Friday AM

I suppose 1.5 days of cloud/rain isn’t so bad. Could have been worse, couldn’t it?
The lady in the little shop said yesterday that they do really badly need rain.
Odd then, that hardly anyone seems to act to preserve water.
Every tap I’ve encountered so far just chucks water everywhere when you turn it on. Sprays straight, but also out the sides. Every tap in our apartment has the same problem.
I haven’t yet encountered a sink anywhere, with a plug for the plug hole. You just pour it straight down the drain.
I used a public toilet in Corfu Town this week two days running. Both times it had a tap running that I couldn’t get to switch off. Just constantly pouring water down the drain.
The grounds of our apartment has sprinklers dotted all around. There is no evidence of a hosepipe ban in force here. I haven’t seen a water butt anywhere.
Maybe because everyone drinks bottled water (or beer/fizzy drinks), water isn’t valued very highly?

It has now been raining for ages. The pathway outside has turned into a mini stream. Sadly, we’re out of milk. I had a great idea to run to the shop in sandals (broken), shorts, no socks, holding an umbrella.
My word that water was cold. Despite the umbrella.
The winds meant I got absolutely soaked, and some of those puddles were quite deep. Still, now We can have cereal and another cup of tea each. Totally worth it.

Later

The rain eased eventually, and we caught a bus to Corfu Town, to go and see the Mon Repos Estate.

That was the worst bus ride so far. Absolutely rammed with people, a smell of smoke (yet I couldn’t see anyone smoking), hardly any of the windows opened and the air conditioning was either broken, off, or it just didn’t have air conditioning. The other buses have all seemed to be much more cool/comfortable. This particular bus seemed to be Greek, whereas all the others have been German (complete with warning signs, max passengers labels, etc. in German). Also, almost all the taxis you see on the island are German. You can draw your own conclusions. There’s no shame in admitting the Germans are fantastic at making cars/buses.
We sat stationary for a while before we got there, because someone had parked their car in the middle of the road (blocking up the one way system), and gone off to have lunch with their child. As you do.

So what’s the Mon Repos Estate? It’s a house “built in 1824 as the home of the British Lord High Commissioner of the Ionians” and also “laid over 250 acres, the gardens bring together lavish Mediterranean shrubs and flowers, lawns and trees”. So it’s a nice old house and gardens, basically. And it’s also where Prince Phillip was born.
It’s slightly disappointing, of course. The house has a lot of reproduction stuff in it. In fact, it even makes a point of saying how one room is not an exact copy, but one done in the style of the era. Regardless, the historic information is quite interesting, when you consider the British improved the typical Corfu standard of water, sewage, developed lots of areas, built lots of things, set up a postal service, and more. Not much has been improved in the last 150-odd years since we did that, mind. (That’s a joke. Or is it?)
The garden splits into multiple directions, and whatever direction you follow, you end up at a dead-end locked gate. An RHS or National Trust property this is not. On the other hand, the gardens are free, and the house is only €3 admission.

Dodging the rain spots, we caught a nice German bus back to our apartment.

Something that has been puzzling us somewhat, now. What the hell are these things?

They’re about half way between tennis ball and football size. They appear to grow on trees around Corfu Town, and then fall to the ground.

My girlfriend tried cracking one open like a coconut, but it wouldn’t budge.
I was reluctant to go near one in case it was an insect nest or alien brain or something.

Any ideas? (Assuming anyone is still reading my babblings…if you were to start with.)

7:30pm
Off to dinner. 9 Muses. It’s a restaurant we went to on our first night here, and it was nice food, nice ambience, and they took credit card. Should be good again.

10:30pm
Dinner done. Very nice. Told one of the staff that their restaurant is very nice, and that they are better than the others as they have no wasps. He just laughed, but it’s true. No wasps have hassled me while I’ve been there.

And that’s pretty much the end of my time in Corfu.
I’ve got time for a tiny bit of relaxing, and after several buses and a plane, I’ll be back in Bristol. If anyone has been reading this, hope you found it mildly amusing/interesting/not deadly dull. If you did find it dull, I’ll probably do a summary when I get back, just covering a few more general things, then I’ll be back to blogging about other stuff again.