That was the social week that was… And that all rather put out my plans for a decent walk every day, I’ve only managed a few strolls in recent days. But at least I’ve done something and there are some general photos from out and about on Symi in January/February here today. If you want to see a real ‘out and about’ event you can see the video from Symi Art at YouTube which shows the 50th wedding anniversary party last weekend. Click Here.  I did some Symi searching on YouTube and found the most popular Symi video, or the one that comes up tops in a simple search, was titled Symi Boat Excursion, click here.  That should take regular visitors back to summer on Symi and should tempt anyone who has not been here to come over and take a day off from life by taking a boat trip around the island. Six and a half minutes of sheer escape. Wonderful.

The wind is up this morning, the sea is flecked with white and I can hear empty water bottles tumbling down the lane; I’ll go and pick them up in a while. The bells have been ringing for some time this morning, as they were yesterday, they started before it got light.

The Alarm Cat is coming on leaps and bounds, or rather hops and limps. Last night was the first time in two weeks that he was out of the house all night. That’s down to us. The first few days after his accident we let him stay in and even had the doors open so he could sleep wherever he wanted to. But once he discovered the bed at three in the morning he was confined to the sitting room, near his food and water. This seemed to suit everyone just fine for a while and there were a couple of mornings where I woke him up for a change. I was able to sneak up on him at 7.30 and meow loudly in his ear to see how he liked it. He’s deaf of course, so it didn’t work. But now he is back to his usual habits. In fact Friday night was probably the worst. I heard him ‘go off’ at four in the morning, I’d already been suffering a certain other person chatting away n Greek, in his sleep, shouting and at one point singing, so I was getting accustomed, that night, to being woken up. But I was in no mood to get up at four and sleep on the sofa with the cat, which is what I assumed he wanted, what they both wanted. So I dozed off again, until the Alarm Cat went off again at seven. But this time I decided it was time to give in and so I got up, went to the kitchen to feed him (as that is always the most important thing to do first in my daily routine), and there found the reason why he’d wanted to go out at four.

At least I can say his inside workings are back to normal and everything looks healthy enough in that department. But from now on it’s back to the usual routine of going out at night. He has plenty of places to sleep, in the shelter of the lobby downstairs for example, so he will be fine.

So, plans for things to do on Symi during March, which is just around the corner: Well, Neil is going o Rhodes later in the week, for opticians and things to do with the shop. We’re panning to redecorate it next weekend, there are some basic jobs to do around the house. Later in the month there will be the 25th March parade, I hope to get some walks in, a few friends have birthdays, and I have just started on another family history project, so that’s going to keep me tied to the computer for a while, again. (Any one in the Cosford area of Suffolk with access to parish registers?) Other than that, well I guess there is still time to enjoy the ‘winter mode’ before we start thinking seriously about summer hours, double shifts at the shop and so on. The Olive Tree is back to six day opening now that Harry is going back to school (his school takes February as a holiday but stays open the rest of the year, more or less). And so things tick over; like I said before, loads to do, no rush.