The new Town Hall

The new Town Hall building is now in L.Alexandras street, near my home.

The same building used to be the orphanage of the island, an institution that accommodated a great number of orphans, many years ago. Then they moved the kids to another place ( I suppose there were just a few orphans left at that time) and turned the building into offices. It housed the technical services of the island for some time, but the interior was in a real bad condition. It cried for renovation but it had to wait for a long time before the city council took any action.

Last year I witnessed a major renovation, at least on the exterior of the building. Now it is freshly painted and has got a new tiled roof. I have not visited the interior yet, but as far as I can judge from the new wooden windows, it will look great inside too.

Here's a picture I took the other day. The Town Hall is the oblong red building on the left.

Old mansions in the heart of the town

This old mansion belonged to Petsalis family. Mr Petsalis was the headmaster of the Commercial High School of Corfu (the school I attended in my teenage years), which unfortunately was demolished to make room for a new block of flats, and his wife was a teacher in the Gymnasium for girls of the town, located just a few meters away. The Gymnasium was later turned into the hotel named "Bella Venetia" which is very popular and cozy as it is in the centre of the town.

The mansion was donated to the Corfiots but it is still closed and has not been renovated yet. Around the building there is a huge garden surrounded by high walls, so no one really knows what the interior looks like. I wonder if this mansion will ever be used in any way before it crumbles down. Many people donate buildings but it takes ages to get them renovated and used.

Rain, rain and rain!

Today, the second of January, it's been raining since the night before. At noon though we had a nice dry spell that encouraged people to get out and do some shopping; not much, as only some local bakeries and mini markets were open. The chain supermarkets and the rest of the shops were all closed, even the pharmacies.

So it seems to have another day at home, resting or working at home, like me. Holidays are great to do a lot of things you can't do on normal weekdays, when you have to rush to the shops or pay bills. Speaking of bills, the post office was open as I got my electricity bill before noon. It will have to wait till next week though, as Monday is a semi holiday-the next day, the 6th of January is Fota (the Baptism of Jesus) and it is again, a holiday. On the 5th kids sing carols-but very few visit us anyway. Maybe because they don't really care to learn these carols or they are just not interested, since schools start the next day! Two weeks holidays are more than enough but the kids won't come back to reality without nagging.

Shopkeepers are looking forward to the after-holiday period. Guess why?
Sales will start!

Till next time, keep well...

(picture above: Anemomylos area, on a sunny winter day)