Monday 2nd - Barely a cloud in the sky yesterday. Cold in the shade, very pleasant in the sun.

Locals have taken to recycling with great enthusiasm, now if only someone would pick up the bins. They're all full. Grapevine has it that it will happen soon. In Frikes the petitions to get a new jetty have been on going, but now the floating jetty has recently broken in two, there shouldn't be any excuses not to replace it with a safe mooring before next Season.

Vathy is noticably people free, even for a Monday morning.

Tuesday 3rd - The winter chill arrived exactly with the 1st of November and there seems to be no turning back now. It's the season for heating and coats. The streets are quiet and many of the businesses have closed their doors, even in Vathy. Ithaki is now on its' skeleton shift. A time you either love or hate. Personally I love the easy going nature of life right now, but there are many for whom the peace and quiet feels too restrictive, so they head off to where life throbs, regardless of the season..

Farmers and locals are all busy in their olive groves, picking the harvest. It's the primary occupation of nearly all the families on the island at this time of year. In many areas, the harvest seems to be very good, so we'll all be able to look forward to another year of our favourite olive oil.

Wednesday 4th - A huge storm front rolled over Greece yesterday spanning over 24 hours. Bucket loads of rain, high wind speeds and roaring thunder and lightning. Yes, the power did go out, but just for a few minutes. No great damage here on the island, but the horizontal rain did manage to find its way into even the most watertight of houses. On the Mainland and in the Peleponnese, there was damage from some major flooding and fallen trees etc. So, just when you think it's time to batton down the hatches, the next day rises with full sunshine. See pics below to compare my front door view of both days. (The patchy looking fog is actually rain blowing across the island)

Wednesday 11th - Not much else to talk about other than rain, and boy has it been raining, sometimes so hard and so much that you think the entire sky is emptying out over our little island. The roads are drenched, olive harvesting is halted and builders are on standby for the next sunny day. November is usually a bit early to suffer from cabin fever, but with continuous rain and storms passing over the island, we are mostly homebound.

Right - You really have to admire people who braved the downpours, thunder and lightning over the past week to continue with their olive harvest. Very brave. Lightning, trees and umbrellas.

The island is very sleepy right now. Not much happening anywhere. In Vathy life goes on as usual, but Kioni has all but closed down with only the mini market and Spavento Bar opening winter hours now.

Left - The sea churns in Afales bay in the north of the island.

Thursday 12th - Finally we have some good news on our weather horizon. The long term forecast tells us that rains will be clearing over the next couple of days and that next week, we'll be covered in mostly sunshine and blue skies again.

Above - Peter from Fiorendino Bar kicks back in the Vathy sunshine

Right - Lakis, one of the well known Frikes locals, gets busy picking his olives.

Sunday 15th - Already midway through November. Yesterday morning the skies were bluer than blue, but by the afternoon cloud began to cover the skies over Ithaki again. The temperatures however, are quite mild and very pleasant for this time of year.

Saturday 14th - The sun is back, but the streets are still empty. At this time of year it seems the majority have escaped the solitude of the island, the rest are mostly in the olive groves.

Below - Frikes is having a little maintenance. Each time it rains, the rain collects in huge puddles right outside Symposium Restaurant, flooding into Fiorendino Bar. It's probably about time a drainage system was put in place so that the rain flows under the road and into the sea. It was a surprise to see the main road closed for this work to be done.