Above - Frikes pier was churning with big swells and chops yesterday.

Just a quick update for today. This morning it looked overcast, but it wasn't actually very bad, but by mid afternoon, the snow began to fall on all the mountains around us. Exoghi and Anoghi both had snow covering the villages. It's actually quite beautiful. Unfortunately it was too wet to take the camera out so I took these out of my window. In Exoghi the snow is even on the rooftops of the houses in the lower village. Needless to say, it's very cold. Let's hope the electricity stays on... Just as I was typing, it went out, but came back on instantly. Phew!

Thursday 2nd - No more snow overnight. By midday, yesterdays' snow had all but melted, leaving only a few patches here and there in Anoghi. The island was however covered in very low cloud and fog for most of the morning, making Anoghi the perfect place to go for a little spooky atmosphere. Below - Anoghi to and from.

Heavy thunderstorms and wind overnight last night. everything still seems to be in its right place today however.

Left - Exoghi, completely covered in cloud. All the snow had melted, but who knows what will happen today. With only 3C degrees in Anoghi, it's possible it could snow again later today.

Saturday 4th - Strong southerly winds have pushed the temperature up today, and just in time too. During the night the electricity started to go on and off until 10am, when it decided to stay off for a couple of hours. When you ring up the central office, you get "There's no problem" then, "There's a problem, but we don't know where it is" then, "We have no idea when it will come back on again." Luckily we didn't have freezing temperuatures. It's absolutely pouring down now and the thunder is getting closer and closer.

Left - The Kefalonia Straight was beginning to rough up this morning, now it's absolutely heaving. Above - Even Vathy bay is churning.

When you live in an all electric house and there's no electricity, what do you do? Well, you get in the car, turn on the heater and go for a drive. Left - Vathy, although drenched, was quite busy on this Saturday morning. Seems there are quite a few more people around with everyone back from their winter sojourns.

Thursday 9th - Winds, rain, snow, power outs, grey skies and after a couple of days in the mid teens, we're back to single numbers. Frikes had a big clean up after winds washed alot of the bay floor onto the promenade, the local wooden jetty had also been demolished by the rush of the waves. Heavy rains all over Greece saw landslides on the freeway between Patras and Athens and a few minor floodings in older houses here on the island. A few days back, verytime the wind blew, the power went out. On and off, on and off for hours. Ended up having to turn off the main switch so we wouldn't lose more electric appliances. Kefalonia office had its phone off the hook and the head office call guy hung up the phone everytime we did manage to get through. The only person that was of any help was one of our local DEH linesman who informed us that the fault was in Kefalonia. The call guy at the head office should be hawled over the coals by someone. It's not as if he's out fixing the fault, all he has to do is answer the phone, be polite and informative and helpful, but this guy was rude and answering calls had obviously overtaxed him physically. Something worth considering when next they call out for support to save their jobs, wages and pensions. This guy as far as I'm concerned, shouldn't be collecting a pay packet at all and should be in the front line for dismissals. Anyway, as you can see there is snow on the mountains across the seas all around us. Left - Mainland is absolutely white. Below Left - Lefkada also has a fair share of white tops. Below - The back streets in Vathy are undergoing works to fix the drainage. It's taking some time. Works started well before Christmas.

Above - Dimo, my favourite drummer on Ithaca. As there isn't much demand for great drummers, he also works for the Council.

Since the tents have been taken down in Vathy, so few people sit at the village square anymore. It's actually quite sad. The cafenion set gave our capital town some life. Wonder what will happen in the summer. People will no doubt be searching out the shadey spots.

Left - This truck just outside of Stavros in the north of Ithaki, is being used as a garbage dumping place. Seems it's so full now all the guck is dripping out onto the road. Some of the fluid looks like oil, whether that's from the truck or from the contents isn't obvious. Nevertheless, it's not a pretty sight.

February 2012 >> Page 1 2