Tuesday 26th June

Wow, how time flies! We have a friend of John and Tani’s staying with us, Dave “Rudgey” Rudge, a singer who has been guesting with David’s solo gigs and with The Ride. David, Rudgey and John have even arranged a gig for themselves in Argassi on Wednesday night, and as I write, they are practicing in our living room. For me, the past week has been taken up with sheltering from the heatwave which has hit Greece (I believe the temperature is 42-44 degrees) and starting to do some work. So far no actual commentary writing, but I am reading about narratological theory, intertextuality, and doing a bit of Greek (ancient not modern). David has spent his afternoons either at Deano’s Place or here, recording and practicing, and he has been gigging every evening.

David found time to give me a couple of lessons in driving the van and then I ventured out by myself. I feel quite confident now but am wary of being over-confident and ending up down one of the ditches that line every road! Driving is one thing, parking quite another. Parking requires manoeuvring back and forth, and while that might be easy in my Rover back home, the van is a hulking great thing, very high and very, very long. Even when David parks it out the back of Deano’s, he sometimes takes out part of the olive tree….

We had our first dinner guests last Wednesday: Dave, Irene and Tasha. They didn’t know how to get to our house so we drove over to their place and they followed us back. When we got to their house, Tasha was dressed up in bow-tie and ribbons – she isn’t often invited to dinner! David cooked a barbecue and we did salads and jacked potatoes. We all had a lovely evening spent outside on the terrace.

Monday 18th June

Our house is finished, and we had our first visitors yesterday: John, Dean and Ivan came for a band meeting. David worked hard sorting the house over the weekend, most of the time it’s just too darn hot for me. Friday we continued unpacking and doing bits and pieces of shopping for the house. We went to Kalamaki where we’d seen cheap adaptors. We called in to see Chris at the Safari Bar and David came away with a gig! It’s not ideal as it’s on a Thursday night, which is when he plays with The Ride in Lagana (10 minutes from Kalamaki) but to help Chris out, he’s doing the Safari Bar from 9pm-11pm, then hoofing it to Lagana for an 11.30/midnight start! We also went to Argassi (beautiful scenery in that part of the island) to check out a possible gig at a hotel there on a Saturday.

"Diamond Dave" was playing at Casa in Planos on Friday night. There was competition opposite: a singer with backing tracks, and the audience wasn’t as good as we might have hoped. Still, Nicos seemed delighted and wants David back again next Friday. The Argassi gig went ahead on Saturday. There was a sizeable and receptive audience. John and Tani came too for moral support, afterwards we went to another bar for a drink and a laugh at their entertainment – a sleazy-looking "singer/guitarist" who was miming badly to his backing tracks! Then it was back in Deano’s Place on Sunday night. Looked like it was going to be a VERY quiet night but after David started, the customers came piling in and the bar was about ¾ full. There was an Irish contingent who enjoyed the Pogues, and some Scottish who enjoyed the Proclaimers.

Here are some photos of the house taken before the band arrived yesterday.

Thursday 14th June

Our deal with Sarah was that she would be out of her place by Wednesday 13th June (she had originally said she wasn’t moving until the end of the month), and that we would give her a hand with preparing her new house for her to move into. Well, we went to see her new house and boy, did it need work. We helped with a bit of painting then went back to “our house” and packed up the van with Sarah’s stuff. Within a couple of days of hard slog by Sarah and her friend Angela, the difference was remarkable. Angela was working flat-out and by Wednesday, the living room and 2 of the bedrooms were ready to move things into. Not so sure about the kitchen and bathroom though. There is a well in the garden but a distinct lack of running water inside the house. Still, Sarah knew all this when she agreed to move at short notice so we can’t feel guilty about leaving her like this!

Sunday night The Ride were playing at Deano’s and were raided by the noise police. Licences stipulate that music can be played outside until midnight, after which it must be inside behind closed doors. However, the police want the music to stop by 11pm, and after 30 minutes grace, they carry out raids any time after 11.30pm. The courts are supportive of the police and Dean is facing a hefty fine. Carl was visibly shaken by the arrival of the police and he quit the band with immediate effect. Monday, David was to be performing at Deano’s but with Carl’s sudden departure, Dean cancelled Diamond Dave and asked David to fill in for Carl with The Ride at the Enigma club in Tsilivi. David was disappointed because he’d been practicing for his solo gig. As it turned out, the disappearance of a bass guitar led to the late commencement of The Ride at Enigma, there was an audience of only about 20 people, and the manager pulled the plug after 45 minutes. Tuesday, David attended a meeting of Tsilivi bar owners and although the proceedings were in Greek, he said that their anger and frustration was obvious. No entertainment means no tourists means no livelihood for anyone on the island! The law doesn’t make sense. Irene and Dave assure us that the police will find something different to fuss about in a couple of weeks’ time and that this will all blow over. A few months ago there was a clampdown on foreign registered cars and owners were required to pay a huge tax in order to register their cars in Greece. The tax was so expensive that some ex-pats were taking their cars home to sell them and then buy a Greek registered car. This clampdown lasted all of 3 weeks.
Wednesday was moving day and it all went remarkably smoothly albeit exhausting! By the end of the day we were tired and filthy, and must have looked delightful as we went to the fast food place in Alykes for some gyros – the best late night snack ever!

Having completed most of the cleaning last night, we spent today unpacking our things which were piled high in Sarah’s baby’s room. David attached the washing machine (Mum: you wanted to see a picture of the whirly line) and blew up the inflatable sofa (surprisingly comfortable). We went shopping for some bits and pieces, including to Lidl – a bit like McDonalds – they’re identical the world over! Then back “home” for a siesta. The weather is becoming hotter day by day, and by afternoon it really is too hot to do anything but snooze. David’s gigging in “Mad Murphy’s” Irish pub in Lagana tonight. It’s an 11.30pm start, and a different set of police! No problems with late noise in Lagana! Meanwhile I’m making a start at unpacking books …..

Deano's Place was raided by the "noise police"

Deano's Place was raided and will receive a severe ticking off.

Carl quit The Ride.

Dean postponed Diamond Dave until next week.

David played bass for The Ride at "Enigma" to a packed house of 20-ish. After 45 mins, the manager said they could stop and go home.

Helping Sarah ready her new place so we can get into ours!

Sarah and David paint, while Helen directs operations!

afternoon tea at John and Tani's

left to right: Alex (Carl's partner), Katie (Tani's daughter), David, Dave, Tani, John, Carl and Irene.

Thank you

Just a quick thank you to everyone who is looking at the blog. You don't all comment, but some of you have emailed me. We hope that you agree this is a good way to keep in touch with all of you, and we do appreciate your thoughts and prayers as we make the transition to Greek island life.

Out at the beach with Tasha

We took Tasha to the beach and Kefalonia looked extra clear today (behind me, that's part of Zakynthos behind David). Tasha is our surrogate Lucy. We miss Lucy dreadfully and talk about her every day. The only consolation is that she is over the moon to be staying with my Mum and Dad, being spoiled rotten, and she doesn't miss us at all!

Saturday

It’s been busy since Wednesday, well, busy by Greek standards anyway! David was gigging with The Ride in Lagana on Thursday night and had a rehearsal with them Thursday afternoon. We walked along the beach into Tsilivi and I left him at Deano’s and went off to explore the town. Stopped at an internet café and was finishing my "Coke Light" when I thought I heard someone calling me. But I don’t know anyone! Still I heard someone calling me, and I looked up and it was Tani’s daughter, Katie. I just didn’t expect to see anyone I knew! She stopped for a chat, and told me how to make my way back to the beach (I couldn’t find it). Had a lovely walk back along the beach – it didn’t seem so far on the return journey.

Thursday evening before David’s gig we visited Sarah, bringing offerings of wine and pastries. The deal was done and we discussed what furniture we want. The furniture in “our” house is Sarah’s and she is taking it with her, however, her new place is furnished and she is selling that to us. It seems that however much or little we want, it will cost the same, so we’ll take the lot! I’m particularly keen for homely touches like rugs and curtains, and she seems to have everything we could want, including pots, pans, plates and cutlery. Before David had to meet Dean, we just had time to go to what we think will be our local taverna for a bite to eat. It’s farther on up the hill from Ano Gerakari and has a phenomenal view of the entire island from coast to coast!

David took a lift to Lagana with Dean but this meant that on the return journey they stopped at “Deano’s Place” to do business and while David could have been in bed by 2.30, it was closer to 4am. Next time he will make his own way to Lagana! I had intended to get an early night but when I got back to Dave and Irene’s, Irene and Tani were on the porch with a bottle of wine, and it would have been rude not to join them.

Friday, Irene took me on an information-gathering exercise to all the supermarkets in the area. We went to “AB”, the beer cash and carry to get Mythos for Dave, “Alpha P”, and Lidl! There’s also Gaitanos, and Maxi Dea, for which we already have a reward card. Our shopping outing gave David and me the opportunity to buy groceries for Dave and Irene as a thank you for their generosity. While I was shopping, David was in our new house dismantling the wardrobe in the baby’s room. Sarah had cleared everything else in there so that we could unload the van. Sarah is English, has lived on Zakynthos for 17 years and owns a real estate business. She has a baby girl but is on her own, so David’s help is speeding things up a bit. She said she needed “a man with a van” and David, a great believer in fate, replied that this must have been the reason for him buying the extra huge van!

Last night before tea (Irene was making a fry – bacon, sausages, fried egg etc – yum) we went for a walk along the beach and stopped at a beach bar. We took our drinks to the water’s edge and paddled our feet. David joked “this is terrible, I want to go back to Belfast”. I’m still laughing!

This weekend we are going to move some of Sarah’s things to her new place and we will see the furnishings that we are buying. We are on target to move in on Wednesday.

We found a house

Crap day yesterday, but more fabulous today than you could believe!! It just got better and better and by this evening, we learned we were moving to our new place next Wednesday. It is a paradise up in the mountains. We got our Greek mobiles (at last) and are happy as pigs in the proverbial.

Edited to add: here's a photo of the view from our terrace.

Scrumping for lemons

Tuesday 5th June

We’ve had a busy couple of days. David’s mini-gig went great on Sunday night and he spent most of Monday practising his set list.

Monday morning however we went scrumping for lemons so that Irene can make more of her fabulous lemonade. Then Irene and Dave took us past a few houses for rent that they had seen. The first was great, but needs a bit of cleaning up. It’s big, quite isolated, but not far from the sea. Our second preference would be the apartment belonging to the cousin of Dimitri, Irene’s mechanic. There are two apartments, a 2-bedroom and a 1-bedroom, we believe, and they seem to have workshops underneath, which would suit us. Again, they are outside town, but not as close to the coast. We also saw a group of holiday cottages, which I liked, but not sure they would suit us. Irene and Dave’s neighbour, Sarah, speaks fluent Greek and will make phone calls for us to find out prices and organise viewing. As usual here, though, things run on “Greek Maybe Time!”

Last night, David had his first proper solo set in Deano’s Place. He went down a storm and people were dancing and singing! He bantered so much between songs that he was able to leave out 1 or 2 that he was less confident with. High spots were “Dirty Ol’ Town,” “500 miles” and “Brown-eyed Girl!” Hard to believe it was David’s first time doing a solo set.

Today, it’s thundering and the rain is bouncing off the ground! I feel for the holiday-makers who arrived on the planes last night. Still, as Irene says, they could be on the beach by 2pm. We plan to get our Greek sim cards today and to go to the Safari Bar in Kalamaki to confirm David’s gig there.

We’re cooking tonight for Irene and Dave – Pork Chops and Champ!

Our hosts

Sunday 3rd June

Feeling a little delicate this morning. The excitement of yesterday was too much to handle. We visited Megabyte, the internet café where David had messaged me from when he was here in April. Megabyte is at the far end of Tsilivi so I had a tour of the town from one end to the other. Irene made us a fabulous dinner and just as we were finishing John and Tani arrived, closely followed by Carl and Alex, with some curious large plastic bottles of white wine. We had arranged to catch Dave at his quiz in Basil’s Bar, and then to call into Deano’s Place, so we excused ourselves. When we got back in the early hours, the party had only just ended, there had been a broken glass and red wine spilt, and someone had left behind a jacket and a pair of trousers, neatly draped over one of the chairs although Irene assures us that when everyone left, they were all fully clothed!

Today, we borrowed Irene’s car and went for a tour of the south end of the island. We visited Kalamaki, Lagana, then turned inland and headed into the mountains via beautiful villages. By chance we saw a sign for a Mycenaean cemetery, so we even got to see some archaeology! It was a lovely day. This evening we are going to Deano’s Place where The Ride are playing (with Carl on bass, not David). In the interval, David will showcase his solo act which begins at Deano’s on Monday night.

Final Destination

We have arrived!

Pulled up at Dave and Irene’s at 3.30pm. The journey had ended. David was warmly greeted by Tasha the German Shepherd, a 2-year old puppy in the body the size of a small horse. I think she likes me too because she threw herself on her back on the floor to have her tummy tickled when I got up for a drink at 3am. Irene and Dave are from London and retired to Zakynthos 3 years ago. They have been extremely helpful and we couldn’t hope for better hosts. They even have a couple of houses lined up for us to look at on Monday (not that they're trying to get rid of us or anything!).

Today we are taking it easy. For the first day in a week, we don’t have several hundred miles to drive. Instead we’re going to take a walk into the village, and David has some contacts to say hello to.

Greece is the word!

This is us arriving in Patras.

1145, Friday 1st June, on the road from Patras to Kyllini

The sailing was very smooth, and we spent the evening chilling on the deck. Fabulous! We slept well, but were disorientated by an announcement at 2am that we had arrived in Corfu and passengers should disembark! Once the panic had subsided and we had established that this did NOT apply to us, we went back to sleep until the alarm went at 8am – a lie-in!

The ferry departed at 1900 and arrived in Patras at 1100. Not sure how long we were stopped at Corfu.

Thursday 31st May

The journey to Brindisi went without a hitch. We arrived with the intention of going straight to the harbour to book our transit on the ferry to Zakynthos (via Kefallonia) which was supposed to commence on 1 June but we were told it wasn’t running. We asked for the alternative which was to Patras on the mainland. It was 5pm and there was a vacancy on the ferry leaving at 7pm, so off we went and despite there being other cars, vans and lorries waiting, we were loaded immediately. We settled into our cabin and went exploring the boat. Found a bar, got ourselves a beer and a Bacardi and sat on deck watching the other poor souls being loaded. 90 minutes later and the camper van which had been ahead of us in the initial queue to board was still waiting on the quay in the searing heat and there were lots of raised voices!

We saw an Ulsterbus on tour in Switzerland

1030, Thursday 31st May, heading south on the Adriatic coast road to Brindisi

Left Chiasso yesterday in glorious weather. It’s hot, hot, hot! 2km out of Chiasso we left Switzerland behind and entered Italy. The motorway around Milan was bedlam, and the exit from the toll booths was a free-for-all. You can imagine what it was like with numerous cars carrying impatient Italians! As we joined the motorway, the sat-nav told us to “continue for 604km.” If we’d wanted to, we didn’t need to leave the motorway until we were in Bari, just north of Brindisi. We travelled half of the 604 km then stopped for the night in a pretty little resort called Porto San Giorgio. Found a hotel near the marina called the David Palace but at €140 it was a bit over our budget. There was another hotel was just down there road, very comfortable and picturesque, and less than half the price of the David Palace.

Went out for food last night looking forward to more pizza. We had settled ourselves in a lovely restaurant with a table beside the beach, and had ordered drinks when we realised that fish was the only dish on the menu. What’s more, we couldn’t understand what type of fish we were asking for. David ordered spaghetti with some sort of fish and mushrooms, while I asked for calamari and “small fish.” We couldn’t wait to see what would arrive on our plates. Turns out David’s spaghetti came with cockles and mussels, no mushrooms. My “small fish” were deep-fried baby octopi. Mmmm, tasty.

This morning it is definitely t-shirt and shorts weather. 418km to Brindisi.