A Symphony of Symi Sound

I had forgotten how loud dawn could be, and I am not talking about the lovely Dawn who runs the aerobics classes. Dawn on the Pedi road is what I am talking about. I went down there yesterday morning for a walk before work and took the photos you see today. Walking through the village, I was aware of the sound of my feet as it was so quiet. There were occasional sounds of people stirring behind their doors, and a couple of dogs gave me a morning bark as I passed, but otherwise, it was very quiet. Until I came to the road.

The sparrows were waking up in the trees, having a good old chatter, the chickens were discussing their night’s sleep, and the cockerels were letting everyone know that it was time to be up and about – as they do throughout the day and into the night. The cicadas in the trees by the church were deafening in unison, and along to my right, some sheep and goats were having a good old debate. A little later these sounds died down to be replaced by the water treatment plant’s engine hum, and there was some sound from the power station, but it was nowhere nearly as loud as it used to be.

Peace returned as I turned into Pedi to be met by the sounds of the sea. There was the occasional clank from an anchor chain as other early risers prepared for the day. A cargo ship was unloading with a crane, even though the sun was not yet over the headland, and I had the impression that they were trying to work as quietly as possible. The sea lapped at the shore, and the sun rose over the hill.

That was it really, no news today, just noise. Well, beautiful noise. If you’re going to be staying at the top of the Pedi valley or nearby, remember that it is rural there and the animals are in charge. Expect the sounds of the countryside and be grateful for them – they make a change from sirens and streets, cars and the cacophony of city life.

The 13^th Greek Premiere

Remember, if you are on Symi this evening you can see the Greek Premiere of the film ‘The 13^th‘ that was shot on Symi in 2013. It will be showing at the Horio sports centre at 21:00 tonight as part of The Symi Festival. The film has now picked up 14 or 15 laurels, awards at film festivals and has been shortlisted for two festival finales/screenings at two different festivals in India later in the year, and one in Africa, I think. The production company is waiting to hear back on several other submissions. The Symi cinema guys tell me that they have permission to show the film again, outside of the Symi Festival later in the year, and I think they will be showing it in September.

So, how was your weekend? I spent much of last week preparing ‘Honestly’ for a Kindle publication in a couple of weeks, and some of Saturday trying to work out how to convert the files and make the thing look right on Kindle. I’ve had to call in expert help as I couldn’t figure it out. Meanwhile, my designer is working on the cover, and I should be able to see that in a couple of days. If you want to read more about my writing activities, I’ve put a quick update on my other, less frequent blog here http://jamescollinsauthor.com/

We were in Yialos on Saturday having a complete day off, apart from Neil having to work at the bar in the afternoon. We picked up some varnish, a new shower mat, a new hat for me and some shopping, and then stopped for a beer at Pacho’s. A quick lunch at Meraklis (ham and cheese omelette and yemista for me – that’s stuffed tomatoes/peppers) and a taxi up the hill, a long afternoon in the square and then some time on the balcony listening to some old cabaret CDs for some reason.

The weather’s been wonderfully calm and ‘just right’ if you like it warm/hot. The fan is still going on, on my desk at seven in the morning and I tend to forget what it’s like outside. I spend all day indoors working in front of one fan or another and then if I do go out in the afternoon, I am hit by this wall of heat that I’d not noticed before. Not complaining!

A few photos from Saturday for the blog today, more to come during the week. I’ve not got much in the diary this week, an interview on Sunday to help a college student in Canada, the film showing on Monday night, a dinner invite for Saturday and a new novella to get ready and publish; standard kind of week. Whatever you are up to, have a good one, and I’ll be back tomorrow.

Symi Saturday Photos

First: I am sure you’ve heard about the earthquake that struck near Kos early on Friday morning. Symi shook but there was no major damage and no injuries, that I know of. We are built on rock and pretty stable, so stable that I slept through it and knew nothing about it. I just thought you might like to know.

You might also like to know that the Greek premier of ‘The 13^th‘, shot on Symi in 2013, will be on Monday night at 21:00 at the village sports centre, entrance free. There are posters up and around.

And now here is a collection of photos to get your weekend off to a Symi start.

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Symi Sun

Just for my author page viewers on Facebook, I’ve put up the new look ‘Remotely’ cover on my Facebook page. It will be going live soon on Amazon, replacing the excellent cover that is already there. (This is happening because I am planning a series of short ‘Miss P’ novellas, and need to keep the design consistent through the series, which we can do with the new cover. ‘Honestly’, the first, will be out in a few weeks.) If you use Facebook, head over there and take a look and remember to follow and like the page. I think you can do that without having to be an FB-friend of mine – not sure. If you want to have a copy with the current cover, you best get one soon. Here’s the link.

Meanwhile, here are a few photos taken the other evening when we were invited to a barbeque. We don’t get to see the sunset from our house, it goes behind a house before it goes behind the hill, so it was a good opportunity to get some sun shots. I think they will show you how warm it has been around here of late. I’ll leave you with these and go and cool off over the cooker where I am making vegetable soup. I know, crazy, but after two barbeques in the last few days…

From Symi to the Marsh

I was interviewed by a local radio station in Kent on Tuesday evening, and I think, for someone who hates using the phone, I did rather well. Neil was listening from out in the porch and told me I was okay, apart from too many ums and ers. The interviewer, Craig Avery, is an old school friend from the marsh, so I didn’t feel too nervous, and his questioning was so well put that I didn’t feel panicked. (I had no idea what he was going to ask, except it would be about my books.) You can listen to it on the station’s website, but I haven’t done that because I don’t like the sound of my voice. The interview was at 17:30 GMT on Tuesday. Here’s the link to the site and the ‘listen again’ page where it will be for one week. http://www.channelradio.co.uk/shows-craig-avery-show/ I start about a quarter of the way through – just after Connie Francis and ‘Who’s Sorry Now?’ Interesting.

Actually, what is interesting (and I should have picked up on it) is that the song before that was by Morcheeba. We’re friends with Morcheeba’s mum who visits Symi every year. The boys went to a school near mine in Folkestone, and our schools used to have rumbles on the 259 bus as it journeyed along the seafront road. They are younger than me, so I never actually got into trouble with them, but it’s another connection – and we met Ross when he was on Symi once; a group of us ended up at Rhodes airport with him playing the guitar as we sat on the floor. But now I am name dropping. The point is, later in the show Craig talked about ‘a small world’, and that’s where I could have mentioned something, but my brain doesn’t work like that without notes.

Another connection is that another old friend from my childhood on the marsh is visiting Rhodes next week and hopes to get here for a day. If so, it will be the first time in about 37 years that we have seen each other.

On the show, Craig was very good at getting me to plug the books, and I mentioned ‘The Saddling’ and ‘Remotely’ as they are set in the area local to the radio station, the Romney marshes. I had hoped to mention ‘The 13^th‘ too, but forgot about that and wanted to thanks the people of the marsh who helped the Symi football boys recently, but there was no place I could slip that in. I did, though, manage to talk about Symi and say how wonderful it was, so at least the island got some publicity from it. I have no idea what else I said, except to praise my best friend from school, now a composer and musician working in India and London (and Albania and Istanbul, I think). Andrew had mentioned me on Craig’s show a year or two back, and Craig very kindly brought that up so that I had an ‘in’ to repay the compliments. All of which were meant.

Anyway, that was my Tuesday evening, and maybe there will be a few more book sales and good reviews coming from it. I know the images today don’t go with the story, but there isn’t much to take photos of when you’re staring at your piano and wondering if you are making any sense at all. So, off with me now. Do listen if you want to, link above, and… well, have a good day.