Take your scissors!

If you are out for a walk in the hills and mountains of Corfu this month, remember to take your scissors with you. This is the time of year when the lovely, strongly scented herb oregano is ready for picking.

I keep seeing locals from my village with armfuls of oregano which they have gathered, and decided to have a go at collecting some myself while walking the dog. I hadn't realised how tough the stems are, so this morning I remembered my scisssors and picked this lovely big bunch.

Oregano (rigani) is one of the most popular herbs in Greek cooking, but my favourite way to use it is on the stem, as a sort of basting stick. Take a few stems of oregano, dip them in a mixture of oil and lemon juice and then splash the basting mixture onto the meat or fish. Messy but very tasty!
Sarah

When I woke up this morning ...

What strange weather we are having this year. More than a week of rain and low temperatures in June, to be followed by an early July that it more reminiscent of late September than full summer. Cool evenings, misty and damp mornings, it doesn't seem as if summer has started properly, so it shouldn't have been a surprise to open the shutters this morning and see - well, not much! We have a really nice view from our upstairs verandah, but this morning it was obliterated by thick, thick fog. Definitely autumn then?
Susan

Doing business - Corfu style

I bet if you said to someone "Just going to pick up my computer from the repair man", it wouldn't conjure up this picture. Only this is Corfu, and our computer repair man happens to live on the beach in Acharavi. In the bag is Sarah's computer de-bugged and ready for use.
Susan

Some Have Them and Some Don't

In the same way as the weather can be really good in one part of the island and pouring with rain in another, it appears that certain insects are common in one area and never seen in another.

It hadn't really occurred to me until a discussion arose over Sunday lunch in Antiperni. Admiring the abundant flowers in the garden, we asked our hosts how they dealt with the grasshoppers that have eaten the new shoots and tender flowers from most of our own garden just a few kilometres away. "Grasshoppers?" they said, "What grasshoppers?"

As far as we are concerned these green, slightly prehistoric looking insects are as much a part of our daily life as ants, wasps and flies, so how come they don't have them in Antiperni?

Apart from decimating our plants, they are also indoor visitors and leap from wall to floor and back again. Unfortunately they aren't particularly afraid of humans and quite often hitch a ride on a shoulder, head or leg. Most annoying of all - they don't sleep at night. If you make the mistake of going to bed without checking walls, floors, curtains, etc, you are likely to be jumped upon and bitten! Okay, so they don't draw blood, but they nip hard enough to wake you and once you are awake and know that one of them is around, you have to get up and hunt it!

So we have them in Skripero and I wish we didn't!
Susan

How perfect can you get?

Don't need any words to go with this photo, do we? This view can be
yours for 1,220,000 Euros, and a pretty splendid villa to go with it!
Susan

Homefinders finds a new home

So finally we moved and we are now at G. Markora 43, in between Xenoglosson and Moustakis book shops, just a few steps to the left after the San Rocco Square traffic police

We have been looking for new Corfu Town premises for what seems like ages, our original building might have been quirky and atmospheric, and it was very nice to have a garden, but unfortunately it was also ancient, damp and prone to flooding whenever we had one of those wonderful Corfu downpours.

We scoured newspapers, spoke to other agents, considered a total move out of Town, rang up about premises which were 'just about' suitable, to find that they carried vast amounts of 'key money' costs with them, to the point where we had just about given up for this summer, and resolved to start looking in the autumn. Susan and I decided to have one final walk around, and look at one of the 'possibles', and by chance took the road up towards the market - and there before us was an empty shop, in good condition, with a 'for rent' sign in the window. We phoned immediately and it transpired that the owner was, in fact, one of our shop clients, and was very happy to show it to us.

To cut a long story short, we decided it was practically a gift, and after a bit of to-ing and fro-ing and the usual bureaucratic morass, the builder moved in. First job to cover up the 17 holes in the ceiling left by the lights taken by the previous tenant, and after that a thorough paint and clean, our shelving was fitted, and we were ready to move.

The lorry came at 2pm last Wednesday and by 6pm, and 4 lorry loads later, we were IN! That is to say we were in in piles of boxes, bin bags, parcels tied with string, you get the picture. We were also in a complete state of exhaustion, and remembered why we always swore we would never move. The next morning, the shop took shape rapidly, although much of the methodology here seemed to be to move everything to the back into our (smaller) office.

OTE excelled themselves, and having told us originally that we had to wait in line after the 250 phone lines for the Foreign Ministers Conference, we actually did not wait at all and the wonderful OTE engineer connected not only phones but internet, so before we have one stick of furniture, we had our internet connection. The aircon people, not quite so fast, but as of yesterday, we pretty much have everything we need - that is not to say we have actually found everything, we still have piles/bin bags etc. in the office, but we will get there!
Diana

House looking for a new family

Sometimes when we are out and about looking at new properties just on the market, and showing houses and plots of land to clients, we come across old favourites and wonder why they haven't sold before now. One such is Francesca's House at the quieter end of Sidari - along the beach road in the direction of Agios Ioannis.

This is a much loved, but now outgrown, summer house, whose family spent many happy months there each summer. Close enough to the sea for the children to walk on their own for a swim, but far from the bustle with which Sidari is normally associated.

The house is set in large, fenced grounds, simply designed for ease of maintentance and child-friendly for playing and having fun. There is plenty of space for a swimming pool if desired, and the house itself is traditionally rustic in style, with four double bedrooms and two bathrooms.

The price is also very reasonable - just 320,000 Euros.
Susan