Oh good grief, what happened? One minute the summer was nothing but a twinkle in Mother Nature's eyes and then, booomf, there it was gone!
Well, it's been a while since I've found time to blog. Back in May I was, like many Corfu residents, worried about the economy and whether or not we would see sufficient tourists to make ends meet. Now, the general consensus is that it's not been the best of seasons. We've had quite a lot of visitors but there is precious little money to splash about and sadly many small businesses have struggled or gone under. Some, however, have done quite well, and I've been busy spreading the good word about one of them (aka marketing), hence my shortage of blogs in the recent months.
So a precis of Summer 2010 in north Corfu...
- It rained... And rained... And rained... until well into June. Of course there were sunny periods too, but quite a few early visitors found their pac-a-macs coming in more handy than their factor 30.
- Then the sun came out, and it shone... And shone... And shone... until well into September. By late July we were "enjoying" (I hate inverted commas but sometimes they say exactly what I mean) temperatures way up into the 40s centigrade. Great if you're relaxing by the pool, but not so good when you're trying to get the old grey matter to be productive.
- And here in the village we had a bumper crop of entertainment. We had our annual panigeri (festival) in mid May. The rain held off and, accompanied by a live band, we all danced around the big tree in the middle of the platia until the small wee hours. We stuffed ourselves with spit roast lamb and souvlaki, ate huge bowls of chocolate and cinnamon coated doughnut balls, and tried to avoid the overpriced balloons, silk roses and lazer light torches being traded by the travelling community.
A month later, as part of the Corfu Festival we saw an evening of music; with a superb male voice choir and bouzouki orchestra playing a range of classical pieces and traditional Greek music... along with souvlakis and plenty of chilled beer.
Then we had an evening of Greek folk dancing which attracted dancers from throughout the island. Suffice to say I was kicking myself for being in the audience, rather than on stage, but I'd temporarily given up dancing as it's just too hot in the summer when you're built in such a sylph-like manner as I am (I've started again now though). But a great evening was had by all... along with souvlakis and plenty of chilled beer.
A few weeks after that we had another panigeri, just because we could!
And to top it all off, by way of a change of direction, we had a Greek rock band come and play too... along with souvlakis and plenty of chilled beers.
And right in the middle of all this there was a wedding. Apparently it was quite a small do by Greek standards, just 260 guests for a sit down 7 course meal on the platia, followed by live music and then a disco until silly-o'clock. Tony and Jack were roped in to help with the preparations and service - as were a lot of people in the village. The happy couple are mainland residents, but the best man is from the village and so the wedding and reception, being his responsibility to organise, were held here.
On the evening of the wedding Niamh and I had gone out elsewhere and got back into the village around 11pm. As the lads weren't at home we ventured up to the platia to see how things were going. We respected the fact that the festivities were a private event, albeit that they were being held on a very public platform, and walked around the edge of the platia to where we spied the men helping to plate up piles of food.
Within seconds of getting to the rear of the service area the chef was trying to thrust plates of food into our hands and the barman had come over armed with chilled beer for me and Fanta for Niamh. Within 10 minutes we'd been led to a table in the centre of the platia and were told to get stuck in!
I still have no idea of the bride and groom's names, but I wish them both untold happiness for their future together and extend my grateful thanks for allowing us to join in their celebrations.
- On a darker note it's been a summer of fires. After a whole host of them reported on the north east coast, we experienced one at what seemed to be rather too close quarters late one night. Walking home from a friend's house a passing motorcyclist pulled up, pointed at the hills on the edge of the village and shouted "look, fire". The sight was awesome, and frightening. An orange halo enveloped the hilltops and was growing as we watched. As the flames got higher we could see trees lighting up like matches and ash began to drift over the village. We watched from the platia and later our bedroom window until about 2am, but having ascertained that most of Corfu's hardy firefighters were on the scene and containing it we decided there was no need to leave the house unless we were advised to.
In fact the fire was further away that it had appeared and we were never in any danger, but in the small hours the sight of the horizon being engulfed with flame was a bit on the scary side of scary.
A few days later an arsonist set several fires on the hillside around Skripero, taking out great swathes of olive grove and only thanks to the amazing work of the fire crews, including the fire planes and helicopters, did they manage to save a filling station and restaurant where the flames were stopped within feet of the buildings. Some people were evacuated from their homes, but so far as I know there were no casualties. The stench of smoke hung in the air for days afterwards and the whole hillside seemed blackened and dead. But thankfully a few short weeks later there is green peeking up through the soil and the land is coming back to life. Which is what the arsonist will hopefully be serving in due course!
- Through all of this the children holidayed, and holidayed. For 3 long months I heard the plaintive cry of "I'm bored, what can I do" on an unerringly regular basis, which, when you're trying to think of something catchy and witty to encourage people to take advantage of spa services (I'll come to that in a minute), can be very distracting.
Jack eventually discovered teenage-hood and the joys of a part time job, as well as football, cricket, horse riding, bike riding and having mates to hang around with - looking cool of course.
Niamh, bless her, isn't quite old enough to enjoy the freedom that comes with being 13, but thankfully she now has a gang of friends who have enjoyed each other's company throughout the summer. The biggest issue for her has been acknowledging that even if she doesn't want to siesta in the afternoons, her friends fathers (and her own) do, and so the friends have to go home and the village snores for a few hours.
Tony has been busy in the garden. Earlier in the year he was offered the use of two further pieces of land. Untouched for many years he's cleared them, fenced them and has a flock of around 45 hens and 15 cockerels (including Nanis - bantams to you and me), on one of them. On another he has polytunnels and we've now got a chest freezer absolutely chokka with tomatoes, multi coloured carrots, parsnips (yes, really), onions and turnips, all ready for some winter warmers. We've had fresh salad leaves every day, red garlic, peppers, chillies and all manner of other goodies. I've even taken to freezing eggs that I'll experiment with as and when the hens stop laying, which they tend to when the days get shorter and colder.
As for me, well, as I mentioned earlier, I've been marketing - and writing. After years in the civil service in a job that I didn't dare talk about for fear of being ostracised by my mates, I'm now so happy to be working for a company that is loved by many! At risk of turning this blog into an advert, the Asian Spa Ayurvedic & City Retreat group have some of the best spas in Greece. At Gouvia, Ermones and Rou in Corfu, and three more in Athens, I have been enjoying every minute of my time extolling the virtues of these fabulous places! The staff, a fusion of Greek and Asian therapists, are a delight to work with, and I can say from experience that the treatments are second to none (great perks of the job - much better than a an inexpensive tea club any day).
And now, as the days get shorter, the evenings get cooler and everything gets much wetter our village is coming back to life. Yes, we've had some wonderful nights of entertainment this year - better than I've experienced here in previous summers - but for the main part people have been away trying to make a living in the resorts. Now in the resorts the closed signs are going up, the chairs and tables upended and the doors being locked until next spring. The locals are coming back to the village, the olive nets are being unrolled; bonfires being lit outdoors and sombas being lit indoors; wine being made and families are again gathering round the table.
I'm sorry I haven't been blogging of late, it seems from the number of comments I've received that some people rather miss my ramblings, so I hope this will go a little way to making up for the shortfall. I promise that now the kids are back at school I'll try to make time to writing a little more frequently in the coming months. Thank you all for your support and Xronia Polla - it's Ochi Day today!!
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