Corfu Diary Oct 2011 - Feeling the Love, Greek Style!

Days 1+2

Sophie booked us a romantic holiday in Corfu but it's proving to be quite challenging! It's really cold and windy here, we have extra blankets on our beds and have resorted in having the oven on to warm the apartment up - My Eco chick persona would be ashamed! We've debated taking the curtains down for extra warmth! Seeing the vapour from your breath when inside is never a good thing.

Last night we slept for 14 hours but thinking about it we may have just slipped into a hypothermical induced coma as its now mid afternoon and we are tired again!

Wondered into the town today (once we were brave enough to get out of bed)! Befriended a bar man who kept giving us free wine which was pretty awful and I powered through most of it but Sophie gave hers to a plant that physically shuddered as the wine hit its leaves!

Temperature has warmed up loads and I write this while sunbathing... who'd have thought after how cold it was earlier that we'd be in our bikinis now! Food is excellent though, maybe my affinity with cows comes from the fact that I too like to graze? Bring on the meze!


Days 3+4

We've found the owner of the apartment and are very excited about having yet another blanket and getting the AC remote so we can have some heating. There is a layer of frost outside and I'm not at all surprised as when we were walking home last night we could see our breath and I almost lost my toes to frostbite as flip flops in this weather are not ideal!

We had a very funny night, I wanted to go to what is billed as a 'Traditional Greek night' of fire dancing, Greek dancing and of course some plate smashing. We found a groovy looking taverna that advertised all these things and got a table right at the front. The two waiters were doing the dancing.... hysterically badly, and it was a painful display to watch... we did get to throw plates at him though although none hit him and put him out of his misery. I'm renown for chatting to anyone and everyone so when one of the 'dancers' came to take our order I asked if there was going to be any more dancing to which he replied saying they weren't planning too but they would do a special performance for us... epic fail on my part as we had to suffer it again and this time they kept winking at us all the way through. I don't think Sophie will ever forgive me for that.

From there we went to a bar to watch an awful singer but were given enough free shots to get us through... it is freezing at night and walking home was painful, we almost cried in delight when we opened the door to find the AC had warmed the room up! Sophie had rung up about changing flights and coming home early as it is so cold at night (I am way more hard core than her but I wasn't completely against the idea) but now we have heating we will be fine! Temp for the next few days is good so that'll get us throu'gh the cold nights.

They do trips to Albania from here and I'm really up for it but its -1degrees there and we don't really have the clothes for it... although we have a nice collection of blankets that we could take so let's wait and see.

We've not swum in the Canal d'Amour yet as we are weighing up the benefits of it helping us find true love vs how much more complicated that will be having lost body parts to hypothermia... tricky decision!

I'm enjoying a hectic afternoon laying in the sun before going into Corfu town later... its all good.


Days 5+6

We were growing to like the quiet, out of season vibe that is washing over Corfu, people are overly keen to serve us and we are getting discounts everywhere. Spent a couple of days chilling by the pool and eating lots which has been lurvley. Still have the heating up extra high in the evenings tho, no need for us to snuggle up together anymore!

Sophie and I went out for a v.romantic dinner the other night overlooking the Canal d'Amour... how cute are we! The waiter was v.letchy but gave us some free shots which is becoming the norm on both cases. The eve took a bizarre turn when a band turned up, the singer looked like Danny Devito I was convinced that the lead guitarist was wearing one of those sets made up of fake glasses, nose and tash sets that you can get in joke shops.

They played all the classic old rock songs but sung with a Greek accent.... nice.

There were a LOT of mullets in the bar you really should have seen them... Even a good looking guy had one and that was just strange.

We wondered home discussing the fact that we'd been out 3nights and hadn't yet received a marriage proposal from a Greek waiter when as if by magic we are yelled at by a guy and persuaded into a bar by the offer of free drinks. Apparently most people he yells at tell him to f off but as we are in our 30s and single we obviously have lower standards but did feel that we may have hit an all time low at that point but then I get a marriage proposal from one of the guys... not a waiter but a butcher who said he'd pay 180 Euros to keep me out here... that'll mark that low point I mentioned earlier!

On that note, I am quite ashamed of myself for excessively flirting with a guy selling some pictures that Sophie and I wanted in order to get a good price. The pic is of a couple kissing and I did actually say that the people in it looked like him and me... oh the shame! Did get 5 euros off but every time I look at the pic I get that slight feeling of nausea!

The next night we went for dinner at a bar that was having a Mowtown night and being a big fan of Disco Divas I was quite excited by it. Somehow we entered a quiz while having dinner there and the waiter (and Google) helped us. We made an awful joke in answer to one of the questions in the hope of an extra point that everyone thought was hysterical and suddenly we were very popular. The quiz question was 'what is Hallumi?' Our answer was 'what the cheese said when it looked in the mirror.' (FYI actually that has been voted the no.1 cheese joke in the world!). Turns out that between Sophie and I they could have asked about any cheese and we'd have a joke for it! It's a wonder why we are single!

So, we come 2nd in the quiz (even though Sophie spelt her name wrong on the quiz sheet) and won ourselves some more cocktails... just what we needed. We decide the beat the waiters at their own game and ended up taking over the bar and making our own cocktails, good work mefinks. The waiters were loving it and were cracking onto us as is the norm here.. they must really like us yer?! When we said to one of the waiters 'we bet you do this all the time' the reply we got was 'no, only about once a month'... and they say romance is dead!

We are quite shocked that some people actually believe that these guys actually like them! It's such a cliche to be chatted up by a Greek waiter that without it it would be like coming here and not eating feta (oh yes, there is a feta cheese joke in our repertoire.)

I got told by one of the waiters that I was beautiful but he had recently had a cornea transplant so that's another one for my list of tragic compliments!

Good job we are only here a week as we are running out of places to eat where we haven't hustled the waiters!

It's really stormy today, the lightening has come a bit late though as we were expecting it as we entered the monastery earlier... its 7.30pm and I'm hiding under 3 blankets with a bowl at the end of the bed catching the rain leaking through the ceiling!

Day 7

So the holiday comes to an end. Our last day is spent being reflective while we lazily wonder around the town, have lunch on the beach and come home for an afternoon nap before starting to pack up ready to fly home early tomorrow morning.

We headed into town for a last few cocktails while trying to dodge any more advances by Greek waiters.... only to get served by an Albanian one - we did not see that coming! More free shots followed and then we wondered off to have dinner. We aimed to go to another bar to catch an Elvis tribute but ran past it by accident while trying to avoid the Albanian. Defeated we came home which was probably wise as we had an early pick up to catch our flight home. But another stormy night kept us awake with the thunder and the sound of the rain dripping through the roof. When the alarm went off at 6am we weren't feeling very inspired to get up but the joy really hit when we we hit the light switch only to find out that we had no power... packing in the dark is quite tricky, thank God for the torch app on my phone! I was very relieved when I eventually got home and opened my suitcase not to find a Greek/Albanian waiter in there - phew!

We arrived back in the UK broken and exhausted but had an excellent time... although we do think that in conclusion we are safer going away with parental guidance!

Our next trip together is the 80s themed Bognor Weekender... uh oh!

Zoo Lates at London Zoo – Releasing my inner party animal!

An adults only party at London zoo after hours with alcohol and great food - what is not to love about that concept!

 

After having such a great time at this event last year we had our tickets purchased the minute an offer came up for them, I do love a bargain and it meant I had more money to spend on the amazing selection of food and drink that is available. They run every Friday night through June and July but often sell out if you don’t get in quick!

I do love a good costume but knowing that if you embrace the animal theme too much you become limited as to the areas you can go into as it scares some of the animals. The gorillas are especially offended by people in animal onsies…. Personally they scare me too to be honest! Subsequently we wore a bit of animal print and took some masks – I couldn’t go completely without a prop now could I!

 

 

 The Food Festival there is excellent, lots of free samples of interesting food washed down with wine samples. After indulging in some raclette (love cheese.... nom, nom, nom) and churros with chocolate dip we were ready to go and watch some of the animal talks starting off with the penguin enclosure. We then spent some time, armed with a few ciders, wondering around and checking out the new tiger territory, seeing the gorillas and wondering into African to play spot the difference with a zebra.

We got caught giggling at a group of lads who we overheard getting quite excited about going into the butterfly area (how alpha male of them) and subsequently they persuaded us to go with them. Just what you need on a hot night is to go into a very humid greenhouse type environment - that was a massive error and we quickly made our way out.

  

 
As the animals started to go to bed we hit the Merry-go-round (after a few ciders what could possibly go wrong!) and the Playroom that was filled with all sorts of great things to play with. There was Twister, giant Jenga, giant Connect 4 (Sophie wouldn't play with me as my reputation for being a bit of an expert was just too intimidating for her!). The most fun was to be had in the adult sized ball pen - a few people were back flipping into it but I barely managed to step in and out alive (it is not as easy as it looks) and I did feel like I was being sucked under like quicksand and had to call in Sophie to pull me out much to my own embarrassment!



I would highly recommend Zoo Lates, last year was great fun and this year was even better. I can't wait to see how it grows next year, I will definitely be back to find out.
 Their next event is a sponsored streak to raise awareness and money to protect the endangered Sumatran tiger - streak being the collective noun for tigers! Turns out that I’ve found the line that I won’t cross in terms of randomness… not as a runner or even a spectator! Good luck to everyone who is involved though! A great idea to support a great cause.

 

 

For more info check out
 http://www.zsl.org/zsl-london-zoo/whats-on/zoo-lates/

 

Pirate Day - Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me!

I was told by a friend the other day that he thinks that I am actually a Pirate and sometimes I dress up as a normal person. It is true that I have a summer and a winter pirate outfit but you’d be surprised at how often they come in handy! On the same day I was criticized by another friend for not taking my commitment to Pirates far enough as I hadn’t cut my leg off and replaced it with a peg leg – people are so fickle!

21^st July was Hastings Pirate Day – an annual event where the town dresses up and embraces all things Pirate. Being that I am originally from Hastings and still having family and friends there I often pop down to visit and Pirate Day is one of my favourite events to support. Last year we successfully beat the Guinness World Record  for the most people dressed as a Pirate in one place (which was then held by the Pirates of Penzance). Family and friends were roped in and dressed up and carrying two props as specified (when do you not have a 4ft inflatable parrot with you as well as an eye patch?!) we got herded into pens on the beach in the scorching (but lesser spotted) summer sun for the allocated 15 minutes for the count. Results came out that we almost doubled the previous record as we had 14,321 pirates!

No such excitement this year as we still hold the record so the day is focussed on just having fun. I made a slight error in getting there early and parking quite a way away from the action as the sun was shining and I thought a walk through the park would be nice but no-one else was in fancy dress so I was a lone girl in a costume looking very out of place. I got ‘ahoyed there’ by a couple of groups of guys and walked past another guy who was Popeye (although I don’t recall Popeye having his own face on his backpack)! Sometimes I’m accused of living in a parallel universe and it could be true!

I felt much better once I reached town and a lot more fellow Pirates were around. The crowds and their costumes are the event and no expense is spared in the dedication to the cause. The town puts on music and entertainment, the shops all get themed and there is no shortage of people selling tenuously Pirate linked goods. Even the helium balloon seller had a Spongebob Square Pants balloons that showed him wearing an eye patch! There was a skydive where the jumpers had the Jolly Roger flag flailing behind them while they came into land on the beach.

The town centre had some exciting swashbuckling action aboard the ship that was donated by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to celebrate our world record winning attempt from last year but the best part was the Pirates of the Caribbean themed area where there were more Captain Jack Sparrows than you could shake a hooked hand at. They were hilarious as they embraced the character and his mischievous ways, I did walk away with one of their phone numbers but only because you can hire him for events – nothing more sinister I promise! The Captain Jacks and his wenches were collecting donations (legitimately - not in Pirate style fashion!) for the ever so amazing Great Ormand Street Hospital.  

 

 I was very glad of my ‘summer’ Pirate outfit especially my tricorn as it kept the blazing sun off, Pirate day is always supported by the hot weather and I felt for those wearing more extravagant outfits but they did look amazing! Adults and kids all embraced the action and there was a lovely atmosphere where piracy type violence and crime was replaced with swashbucklingly high amounts of community spiritand good cheer.

Pirate Day was yet again an outstanding triumph, I caught up with friends and family while singing and dancing along to sea shanties “and all that without a single drop of rum!” as Captain Jack would say. And as I pack up my summer pirate outfit I know we are one day closer to getting out the winter one to join the Bonfire Processions as one of Eastbourne Bonfire Boys for the Sussex Bonfire Parades that kick off around Guy Fawkes time. I love East Sussex!

Punchdrunk presents The Drowned Man an immersive theatre experience

Some people like the comfort of familiarity but familiarity is not something that I am familiar with! My life has always taken twists and turns that I've not expected and maybe that is why I love all things random, and it is that randomness that makes me feel settled and secure.

Having heard about The Drowned Man in April courtesy of Time Out (my bible for all things quirky and different) I keenly booked tickets for the end of July a couple of weeks after it opens even though there is barely any information about what I was actually signing up for. It is being run in conjunction with the National Theatre and having seen ‘War Horse’ and ‘The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time’ that are currently running in the West End (and both utterly amazing) I trusted that it was going to be up to their usual standard. I love a bargain and am always on the hunt for a discount but I actually paid full price for a couple of tickets for this... and they weren't cheap so that goes to show how much it had peaked my interest!

Vague hints as to what it was all about got emailed to me over the next few months and about three weeks ago the exact location was announced... "A vast building next door to Paddington Station has been transformed into the forgotten world of Temple Studios, London’s legendary film powerhouse, making this promenade production their biggest to date." Oooh exciting!

A few days before the event I received another email stating the following..."The experience is a personal journey and you may find yourself separated from your group. There will be areas of darkness and confined space. Haze and strobe effects are used in this production. Audiences will wear a mask for the duration of the performance." Having read that I was feeling more nervous than excited... I hesitantly message my friend who is coming with me to let her know and rather than pulling out and running for safety she just replies with “Why?” which I answered with “Because it says so” followed by a smiley face that was sure to get her back feeling positive about it all… surely!  
So the day arrives and I’m really not sure what I have signed myself up for. We enter a massive building right next to Paddington Station (I was a little relieved that I’d not printed directions as I would have looked a right idiot getting a map out in order to cross a road to the studio door). We give in our bags and receive a note that describes two stories – one of a man cheating and getting killed and the other of the woman cheating and getting killed. We are then given our masks which are eerie looking and hide all your features so no expressions can be given away.

We are given an introduction in a lift by a very glamorous lady… told to explore but to keep silent throughout… the lift stopped and a few of us were kicked and the doors were closed before our eyes could adjust to the darkness. With no other option we set off to explore our surroundings. It was dark and spooky... doors get slammed behind you and you get locked in and out of areas... leaving you feeling lost and confused… You can quickly lose the people you are with and to go on your own individual journey is encouraged. There are staff hiding in corners to make sure everyone is okay but when you spot one lurking in the shadows they just make you more freaked out. I absolutely loved it!

It is set over 4 floors and the attention to detail in some of the rooms is fantastic, you even get to go ‘outside’ whilst still being inside. As you wonder you come across actors who you can sit next to or watch from afar and once they have completed their scenes they walk off and you can follow whoever you want... There were beautiful dancing and intensive arguing scenes as you’d expect from National Theatre acting and you find yourself being drawn closer to the actors and leaning over their shoulders to read notes and work out the clues that add to the story. It is like the actors can’t see that you are there as they carry on and push through you if you are in the way – I guess it is like being a ghost – not an experience that I am familiar with! I loved being immersed in it although I thought it would be a step too far to join a clown in eating a chocolate cake that smelt great. A couple of actors ended up getting naked but at a safe distance so that was a relief! As it comes to the end of the play more doors get locked and you somehow end up all gathering in the same place with all of the actors completing the final scenes. I found myself being gripped tightly by an actor during the final climax and as the applause started he pulled me up and we ran off together… he took me into a boudoir where he got really close to me took my mask off, went to kiss me but turned last minute to whisper in my ear “you're something special” before running off leaving me alone and having to navigate a load of dark tunnels to get out to the bar and find my friend and have a stiff drink! Awesome and possibly the most random thing I've ever done... well until next weeks adventure anyway… Silencio - a silent disco circus cabaret!

For more info on The Drowned Man check out: http://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/shows/the-drowned-man-a-hollywood-fable