An evening at Mythos
I’m sorry about this Elaine, but I hear there are wild times to be had in Maidstone as well as on Symi, and if you are ever here I can totally recommend a dinner at Mythos in Yialos. A party of 20 of us went there for Neil and Justine’s birthday on Thursday night, separate bills all-round – no problem, brilliantly handled by the friendly and efficient staff – great food, lovely view (rubbish photos on my part, so not a lot to share) and all a very reasonable price, which included a shot and desserts on the house. There were even taxis and lifts back up to the village afterwards, apart from three of us who walked up. That seems to be a recurring event for me, on Neil’s birthday; a wonderful dinner and a slow, sweaty walk up the ‘lazy steps’ (misnomer) afterwards for a nightcap at Rainbow. Before you know it it’s the next day and there’s a bunch of wonderful presents for him (and one for me, thank you Jenine!) and Friday feels like a Saturday as not much got done.

But it was a good day for reading and thinking up ideas of things to write – thank you to Ann again for taking the time and trouble to read the screenplay and the book. The book, as you probably know, is ‘Remotely‘ my latest comedy. So far all the reviews have been good, people have been laughing along with it as far apart as New Zealand and Tilos, Penzance and Perth, I am told and I have even seen it being read on Symi. All good stuff.

Over here the heat is back, yesterday was definitely warmer than the day before and it’s a good time of year to be at the beach. Maybe one day, as Liza sang in ‘Cabaret’, I may get to the beach, but the trouble is, each time I go for a few hours off I lie down and promptly fall asleep until it’s time to go home again. I can do that quite easily here.

But Saturday and Sunday now stretch ahead with writing to do and ideas to play around with. The first draft of The Saddling arrived – it actually arrived one hour after I emailed the printers to ask where it was and they wrote back saying they would send another copy; I replied, later, that there as now no need. I hope they got that message in time. So, there’s that to be read as well, when I am in the mood to return to a ‘Rural Gothic’ frame of mind. Well, you have traditional Gothic with castles and claustrophobia, wild woods and storms, and you have Urban Gothic, the same kind of thing but in cityscapes, so why not Rural Gothic where there are creepy characters and settings, mist and marshes? (There is actually, ‘Wuthering Heights’ etc.) That’s what I am aiming for in this new thriller which should be out next year. Meanwhile, have a good weekend.

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Symi, off and on
I have started putting together some ideas for my next book of Symi based stories, ‘Symi, off and on’ but there’s a distinct lack of ‘Symi’ in them. They are mainly about travels before moving here and then since living here, so they often start or end at Symi, but I realise I am short on amusing Symi stories. If anyone has any ideas of what they would like to read about in the next volume of ‘Thoughts From a Greek Island’ please feel free to use the email address at the very bottom of the site here, or contact me on Facebook or in person in the village. All ideas welcome.

Meanwhile, it’s actually yesterday today and Neil’s birthday. I’m rushing this off (on Thursday) so I don’t have to worry about it in the morning and also, he’s planning to come back from Yialos (where he is currently making me an appointment with the dentist and doing other alarming things) and we may take the rare opportunity to have lunch at Georgio’s. We are booked into Mythos for tonight, so it looks like it is going to be a day of festivities and feasting.

The sun is out, there are no clouds around now and only a slight breeze, though it’s noticeably more comfortable temperature-wise. Jack the AC is still off on his holiday; we think it was around this time last year that he went on a field trip so we suspect he has a visiting family or person who he goes and stays with at this time of year. September is a good time to visit Symi as it’s cooler, the walking is good, there are migrating birds coming back and forth so some bird watching to be done, and all the bars and tavernas are still open. They start to close up around the middle of October, depending on when the final charter flights come and go from Rhodes.

I’m planning a short holiday of my own, a couple of days on Rhodes doing some bits and pieces, but not until towards the end of October. Until then, though, it’s the same routine but with the added attraction of many returning visitors who come at this time of year. This is also the two-week period we used to come when holidaying here, so there are several returners who we got to know then and the friendships have continued over the years. It’s that kind of place.

Anyway, I should go and prepare for the rest of the day now and see if I have a shirt and pair of shorts that will expand as the day of festive feasting goes on. Hopefully tomorrow I will be in a reasonably fit state to prepare a post for Saturday, we shall see.

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Blue Star Patmos, Symi (and happy Birthday to Neil!)
The Blue Star Patmos came in yesterday on its first Symi run. This ship has replaced the Paros which had been serving us very well all summer. According to the timetable it will be running from Symi to Rhodes on the usual days, Wednesday (08.15 arriving at Rhodes at 09.40) and Friday (07.45 arriving at Rhodes at 09.10).

It will be doing the route’s usual return trips on Wednesday (15.00 arriving at Symi at 16.30) and Friday (19.00 arriving at Symi at 20.25), and it leaves from Akandia harbour in Rhodes. There are a couple of tavernas nearby so if you are using this crossing you can find yourself at Nimos, just inside Akandia gate and owned/run by two Symi friends, or there is another one at the entrance to the harbour which is also a handy place to sit and chill as you wait for your boat.

For details about traveling to Symi head over to the Symi Visitor Accommodation travel blog where Andy has also put summaries of the other boats and their timetables.

We were down in the harbour on Tuesday night to have drinks with some friends, and then came back up to do the usual stop-off at Rainbow to meet with others. It’s such a sociable time of year over here; but we were still up early to get through our daily chores, work and jobs, so that’s fine. I’m not sure what state we will be in on Friday though as a group of us are going out to celebrate Neil’s birthday tonight and it could get messy.

I’ll leave you with that thought as I have a present to wrap, and I’ll leave you with a couple more shots from Tuesday to go with it. PS. I now know that yesterday’s bird was a chiffchaff – thank you Lyndon!

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Birds and bells, the sound of Symi
A little bird watching from the balcony yesterday produced the results below. I’m still checking with the experts but it might be a serin? I’ll correct that if I’m wrong, but it looks similar to some I found on Symi Flora And Fauna.

We see various kinds of birds from here, though there are a lot more to be found up in the hills. Apparently the autumn migration has started, so we can expect more than our usual pigeons, seagulls and sparrows for a while now. From the balcony we can also see the hawks, kestrels I think, and every now and then other ones that I can’t identify; small brown birds smaller than a sparrow that look like wrens only slightly larger. We also hear the owls, there were a couple having a good old debate outside the open window the other night, and recently I’m sure I’ve heard a thrush. Could be a blue rock thrush, perhaps? Getting photos of them is often difficult as they are all so quick.

We also saw clouds yesterday and the weather report, having already changed since two days ago, shows cloud for today, in part, with heavy rain up on the mainland, but no rain expected here. But you never know…

Other sights and sounds from the balcony keep me going through the day: the whistles in the harbour, anchor chains falling, ships’ horns as they come in, the bell on the train, the clop of the horse’s hooves as it trails its carriage around the harbour, the mopeds on the road, the rising arpeggio of the town hall ‘boing, boing, boing’ and the announcements that follow. We hear the sea lapping sometimes, early in the morning before the boats start pulling in and out, the wind in the trees nearby, the sound of cats fighting and discussing (loudly) possible mating proposals, neighbours passing, greetings from down below, cicadas in their season and various church bells, some from behind in the village where they sound quiet, and some along the lane and from the church opposite at Harani. We don’t hear the harbour clock anymore as it’s been stuck on 11.45 for well over a year now, but we can see it. We can even hear chatter from below (careful the things you say) and the neighbour’s washing machine, hoses being used to wash recently washed courtyards, the occasional dog barking and sometimes distant music from somewhere… out there.

The weather has changed; there’s a feel of autumn in the air, thanks to the passing cloud, but that should soon clear and leave September and October as warm and pleasant as you’d expect. But it smells fresher and calmer now and not as humid, most of the time. The fan is off, there is a discussion about when to put a top sheet on the bed and today is the first time in a few months that I have to wear a shirt as I sit by my open window and type away. But there is still a long way to go before the end of the season. I’d better get bird watching and see if I can find you anything else that might be of interest. If only they’d sit still long enough for me to go and find the camera, turn it on, remember to take off the lens cap, realise I’ve turned it off, turn it on again, put the strap around my neck and then… oh it’s gone.

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A quick note on September
There was some mild excitement on Saturday when the clouds brewed up over the sea and over Turkey (Neil’s photo, below, was taken on his tablet). Later, as we were having dinner, I noticed some flashguns going off down the lane and though it was a bit odd. Then they were going off down another lane and I realised it was lightning. I thought the thunder might have been my tummy rumbling but it wasn’t. A few spots or rain have since been reported but otherwise, there was no downpour or storm here and the weather is set to remain warm and sunny.

This gives me an opportunity to carry out a long range weather forecast by visiting a website to see what they have to say about things. September is a popular month among northern Europeans who often pay return visits to the island at this time of year. Checking one weather site I see that they are reporting Symi September weather to be sunny all through the month with ‘increasing cloud’ on 30^th, and temperatures up at 25 or so. Apparently October is going to be the same, though down to 18 degrees towards the end of the month, and there are only a few days with cloud. I guess they go by previous years’ forecasts as they are predicting a thunderstorm on November 6^th, which seems a bit precise as it’s so far ahead.

Still, the weather is warm and sunny, there’s a bit of a breeze at times which has now taken away the humidity of July and August and the sea is calm, so all is fine and dandy there. In other news, well there isn’t really any other news. I spoke too soon when I said we were in for a quiet week apart from the birthday party; we now have guests on Monday, drinks on Tuesday, dinner on Thursday and two engagements for next week – not that I am complaining of course and don’t worry, we do work during the day so we’re not just lounging around waiting for the next social gathering. This is what September is like.

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