I was just hanging around on the street corner, waiting for himself to come out of the shop, when I noticed the late afternoon light. The way it warmed the upper storeys of the houses, and caused long, out of perspective shadows on the walls. It highlighted the mismatch of solid buildings against the organic shape of the tree and brought into focus the straight lines of the electricity cables. These cables are everywhere on Symi, they have to be. I once heard talk of them going underground, but can you imagine the riot of upheaval that would cause?
Here’s the photo:
And now, here’s the same paragraph after being run through Crap GOP or whatever that AI thing is called. I have highlighted the parts I find particularly ridiculous.
I was loitering casually on the street corner, idly watching the world go by as I waited for him to emerge from the shop. It was late afternoon, that golden hour when the sun begins its slow descent, and suddenly I became aware of the way the light transformed everything around me. It spilled generously over the tops of the buildings, casting a warm, honeyed glow on the upper storeys, turning pale stone to soft amber. The sun’s low angle threw long, exaggerated shadows across the walls, bending perspective and making even the most familiar shapes appear strange and theatrical.
That contrast caught my eye—the heavy, man-made solidity of the old houses standing firm against the unruly silhouette of a nearby tree, its branches twisting upward with no regard for symmetry or structure. Overhead, the electricity cables drew taut lines through the air like strokes from an unseen pencil, cutting across the soft organic shapes below. These wires are everywhere in Symi, strung across alleyways and rooftops like an accidental web. I remember hearing someone mention a plan to put them all underground once—but the very idea felt absurd. Can you imagine the chaos? The digging, the disruption, the sheer drama of tearing up these ancient, tightly-packed streets? It would be a kind of madness.
I mean, why take 99 words to say something when 217 will do?
I don’t know why I started down this path. I meant to tell you that it’s a lovely 27° this morning with 70% humidity at the moment. I have to go down the steps later to pay a bill, collect a package, maybe slip in a quick lunch, oh, and to buy some things our village shop doesn’t have right now. Before that, though, I need to start thinking of my next story, and I rather like the title, ‘A Kind of Madness,’ but I’m not sure I approve of how it came about.
