The world from my window

And with the last day of carnival came music and dancing, games and singing all across the island. In Agios Magikades, the children got hold of the bell ropes, a man dressed as a cow helped grill the souvlaki, a complaint was made to the DJ when Turkish music wove its way around the plateia and, as daylight faded and turned into night, my very own Zorbas gave me my first Greek dance lesson. 'You have to feel the music,' he said. To dance is to live. A purist of the Corfiot dance, he took it all around the world. Joy of joys, he once performed at Sidmouth . He bowed to a greater skill, however, when he introduced us to a large, yellowing moustache trying its best to conceal the bulk of a smiling, elderly man called Nikos, whose English stretched to 'very good' and 'problem'. 'When he was younger,' Zorbas said. 'he could do the scissors.' 'Very good,' Nikos winked. 'Problem.' But it was a sedate and graceful dance in t...

In the UK, snow is falling on the Enchanted Village. Here in Agios Magikades we open our windows to sunshine coming up around the mountain. Our Sunday morning is broken by the the cockadoodledoo-ing of a dozen cockerels, whose yelling gives an aural perspective to the landscape.  That sets off the dogs (it sounds like hundreds of them), then the geese and then the turkeys.  And then the church bells, to a dreadful tune which even Hades, the god of the underworld, would not recognise. Later, the pigeons flap in the citrus trees, chainsaws buzz in the distance, wood is chopped and Mr Grigg prunes the palm. The streets are quiet in Corfu town and, despite the sunshine, the mistral wind brings a chill into the shadows.  Yesterday, we took a late Saturday afternoon stroll and soaked up our surroundings, enjoying quiet sightseeing out of the heat and the tourist season. That's about it. Love Maddie x