The Greeks have an expression 'σιγά-σιγά', which sounds like 'siga-siga' and literally means 'slowly slowly'. This is the speed at which everything happens here in Corfu as we have been finding out over the past 5 weeks. And yes, that's how long we have been here! Our boxes arrived from England (some via Saudi Arabia) on the 20th June, mostly intact with a couple of minor breakages. We did discover that some of the items packed in Saudi appeared to have been deliberately defaced by Saudi Customs which was disappointing, but our main souvenirs were in our hold baggage so have arrived in perfect condition, good news. Nomad International Limited delivered ahead of schedule and we were very impressed with the service which brought our items overland (and sea) from the UK. We hired a Fiat Panda from Avis for 3 weeks so we could get started more easily and used the time to work out where many places are that we will need to redecorate the house. The locals have been exceptionally friendly in assisting - nothing has been too much trouble. Our main focus of effort has been the garden so far which was not far short of a jungle when we arrived. The newly-acquired Karcher jetwash has been in full time use in cleaning years of dirt from the walls, paths and stones around the house and garden. I am about 40% completed so far, but the areas cleaned are now receiving coats of white paint in selected areas which is making a massive improvement to the garden. Our neighbours have been very complimentary on progress so far and are very happy that the house and garden is no longer an eyesore in 'our' street! Inside the house, decoration is on the back burner at the moment. We are concentrating on getting the outside of the house waterproof before the Mediterranean Corfu Monsoon Season sets in during late September! Inside the house, we will be decorating from scratch and plan on building all of our own furniture, requiring access to a good timber yard that delivers; getting home ten sheets of 1.2 x 2.4 metre 18mm thick sheet ply is going to be difficult on the bike, or indeed, on the roof of any car! As at the moment, we have no car and are waiting for the end of the tourist season when the car rental companies sell off cars at some good prices. We have our contacts at the ready, the Avis contact being the sister of the owner of our local butcher, so perhaps a discount....or there again, perhaps not! Our kitchen has no cooker at the moment so we have recently upgraded our two small CampingGaz stoves to a single, twin burner unit on a larger bottle, situated on the veranda for outdoor cooking. We should be fine out here until at least October, weather permitting. This will give us time to design and rebuild the kitchen from scratch which is going to be a bit of a challenge to put it mildly. I'll add some photos to the Corfu Album here on the Blog later today showing progress so far in the garden. Living conditions at present are basic but more than manageable and not causing any problems at all. I am typing up this blog on the veranda, overlooking the red bougainvillea, apricot tree and the deep blue sea where I have been spending time with my Greek friends at the Achilleon Diving Center during last week, a topic for the next blog entry after a Greek salad for lunch I think :-)