Long time no write
It’s been a month exactly since my last post and it’s only now that I feel ready to write everything down. So what’s stopped me from blogging? Well, where do I start? We’ve moved house – yet again – the 3rd time in the 18 months’ we’ve spent on this island. It wasn’t through choice, we were forced in to it in a very upsetting way and it really shook us up and made us begin to despair of ever being able to settle into any home on Skopelos. Unfortunately we went from the frying pan, straight into the fire! We’re now living in a house for which we’re paying more than we are happy with after being practically held for ransom on the doorstep with all our worldly goods ready to move in. Some people are destined never to own their own home, we seem destined never to live in one for more than a few months’. As you can imagine this has left us all feeling rather unsettled and in a state of limbo. After a lot of serious thought, consideration, and constant talking, we are now considering a move to the mainland.
We moved to Skopelos primarily for Junior, so she could have a childhood without pressures from society to grow up too soon, so we could spend more time together as a family and so we could live a more relaxed life. Well junior is having a good time but Sean is away on the mainland 2 to 3 days every week and the housing problems are making us more stressed than we were in England! If we move to the mainland we will be able to rent a property for less money than we are paying now and will certainly be able to look into buying our own home which is not possible on Skopelos due to the inflated house prices. We’d be together more as a family and Sean would be able to see junior every day instead of only speaking to her on the phone when he’s in Volos.
We didn’t move out here to make things more difficult for ourselves but I sometimes feel we’re banging our heads against a brick wall. We work to earn our money, we didn’t sell a house in England and move out her with a large nest egg, we didn’t come here to retire and end our days, we want to live and bring our daughter up here to be a useful member of society but it seems a lot of people view foreigners as a meal ticket and charge accordingly. I resent being charged more to live somewhere just because I wasn’t born here.
I love Skopelos, the scenery and the charm (especially in the winter) but it’s not the only lovely place in the world. If things had worked out differently I’d have been happy staying in Devon or Wexford but as we don’t intend to move that far, we’ll look at the mainland instead.
Nothing is settled yet but you can only take so many knocks before something has to give.
In other news……………we have another cat who we found in the middle of the road a week ago. Poor little mite is only about 5 weeks’ old but he’s a sweet little thing, good job Sean saw him and managed to swerve around him in time!
Sean’s sister and her family are over at the moment and thanks to their sterling efforts in the swimming pool, junior is becoming more and more confident in the water and looks set to be swimming without her inflatable seal very soon 
Guys I wish you all the luck
If you do move then it will be at a loss to Skopelos.
Hope you do find somewhere to settle for the long-term.
All the best
Jon and Sandra
Sorry to hear that you haven’t been treated well. I’t sounds like you have lots of good reasons for making a move to the mainland. If you want to go back to Skopelos during the winter for a break here and there – feel free to borrow our cottage. It is empty quite often between november and May. We would be more than happy for you to stay there free of charge. Good luck. Sally and Bill
Hi Helen,
Sounds like you’ve had a fairly rough few weeks. Such a shame that this is happening. I hope everything works out and that you find somewhere more permanent where you will all be happy.
Ashley
PS does the little one want more chocolate? I can send some over…
So sorry for the problems you’ve had. My husband and I have dreamed of living in Skopelos but still have teens at home. Hearing this is certainly discouraging. I was in Skopelos in 1994 and 1995 and have wanted to live there ever since. Do you think this attitude towards xeni is new?
Hi Helen,
Keep smiling x
Sorry to hear you’ve had a rough time of it with the house situation. having gone through our own period of ups and downs of late I can appreciate how you must be feeling. However, I’m sure whatever decision you reach, it will be the best one for you and your family and I am sending over lots of positive thoughts. I also think the mainland of Greece is lovely and as Sally said – you can always visit Skopelos for periods over the winter
Hi
I’ve read your blog with interest over the past year and I’m sorry to hear you’ve encountered some problems. In fact your blog inspired us to visit Skopelos again (last time 10 years ago)we are just back from one of the Ditropo villas – took your advice and also went to the restaurant which was really great. We enjoyed the visit, but noticed the increase in prices across the island (not just because of the exchange rate). We fed some of the cats and donated to the charity!
Thanks for the blog and hope it works out for you all – Julie
Thanks all for your kind comments.
Jon and Sandra – Skopelos will certainly be losing their best I.T. engineer if we do move to the mainland!
Sally and Bill – Thanks very much for the kind offer, we may well take you up on it.
Ashley – thanks for the chocolate thought but I think it would probably melt in this heat before it got here
Katren – Don’t be discouraged. This is just our experience.
Alice – thanks for the positive thoughts and I hope you find what you’re looking for back in England.
Julie – glad you enjoyed your holiday and thanks for your comments.
Hi Helen & Sean and of course Junior!
Very sorry to hear of your sad times of late. It all seemed too good to be true but I’m sure that you will overcome this. Sean has always been able to overcome everything that life has thrown at him in the past (including working in dreary rainy Manchester!)
If it takes a move to the mainland then so be it. I am confident that you will fit in anywhere that you decide to lay your hat. The only problem that I can fore see is the movement of your ever growing zoo (and accumulated IT equipment). As you said, there are plenty of other beautiful places throughout the world, including Liverpool.
I’ve just recently had a fortnights holiday in Egypt with the family and my god it was hot. Sea temp was 20 degrees, but no doubt its pretty warm out there too.
Work is on the quiet side, but the whole trade is in the same boat. Kelvin Graphics and Qualitech have gone and the Studio were bought out by Engraving Services. We are OK and still plodding on regardless. Still trying to work out what Kirk does for a living, but this will be an on going quest. We did eventually get a Seal laminator (but who wants a laminated seal!) Bit of a bargain – including getting the electrics sorted and the missing bits (rollers etc) the total was £1200.00.
Anyway, enough about boring work & England.
I wish you all well and will try to keep in touch more often, but I’m not the best.
Regards,
Pete
Hi Pete, there are other beautiful places in the world but I think Liverpool might be stretching it a bit
Sean has promised to try and keep in touch more as well but as you well know he’s completely useless so don’t hold your breath!!