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Last message from Greece – Albania beckons, farewell Spiros and White Fang

Tom Winnifrith
Tuesday 31 July 2012

My last missive from Greece for a while. One last swim in the pool. 10 minutes to pack and then I shall be leaving the hotel which has been my home for most of the past two weeks. It is farewell Spiros and White Fang and off to Albania.

I shall miss this hotel. Okay the internet is a bit flaky. But I have not lost at Pool when playing the staff, the frappes are fine and since I am anywhere between 33% and 100% of the guests at any one time I have an almost personal service. Everyone in Corfu is called Spiros (after Saint Spiros) but my Spiros will miss me more – I suspect – than the Spiros who changed my money or the numerous men called Spiros who served me Greek salads. Not only was I 33-100% of his customer base but I was also his source of cigarettes as he “gave up.” Now he might actually have to quit. For Spiros it is cold turkey and no customers.

I will not miss White Fang. Next door to this hotel overlooking the path up to it is a wolf. Spiros insists that it is a dog and has never harmed a soul. But three times (once at 3 am when there was no-one to rescue me) it has confronted me as I returned to my bed. Barking, snarling and flashing enormous white teeth dripping with Saliva, it has become something of a nightmare. I have now taken to walking an extra 400 yards (good for the figure) in order to return via a back entrance and so avoid White Fang. Of course I risk death on a dark road, made slippery by the failure of the State owned water company to repair a leaking pipe for 5 days (because Corfu has so much fresh water, right?) but anything is better than meeting White Fang.

I tried outsprinting the beast and almost managed it. I tried confronting it and shouting but clearly the wolf does not speak English. My threats and pleas were all Greek to it. And so I now avoid it in the most cowardly of ways. I shall not miss White Fang.

Last swim, 10 minutes to pack and I am off. I shall report in from the dynamic, low tax, growth economy that is Albania shortly.

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About Tom Winnifrith
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Tom Winnifrith is the editor of TomWinnifrith.com. When he is not harvesting olives in Greece, he is (planning to) raise goats in Wales.
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