martin are here!

Corfu Flora (as promised)

Electrical Storms
Our 3rd week in Corfu started with a bang, well several of them in fact, we had a couple of spectacular electrical storms. From the lookout point on our balcony, on the edge of the bay, you could see the storms roll in over the village an hour before they landed. In particular, on Saturday, as Keith was leaving to set up for his gig at the Condor in San Stefanos, the sky turned black, the sea turned an amazing turquoise colour and then the whole sky lit up with fork and sheet lightening for about an hour. We managed to unload all the equipment into the venue just as the rain came down, the road became a river and we were trapped for about 40 mins in the bar, so we had to have a G&T while we waited for the storm to clear. The whole storm lasted about 2 hours and just cleared in time for the gig to start at 9.30pm.

Strikes and picket lines Greek style
On Friday we collected Helen and Martin from the airport. When we arrived there seemed to be more than the usual chaos, only 2 or 3 coaches in the pick up area with long queues of people waiting around. All the Thompson staff were doing what they do best, walking around with clipboards putting people into queues in the blazing sunshine. We discovered that there was in fact a coach driver’s strike and we had driven through a picket line to get to the arrivals area. The strike was just employee drivers only; only the owner-drivers were ok to pick up for the holiday companies. The airport was chaotic with huge queues at the taxi rank, the taxis had inflated their prices to maximise profits and everyone was very fraught. Apparently the only way the tour companies could get people from the resort to the airport was to bus them to the nearest port (in the north that would be Kassiopi) and then boat them to Corfu town harbour and then either taxi or mini bus to the airport.
Our route across the top to Arillas

Sunday morning walk over the hill to Arillas
Helen woke up on Sunday morning with a bright idea, whilst the temperatures are not so hot (25 degrees) “why don’t we walk over the hill to Arillas!” I don’t know who was more surprised when she suggested it? Us or Helen when we all agreed that we should do it.
It took us about 45 minutes to get up the hill and along the headland and down to Arillas with some fantastic views of both bays from the top of the hill and many photo opportunities. It gave us a different perspective of our village and where places lay in relation to where we are staying. A nice leisurely lunch in a taverna in Arillas with wine…… then all we had to do was walk back over the hill to home!! An hour later and with a few sore leg muscles, we arrived back in San Stef. Had a quick swim in the Athina pool to ease the muscles, then a siesta (it’s a hard life)
View of San Stefanos on our walk

Emergency Modification to PA Equipment
Many of you will know that Keith invested in a state of the art P.A. system a few months ago, the sound quality is amazing, plus its small, light weight and easy to set up and dismantle and even Liz gets involved in packing it all away at gigs. As you can imagine being a BOSE system it wasn’t cheap, so it was more than a bit irritating when a pin that holds the clip, that holds the mixer, that fastens onto the mic stand, that helps Keith make it sound sooo fantastic! Broke!!!!
The only thing left to do was to borrow a safety pin from Helen, and replace the broken pin and it worked !!!!! (see piccy). Keith will be contacting Mr Bose on his return to the UK, Helen wants to patent the modification. (Not sure what is holding up her knickers now though?)
See the safety pin holding the desk onto the stand

“Keiths a lot more confident now?”
As you can imagine now that our drinking buddies have arrived, the alcohol consumption has increased a bit, which also means the mindless chatter of Keith & Martin has started. The other night, after a gig, Martin spent a good 1 ½ hours debating (mainly with himself), how the new P.A. system has increased Keith’s confidence! “Is it the system?” “Is he more confident?” “He wasn’t like that last year!” It was like having a tape loop running. Needless to say it has become a catchphrase for the summer!
Keith P.A. all set up for a gig

2 Gigs in one day
This Tuesday (tritti) Keith managed to do 2 gigs in one day! The 1st was on the beach in Sidari at the “Seamonkey’s” Bar, 2pm till 4pm and the next one was also in Sidari at “One For The Road” where he played last year, this was 10pm till 12. Two very contrasting gigs both equally enjoyable, Keith thinks he played over 30 songs at each of the 2 hour gigs and he worked out he played 47 different songs (anorak!) he even remembered most of the words as well!!
More Flora

Martin’s office
Martin got a bit giddy when he found out he could get access to the internet on our balcony and at the Athina Pool side. So the first chance he got we went armed with books ipods & suntan cream down to the pool and Martin set up his office. Because of the glaring sun he had to improvise and put a cover on so he could see the screen, so here is a picture of martin working hard in his office by the pool. Good to see he’s not taking too much time out from the world of high finance.

Martin by the pool on his laptop

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!"

Giddy up, Giddy up and get away……

……we’re going crazy and we are going today… here we go…..Rocking all over the world….. Corfu 2008

We sailed from Hull on Monday evening, 19th May, a bit earlier than we sailed last year and the ferry was so much quieter (and cheaper) the only area of the boat that was busy was the cabaret lounge, which by chance is also the only bit of the boat you can smoke in!

We filled up with cheaper fuel in Holland (1.44 euros per litre) and headed for our strategically placed family members, for our 3 overnight stops. Firstly, Paul and Milena’s in Heidelberg. The road systems in Europe seem so efficient, it all moves without major hold up or huge traffic jams even when the inevitable road works occur and despite the fact that everything seems to be transported the length and breadth of Europe by truck.

The Rhine

We were making such good time on the roads, that when we spoke to Paul he suggested a scenic little detour down the Rhine valley via Koblensk. A large railway town with links to eastern Europe, (see Schindler’s list).

St Goar

Anyway the scenery was absolutely stunning, lots of fairy tale castles in the hills, picturesque little towns perched on the sides of the fast flowing Rhine, with huge barges and ferries battling against the current, up and down stream. We stopped for some lunch in a little town called St Goar, and had a dish of local sausage, sauerkraut and fried potatoes, washed down with a couple of glasses of locally brewed beer.

Keith in a bar in St Goar (Rhine Valley)

We arrived at Paul and Milena’s beautiful home at about 5pm after a full day covering 350 miles.
Warmly welcomed, beers opened, a few stories exchanged and Paul displayed his culinary skills and created a fresh garlic mayonnaise (Good old Delia), whilst Milena cooked local grown asparagus, which is in season at the moment. We had a meze of local and Italian meats, plus a couple bottles of local Riesling (is there a theme developing here? Local food local booze?) We stayed overnight in their guest apartment next door to their house, then up and on the road again in the morning by 9am.

Driving in Switzerland

We headed for Milan, to our next overnight stop at Debbie and Franco’s house. We did all the obligatory oooooing and aahhhing as we drove through Switzerland but the sky was progressively getting greyer the further south we went. Another warm welcome awaited us at Debbie and Franco’s and another 350 miles covered. We were wined and dined with local food and wine in that enviable Italian style and even managed to watch the football, The Champions League Final. After much drama and shouting, (only at the football) we crashed out about midnight.

Then back on the road in the morning just a short hop to Sheila’s in the Italian lakes area near Simioni which is just 10 miles or so away from where she lived last year at Lake Garda. Sheila has a beautiful apartment in a tastefully converted farm with a large private veranda and a shared pool (take note Paddy and Martin for design ideas) Sheila didn’t let us down (bless her) she made us a lunch with bacon (from her freezer that she had brought from the UK) sausage (Lidal Specials), egg and beans, accompanied by Champagne and red wine. In the evening we walked to her local pizzeria, we had a great meal with more red wine and saw loads of fire flies as we walked back to her apartment (we think?) fell into bed and slept well.

Sheila outside the converted farm where she lives

In the morning we had a couple of hours drive to the port in Venice. This leg of our journey was pretty spectacular, with the most incredible electrical storms over the Venice skyline. We witnessed the same pandemonium as last year at the port as the Greeks loaded all the vehicles onto the ferry. We waited patiently as they found odd vehicles to load on in no particular order, then with 15mins to go, a man on a moped rushed up to say anyone for Corfu get on the boat now!! The usual mad rush then ensued. Poor Liz was dying to go and tell them a more efficient and logical way of doing it!!

It appears that the Greeks have heard of multi-tasking, as the man who showed us to our cabin was also the waiter for our evening meal and the same young man ‘directing’ the loading of the ferry, AND the on board pool attendant/ lifeguard. The expression “Spiros of all trade’s master of none” springs to mind! There was even a deck hand doing some painting on a glass roof over the passenger area, and for health and safety reasons someone had tied him to a hand rail with a rope attached to the back of his boiler suit, only in Greece!

We had a great 24-hour crossing, much quieter than the ferries both ways last year. I don’t think they are quite prepared for the busy holiday season yet or the arrival of the Brits on the ferries, as Liz managed to buy up all the Silk Cut on board in just 2 hits!!! We even managed to get an outside cabin and woke up to spectacular views of the approach to Corfu. We arrived in Corfu town at 2pm Saturday having driven just over 1000 miles, it felt like we had arrived home. Keith’s first gig is on Wednesday night and with 3 others booked it already feels like business as usual.
This is the view from our balcony overlooking San Stefanos village
Our contact details are:-
keith.muso@gmail.com
and
lizzy.away@gmail.com
(notice how both our email addresses reflect our occupations!!?)

Will blog again soon.......bye for now xxxxx