tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3363994021440658232Sat, 27 Jun 2009 02:22:44 +0000Stories by an English expat about my often bizarre experiences of living in Greece and how I became a reluctant olive farmer.http://xerika.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.com (Xerika)Blogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3363994021440658232.post-4062934396086249301Tue, 12 Feb 2008 00:22:00 +00002008-08-22T21:44:23.847+03:00arrival in Greecegood thingscoffeecamper vanbad thingsweathersnowbaked beanscheddarUnlike the Eskimos, the Greeks don't have many words for snow. In fact, they have one - χιoνι (heeonee).Translated literally, it means: "Where the hell did all this white stuff come from?"So, my partner Penny and I left England in the snow and arrived in Greece in the χιoνι. That was nearly four years ago, when we nursed our heavily laden and rather elderly Volkswagen camper van all the way to http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheReluctantOliveFarmer/~3/Hb4abDscLBM/snow-going-back.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Xerika)7<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TheReluctantOliveFarmer/~4/Hb4abDscLBM" height="1" width="1"/>http://xerika.blogspot.com/2008/02/snow-going-back.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3363994021440658232.post-5991625631014950513Sun, 18 Nov 2007 18:54:00 +00002008-02-12T02:47:11.179+02:00romanticolive harvestdangerous sportIt is now four weeks, three days, sixteen hours and twenty-eight minutes until we begin this year's olive harvest. Not that I am wishing my life away counting down the time in eager anticipation until I can get out there with my olive-whacking stick. Oh no. Totally the opposite in fact.This will be the fourth season that my partner, Penny, and I have attacked our four hundred mature olive trees http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheReluctantOliveFarmer/~3/J0vaVVuB_Oo/why-i-dread-olive-harvest.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Xerika)6<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TheReluctantOliveFarmer/~4/J0vaVVuB_Oo" height="1" width="1"/>http://xerika.blogspot.com/2007/11/why-i-dread-olive-harvest.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3363994021440658232.post-1983804799465205124Tue, 06 Nov 2007 22:19:00 +00002008-02-12T02:51:18.245+02:00humourhumorexpatweatherGreeceBritish‘You’re very brave’ is a phrase that we heard from quite a few people when my partner, Penny, and I first announced that we were moving to Greece about four years ago. If the truth be told, I don’t think either of us have ever really understood why we were being ‘brave' exactly.Was it brave to sell up everything in England and travel 1,000 miles to Greece in an elderly VW camper van in the vague http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheReluctantOliveFarmer/~3/lZFa8LW3634/very-british-obsession_07.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Xerika)0<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TheReluctantOliveFarmer/~4/lZFa8LW3634" height="1" width="1"/>http://xerika.blogspot.com/2007/11/very-british-obsession_07.html