The Witchling

Today, as we are battered by a cold and strong north wind, sitting here in hat and gloves in the workhouse, I’m going to blatantly advertise the new cover for ‘The Witchling’, and the book itself. We’re still finalising the image, and we’ve not got to the back part of the cover as yet, but below is what we’re looking at, for the moment.

The story is a follow-on to ‘The Saddling’ and, if you could, it would be great if you can share the news around all your Facebook pages and friends and any readers’ groups you might belong to there. (You can use the share buttons on these pages for direct links.) You can find more details, on Facebook, at my author page: https://www.facebook.com/jamescollinsauthor/ Here, I put up links to books and things of interest to my readers, and there will be more news about ‘The Witching’ there, and on here, as we approach publication date. I’m still not 100% sure when that’s going to be, but if you’re interested, below is the vague timetable. Meanwhile, here is the cover so far:

I’m hoping to have my beta readers’ comments back within the next week – thank you to those who have already returned their notes.

Early February, I will be making any last edits to the MS before sending it off for the final edit by my editor, as you can’t have too many people checking for typos, especially not when an MS had been written by me.

The cover will also be finalised before then – must work on the back blurb – and I’m hoping for a release date in early March before we go on honeymoon to Croatia.

Me, being me, want to send this out now and get the book out there, but I am trying to curb my enthusiasm for the sake of accuracy, something I very rarely do.

So, if you’d like to play a part, please share ‘The Saddling‘ around and maybe have a read if you’ve not read it. (It’s on Kindle Unlimited if you have that it won’t cost you anything.) And also keep an eye on these pages and Facebook for more news of ‘The Witching.’ Thank you, and now back to work (Hilary!)

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Symi Music

It must be that time of year again. The time when you start planning your Symi holiday. I know many returning visitors book their next year’s accommodation while they are here enjoying the summer Symi sun, but if you haven’t, there are plenty of tour operators and Symi companies that you can book through. If you’ve not been to Symi before, you might like to trawl through the blog pages here and find out what you can do while you’re here, I’ve mentioned it before. But here’s another idea – with unrelated old photos – of things to do of an evening, while on Symi.

If music be the food of love… I am always impressed and rather proud, when I find myself sitting in a kafenion or a taverna, and someone whips out their instrument. (Don’t be dirty.) There is so much talent on this island, and everyone, it seems, can play something, or can dance. You’ll see a bricklayer or stonemason suddenly leap to his feet and perform an impromptu dance as music plays. Or a younger lad who you’ve seen hanging out in the harbour with his mates suddenly produce his bouzouki and strums away as if he’s been playing in an orchestra for years. The girls at Noufris’ taverna, Georgios, play percussion and sing, and there is usually live music there one or two nights per week in the summer. There is also Greek music at the Secret Garden, one night western music and blues or rock, another night traditional or Rebetika. The same goes for the Jean And Tonic and Lefteris’ kafenion where recently there was a Symi rock night. Rock on the rock, you might say.

Yialos also has places with live music, and everyone is welcome to get up and dance. I’ve been on the balcony at five in the morning in the summer and heard the party still going on over at Elpida’s or Los, or wherever, and you only have to ask around to find out who is playing and where. At Steno, for example, you can sit and have a mezze meal and before you know it, a farmer or a shepherd, someone from the bank or a shop, has appeared with a guitar or something and starts to entertain you. Sometimes it can be hard to leave. Then, of course, there’s the Symi festival which is a wonderful riot of music and dance, and other cultural events.

So, check out your flights and make sure of the boats as best you can – so you can get here in one day. It is possible but tricky to do right now as the boat schedule may not be published yet. Whatever, find a flight and book a holiday resting assured that while you are here, you will find some kind of live entertainment, complete with traditional atmosphere, on the island just about every night of your holiday.

No idea where that blurb came from, but I hope it temps you to live a little, book a holiday and prepare for Symi music.

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Getting too old for this

(Random photos today, from December.) We were a bit calmer yesterday after Monday’s heavy wind and non-stop rain, so that made a nice change. I am currently in locked-in mode, not venturing outside very much unless it’s for a lunch invite, the shopping or, in extreme cases, having to go to Yialos to the bank or post office. You’d think this would give me enough time to sort out a few things at home, but the hours just slip by, even when I get up at 5.30.

I did start looking into the online UK government site, to check out pensions and things, just out of interest. I’ve been in the Greek system for years now and, to be honest, can’t get my head around it all. So, I thought I should have a look and see what I need to do to top up my UK pension. So, I went online… As Frances Fisher says in ‘Titanic’, where she plays Rose’s mother, Ruth DeWitt Bukater and is talking to others about sending out wedding invitations, ‘My dear! Let me tell you what an odyssey that was.’

First, I set up a new account, email address, password etc., and reached the point where they send you a text message security number. All fine. Would you like to set up an alternative just in case? Okay, so that was an automated phone message too. All done and dandy. Now we need to check who you are, so what’s your national insurance number? Got that. And your name? Got that, and… No, we can’t find any record of you. Page after unhelpful page later, having found out nothing of any use, I started again and used my ‘other’ name (Toby) which isn’t really my name. It only comes in third on my birth certificate although it was number one for many years and the certificate has an amendment changing it to Tobias, but neither has even been my first name. Anyway, I tried my NI number with that name and lo! I was acceptable. So, onto stage two…

I checked out my pension contributions to see what I needed to pay, to top up, before 2098, or whenever I might be allowed to officially retire and, once I had picked myself up off the floor, decided there was nothing I could do about that. There will be some made up from the Greek system, maybe, if there’s still a system by then and all that jazz (and thankfully, for those concerned, I do have a decent private one as backup). So, I thought I’d better check my address and name and so on, just to make sure everything is tidily up to date. Well, not quite…

Despite having been in PAYE employment until 2000, and registered self-employed since, despite having a very good accountant and filling out forms and receiving letters from the darlings at the Inland Revenue, or UNHCR, or ACDC or whatever they are now called, and despite a vague recollection that I did all this a few years ago… I discovered I am still living in Dalston, London, under the name of Toby, where I haven’t lived, or been knows as, since 1997. At this point, I gave up. I have written them a message, just for fun, but reckon that by the time I get this sorted out, it will be 2098 and far too late anyway. Still, things improved when Asif dropped off a huge bag of cat biscuits courtesy of Symi Animal Welfare for us to feed the strays with, to go with the huge bag Michaelis dropped off last week courtesy of Evangelia who feeds them in the summer. And so, life returned to normal.

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As it’s another cold and wet day today (Monday), I thought I would upload some photos taken during last year when there was a bit more sun around. I was up at 2.30 last night, fumbling about in the dark in my dressing gown and slippers, crossing to the workhouse via a porch-puddle to unplug the phone and internet. You can’t be too careful. The thunder had passed by six when I was more awake and ready to start the day, but so far the rain has been on and off again. And that’s enough weather for the day.

So, a few photos to remind us of what the sunshine looks like, and back to work.

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My Symi News Update

Here are some bits and pieces of (my) Symi news to bring you up to date.

The winter season continues to be changeable, with rain at times and sunny and clear on other days. It rained heavily last week, and the rain brought some of the mud and topsoil down from the hills again, coating the harbour square roads in a little sludge. We were there on Friday, and it was being shovelled away. Not as bad as before but it’s interesting to see how easily the soil is now moved following the storm last November, I guess it will take a while for it to settle down.

In my writing news, ‘The Witchling’ is out with my beta readers. These are people who volunteer to read the most recent draft at a point when I think it’s ready as a story, but where I may still make a few minor changes – depending on what third parties think of it. It’s mainly about looking for typos and anything obviously wrong or repeated. Meanwhile, my cover designer is working on a cover, so I hope to have a cover to show you before long. I was hoping to have the book out there before we head off on holiday in March, but it may come after we return.

We were ‘lads’ on Saturday. Having done the shopping in the morning (two massive pork chops and two huge double chicken breasts from the village butcher, €14.00, and having bought several bags of vegetables from the greengrocer, €6.00, there’s enough there to last us several days), we realised in the evening that we needed butter. Found one at Sotiris, counted the change from my pocket on the freezer outside where George was standing, found the correct money, and just handed it to George – what you might call a ten items or less express checkout. Stopped at Rainbow for a glass of wine on the way home and ended up having a couple more as the AEK supporters arrived for a football match on the television. Always great fun watching football in there in the winter, I almost got into it.

Last Friday, after raiding the bank, paying the rent, checking the post office and stopping at Pacho’s, we decided to treat ourselves to lunch in the harbour. Giros and chips, very nice, and, what’s better, there were taxis available so didn’t even have to walk up. The rest of the time, I’ve been at my desk doing what I do and playing with some writing. 10,500 words written on Saturday. It’s amazing what you can do when your husband cooks dinner and brings you endless cups of tea, and you don’t doze off after lunch.

It’s Sunday now, still early as I’m in the routine of waking up at 5.30, a bit cloudy, more rain forecast, and an invite to lunch in upper Horio later on. I think I’ll post this ready for Monday, maybe fiddle with a chapter of something and then tidy up the house a little before psyching myself up for a shower. Not as pleasant as it sounds and involves a quick dash from one room to the other and finding a towel that had somehow managed to dry out.

And then it’s off into the week with another lunch invite in the diary for Tuesday… And that’s it. So, there you are, that’s my news, and I will leave you with the best news which is Adriana is back from her break and back at her blog, which you can find here.

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