We sold our house, packed up everything we owned… and bought a one-way ticket to Corfu.
What could possibly go wrong?
Quite a lot, as it turns out.
The Corfu Diaries is the true story of escaping the UK for a new life on a Greek island — armed with little more than optimism, a fully loaded BMW, and a plan that relied heavily on things going smoothly.
They didn’t.
Within days:
The car broke down in Italy
Our schedule fell apart
And we realised we had absolutely no idea what we were doing
And that was just the beginning.
What followed was a chaotic, funny, and sometimes downright ridiculous journey into real island life — not the postcard version.
There were:
Villagers who adopted us (and fed us… constantly)
A dog who decided we belonged to him
Cats… lots of cats
A house renovation that tested our sanity
Storms, flooding, mould, and more “tomorrows” than we could count
And the small matter of living through lockdown in two different countries
Somehow, through all of it, we didn’t just survive — we found a life we never knew we wanted.
Told with humour, honesty, and a healthy dose of “what were we thinking?”, The Corfu Diaries is a story about taking a leap, getting it spectacularly wrong at times… and realising it was still the best decision you ever made.
If you’ve ever dreamed of moving abroad, read this first.
Picture witnessing a brutal murder through the killer’s eyes in your dreams. Then picture encountering the murderer in real life. Then picture discovering it’s the twin brother you never knew existed.
Bartholomew (Bart) Hodge worked as a college janitor in Boston, MA. He grew up in Roxbury, one of Boston’s poorer neighborhoods, raised by two dedicated parents who passed away several years before our story starts.
Bart wasn’t stupid, but he was a slow learner and attended a special school, something he was proud to tell others about when he got the chance, which wasn’t often. He lived alone with no family that he knew of, and nobody he could call a friend – apart from Jim and Ralph.
But these two only existed in Bart’s head, and had been doing so ever since he developed dissociative identity disorder. It was Jim who talked Bart into killing people, which started off as unplanned murders around the college campus, but this escalated into carefully planned, brutal killings. Ralph was his voice of reason. The one that pulled him back when Jim pushed too far.
Ronald Brody lived in Bar Harbor, Maine, but he was born and raised in Seattle. He enjoyed a privileged upbringing and, as a cybersecurity expert, led a comfortable life without major issues until he started experiencing nightmares. These vivid dreams involved him committing vicious attacks on women, mostly. They were so realistic that he woke up feeling as though he had actually committed the murders. Many times, he checked his clothing for blood stains and his fingernails for signs of a struggle.
This book explores the lives of twin brothers who grow up in separate families, neither knowing the other existed. The second-born, Bart, had a traumatic birth and was starved of oxygen for several minutes. As a result, the midwife informed the mother, Helen, that there may be brain damage.
Unable to cope with bringing up a disabled boy, Helen rejected the baby and put him up for adoption. Were Bart’s problems caused by the birth trauma, or did the rejection of his mother play a part in his later crimes? His adoptive parents gave him a loving home, but they could only afford the basics in life, so did growing up in the Projects have an effect on him?
The book also looks at how the law treats crimes committed by people who have no control over their actions, especially when it transpires that the twins share an identity, and both claim responsibility for the murders, despite being driven by ‘Jim’.
The year is 2090, and the Western world is ruled by a handful of transnational corporations (TNCs) that control everything from the food we eat to the drugs we take. Many people live in Smart Cities where travel and social activities are limited. Although free to go, most remain because the Dominion -the ruling body caters to their needs for all TNCs.
Governed by an unelected group of leaders from the most powerful corporations, known as the Directorate, society is strictly hierarchical, with lower-caste workers at the bottom. The middle caste comprises skilled workers and engineers—the critical thinkers who have become the most disillusioned. Many have left the Smart Cities to start their own society of dissidents.
Book one in this series of four tells the story of Lena Ashcroft, a surveillance officer who watches over the lower and middle castes and reports to the Directorate. Her life is good until one day, she intercepts a memo from higher up the chain telling her of a secret plan to release a pathogen to control the minds of the middle castes and make them more compliant.
Lena flees the city to find the dissident encampment, where their leader, known simply as the Oracle, will advise her on what to do.
Jonas Pierce, a high-ranking enforcer for the Dominion, is tasked with tracking down Lena and returning her to the city. Will he succeed in stopping the Dissidents, or will the Dominion crumble in the wake of rebellion?
Book Two: The Evangelists.
The Dominion has fallen, and the world has become a democracy once again. The President of the new Union is Maxim Falk, AKA The Oracle, brother of Joshua Falk, the former leader of the Dominion.
A group of religious people known as the Evangelists arrive, preaching the word of God and promising salvation against the impending doom to those who believe in Jesus as the son of God. However, they have a hidden agenda, which is to reintroduce Dominion ideology and overthrow the government.
Jonas and Lena join forces to keep the city safe from Dominion intervention, Jonas bringing in other religious leaders to reduce the influence of the Evangelists over an increasingly frustrated populace. Many of the former lower caste see no improvement in their lives despite now being free of any caste labels. As manual laborers, they are more important than ever to society, but they remain the poorest. The unrest in the city reaches boiling point when a representative of the workers, Francesca Jamerson, is seriously injured in a riot.
The Evangelists have close ties with a terrorist organization that has lain dormant for years—the TransNational Liberation Front (TNLF). This highly militarized group is funded by the transnationals involved in armaments and defense, specifically Blake Buckley, through one of his subsidiaries, Pantheon.
The Evangelist leader, known simply as the Preacher, is also a past Grand Master of the Order of the Sons of Ra, a cult-like brotherhood that meets in secret every two months in locations known only to its members. Together, these two factions become the biggest threat to humanity that the world has ever known.
Book Three: The Order
The Order of the Sons of Ra is a secret society, a brotherhood dating back to the ancient Egyptians, and its center is the Sun God, Ra. Its former members include royalty and the richest dynasties in modern history. These people historically claim to have direct lineage to the original sons of Ra—the pharaohs and kings of ancient Egypt.
It becomes apparent that the true sons of Ra were not what they thought, but rather descendants of an alien race—the Anunnaki, who came to Earth from a doomed planet and, through genetic engineering, created the first human beings from Neanderthal Man.
The ties between the Order, the Evangelists, and the transnational corporations become so intertwined it is almost impossible to separate them, but President Falk is determined to do so. With Francesca’s newfound ability to get into people’s minds, the president has his own secret weapon.
In this third book, we see the beginnings of a democracy reminiscent of the old days. The newly formed Union of Nations celebrates Christmas and holds its first Presidential Election, neither of which sits well with the Evangelists and the TNCs, and terrorism returns to the world after decades of comparative peace. Freedom always has a price.
Book Four: The Anunnaki
An artifact that disappeared in a plane crash in 1969 turns up in the Siera Nevada desert one hundred-twenty-five years later. It attracts attention from all corners of the world, in particular, two strangers to the town of Lone Pine. A man and a woman whose names appear on the manifest of the downed airplane but whose bodies were never found.
The artifact is a solid gold statue about twelve inches tall, inlaid with emeralds, in the shape of an Egyptian Ankh, a symbol of everlasting life. It was discovered by friends of Mateo Martinez, one of the government’s Counter-Intelligence team, and is now with him for safekeeping until the origin and actual owners can be established.
Mateo, having carried out extensive tests on the Ankh, makes a chilling discovery that, if made public, would turn science and religion upside down.
In book four, we encounter those who really are in control of the world. Not a secret society or a powerful transnat, but the Anunnaki. The Gods from the Sky, as the ancient Egyptians called them, but they’re not gods. They are an advanced race who managed to escape their planet, Anunigin, just hours before a cataclysmic collision with a giant asteroid that knocked it into an elliptical orbit billions of miles from the Sun.
Now, they need our help getting back as Anunigin passes through the solar system once again. But first, they must return the Ankh to its rightful place, and Francesca senses there is more to the golden artifact than eternal life. She senses the death of the human race.
With the summer temperatures in the northern hemisphere topping the 100°F (38°C) mark in many countries, I thought it appropriate to reissue my blog on heat stroke, first published on Baby Knows Best in July 2019.
This post was sparked by an article about a single mother in Canada whose 3-year-old child suffered heat stroke and died while sleeping in her bedroom. How could this have been avoided? Read on to find out.
Going on a Summer Holiday?
Often, heat stroke occurs at home, not when you’re on holiday. And it’s children, particularly babies, who are most at risk.
It is not just extreme temperatures that make this period critical but sustained high temperatures over several days. With little respite during the night, the body doesn’t get the chance to lower its temperature naturally, increasing the likelihood of heat exhaustion and heat stroke.
What is heat stroke?
When the body temperature reaches 104°F (40°C) and cannot cool down, you suffer from heat exhaustion, feeling nauseous and tired. This is very dangerous as it could lead to a heat stroke.
When heat stroke occurs, the body temperature can rise to 107°F (41.7°C) within 10 to 15 minutes. At this point, the body temperature control mechanism shuts down, causing major issues with the nervous system, resulting in brain damage and, ultimately, death.
But how do you see this in your child, who may be sleeping at the time? Children and babies cannot regulate their temperature naturally, so they are most at risk during extended periods of high temperature.
Keep your car cool
Symptoms
It is vitally important that you spot the symptoms and act quickly, as heat stroke can cause damage to the brain and other vital organs and can even result in death if not treated immediately. Here are some things to look for:
Redness in the skin
Heavy sweating
Irregular or heavy breathing
Increased heart rate
Goosebumps
Treatment
If you suspect your baby is suffering from heat stroke, you should:
If your baby is unresponsive, call an ambulance or get your baby to a hospital straight away
Remove any outer clothing and bed linen
Turn on a fan or air-con unit (should have been on in the first place if you have one!)
Immerse your baby in a cold-water bath
Use a wet towel to dampen the skin—pat, don’t rub
Concentrate on the back, neck, armpits, and groin areas—use ice packs if available
Check the body temperature to see if it is reducing
How to prevent heat stroke
Knowing how dangerous heat stroke is in babies and toddlers, prevention is better than any cure. Here are some tips for keeping your baby cool this summer:
Your baby needs plenty of fluids—water flavoured with lemon and other citrus fruits is good, but you can also give your baby watermelon, which has excellent nutritional value. Avoid icy drinks as these may cause stomach cramps.
Loose, lightweight clothing allows the skin to breathe, preventing overheating.
Playing in water is a fun way to cool down, but be sure to protect the skin from the powerful UV rays of the sun.
Stay in the shade as much as possible
A great way to give fruit to your baby
As an adult and a parent, you also need to be aware of the potential dangers of sitting out in the sun all day during long periods of sustained high temperatures. Take these extra precautions to avoid heat exhaustion:
Avoid alcohol during the day. This affects the body’s ability to regulate its temperature.
Caffeine makes you lose more fluids than you take in, so don’t overdo the coffee. Surprisingly, a single espresso has, on average, half the caffeine of a cup of Nescafe,
Take extra precautions if you are on medication such as diuretics, sedatives, or heart and blood pressure tablets. Ask your doctor if your meds increase the risk of heat exhaustion.
Avoid strenuous exercise in the afternoon when the temperature is at its highest
Monitor the Relative Humidity (RH) as well as temperature. Your body sweats to cool down, but when RH reaches 60% or more, you sweat less, which causes your body to overheat.
Remember, when you sweat, you lose salt, so you will need to replenish your salt levels as well. Sports drinks containing electrolytes are good for this.
Don’t forget the sunscreen! Use an SPF of 30 or more and apply regularly. If your skin burns, your body cannot cool down as fast.
Watermelon is great for getting nutritious fluids into your body
I hope you found this helpful and we at Baby Knows Best would like to wish you all a happy and safe summer.
We’ve just released my new addition to the Neon Requiem collection. I pulled together all my research notes from when I used to write articles for a Texan about hot tubs, and put them together in this handy, easy-to-read book.
Diane loves books, and when she’s not writing, she’s reading. We used to have thousands of paperbacks scattered around the house, but now it’s all on Kindle.
However, I still love to browse brick-and-mortar high street bookstores when I can, so I decided to create a virtual shop in which to showcase our books. So far we have seven titles, but Diane has two books nearing completion – more on that later – and I have a series of books planned, taking the Arcanum Legacy to the next level.
Feel free to step in and browse the books. Over time, I will feature books by other authors that Diane has encountered in her leisure time.
Most would agree that the world has gone mad, where you can be arrested for your thoughts, not just your words—the book 1984 springs to mind. The world seems divided between the pros and the antis; if you’re not for something, you must be against it. Those who want Britain to stay out of the European Union are anti-EU. If you choose not to be vaccinated against COVID-19, you’re anti-vax. Those who are pro-Trump are anti-democracy.
None of this is true. You can be pro-European and still want to remain a sovereign country. You can refuse the COVID vaccination but welcome the flu jab and can see voting for Trump as being a part of the democratic process.
If you feel frustrated by what is happening in the world, then you should read this book by Bernard Fryer.
Unlike most books on conspiracy theories, this deals with facts. Its extensive list of citations backing up statements is an excellent reference point for those wanting to know what and who are behind the changes we’ve seen over the last twenty years or more.
From the Pan-European Union to the World Economic Forum, The World’s Gone Mad explains who the actors are in this New World Order. This book covers everything from Coudenhove-Kalergi to Klaus Shwab, including the COVID-19 pandemic, climate emergency, and food crisis.
Fryer begins by explaining the fascinating theory of Black Swan events and how two such events in 2016 set us off on a roller coaster ride, which is still gathering speed. Those events were Brexit and Trump. Neither was meant to happen, but when they did, it shook the globalist establishment into immediate action.
Here is a list of some subjects covered:
The Coudenhove-Kalergi Plan
The New World Order
The Great Reset
Stakeholder capitalism
The Fourth Industrial Revolution
The WEF, the UN, and the WHO and how they are linked
Multi-stakeholder governance
Bio-engineered food, fake meat, and bugs
The depopulation agenda
COVID-19 and the vaccines
COVAX
Excess deaths post-COVID
The effects of lockdowns on businesses and individuals
The climate emergency and the IPCC’s response
Achieving net-zero
Renewable energy
Global dimming
Digital ID and the CBDC
But it’s not all doom and gloom. In the final chapter, Fryer explains what we can do to stop the globalists, the main thing being awareness. Knowing exactly what is going on is the first step – as Confucius once allegedly said, “Knowing what you know and what you do not know, that is true knowledge.” This book is packed with fascinating facts that will make the most skeptical of people stop and think.
It’s available in paperback or Kindle format. Click on the link below to order.
Halloween is a great time for kids to dress up and go Trick-or-Treating, but what is it all about? Well, Halloween is a shortened version of All Hallows Eve, which means the evening before All Hallows (or Saints) Day in the Christian calendar. However, the origins of Halloween as a night of celebration date back to medieval times with the Festival of Samhain, an ancient Celtic tradition when people would dress up to ward off evil spirits.
Halloween was introduced to America by Scottish immigrants in the early 1900s, and thus began the commercialization of the occasion. It died off somewhat in Britain and Europe, just as the celebration of All Saints Day on the 1st November became just another date on the calendar.
However, as with many things and mainly thanks to Hollywood, what happens in the States one year will happen in the UK the next (or in this case half a century later) and Europe inevitably follows.
Trick-or-Treating also has its origins in Medieval Britain, when the poor would beg for food and in return, they would pray for the dead on All Souls Day, which is the 2nd November. Again, this all but died off until it appeared in America in the 1920s when the Scottish tradition of “guising” was introduced. This was when children disguised themselves as something frightening (to reinforce the “Trick” or threat) and went from house to house demanding “Treats”, usually sweets or candy.
The decorating and placing of pumpkins outside the home may seem a very American thing to do, but again, this was brought over by Irish immigrants in the late 19th century.
Back in Ireland, they wouldn’t have used pumpkins though. It would most likely be a turnip or a potato, hollowed out and carved into a face.
A candle was placed inside to provide the light and they called it Jack O’Lantern (as in Jack-of-the-Lantern).
Nowadays, people are quite creative in their carving, turning it into quite an art form.
So, contrary to what many people think, Halloween, trick-or-treating, pumpkins and dressing up is very much a British and Irish tradition that was introduced to America by Scottish immigrants, and then taken on board again by the Brits in the late 80s. early 90s.
Although most jobs can be undertaken using hand-tools, there is no doubt that a bit of power makes a job quicker and easier. So, which power tools should you go for?
If you have a workshop, the possibilities are endless, however, if you only have a small part of a cupboard under the stairs to store your tools, you have to be a bit more selective in your choice. Here are our top 6 essential power tools for your DIY projects.
1. A Cordless Drill
This was included in the last blog post on essential tools, and I make no apologies for including it here once again. Whether you are putting up shelving or building a backyard shed, the job will seem so much easier with a cordless electric drill.
There are lots on the market so chose wisely. These are the key elements to look for.
Power. If you are drilling into concrete or brick, some drills will “die” on you part way through your first hole. You will need a drill with around 50Nm of torque and one with a spare battery so you always have one on charge.
Versatility. A drill with multiple settings, such as hammer, drill and screw, will give you just about everything you will need. A hammer setting to drill into concrete, a drill setting for wood, and a screw setting for, well, screws, obviously.
Variable speed. If your are going to be using the drill for different purposes, it is important that you can vary the speed to suit.
Cordless or plug-in? Most professionals these days go for cordless to avoid trailing leads everywhere. They are much safer on site, especially outdoors where you also have the weather to contend with.
Cordless electric drill
2. Electric Saw
These can be grouped into two types—hand-held or bench-mounted. Bench-mounted tools tend to be best suited for those with a workshop of some kind, although some benches can be folded for easy storage. You can find a good range of these and other electric saws on the SawingProws website.
Of the hand-held variety there are four types you might want to consider:
The reciprocating saw. This saw uses a push-pull action to cut through anything from wood to metal. They are heavy and you need two hands to operate it—more suited to demolition and cutting through dry-wall.
The jig-saw, for a fine cut and circular work. Ideal for cabinetry and for cutting out shapes.
The circular saw. This is a versatile woodcutter, good for cross cuts and rip cuts and it will also cut through plywood. The bench-mounted version is known as a miter saw which cuts in a downward motion making it more accurate but far less versatile.
The chain saw. This is a beast and is usually associated with cutting down trees and lopping off thick branches. However, with proper training and the right PPE, it can be a useful tool to have around.
You won’t need all of these, to begin with, but your choice will be governed by the types of project you may be undertaking.
3. Electric Screwdriver
Even though you may have a screwdriver setting on your power drill, it is always useful to have a dedicated electric screwdriver to hand. These are much smaller and easier to use than the drill but obviously, not as powerful. You can quickly change the heads as most simply push in and pull out.
Buy one with a short magnetic extension piece—this will hold the screw while you offer it up to the hole, enabling you to do some small jobs with one hand. Always use the correct bit for the screw, otherwise, you will strip the screw head, and gently squeeze the trigger to control the speed.
4. Planer
A planer is used to take off a skin of timber, the thickness depending on the setting, to reduce the size. It is usually applied to an edge rather than the flat surface, for example, to ease a door that won’t close properly.
Make sure you apply even pressure with each pass, otherwise you will take more off on one side than the other.
Warning: these things are extremely noisy so you may want to consider wearing ear protection. Also, think about others who might be in the vicinity.
5. Sander
A sander can be used to reduce the size of timber by small increments to ease a door for example, but the main use is to smooth down a surface. As such, they can be used over large areas such as a table-top or a door.
Mostly the choice is between an orbital sander or a palm sander. Orbital sanders, as the name suggests, are circular in shape and the sanding heads move in a circular motion. They are more aggressive in the way they sand down a surface than the palm sander, which is better for a fine finish.
Although these come with a bag to collect sawdust, a lot still gets into the air so you should wear a mask and goggles while working.
The other type you might come across is the belt sander, which uses a continuous strip of sandpaper to work the surface of any piece of wood. They are a heavy-duty option for sanding and leveling surfaces such as floorboards. Not something for the average DIY enthusiast, but ideal for a renovation project.
6. Rotary Multi-Tool Kit
I just thought I would throw this one in as a wildcard. Often referred to as a ‘Dremel’ – which is just the trade name of a popular make – this tool comes with many accessories including a flexible attachment that allows you to get into awkward spaces.
Some might regard this as one for specialist craftwork, but these kits work in all kinds of ways, like cutting through pipework in awkward areas, smoothing off rough edges on metalwork and removing paint splashes.
Safety First
Whenever you are planning a project, always remember the rules on Personal Protective Equipment. See my post on Essential Hand Tools for more.
