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It must be spring, we are all covered in red dust!

Now we truly know that spring is with us. Temperatures all this week have risen to 20 and over, so you have no idea what to wear in the morning when it is still chilly BUT every now and again, just to keep us on our toes, down comes the rain - and it leaves all that lovely red dust behind.

There are other clues of course, such as the wonderful flower scenes around every corner - this one was taken just behind my house. Every ordinary olive grove develops a postcard appearance as the flowers appear at the most amazing rate. I swear that if you pass somewhere in the morning, when you go past again in the afternoon there are more flowers!

Also, it is getting much easier to find somewhere to have a cup of coffee and a cake (and a loo!) whilst traversing the island showing properties (and yes, quite a few people arrived on the first Easyjet flight, seriously looking for property). The businesses in resorts which were securely shuttered during the winter, and tended to give Corfu the appearance of Caribbean island after a hurricane, are suddenly opening up. Colourful canopies are coming out, the furniture is getting a coat of paint and everything looks much more optimistic. This does not stop most shopkeepers being glum regarding the prospects for this coming tourist season, but their enthuiastic preparations contradict their outlook - somehow it always seems to come out OK in the end.

Anyway as many people are saying, Greece is not really in a recession now, the economy has been dire for years, so this doesn't really make any difference and we should all just carry on as normal. So we will!
Diana

Greek cooking in East Sussex

Visiting loved-one in East Sussex, we decided (bravely) to have a Greek themed evening for our friends. This was a bit of a last minute idea, and not being the accomplished cook that Susan is, it threw me into a total panic!

Lidl to the rescue! The local store here was running a promotion of Greek food under the brand name of "Eridanous", so we managed to get together a good selection of mezes, including meatballs in tomato sauce, gigantes, and green beans. Together with some home made tzatziki, a nice salad with real feta and roast chicken and potatoes village-style with lots of garlic and lemon, we had our Greek meal - the house certainly smelt Greek anyway! (The only missing ingredient was some Greek wine which our local supermarket failed to stock.)

Our guests enjoyed it so much that they now want to come to Corfu on holiday this year, so I have done my bit for tourism too.
Sarah

Generally speaking we have the island sort of divided up between us, Sarah and Susan cover the north, I do the south and we share the middle bits, so nowhere ever seems to be all that far away.

This week Sarah has been away, so Susan and I showed properties over the whole island, together. We had the programme minutely worked out, as follows:

09.00 arrive in town, finalise property list, Susan dropped car in car wash to be close, mine was miles away.

09.30 walk up to hotel to meet clients, discuss property viewings, pop back down to car wash, collect Susan's car, go and collect clients.

Only Susan's car broke down in the carwash, so after we met the clients I walked the usual miles back to my (dirty) car, whilst Susan tried to contact the car recovery people. Went to collect the clients. Drove up to Sidari to look at the wonderful Villa Oceanos (pictured above), drove down to Agnos to look at land, drove into Kassiopi to look at two headland villas - road blocked by bus and bulldozer. Drove over to Coyevinas and Avlaki, near Kassiopi, looked at two very nice villas. Felt urgent need for food, drove back to Kassiopi, parked, walked through mud/cement in search of lunch and had very nice lunch at the Kassiopi Star restaurant near the harbour.

Tried to get to headland villas on foot, more road block, mud, large pipe pouring water just in front of the villas. Even though it was still sunny, wind blowing a very cold howling gale. Walked round the villas, looked at beach, walked back through mud and through the village to the now, very muddy, car. All this time Susan was trying to establish what had happened to her car.

Drove to Kentroma, looked at Horizon Villa which is nearly finished and extremely unusual and very attractive. Got back in the car and drove as quickly as possibly down to south west coast to look at Kanouli Villas and Villa Oleander. Just got there in time to see the sunset, so that was nice.

Drove back to town, dropped clients at their hotel, drove Susan out of town to meet husband at Lidl to be driven home. Passed her car at the Fiat garage on the way, but of course they were closed. Drove home down to the deep south in Moraitika. Collapsed.

Despite Susan's Panda 4x4 breaking down, it turned out to be a just a 'failsafe' button, pressed in error by the carwash guys as they enthusiastically scrubbed the carpets. My Panda soldiered on all day, drove heaven knows how many kilometres and when I got home I had still only used a quarter tank of petrol. Not bad eh?
Diana

The wonders of language

I think we can all remember the days of amusing menus, featuring such delights as roast kiddy and lamp chops, but this week someone brought to our office what must be the ultimate in 'babble translation' - the only difference being that this is supposed to be a serious document, outlining property insurance cover offered by one of the major Greek banks.

The introduction informs us that the house "encompasses innumerable significances and sentiments" and that we must not only protect against various dangers but situations that also occur "if by any chance happens the villain", and that their insurance protects us from "the unpleasant consequences of bad moment".

Included are such essentials as "fall lightning" and "fall planes, fall trees, terrorist energies, burglary of pipings, policies disturbances and malice energy", plus of course "damage the electric table and his wirings".

And finally, peace of mind for all, as this policy has "explicit and comprehensible terms and conditions, in order to you are absolutely sure for the covers his our and obligations".

There you are, now you know exactly what insurance cover you have should anything untoward occur!

Having said that, I do remember my mother in England having had home contents insurance for the last 30 years or so and never having claimed, had a fall, during which she cut herself and got blood on the carpet. When she contacted the insurance company to see if she could claim for a new carpet, they told her unfortunately not, as 'it was an accident'. In future in Britain, take note - if you are going to do any damage in your house, make sure you do it on purpose!
Diana

This month's Country Life has a wonderful article on the holiday rental market, and in their opinion 'outside of the Caribbean, the largest potential market is the Mediterranean, and top of the high-end rental wish list is the north-east coast of Corfu'. They do however, point out, as we always do to our clients looking for villa investments, that villas must be in an excellent location, with a pool and good outside space and views.

They also make the point that owners should not try to impose their personal taste on their rental clients, which always makes me laugh when I think how hard we try to get some of our selling owners just to clear the property a little bit, so we can take reasonable photographs. I do remember when I was a child, going on holiday to various holiday cottages in England where the furniture/equipment etc. always looked as if it was the stuff the owners had thrown out of their own house, and it was stopping in that particular cottage on its way to the rubbish tip. Not so now - Sky TV, DVD, Internet, Ipod dock and a plasma screen are becoming essentials in good villas.

Also of course, you have to get the knack of making the villa look 'like new' for each arrival - which is no easy task when you often only have two hours between one client's departure and the next's arrival. Plus, quite often we would be happy to have things in our own homes which might have seen slightly better days, but not in your villa - this must be why my own home always is at the bottom of the list when it comes to buying new furniture and it is me who gets the leftovers and the villas which get the best!

In the Country Life article, the point is also made of the correlation between holiday renters and buyers. And we all know that many of our buyers have been to Corfu many times and it is their affection for the island which makes them return to buy. How much better for them then, to not only have the option of a house on their favourite island but providing they buy wisely they can finance their own holidays by letting their villas to other holidaymakers (and, of course, we always hope that they in their turn might fall in love with Corfu, and return to buy!).
Diana

A pleasant surprise

My trusty Suzuki Ignis was due its MOT at the end of this month and as I will be away in the UK at the time it is due I decided to be organised (for a change) and get it done early. This is the first time I have ever ventured into the "men's world" of MOT testing stations, and I was absolutely dreading it, particularly if they were going to tell me anything technical as I have trouble understanding that in English, let alone in Greek!

There are two MOT testing stations, one near to Aqualand and a new, privately run one near to the airport, more or less at the end of the runway. Really easy to find - I drove up the driveway, and was met by a very polite gentleman who took my relevant documents and directed me into the office. The secretary then did her stuff, took my fifty euros and gave me all my documents back. There is a comfortable lounge with a TV, where you can watch your car being examined through the large windows onto the testing bay. Amazing! Ten minutes later I was outside with my new MOT certificate, and I even managed to understand that the only thing I need are two new back tyres - not surprising considering the amount of mileage I do and the rough tracks I regularly drive along.

K.T.E.O. is open from 8.00 am till 6.00pm on weekdays, and from 8.00 am till 2.00pm on Saturdays, and you can make an appointment on 26610 26610.
Diana

This is a photo of Kaiser's Bridge, taken last Friday, when finally, after what seems like a very long winter, we had blue skies, and calm blue seas. However you know that it is still early spring, as if you look closely, you will see that a) it's too early to clean up the beach, and b) snow still covers the mountains in the distance.

However there are other hints of springtime. The usual ones, such as wonderful flowers by the roadside and everyone suddenly sitting outside, actually looking for shade instead of searching frantically for every available bit of sun.

However, there are other signs. For example, all of a sudden, apart from the roundabout creation roadworks, we have just sprung three sets of traffic lights between Moraitika and Corfu Town (one at Kaiser's Bridge, which is where I had time to take the photo whilst I was waiting). This does not bode well for summer traffic.

It stays light and bright so much longer and now, instead of having no guilt at all at closing the doors in the house and settling down with a cup of tea at 6ish - you feel as if you are doing something wrong and should still be out working.

Emails begin to arrive from prospective buyers actually being able to plan their visits instead of just sitting at their computers dreaming!

Some of our workers are celebrating the spring weather. The other day my husband called his main helper to confirm a day of 'concreting' on the first decent day in ages. Sorry, not possible, he was told - our 'worker' was taking advantage of the weather and had gone fishing! Other workers - who have been desperate for work during the winter months - have suddenly become 'unavailable' having been 'called up' by their summer employers in the usual rush to prepare for the summer.

Never mind, we love the spring time We always feel we should rush out and take new photos of absolutely every bit of property (difficult with 513 properties and rising!) as everything looks so 'picture postcard' at this time of year. It is the nicest time of year to show properties - not too hot and sweaty as we toil up mountainsides to show land and views, and too early in the season to be intruding on villa guests as we try to show houses with holiday guests in occupation.

Overall a lovely time of year. And having said that it will probably start raining again!
Diana

We see lots of pretty amazing top-end villas in our weekly outings in Corfu, so it is particularly good to be able to report that several developers are taking Corfu out of the run-of-the-mill and into the something special realms of Mediterranean property. There is a blueprint for a villa which is all too often copied religiously in Corfu. It includes lots of differently shaped roof bits, balconies, extended (unnecessary) bits, decorative plasterwork, etc. etc., and has the result of making us - all too often - wish for something different.

This last fortnight we have seen one very different villa indeed and another where the developer has really put all his energies into the not at first noticeable extras that make his property stand out from the crowd. I'm talking about the sort of things that make you say "Why didn't anyone think of that before?", or "What a good idea!"

First the really different one - Villa Gaia has been built for the international jet set market and is available for rent for in the region of 1,000 euros per day in high season. This price includes staff (of course) and the property sleeps ten easily, plus six extra (children perhaps?). Every room has climate control and a flat screen television (there is even a one in the door of the refrigerator), plus twin basins in the en-suite bathrooms and jacuzzi baths or high-tech. showers. Add this to the basic joys of Corfu - wonderful views and beaches and marina within easy driving - and you have the perfect ingredients for a wonderful holiday. Gaia is also available for sale, with its adjacent staff accommodation. Wow!
Susan

Most mornings I drive past a gaggle of geese on my way to take my dog for her walk, and more often than not say hello to their owner who is usually feeding them at this time. The other day I stopped for a chat and I asked him if he ever sells a goose as I tasted roast goose at Christmas and loved it! He was fairly horrified, telling me that these were like pets, in fact more like guard-geese, making a lot of noise every time anyone goes up the lane.

He must have forgiven me for wanting to eat one of his pets because today he stopped me to give me some of their eggs. He then asked me if I would like some hens' eggs too and gave me more than a dozen lovely fresh eggs. No prizes for guessing what I'm going to be eating for the next week or so!
Sarah

One of the best things about being an estate agent is that truly, no two days are the same, last week we looked at spectacular land, a totally stunning villa and a completely ruined hillside house.

This week we were asked to look at a north-east coast property ‘needing a bit of work’ in a popular village. The lady showing it to us did not drive, so we arranged to collect her from her home.

We drove into the village, parked on near the pretty church and walked slowly up through the village, under arches and up steps, towards the house at the edge of the village. So far, a completely normal viewing. As the lady battled with her keys, she asked if we minded taking the oranges and lemons off the trees for her as she didn’t have any at home, so we began to collect her fruit for her.

We had a look around the house - not bad condition, (circa 1960’s renovation in the main house) and with a potentially very nice apartment completely separate from the house. Plus of course, the fenced garden with now empty fruit trees.

Having admired all the features, we began to close up the house and the seller walked around checking everything was secure. Then she indicated a chair and asked us to carry it back to the car so she could take it home with her. We began to walk, plus chair and bowls of oranges and lemons, back down to the car, only to notice that she was clutching a statue under her arm – something else she decided to take home from the house. On reflection, it seems that perhaps we served a dual purpose that day; the lady definitely wanted to show us the house for sale, but equally she wanted the chance to go and check the house, collect a few bits and pieces, and pick the oranges and lemons – and we provided the perfect opportunity!
Diana

Now that the weather has improved (a bit!) we have started to catch up on our list of properties to view and put for sale on our websites, corfuhomefinders.com and corfupremierproperty.com. Some days are fairly mundane and we see a variety of houses and land, OK but nothing outstanding, other days we see property that seems saleable – until the owner comes up with a price, totally in the realms of fiction. Then, there are the days that seem blessed, when you see a genuine ‘wow’ property.

Not long ago, we had one of those ‘wow’ days. We had been planning for some time to go and see a large piece of land on the west coast which stretched down to the sea. The weather had been vile, so we kept on putting it off (knowing that land viewing very often involves a considerable trek) but finally, that day there was some sun so we arranged to go. We followed the owner through the olive groves and parked on the side of the track. It was a nice day for a walk so we headed off with him along a pretty but fairly ordinary track.

After two or three minutes the track headed down the hill and round a corner, and there it was – olives leading down to a turquoise bay, which led on to another headland, another bay etc. etc. At this point the track became more difficult, and we decided to postpone going down to the beach for another day. The owner then stepped on to a rocky outcrop and said ‘Look down from here’. One by one we did just that and underneath us were not just the blue bay, but clear white sand and a little fishing boat sitting in the bay - totally picture postcard!

It is a large piece of land, in a part of Corfu with relatively little development, and the development which already exists blends in with the olive covered hillsides. So hopefully, whoever buys Turquoise Bay land will keep everything in the spirit of the area, so that the landscape and the sea can give pleasure for many years to people living there.
Diana

Kathari Deftera - the first day of Lent. Yesterday was one of the few occasions when Corfu suffered from bad weather whilst the rest of Greece was bathed in sunlight. The tradition for the first day of "fasting" is to fly a kite and normally the beaches and mountain tops, meadows and valleys of Corfu are crowded with families flying their kites with varying amounts of success. The early bird definitely caught the worm this year - as the weather did not break till midday, so morning kite-flying went ahead as planned.

We spent the early part of the day preparing huge quantities of traditional fare, so we ate well but left the kite in the cupboard till next time.

Just for the record, the menu included: taramasalata, octopus, garlic prawns, bean salad, humous, fava (split-pea puree), olive tapenade with fresh orange juice, pickles, lagana (unleavened bread), beetroot, roasted peppers, rocket, radishes, avocado, lettuce and more. To sweeten the palate, we concluded with halvas (semolina pudding with almonds and pine-nuts), little lenten cakes and fresh strawberries. And yes, we should all be the size of wardrobes by now!
Susan

Traffic chaos is upon us. If anyone knows the turning in Moraitika, down to Messonghi village and the Messonghi Beach Hotel, they know that it looks as if the main road goes straight on (it is much wider than the 'real' main road) instead of around to the right. Since no one in the local authority seems to have been able to afford bright coloured paint to draw lines to help unsuspecting motorists, there have always been many minor smashes here.

When we came back from England I was most impressed to see the beginning of a roundabout system, as it seems the logical way to fix the problem. Gradually the roundabout and its bits took shape. Only one problem - there are four entrances onto the roundabout and on three of those entrances are bus stops!

So the other day, having already started out late to go to the office, I sat in a queue of cars waiting for all the bus passengers to get on/off the bus. That was just on one entrance; imagine in the summer season when (hopefully) there will be many tourists waiting to get on the bus to go down the coast, or in the other direction to Corfu Town. Chaos, just for a change.

I have long suspected that Greek bus stops are always put in the most inconvenient and dangerous places for other drivers (and for passengers getting on and off), usually on blind corners, but I think this one takes the prize. Mind you, I have seen quite a few drivers who do not seem to be quite comfortable with the roundabout system and who have taken short cuts around the side of the approaches, so maybe it just won't make any difference.
Diana

What's in a name?

We give up! Having decided that because we had changed the type of goods we stock in our shop we should change the name to reflect this, English Imports became Corfu Homestore.

Nearly a year later, we still forget to answer the phone with the right name, and more importantly, most of our clients still call us 'English Imports' or even just 'the English ladies'. New clients asking for directions to Corfu Homestore get blank looks, but if they ask for 'the English shop' they immediately get pointed in the right direction. So, what is the point in going against the flow? It's 'English Imports' - again!

We still bring a selection of lovely linens and household accessories (not a huge stock, but much nicer, we think, than what is offered in most of the other local suppliers) plus small items of furniture, as well as the 'nitty gritty' of greetings cards, newspapers and magazines, essentials like teabags and marmite (plus Easter Eggs, as the season approaches). And of course, we still act as the local 'information centre' helping as far as we can with questions from customers who find themselves a loss for one reason or another as they work their way through the various Greek bureaucracies. Welcome back English Imports!

We have had a few enquiries about buying our business, but nothing definite yet. Anyone out there want to have as much fun as we do? Price is negotiable - trouble is, the more we think about it, the more we want to keep going!
Susan

Statistics

I have to admit it, I am a sucker for statistics. It's me who is always looking at how many website viewings there have been, how many new visitors etc. and so of course I can't resist looking at newspaper articles based on studies and statistics.

There was a nice one in the Telegraph yesterday, aimed at showing readers how much cheaper it is to go to the USA than holiday in Europe, with Florida villas renting at 600 pounds per week, as opposed to 1,400 pounds in Greece and 1,800 in Spain.

This is of course very interesting, provided you don't make a mistake in your 'on-line visa' application and manage to get yourself banned from entering the USA for ever. (No joke this, a mistake on the part of a visa clerk in the Athens US Embassy means that my daughter is interrogated for three hours by Immigration every time she goes to the USA on a business trip!)

Anyway, the point of this comparison was that when I looked more closely I realised that of the traditional European holiday destinations - Greece, Italy, Spain, France, Turkey and Portugal - Greece emerges quite favourably. (Turkey wins the prize of course, not being tied to the euro, but even they cannot be considered 'cheap' any more.) All this whilst we are being told that visitor projections are 'down by 60%' etc. If this is the case where is everyone going? Only this summer will tell, so let's keep our finders crossed.
Diana

Cost of living and quality of life

I see there are long discussions on all the local forums about the increasing cost of living here. Sad but true, that even in an ideal economic situation it would have been unrealistic of us to assume that Greece could stand out as a 'Eurozone' country and still keep the low prices we have always enjoyed. And in the current climate of course everyone is in an even worse situation.

I was in England recently, doing the normal shopping and paying the everyday bills exactly as we all do here, and even though I do think supermarkets in the UK can be considerably cheaper (Greek supermarkets do not seem to have grasped the value of 'loss leaders' on basic foodstuffs as the larger supermarket chains have in the UK) the general cost of just 'existing' in England can still strike me with horror. Council tax (113 pounds a month per household member in an unremarkable, standard London flat), electricity bills of 300+ pounds, water bills of 200 a time, plus gas bills of 200+. The flat is occupied by my two kids who were not energy-conscious (they are now they have seen the bills!) but who are hardly ever there! My bills here in Corfu fortunately bear no resemblance to those.

A statistic I saw yesterday says that burglaries in the UK are up 4% since last year and petty theft is expected to rise in conjunction with continuing or growing problems of unemployment etc. Add to that the grim weather, even though we have not had the best of winters this year here in Corfu, and you can totally understand why people want to move here from northern Europe.

We are not the cheapest, our winter weather isn't always the best, there are a few 'infrastructure' problems, the roads leave a bit to be desired, etc. etc. but overall, I think we have to be grateful that living here, or having a second home here, beats living and working in the UK, and probably most of the rest of northern Europe (can't be sure, haven't lived permanently anywhere else, but I suspect I am right, unless there is another Paradise around the corner!). If we only valued where we live on the cost of living - where would we live?
Diana

Looking ahead

Back to property and discussions we were having in the office this morning about cost of living, expenses etc, tourism this year - you know, all the usual topics but all in the space of a couple of hours.

I was reading the Telegraph which had an analysis in its property section of how the traditional second home areas have particularly suffered recently, saying that several agencies are now reporting an increase in interest because homes in holiday areas are a letting investment giving a good return and people in the UK now have their savings on deposit at around 0.5%, so if they buy a property, particularly at a reduced price, and let it, they will get a better return, plus enjoying their second home, in spite of the recession. Seems like common sense don't you think?

On the subject of tourism, conversations generally seem to reflect a downturn, which is not a surprise. But the prediction is that the market has shifted to primarily that of 'late bookings' and I have to say that when we were at Gatwick a couple of weeks ago someone was doing a survey of when travellers had booked their holidays and a surprising number said '5 days ago' or even '2 days ago'.

In a recession it is hardly surprising that people prefer to wait and see how their own personal affairs progress before comitting large sums of money to holidays, months in advance. Also of coure, as we know traditionally if you book late you can often make a massive saving. The only problem will be that there could easily be a shortage of flights as tour operators have to take the decision some time in advance whether or not to fly certain flight programmes, and this could well mean a much smaller selection of flights and/or holidays available at the last minute - which also means the tour operators can keep their prices up!!

These items inter-relate for us here in Corfu, since so many of us are directly or indirectly connected with incoming tourism, but I think it shows us the need to be flexible - the markets in both fields might not proceed in the way that we are used to, but it doesn't necessarily mean that all is a total disaster - or at least I hope not!
Diana

At last the mystery of the strange bronze tower on the main road at Dassia has been explained. With a poster on it telling us to protect the environment, and a very smart paved area surrounding it, there has been a lot of speculation regarding its purpose. Someone reported seeing lots of pipework being installed underground, and the village of Spartilas was talking about rabbits. This later turned out to be badly spoken English and was in fact "rubbish".

I met the vice Mayor of the Municipality of Faiakon today, and now have it on very good authority that it is in fact a new invention to help reduce the volume of our rubbish. Even more exciting, on Wednesday 18 February at 11am, there is an official opening ceremony when there will be a demonstration of how it operates.

Apparently, there is a door which opens electronically when you approach it and a voice welcomes you to use its facility. You can then throw in your bag of household rubbish and the door closes. When there is enough rubbish in this holding area, it is shot up to the top of the tower, where it is squeezed and compacted. Any excess fluids run to the bottom of the tower and into the pipes below, which in turn feed into the biological waste plant at the camping site next door. Once the tower is nearly full of compacted dried up rubbish, it automatically notifies the local waste disposal team who will come and collect it. The tower then self cleans and is ready for the next load. Made in Larissa, it is designed to hold thirty-five loads from the big rubbish bins.

What a brilliant idea - let's hope it works!
Sarah

How times change

I know we often say this, but this morning being Sunday we thought we would have some breakfast at home and I asked Spiros if he wanted toast, bagel or muffin? With that, is a choice of cream cheese or butter.

Also, last night we had decided to cook on our outside grill, Greek style, but it was so cold that we couldn't face the thought of standing outside even in front of a warm gas grill, so I decided to put the chicken in the oven and added to it some chinese duck rolls and sticky ribs from the freezer.

Then we started laughing as we discussed how times have changed. When I first came here the bread was fabulous the day it was baked then turned into rock, so to slice it to toast it was a major operation. That is if you even had a toaster. The 'butter' - if you could find it to buy - was a lump of yellow, cheesy smelling substance. The grill of course was a 'real' one, requiring twigs, charcoal, much attention, no wind and loads of patience. Also I wouldn't even have dreamed of being able to dive into the freezer for the 'sticky ribs' - I would have had to spend hours trying to explain to the butcher what I wanted, re-butcher them when I got home, try to make an approximation of a BBQ sauce, then stand for ages over said 'real' grill. Think I prefer it now!

Having said all that, today we went to one of our favourite restaurants in Strinilas for Sunday lunch (on the basis that if the weather stays good, we will soon have to begin working on Sundays to get the villas ready and this might be the last chance this season). The food was as good as ever, but there was an item on the menu which was unfamiliar. We usually have lamb or goat 'in a pot' sort of pot roasted, but also on the menu today was 'zig something' - I didn't get the word - and when I asked what it was my husband said 'lamb, only older and bigger', which conjured up a very strange picture. Last time they also had 'patsa podi' loosely translated as 'foot stew'. I hope those places never change!
Diana

As you can see from the precarious angle of these beach huts, Barbati beach has been badly hit by the recent strong storms.

I love to walk on the beach after a storm to see what has been washed up and collect wood for my fire. Some of the driftwood has wonderful unusual shapes and I don't want to burn it, so the pile in the garden is growing - maybe one day I will find something creative to do with it.
Sarah

Decisions, decisions...

Last week Susan very kindly gave me a jar of her home-made orange and citron marmalade - the very same citrons that she wrote about on this blog. I still haven't decided what to do with my "nogged" fruit yet.

When I arrived home from the office on Friday, another kind friend had popped by with a jar of her home-made marmalade, this time made from oranges, lemons, grapefruit and more of those famous citrons.

Susan obviously spent last weekend in the kitchen because on Monday she produced another jar of marmalade, this time just citron.

This morning I picked up a lovely fresh crusty loaf from my local shop and instead of using the jar of marmalade (orange) which I had already started, I decided to try one of the three new ones... but which one? Too much of a decision on a rainy Thursday morning, so I had a slice of bread with a different preserve on each. I still can't decide which one I like best, so will probably do the same again tomorrow.
Sarah

Now I have seen it all. I spend two weeks in wonderful sunshine on the beach in The Dominican Republic and from there it seems to be downhill all the way. Snow, slush and ice in London, then back here to rain and, as you can see from the photo, snow as well!
Diana

Corfu Recycling

Corfu Recycling was founded in 2001 and is based at Temploni in the centre of Corfu. Its business is the recycling of ferrous and non-ferrous metals. It gathers, separates and processes over 9,000 tons of metals per year and works in close cooperation with a network of recycling companies throughout Greece. Corfu Recycling has quickly expanded and now has 14 employees. The range of goods reycled is almost endless, but includes vehicles, household appliances, PCs and batteries. They have a large network of suppliers who gather all kinds of metal waste from around the island and take it to them for recycling. But of course you can also bring your own metal waste to the factory for recycling, to get rid of it AND get paid for it.

Back to work

Enough of sitting on the beach, time to get back to real life and whilst The Dominican Republic is fascinating, I definitely found my thoughts straying back to business and the coming season, and was pretty much ready to come home to Corfu and start work again.

Having said that, there was a problem just getting back to Europe – we selected a flight day which just happened to be the day that the UK staggered to a halt in the snow. Delayed flight, no information from tour operator, finally arrived at Gatwick to be told the runways were iced up and we would circle for a bit while they were cleared.

Then the stands weren’t cleared, then the doors were iced up and there would be a delay in getting the luggage off, but we finally collected all our bits and dressed in our ‘medium’ weight clothing - i.e. OK for most places but not the UK in minus 5 - we went down to wait for the Gatwick Express. As voices kept announcing its imminent arrival, it began to snow again and after about an hour and a half another Gatwick-Victoria train arrived, stuffed to the gills, with the rail staff saying there was definitely no room for more passengers. Along with about 200 other freezing passengers, we squeezed on and arrived at Victoria an hour later, ready to pay our fares, only to be waved through the gates by the staff who seemed to be relieved just to have successfully got a trainload of passengers safely to Victoria! Very nice of Southern Trains I thought, since they could have made a fortune that day!

First conversation when back in the UK was with a fellow villa owner whose Tour Operator has dropped one of his houses altogether and wants a major price reduction on the other one. Already had a call from one of our Tour Operators looking for a ‘major reduction across the board’ on our apartments. Looks like a challenging season to come. On the plus side with the advent of Easyjet from Manchester and Bristol the door is gradually opening wider for ‘short breaks’ - and the euro has staggered up the odd couple of points.

Whilst away I did read a survey which found that although the top 9 out of 10 holiday destinations were outside the Eurozone, Spain had crept back in at no. 10, and Greece had begun to move back up the list. Seems that some of our non-euro neighbours are not as cheap as everyone thinks, which was a point re-enforced by some relatives of ours who had been to Turkey and found smaller items like coffees equally or more expensive than at home in Greece. Also for the first time for months, in the UK house prices rose in January – not by a lot, but at least they did rise rather than stay in freefall.

So perhaps, whilst things may not be exactly looking up, we are all coming to terms with the economic situation as it is and going on as far as possible with our plans – buying, selling building etc. Again, I thank my lucky stars that we are not Dom. Rep (or Bulgarian or Spanish) agents or developers with hundred of ‘units’ to sell and ‘off plan buyers’ dropping out all around us. Thank heavens for small ‘niche’ markets like Corfu!
Diana

The view from our window when we got back to London from The Dominican Republic.
Diana

The weather has been wet for the past couple of weeks. Not cold in the slightest, but greyish and rather dismal, so we have had to abandon most of our plans for visiting plots of land and houses for sale - there's not much point in a photograph of gloomy skies trying to advertise the joys of living in Corfu!

I had been having phone calls on a regular basis from "Spiros" with land for sale - so that when my husband answered the telephone the other day and took a message from "Spiros" I thought I knew who I was meeting and which bit of land I was going to look at.

However, as husband recounted the conversation which began with the caller introducing himself as "Spiros" and husband replying "Which Spiros of the many in Corfu?" and being given some pointers as to which Spiros indeed was trying to make contact, it gradually dawned on me that the Spiros in question was not the one I had thought I was going to meet. I'm sure that the original phone contact was with a Spiros from Kassiopi, but I have absolutely no idea at what point during the many phone calls that Spiros No.1 became Spiros No.2. (If there is a Spiros from Kassiopi reading this blog, please do phone again, because I have just been to see someone else's plot of land!)

As this is the second time I have got my Spiros' mixed up, this is going to take some living down.

Which leads me to the next part of the tale. We managed to dodge the raindrops on Friday morning and drove with Spiros No.2 to his land somewhere between Skripero and Paleokastritsa. I've written before about how difficult it is to locate plots of land. This time, being with the owner, we found the plot but almost got lost in it!

I wonder how many estate agents would have scrambled through the undergrowth as Sarah and I did? At one point Sarah grabbed the camera and took the attached photo as evidence of what we get up to on an ordinary working day. We had, at this point, already been pushing our way through brambles, climbing slopes and counting Spiros' olive trees for almost half an hour. If you have seen "The Blair Witch Project" you will instantly be able to imagine the atmsophere. Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, Sarah hasn't seen it, so I suffered alone. (This has to be the most scary film of all time).

If anyone wants to buy in the region of 30,000 square metres of (almost) unexplored, off-the-beaten-track Corfiot olive grove, please do get in touch with Corfuhomefinders. A snip at 250,000 euros! Not all of it is overgrown - honestly.
Susan

New Doc on the Block!

We are very pleased that Doctor Alexandros Tsopelas, from "The British Surgery" in Dassia, has now opened a surgery right in the centre of Corfu town. Trained in the UK, and a member of the Royal College of Physicians, Doctor Alex is a GP who also specialises in diabetes, dermatology, acupuncture and clinical hypnosis - and he speaks perfect English.

He can be found on the third floor of 39 Alexandros Avenue (near to San Rocco Square), telephone 26610 24096 or 6945 791120.
Sarah

Car boot sales

Every Sunday morning there is a "car boot" sale at La Veranda restaurant in Dassia. In fact it's more of a table top sale, but that doesn't have the same exciting ring as "car boot". All sorts of goodies are on sale, ranging from second hand books, household items, children's clothes and toys, and home made pies and pasties.

Another similar sale takes place at CJ's bar in Ipsos, but this is every other Sunday morning and by my reckoning the next one will be Sunday 1st February. Again, there are plenty of bargains to be had!
Sarah

Walking along the beach the other day, we paused to look at a block of apartments just being built (more on building methods in a minute) and couldn't help but admire the 3rd floor penthouse and thinking it would make quite a nice little winter retreat.

Immediately a gentleman appeared, shook hands and said, 'Do you want to buy one'. When we asked how much our chosen apartment would cost, he said, "$180,000 and you only have to give me 25% deposit now and the bank will give me the rest and you pay later". Nice arrangement, so Spiros asked him how much interest on the bank loan. "12%, very good" he said, "and you pay it over 20 years. Just give me the 25% deposit."

To make matters entirely clear, we repeated, "We can have that frontline beach apartment for $180,000?" "Yes," he said, "one just like it, and while it is being built (the one we were looking at was finished) we give you 'free' holiday club membership, you get special deals on your holidays here while you wait for your apartment. You just have to go over there, arrange to go to our presentation, collect your 'free' t-shirt and bottle of rum etc. etc."

Co-incidentally the day before we were out in the car, missed a turning for our hotel and ended up at the back of this particular development - where there must have been about 500 apartments currenty under construction and only about 6 are actually beachfront, so I have a feeling that our 'one just like it' would have been one of those being built in the narrow rows stretching back from the beach, with delightful views of the block next door!

We also learned yesterday that even if you buy a place 'near the beach' you won't necessarily have beach access. The hotels can't stop you walking along their beach but they close all the road entrances with security guards and one hotel joins another with no space in between. On the 30km stretch of beach where our hotel is located we asked the Avis agent where else we could drive to go through to another section of the beach. He pointed out only TWO places where 'the public' can go onto the beach - on a 30km stretch of beach! Consequently you might buy a property near the beach, or even with sea view, and still have to drive a considerable distance to a public beach access point.

We also sat and watched the builders. All apartments are constructed with one 'breeze block' (no insulation) concrete box style, then a wooden roof.
The builders spent a considerable time resting, then the breeze blocks were pulled up to the second floor one at a time on a rope. Heaven knows how long it takes to build at that rate, and it would be a bit sad to think that your fabulous beachfront property was in reality just a single brick construction, concrete box.

As we left, Leonardo, the salesman on the beach, asked what we did for a a living and we said "We develop and sell property." "Oh, just like me!" he said. I hope not.
Diana

Actually, not lemons in this case, but citrons - a fruit largely appreciated for its peel, which is candied or used as a "spoon sweet" in the Mediterranean.

We found our citrons today on a tree in the garden of Woodland Villa near the village of Choroepiskopi in the central north of the island. The trees thrive in a frost-free climate, but they are not a common sight in Corfu. The ordinary-sized lemon came from the supermarket!
Susan

I love it here. I have to say I do understand why all the Canadian 'silverbirds' (not sure if that is correct, supposed to be a nice way of saying pensioners) choose to come and spend their winters here. This morning I started an email to Susan and we were marooned in the hotel lobby (about the size of Corfu airport, with ponds, parrots etc.) due to torrential Corfu style rain. Settled down with a lemon tea and about 10 minutes later it stopped, the sun came out and that was it for the day. Temperature about 29 degrees, so off to the beach.

Having said that, boy, are there some downsides. We wanted to have a look at real estate here. Just a quick scan in an agents window, maybe a quick chat. We left the protection of the hotel, past the security guards and crossed the road. All the shopkeepers grab you, literally grab you, and shriek at you until they work out what language you speak (we are having a certain amount of fun with 'Greek' as our answer to French, Spanish, English?) and you quite genuinely have to fight them off - they use a handshake as an opportunity not to let go!

The staff in the hotel are very friendly but even the hotel has a sideline in 'holiday clubs' for which "you DEFINITELY do not have to pay anything and if you want to take advantage of our special rates/rooms etc. We just want you to come for a short time and listen to our presentation and collect your 'free' t shirt". We had actually begun to scuttle out of the room at the word 'presentation' so we did manage to escape. Apparently you pay a sum of money in return for which you get priority bookings, rates, etc. in all their hotels worldwide, but they don't tell you that, just keep saying you do not have to pay ANYTHING!

Everyone here is selling something and you really can't walk down the street without being harassed every step of the way. Jamaica was reasonably bad and generally in the Caribbean, and Thailand if I remember rightly, there are vendors in the villages and on the beaches, but this is something else! Spiros actually spent a few moments explaining to one shopowner that the more we get hassled the less inclined we are to buy and that in general, the British are of this opinion. But I think his words definitely fell on stony ground.

When we used to go to Hania and Rethymnon in Crete, many of the restaurants line the harbour and have people standing outside with menus trying to drag punters in. I used to think this was bad enough, but now these people look like angels by comparison with what we found here. Sorry to make comparisons with Greece - but generally speaking we do not do that to visitors to 'our' country. Some of the shopkeepers might be a little enthusiastic in the promotion of their wares but as far as I know they never cross the line so that visitors decide not to bother to leave their hotel again because they just get hassled too much.
Diana

A miserable overcast day today, trying to rain all day long. Rather than sit inside by the fire, my son and I decided to take the dog for a walk up to the monastery near where we live.

Dedicated to the Prophet Ilias, it is on top of a hill between Kato and Ano Korakiana. You can get a nice view of it from the Agios Markos to Ano Korakiana road, to your left when heading in the Ano Korakiana direction. There is a sign to the monastery from the Kato to Ano Korakiana road, and then you have to keep your eyes open for a galvanised gateway infront of the path which leads up the hill.

Not being particularly fit(!) it took me ten minutes to walk up the path to the top, from where there is a lovely all round view towards Ipsos and the sea beyond, the villages of Ano Korakiana and Agios Markos, and further north west towards Paleocastritsa. Today wasn't the best of days for views, as there was a lot of low cloud, but the monastery itself is well worth the walk, being very impressive and atmospheric.

We scrambled around, rang the bell which hangs outside and tried to imagine what life was like for the monks who lived there. Inside is fairly intact and thankfully not vandalised, and apparently there is a service held every year on Saint Ilias day, 20th July.
Sarah

Gossip-opolis

With apologies for the 'Gringlish' above, but Corfu really has lived up to its reputation as a hot-bed of rumour and gossip!

Our shop manageress, Loraine (she really does spell it with one "r"), came in bristling with indignation - and when Loraine bristles, boy does she bristle! Apparently she no longer works for us - according to the latest rumour doing the rounds, she has left the shop never to return! As far as we can ascertain the only basis for this hot, and totally inaccurate, gossip, is that she had two mornings off earlier in the week!

I always used to say that Corfu was like a small English town with the sea all around it - and wasn't I right?
Susan

All Inclusive - the reality

The ‘economy drive’ seemed like a good idea last week when I booked it. I chose the hotel because it is on one of the beaches widely renowned as ‘best in the Caribbean’, and I did know that this is ‘hotel land’ and I figured ‘how bad can it be?’ Now it has turned into all the things I knew I always hated about all inclusives.

The beach is FABULOUS - miles and miles of white soft sand, and beautiful blue sea, so the objective is fulfilled at least from one point of view. But these hotels seem to be all about the food and drink, and nothing else. This one has one massive scrum buffet, plus five or six ‘a la carte’ restaurants including Argentinian and Japanese. All you see are people rushing around with plates filled with every type of food imaginable and when they leave the tables, the plates left behind are still filled with enough food to provide them with dinner all over again. And no one has a drink in just one hand, they have one in each hand.

Breakfast finishes at 10 am, lunch begins at 12 and finishes at 3, dinner begins at 6 and finishes at 10. In between there is a ‘Mac’ snack bar, just in case anyone gets peckish. The rest of the time you spend walking the miles of pathways from the rooms to the beach and to the restaurants – there isn’t time to do anything else. And of course, having said that, there isn’t anything to do except go on excursions offered by your tour company. The minute you step outside the hotel you are pounced on by salesmen of everything from cigars to paintings, plus a limited range of the kind of souvenirs you find everywhere. Still, they are the only kind of local enterprise so you have to admire them.

In the tour operator’s local information guide you are told not to rent a car because there are potholes in the road (remind you of anywhere?) and it is much safer to go with a guided tour – all of which seem to cost an amazing amount of money - i.e. $100+ per person minimum.

Funny that, I bought a Lonely Planet guidebook which is usually quick to say if they consider anything to be potentially dangerous and they say ‘the best way to see the island is by renting a car’! If you go with your tour operator just a couple of times the ‘cheap’ holiday suddenly is not quite so cheap, unless you really plan to spend your whole time in the hotel resort, and I suppose a lot of people do just that.

I bought 12 books with me and today I finished last Sunday’s papers. I am beginning to worry I will run out of things to read and then what will I do? The bulk of clients are Spanish speaking (apart from the Russians who are here in their hundreds) so papers etc. are in Spanish – I guess a quick course in Spanish is on the cards (in fact they do Spanish lessons by the pool each morning, before morning aerobics).

It is all so different from the way tourism works in Greece, where our tourists are visitors who become a part of everyday life virtually the minute they arrive and who, if they finally buy a property in Corfu, become an immediate part of the community in which they live. I guess we will leave here knowing nothing more about daily life than I read in the Lonely Planet guide, which seems such a pity, although it makes me appreciate even more the way our visitors join us and get to know the people in the villages, the bars and the restaurants they visit. They take a little bit of Corfu with them when they leave (which of course is why so many come back and buy their homes from us!)
Diana

...The Dominican Republic.

What can I say? We always start to feel in need of the sun at this time of year, to set us up for the frantic preparations for the next Corfu season, and also because during the season we hardly ever actually get to the beach – more like a frantic rush on a Sunday, down to Santa Barbara, quick swim, 30 minutes on the beach, and then back to work. This, in contrast, is all about the beach, and on the basis of best beach, cheapest holiday it had to be Dom Rep.

The flight from London was vile. Well, nine hours on a charter flight was never going to be good, just bearable. I was fairly depressed when I saw six large planes in line at the arrivals building, but the airport was a surprise, thatched buildings, lots of luggage conveyors and a quick passage through This island has four airports to service its two million tourists a year - I think we have one million and one airport, so if we ever get the new Lefkimmi airport things will be slightly more balanced.

I knew absolutely nothing about the Dom Rep, except that it is the cheapest tourist destination in the Caribbean and the fastest growing. Also that it is very poor and there is virtually no local tourism infrastructure of restaurants, shops etc. It appears that big hotels saw the value of the beach and realised that in order to bring tourism they had to provide all the facilities themselves. As the taxi took us along the main road we saw signs of major new road building, power plants, factories, and tourism service businesses. Then, guess what, the next sign I saw was for an estate agency who have a franchise in Corfu and then the second sign was for another estate agency with an office in Corfu. I began to wonder if I would see DomRephomefinders and DomReppremierproperty – but not so far.

Wherever you go there is no escape it seems, but I have to confess I have to go and have a look at the estate agency I have been told is ‘just down the road’ and see what the property sale situation is in this particular island. I know the property for sale in the rest of the Caribbean is generally in a different league, so I wonder what it is like here.
Diana

Where to go on holiday when you live in Corfu?

It is not that easy to decide where to spend holidays when you live on an island with tempting beaches around every corner. From the moment that I first moved to Greece (I was in Athens for three years) I have felt as if I was on holiday at the end of every single working day. Being childless in those days, we used to pop to the nearest taverna and sit outside in the balmy evening warmth and I was instantly transported from "real life" to holidays.

For many years after we moved to Corfu we didn't actually have the traditional one or two-week break - mostly because I worked in the summer and husband in the winter, so there was no time, apart from Christmas, when we actually had the possibility to take time off together. We certainly didn't suffer in any way - every weekend, and quite often during the week as well, we would pack the kids into the car and go for a quick swim at one of the nearest beaches. Lovely Corfu provides sand when you need to build castles and dams, rocky pools for shell-seeking and octopus catching, and a myriad of swimming pools when nothing else will do but jumping into deep water again and again and again. The age of the child determined the choice of beach, and we didn't find it a chore to go where they wanted, especially since there were so many different ones to choose from.

We at Corfuhomefinders all have our own favourite sort of holiday. Diana prefers winter sun and usually jets off to somewhere glamorous sounding at the end of a long aeroplane journey. Family in Britain usually calls Sarah and me to visit old haunts back in the UK. My absolute holiday of choice would be a city break - for me that is what we don't have in Corfu - and we have a list of destinations ready to visit when time and money allow. Helga actually likes staying put - and who can blame her?
Susan

Wined and dined by my "sympethera"

We are celebrating today. Its a special "round-numbered" birthday of a family member and I found myself getting my tongue in a twist whilst telling Loraine, from the office, that we are being wined and dined by our son-in-law's mother, who is English and on holiday in Corfu to celebrate the occasion. How much easier is the Greek equivalent description of the relationship "sympethera". It also covers the awkwardness at the beginning of such relationships. You don't have to fumble over whether it is appropriate to use Christian names right at the start - but automatically use the title. How odd it would be to say any of the following: "Good morning son-in-law's mother" or "daughter's husband's mother" or even "Marcus' mother". Jane and I would simply call ourselves "sympethera", and it also somehow makes you feel like family, and therefore a bit more special, than the simple use of the Christian name.

Of course (this is Greece, after all) it isn't so straightforward with other relationships. My sister-in-law (husband's sister), for instance is my "kouniada" but I am her "nifi" or bride. If I had a brother, his wife, equally my sister-in-law, would be my "nifi" not "kouniada"! This is to do with hierarchy in the family - any sons in a family bring their wives home to the patriarchal home and the title is thus established "nifi or bride of the family".

This bringing of the wife home by the male members of the family is exactly the opposite of the English tradition, where the daughter is far more likely to bring her husband to her family home than vice-versa. The old saying "Your son's your son till he finds him a wife, but your daughter's your daughter for the whole of her life" just doesn't quite work in Greece.
Susan

It's Sunday morning, 11.30 a.m. on January 18th and the in-the-shade temperature outside is 16 degrees! The sun is shining and there are little wispy white clouds all across the sky. Sorry, everybody not in Corfu, but this reminds me of August in Yorkshire!

Those of us who do live here are very well aware that Corfu is not heaven-on-earth, that there are many aspects of life here that could do with radical improvement/change/abolition, but as long as we don't lose the ability to appreciate the good things that we are handed on a plate, then there is hope for us all!
Susan

Another reduction in price. The owners of this house really want to sell and have reduced the price by 100,000 euros, probably qualifying this house as bargain of the year!

It has an edge of village location, large garden, open views, and although presently divided into two apartments, would very easily convert to a good-sized family house with three to four bedrooms. Now priced at 190,000 euros.
Susan

Where do they get these prices from?

Sometimes we suffer moments of despair. Whilst some owners are beginning to realize that, if a house has not sold for several years, it might be sensible to lower the asking price - at least if they really do want to sell - others seem to be living on another planet.

Today we went to view a property for sale. I won't go into any further detail to avoid embarrassment to the owner, but suffice it to say that it was a perfectly pleasant house in excellent condition set in a large garden in a good location (apart from the electricity pylon close by). So far so good. Unfortunately the owner wants us to market it at a price that would buy a town house in Knightsbridge. What to do? We think we will avoid putting it on our website in order to discourage local excitement at the "value" of their similar properties!
Susan

According to the television news, on Friday the pound sterling showed its biggest percentage increase EVER against the euro. In current terms of course this doesn't mean much, as it staggered up just a couple of points - but at least it is a hopeful sign for those of us still inexorably linked to pound/euro exchanges.

We were discussing the other day how much this means in 'real terms' since as we know, if you have an income in sterling and have to have it sent for everday living in euros, the loss seems massive. Similarly if you are sending sterling to purchase a property here in Greece, you are having to send considerably more.

Then you move on to 'silver linings'. Your money can stretch a little further here, partly because there are less overheads - no council tax, no separate TV licence - and of course there is less to buy. Here, fortunately, we are not a 'live to shop' society, we buy what we need and are not constantly bombarded with incentives to buy, buy, buy. The most we seem to get is a 'buy one get one free' washing up liquid in the supermarket,

Then of course we go back to 'quality of life' which sometimes, in torrential rain here in winter, is a little hard to glorify, but generally speaking I am reminded of the 'ex pats' I saw on TV a couple of weeks ago, who live in Spain and who were being interviewed about the financial constraints of pound/euro. After a few minutes of explaining how much worse off they were and how dreadful the situation was, they were asked if they would have to consider returning to the U.K. 'Good heavens, no' was the immediate answer - 'Why would we want to do that when we have all this?' as they were sitting on their balconies watching the sun sink down into the sea. I think many of us agree with that!
Diana
(Photo by Marcus Gondolo-Gordon of Island Magazine)

So many people have asked us if we are closing the shop (previously English Imports, now Corfu Homestore) that it seemed a good idea to put the record straight.

Yes, the shop is for sale. We have been working for nearly 15 years now, beginning with children's clothing and duvets, covers, sheets and Christmas stuff, in a tiny shop in Guilford Street, and then moving into our current larger premises near Bank of Cyprus, just off San Rocco Square. After the move we expanded into ladies' clothing, essential foodstuffs, gifts, home accessories, china - in fact as people said, 'Why dont you bring so and so?", we went and looked for it, and brought it.

Over the years we have spent hours on the road in England searching out warehouses that did 'stock' designer goods (many many years before all the so called 'designer stock' shops now so prevalent here) so much so that we are now extremely familiar with warehouses and factories from Swindon to Bolton via Leicester and goodness knows where else! We spent what seems like days stuck in traffic jams in Stoke-on-Trent on our way to vast china warehouses, where we had to wear gloves and scarves to root through all their china bargains as it was so cold - and dusty!

We must have stayed in practically every Travelodge/Travel Inn/Holiday Inn Express in the north of England as well as a few 'time warp' gems on our way either north or south. (We have particularly fond memories of the Station Hotel at Stoke-on-Trent, which for some reason had a huge carefully cut out hole in the bathroom window, making bathing an invigorating experience!) What a joy it was when we found a super bargain in a really nice hotel, at the end of a 14 hour day.

However, a few years ago our other businesses - Corfuhomefinders and Corfu Premier Property started to take up more of our time. Whilst the shop and the estate agencies do in many ways complement each other, they both need time and attention and, regretfully, there are not enough hours in the day!

After much discussion, we have decided to sell the shop. We have had many years of what has actually been a great experience, and if we had not got so involved with the property business we would probably have carried on for ever, but the estate agency is threatening to take over, and something has to go, so reluctantly we have put the shop business on the market.

We see it as a brilliant opportunity for someone who is looking for a complete lifestyle change and wants to set up business here, but also wants to maintain ties with the UK. Over the years we have had enormous fun travelling back to the UK several times each year and arranging transport for our personally chosen stock back to Corfu. The business is completely flexible (a new owner could sell almost anything they choose) as we have a background of contacts and suppliers from practically every field of retail, and even a UK Limited Company of our own through which we do the buying in Britain. Now is the ideal time for buying goods in the UK with the near parity of pound and euro, and the drop in oil prices has meant that transport costs have fallen back to a reasonable level.

Although we have always been located in Corfu Town, and would be prepared to vacate the present premises which we rent, the potential retail areas have expanded vastly over the last few years and a new owner really could choose where they wanted to be based - anywhere on the island. We can give loads of advice on location and help both in the UK and Corfu until you get started. There are also two part-time members of staff who could stay on if necessary to give a new owner some time to get used to the business.

If anyone would like more information just email us on info@corfupremierproperty.com.
Susan

Today was supoosed to be one of those well organised days. We were going to head south to meet Diana and her husband, have a look at the new houses they are building and then head off together for a fish lunch at the taverna at Petriti which Diana has been telling us all about. Phoning to confirm our meeting arrangements, it was obvious that this was not going to happen as the Aegean flight which her daughter was catching back to Athens and then on to London had been cancelled. So the whole day changed and we found ourselves along the north east coast instead, at Thomas' Taverna in Kalami.

This winter, Thomas (editor of "My Kerkyra" magazine) has started opening on Sunday lunchtimes, and he has a nice warm seating area right down on the beach where you can watch the boats passing by, or in our case a great big black sea bird diving for fish. We are fairly sure it was a cormorant, but checking in our bird book later it could have been a shag. The weather was terrible with lots of storm clouds over the coast of Albania, but as our lunch progressed, it improved and the sun finally came out. We ate well, choosing "tsigarelli" (wild greens cooked in tomato and red pepper), baked green peppers stuffed with feta, and then both of us chose a seafood maincourse, mine a risotto and my partner's a pasta dish. A carafe of red wine later and we were ready to walk along the now sunny beach and take a nice photo for this blog.

Returning to the car to pick up the camera and don walking boots rather than heels (me not him), we were feeling suitably mellow, only to find a completely flat rear tyre! Good job I had my man with me, as I have never been one of those capable women who can do that kind of thing.

So we didn't get our fish lunch at Petriti or our walk along the beach, but we did have a very nice lunch indeed, and will be returning there again.
Sarah

What a wonderful day we enjoyed yesterday - January 6th - for the celebrations for "Fota" or Epiphany. Despite the Greek weather forecast telling us that "the whole of Greece" was celebrating in freezing temperatures with rain and snow, Corfu once again proved itself to be the exception that proved the rule, and our temperatures rose to 15 degrees and probably a lot more in the sun!

One thing I found really interesting about the religious part of the proceedings was how many men were at the church - and nearly all of them clutching a bottle, cup or other receptacle to take home some of the blessed water from the font. I had to ask husband what people actually do with the water when they get it home. Apparently it can be drunk, sprinkled over wounds/injuries, rooms, houses - and generally used for anything where a bit of extra help is required!
Susan

Corfu Town traffic police were out in full force at the celebration of "Ta Fota", ready to apprehend serious offenders and tow away illegally parked cars.

I just couldn't help wondering how this very glamourous Police Officer could manage to stay on her feet all day, let alone give chase to any villains.
Sarah

Many people will probably already know, but in addition to the Gatwick Easyjet flights, there will now be flights from both Bristol and Manchester, running from May. This can only be good news, in a year when everyone seems determined to bring only bad news to us poor countries in the eurozone.

Holiday companies are pushing their clients to Egypt, Bulgaria and Turkey; Thomson TV actually has a programme called 'Escape the Euro'; and UK television keeps reminding the British public how expensive everything will be for them now.

However, historically people go where they want to go. The Caribbean has always been disproportionately expensive but people who love it there still go. If you love Greece you are hardly likely to consider a baking desert in Egypt as a suitable alternative - or a crowded Bulgarian beach as comparable with a secluded Corfu bay.

People will no doubt be more careful with their money, but travel surveys in the UK recently show that people rate their holiday as one of the last things they would sacrifice and we hope that they will continue to visit Corfu and enjoy the welcome they receive here, as they always have in the past.
Diana

Olive Picking

We too have collected some big fat olives from our very own trees, and have prepared them for eating during 2009. Over the Christmas holidays, one of our sons decided to collect some for himself and take them back to London for the month-long period of preparation (soaking in water, which must be changed every day). Some of them were marked with the familiar little black spot which means there is probably a Dacus grub inside, so in the interests of research they cut the olives open to investigate and lo, indeed, there was a white maggoty looking grub. After that they cut open some of the other olives that didn't have any outward signs, and every single one had a grub inside! Needless to say, the attraction of eating olives - ever again - has lessened considerably!

Now that the olive trees in Corfu are no longer sprayed from the air (thank goodness), there is a much higher incidence of the Dacus. Early olives are not normally affected, but it is worth bearing in mind that from December onwards, the grubs may be inside your otherwise perfect-looking shiny black olives.

I also found another use for olives this year. I picked some of the biggest, threaded them, sprayed them gold and used them to decorate a tiny cypress tree!
Susan

Welcome to 2009

Sincerely wishing everyone a happy and healthy New Year.

In our family the winter months are more than top-heavy with celebrations. Starting with one son's birthday on 14th December, we move on to Christmas, which is then followed by our wedding anniversary on the 30th, New Year's Eve, another son's birthday today (1st January), daughter's birthday on 9th January, and then a get-your-breath back gap before the next son's birthday on 23rd February. So whilst most people are beginning to relax, we are still buying and wrapping presents. Today's gifts were all wrapped in newspaper at the special request of our eco-friendly son, who had also asked for second-hand presents, if at all possible!

The fact that two of the birthdays fall at Christmas time made it comparatively easy for us to ensure that our sons were born in the United Kingdom. Strange to think that in those days, although Greece was part of the European Union, British nationality could not be guaranteed to a child born outside the United Kingdom. In 1980, when our third child was expected, the only way to make sure of British nationality for a child of dual nationality parentage was for that child to be born on British soil. Since we already had two children who were born whilst we were living in the UK, it seemed only right to do the same by number three, so we spent a happy two months in Yorkshire over Christmas 1980.

When number four was expected, again at Christmas time, we again felt a responsibility to give the same guarantee of British nationality to him or her. By this time we had been living in Greece for about 10 years, and I felt slightly guilty about using the facilities of the National Health system even though I was still registered with a GP, who assured me that it was perfectly all right so to do. Anyway, we decided to keep the whole birth low-key, and spend as little time as possible in hospital and return to Corfu as soon as possible after the birth. Baby, however, had other plans for us, and with masterly timing allowed us to complete our New Year's Eve celebrations before coming into the world in a blaze of publicity as the first 1989 baby to be born in Airedale General Hospital!
Susan

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