Third out of 16 groups

That was the Symi placement in the European tournament where our under 12s and under 11s played at the weekend over in Camber Sands. I picked the news up from Facebook posts so don’t know all the details, but for those who read me here and don’t do FB, I thought I’d pass that on. On Monday, the boys were off to the Chelsea ground to have a look round (that will come as a surprise after our small pitch here on Symi) and then to see some other sights before starting the journey home. Not sure when they are back, but I bet there will be another big welcome like we saw when they won the local league a few weeks ago.

The local paper over there in Romney Marsh (*) have asked me to do another short piece about the event, from a Symi perspective, so I must get on with that in a moment; strike while the iron is hot and all that.

So, not a long post today as I also have some other things on the to-do list; lots of writing, which now includes a new ‘Miss P short.’ I’ve had this idea that I will try a few short stories featuring the protagonist from ‘Remotely’, the enigmatic Miss P. She has turned out to be one of my most endearing characters and so here’s the plan: I’ll start with one Miss P short story (around 10,000 words, so a decent length) where she does her ‘thing’, as she does in Remotely; and then make it available on Kindle for as cheap as they will let me. The idea is that it might drive people towards buying Remotely. The other drive is to give fans of Remotely (and I know who you both are) some more of Miss P without me having to construct another full novel. If the idea takes off and I can keep it going, I could then do, say, five or six shorts and eventually put them into one full collection. Just a thought. Will see how it goes.

If you’ve not read Remotely yet and fancy a gay/straight, body-swap, comedy that also takes the fun out of British dumb-down reality TV talent shows and the like, then you can find the Kindle and paperback versions here.

(*) For anyone who thought ‘over there in Romney Marsh’ is incorrect, I agree, it does sound wrong, but those who are born in the marsh say they are from ‘in’ Marsh and not ‘on’ the marsh. It should be ‘marshes’ anyway, as there are three of them. And if that tickles you, you should try reading ‘The Saddling.’ Gosh, I’m full on with book-selling today.

Share on Facebook

Sunday morning:

The football teams are half way through their tournament over there at Camber Sands. I’ve heard that they have won some and lost some (one due to a dodgy ref call, or rather, a dodgy call by a ref). I expect there will be more news by the time this post is automatically posted (Monday) and if/when I hear more, I’ll mention it, maybe tomorrow. Neil is off to the opticians this morning. He lost his glasses when he was in England and, luckily, the optician is here for today. He has his shop in Rhodes, and one on Symi, and comes to do eye tests when he has enough people needing them. If you need an optician when you are here, the shop is in the square with the post office and Fotini’s wine shop, in Yialos. The lady who works there speaks very good English and is in contact via Skype and phone to the optician when he is in Rhodes. I took a pair of glasses to be mended, and he was able to examine the problem via the computer. Very handy.

You might remember that last week the day-trip boats sailed in and over to Analipsi, the church on the other side of Nimborio Bay. This was because it was the name day/festival for that church. Yiannis told me that, when he was young, there was no swimming until after this name day. I assume the water was not deemed warm enough until after that date. Here you can see the boats coming to Yialos via their slightly revised route. They also do this on special church days over at Nimos, blasting their horns to join the celebrations.

We were out and about on Friday when these other photos were taken. A visit to the post office where our postal votes had arrived – despite our local authority telling us they would not be posted until 31^st May. So, we were able to get them seen to and hand them to friends to take back on Saturday. They should be safely posted now – the forms, not the friends. Later in the day, we went to a small party at a property overlooking the harbour where we met a couple of Symi spiders and other guests and later walked back up the hill and steps to Horio.

I spent Saturday at home, reading mainly until it was time to attend another party. This was a house-warming, and we all had a great time, followed by dinner at Georgio’s. Mind you, after the cakes and other goodies supplied for the party, I don’t think anyone had much from left for anything else. We opted for mezethes, a few small dishes to share.

And now Sunday, with the rain gone (there had been a brief thunder incident on Saturday) and the sun out, it looks like it’s going to stay fair for the rest of the week, but don’t quote me on that; the weather is still changeable through May, though it will settle down and heat up during June. On to the week ahead, with two dinner invitations (it’s that time of year again) and lots of writing to do.

Share on Facebook

The boys are on their way

Friday morning: The Blue Star came in and whisked the football team away to Rhodes, thence to the airport, thence to London, and from then on, down to Camber Sands and the football tournament. I had a message from one of the Romney Marsh angels saying she had already dropped off towels and a few things at Pontins there, and they know to expect more. Helpfully the teams will have some treats and necessities waiting for them when they get there. Good luck to all and again, bravo to the organisers, Jeans, Dawn and many others.

My news is that ‘The Saddling’ now has six five-star reviews after being online for only two weeks. Excellent news. It’s already catching up with the others that have over ten and the more the merrier, as regular readers will know. I won’t go on about the importance of reviews, not again, you know the score, but a huge thank you to everyone who takes the time and trouble to add reviews; not just for me but for all indie writers who use Amazon. I have a new blog post on my Author blog if you are interested to see it: https://goo.gl/REL4rP

The weekend looks like it’s going to be filled with fun and parties as we have two invites already; the summer has started! [Note to self: must calm down; there’s a wedding to slim into in just over three months.] So, I will leave you with some Symi photos and wish you a great weekend…..

Share on Facebook

Don’t squash that kitten

Here’s a thing. If you are putting your rubbish in the paladins at the collection points around Symi, please check first. I went up to the bins yesterday to drop off some bags and feed the cats. I always check the bins before I drop anything in, it saves the trauma of a wild cat flying out at you when it realises it’s going to have trash dumped on its head. I checked, and the bin I was using was empty because the hard-working collectors had recently called. I did that and fed the cats and then heard a kitten crying somewhere close by. Further investigation revealed two tiny things at the bottom of another bin, trying desperately to get out. They couldn’t, they were too small. I remembered Symi Animal Welfare saying that you shouldn’t touch young kittens because our scent can stop their mothers from finding them, so I didn’t do that. What I did instead was to gently tip the paladin forward, making sure that the two bags of rubbish at the bottom did not slide onto the animals. I got some odd looks from a passing couple, ‘A strange Englishman, going through the bins? Brexit must have started early.’ Eventually, the kittens realised what was going on and managed to run out and escape. I righted that bin and then heard another kitten making the same complaint and found him/her in the next empty bin along. I did the same thing, and all three were able to dash off to safety.

So, a little request there: check your paladins before dumping your trash. You don’t want to kill anything.

Meanwhile, as you can see from the photo, our cat (clearly not a kitten) spent a pleasant morning in the shade of the washing.

And, as you can also see, the taxi boats are going out. This was early in the morning, so there must have been something special taking place somewhere; one went across to Analipsis and the other out of the bay to somewhere else. One was running back and forth to Analipsis all morning yesterday.

Today, Friday, the Symi football team are off to Camber Sands, in East Sussex, to take part in a European football competition. We’re wishing them good luck. We’re also very touched by the good people of Romney Marsh and surrounding area who have clubbed together to bring them some welcome packs of towels, shampoo, soap and drinks. Let’s hope that the donators manage to meet up with the organisers and deliver them for when the boys arrive, sometimes around five pm today. When I hear how they have got on, I’ll let you know. If you are in the area, you can go and watch the games for free. I know that the Symi boys are playing in the first match at 9.00 on Saturday morning, but am not sure of the timetable after that.

Share on Facebook

Symi, Film and Books updates

Symi update first, with some older photos as Neil still has my camera, and I’ve not been out to get new images yet. Maybe tomorrow. In Symi news… Well, I’ve just seen one of the taxi boats heading out around the headland towards the further beaches, one of Lucas’ boats I think. The old familiar boat drone and hum are back, bringing the summer with it, as the taxi heads out. Another boat is already going to Nimborio; I’m not sure if George and his brother have started their St Nicholas and Ag Maria service yet.

I made Yiannis laugh at the bar on Tuesday. Neil and I had met up to go to dinner (at 11.00 in the morning – long story, don’t ask) and, when I was given another glass of wine (only my third) at seven pm, I just mumbled ‘Panagia mou!’ under my breath. For some reason, this reduced Yiannis to fits of laughter. Must have been the way I said it. I was hungry and ready to eat and had been since the effects of a wonderful Olive Tree bacon roll lunch wore off at about five. Still, it was a lovely afternoon chatting to everyone who came by and watching Neil working. Ha-ha. A Georgio’s pork chop is just what’s needed after a hard day socialising, and very nice it was too.

Meanwhile, at the desk: I had a bit of an admin day yesterday, we both did. Neil came back on Tuesday and spent Wednesday morning working on the photos he took at his Niece’s wedding. I, on the other hand, got stuck into admin about films and books.

Over in the film office (in England), the admin department there are busy entering the film, ‘The 13^th’ into more film festivals, including the New York Greek Film Festival, so they are now busy doing promotions, and also working on the distribution deal with the distribution company. It looks like things could finally be moving along. Mind you, it may not be accepted to every festival, if any, but we can hope.

As for my admin, I was thrilled to see that ‘the Saddling’ has already gained six reviews, all five-star, at Amazon.co.uk. As I keep saying, these reviews, no matter how short, really help put the book up the rankings and the more a title gets, the more attention it receives from elsewhere. You can put them on whichever version of Amazon you use (.com or .co.uk, etc.) but they don’t get shared between the various Amazon sites. Most of my reviews are on .co.uk, which is understandable, and I went through the list yesterday morning. I found that over 11 books I have 65 reviews and most of them are five-star. I accept the few lower rated ones (left for the older books) as these titles were brought out in the early days of indie publishing and I did the editing and formatting myself, so yes, typos and things can be found. But, since ‘The Judas Inheritance’ I have used a professional editor (though we still find the odd typo, but then I’ve found typos in books published by Bloomsbury, and others), and so things are a lot better. I also ignore the one three-star review that was not about the book at all. Someone hijacked the review process to take a pop at Amazon and its tax status, which had nothing to do with my book. I reported this but nothing came of it, and it’s still there; the same crazed woman has posted similar things on other people’s books for her own gratification – very unhelpful for everyone else.

Anyway, today’s ramble is clearly about me and books as that’s what’s on my mind right now. If you would like to put a review up for me, that would be great. You can find all my titles listed on my author page here. Judas is in the lead with 11 reviews, and Jason is chasing his rear with 10, as are Stag and Gary in ‘Remotely’, also with 10, but Tom, Dan and Barry and the Romney Marshes are fast catching up with six already, and ‘The Saddling’ has only been out a couple of weeks. Please do take a look and, if you can bear it, share the pages around social media and also add reviews – we are saving up for a wedding after all, wink, wink.

Here’s one of the latest reviews for Saddling, which might help you make up your mind if you want to buy a copy.

“Wow! What a read.

Wow! Thank you, James Collins, for a brilliant thriller come horror, right up there with The Wicker Man! Delivered on Saturday, finished by Wednesday – unable to put the book down. Excellent final twist. This would make a brilliant movie.”

If you have read it, please don’t give away that final twist!

Share on Facebook