Symi Property Services

Here are a couple of shots from the village taken the other day. The chairs in the square came from Lefteris Kafeneion and were, I guess, out there for varnishing. The weather is warming up, and so it’s time to change the winter café chairs for the summer ones, hence the work. Having said that, it did rain a little on Wednesday night, but not for long. Not long enough to water the plants as far as I could tell the following day.

You may have been following our water adventures through the winter. They started with the sterna being infiltrated by tree roots and thus put out of action – it still is. The tree has gone now, but the sterna won’t be fixed until later in the year, if at all. Instead, we have a water tank on the bathroom roof into which Symi Property Services (SPS) put the pump, so we also had water that came out of taps. Very handy. Then we had a leak from the hot water tank which SPS came and dealt with immediately, but we still need a new tank at some point; it’s fine for now. The replumbing meant that we no longer have to go through the process of turning off this feed and that tap when we want to fill the tank; it happens automatedly now, but it also means that we can’t water the garden unless the town hall supply is on. It hasn’t been on for days now thanks to Easter and bank holidays. Hopefully, we’re topping up our tank again this morning.

There was (and stil is) also the kitchen hot tap which, when the sterna went ballcock over header tank stopped working properly. It’s still up the creek but paddling a little. Turn it on, and if you get the turn just right, water trickles, but by the time it’s run warm, it’s given up the Flying Dutchman (a ghost related to water), and the trickle had dried up. It doesn’t ‘refill’ again for at least an hour. I reckon – and I’ve never plumbed the depths of plumbing – that when the sterna levels were low, the pump dragged up some muck which got into a pipe and caused an 80% blockage. I am guessing at the amount of blockage, of course. So, when the tap runs, we only get the water that’s on the tap side of the block, and when that runs out, the water above the blockage doesn’t have room to flow but drips through, eventually filling the pipe below, which is all we get. Just a theory, but one which needs an expert to sort out. Meanwhile, we boil the kettle of fill the washing up bowl from the shower. I expect the cold water to come out warm soon as the tank is in full sunlight. That’s another for the list for an expert when we get around to it.

Oh, and there was also the time a workman in the empty flat downstairs did some ‘work’ and buggered off leaving the kitchen taps spurting and the shower ‘unturnoffable’. Our tank was draining away until I managed to get in downstairs, see the problem, run black up to our house and unplug the pump to save our rapidly draining water supply. Of course, I rang SPS, and they were here within the hour and isolated the downstairs supply. The workman hasn’t been back since, so it was a good job I was able to get in and had someone I could call on to deal with someone else’s errors. If you have a house on Symi that needs maintenance or management, head over to Symi Property Services.

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To sleep, perchance to Symi dream

Photos of a Symi sunrise from the roof, as that’s as far as I travelled yesterday before preparing this post for today. I had one of those night’s sleep where you close your eyes, at around 10.30 and suddenly it’s 3.00, and you’re wide awake, though you know you want to stay in bed. I got up and got on with it. I’ve been doing this a lot recently, waking up with my mind already an hour ahead and wondering what I’m doing lazing around in five hours’ sleep and why am I not at the desk yet? Ah well, at least I got to see the Blue Star come in at 5.00, a reminder that I will be on that boat in September, coming back from Athens and arriving in Symi at 4.55 in the morning. Eek!

I probably shan’t sleep on the boat at all, but I’ve booked a cabin anyway. It’s useful for the private bathroom and TV as well as the potential to sleep. I like the ferry trip from here to there and back again, particularly the coming back from Athens part because you set off in the afternoon, so you have some sun and scenery. Mind you, it’s high-rise apartments and docks for the first part of the journey. The islands come later, but you don’t call in anywhere until some time during the night when you’re trying to sleep but when the movement of the boat sends you sliding from one end of the bunk to the other amid shuddering and announcements from outside. The same applies when going the other way. You leave Symi in the evening, so you do get to see various island through the night if you stay up, and the quieter part of the journey happens the next morning.

I’ve never been able to sleep on moving objects like trains, planes and ferries. Coming back from Australia a few years ago, I managed three hours in 24, something of a record, but that then turned into six hours in 48 – I lost count of the hours as the clock was all over the place. Maybe someone can work it out: left Sydney at 18.00 on one day and arrived in London at 6.00 (the day before? Can’t remember). After a trip to Paddington station and back, hung around the airport until the flight to Athens at 21.00 that evening; hung around Athens airport until the morning flight at 7.30 the next day, and managed to stay awake until 16.00 that afternoon. During the trip, I slept for three hours somewhere over the southern hemisphere and grabbed a couple on the London to Athens leg, so you can add three hours there, making six in what felt like three days. Anyway… As you can see, sleep deprivation has me rambling, and I’ve yet to do the shopping, housework, writing, editing, singing ‘lesson’, play reading and breakfast. Yawn.

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Meanwhile, back at the desk…

Happy May Day. I can now get back to my usual routine and currently, that’s editing proofs of a pen name novel which needs to be ready by next weekend at the latest. Once the proofs are done, it’s a case of doing the layout, which doesn’t take that long and then checking through before sending it up to be published. This is part two of a series, and meanwhile, part one is out and being talked about on a book/blog tour where blog owners take in titles, review them or simply publicise them. That tour runs for the next two weeks, and the ten unique posts and interviews I wrote for the various sites mention that part two will be out in early May, hence the steaming ahead on part two – while, incidentally, part three remains in first draft form and waiting in the wings. That’s appropriate as it takes place in an opera house. It also involves blackmail and the King of the Netherlands, Wilhelm III, but that’s another story. The point here is, as you can see, I do more than visit Neil at the bar after his working hours. (I also visit during working hours.)

What I’ve not been doing so much of is taking photos, but those I found for today I took from Neil’s phone, so you have him to thank for the artistry.

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Day off

There was no blog yesterday, as you might have noticed. I took the weekend off. I have surprisingly few photos to show for it, having spent most of my time at home working on a book release. I slept well though. I was rocked to sleep by dynamite two nights running, and not even the bangers in the lane outside the bedroom window kept me awake. Missed the fireworks. Heard some. There are some lovely photos on Facebook from those who attended the Easter celebrations, and I have shared a couple on the Symi Dream FB page.

Here are a couple of photos including one meant for Colette who sent me the t-shirt for my birthday, and the Blue Star on Monday morning. Now I am going back to my Monday bank holiday day off.

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Easter Weekend

It’s Easter weekend here on Symi and in Greece. As it’s Saturday, here is a collection of random photos from the island. Not necessarily to do with Easter, but taken by Neil in 2018.

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