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January 2012
- Tuesday 31st:
This is a montage of pictures from today outside Villa Aliki.
The snow has continued during the day and around midday we put a thermometer outside which registered around -3 C out of the direct wind.
- Monday 30th:
The snow turned to ice overnight although the wind eased but started to pick up again during the day.
Tassie discovered snowballs for the first time today.
The church bells were ringing out this morning just before 9am. The bells were tolling ding - ding - ding - dong which is most unlike any of the other bell rings that we hear. According to our calendar today is Ton Trion Ierarhon.
The snow hit the island today and we woke up to a covering of snow on the car. During the day we have suffered freezing cold gale force winds and driving snow.
Our medical correspondent Voulla Georgiou reports that blood testing is available and if you want to have some tests done you need to go to the medical center around 8.30am without having had any food or drinks that morning.
- Sunday 29th:
Our number 15 won the first 'Not the 100 Club' draw of the year which took place at the Alkyon Bar in Patitiri straight after the Carnival meeting.
The ferry came along to Alonissos but didn't even bother to enter the harbour and just simply turned around and went back to Skopelos. This means the next opportunity for vehicles to get in and out of Alonissos is Thursday.
- Ten people turned up at the Alkyon Bar for the Carnival meeting. Various ideas were discussed including Grease, Halloween, Myths & Legends and Shrek and the decision was to go with Shrek as the Carnival theme this year.
- Saturday 28th:
Gerry had a bad cold recently we didn't get to the Barefoot Blues gig on Saturday night but our music correspondent Tony Larcombe reported that all the tables in Taveran Panselinos were full and that the boys, including Statocaster (cheap rubbish Chinese copy) Pete played an excellent set which went down really well.
- Don't Forget: There will be a meeting to discuss Carnival themes on Sunday 29th January at midday in the Alkyon Bar before the 'Not the 100 Club' draw at the Avra Bar in Patitiri at 1pm.
- Reminder: Barefoot Blues playing live at Taverna Panselinos from around 9pm tomorow Saturday 28th.
- The Skiathos National weather site is currently predicting snow to see in the new month of February with freezing temperatures and possibly down to -9 C in the wind on the night of Friday 3rd.
- Friday morning and it rained heavily overnight but thankfully the high winds of yesterday evening have abated. The forecast for the week looks cloudy and rainy with winds from the north east.
- There are rumours that the Medical Centre will shortly have a new phlebotomist starting but no one is sure of the date or the level of blood test service that will be provided.
- Eight people turned up at Taverna Panselinos yesterday for the Games afternoon. One table played Cribbage and the other table of ladies sat and chewed the fat over a couple of glasses of wine. Yorgos' back has evidently cleared up but he has now sprained his ankle.
- Advance Notice: Everyone welcome on Friday 3rd February to Taverna Panselinos in the Old Village where the Fun(d) Raising Group are holding a pre-Valentines day mini quiz from 7pm with Barefoot Blues playing from 9pm. As usual there will be a raffle and bottles of wine for the winning team! Entry of 5 euros per person will be welcomed, with all profits being donated to animal welfare and other local causes.
- Thursday and the wind has picked up and is due to be quite windy over the weekend and into next week.
- Please Note: There will be a meeting to discuss Carnival themes on Sunday 29th January at midday in the Alkyon Bar before the 'Not the 100 Club' draw at the Avra Bar in Patitiri at 1pm.
- Reminder: Games afternoon at Taverna Panselinos in the Old Village on Thursday 26th from 4pm. Everyone welcome.
- Our sterna is filling up with water so it appears that the busted pump at Yialia beach has been sorted out and normal water services have been resumed.
- Although the next few days appear to be breezy with the return of the cold mainly north winds the first almond blossom is out.
- The past couple of days have been very pleasant but today Tuesday the rain has returned but the winds have dropped and the temperature is not cold at the moment.
- We had an absolute blast last night at Taverna Panselinos with Barefoot Blues and Stratocaster Pete playing a great set for over 4 hours from around 9pm. Despite the high winds the place was packed with non-Greeks and Greeks who enjoyed a great evening of music. We got to bed around 2am after a brilliant night and we look forward to next Saturday.
- We understand that the Cave Bar may be opening soon as apparently Patty will be back on the island sooner rather than later.
- The winds have cleared the air here and the night skies are awash with stars and during the day we can see all the snow covered mountains on Evia and even mountains on the mainland behind Evia.
- The weather is really weird at the moment with the winds changing between cold northerly and warmer southerly and going between almost still to blowing a gale. The Old Village was absolutely blasted by the winds last night when we went up for the Barefoot Blues gig at Taverna Panselinos
- Don't Forget: Barefoot Blues are playing live at Taverna Panselinos tonight Saturday 21st from around 9pm. There is a special guest playing tonight in the shape of Peter the Stratocaster man.
- Advance Notice: This month's 'Not the 100 Club' draw will be taking place at the AVRA Bar in Patitiri on Sunday 29th January. We will meet up for drinks at around 12.30pm, with the draw taking place at 1pm as usual. For those of you who haven't yet paid, the 15 euros per number is due this month please.
- Andi is opening the Helios Bar bistro on Tuesday 24th so head on down in the evening for good food and a lovely atmosphere.
- Yesterday Friday was an absolutely glorious day with warm weather and sunshine.
- Eight people turned up at Taverna Panselinos on Thursday for the Games afternoon. One table played Cribbage and we played Rummikub with Jan and Rene. Having taught us the game last week Rene took the gloves off this week and won every single game.
- Reminder: Barefoot Blues playing live at Taverna Panselinos from around 9pm Saturday 21st.
- Tomorrow Friday 20th FAT Club at 11am at Nicky and Chris' house in Patitiri.
- Thursday is change day with the weather and it looks like the bitterly cold northerly winds are being replaced by warmer southerly winds with an estranged yellow thing reappearing back in the sky after days of grey cloud.
- Thursday morning and we had a power outage in the Old Village from around 8.15am that lasted until exactly 2pm in the afternoon. The electric company DEH are putting in new electric poles in and around the Old Village.
- Patty is away for a couple of weeks so the Cave Bar in Patitiri is closed until she starts work again.
- Reminder: Games afternoon at Taverna Panselinos in the Old Village on Thursday 19th from 4pm. Everyone welcome.
- Wednesday 18th early morning and the high winds of the last couple of days have died away and taken away the freezing cold temperatures that have reduced the air temperatures recently to below zero.
- Apparently the pump at Yialia Beach that feeds water to the island has broken down and is kaput. We understand that a new pump is or has been delivered to the island and normal water services will be resumed in due course once the pump has been installed.
- Barefoot Blues are playing live at Taverna Panselinos from around 9pm on Saturday 21st and Saturday 28th January.
- The Steni Vala Sunday Luncheon Club met at the 4 Seasons hotel in Steni Vala around 1pm today Sunday 15th. Nine people enjoyed a pre-lunch drink and a chat before sitting down to eat. We shared 5 starters and 7 main courses from the menu and the food cooked by chef Nikos was excellent as usual. The next get together will be advertised in due course.
- Barefoot Blues played an excellent set at Taverna Panselinos in the Old Village last night, starting after 9pm and not finishing until well after midnight. A good sized crowd turned up on a dry but blustery night to be wonderfully entertained to some old favourites along with some new numbers. The crowd joined in with some additional singing and a few people got up and danced. We look forward to the next gig on Saturday 21st from around 9pm.
- Don't Forget: Barefoot Blues are playing tonight Saturday 14th at Taverna Panselinos from around 9pm.
- Reminder: Tomorrow Sunday 15th January is the next meeting of the Steni Vala Sunday Luncheon Club (SVSLC) at the 4 Seasons hotel in Steni Vala around 1pm. Everyone welcome.
- As we are around the middle of January already, we hope that Andy will be opening the Helios Bar soon so we can all enjoy some of his excellent cooking.
- Friday 13th today and although Dave is not superstitious when he turned the laptop on this morning it failed to start and had to run the repair programme to get it working!!
- Nine people turned up at Taverna Panselinos yesterday for the Games afternoon. One table played Cribbage and we played Uno and learnt a new card game Queens and Rene taught us the rudiments of Rummikub which is a fascinating numbers game which we've seen Yorgos playing in Panselinos.
- The First Aid Awareness course due to start on Monday 16th has been put off until later in the year due to lack of numbers wanting to do the course.
- Thursday 12th and the wind and rain have stopped and around midday the sun deigned to shine for a while, hopefully signalling the return of some decent weather.
- Reminder: Games afternoon at Taverna Panselinos in the Old Village on Thursday 12th from 4pm. Everyone welcome.
- Advance Notice: The next meeting of the Steni Vala Sunday Luncheon Club (SVSLC) is Sunday 15th January at the 4 Seasons hotel in Steni Vala around 1pm. Everyone welcome who enjoys good food and good company in lovely surroungings.
- Tuesday has turned out to be another horrible day with loads of cloud, cold northerly winds and plenty of rain.
- As you can see from these pictures Tassie is obviously not yet comfortable in her new home!!
- Monday has been very strange weather-wise. We had clear blue skies and strong sun changing to torrential rain and a complete grey out with the winds varying from almost nothing to a howling gale.
- Sunday 8th and the rain has turned into an occasional drizzle but the wind is still blowing a hooley, however the ferry managed to dock today.
- Barefoot Blues played an excellent live set with many new songs to a very small but highly appreciative audience who braved the wind and the rain to get to Taverna Panselinos last night. Such a shame that so few people bothered to come out and listen to such good live music. If we don't support these gigs we may eventully lose them and this will be a great loss to the social life on Alonissos. You know what they say "use it or lose it".
- Saturday 7th and the wind blew and gusted during the night and into the day today. The rain has been mainly drizzly but the wind direction has changed to northerly and the temperature has dropped accordingly.
- The Blessing of the Water ceremony for Epiphany took place in Patitiri today from around 10.30am with three boys jumping into the water in the port to get the cross. After the ceremony had finished around 11am the wind direction changed and the water in the harbour became very choppy and started to break over the harbour wall.
- Friday 6th and Epiphany celebration in Greece and the wind picked up overnight as predicted. However, the wind is from a generally southerly direction so although blowing hard the wind is quite warm. Mid afternoon and the rain has started. Tomorrow looks a quite unpleasant day with hight winds and rain for most of the day. Let's hope the meteorologists are wrong.
- The next meeting of the Steni Vala Sunday Luncheon Club (SVSLC) is planned for Sunday 15th January at the 4 Seasons hotel in Steni Vala around 1pm. Everyone welcome who enjoys good food and good company in lovely surroungings.
- The Games afternoon took place at Taverna Panselinos yesterday from 4pm with eight people attending and playing Uno and being reintroduced to the card game 7's. Next Games afternoon is Thursday 12th at Taverna Panselinos from 4pm. Everyone welcome.
- Barefoot Blues will be playing at Taverna Panselinos on Saturday 7th from around 9pm.
- Wednesday has turned out to be yet another glorious day but according to the Greek TV weather yesterday this could be the calm before the storm. Winds between 8 - 10 Beaufort are forecast for Friday through Saturday with heavy periods of rain.
- We met Andy in Patitiri today Tuesday 3rd and he said that the Helios Bar, despite rumours to the contrary, will be open as normal Tuesday to Sunday from around the middle of January.
- Tuesday 3rd has been another lovely warm day with blue cloudless skies and an abundance of sun. For the second day running we took the dogs Chryssi Milia beach to let them run around to their heart's content.
- If you are traveling to Alonissos on Friday 6th please be careful as openseas.gr are showing no departures between Alonissos - Volos or Volos - Alonissos as Friday is Epiphany and a very important religious day in the Greek Orthodox calendar.
- At the moment the weather at the weekend looks absolutely abysmal with torrential rain and near gale force winds predicted for Friday night and most of Saturday.
- We went down to Patitiri this morning to do a bit of shopping only to find that even though it was Monday 2nd all the shops were closed except for the fag shop, the confectioners and the fish shop and the bars on the harbour front. At least those people who like a drink, a smoke, some seafood and cream cakes at 1 million calories a portion were well catered for today.
- Monday 2nd has been an absolutely glorious day with clear blue skies and plenty of sun. We went down to Chryssi Milia beach around 2.30pm to give the dogs a good run on the beach.
- Unfortunately the New Year's Day weather here is overcast, blustery and rainy so we didn't get down to Chryssi Milia beach around midday to give the dogs a run and have a drink and some nibbles.
- We had a wonderful time seeing in the New Year at Taverna Panselinos in the Old Village last night. All the taverna tables were booked for food and there was a very eclectic mix of Greeks and non-Greeks enjoying the evening together. There was a lovely atmosphere as LYNK (Lyn and Nik) started the evening's music around 10pm followed by Barefoot Blues (Chester and Chris) who played in the New Year with Auld Lang Syne. Yorgos had a cake blessed and cut by Papouli our retired priest just after midnight which was cut up and distributed to everyone in the taverna. We left around 2.30am as things were closing down after a lovely meal, great entertainment, a good sing along and wishing everyone Kali Hronia.
- Gerry's main present to Dave this year was a copy of Kostas Mavrikis' book "Alonissos and the Scattered Islands" which is proving to be the most fascinating insight into the history of Alonissos.
- Kalo mina (have a good month) to all our readers of Breaking News and visitors to our website.
- A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR to all our readers of Breaking News and visitors to our website.
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