This minute was brought to you by Symi Dream
I was listening to Euronews while having lunch yesterday, something we do every day to get the European perspective on things, and it struck me – as it has before – that some of my life is being sponsored by a firm that makes watches. Very kind of them.

After some sports headlines, this time about Wimbledon, the announcement came, ‘This minute was sponsored by Rolex.’ I just wondered who was sponsoring the other 1,439 minutes of each day. (Actually it’s less than that as Rolex keeps popping up during the day to tell me the last minute was sponsored by them.) It reminded me of that thing I used to hear on British television after the weather forecast. ‘The weather is sponsored by Accurist.’ I wonder who they paid their sponsor money to – the sun? that, after all, is what creates the weather here on Earth. I also wondered who might sponsor other things. More minutes of my life could be sponsored by a chocolate company, that would be handy. Please send me a chocolate bar each day so that I can spend a minute on it and have that precious minute of my life paid for by Cadbury’s; much more practical than a Rolex as I’ve not worn a watch in 14 years. And why is it watchmakers who are left to sponsor minutes of the day and the weather? Has no one else any imagination?

All a bit odd really and it’s not the heat getting to me, hot though it is.

Meanwhile: The AC (Alarm Cat) had some visitors in on Thursday night and enjoyed the attention as he always does. Neil’s brother has left after his flying visit. We are going out to eat tonight (Friday) at Tholos in Harani and hope to get some images to share with you next week. This is possibly our last meal out for a while; cutting back for a few weeks while I scrape together the last of my private health insurance money from somewhere. I was going to use some I had saved in my British account but that’s going to depend on the exchange rate; €1.19 per pound as I write.

This time last year (roughly) one pound was at €1.45, it started declining last December and of course, thanks to ‘The Fifty-Two Year Old Idiot Who Climbed Out Of A Window And Disappeared’ it’s now hideously low. Not as bad as it was at the end of 2008 when it was almost one-for-one, but nowhere near it was when we first moved here, at €1.55 to the pound. That title, by the way, ‘The Fifty-Two Year Old Idiot…’ has a much longer title: ‘The Fifty-Two Year Old Idiot Who Climbed Out Of A Window And Disappeared – Leaving Behind A Country Drowning In Chaos.’ If I were the Queen I’d be shouting, ‘Orf with his head!’ And there would be a few others in line after him. Bring back Henry VIII I say – but that’s another matter, never mind – just enjoy the Symi Dream blog while I am still able to live in the country and write about writing and living on a Greek island.

Better go now before I get started on something mildly political. ‘Today’s parliament hour was sponsored by McDonalds, as good for you as Nigel Farage.’

This last minute, however, was brought to you by Symi Dream, I hope you enjoyed it.

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Symi visitor numbers, boats and refugee thoughts
There were a lot of fun things to watch from up here on Wednesday as the harbour was the busiest I’ve seen it for a long while.

It started with the Panagia Skiadeni going out at 7.00 and the Blue Star Paros coming in at around 7.35. Later in the day a cruise ship called in and took up the far side of the harbour so when the Panagia came back it had to moor up where the Sea Dreams usually goes; that had to wait out at sea while the Panagia got its passengers off and then that went out so the Sea Dreams could come in. Somewhere in all of that the Nikolaos came in and let its passengers off before going back out to wait in the bay. Later, the Sea Dreams went, the Panagia came back, the Nikolaos came back, picked people up and went, and the Panagia went, and all the while the cruise ship, the ‘Salamis Filozenia’ was still there with its passengers enjoying a day on Symi, and that finally went in the evening. Not sure it was all in that order but it was certainly a complicated dance of swapsies. Bravo to the harbour crews!

We went down to Yialos in the evening and had a drink at Mediteranio as the sun set. Then we walked along to Haris taverna by the taxi rank for dinner: beans, garlic bread, beef, seafood risotto, lamb kleftiko, all for a very nice price thank you. The harbour was busy and in these days of fewer visitor numbers that was good to see. There were also the sailing boats in and a few larger yachts.

I heard a story (and this may not be true) that one of the reasons for fewer charter boats and large ships, like the ‘gin palace’ yachts and gullets, is to do with insurance. Apparently the companies are having to pay higher insurance in case their boats get used for people trafficking. I can see what the insurance companies mean; if they lease a boat and then it gets used and impounded and there are insurance implications. But there have been no refugees coming to Symi for months now, not since last year really. There have been no impounded boats since last year and it looks like the people traffickers of Turkey have been put off, certainly in our waters. I’m not sure what’s happening further north, but here, even the local charity is turning its attention to Symi needs, as there has been no need to shelter and help poor refugees for a long time. Now if the insurance companies (if that rumour is true) could get wind of that and lower their caution and rates, then perhaps we will see a return of more gullets – we have had quite a few still – and other pleasure yachts for the rest of the summer.

Up in the village the square continues to be the centre of attention, particularly in the late afternoon and evening, as is usually the case. It’s a great place for a quiet coffee in the morning, at either Rainbow of Lefteris’, there is breakfast to be had at various places including the Olive Tree and Mandeios, and there are the shops to looks around. After lunch, and after the beach, Rainbow has proved popular with visitors from 3pm onwards – I assume Neil’s presence has something to do with that! And then later, both bars become busy for the pre and post dinner socialising session, and football when it’s on, oh, and that tennis thing in the afternoons – not sure what that’s all about but it has something to do with purple and green and rain, usually.

So, good to see Symi busy on Wednesday (and other days when I am not around) and let’s hope that the customers customise the other bars and tavernas and shops while they are here too. I know, customise is not the right word there but it sounds like it should be. I don’t like ‘patronise’, though it’s probably correct, it sounds like people are talking down to the shops and business. But there you go; some photos from Wednesday and some good news about visitor numbers.

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Never say no to Greeks bearing gifts
Neil was the recipient of classic Greek hospitality while on Rhodes on Monday. He was waiting for his brother at the Plaza bar when someone started buying drinks for everyone in there. Not sure if he’d won the lottery, finally got his first pension payment after waiting four years, or was just an eccentric rich-person, but he was buying all the drinks. Neil only wanted one of those small bottles of red wine, just enough for one glass. But the chap insisted on buying him a €70.00 bottle instead. He tried to refuse but you simply can’t when a Greek person wants to buy you a drink, it’s not the done thing. Lefteris the barman guided him through the acceptance speech and, like it or not, you just have to thank and accept and then get on with it. I think the two whisky chasers the guy bought everyone afterwards probably made for the shaky start on Tuesday morning.

The Cyprus cruise ship has been in, bringing more much needed visitors to the island; the day boats were also doing their usual visits. We had a good old breeze on Monday but that’s dropped again now and things are once more warmer, perfect for relaxing by the sea or hanging out in a café watching the world go by; the best entertainment around – sitting at a café viewing the visitors and checking out the variations in costume, hats and languages.

I am not as rushed today, though I still have little news. We think we got to the bottom of the recent Tannoy outbreak; Neil heard the news in Rhodes. You might know, there are speakers across Symi all wired up to the Town Hall. These are used to make announcements about what and who is appearing when in the Symi Festival, and they are also used for public service announcements such as: ‘Mrs Farmakidis has lost her purse, if anyone finds it please hand it in.’ News about power cuts and the water supply is also broadcast from them from time to time. And, I guess, they would also be used in times of crisis or emergency such as when Pacho’s runs out of beer or when there is no ouzo left in the shop. (Both unlikely occurrences, I should add.)

The thing is, they have not been working recently, I don’t remember hearing an announcement up here for over a year now, at least. And so they are being repaired. Instead of subjecting us all to the hiss and crackle and feedback while the repairs are going on, they made them silently and then started testing each set of speakers, one per night – or something like that. That’s why you might have heard Zorba’s Dance coming from the police station, or ‘Ena, thio, tria,’ coming from near Agia Triada (which means the Holy Trinity – see what I did there?) or the rock version of some piece of traditional Greek bouzouki music hailing from H Lemonitisa area. And so it is now all explained.

At least it is if what we heard is true. You never know. Without the Tannoy system to tell us, how are we to know? And so: onwards with another great day on ‘the rock’, aka Symi. Have a good one yourself.

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Recent photos from Symi
Rushing around a bit today, Tuesday, so a very quick post this morning (yesterday – you know what I mean). I’ll share some Symi images with you quickly before I go and do the housework ahead of the brother-in-law arriving in… oops, one hour’s time and I am meant to be meeting him in the harbour, so best dash. Sorry – will try harder tomorrow (today… you still know what I mean.)

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Views from the balcony
Sunday went well, I got some writing done, another first draft chapter, I tidied up and sent off my next assignment for my scriptwriting course, and I proof read a couple more chapters of ‘Remotely.’ We’re getting there! The weather was good too, a little cooler than of late and Monday was also slightly cooler. We’ve had some cloud in the mornings but they soon go away as the sun comes through; it’s still rather humid though.

I’ve been lazy again with my photos and so today’s are from the balcony. It’s amazing what you can see from up here: the boats coming and going, a hydrofoil from, I assume, Turkey on a day trip on Saturday, the barge and tugs working on the new jetty, people having fun on jet-skis and water skiing from Nos Beach, Neil on the Panagia heading to Rhodes for his appointments and to meet his brother, ‘Old Bruiser’ the ancient stray who hangs around below the house, the kestrels, Martin (the swallow) has brought his family to see us on the line outside, there are three young’uns and a couple of older swallows, there are the Pattersons, the pigeons, and all the folk going about their days in the harbour. Oh, and the train too!

We’ve still been having the strange, rather robotic, Tannoy checks going on at night and in the late afternoons. I still don’t know what it’s all about but I expect I’ll find out in time. The neighbour has been working on his house, from six in the morning (quietly) to get roofing work done before the sun gets too hot, there’s always some kind of kafuffle going on over the road in the morning though it doesn’t disturb us at all. I’ve got the house vaguely ready for this week’s guest and we’ve been feeding the stray cats with Jack’s leftovers and some cat food we’ve bought specially for them. So, all is carrying on as per normal here and here are a few more images to show you views from the balcony.

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