A Very Pleasent Afternoon

Yesterday afternoon the sun was shining & on stepping out onto my small balcony it felt warm too. I had a sudden urge to get on my bicycle & go out for a ride just to see the sea.

I set off for Kalamaki remembering to take with me my small digital camera just in case I could also capture any of the photos needed to complete any of my challenges mentioned in an earlier posting.

On joining the main road between Laganas & Kalamaki there was a distinct lack of traffic around & it felt good to be just cycling at an easy pace towards my destination.
Part way along the main road I became concious that the sea was only just out of sight somewhere to my right & I wanted to be there. Noticing that there were several gaps through the trees off the main road leading towards the direction of the sea, I decided to take a diversion. I left the road & headed off down one of the tracks along which I was able to ride for a while. As the ground turned to softer & softer sand I couldn't keep cycling & so dismounted & walked & dragged the bike across the sand dunes eventually coming out at the beach.

It just felt so good to be there. Once on the beach the sand was a bit firmer for a while so I rode along the beach with the sun on my shoulders & the sound of the sea gently lapping up onto the beach.

I thought I was going to be able to take the picture of Kalamaki beach with no sunbeds on it as part of my challenges as I didn't see any within sight until I reached the central beach area near the car park. There were only a few sunbeds lingering that hadn't yet been packed away & the only people I saw (at a rough guess about 10) must have been on their last day of their holiday as the last plane I think left today. I will wait to get the photo when the beach is completely empty another day.

I carried on walking down the beach & found a quiet spot where I sat on a rock & drank the can of lemonade I had taken with me. There were 2 people swimming in the sea & I really wished at that point that I had taken my swimming togs with me. It looked so inviting though it may well have been quite cold.

As I sat there on my little rock I felt great & so priviledged, taking in the fact that I was not leaving on the last plane but was staying for the Winter & quite possibly forever in this beautiful place.

Quad Bikes & Jeeps Out - Bring In The Tractors & Rotorvators

I've been out of circulation for a few days due to having picked up a head cold. It came out of nowhere so I took the sensible action of tucking myself up in bed, drinking plenty of water & supping hot blackcurrent drinks which I'd had the foresight to bring out with me from the UK.
In the UK a cold would normally stick around with me for about 10 days or so but about 4 days had this one beat. Have to put that down to the diet including lots of garlic & fresh fruit.

So now I am back up & running, what is happening around me?

The few planes that are coming in to Zakynthos are now arriving empty & just collecting those few tourists who are still here to take them home again. After this coming weekend there will be no more direct flights to the island, anyone wishing to come must do so via a flight first to Athens then the one a day Olympic flight to Zakynthos.

The familiar sight of jeeps, quad bikes & hired mopeds has changed to one of mainly local vehicles including a recent profusion of tractors as fields get ploughed ready for the planting of winter crops. There has also been lots of activity locally clearing out the ditches that surround areas of land & burning off the excess vegetation that would otherwise clog them up. This is all in readiness for the large amounts of rain that I have been warned will come during the Winter

Only the other week Sia & Otto called in a man with a rotovator to prepare the garden for planting. After his work was done the earth was formed into ridges & furrows to allow for the heavy rainfall to have somewhere to run off to during the Winter.
Sia had been out & bought cabbage & brocolli plants to provide me, Justine & Simon with some fresh vegetables during the Winter. I helped her to plant them out & will be in charge of their care when Sia & Otto are away in Switzerland & Justine & Simon are in Australia.

As well as planting out vegetables I have also been out in a field opposite, collecting bits of small wood to use as tinder to start my fire going in the wood burning stove. We have some big wood left over from last years supply but will need to get more delivered to get us all through Winter. Justine thought it was quite funny that I had been scratting about in a field collecting wood - very rural. I did joke with her that she should be grateful I had not taken to wearing a wicker basket on my back too LOL

Summer visitors finished - what next

The resorts are starting to get very quiet now as the season draws to it's end. I have noticed many businesses have already closed. Justine & Simon say they look forward to the winter in a way as the island returns to being 'Greek'
I have signed up as a member of an internet forum whose members have one thing in common - that they all love Zante (Zakynthos) They seem a great bunch of folks, most of them holiday here year after year & often several times a year.
Two main things have come out of my involvement with the forum so far. One is that I have made contact with several people who will be here on the island all year, including throughout the Winter. One lady that I have already met up with for coffee lives just around the corner & I am meeting another lady in town for coffee this coming Friday. I have a couple more too that I have yet to meet up with. Having these new friends is going to be so important to me if I am to settle here.
The second thing to come out of my forum involvement is 'Sandra's Suggestion' To cut the story short as to how this came about - basically it was suggested by one of the members of the forum that I could do with some tasks to keep me occupied during the Winter months & he suggested a couple of photos to capture as I am interested in photography & that other members could come up with other suggestions. I have accepted this & my task list is growing so I should have things to occupy me & keep me out of mischief. I will reproduce my list so far here but it is growing all the time, I'll try to remember to post how I get on with it:

1 Photo of the first sunrise of the New Year on Zakynthos

2 Photo of Kalamaki beach with no sunbeds on it

3 Photo of an empty Kalamaki resort

4 Photo of Laganas High Street as a ghost town

5 Photo of an empty departure lounge at airport

6 Photo of the harbour once a month

7 Christmas Day photo taken anywhere I fancy

8 Photo of Alikes or Alykanas in Winter

9 THE SOUND OF MUSIC DUET (Just Don't Ask - LOL)

10 If it snows on the mountains a photo please

11 To walk from Kalimaki via the mountain track to find the snack bar which is near the rubbish tip & say what the first item on the menu board is (if no menu board, then will take self photo to show was there

Mum's last full day

Saturday 7th Oct was mum's last full day with me & we had been invited to share a lunchtime meal with Otto & Sia along with Justine & Simon too. Once again the hospitalty that the Greeks are famed for shone through as we all enjoyed a wonderful meal of beautifully tender lamb & all the trimmings followed by a huge (& I mean huge) chunk of an ice cream dessert.
Needless to say the meal was accompanied by copious amounts of wine & ouzo plus a rather large jug of Pimms & lemonade (with all the fruit, mint & cucumber) which I had mixed as my contribution. A lovely meal in wonderful company.
Mum had to have a lie down when we got back to my house. She said she felt a bit sicky & said I think it must have been all that ice cream. My reply to her was along the lines of - I think it may have been more to do with all the pimms & ouzo LOL.
The following day, fully recovered it was time for mum to return to England. I think she enjoyed seeing me, Justine & Simon & enjoyed her time here. I think she was also pleased to see how well I have settled into my new life here in Zakynthos. Till the next time mum.

Putting the feelers out

The hire car had to returned by noon on Friday so in the morning I utilised it to go & visit a few of the tour operators whose main offices are based around the airport area. My purpose was to make some enquiries about the type of work that might be available next year should I decide to stay. I did make it clear that conducting 'bar crawls' was not on my list of things that I'd like to do. There could be some possibilities with them and my name & contact numbers have been taken by a few of the companies. I also have my details with a car hire company for possible interest for next year too. I am willing to give consideration to whatever might be on offer.
So hey, who knows, I could be meeting & greeting some of you off your planes next year or presenting your welcome meeting.

DRIVING MISS DAISY (most of my family will know the significance of that ha ha)

On the Thursday of mum's week the hire car had it's main outing, taking us both out a bit further afield to show mum a little more of the island. I set off with a vague idea in my head where we were going to head. I had been on a couple of drives around the island previously with Simon & Justine so had decided to head the same way we had gone before. This did mean heading into Zakynthos town again but having successfully got there a few days previous my confidence was a little higher. I only had to drive straight along the one main road that runs alongside the harbour from one end & straight out the other. So armed with a map, my mum as navigator & my mobile just in case, we set off. We managed to successfully stop to buy petrol on the way & soon found ourselves through the town & heading out again. I had no intention of trying to do the whole island, the aim was to give mum a bit of the flavour of the island & hopefully stop off somewhere for lunch & find a beach for a swim in the sea.
On the right is a photo of mum at a point where we stopped off to look at the view. Below is the church on the hill at Gerakari from where some photos in earlier posts were taken.
From here we continued on the main road not aiming for anywhere in particular. At around the time we were both ready for a coffee & comfort stop we were in the vacinity of Alykes & Alykanas so decided that was where we would go. I parked up by the beach at Alykes & we had a coffee at one of the beachside restaurants. Liking what we saw of Alykes we made the decision to stop there so found ourselves a couple of sunbeds & that was us settled for the rest of the day. The sea was still warm & inviting & we both enjoyed a good swim.
After a very enjoyable day out which had also served to give me a lot more confidence of driving on Zakynthos we headed home. Just before returning we did take a detour to go & take a look at a house that is on my 'possible' list of potential purchases should I choose to stay permanantly. Who know's what the future might bring!

Broadband connection kit arrives

Having been waiting for 2 weeks for my broadband box of tricks to arrive I was excited to hear that when Simon & Justine had gone to collect the post it had been there. Justine, having the same surname as me did try to collect it & bring it back with them but they were not having it, insisting on seeing a passport.
I had two options, 1) wait until someone was heading into town & get a lift or do what I hadn't relished doing 2) drive into town myself while I had the benefit of the hire car. Decisions, decisions - I couldn't wait any longer to get my own internet service up & running - the novelty of sitting on the balcony picking up a weak wireless signal was wearing thin.
Decision made, I would drive to town but would park at the ferry port as it was on the side of town I would come in from.
So with mum to accompany me that's what I did & we successfully got to town & parked up.


First stop was the Post Office, in & out in record time happily clutching my Conn X box which contained my modem & hopefully all the instructions I needed to get online. After a wander around a few of the shops & a coffee stop we headed back to the car & safely negotiated the junction to rejoin the main road heading back out the way we had come in to town.
Now I have made this trip lots of times in Simon's car & thought I knew which road to take to get directly back home. However I obviously hadn't taken a great deal of notice which became apparent when I didn't recognise anything on the road we found ourselves on. No worries, I found a convenient turning place & we headed back & took an alternative turning. Shortly I had the awful feeling that I didn't recognise anything on this road either. It was either go back again or carry on & see where we finished up, after all it's quite a small island. I took the second option & carried on & eventually we found ourselves down some back lanes somewhere in Kalamaki eventually finding my way back onto the main road & back on track to home.
Adventure over, the next job was to set up my broadband internet.
I'm not going to report on how that went, surfice to say it was not straightforward & a few expletives turned the air a little blue but 2 days later it was working & has been ever since.

Relaxing lazy day

The following day I took mum down to the beach in the car. After searching a few times for the handbrake & gear lever & finding only the door on my left I soon adjusted to the new position.
We settled ourselves on sunbeds at the hotel I regularly use & spent the day swimming in both the sea & the hotel pool. A very enjoyable if lazy day. I was feeling particularly relaxed on this photo mum caught of me in the pool.

The Start of Mum's Week

It was lovely to see my mum appear through the door at Zakynthos airport & we were soon on our way, courtesy of a lift from Otto, to my Zakynthian home. I gave mum a quick tour of the house & she was soon settled into her own room, unpacked & enjoying a welcome cup of tea.
After lots of kisses & hugs, meetings & greetings, with Justine, Simon, Sia & Otto, mum was soon tucked up in bed sleeping after the days travelling ready to start her holiday in earnest the following day.
The following morning we had the offer of a lift into Zakynthos town from Sia & Otto. As I didn't yet have the car & even if I had I really did not relish driving around the town (from what I had seen of the driving there) we took the offer up. Sia had a few jobs to do in town & also wanted to show me where to go to pay the electric bills & water bills. This is because Sia & Otto return to Switzerland for the Winter & Justine & Simon are going to be going to Australia from around 22nd Nov to work for 5 weeks & holiday for 2. So I will be on my own for 7 weeks during which time bills will arrive & need paying or we will all get cut off. So I will be collecting the post from our PO box & checking for bills & paying them.
Having been shown where the various payment offices were we had a general wander around the town with a coffee stop before returning home.
In the evening we took a drive out to Keri Lake followed by a meal at Keri Lighthouse. On the way back from there we decided it made sense for me to pick up the hire car that night rather than in the morning. So my first time driving a left hand drive car was in the dark - suffice to say we got home safely.

In between visitors

During the gap between Jan leaving & my mum arriving we had a patch of decidedly dodgy weather. It started with the wind getting up & led to several days of rain ranging from short showers to full blown, black sky, thunder & lightning storms.
I must admit to panicking slightly knowing mum was due to arrive on the 1st October & wondering how I would fill her week if the weather didn't change.
I'd already decided that I'd need to hire a car, as mum, unlike Jan, does not do push bikes so to get anywhere a car was a necessity. This would also be my first experience of driving a left hand drive vehicle. This time last year if anyone had said I would one day need to drive abroad I would have said 'no way' but having ridden on the right on my bike I felt a little more comfortable with the idea but it was still going to be another 'first'.
I needn't have worried, the storms cleared & the sun returned to herald in my mum. I was all set to enjoy a week with her.

Jan returns to UK

As they say, 'all good things must come to an end' and the end to Jan's holiday week came around all to soon. I hope she enjoyed it as much as she appeared to. she certainly said she'd be out again next year if I'm still here.
The final photo taken just before she left for the airport is above with, from left to right, Justine, Jan and me.
After dropping Jan off at the airport I headed into Zakynthos town with Simon & Justine & while there we had the largest earthquake that I have felt so far, even the Greeks came out of the shops & into the street. I immediately sent a text to Jan knowing she would still be in the airport. It simply said 'did you feel that' Her reply 'I thought the floor was going to open up, it caused quite a stir here'
Til next year Jan, miss you.

And don't we scrub up well !

Ready to go out for the evening: yes I know my skirt is short but it's hot (I mean the temperature not the skirt LOL)

Me left, Jan below.

While sitting in a bar that same evening we felt the earth move and before you ask - yes it was an earthquake

Two birds on bikes!!!!

The title says it all really:
'Two birds on bikes'
Sandra top and Jan below about to return after a day spent at the beach (funny we appear to both be heading off in different directions - ok, so they are posed)

Let's bring you up to date Part 2

On the Friday of Jan's holiday with me, Simon kindly offered to take us a drive around the island. The photo on the left shows my daughter Justine left, me in the centre & Jan on the right. It's taken at a favourite spot of Simons, the church on top of the hill at Gerakari which affords a beautiful view across the island.

Let's bring you up to date Part 1

Just had to post this photo. I am picking up where I left off some posts back to the week that my friend Jan came to visit. If you recall we went horse riding & on our return back to my house, on the bikes, we were treated to this sight. Bear in mind that this is the middle of September and here were two darling little lambs, literally just born. We had to stop for a while to watch as they both made their first attempts to stand & searched eagerly for their first taste of mother's milk. As soon as they had found it we left them in peace.





That night Jan & I also enjoyed Greek hospitality at it's best with a fabulous barbeque with Sia, Otto, Justine, Simon & Rich. Lots of good food, plenty of free flowing drink in excellent company.

Mum's arrived

As my mum arrived on Sunday 1st October to stay with me for a week I may not get a chance to update the blog this week. I hope that all you folks who avidly check it regularly will be able to hold out until the next instalments.