Blog: Ten years ago, Colin and Lynn Dodd swapped life in Wem, north Shropshire, for life in Valeriano, Kefalonia. Here, in a new column, Mr Dodd writes about daily life on the Greek island.

Travel on Kefalonia is – to put it mildly – archaic.

In winter there is one bus from Skala to the capital, Argostoli. It leaves Skala at 6am and returns at 2pm. But it does not run at the weekend. The main reason for this timetable is to allow the children attending school in Argostoli to come and go, and everybody else has to either adapt or take a taxi. But with a taxi costing around 50 euros, compared to three euros for the bus, it’s easy to see which people prefer.

So, with such poor public transport nearly everyone owns a car or a scooter or moped, a very popular form of transport here. There are hundreds of them about, although the roads are very poor, with few markings and a very cheap, poor surface offering little or no adhesion for vehicles.

There are also numerous potholes and the winter storms wash the edges of the roads away because there is no kerb to retain them.

The Greek version of the corner shop

Added to these hazards, the winter brings regular mudslides from the hills. Driving, especially at night, is interesting to say the least.

The speed limit on Kef is 60kph and often this is too fast because, natural hazards aside, Kef drivers are very nonchalant. They may or may not stop at junctions and they sometimes indicate when turning. Sometimes.

A couple of years ago some traffic lights were installed on the outskirts of Argostoli. They were the the first on the island and the result was hilarious.

The Greeks approached them with trepidation as they were not sure what they were meant to do. So they switched on their hazard lights and accelerated through. Chaos reigned for a while.

Your average Kef driver will think nothing about stopping and blocking the road while he sits and chats to his pal, car to car, even on a blind bend. We ex-pats just have to sit there till they’ve put the world right then carry on.

But I love it. It’s so different from the UK, where nobody seems to have a second to waste. Even the police here are so laid back as to be almost horizontal. Random stops for driving or vehicle faults just do not happen. Many vehicles here would be rejected from most UK scrap yards, but the police only seem to get involved if there is an accident.

Scootering around the island without crash helmets

Greek law, like English law, states that motorcyclists must wear crash helmets. This is fine in principle, but in practice it just does not happen. Stand on the street in Argostoli and watch 100 motorbikes go past; you may see 10 wearing helmets but the police do nothing. Again, it’s very different to the UK, although I’m not sure that, in this case, this is such a good idea.

Once you have some transport, there is plenty to see, such as Fiskardo, at the extreme north of the island. This was the only place to escape damage when the big quake hit in 1953 and it is still in its original state. It has a large harbour which accomodates the Lefkas ferry and in the summer is filled with ocean going yachts from all over the world. There are some amazing boats to be seen there but, as it is the most expensive resort on the island, it’s a place to visit while keeping spending to a minimum.

The rest of the island was all but destroyed in the quake and many people lost their lives. Few buildings were left standing, so today all  new developments are made with reinforced poured concrete to a maximum of three storeys.

We are on a fault line and we still get tremors from time to time. Some are quite strong, but there has been no damage to date. So far we have been lucky this summer in that we have had no fires. Every year we have fires as the island is tinder dry and a carelessly discarded cigarette end can give rise to a huge blaze.

The memorial to the pilot

Last year the pilot of one of the small fire fighting planes was tragically killed in Katelios. He had just dropped his load of fire retardant when he clipped a power line and lost control.

Somehow he managed to avoid a hotel, but he crashed in their yard. The plane exploded and the pilot lost his life. He was only a couple of years off retirement.

Fires are very difficult to control here due to the mountainous terrain and the near constant breeze.

At night they are unable to use aerial support and have to rely on the 4wd trucks and water bowsers to protect the houses while leaving the fire to run its course elsewhere.

The firemen, who are mostly part-time, do a marvellous job. Thanks to them, when fires break out very few dwellings are lost. But these part-time men are paid a pittance of around 800 euros per month in the summer. And to gain full-time status they have to work for nothing in the winter. It could only happen here.

But, to sum up, life is much more relaxed and, on the whole, it’s much cheaper than England. Having lived in both I can honestly say I would not return to the UK to live. The rules and regulations back home seem to be verging on the ridiculous now. It’s not for me.