Water conservation

I am always trying to find a quicker, easier, less time-consuming way to water the garden, without using gallons of water in the process. Not an easy task you may think....

My washing machine is outside in the boiler room, so I decided to have a go at getting it to pump out onto the vegetable patch which is just a couple of metres away. This worked, so then I got a bit more ambitious and joined some hose pipe to the washing machine pipe using a very ingenious method involving bits of old copper piping. Loved-one is going to fall about laughing when he gets back to Corfu and sees my attempt at plumbing, but it works! Now I can water all the rose bushes, and I might even attempt another join and go a bit further. The best bit is, I don't even have to be here.
Sarah

Life is full of coincidences

At the moment I drive to Town via a short cut down the mountain to Agios Yiannis (Marbella) to avoid one of the many sets of roadwork traffic lights. For the last few days I have seen a 'For Sale' sign on a lovely piece of land, and kept thinking that I should stop and take down the phone number.

Eventually on Thursday I did just that, and planned to call the seller later in the day. Before I could even think about doing so, Sarah called me to say that someone was on the phone with a piece of land for sale in Agios Yiannis. As soon as he began to describe where the land was located, light dawned and I asked him if his phone number was the same as the one of the sign. And it was! Coincidence no. 1.

Then he asked me if I 'was Spiros' wife' - a fairly usual question in Corfu, but anyway, yes I am Spiros' wife. Next question, do we have a cousin Vasilis who lives in Vienna. Yes. Turns out that this gentleman is the koumbaros (best man) of one of our cousins and he had been meaning to call me for some time about the land but had only decided to do so today. Coincidence or telepathy?
Diana

Just what Corfu needs

I read an interesting article in Saturday's Daily Mail about a new machine called a "Jetpatcher". The newspaper suggests it may be the answer to Britain's pothole crisis and could save councils millions of pounds in compensation claims.

The hi-tech machine has a long tube which pumps out tar which is then compressed into layers. Apparently it takes only five or ten minutes before it starts to dry and can be used on potholes up to 15 yards long and a foot deep.

This seems to me to be a wonderful business opportunity for someone here - the Jetpatcher only costs 140,000 pounds sterling, and would surely be in great demand on our island.
Sarah