Eggy,
You keep us very well informed about Arillas, and I am sure that when we read your posts, the majority of us wish we were there, on holiday. But you now live there.
We know that there are certain foods that you miss, but what else do you miss about being in the UK?
Maybe Mrs egg could answer as well.
TerryW
Terry - Maybe book tomorrow afternnon off work to read this.
Just sometimes I miss driving along a smooth open road and not worrying about holes, mopeds, quad bikes, coaches etc and very occassionally I'd like to see what it's like again to bomb along at 80 mph plus.
( I touched 95 kph once on the way to Corfu Town )
Supermarket shopping can be a problem for both of us until we learn some more Greek.
Items like :-
Flour - Now which is plain and which is self raising ??
Tinned tomatoes - Are these chopped or whole. No good going by the picture on the can.
Bleach - I bought home some bathroom cleaner the other day. The picture on the front showed a toilet & sink!!.
Meat - Mince beef is now " can I have beef for Moussaka.
( Diced beef is " Can I have beef for stiffado" )
We haven't managed yet to buy a pork or beef joint for roasting.
But the greek butchers are very patient people and why should they have to be fluent in English? - Are our butchers fluent in Greek?
We tend to point a lot and say can I have that please. Pork chops are excellant value!
Shopping for furniture is a major chore. You don't get the selection as in England and to get the choice as sold, by DFS, for example you have to visit 4/5 places.
One place this morning had 3 dining tables to choose from. The rest, plus chairs, had to be picked via a brochure. How do you buy 6 chairs if you can't try one?
Other occassional pangs:-
Drinking water from a tap.
Work - ( But only because of the team I worked with and the customers I dealt with )
A big difference now when you've spent every previous day of your life interacting with people from all walks of nature..
This is why I love to meet forum friends on holiday so there's a lot of thanks to a lot of people in order.
Indian take aways - But we've now found a place in Sidari ( Don't deliver though )
TV/Satellite. - To get Sky Sports and Movies here you need a giant dish. Cost about e1500 plus set up etc. Then you need a subscription. i don't miss TV as much as I thought I would, but for Mrs Egg? - She misses watching the news,sports results,real life documentaries etc.
The "goods" far outweigh the "bads". Once we've got a little more Greek under our belts we can go into Garages,shops,Butchers etc with much more confidence and then the "goods" will outweigh the "bads" even more.
But, the biggest thing I miss is - Not coming on holiday for 2 weeks twice a year!!!
We would stay in Arillas, go out for the evening,have a great meal,drink far too much and walk back to the appt. Can't do this now. Can't afford to eat out every night. When we do go out I have to drive home so have to moderate the Alcohol.
A bit like home really except here I'd probably fail the English breath test.
And now we can't go out tonight as I've had 3 Ouzos typing this !!! Plus lunchtimes retsina. So, as we're not going out it must be time for another.
Cheers
Negg
Terry just look what youve done! neil will be sitting up all night sharing his thoughts on just about anything!! Ha.ha. I will have to save some of my usage allowance now!
Thanks eggy, that was a very interesting and thought provoking reply.
I haven't got time to comment much yet, as I am at work, but I will digest and reply later.
TerryW
Terry.
You realise I should have been putting shelves up this afternoon? - Good job I have a very understanding Wegg.
Eve
Don't forget - If you're 110% certain the 20% of you that wants to return is cut in half. - It's all Greek to me!!!!
Negg
If I was a shrink I could probably read so much into that Neil! Ha.ha. Are you trying to tell me something? giggle.giggle. Best wishes to you both.
Best get on with those shelves Eggy. You never know when a load of flat packs may turn up needing your attention!
Sandy
Shelves finished so here I am.poised,with cordless in one hand and hammer in another
Found a very nice "Carrefour" mini hypermarket in Corfu Town this morning. Both got terribly excited and filled trolly quite merrily.
Eve
A small percentage of me wanted to go home this morning. Took a wrong turning, the other side of Corfu Town and ended up, in Corfu Town. Not a good place to be at 12:30. Busy side streets, cars double parked, scooters overtaking on the inside with Wegg trying to get them with the passenger door as they flew past! Aaarghhhh.
But, home safe and sound, no dents in car, and underwear changed, and that small percentage has now been put back in the box waiting to, just peek out and, niggle at me in, maybe, a weeks time.
Who knows.
Negg
Eggy, you may not believe this, but I had no trouble with the tap water. Actually drinking it!
Lindy P
Don't rub it in.
Our tap water now comes via a 2000 litre tank. So the water sits in the tank until we use it. The tank is continually topped up from the mains. A bit like the water tank in your attic.
In the hot spells, we've been having,the cold water runs warm and we've had to put chlorine tablets in the tank to make sure of no bacteria build up.
The idea is that, should the water be off for a few days, we have a back up supply of 2000 litres to fall back on.
See Ya
Negg
Eggy,I only have bats in my attic! I`m glad you`re on top of your water etc. I`m glad you and Mrs Egg are ok, and did you find anything written on your car!!
i know he told me he misse the interaction !
Yer right there.
Something I thought I would miss though was TV/Sky. We've had the aerial and Sat Dish put up today at a cost of e290. I now need to rejoin Sky but I found the TV tonight an intrusion into what was left of the evening. How bizzarre is that??
Now I need to consider if a £40 plus monthly sub is worth it. I can think of a lot better things to do.
Drove back from Corfu Town tonight with an average speed of about 55 kph.
Tell Keith I still miss those straight smooth English roads and a more powerful car.
A 5 door hatch - What a luxury! - Electric windows - How spoilt is that?
Negg
Eggy, I can understand you feeling like that at the moment but remeber you may not be able to sit outside all night in the winter and I thought you wanted it for when Wegg's mum arrived. Give our love to Fran and everybody else. By the way folks the shelves wardrobes ect oo and even the railing look fantastic. Viv & Pete
Eggy,
There was an item on BBC news last about Brits who have moved to France. The French are now stopping all health care for any new Migrants. Tonight they will be seeing how Brits in Spain are getting on.
Do you get free health care in Corfu or do you have to pay Health insurance.
Hi eggy!
well no offence to anyone who may have a skoda but eggy im sorry to say even my mum has electric windows but the back are still diy ones. they must of skimpt out on giving your car electric windows. hannah
Terry
The best leaflet to have is an NI38 which is called "Social Security Abroad". This gives lots of information and contact details. We contacted the pension service who, while I was on the phone, checked that both of our NI contributions were up to date to the year ending April 2007. When this was confirmed we were told that we would be issued with form E106 which would entitle us to healthcare for 27 months after which we have to reapply. We have received these forms which are pre-completed which we now have to take to the IKA office in Corfu Town. I don't think healthcare is free, we have to pay what the Greeks would pay, but I think we or they can then reclaim the costs from the NHS. Hope this helps - Wendy
Terry
I always leave the really sensible replies to Wegg. She tells it better than me.
Oh No - Hannah !
My Red Peugeot 3 door, 1200 cc, with wind up windows,dodgy radiator and a bit of a noisy clutch is now classed as a Skoda.
The back windows are only on clips on this one.
Have a good day - Regards to Simmi.
Negg
well eggy its a fabia so made yours is a little better that mi mums. hows the weather to day hope its better than it is here?simmi says hi,trying to convince him to let us book for next year so i have something to look forward to,ill keep looking and bargain hunting but ill be back think we owe you a drink or two.hannah
S.B.L.G.
Weather today? - Whoa - Next stop "Arillas today" then.
( Skoda/Peugeot/Fiat - Hey! - car's a car - If it gets you there then no problem )
Does a Peugeot 1200 do 90mph? - Yet to find out.
Mental note made of drinks offer - Come back soon - Memory not that good.
Best wishes to all
Negg
Eat your heart out we are sitting here in our van all cosy with a glass in hand as you do! watching England beat Tonga at this moment in time 36 13. Australia next so no holding breath, just a lot of yelling at t.v. screen!!
That sounds pretty damm good to me Eve!
Negg
I miss being able to have a good moan or complain in Greek because I haven't learnt enough Greek to do that yet.
The E106 Story
Last week we went to the IKA office, in Corfu Town, to get our health insurance sorted. We took the E106 papers from England plus copies of Passports, plus copies of Residents permits. We each needed to complete a form but they also needed 2 recent passport photos. Didn't have these so home we went.
Today-Back to Corfu Town with completed forms plus 2 photos each.Well Done-U say Except guy in office says:-
" if you come back tomorrow afternoon we will have your health books ready "
We smile politely and leave - that's what we English do.
Anyway, We love going to Corfu Town twice in one week, don't we??
Negg
Never mind Eggy, just think of the ouzo's waiting for you at the Coconut when you get back!
Helen
We've got our health books now, but what the "Hels Bels" we do with them, who knows
Maybe we just record the times we're ill - Like a sort of illness record/diary that we can read/look back on in years to come and say things like:-
" i remember that week when you had cholic - Oh didn't it rain "????
Negg