Saddling news and Symi photos

Kalo mina! We had a few photos from Cyprus yesterday and, as it’s a Saturday, here are some random ones from Symi. In a moment.

Before you browse through them, I must share news of my latest book, ‘The Saddling.’ It has gained another five-star review, so I am thrilled. Only six more to make 20. Have you read it yet? A quick review on Amazon will help with sales. Here’s what the latest reviewer has written:

“I was gripped by this compelling tale from the first page. It is a warren of clues and lore that builds to a thrilling climax only in the last few pages. The world of Saddling, with its dialect and characters, is beautifully crafted. I recommend it.”

Thank you! 😊

Meanwhile, I am now seven chapters into the follow-up, ‘The Witchling.’ Having invented my world of Saddling village with its own Lore and Teaching, its own dialect and characters, this one is falling onto the page easily. Mind you, I am only at chapter seven, and there’s a long way to go. There will then be the editing and further drafts, the checking and rewriting. But to get it out and down is actually a joy and I look forward to my 3,000 words per day. Luckily this week I have been able to achieve that target.

Anyway, here are some Symi Saturday photos for you. Have a good weekend, it looks like we are in for a hot one.

Hot doorknobs

[Hacked notice. A couple of people have reported to me that when going to the Symi Dream, site, or when searching for it, they have seen a page/notice that says ‘This site might have been hacked.’ I checked with our hosting company who ran scans and did their own checking and their reply was “The generic malware scan did not turn up any suspicious files. Based on that and Firefox and Chrome loading the site without error, I would say the issue was with the users that reported it. A google search did not turn up any warnings either.” If you get a similar ‘possibly hacked’ massage, it may be that you have some bug on your browser. All seems fine here. Thanks for letting me know though.]

It’s 11.30 in the morning and in our courtyard, at the coolest point, it is 38 degrees. It was 28 at 5.30 this morning when we went out for a walk. Remember to cover up, use sun lotion, drink masses of water and wear a hat. Says he who spends all day trying to avoid the sun, never wears a hat unless going for a walk in the sun, but does drink at least three litres of water every day, even in the winter.

I called into a friend’s house yesterday to run a little errand for her. Her metal gate and saloni door face west and had been in the sun for quite a while. The gate was not a problem as I opened that with a key, but while opening the saloni door, I put my hand on the brass doorknob and… Next time I will take an oven glove. That’s all I’m saying.

Having been writing all morning, and feeling a little brain dead from the heat and work, I thought I’d just share some photos today, A few more from Cyprus, Paphos to be exact. It was about 40 degrees when I was there wandering around ancient ruins and looking a bit like one myself. There was time to sit and watch the seaside world go by though.

Village hangouts

I’ve not looked for photos for this post yet and may not have any that are appropriate, but I just wanted to say… It’s been very busy at the Rainbow Bar (and Lefteris’ next door) these past few weeks, in the afternoons. It’s a great place to hang out and catch up with friends and the afternoon slot, between three and five (and onwards) is very popular with visitors. Maybe it’s because Neil works there at that time, but I also think it’s because Yiannis is an entertaining character and his prices are as low as they can be.

One of the great charms of Symi, for me, is sitting and watching the world go by. You can do that at these two bars, as you can at most others. You see some sights. These include day-trippers wandering around trying to find ‘the church.’ They can see it from the harbour as they come in and come up to take a look at it. They usually mean the church at Lemonitisa, with the red dome, the one that overlooks the harbour below. It’s fairly easy to find once you ask someone. They are also looking for the museum, but that shuts in the early afternoon. You can often see great disappointment on faces when they’ve climbed up to 400 steps to the village only to discover that the museum is another couple of hundred up, but it’s closed. It’s open from eight in the morning until two (or it may be three, I’ll look next time I pass) every day apart from Monday.

You see some other sights too. People in swimwear usually get some twisted expressions behind their backs as they pass. Budgie smugglers are not the thing to wear when wandering around a village anywhere in the world. You wouldn’t do it at home so why do it here guys? And as for ladies whose skin is looser than their bikinis, well, let’s not go there. Occasionally you will see people pushing their bicycles either up or down the steps; always seems like an odd one to me, but I have seen people ride them down, and have also seen mopeds going up and down the steps. Mechanical diggers occasionally pass by. You also get to know the local cats who come to say hello and see if there is any food available.

With the news fans at both bars, and with the street being a natural wind tunnel towards and from the sea, it’s often a cooling place to sit too. Unless it’s a cold day in which case it can have the opposite effect; in this case, you can sit inside. There’s shade, enough tables for around 30 people per bar and more can be brought out, and there’s always a good atmosphere. Recently it’s been busy because there have been a lot of British visitors, some of whom left yesterday, but no doubt there will be more during June, to be taken over by the Italian and Greek visitors of July and August, before returning in September.

When you are visiting, make sure to come up to the village and find these two bars. They are open from nine (Lefteris is often there by 5.30 in the morning), and they close whenever the last person leaves at night. Everyone’s welcome to sit and watch the budgie smugglers and saggy-skinned sirens go by. Or just read a good book. 😉

(As you can see, only one relevant image, and it’s not even mine, so some random ones instead.)

Symi sunrises are back

Well, they’ve always been here, I am glad to say, but yesterday I was up early enough to catch one. I was so early I nearly missed it and had made my way up the road and towards Periotisa just as the sun appeared over the Turkish mountains. As you can see, we were expecting another hot day.

The trouble with creeping around the lanes at that time of the day is that you never know who you are going to catch doing what. Example:

A little later I passed two humans who, judging by the looks on their faces and the fact that the boy couldn’t look at me when I said a cheery good morning, had either recently finished that kind of ‘cat’ action, or were just about to embark on it. I think a particular bar had not long closed, and I will say no more. So, here is another image from yesterday’s sunrise walk.

I hadn’t been up that road for a while and was impressed to see what’s happened at the cantina. I’m not sure if it’s the one from right up top at the viewpoint or a different one, but it’s certainly set itself up for many visitors. There’s a great view down over the valley and plenty of places to sit and see it. I expect there is shade provided if it is open during the day. I didn’t see any opening times, so it may only be an evening venue. All the same, a gentle walk up the main road out of Horio will soon have you reaching it, so take a look, take a rest and enjoy the view.

No awards, but a couple of books

We have certainly warmed up a bit over here in Symi, with temperatures reaching the high 30s, some people have said they have recorded temperatures at their properties in the low 40s too. Summer has definitely arrived. So have lots of boats, the harbour was quite full on Sunday night, and there was a large gathering out there in the bay on Monday too.

It was good to see lots of places full in the evening when we went to Yialos for dinner. We were royally spoiled at a great apartment by the bridge which afforded views we don’t normally see. We were also lucky to find a taxi to take us back up at 10.30, the 11 pm bus can get very crowded, and I didn’t fancy a walk up after such a hearty meal.

In other news, we have seen the results of the Cyprus Film Festival. No awards for ‘The 13^th’ in this one, but we still get to show off the ‘official selection’ laurels on the poster and cover, for whenever the company manages to arrange a distribution deal. This is proving difficult because of the things that have to be put in place before a company accepts distribution responsibility. The problems are, as usual, caused by money, so there’s no definite news on that yet.

There is more definite news on my next book. (Here he goes again!) The Saddling is proving to be something of a hit with my loyal readers, and there are now 13 reviews up on Amazon.co.uk – the more it gets, the more they will promote it… you now the score. It only takes a few minutes to write one, and every one counts. I’ll also be using some of the reviews as quotes on the cover for the next in the series, ‘The Witchling’ which I have now started writing in earnest. Well, I have started in it Word and on scraps of paper as I do, but you know what I mean.

Also, the Miss P short, ‘Honestly’ is being read by a few beta readers. Neil has read it, laughed in the right places and enjoyed it. I hope to have this out in a month or so (must find time to do the layout once I’ve done the second draft), and I shall also be adding in some review quotes from ‘Remotely’ at the back, plus a link to that novel. So, if you want to see your review in print, make sure you leave a review there as well, assuming you have read it.

And that’s my news this Monday morning as the heat builds up, the sea remains calm, the boats come and go, and the fan works overtime. That’s the electric fan we use to cool ourselves down, not the fan who writes me good reviews on Amazon. Okay, I’ll shut up about that now and let you get on with your day.