Some very random shots today from my files. I’m heading out soon and will take the camera, in case there is anything of interest to snap. But, before I head off into the weekend, I just want to remind you that the Symi Dream Calendar 2018 is on sale. It’s not a long now until the end of the year, and it’s always best to be prepared. Click the image for the link, and enjoy the photos.
Well, starting to, and I know it’s not winter yet, and we still have warm days, but best be prepared. Apart from all the house things, like hanging curtains, and sorting the winter clothes from the summer, I am also thinking about entertainment.
I’m looking into a Chromecast. I know many people around here use it to send streaming TV from tablets to television, so I know it’s possible. We currently have a Roku, which is good and has lots of channels on it including Netflix, which we use. But I’m looking into ways to cast other things from the tablet to the non-smart TV. It’s got HDMI and all that, so it should be fine. I’m calling for assistance via Facebook and will have probably got it sorted out by the time you read this. I went to the Google page, and it said, ‘We are not in your country yet’ or something equally as threatening. Is Google advancing on the world like a superpower? I don’t know, but it told me a lie as other folks just up to road use it, so they are in our country.
Anyway, that’s one way of preparing for the winter; getting the entrainment ready. Another that I must do is buy a new computer keyboard. This one is starting to stick; the space bar doesn’t work every time and some letters only press half way without a bug thump, so my editing is taking as long as my writing. I’ve only had it a few months. Either it’s a rubbish keyboard, or I hammer it too hard. The last one (exactly the same) lasted until the letters started to rub off, but this one…
Anyway, that’s as interesting as I get today. Neil’s in the other room signing up for a course with Amnesty International, and I am preparing to settle into some writing, as long as my keyboard will let me. Or, if I’d not gone back over that sentence, aslongasmy keyboard willlet me.
Searching around for inspiration for today’s post, I flicked through my photos to see what might inspire. I found some shots I took in Yialos the other day and saw that I must have been in a plant mood. I know very little about plants, except that heavy ones cross roads, which is something rather alarming. I was thinking of those signs I used to see by the side of roads the road, ‘Warning, heavy plant crossing.’ I always thought of triffids when I saw that and imagined great cumbersome things with stalks ten-foot-high lumbering across in front of me. I never saw them, and so spent years wondering what kind of heavy plants were able to wander about at will.
The ones I saw in Yialos were varied; what I assume are dates on a palm, something pink with long leaves, a creeper of some sort covering a building, and a wide variety outside the Symi Flower shop in the back street. In our courtyard we have a pink thing that grows when it feels like it, a ‘Jenni’ plant that has red flowers on occasion, a something else recovering from a locust attack last winter/spring, and a spikey thing that I say ‘Allo!’ to because I think it’s an Aloe plant. I decided against calling his one Vera, as that’s too cliché, so I just say ‘Allo’ and leave it at that. There’s also chilli plant that, since I moved it to a north facing wall, seems to prefer being chilly itself; it’s’ doing much better. There’s also a vine that does very little apart from drop dead leaves.
We do have a tree next door which, at this time of year, drops a snowfall of white seeds (I guess) that get everywhere; in the house, in the courtyard, up your nose, and there’s the immortal fig tree in front. That’s about it for my plant knowledge. I’m going to go outside now and make sure none of ours are lumbering across the lane outside on their way to a heavy plant party or anything.
And a couple of dance videos at the end… First, let me take you back to a weekend in August. An early morning walk to Nimborio, an evening up near the church of Ag Stavros in the village, and a goat ready to serve in its own dish. The kinds of things you do and see on a weekend, and, in this case, the images that you see below.
I’m having a calmer day today, Tuesday as I write. I have work to be getting on with, but that can wait until this afternoon; two hours per day on a screenplay, and a couple more hours a day on my own work, another novel perhaps… We were taken out to dinner on Monday night. Thank you, Hillary! It was such a special night, great company and, of course, wonderful food at Haritomeni.
Actually, another thank you but a more general one: to everyone who has approached us and said, ‘Thank you for the blog.’ Apparently, we are required reading at 8.30 on a Monday morning as the trudge back to work begins, and at other times of the day, and not just in the UK either; we’re worldwide. Please keep checking in, sharing the posts that you like and particularly sharing the links to the books; it helps to keep us going.
And talking of going, I am going back to work now but, before I do, Allan and Julie, who photographed and videos our civil partnership day in September, have said it’s okay for me to share a couple of videos. You may have already seen these, but if not, here is our buffoon-first dance from the party on Nimos, and our slow dance. Both were danced to my own songs, one from a musical, and one from cabaret. The special moment that happened halfway through is one of those memories that will last forever.
I was in a bit of a rush yesterday, what with one thing and another. By the time I had done the one thing, it turned out that there was another other to do, and then I had to go and do a thing I’d forgotten about, and other things… In the end, I thought, ‘A few photos for tomorrow.’ So that’s what you have. Am off now to do a few other things I should have done already.
