Meeting the locals... kind of!

After 12 weeks on the beautiful island of Corfu the #UKcravings started! I'm ashamed to admit, I was all gyros out and tzaskiki wasn't giving me the good garlic feels anymore. I wanted boiled veg like broccoli and cauliflower drowning in gravy! I was also fed up of eating on the sofa, off a plate on my lap and wanted a meal at an actual table #MiddleclassMildred! In the winter, the majority of the local restaurants close to have some well deserved time off after the busy summer season and often to do other work like the olive picking. Which is in full swing from October to December depending on region & variety. This means the choice of dining out places is a little limited which fast tracked the quick sickening of takeaway tzaskiki dipped gyros that I was experiencing.

So we did what most Brits abroad do and searched for the local Expat watering hole that boasted the 'Holy Grail' .... ' A Homemade Sunday lunch with Yorkshire puddings' AND 'Crumble with custard!'.

I was sold! We booked in for the next Sunday!

Sunday came and we set off eagerly to the Expat bar, which was a few towns away but the lure of custard was worthy of the drive. We walked into the bar, full of excitement for our Sunday lunch and grateful for the change of scene. It was packed! As we walked through the door the place stilled and went silent. All eyes were on us!

It's like they could smell new blood. We stood awkwardly at the doors of the restaurant, all the while getting weighed up by the packed restaurant. Do we wait to be seated, or just grab a table? Do we speak in Greek or English? Why is everyone staring!!!

After a hot minute of awkwardness we were greeted by a broad scouser who said "You must be Joe and Grace, Chicken and lamb?" Nodding gratefully, we followed her to our table. Then out the corner of my eye, I caught glimpse of a familiar face waving at us. It was the English joiner who had been out to the Villa that week and his partner. Relief a familiar face! We went across and were invited to join them. As we sat down at their table, suddenly, just like that the other patrons lost interest and thankfully stopped starring!

We proceeded to have pleasantries with them making easy conversation over some local wine that smelt like rotten eggs but tasted ok if you didn't breath in before taking a sip. By the second glass I was hooked.

Making friends after 30...

The next week our new pals invited us back to the same Expat watering hole for a pub quiz. Not usually one for pub quizzes but keen for some alternative conversation we agreed, plus it was for a good cause the local Cat and Dog charity (of which there are numerous!). We arrived late, as per usual for us as a couple, walking in to find the quiz about to start and that we had been put on the table right at the front of the bar, closest the quiz masters. Later we learned this was to ensure we weren't cheaters!

There were five of us in total, Joe and I, the lovely joiner and his equally lovely partner and a funny English chap who I'll call Richie (but isn't actaully. #privacy)

Richie chose the team name to begin with. 'Inter-me-nan' a not so funny play on words as the average age in the dive was over 80! We changed it just in the nick of time but not before a few of the surrounding tables heard. So we went from team 'Inter-me-nan' to the aptly named 'Newcomers'. We were low-key competitive. Like the first day of school, not wanting to be too cocky or worse get an answer wrong but at the same time not wanting to look thick as mince either.

In the quiz break we were what can only be described as accosted by some of the other patrons in the bar. To clarify there wasn't a Greek insight! Everyone was English! And we were apparently the most interesting thing to happen all month! We were left bruised and affronted from the relentless questioning:

What are you doing in Corfu?

Have you bought a house?

Do you work?

What's your residency status?

Did you get a Golden Visa? .....Aka do you have a cool €250,000 in your bank account?

You're very young!

Rude, Rude, Rude!

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not saying all Expats are/will be like this but our first encounter with this type of "proper expat" was unpleasant. We quickly realised these type of people aren't for us and collectively decided that we wouldn't be pub quizzing there again. But following the mutual assault of nosiness a cute little young Expat friendship group was formed.

On the Villa front...

We had successfully removed the internal walls in the upstairs of the villa opening it up to be one large bedroom. The ceiling was right back to the roof and we had a plan for the roof repairs. The weather was fair and the blasted mosquitos had eventually done one by late October. So we deviated from our 'one room at a time' approach and started on the exterior of the villa!

The first thing was to clear the garden so with the help of some Albanian guys we started to clear the huge garden. It was so over grown with weeds, unruly olive trees and head high brambles. It was so neglected we couldn't even get into half of it!

Here in Corfu, like a lot of hot countries, there are rules about burning rubbish and fires during the warmer months with wild fires being a legitimate threat. There is even a light weight aircraft that patrols the area, flying over areas of dense vegetation and the villages looking for illegal burning or wild fires.

It's a rather alien concept to us Brits, burning rubbish and garden waste but it's common here and there appears to be no allocated green waste disposal area at all! The fire restrictions end on the 1st of November and you notice the smoke in the air immediately. We had a lot of olive branches, weeds and brambles to burn from the garden clearing. We had a sketchy few days of burning and clearing the area with some very lovely Albanian guys.

Surprise discovery...

We discovered a whole new section of the garden we didn't even know existed! A gated and fenced chicken enclosure equipped with a cute little hen house! It had been completely covered by brambles that we didn't even know it was there! Thanks to our survey or topographic as they call it here, we confirmed it was definitely our land on the property boundary plan. A very exciting discovery and I am of course planning my chicken names already!

At this point we are still living in the annexe as we renovate the main villa. Our cat Treacle and dog Heidi have gained some new friends. Three tiny foster kittens: Tuxe, Little Grey and Gorgeous George. Who we have taken in as part of a fostering programme with The Agni Welfare fund.

I've always wanted to foster animals and I am delighted to be able to help! Also after a long day of DIY who doesn't love kitten cuddles? Next on our agenda is taking off the exterior render of the Villa and hopefully bringing the villa back to the beautiful Corfiot stone! And fixing the darn roof! Watch this space!

Thanks for reading xoxo