Eggs!

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

No two days are the same

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

Some days are full of surprises

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

Rained off!

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

Roundabout

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

The bronze tower of Dassia

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