Paying the bills

Ah, don’t you just love bill-paying time? No, not a lot. Actually, the bills are not a lot, considering they are for electricity and water. This is an ‘actual’ bill. We usually try to pay the estimated electricity bills when they come in as it helps soften the blow. The details of the bill are still a bit of a mystery to me, but I know what all the bits and pieces are for. This one covers four months from February and it’s surprisingly acceptable – luckily we paid the estimate. The water bill is the same as it’s always been, but that’s because the meter has not been read for a long while now. I assume that when it is, we’ll get a more accurate and probably more surprising bill, just as we did last year.

At least they are paid now, and the joy of online banking! I can’t tell you how easy it is. Except that now we can pay the water online I keep forgetting how to do it so have to ask Jenine to remind me. With those two out of the way, the next one, after the rent, is the health insurance bill, as I have private insurance and Neil has a small policy that covers his annual MOT. We do this on our annual ‘health holiday’ to Rhodes where we are looked after by our insurance agent and a few private doctors in the mornings, and by the bar staff at the Plaza and other favourite watering holes in the evenings. Next month will come the phone bill, I think, and so the months roll on. We’ve also asked our accountant to do our tax returns so that punch in the pocket will be landing on us soon.

Not complaining! I can’t, Neil has a ‘No Moan Zone’ shirt that he had made in Rhodes when we were being prodded and scanned, poked with needles and pressed up against machines last April. In fact, there is nothing to moan about around here at the moment; we’re lucky. The sun is out and not quite as blasting as it has been, the writing is coming on, we are having the house done up bit by bit (painting the courtyard and that kind of thing) ready for Neil’s birthday in September, and other events, and there is always work to be done.

On which note, I must press on. I’ve left two characters searching for a witch’s curse on the Romney Mashes and I don’t want to leave them there alone too long in case she finds them and does nasty things to them.

Taverna fun

I spent a lot of yesterday morning typing up the notes from our CP planning meeting. CP in this case doesn’t stand for corporal punishment, it stands for Civil Partnership. We have a guest list of 70 for the evening party, but everyone is invited to have a drink with us at Rainbow Bar between 3pm and 5pm on September 8^th. If you are on the evening invite list, you would have received an email or message invite a while ago, but we will be sending out a further update in a few days’ time. This will have the timetable and full set of instructions. I wish we could invite more people and am sorry that we can’t.

In unrelated news, I have to sing the praises of the Georgio’s Taverna staff. We called in there for an impromptu dinner on Tuesday night. I know, a ‘school night,’ but when you’ve got the smell of a pork chop on the barbeque in your nostrils and have been eating salads and veg for two weeks, it’s hard to resist. It was good to see the younger members of the family, and non-family, working so diligently. It gives hope that there are some jobs out there for young people, even if only seasonal. Lefteris in particular has been a great hit with customers. His English is fluent (and he probably speaks other languages as well, it wouldn’t surprise me) and so is his humour. The girls play and sing beautifully and everyone makes you welcome. If people wonder why Noufris, the owner, tends to sit at the back of an evening and doesn’t appear to be doing anything, it’s because he’s been at work since eight in the morning, doing the prep and cooking. He also keeps a close eye on how the place runs from his back table and occasionally shouts across to see how you are. It’s always great fun there.

We’ve also recently been treated to meals at other places: Taverna Zoi, with the Pedi view and home cooking, for example, and the Neriada Taverna in Yialos. We’ve been a bit spoilt to say the least.

If you’re heading this way soon, you might like to know that the wind has died down a bit and we’re still on course for another burst of hot weather, so remember the rules: water, hats, sun cream, no moaning, take care, etc. I don’t think I have any other news or gossip (that I can print) for you today, so I will slope off and get started on another chapter of another book.

Blow winds from the north

A strong wind from the north-west on Monday night/Tuesday has helped to cool things down a little. At least, that’s how it feels. We’re still in the high numbers, but not suffering as much as before. It’s good for cooling, but not so good if a fire starts somewhere. If you are out and about on Symi, or anywhere dry, in the summer, be wary of starting a fire accidentally. I have seen a fire truck here, but many places are inaccessible. Just a note.

My days are currently filled with writing, as you know, though I have been out and about when I can. The village square remains a favourite place to be for a couple of hours after work, and the lanes and hills a favourite place to be before the sunrise when it’s cool enough to walk. I sit here and watch the taxi boats coming in and out, and I have a hankering for a day at Nanou, where I have not been for money years. The trouble is, there’s always another chapter to write, another job to do at home, another part of a dance to learn, and I find it hard to drag myself away from the desk, especially when a story is flowing, as one is at the moment. Perhaps I should be stricter with myself and force myself down to the beach on a Sunday morning or something. Mind you, the last time I did that, I sat on a sunbed at 9.30 and didn’t wake up until it was lunchtime, when I had to get home. I can sleep here if I want to.

A cruise ship came in yesterday, as did the day boats and a morning catamaran bringing some visitors. Others are leaving today, and hopefully, more will be arriving later. Or, as they say over in Kent, ‘We’re in hopes that more will arrive.’ Or as they say in the darker parts, ‘We be in ’opes that more be ’riving afore long.’ I still can’t get this dialect out of me ’ead. My head, sorry. That’s what 7,000 words a day does for you.

So, a quick blog today and on to the next task. Sweeping up the dead vine leaves that have blown down overnight and that are now creeping their way into the house where they will fall apart, leaving us with a covering of brown bits to sweep up. Sweeping up into the wind. Now, there’s a lot of fun to be had there. Not. Maybe I will go and vacuum clean the courtyard instead.

House-sitting available this winter on Symi
Before I witter on this morning, I want to let you know that there’s a house-sitting job available on Symi for about three months of this coming winter. The house is in Nimborio. I don’t know exact dates and details but, if you are interested, send me an email and I will send it straight on to the person who is looking for the house sitter. They will then get back to you. Simple!

Feeling a bit jawsy a’day

It was so hot on Sunday night that sleep was difficult. I was up well before the dawn and went out for a stroll in the cooler air. I thought I might take some shots of the harbour at dawn, and I did, but they are not as spectacular as shots of Pedi or the valley. That’s because the sun comes up behind main-road-hill and doesn’t shine onto the harbour until a little later in the morning, and I wasn’t waiting around that long. Back home and to the desk by 6.30 with the fan on me and the laptop to keep us both cool.

The story I am working on now, as I’ve said before, is the follow-up to The Saddling. (Link is over there on the right.) That book is proving to be my most popular so far, even though it’s only been out a few months, so that’s excellent news. To get the most out of ‘The Witching’, the follow-up, you will have had to read the first one. You’ll still be able to enjoy part two if you haven’t, but some things might leave you wondering ‘What was that referring to?’ I’m bashing on with the first draft and am already up to 31,000 words, about a third of the way through. One of the things I use for these stories is a book called ‘A Dictionary of the Kentish Dialect and Provincialisms’, and, as there is a copy on my desk, I thought I’d treat you to some Kentish dialect words at random.

Here’s an inappropriate one. Inappropriate because of the time of year the new book is set (summer) and the fact that we are in a bit of a heatwave over here. Heavenshard [hevnz-haa*d in pronunciation]. You can read that one two ways, but when you know what it means, you can see where it comes from. ‘It rains heavenshard.’

I hope you are not disabil today, like I am. [Dis*ubil] ‘I’m all in a disabil.’ Which actually means, in a state of untidy dress.

There is a fair amount of horse in this book. Horsebuckle (cowslip), Horse emmets (large ants), To horse (to tie the upper branches of the hop-plant to a pole), Horsesnails (tadpoles), and Horse-lock (a padlock).

Some of my favourites include Jawsy (talkative), Dodger (a nightcap), Buffle-headed (stupid) and Crank (merry or cheerful). It’s an endless source of fun for me, this book, but then I’m like that. Hopefully, the new novel will be a source of enjoyment for you. I only need to write at least another 60,000 words so I can then edit and improve, send it through several drafts and have it laid out, designed, covered and published. Meanwhile, I hope you enjoyed passing this time with me. I ’ope you’re feeling crank a’day and not dicky, and if it does rain heavenshard where you be, that you don’t get squatted when a-walking the poachy lope-way.

By the way, both The Saddling and The Witchling come with a glossary.

Saturday night Sunday morning

It was good to see the village square cafes full on Saturday night. People were sharing tables, getting to know each other, meeting strangers and chatting. Both bars were busy, both tavernas were also doing well, and there was music at Georgio’s. Down in Yialos, where we had been in the morning to gets some bits and pieces, we had to wade through several groups of day-trippers and their guides. There were three or four day boats in, and the place was buzzing. It quietens down when everyone goes to lunch, but hopefully, the businesses had a good day and will have another good day today, Sunday.

I have a day at home planned, writing, as usual, making sure I do my 3,000 words per day. There are domestic duties to see to, the washing, some tidying up and sweeping. It’s good to have so many windows to open, especially when it is as hot as it has been lately, but it does leave the house open to dust and bits from trees which blow in on any breeze that might be around, not that there has been much of one for a while now.

The sea is calm today, there is a mist in the air, so I imagine it is going to be another humid day. The soldiers have just marched along the harbour and raised the flag, singing the national anthem, as they do every Sunday morning. They do the same again in the evening when they take it down. A few boats are heading out for the day already (it’s only just gone eight in the morning), and others are moored up along the harbour quayside. No doubt they will be off and sailing to a quiet bay later in the morning as well. The Diagoras is back and in the water. I saw her in Rhodes at the boat yard when I was returning from Cyprus a couple of weeks ago. I am not sure what trip it is doing. The Poseidon is going out every day, and the taxi boats looked busy on Saturday.

Everything is in summer mode and looking good. Just checking the weather forecast, I am told that… well, I am told that it’s going to be either 21 or 36, depending on which site you look at, so they’re not much good. It’s probably 21 at night, at least, and on one I’m told it’s going to be 26 today with a ‘real feel’ (whatever that is) of 29 degrees. I just looked at the thermometer in our courtyard, in the shade, and it reads 34 degrees. So I think we’ll let the weather forecasts think what they like to think. It doesn’t take a genius to look out of the window and see what your day’s weather is going to be. One of the reasons they are inaccurate around here is because there is no weather station on the island, that I know of. I suspect they take their readings from Rhodes airport, which is by the sea. I use the website Windfinder and take its readings from Datca, which is closer to us than Rhodes.

But that’s enough about the weather, lets’ get on with Sunday, I have words to write and edit and that washing won’t get done on its own.