This isn’t my usual kind of blog post, but I know that many people will want to know about this. I will be back with my usual blog on Monday.

I’m interrupting my trip to Cyprus with the sad news that Jack, the Alarm cat, died on Thursday night. He was 14 and had long suffered from his bad ears and skin. Despite treatments and care, they got to the stage where they would bleed and there was nothing we could do to stop them. We were unable to have them removed due to his heart condition and, in the end, that wouldn’t have helped him as he had other places around his head that were also bleeding. In the end, we had to take the decision to help him on his way; it was only a question of time and it was clear there was not much of that left. We are very grateful to Symi Animal Welfare, Claudia, Hazel, Suzanne, Philamonos, Steve and, Jenine who all gave advice and help in one way or another, and to Sotiris who, being very experienced in this kind of thing because of his farm, came to see to things professionally. We were both there, and it was very peaceful.

Jack will be missed and not just by us. He was a huge character (and a huge cat) and gave many people pleasure and lots of souvenir fur when he cuddled up to them. He’s the only cat I’ve been friends with that had his own fan club and Facebook page. Despite his deafness, he helped take production meetings for ‘The 13^th’ back in 2013, appeared on mugs and T Shirts, attended sing-songs around the piano, parties and other events and, of course, carried out his early morning alarm call duties faithfully. He is now at rest within sight of the house.

Jack, the Alarm Cat
April 11th, 2003 – June 22^nd, 2017

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A quick script

Continuing the story from the Cyprus Film Festival… After the dancing, there came the buffet and a drink, but I had already eaten. I started chatting to a director called Samuel as it looked like we were the only people wearing the official festival badges, the other guests were organisers and interested parties. We, as people with films in the programme, were treated as the guests of honour and introduced to various people. That was all fine and dandy, and come ten o’clock I was thinking that an early night might be a good idea. I had been on the go since about six that morning. And then we were told that we should attend a meeting in ‘Suite 48,’ about the short film part of the festival. Why not? I thought, best to show support and I can keep awake another hour.

I imagined Suite 48 would be a suite of rooms in the university where we were staying and where screenings were happening. It turned out to be a Grill and Bar Lounge down by the seafront a short walk away. I just went with it not knowing what to expect. I ended up at a table with some of the volunteers and organisers and Samuel, the Belgian arthouse director. It turned out that part of the festival was given over to a short script competition and there were the scripts, around six or seven of them. The idea was to film one of them the next day. The idea being to produce and shoot a film in under 48 hours as a workshop. As people chatted, I looked through the scripts briefly. Little did I know…

I am not sure how it happened, and I’ll cut a long story short, but it ended up with Samuel being the director and me the writer of a short film inspired by an idea from one of the scripts. After much discussion, I thought, ‘I’d better write some of this down,’ and so the writer, me apparently, called for a pen and paper. I know; I never have one to hand when I need one. I jotted down some notes based on what the organiser/producer and the director had in mind, went over those ideas, they were then developed further and honed them down until I had several scraps of paper with a rough outline and the main ideas noted. Later, it seemed that we’d reached the end of the discussion and there was nothing more to do except chat and chill. It felt, to me, as if it was about two in the morning by then and I gave my apologies and left, promising to have everything ‘scripted’ by the next day. (It was actually only midnight when I got back to my room.)

Needless to say, the ‘script’ was a piece of paper with some notes on it, set out in a logical order. I’d listened to what Samuel the director wanted, as a good writer should, and then double checked that this is what we wanted and that all ideas had been incorporated or discarded according to the plan. The following day, we met up at the location, a garden centre in Paphos, where some extras had been called in to help out. After some chatting and organising we got to the stage of, ‘So, what are we shooting?’ and all eyes turned to Samuel and I. A further discussion ensued, we saw who we had to work with, gave the cast their characters, and set out an order for scenes. We’d already decided that the dialogue would be improvised; all I had done really was put the ideas into a structured form and made sure that what Samuel ended up filming was what he had seen as his vision for the short.

It was a long day, but an interesting one and good fun. Everyone worked hard and cooperated brilliantly, and we managed to film a decent amount of footage along the lines of the ‘script.’ There were a few unexpected extras moments, such as a member of the public coming up to Nikos (the lead actor serving behind the counter) and asking him where the toilets were; perhaps that will be in the outtakes. The film will be shown on Sunday night at the awards ceremony, I am told, though it itself is not actually up for any awards.

And that was Saturday up until four in the afternoon. Our film, The 13^th, was due to be screened back at the university in the 5pm session and so I was keen to get back, wash and change and prepare myself to be there and answer questions about it afterwards. That’s a story for tomorrow.

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Back to Symi

You may have been following the adventure via Facebook, but if not, I’ll let you know how it all went over the next few days. The important part is that the film, ‘The 13^th’ was shown at the Cyprus International Film Festival and I gave a question and answer session after it. A bit nerve-wracking, but I go through it. Symi got some publicity, and the film is now one of eight up for the Golden Aphrodite award at the awards ceremony next weekend. I also met some very talented people and had a good time, with only a few hours to myself on the Sunday morning to ‘do’ Paphos; well, about one twentieth of it.

Today, I thought I’d just fill you in on the first day, which was a travel day. I stayed at the Savoy Hotel in Rhodes (not as grand as it sounds, basic, but comfortable and, most importantly, cheap) and, after an early breakfast there, took the bus to the airport. I had already checked in for that flight online and only had hand luggage, so that was easy. A quick bus trip across the tarmac to the back row of the plane which I shared with a spare captain and spare hostess. Are they called that still? In-flight customer assistants? Anyway, that was an easy flight up to Athens, waving at Symi as I flew over it. Two hours at Athens to change planes goes by quickly enough, just time for a coffee and a wander around. Then off to Cyprus (waving at Symi again as I flew back over it), again at the back of the plane, but this time with a spare rugby player and a sumo wrestler. At least that’s what it felt like; all very intimate but I was glad of the padding either side of me when we went through some rough turbulence.

I scored a bit of a hit at Larnaca airport. Straight off the plane and to the bus ticket booth, picked up my nine euro ticket to Limassol and stepped straight onto the bus which left five minutes later. Air-conditioning and Wifi, and seat belts, and an hour long journey along the motorway to the next stop. I changed buses at Limassol bus depot (glamorous), and the next one left 15 minutes later. Four euros, no wifi this time but 90 minutes into Paphos. The bus was called the airport shuttle, but we went nowhere near an airport, and I ended up in the center of town at another glam bus depot. There, I changed onto a local bus to get to the harbour from where I could have found yet another bus, or I could have called a taxi. It was only 38 degrees, so I walked the few kilometres along the seafront and to the university I was to stay at.

Arriving there at around 18:30, I was warmly greeted by the festival staff and organiser,  given a badge (that read ‘Director’) and invited to the poolside party and Cypriot dancing that was due to start in 30 minutes. I explained that I ought to de-sweat and get dry first, so went to my room for a shower and change. I also slipped out to get something to eat. There was a buffet provided at this event but it wasn’t going to be ready until a few hours down the line and I’d not eaten since Rhodes. Actually, there was something on the plane, and I am still not sure what it was; a few pieces of pasta that someone had thrown some dubious sauce at. There was a selection of restaurants nearby, but an Irish Pub did baked potatoes. I know, but the staff were fun and friendly, and the meal was cheap.

I’ll leave that there for now as we are only at 19.30 on day one and this day wasn’t going to end until after midnight, so I’ll save the rest of it for tomorrow.

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Last blog for a few days

Hello and goodbye… I am going to be taking a break from blogging for the next week. This is because I have so much to get done before I head off to Cyprus on Thursday afternoon, and I shan’t be back until Tuesday afternoon when I shall be straight back into work. So, hopefully, you will find my next blog post next Thursday 22^nd, or maybe on the Wednesday. As I usually write them the day before posting, I will spend Tuesday evening and Wednesday writing up something about the trip. I hope you can hang on until then. If not, here are a few suggestions for you.

First of all, to keep up to date with Symi, you will have Adriana’s Symi Diary on Friday and Monday (and every Friday and Monday) and you can find that here: http://adrianas-symi.blogspot.gr/

Of you want to keep in touch via Facebook, we have the Symi Dream Facebook page which you can find here. https://www.facebook.com/SymiDream/

I also have my James Collins Author Facebook page where I put things up about my books (usually adverting myself, sorry) and other writing related things of interest. You can follow that here. https://www.facebook.com/jamescollinsauthor/

But, if you want to keep up to date with the festival and what I am doing in Cyprus, then you might like to follow my Twitter account @CollinsWords26, which you can find here: https://twitter.com/CollinsWords26

Also, Nigel, back in the 1066 Productions office, and I will be in touch and he will be madly tweeting any news I pass back to him through Skype. You can follow them on Twitter at https://twitter.com/Senlac_Hill This Twitter account also carries news of his, and Chris Hasting’s (‘The 13th’ director) other projects, their books etc., and you will probably get more tweets from them that way as I am a bit of a Twitter newbie.

Those are the ways to stay in touch with both Symi news and Film Festival news while I am away (I’ll be out of email contact), but it would also be good to get some new followers on my accounts and on Facebook, so feel free to add and share and all that jazz.

So now, although it’s only Monday, I have to lay down my pen in order to get all my other tasks up to date before I head off on Thursday. Passports, tickets, money (check), hotels booked, all but one, bus pass, medication, washing done, camera and batteries, camera battery charger, phone and phone charger, tablet and tablet charger (I could do with a charger for myself), pacemaker and charger (joking), change of clothes or three, bank cards, note books (several), pens, Fitbit, Fitbit charger (ah, may leave that behind), Greek residency permit, boat tickets, or have I mentioned them? So much to pack and I only have hand luggage.

So, I’ll be off and will be back next week with all the news. Have a good week and keep in touch via Facebook/Twitter if you don’t already.

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Wind, chillies, books

Sunday was less blowy in the morning than it has been around here of late. We had quite strong winds over us at the end of last week, but the boats still ran, and people still went to the beach. Everyone carried on as normal.

I overheard some pleasant things as I went about my usual weekend routine. There was the story of someone who went into the greengrocers shop in Horio, the ‘Fruit Boutique’ and asked if they had any chillies. Apparently, they didn’t have any in the shop, but the owner had some growing at home, so off he popped on his moped to go and collect them, bringing some back a few minutes later. Service with a smile. That reminded me of the time I asked for sage, at a different shop, and was told that they didn’t have any. The owner then phoned up her husband who was out at the farm and told him I was after some. He picked a whole bag load up in the hills, and it was delivered the next day. I must find out who owns the bank…

Those are the kinds of things that go on around here all the time, you just have to keep your eye out for them, or else have them happen to you. Like our washing machine delivery. ‘Can you give me a hand to take this machine up to the house?’ ‘Yes, I’ll just put it on my back and carry it.’ ‘Oh my! I must pay you.’ ‘Don’t be silly.’ Another favourite of mine is, ‘We’re leaving tomorrow, we have some things to pass on.’ And then follows a bag full of olive oil and wine, and shampoo and other things that will be useful to someone.

I also met several people who are reading ‘The Saddling’, and others who have downloaded a copy and have it ready to go when they have finished the book they are on. I mention this because the book has only been available for a few weeks and already it had eight reviews (all five star) at Amazon. So, I couldn’t help but show off the latest review, and here it is… Oh, I just went to copy it and found there are now nine reviews (still all five star), so that’s even better news. Anyway, if you will let me show off and perhaps tempt you towards a copy, here are the latest ones.

“His best yet.
After the brilliantly funny Remotely, James returns to the dark side of his wonderful imagination, previously shared in The Judas Inheritance & Lonely House, and this time takes the reader to a time and place that clearly he has a great personal affinity with. His superbly descriptive prose and local dialect transports us to the Romney Marshes and a community untouched by the modern world but plagued with its historic pagan ways. Along the way we meet good folk, bad folk & a “falser” villain that chills the blood. Underlying the mysteries thrown up by a genealogical search there is the gentle flowering of feelings within the hero that is treated with superb sensitivity.”

“A real page turner. From start to finish a great read. Right up to the last page the ending couldn’t have been predicted.”

Yes, very important not to give away that twist at the end! (You can see all reviews here.)

The Saddling

And I’ve started work on the second in the series, but it could take a while. This one is to be called ‘The Witchling’ and I am going to get on with some planning and plotting right now, so, I’ll be back tomorrow.

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