Our Greek Odyssey » Moving to Skopelos

The time has come

Tue, 11 May 2010 18:46:53 +0000

We were in Volos the other week, only for just over a day, and we would normally have stayed at the Hotel Aegli but we seemed to have arrived at the same time as a coach party so instead we carried on down the front and came to the Hotel Kypseli. Very nice it was too even if the air conditioning was a tad underwhelming. The heat led Sean to leave the window open all night allowing a particularly vicious mosquito to gain entry and wreak havoc on Junior and myself. Unfortunately I’m allergic to mozzie bites and so my arm looked like I’d had a couple of golf balls implanted under my skin but this was nothing compared to poor Junior who was bitten 5 times on one side of her face and 3 times on her ear. Poor little mite – I hate mozzies On the plus side the room did have a bath……..bliss. I’ve not had a bath for well over a year (don’t worry, I have been showering), and so lying in a proper sized bath was just wonderful. I couldn’t get junior out of it until she resembled a prune, she was too busy being a mermaid! The view from the room was also pretty good.

The reason we were in Volos was because we have finally found somewhere to live and we’re moving to the mainland in the next couple of weeks! Oh joy of joys, at long last the search is over. I realise I am now going to have to rename the blog, either to ‘Moving from Skopelos’ or ‘Pottering on the Pelion’, I’m sure I’ll be inspired shortly (any suggestions welcome but keep it clean!).
In a very strange twist, and one which makes me think that all things are pre-destined, we are actually moving to an area which Sean and I drove through when we first visited Greece in 2000 and which we commented at the time was a place we wouldn’t mind living in! So there you go, Greece, in spite of all the recently well publicised difficulties, is still the place for us, it’s just Skopelos that doesn’t suit. As the saying goes “it’s alright for a holiday but I couldn’t live there!” We are, apparently, not island people. I like to explore a country, visit different places, see new sites and when you live on an island you’re restricted in both terms of time and money. Time because you have to travel according to the boat timetable and money because getting back and forth to the mainland for 3 people is a not insignificant cost. Put all these factors together with the problems we have had finding somewhere to settle and I’m sure you’ll understand our decision.
Not a great time maybe to add to the menagerie but Sean couldn’t resist this little one as we both wanted a female tabby. As we now have cats in every colour, perhaps it’s time to stop?

Powerless

Mon, 26 Apr 2010 06:04:46 +0000

Yesterday I was awakened by the high shrill sound of our UPS, indicating that the electricity was not working. As the relevant authorities had cut the power on Friday and Saturday as well this was not much of a surprise. I was surprised however when I checked the time and found it to be only 6.30am! Now I don’t know about you but I like to have a lie in on a Sunday morning to at least 8.30 – if I’m lucky! The thought of getting up and turning the UPS off and not being able to enjoy a cup of tea really didn’t appeal but then Junior got up and I had no choice but to get out of bed.
The power was off over the island whilst ‘essential works’ were being done and of course the promise it would be back on at 1.30pm meant that it came back on 2 hours after that! So we had to spend most of the day out, having lunch at ‘Kimata’ in town and then a drink at Bardon. I eventually got my cup of tea later in the evening and it was much appreciated.
Last Thursday, after taking junior to school, I received a phone call from another one of the mums to tell me that the teacher was on strike and I’d have to come back and collect junior. I duly turned round and went back to find that only some of the teachers were on strike and the other junior class was having lessons. It wasn’t only the lack of notice that annoyed me but the complete lack of organisation. It shouldn’t be up to some of the parents to ring around and inform other parents that their children need collecting from school, the school should have kept the children inside, especially the 6 year olds, until their parents could come and collect them. Junior informed me that if I didn’t come back for her she was going to walk down to the playground on the front and play until I came into town in the afternoon!
Whilst out walking the dogs the other day I came across this seemingly dead moth.

Junior found another one under the house – is it the time of year for them to die off? Answers on a postcard please

Customer disservice

Tue, 13 Apr 2010 07:46:35 +0000

In a previous post last October, I mentioned the opening of a Carrefour store on Skopelos, with a wider range of stock and sensible prices. Well, it didn’t take long to fail to live up to expectations! A visit on any day of the week will find the shelves half stocked or completely empty, whether due to lack of deliveries or slowness at refilling the spaces – who knows?
A couple of recent episodes have made my mind up that I won’t bother shopping there again. There are only two checkouts in the store and seldom are they open together. The other day there must have been a queue of at least eight people, all with trolleys or heavily laden baskets but still they only had the small checkout open with hardly any room for trolleys to get through. The other checkout was being used, but only to cash up! Some people gave up altogether and just left the shop and I can’t say I blame them. The second occasion was last week. I’d gone in with junior to get a few essentials (not that I found half of them!) and when I got to the till she scanned the things through, stopping when she got to the tinfoil and telling me as it wouldn’t scan I’d have to get another. I left junior by the till and traipsed off to get another tinfoil. On returning, she scanned it but it also failed to go through, whereupon she shrugged her shoulders, told me the computer wasn’t working and then placed the tinfoil behind her! We left the shop with me vowing never to go in again and heading straight for Supermarket Skopelos where you can always find what you’re looking for and they don’t have to rely on a computer to tell them the prices!
Now I’ve got that off my chest just a quick line to say that things may be looking up but I’m not going in to details until everything is settled

Happy Easter

Sun, 04 Apr 2010 18:04:21 +0000

Ahhh, a bottle of Peroni, the sun, the sea, the sand – that spells Easter to me. Before I relaxed to enjoy my beer I did assist the Easter Bunny in hiding his stash of mini eggs around the beach for Junior to find and I think she managed to find all of them, I didn’t actually count them before I started burying them. Oh well, if I missed one I’m sure some passing bird will enjoy a chocolate treat.

They were worth the effort it took to get them to Skopelos and even the Easter Bunny enjoyed a nibble.

Early Starts

Sat, 03 Apr 2010 19:50:18 +0000

It seems that the season has started earlier this year, probably due to the fact that Easter is upon us and as the weather is good, businesses have decided to open up earlier than usual and take advantage of the Easter holidaymakers. Certainly seems strange to have a choice of places to drink so early on in the year. Maybe some places will close temporarily after Easter but if the weather remains this good they may decide to remain open.

Even the lizards have been out enjoying a bit of sun.

Sunshine and Sand

Tue, 23 Mar 2010 19:25:46 +0000

No comment necessary

These flowers were also growing on the beach – so beautiful.

Small island times

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 08:51:07 +0000

The weather has certainly brightened up the past couple of days, and when the weather improves so do moods but I’m struggling not to become complacent and forget that we want to move!
I suppose people would look and think “how ideal, living on a small picturesque island, how relaxing and beautiful”, well yes and no. Skopelos is certainly beautiful and picturesque and we believed it would be ideal, a perfect place to raise Junior, where she would be happy and safe. Well she is happy but she also sees the limitations of living on an island – even at the tender age of six – and when she gets older, I think she’ll want to do more things, visit places and experience more than a small island can offer.
We want to drive through Europe this summer and junior wants to visit New York, both of which are doable, but factoring in getting over to the mainland first, increases both travelling time and cost. I guess island’s are for people who don’t really want to leave or have enough money for cost not to be a factor.
Whilst we are still here on Skopelos though, junior goes to an art class on Saturday mornings for a couple of hours and tomorrow they’re decorating eggs for Easter. Knowing that I’m vegan they’re weren’t sure how I’d feel about it, especially as junior saw how they blew the eggs out and declared she was not putting her lips on an egg. Sean said he’d blow the eggs out if I made him an omelette! Never having blown an egg, I looked it up on the internet and Sean’s interest was immediately caught when he read he could use a drill to puncture the egg. I gave him a sewing needle to use instead but being a man he insisted on using the drill – much to junior’s delight who shares his love of all things electrical. So now they’re sitting on the table waiting until tomorrow, although how many she manages to bring back in tact is anybody’s guess.

Another day……..another strike

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 08:42:21 +0000

As strikes seem to become a weekly occurrence in Greece, people abroad are always asking how things are and how bad it is. Well from the point of view of Skopelos it’s quite difficult to tell! Petrol has gone up again to €1.57 – I nearly crashed the car when I drove past the petrol station and saw that and I’m sure food will be going up as well, although it’s more expensive here than the mainland anyway. The strikes have affected the ferries and along with the weather which stopped the boats running the other day, the supermarkets have started to look a bit bare and in need of stock. I’ve heard that on the mainland, shops are closing down and bars are looking emptier but on Skopelos there’s a new taverna, an ouzerie being constructed, hotels being refurbished and houses being built. Is Skopelos recession proof? I don’t think so but it may take a little while longer until the majority of people on Skopelos realise.

Been a while…

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 18:17:37 +0000

…since the last post on this side of the blog but there are reasons. Firstly, and most importantly, I often have periods of lethargy in relation to writing, be it blogs, emails, letters or diary. A lot of this can be attributed to lack of me time due in no small part to the presence of Junior. Last week she was off school for two days due to a national strike and then a Skopelos holiday, this week she has yet to go to school due to a fever and loss of appetite. She appeared better today but I didn’t want to send her to school as she hadn’t been eating anything and was still feeling a little weak, however I have now fed her up and will be shipping her off bright and early in the morning Of course, when junior is ill, my life stops. It takes me back to being a child when all you really want when you feel rubbish is your mummy – hard on daddy I know but that’s generally how it goes. So I haven’t been out of the house since Sunday and I feel like a caterpillar preparing to break out of its chrysalis and talking of caterpillars (nicely led into I think), I took this photo the other day.

There were 25 of the little fellas and they all walked end to end for quite a distance until they came to a small puddle. Then they seemed to lose all sense of decorum and want scattering in all directions – quite fascinating to watch though.

Wonderings and Wanderings

Wed, 17 Feb 2010 09:11:00 +0000

I took the dogs for their walk this morning after dropping Junior at school and apparently no-one has mentioned to the people of Skopelos that Greece is in dire financial straits. From my short walk I spotted 4 houses currently under construction, add that to the other 2 or 3 I see when in the car on the way to the school and it would appear that Skopelos is in its own financial bubble. I really don’t know where people get their money from, the properties can’t all be for foreigners, and if they’re being built for tourism purposes, do they really think they can re-coup the expense when Greece (especially Skopelos) is no longer a cheap holiday destination for people from Europe and the US. It will be interesting to see how the tourist numbers stack up this year. Last year, although tourism was down all over Greece, it went up in Skopelos. However the majority of visitors were not here to spend, hence more people does not equate to more money.
Any visitor this year will be shocked at the price of fuel. It went up a few days ago from 1.29 a litre to 1.41! It’s a good job the island’s only small and there aren’t many places to go!
Sean is still in England but should start heading his way back sometime tomorrow, though God knows how long it will take him to reach Skopelos. He’s sent a few pictures from his travels so I’ll share them with you.
The first one is the back of Meteora taking whilst driving to Igoumenitsa

and yes he is still driving whilst taking that picture!
In Switzerland he stopped overnight with a friend and sent this picture to show Junior what a winter wonderland looks like.

Beautiful I’m sure you’ll agree.
The weather is warmer here and junior and I were at the beach (yet again) yesterday. How is it that she can never manage to play for long at home without wanting to involve me, but put her on a beach and she’ll happily run around, climbing and digging for hours?