It’s been very quiet in Kefalonia just lately – the tourists have all gone back home, the islanders are getting into winter work mode and it’s all very peaceful and relaxed writes Shropshire expat Colin Dodd.

It’s been very quiet just lately, the tourists all gone back home, the islanders getting into winter work mode, olive picking, farm working etc. All very peaceful and mostly relaxed.

Blog: Hello everyone from the Ionian island of Kefalonia, in the same country as Athens for sure, but in the current financial crisis we seem to be in a different world. More on that later though.

Blog: Hello everybody from a very hot Kefalonia. It’s been between 80-90 over the last few weeks — great for holiday makers, but hell on earth for those who have to work. I’m very thankful that I’m retired and out of it, writes Shropshire ex-pat Colin Dodd.

Blog: They have done the easy bit, getting the austerity measures passed, that was never in doubt, the alternative was instant bankruptcy.

Blog: The problems are still with us.

Blog: I picked up the following information yesterday, and thought how strange it was, thought I would pass it on, sort of mini-blog.

Blog: Greece is in a mess. The ruling party, Pasok, is under heavy pressure to call an early election, which they WILL lose.

Blog: At midnight, as the clock chimes to welcome in Easter Sunday, the locals gather and hurl firecrackers at Skala church. Tradition has it that this will ward off evil spirits for the coming year, writes former Shropshire man Colin Dodd from his home on the Greek island of Kefalonia.

Blog: Ye Gods. I have just been subjected to a large dose of Greek bureaucracy, writes Colin Dodd, from Kefalonia.

Blog: Well, here we are, one third of the way through the winter break of the tourist season on the island of Kefalonia.

Former Shropshire man Colin Dodd writes about his life on the Greek island of Kefalonia where, with lorry drivers on strike, it’s not all sunshine. Far from it.

Blog: Well, here we are again. 11.30am on a September morning on the beautiful island of Kefalonia. The thermometer is nudging 30 already, oh the things I have to put up with.

Hello again, Shropshire, and welcome back to Kefalonia.

Blog: Ten years ago, Colin and Lynn Dodd swapped life in Wem, north Shropshire, for life in Valeriano, on the Greek island of Kefalonia.  Here, in the first of a new blog, Mr Dodd writes about their life in a land they have come to love.