How nice to be small

Last month, the Daily Mail ran a very nice piece on Corfu property, headed 'A Greek Treasure - there's little sign of the market slowing in Corfu' and a piece saying that interest in our nice little island does not seem to have diminished at all, in fact people keep on buying, and prices are steady!

Contrast that with a Telegraph article on Dubai 'disaster' a few days later, where the property market is apparently in freefall, with developers welching on agreement to build properties, yet buyers are committed to pay the balance of deposits - even though it is unlikely they will ever have a property to show for their money.

Today I was in conversation with an English finance professional who said he had just returned from Spain 'where everything seems fairly dire', so it seems we have to thank our lucky stars that we are 'small and beautiful'!
Diana

Parking at Corfu Airport

Long time residents of Corfu will know that we have only recently seen the introduction of parking charges at the airport.Whilst recognising that it was extremely unusual to be able to leave your car, completely without charge, for extended periods within walking distance of the check-in desks (some people have been known to leave their car in October and return to collect it in May), we locals still resent the new charges.

In the winter months the parking restrictions are still reasonably "elastic" (or "Greek") in that you can leave your car opposite the arrivals hall and nobody seems to object. Now that summer has arrived things are very different. Friends recently went to England for a week, and having left their car on the roadside just before the airport, returned to find a parking ticket on their windscreen. The fine was for 80 euros, but a reduction is usually allowed for prompt payment, so although it hurt a little to pay out 40 euros, the pain was lessened when they realized that the parking fine was less than the car park charge would have been for the relevant number of days. Guess where they will park next time they go on a trip!
Susan