The Eastling

(And some random Symi shots.) Here we are on Monday again. In two weeks I’ll be off to Rhodes for a couple of nights, but before then I have ‘The Eastling’ to finish. It’s back from proofreading, so I am reading through for the last time before letting it go. I’m over halfway and aim to have it ready for layout in a couple of days. Laying out will then take a couple more days, and I usually have a day of frustration while trying to get the Kindle version to present correctly (the print file is much easier, the Kindle never look right in the front matter department). After that, I send it up to Amazon and wait for it to go live, and then I’ll let you have the links. Hopefully, it will be available by the end of the month. As I’ve said before, with this one, you will be better off reading (or rereading) The Saddling and The Witchling first, just so you get the flow, but it’s not 100% necessary.

Meanwhile, in other personal news… Nothing much. Been walking when I can, still aiming for three miles per day, five days per week at least. When I’m back from Rhodes, I hope to do one longer hike each week. The current walks are exercise walks and, I have to say, getting easier. From home, all the way up the main road/hill to the Panormitis turn off (just under two miles) and back, can now be done comfortably in about an hour and a quarter. While all that is going on, we’re also doing this ‘Sober October’ thing, but not calling it that. ‘Sober’ makes it sound as if you’re drunk every other month of the year and makes me wonder how a ‘Cold Turkey December’ would look, or a telling your friends, “Hey! I’m coming off ketamine for Christmas.” Actually, I can see the t-shirt…

So, all that’s happening hereabouts, and meanwhile, the social diary is very empty. Apart from one dinner later this week there’s nothing in the diary apart from book stuff, notes to buy various ferry tickets, the bathroom roof to prepare for winter, some mild decorating, light dusting, finding duvets and hanging the draft-excluder hangings ready for the colder weather. Neil is working at the bar up until 23^rd or 24^th October, and then he’s off for the next few months so belts will have to be tightened financially. Unless, of course, everyone spreads the word about this wonderful new series of mystery thrillers set in a village called Saddling where part three, ‘The Eastling’ is about to play out in a rather Brexit inspired tale of betrayal and social hysteria. If you feel like adding reviews (to any of my books you’ve read), spreading the links around social media, buying a copy for your friends as presents and so on, then please do. I can save the income for ‘Hangover November.’

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Symi Saturday Photos

We’re launching into the weekend with some more random photos from Symi. Morning light on the south side of Pedi bay, a gulet off Harani in the entrance to Symi harbour, a view from the donkey path heading out of the village towards Xissos, an early morning balcony view, dinner at a taverna in September and a few other shots from before then. I don’t know about you, but I have no plans for the weekend. There are lots of jobs to be done – painting the bathroom roof and ceiling to prevent leaks, weeding plants in their pots, trying to remember where I put the duvet, preparations for winter that include hanging drapes and curtains against the drafts, not that it’s particularly cold yet, but it will be, that kind of thing. Whatever you’re doing, enjoy it!

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Anti-inflammables

The island falls quieter still as visitors leave and only a few arrive for the end of the season, but the weather is holding. Today’s photos come from a trip to Yialos on Wednesday for the usual things, post office, bank, collect a courier delivery, pharmacy… Actually, I was very impressed with the pharmacy – as I always am with both of them. I was after some anti-inflammatories for a shoulder injury, or ‘anti-inflammables’ as Neil calls them, but the pharmacist told me that I shouldn’t take them because I also take something to slow my heart rate and the anti-inflams can cause high blood pressure. The thing is, I didn’t need to offer the BP tablet info, she already knew I take them. I know I always buy them from there but only once per month and with all the other customers they have… I wish my memory was that good.

Meanwhile, back in the village yesterday… After work I went for a walk, it was around 7.30, up to the monastery and back again, took a few photos and came home just in time to meet our landlord and the electrician who needed to check our fuses as there was a problem with the power downstairs. I knew this; I’d turned it off ages ago. There’s no-one living down there (luckily, as they’d have a noisy time with us walking about overhead, the TV and so on – it’s not that we’re noisy, but it’s very thin floor/ceiling), but after an air con unit was put in and it rained, our electrics kept blowing. The only thing that stopped it was flicking a switch on the fuse box that didn’t work any of our lights or sockets. It must have operated downstairs. So, that was sorted out, or not as it’s going to be fixed ‘avrio’, but as it makes no never mind to us up here, I’m not worried.

And that’s my chat/news for today.

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A few random shots

Wednesday: up early as usual, a cup of tea on the balcony (it’s still just about warm enough at that time of day), watching the Blue Star come and go in the dark, some work, taking water into the sterna to top up, heading to Yialos later to collect a delivery, check the post, get some money and then a walk back up the road, sweep the courtyard, do the shopping. After that, the rest of the working day will be spent at the desk.

I was going through my folder of photos from the past year or so, trying to decide what else to tell you about today, and, as I couldn’t think of anything much to talk about, I thought I’d put up some older photos instead, May to July. Recently, my images have been mainly from my walks in the afternoon, or sometimes the morning so these might make a change.

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Symi Shrimp Story

Lights across the harbour reflecting in the water, the clank of wires against masts, the background chatter of content diners and a very pleasant meal out at Pantelis restaurant – that was Monday night. Not being much of one for fish and definitely not for shellfish, I opted for pork medallions in Roquefort cheese. Perfect. We were even able to hail Konstantinos and his taxi to take us back to the village afterwards.

The shellfish thing is a bit of a story, but before I tell it, I should point out that the taverna in question is no longer in existence, and I shan’t mention its name either. In 1996, I came to Symi for two weeks thanks to an overpaid mortgage insurance and a bargain with some now-defunct holiday company I can’t remember the same of. I stayed up at Lavinia, and all the details are in one of my books, but I can’t remember which one right now. One evening, I went for dinner at X Taverna and decided I ought to try the Symi shrimps. When I was little, and we lived by the sea at Littlestone, we’d go out with shrimp nets, catch shrimps and take them home for mother to deal with. We also had cockle and whelk sellers with trays and stalls along the seafront. I had no trouble with seafood back then. (Littlestone was clinging on to its former glory as an Edwardian seaside resort, but its fingers were slipping from the edge of the cliff. It’s the setting for Middlestone in my novel, ‘Remotely’.)

Dinner done, back to my apartment and later, off to bed – not late and without being wobbly on my legs, I should add. I woke up around three in the morning feeling a little unwell, and by the time I reached the bathroom, I was very unwell. I didn’t even have time to turn the light on so, when I finally crawled out, I was unnerved to find great red welts all over me, and I was sweating. Rehydrate was my first thought and I drank two litres of water and two Fanta lemons I happened to have in the fridge. Heading back to bed, I told myself I’d visit a doctor in the morning if the problem persisted, there was nothing I could do right then.

I woke up at half-seven to find myself free of blemishes, quite settled down below and feeling on top of the world, as if I’d been purged, which I reckon I had. All the same, I now can’t stand even the smell of shrimps which is why I tend to avoid the Symi shrimp festival. Thanks to an unfortunate incident with two oysters in Selfridges and a Dublin Bay prawn in Dublin, I now avoid anything in shells and don’t like the sea-taste of most fish. There you are, now you know. But… Everything coming out of Pantelis’ restaurant looked superb, and it’s highly recommended for seafood, and I can vouch for the meat dishes.

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