Weds 13 to Sat 16 June
Mary, who ran the drawing course for us, was holding a Summer Festival in Corfu town to raise funds for the Anglican church, so we decided to go. Jessica couldn't get time away from the restaurant, so only Amanda and Dave and I went. The car almost let us down, it had had an episode the previous week, leaking rusty radiator water into the gutter outside IGR. We towed it with Vinnie's help to Gregoris the Car Butcher on the bypass, and he fitted a new water pump and cylinder head gasket. (He always seems to fit a cylinder head gasket, whatever goes wrong with the car.) Anyway, the day before the Corfu trip, we were in Poros at the chicken feed shop, and it did it again. Dave says this is because he'd been ultra careful and checked it, but put an airlock in it through rushing. So he fixed it and the car seemed fine.
We drove to Igoumenitsa - lovely clear roads, the car happy, and Dave made it in 90mins, so we got the ferry an hour earlier than expected. We taxied to our taverna with rooms, belonging to a friend of Mary's and found it all very friendly and helpful, with good food. Takis Taverna in Kontokali. Mary and John came to eat with us the next night and we all had smoked trout - exceedingly yummy.
On Thursday we visited the Anglican church and saw the exhibition of local artists, some extremely good, then went on to the exhibition of Edward Lear drawings at the Asian Museum. Lear, who wrote 'The Owl and the Pussycat' among other things, spent a lot of time in the Ionian, drawing views for the administration. Lots of the places we knew, and could see how they'd changed. Good fun.
On Friday we had a very lazy day, sitting by the water in a little cafe, Dave watching and sleeping and wishing he had a fishing rod; me sketching the view; Amanda coming and going, doing a bit of shopping, staying for lunch, leaving around tea-time to get the ferry back for work on Sunday.
Dave and I stayed the extra day. Friday evening was a concert of Jazz and Pop in the church, but after the interval it conflicted with the England-Sweden football, so we went from one extreme to the other.
Back to the church on Saturday for a fund-raising day of cream teas, stands of local produce and crafts, and impromptu Blues. Dave settled down with homemade lemonade and enjoyed the music, I roamed around buying things and chatting.
One of the Blues players was Jim Potts, who has written a book about the cultural history of the Ionian. He used to be in the British Council so I mentioned my late uncle, John Press, and he not only knew of him, but thinks he's an under-respected poet of his generation, and has just written a paper discussing aspects of his work. Small world, I suppose. It felt for a moment like I'd touched on that eighteenth century idea of traveling, where everyone knows everyone else and family connections mean everything.
Mary, who ran the drawing course for us, was holding a Summer Festival in Corfu town to raise funds for the Anglican church, so we decided to go. Jessica couldn't get time away from the restaurant, so only Amanda and Dave and I went. The car almost let us down, it had had an episode the previous week, leaking rusty radiator water into the gutter outside IGR. We towed it with Vinnie's help to Gregoris the Car Butcher on the bypass, and he fitted a new water pump and cylinder head gasket. (He always seems to fit a cylinder head gasket, whatever goes wrong with the car.) Anyway, the day before the Corfu trip, we were in Poros at the chicken feed shop, and it did it again. Dave says this is because he'd been ultra careful and checked it, but put an airlock in it through rushing. So he fixed it and the car seemed fine.
We drove to Igoumenitsa - lovely clear roads, the car happy, and Dave made it in 90mins, so we got the ferry an hour earlier than expected. We taxied to our taverna with rooms, belonging to a friend of Mary's and found it all very friendly and helpful, with good food. Takis Taverna in Kontokali. Mary and John came to eat with us the next night and we all had smoked trout - exceedingly yummy.
On Thursday we visited the Anglican church and saw the exhibition of local artists, some extremely good, then went on to the exhibition of Edward Lear drawings at the Asian Museum. Lear, who wrote 'The Owl and the Pussycat' among other things, spent a lot of time in the Ionian, drawing views for the administration. Lots of the places we knew, and could see how they'd changed. Good fun.
On Friday we had a very lazy day, sitting by the water in a little cafe, Dave watching and sleeping and wishing he had a fishing rod; me sketching the view; Amanda coming and going, doing a bit of shopping, staying for lunch, leaving around tea-time to get the ferry back for work on Sunday.
Dave and I stayed the extra day. Friday evening was a concert of Jazz and Pop in the church, but after the interval it conflicted with the England-Sweden football, so we went from one extreme to the other.
Back to the church on Saturday for a fund-raising day of cream teas, stands of local produce and crafts, and impromptu Blues. Dave settled down with homemade lemonade and enjoyed the music, I roamed around buying things and chatting.
One of the Blues players was Jim Potts, who has written a book about the cultural history of the Ionian. He used to be in the British Council so I mentioned my late uncle, John Press, and he not only knew of him, but thinks he's an under-respected poet of his generation, and has just written a paper discussing aspects of his work. Small world, I suppose. It felt for a moment like I'd touched on that eighteenth century idea of traveling, where everyone knows everyone else and family connections mean everything.
Posh street in Corfu
The two views now in my sketchbook (approximately)
Dave at the museum
Mary's painting of the front of the Anglican church, where the festival was held
Jim Potts and Raoul, playing the blues
No comments:
Post a Comment