March 2013 - Thursday 14th - Today the electricity was out for around 5 hours. It was bad luck that the temps had dropped and it was pouring down with rain most of the day. The wind howled across the western part of the island with Kefalonia Straight chopping up the waves. The fault must have been serious to have taken so long to fix, unfortunately the DEH office only gave us the standard "it will be half an hour" line. Relief to have the toilet flushing again and the heating on.
Tonight at Mylos Creperie you can head along for a trashy 60's party. It will be lots of fun and dancing. Parties at Mylos are usually pretty good. On Saturday, Forkynas is having it's pre-Carnival party at the Mentor Hotel and on Sunday night, try to get along to the carnival party that the Philharmonic society is putting on, also at the Mentor Hotel in Vathy. The society has lots it's government funding, so it's more important than ever to get along and support it. So many children have free music lessons with the philharmonic Society. It's something worth holding onto.
Left - Kioni Bay looking very gothic under a threatening sky which let loose just as I clicked the shutter on.
Friday 15th - What wild, wild, WILD weather overnight! The loudest winds and rain I've ever heard in my life. Everything was roaring, shaking and cracking under the storm. It hasn't completely fined up, but there are some spots of sunshine today, although it's quite cold.
After all the hype of the Kefalonia ferry coming back on line, it's with deep regret that I have to inform you that the ferry did not secure its license, and it's with further regret that we now hear that even if it had got its license, it was not going to be servicing Ithaca at all. I think in future, Kefalonian news services need to get their facts straight before publishing so-called news. We may be a small island compared to the big sister Kefalonia, but we are not chumps.
What we will be however, is in some dire need of good transportation over the summer months at least, if we're not to lose out on the much needed tourism.
Ithacans are tough, but the tough skin can only be stretched so far before it rips and tears. I'd like to see smiles on everyone's faces again instead of wrinkled worry.
Saturday 16th - Northern Ithacans are happy to be internet enabled again today after being offline for most of the day yesterday.
Tonight is one of the biggest parties of the year. Forkynas (Ithaki Theatre Group) are putting on their annual pre-carnival party at the Mentor Hotel in Vathy. It's usually a huge and colourful affair that if you're on the island, you won't want to miss out on. It looks like I may miss it because thanks to the wintery weather, my good fortune in not catching a bug, finally ended yesterday. Sitting around with wet hair in a power outage, probably didn't help. When the electricity goes out on Ithaca, everything stops working, including the water pump and hair dryer.
I was really hoping for some sunny warmth for this Carnival weekend, but it's not to be. We, along with much of Europe, have been flung back into winter in a bone chilling way these past few days. As you can see on photo left, there's more snow on Lefkada, our northern neighbour, and the rain (snow) is still coming down.
Sunday 17th - Vathy Carnival was a HUGE success. Lots of fun and the weather was just perfect. Sometimes things do actually go our way. With all the work that was put into the preparations for the Carnival, it would have been such a shame for it to be rained out. The skies were blue and the sun shone down on Ithaki for this special day.
There are 4 pages of photographs. To see them, CLICK HERE or on photograph Left.
Tonight the Philharmonic Orchestra puts on it's Carnival Party at the Mentor. Doors open 10pm. Get along if you can to help support it, as they've lost government funding and need a little help from us. Besides, it will be great fun!
Tomorrow is Clean Monday, traditionally all vegetarian meals and kite flying in Anoghi, then in Perahori at night, there's the annual Clean Monday dance at the community hall.
Monday 18th - The weather gods weren't very happy today, they've been raining on us since dawn. Unfortunately there were no outdoor picnics and kite flying on this year's Kathara Deftera day, but there were still some celebrations going on in Anoghi and in Kioni. In the lowlands the temperture was around 10 C degrees and on the mountain it dropped down to 5 C degrees. More wintery today than all of winter.
For more pics of Kathara Deftera in both Anoghi and in Kioni, CLICK HERE or on photograph left.
Tuesday 19th - Another unspectacular weather day, but the good news is that the closer we move to April, the more the weather will finally improve, getting us all back outside again and enjoying it.
Left - Rough seas wash in all the garbage we wash out. What goes around comes around. Will we ever learn?
Above - Kioni.
Left - Dusk, just south of Raxi/Mavrona.
Today must surely be a rest day for Ithacans. Every day/night this past week, there has been an event or party to attend. Greece is now into Lent.
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A Collection of ithacagreece.com photographs
made into virtual postcards for you to send
to your friends and loved ones.
Nothing can replace a real postcard
but this is a good second place when you
want the card to arrive before you do.
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mobile/cell phone. Covering many
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