Symi Photos and SeaSmiles

As it’s Saturday, we mainly have photos on a Saturday, though these ones are a bit out of date and a mix. But, before then, a quick thank you to Sea Smiles (seasmiles: https://www.seasmiles.com/en/login-en.html ). This is the loyalty card you can get for your trips with Blue Star (and associated lines). I first registered for a card years ago one morning crossing to Rhodes on the Diagoras. I was given a flimsy plastic card with the number written on it, and have been using that for years. Recently, I thought I would pop into the website and see what points I had accrued, only to find myself unable to log in. The page that came up had a card number (the username) already entered with a remembered password, so I must have used it before. However, when I tried to access the members’ area, I couldn’t. I reset the password, but to no avail, then checked the number on my card to find it different to the number online. Confused, I wrote to SeaSmiles by email…

I explained the problem, that I was unable to get in and was now confused about which card number was mine. They wrote back the same day saying that my card had not been used for two years so was now invalid and the points accrued were lost. I replied, explaining that I had used my card several times this year and received discounts, so something was working…

I had three emails the next morning. One informed me they had found two accounts for me; one active, one not. The next was to send me login information for the online account system, plus a new password. The third was a note and a PDF of my new card. All I have to do is print it and keep it safe. What’s more, all points that were floating around between my number and nowhere are now found and have been credited to the new card (which may be an old one, but… whatever). So, within 24 hours, it’s all sorted, I have my points back, a new card and I can get into the system. Bravo!

Now then, let’s not talk about EasyJet. Okay, then, let’s. Remember I suffered a cancelled flight last July? Ended up an extra night in Rhodes, missed my Hilton Hotel booking (not as grand as it sounds but still £80.00), missed my pre-paid train tickets, a night in Brighton, had to spend a night in the knocking shop that was, that night, the Hermes Hotel – unmade, still-warm bed, wet towels, the scent of rubber still hanging in the air, etc.) and pay around €50.00 in taxis for the pleasure. Well… I did two claims via those ‘Have you been delayed?’ websites, both of which had good reviews. Neither of which was able to help. I went through the EasyJet system myself in the end and put in a claim for the cancelled flight and also one for expenses. Was told I was unable to claim on that flight as the cancellation had been caused by weather problems; it hadn’t, not really, it was because they didn’t have an alternative crew in Rhodes, but that’s another story. I replied, slightly ‘outraged of Surrey’ style, and heard nothing, of course. But, one day sometime later, I was nosing around in my bank account searching for a few pennies when I noticed a £50.00 credit from EasyJet (no email or anything, I was just slipped a silent fifty to keep quiet). Well, thank you very much. That went some way to replacing the lost £200 their incompetence had cost me.

Anyway, didn’t mean to ramble and now, here are a few more photos as it’s Saturday.

I’ve got a little list

A couple of photos taken in the harbour on Wednesday. It was a strangely misty day whereas Thursday was windy, and as the wind was from the north-west, it was also cold. Neil is off to Rhodes today to sort out a phone contract and visit Jumbo for all those tatty things you didn’t realise you couldn’t live without until you saw then for sale for €1.59, so I am looking forward to seeing what he comes back with.

I am into something of a disrupted writing season for the next four weeks, what with Christmas and some other things that take up my writing time. We have a list of bits and pieces to do and sort out: Phone contract, Neil’s new residency permit under his Irish passport (just in case), changing my driving license to a Greek one after 16 years (in case I ever feel like driving again), the sterna which looks like it will be an ongoing saga and one you can follow to discover what does actually happen when you live on the island, I still want to organise a new piano, maybe after the Christmas delivery madness has died down, I need a new computer desk as the one I have been using these past twenty or so novels is the wrong height and the old piano stool I sit on is knackered and it’s about time I acted on what would be a very dodgy workplace risk assessment, and… Well, the list goes on.

But the photos don’t. I’ve only got the two today, but they might give you an idea of how Yialos looks in the winter.

Water, Roots and A Discount

I’m looking out of the office window onto a sky that’s clearing of rain clouds. I was up in time to see the Blue Star arrive this morning at 5.30, at which time it was raining slightly. I’ve also put the mains water on because I am convinced the sterna is leaking. We’re going to add water today (Wednesday), both check the level after, and then check again tomorrow to see if Neil agrees with me or if I am making it up. We’ve had advice from Jean as to what needs doing if the roots of the fig tree in front of the house have reached and breached the sterna, and if so, the process will start with a conversation with our landlord.

After today (Thursday) we’re on godparent duty for a few days, splitting our time between our house and theirs, so the blog posts may not be as consistent as usual, but I will do my best. Back to this morning (Wednesday, are you keeping up?) and I’ve had a text from ACS to let me know I have a delivery, so I will be popping down there later. I was told recently that they now have a loyalty card/discount offer available and if you register you are given a card which when you show it, gives you discounts on the price of what you are sending with them. Recently (before I knew of this offer) I sent a parcel to New Zealand. Being out of Europe, it wasn’t that cheap to do, but it arrived on the far side of the world within five days, which I thought was pretty impressive.

That’s the news, and today’s photos are from a few days ago as I’ve not been out to take anything new of late.

Final call for Symi gifts

Final call for your unique Symi Christmas gifts. Here, with a couple of photos from yesterday’s morning wander up the road, are some blatant links to a few books and a calendar that might do as stocking fillers or even major gifts.

Starting with:
Symi Calendar 2019 – 12 exclusive photos from Symi delivered anywhere in the world, with boxes on the calendar for notes and appointments.

And then books:
Symi 85600
My first collection of notes covering our move to Symi and the first five years here, from 2002 to 2007.

Carry on up the Kali Strata
Book two in the Symi series. This one is a collection of articles written for the Symi Visitor, plus some extra parts such as the history of the island, with photos. 2007 to 2012.

Village View
These are the edited blog posts from 2013, and they take us through every month of that year. You can follow life on Symi over twelve months.

Symi Stuff and Nonsense
Brings us right up to date, more or less, with more about our move to Symi, living here and then some other travel tales and articles, blog posts and amusing musings.

The book links are all to Amazon.co.uk, but the books are available from all Amazon stores as paperbacks, Kindles and are free in Kindle Unlimited if you want to keep them for yourself. Delivery varies depending on where you are, but if I order something from Amazon UK, it usually arrives here on Symi in about two weeks even in the winter. That’s it for today, I just wanted to get those links and reminders out there in the hope you might find something you’ve not read before, and so new visitors to the blog might pick up on some background reading. All my books and novels are listed on my Amazon author page here. Have a fun day.

Hills, Water, Goats

As you can see from the photos, yesterday was a little bit grey, but at least it was dry. Which is more than can be said for the area around a leaking pipe on the path to To Vrisi. (Perhaps someone else could also share this news to the town hall in case they don’t know yet.)

I took a morning walk, the first time I’ve been able to in about a week. It’s either been raining, or I couldn’t be bothered, but I made the effort yesterday. The highlight was meeting a herd of goats being moved from their pen to a hillside further along the path. The goatdog (I assume that’s what you call them, as in, sheepdog) came bounding up to greet me, and I stood to the side, still so as not to frighten the skittish beasts. On the way home, I called into upper Horio to collect an oil-filled radiator to bring down to the house. Not a light thing to carry, but at least it was downhill. My arms are wobbly now, so if my typing is more off than usual, you will know why.

The view was otherwise unchanged on the path along the side of the hill. I know I do this walk a lot but that’s because I like it, and it’s also a three-mile round trip which is what I aim to do five times per week. A more strenuous one is to follow the main road all the way out of the village and along to the Panormitis turn off and back, that’s just over three miles and constantly uphill. That makes coming back a breeze, and maybe I’ll do that walk later in the week.

I’m just tacking a request on the end of this post in case you don’t see it on Facebook. The talented designer who did my recent covers (The Witchling, The Eastling and others) has a cover entered into a competition. Anjela K lives in Serbia, and I think deserves some attention, so it would be great if my readers could click over to the link below and then click on the vote button. You don’t need to sign up or anything, not until the vote reaches 200; after that, you’d have to register so, if you want to help, it’s better to be quick. There’s no information sharing unless you want your name shown, so it’s quite safe. Just click this link and then hit the orange Vote button. (The book looks good too, he added with a wink.) Thank you!