Celebrations, film update and cheese balls
Tuesday was the celebration of ‘Our Lady of Nimos’ with services and a festival over at the church. We saw the boats going backwards and forwards through the day, the day-boats came in and went to Nimos first to blast their horns in celebration before docking on Symi as usual.

We were down in Yialos on Monday night, there may be some photos to follow, and it was good to see the place was fairly busy. It could always be busier of course, but it’s still a contrast to the village. Although that was busying up later in the evening, it’s still peaceful and quiet during the afternoons when everyone is at the beach or having a siesta, and pleasantly humming in the mornings when people are out for their coffees.

Switching to film news, I understand that some people have had trouble getting to see the film on the site that the Kickstarter updates talked about. The chap in the office back in the UK has been dealing with the enquiries and is doing his best to sort out whatever issues individuals have. It looks like it might be a problem with Hotmail and Gmail accounts specifically, and also, you need to have Flash installed so it can be viewed. Be patient, he’s doing what he can. Meanwhile others, myself included, have had no trouble getting to see the special backers’ preview and it looks good. It sounds good as well, great music and there are plenty of locations that regular visitors to the island will recognise.

Talking of films, I am still waiting for the results of my screenwriting course, the final results. I’m pleased to say I’ve been scoring around 75% or above on the individual assignments, and I am hoping for a good result on the last one. That was the 40 page script I had to submit and this one goes to an ‘independent, industry adjudicator’ someone in the biz who I’ve not been working with, so I am expecting a harsh criticism (it’s what’s needed) which will hopefully have some useful advice in it. The script I came up with was really for a television comedy series and we’ve been talking about other ideas for other episodes. If I can get the pilot script into a decent shape and come up with five or six possible other storylines, I might send it off to somewhere, via my ‘agent’ and see if anyone bites.

Meanwhile… Here on Symi, the weather remains warm, not as humid as in July but still hot. The garden furniture has given up and we have now collectively fallen through four director’s chairs that were either very badly made, or which weakened in the sun. We’re down to the one rickety bench and four kitchen chairs for our outside, which means constantly moving furniture about the place. But I’m not buying any more now, it can wait until next year.

Oh, I picked up a tip the other night. If you want ‘the best cheese balls on the island’ then Nanou beach is the place to go, according to this one critic. I am sure there are lovey cheese balls elsewhere, but that’s today’s recommendation. While you are there you can also swim and sunbathe of course, and tuck into any of their dishes – there’s a new chef, I understand. You will have to get a taxi boat there and back, though it is possible to walk there if you know what you are doing and are up for an adventure. Either way, it’s just one of the many Symi beaches that offer peace and quiet, perfect water and, well, cheesy balls I suppose.

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Symi Sunday – I know it’s Tuesday but…
Sunday was a bit of a day off. We decided to go down to Yialos, to exercise my back (which is now greatly improved I am pleased to say, though still not 100%), visit the bank, get some cat food and some tablets from the pharmacy. The pharmacies on Symi are open on Sundays during the summer, which is a handy thing to note if you are here on holiday. There was a cruise ship in from Cyprus as well, so there were lots of people about even before the day boats came in.

Once there, rather slowly, it was straight to the bank to get some money out with the intention of having Sunday lunch while we were there – in Yialos I mean, not in the bank. The first machine got me all the way through the process and then, when I clicked to continue, threw my card back at me. Odd, there was money in the account. So we walked on to the next one saying hello to Takis at Takis Leather en route and with me trying to walk upright so people didn’t think I’d had an embarrassing accident. The Alpha ATM did the same thing though; right pin number, money in the account but as soon as I asked for it, the card popped back out again. This wasn’t from my Greek account so I can only assume that either there was no money in the machines or there was a computer problem when doing the conversion. There was a receipt in one of the machines so they had been working.

But still, we had enough cash for lunch and the other things could wait so we put our feet up, metaphorically speaking, at Pacho’s, watched the world go by and then went for something to eat, knowing that we had enough as the prices are always very reasonable. After that I wasn’t up for a walk back up the steps, not through overeating or anything, but because of my back. So, a taxi ride was the next treat. This was followed by some hanging out at the Rainbow and an evening in with a couple of films. All very nice and relaxing, a proper Sunday – for me. Well, almost, the Sunday I had planned, like the Saturday, was going to consist of a long walk and a lot of writing, but neither happened due to the costume injury I sustained on Friday morning while putting my shoes on. Hey ho.

Monday morning dawned after I was up and about and, on going back to the bedroom, I discovered the neighbour’s cat on the windowsill, inside, trying to work out how it could get to Jack’s food bowl through the shut bedroom door. It’s been coming in to snaffle the leftovers as its owner is currently away. That’s no great problem as it’s a she cat and doesn’t spray, but there’s another one, much younger, that Jack doesn’t like and last time she tried to access the soup kitchen Jack literally kicked the you know what out of it. Not a very pleasant mess to clear up, I can tell you.

And so; we ended last week with a quiet and almost empty diary but now, Monday, it’s already filling up with a meal out tonight, another invite on Wednesday, another on Saturday and one on Monday with our anniversary in there as well somewhere. I think that will be spent at home having a day off from socialising, but who knows. This will be a combined anniversary as regular followers of the blog and books will know. Next weekend marks, 19 years together, 14 since leaving England to live abroad and about a week later, Neil’s birthday will mark the 14^th anniversary of us coming to live on Symi. I also note with interest that this year is the 20^th anniversary of me coming here for the first time. Where did all that go then?

Anyway, on towards the week ahead with social events and work the only two things occupying my mind, oh, and the hope that I don’t suffer another costume injury.

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The Symi Festival this week
Dates for your Symi Festival diary this week:
Tuesday 23^rd – Celebration of the traditional feast of our Lady of Nimos
Sunday 28^th – Local music ‘hypochromic’

The venue for the concert will be announced nearer the time through the island’s speaker system.

I’ve been watching the lights over on Nimos through the past few night, looks like they are getting the monastery ready for the festival at all hours. There will be taxi boats and others going backwards and forwards through the day and into the night on Tuesday. There is a description of this festival in William Travis’ ‘Bus Stop Symi’ if I remember correctly.

I’ve been having a bit of a Universal horror film weekend – not watching any, but moving about the house looking like Igor. I was doing one of those mundane things on Friday morning, getting dressed actually, and suddenly, for no reason, felt a great ripping up the top of one leg and into my back. ‘This doesn’t feel good,’ I thought and then said… Well, I shan’t repeat it here. But it’s now, Sunday as I write and I’m doing lines from ‘Noises off,’ “Am I in Spain? No I’m not in Spain, dear, I’m in agony.” (You should watch the film if you’ve not seen it, very funny especially if you’re into theatre or amateur dramatics.)

This put paid to my plan which was to walk to the monastery of ‘To Vrisi’ on Friday, and do some early morning wandering on Saturday and Sunday. Instead, I spent Friday at home trying to get comfortable while Neil went to Yialos and bought me some ‘anti-inflatables’, which have helped slightly, though you have to realise that the name of the tablets is nothing to take personally. You ask the pharmacy what’s the best thing to take for a ripped muscle and they reply with ‘Voltaren Retard.’ Luckily there’s no comma in there our it could be mildly insulting- but at least they seem to be working. As is sitting still and reading for two days mixed with a little moving about and the local equivalent of Deep Heat. Ah, the joys of getting older.

But it did give me time to read through the printed version of ‘Remotely’ to check for any last typos and corrections before the Kindle versions is finished. (Still a few weeks away as the man formatting it for me is now having to arrange the filming of the opening night of Hedda Gabler in Oslo from his cottage in Shropshire while also dealing with the sending out of info about ‘The 13^th‘ and caring for his elderly mother… But we are getting there.)

‘Remotely‘ has been selling well for its first month, but we could always do with more sales, so please take a look – just follow the link. I have to say, having not read it through for a while now it still made me laugh, in in places I’d not laughed in before and also brought a tear to my eye in places, and I knew what was coming. The most recent five-star review of it on Amazon includes: “More double-entendres than a Carry On film” which I rather like.

Anyway, I’m going to hobble away now. I’m hoping to get out later if only to get some more inspiring photos for the blog, though we also need even more cat food – I am sure he eats more than we do – and other bits and pieces. I shall put on my fake mid-European/Transylvanian accent, costume and bent walk and wander about Yialos saying, ‘Yes, Mhasther’ while throwing switches and pulling leavers before stealing a brain from a science lab that is clearly marked ‘Abnormal Brain’ (see James Whale’s Frankenstein) and laughing hysterically for no reason. Here’s to a good week.

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I haven’t done this for a while, but as I am feeling particularly lazy today, here are a few Symi Saturday photos – I’ll be back on Monday.

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Symi film news update, ‘The Thirteenth’
Here’s a quick note about the film filmed on Symi in 2013, ‘The Thirteenth.’ (And some unrelated musical images, unrelated apart from they were taken on Symi.)

I had advanced notice that the viewing for the backers will be available any day now. The film has been uploaded to a certain site where the industry place finished films for potential buyers to see; the distributers and so on. It made sense to put the film there so that it was in the right place for professionals interested in marketing it. This site also allows non-paid-up members to view films by invitation only. So, as I understand it, this is how it will go:

Backers of the film eligible for the free preview will receive a Kickstarter update very soon (it might even arrive before this is posted, I’m not sure). This will explain what you have to do in order to see the film. The email address that you used when you signed up for the Kickstarter donation is the one that the update will come to. You will be invited to go to the site (details of that will be in the update you get) and then you will have to register with the same email address. Registration is free and only takes a few seconds. You then get a conformation email with the log-in link.

It’s being done this way so that there is less chance of the film being hacked and stolen and put up on pirate sites, and the process is easier than I am making it sound. Once you get the link, you log in with the same email address (very important – else you won’t be able to log in) and then you can stream the film online. I believe there are ways to reduce the quality to aid the streaming, if you are on a slow connection for example, but if you can see it on the full quality, that will be the best way. You won’t be able to download it, and please don’t share the login details around, that would be very naughty.

A couple of things to note: there will be a watermark on the film which is a necessary evil. It’s not nice to see but it helps prevent pirating and copying. You’ll just have to ignore that. Also, the link will be there only for a certain period of time, it’s not a permanent viewing. But you should have plenty of time to see it all, I mean weeks rather than hours.

All this should be explained in the update that I have been told will be going out to backers very soon. I’ve also asked them to mention the other ‘perks’ that people have been waiting for. I know they now have to prepare a DVD version and a book for backers, but I don’t know what stage that is at. Anyway, here’s your advanced warning. And, if you were not a backer and don’t know what I am talking about, you can read my book on which the story was based by clicking to The Judas Inheritance at Amazon.

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