What can I tell you this morning? Not a great deal. We had another quiet day at home yesterday, and I finished the rough first draft of a new mystery, except for about two page,s which I will get done this morning. Then, I can start on the editing and produce a draft two. If you are in any way at all interested in the process, I wrote an article about how I write these stories, and it’s on my other website. You can read it here: How I Write a Novel.

That was my yesterday morning taken care of. I’m still finding it a drag to get back to work in the afternoons, mainly because it’s still not quite warm enough, and part of me doesn’t want to put the heating on in there for more than a few hours in the morning because of the cost. Not long to go now, though, and I will be able to reshape my days and spread what I cram into a morning into a whole day.

For the past two/three months, my routine has been to get up, cup of tea, take to office, heater, do blog (while still waking up, so it’s as good as you’re going to get for this time of day), check emails (so fewer now I have got rid of outlook and don’t use Mailwasher, had had to get rid of the @symidream emails for the time being), see if there is any admin to do such as book promos, answering posts on social media, advertising as best I can, checking book sales, making a stronger cup of tea, saying good morning to the husband and running through the usual checklist: sleep alright? How many times did you have to get up during the night? What you doing today? We always ask the same blunt trauma questions first thing in the morning and always get the same reply. And then back to the typowriter and on to the next section of whatever mystery I am creating. Battle on until around 11.00, take two hours off for lunch during which we watch a couple of TV shows, and then… Well, not quite back to work yet, but sometimes it’s back to doing something useful, and the next thing you know, it’s sofa time again, and I’m vegging with a film or two until bed at 21.30.

The routine is broken now and then by a quick walk, though that hasn’t happened for a while, or shopping, visiting the Rainbow once or twice a week, or attending a quiz (though that will have to stop for us soon), and pottering around the house or courtyard. Quiet, lazy, plenty of time before the summer season, and before Neil goes back to work – though never as much time as you think there is.

Others are already working hard. The digger trundles past for eight hours a day. The sounds of building work and transportation are everywhere. The supply ships coming in, the ferries, vans delivering, noisy mopeds, parents and children passing to and from the Προνήπιο (Pronipio) and Νήπιο (Nipio) above us on the hill – the kindergarten years one and two. We’re not seeing the village Square so busy yet, though the boys have been out playing football of an early evening, and the cafes are open. It’s just that no-one’s sitting outside as yet, but they will be soon. There were a couple of boats in the harbour the other day, I mean, what looked like private sailing yachts, and we have already seen a few day-trippers from Rhodes, so as far as some places are concerned, the season has already started.

Now, I must go and unplug our water pump. The soldier downstairs is still away on leave, so that means we don’t have the pleasure of his laughter and singing coming from below, but he’s gone and left a tap dripping so the pump continues to kick in every 10 to 15 minutes, and the only way to stop it driving me mad is to unplug it when we’re not using it. I imagine Violetta over the road and Agapitos next door don’t want to hear it running through the night, and neither do I. So, when that’s done, it’s back to the last few pages of a book with no title, though I may call it, ‘A Night of Opposites.’ And on with Wednesday we go…

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It’s coming to that time of year when those who have jobs set up for the summer season start to think, ‘Only a few more weeks to go. What happened to winter?’ It’s funny how that happens, isn’t it? When you’re little, even a day and a night (such as Christmas Eve) can feel like a week, and yet, times like the old six-week summer holidays of youth in the rural 1970s used to last forever. Until the last couple of weeks, when time whizzed by as you crammed six-weeks’ worth of homework into two tedious afternoons.

The same goes for trips abroad. Like our trip over Christmas. It took a year to plan, save and pay for, and during the first week, time was endless, but during the second, it was, ‘Where did that go?’ And we hardly stopped moving and doing things, so no moment of any day was wasted.

The road around Yialos is like it too. It seems to have been up and under repair for an age, and yet, today, as if it never happened, it is open again. (At least, I read a prediction, so it is hoped it will reopen again today.) The works were hampered by bad weather, but it’s now been so dry that we need to water the plants for the first time in ages.

(I nicked this image from David, who posted it in a Symi group last night. He’s coming for dinner on Saturday, so I will ask permission then.)

It’s time to start putting names on the calendar: Who says they are coming this year, and when we can expect them. The Bother-in-law has already booked his place on the sofa bed for a few nights, and other friends are also due to return to the island. I’ve been reading potential visitors’ questions on social media and have seen many saying they are looking forward to coming. The businesses are starting to put things back together gradually – there’s no rush just yet – and soon, people will be doing up their properties ready for Easter. It’s all starting to roll back towards the summer season, but you have to wonder what kind of season it will be, what with everything going on in the world. I’m not going to go on about all that because there is nothing I can do about any of it except hope. So, I shall carry on regardless, as the film title said, and hope for the best.

Here, instead, is a photo of the new step-free arrangement that’s been built alongside the Kali Strata ready for the summer visitors.

No, silly. It’s a ramp put in by builders who have been doing something to a property near us on and off for the last year or so. We are now quite used to the trundle of the transporter machine that passes and shaves the corner off the house now and then, and neatly stacks its rubble and whatnot along the lane.

Yes, preparations for summer are underway, and as if to back up the statement, we didn’t have to turn any heaters on yesterday, not until eight in the evening.

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Thought I’d start the week with some interesting information about a thing we see around here in the spring. I expect most readers will know what it is when they see it, but I’d not seen such a thing until I moved here, so here it is, and it has nothing to do with tourists or spiders. Phew.

You see them hanging in the Cyprus trees up the lane, and elsewhere, and each one is a tent for a Western Tent Caterpillar (Malacosoma californicum). However, we can’t have those in Greece because of the illegal tariff set on them by the USA (note: californi in the Latin name; the ones pictured are native to the country of the orange dictator), we have our own version in Greece, and apparently, they are pine processionary caterpillars (Thaumetopoea pityocampa).

I am just stepping aside to examine the Latin name of that last one… Pityocampa. I looked it up and discovered that Pity O’Campa is currently appearing at the Royal Vauxhall Tavern on a Saturday night doing drag bingo.

However, our local pine processionary caterpillars, whose incubation nest we were just looking at, will soon be appearing out and about, crossing the road and moving around the neighbourhood in procession, because that is what they do. A word of warning, though, and this is lifted directly from an online search:

Extremely dangerous to humans and pets due to toxic, urticating* hairs that cause severe rashes, allergic reactions, and are potentially fatal to dogs if ingested.

On the lighter side, can you identify what this is?

I know it’s part of a plant, but what plant? I only ask because I am waiting for the kettle to boil, and want something to do.

And here’s another ‘What is it?’ Only, this time, I can tell you, it is the work progressing on our water treatment plant at ‘Council Corner’ on the main road. When completed, I am told, it will look like all Symi buildings must (apart from the power station and police station), and stand at the entrance to the harbour like a neoclassical house that has stood there for 100 years. Or it might look like a sewage works.

Let’s hope it’s the former.

*  Urticating refers to substances or structures that cause itching, stinging, or inflammation. (I had to look it up. I never knew!)

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Yesterday, I was working on organising our annual health MOTs, merrily trying to arrange the first major appointments for the 25th, forgetting that it is a National Holiday (Independence Day), so I’m having to start again this morning – hey ho! Old age, probably. Better get that checked out, too.

There’s no need to worry, we do this every year and have done so for about the last nine or ten years. At the momen,t I am under a private health insurance plan, and must be for another four years, or for as long as I can afford it. I am also insured under the Greek national health system via Neil’s contributions, but that only covers me for as long as he stays employed by someone else, and as that’s never 100% guaranteed, I need my private insurance as a fall-back. This is in case he should ever be unable to work or unable to find a job during the next four years. In other words, if I don’t send the husband out into the rice fields or down the tin mine for at least the next four years, my national entitlement stops, and without the private policy, I might not be covered. I’m too far into it and too far along the road to stop the private one now and try to get back to it later if needed. I’d lose my equivalent of a no-claims bonus, I guess.

Anyway, as part of my policy, we get a whole set of tests done for a pre-paid, set price, and it includes the services of our insurance lady, who will make the arrangements for us, and/or help me set everything up, so, bearing in mind yesterday’s confusion, I may just ask her to take over. Might be safer, eh? Besides that, with nothing of any consequence to report, I have an end-of-the-week gallery for you, with five recent photos and five older ones mixed together. The older five were taken at various times of the year, though I think most are at least a couple of years old. Have a good weekend.

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That’ll teach me to have an early(ish) night. Up at 4.30 as bright as a brass button that fell off a garment 60 years ago and has lain beneath a floorboard ever since. First things first, of course, and a cup of tea. Thanks to generous donations last year, I had enough ‘proper’ tea to last me until Bucharest at New Year, and now I’m back to the breakfast tea, which, this season, surprised me, because it is stronger than before. We have also moved on in the kettle department. Our last kettle was a poor pourer, and when you poured, so did it, in the cup and on the worksurface alike. It also had an unreliable lid, which didn’t always remain closed, thus the thing would keep boiling until turned off manually. This was the same maladjusted behaviour as shown by the kettle before that, which was the same make and model, because we never learn, and the only way to prevent the lid from popping up was to weigh it down with a statue of Hercules and Diomedes having a wrestle.

I have no idea why I told you that, but here’s a recent photo of the Pedi valley by way of compensation.

Meanwhile, the days pass in winter-to-spring mode, because it’s a little warmer and drier now than it was in January and February. Workmen and craftsmen are back building and renovating houses. Others are employed in fixing the road, and other municipal enterprises, and the all-year cafes and tavernas are still going. We walked past the International the other day and smelt the cooking. We’d have stopped in for lunch had it not been 9.30 in the morning. We’re thinking about starting to consider spring cleaning the house, but there may yet be more rain, so we will probably wait, or else find another excuse to do it another day. We’re also starting to sort out our annual health MOT as we get each year under our health insurance. If all goes to plan, we’ll spend a day in Rhodes doing some basic tests, and then arrange the consultants, hopefully for the following week, and do them all on the same day or stay over for a night and make it a Club Med(ical) holiday. ‘Another month’ was Yiannis’ line to Neil yesterday, so he’ll be back at work before we know it, and I have my office shutters open for the first time in weeks. Spring is looking up.

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