Cuckoo!

I simply cannot believe that Sarah hasn't heard a cuckoo in Corfu before this week. Their call is a yearly familiar reminder that Spring is upon us and, to me, as regular as the house martins, swallows and swifts that are now swooping everywhere, driving the cats to distraction and pooping all over my freshly scrubbed patio!

Another reminder that Corfu really can be very different from one area to another. Diana, for instance, says she has never seen a scorpion, whereas we have them, not only in the garden, but quite regularly in the house as well. Some of the garden variety are really quite large and light brown in colour, whereas (thankfully) the ones that I have found in the house have been quite small and dark brown coloured - except for the black one that stung husband late on Christmas Eve a few years ago - but that's another story!
Susan

Happy Easter

Spring sunshine welcomed worshippers to Holy Trinity Church this morning, with visiting chaplain the Revd. Bruce Lyons offering two morning services, thus reducing the usual crush and enabling everyone to have a seat and enjoy a topical sermon for Easter Day.

Holy Trinity provides more than just a chance to attend an Anglican church service in Corfu. Regular activities include a Craft Group which meets twice monthly, Library and coffee every Tuesday, Mums and Tots every Wednesday, Lunchbox on Wednesdays, Scrabble and Quiz evenings and a Nearly New sale every month. All this as well as the Bible study and Prayer meetings you normally associate with a church.

The Anglican Church in Corfu has always been a sort of second home to ex-pat Brits. Particularly for young Mums, away from their own parents and needing somewhere to turn for advice and companionship, but also for the many permanent foreign residents in Corfu who love the Greek way of life but want to keep their own religion and enjoy a chance to sing some rousing hymns.
Susan

Palm Sunday (Orthodox Church)

We've lost it a bit in Britain, haven't we? That huge involvement of
(practically) everyone in religious ceremonies that so characterizes Greece on days such as today. Not just the crowds lining the streets watching the marching bands and the schools parading, not just those spending a small fortune on coffees and cakes in the pavement cafes and buying balloons for their little-ones, both groups being an integral part of the glory of the day. The crammed-to-the-doorways churches don't seem unusual - yes, there are more people on Palm Sunday than on normal Sundays, but religion manages to be an important part of daily life and whilst there are obviously Corfiots who don't attend church every week, I would be surprised if most of them, of all ages, don't call in to their local church and light a candle on a regular basis.
Susan

More of our feathered friends

Still no further news of the pheasants, but I heard another "new bird" today - a cuckoo! New to me anyway, because I have never heard one here in Corfu, apart from the one on the clock which I have had since I was small.

It was definitely a cuckoo, I stood and listened to it for a few minutes to make sure it wasn't one of those collared doves which live near my house.

My son tells me the Corfiot name for the doves is "theka-oktoures" (eighteeen) because that is exactly what their call sounds like. This led to a debate about why it's not "theka-pende" (15) or "theka-tria" (13) but he's right, it really does sound like "theka-okto".
Sarah