Symi Sea
Kalo Mina! The response to my interview at http://effrosyniwrites.com/ has been really positive, which is great. Thank you to everyone who has shared the link and talked about it on Facebook, and elsewhere. If you’ve not read it, just click that link above and then share it on. Meanwhile, today I thought I would give you some images of Symi sea, or at least the sea as it was on Sunday morning. A warm morning after some colder days, a calm day too and there was some mist across the shores of Turkey opposite.

And while you are looking at those, here’s a catch-up on my other non-news. It’s been a quiet week so far, with the usual work and chores taking place of course. We were invited to drinks at The Olive Tree on Monday night (thank you Hillary!). This is a good venue for private parties as you can arrange the catering with Jenine and Tina and then entertain your guests on the terrace overlooking the Symi sea. It was a lovely evening and we met many new faces as well as caught up with some regulars.

Earlier on Monday we’d done the bank, post office, ticket office, cat food run and ended up with a light beer at Pacho’s, watching the sea (you see a link here?) before having a quick moussaka at Meraklis as we were too short on time to run up the hill and make lunch. Any excuse. The meal was, as always, perfect and the moussaka was just out of the oven. I then spent the afternoon pottering around the house and didn’t need to eat anything, apart from the homemade humus at the terrace party later in the day.

The rebuilding of the customs’ house is going well, the outside looks repaired and work is taking place on the inside. The old fish market has been fenced off for the time being, to protect it as well as to give the workers a place to be in the shade. The new ‘Schengen hut’ as I call it seems to be doing its job. This is the ‘chicken shed’ as Sotiris calls it, by the clock tower. Not the most slightly of things but there because of the Schengen rules (or something I didn’t quiet understand). Basically the port police and customs officials (?) use it to check incoming boats from, Turkey – I guess. This saves the officers from having to run and drive around the harbour to collect papers and also, I again guess, saves yachters from having to park up on one side and walk around to the officials on the other. The boats pull up one at a time, get stamped or whatever and then drive off. (You can see I am not a boat person.) My only worry is what happens when we have 100 boats a day coming in as we can do in the summer? There could be a long queue out at sea. Ah ha! The sea link again. There, Symi seas, a post with links to the sea. See-ya!

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Carrying on down the Kali Strata
Some shots today taken on the Kali Strata on my way down to do those bank and business things that need doing. I know a lot of day-trippers don’t have time to wander up the Kali Strata but, if you are reading this in advance of a day trip to Symi from Rhodes, or elsewhere, then maybe you might like to know what awaits you en route if you make the extra effort.

You can take a taxi or the bus up from Yialos and get off at the windmills or ask the taxi to stop at the Windmill restaurant or Taverna Zoi. Either place is good to start exploring the village from. You may not have time to see all of it, I’ve been here 14 years and still not seen all of it, but it will give you the chance to have a look at some of the views and places that are unique to ‘the village’, or Horio (Chorio) as it is also known.

Just walking down yesterday I snapped some quick pics of Maraquita, where Evangalitsa sells her own handmade sandals and other gifts, and The Olive Tree, a Trip Advisor favourite, with its terrace and views, homemade cakes, coffees, teas and other healthy things served by the famous Jenine and Tina. A little lower down is the Lemonia Herb Shop with its local and Greek products sold at much better prices than you will find abroad (or even on the steps on the way up, ahem!); and opposite is the new craft and gift shop, Nano, housed in what used to be part of Neil’s gallery empire, right beside the old Symi Dream shop, for those who knew it. A little further down you have the famous ‘Kali Strata Bar’ view. The bar is no longer there but the view remains.

If you are coming from the bottom up, as it were, you will pass the Kalodoukas office, Symi Tech, Frederique’s fashion boutique, Chrysalis, and another new craft and gift shop, plus Michaelis and his Pet Corner. Either way you go, you will find a goodly amount of stopping places, benches to sit on, views to stop at, old buildings to photograph and marvel over, and a good, steady, ten minutes should get you to the top. Remember to take hats and water. Water because it can be hot and tiring on the way up, but there is shade, and hats because we all like to see good millinery in the village; the wider the brim the better. (Why not? You’re on holiday right?)

Anyway, I am now moving on to get some other things done. Welcome to Tuesday and thank you to everyone who has recently stopped to say how much they enjoy the (almost) daily blog and its occasional nonsense, plus Neil’s good photos and my strange attempts, and to everyone who has shared the recent review of me and my books on Effrosyni Writes. Please continue to Tweet, Inst-thing, Facebook, Whatever, about the interview, share the info and a great writer’s resource blog. Thank you.

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Sunday morning Symi blog
As usual on a Monday I’m catching up on my rather limited news from the weekend, as far as late Sunday morning when I am writing this.

Friday evening was something of a Georgio’s-fest as a friend took us and a small party to dinner. I have to say, we have been using Georgio & Maria’s taverna quite a lot recently, mainly because we’re often loo lazy to cook something at home and also mainly (if you can have two mainlies) because it has been so reasonable. Often we find that if we were to cook at home what we had at the taverna, we probably would have paid more, and had to do the washing up. We have also eaten at Taverna Zoi, also very nice and there are different spins on traditional dishes there, but we’ve not been to Yialos as much as usual for lunch, mainly because we have been working hard through the mornings at home and don’t get finished in time, what with Neil turning round and going out to work at three.

I have to arrange for myself to get to town these days, reschedule things I want to do and to make sure I have enough time. I am heading down there today hopefully as the essentials need doing: finding more cat food (very essential for a quiet-ish life), and checking the bank, also the post office to see if our voting forms have arrived yet. I have seen notes from other British immigrants living abroad, as that’s what we are, saying that they have had their forms. It depends on the council organising them I guess, but if ours don’t arrive soon they won’t get back in time to count. Unless we ask some kindly visitor to take them away and trust them to post them when back in the UK. I also need to find some more hay fever things from the pharmacy and do a few other jobs, so that’s my plan for the day.

After a good feed on Friday, I spent Saturday at home, working on various book projects, thinking about doing housework and not getting around to it, battling the flying termites that are hatching from my office window frame, and clearing up the cat litter. The cat does tend to be rather enthusiastic about his digging, to the extent that the courtyard is covered with white grit each morning and the tray is practically empty. I think he just likes to make work for us idle humans to do.

Sunday morning (so far) was good. There are more boats down there in the harbour, I saw someone water skiing off Nos beach, the sun is back and the cold north-west wind has died down, so it feels decently hot again. Let’s hope this stays with us from now on as a cool wind makes all the difference when out and about, especially at night.

And finally (and I’ve not checked this yet as it’s still Sunday) there should be that interview over on http://effrosyniwrites.com/ for you to read and check out. When done, also scroll down and find other posts and maybe check out her novels.

Ah well, here comes Monday and only five days before my holiday.

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Tilos travel, and books to read
With a thank you to Effrosyni Moschoudi (who told me of this site and who is publishing an interview with me on Monday on her blog http://effrosyniwrites.com/) there is a link below which will take you to a site called Yonndr.com

This is a site where authors can list their books according to the setting of the book. For example, if you use the link you should get to the search result page for Greece, and a list of my five books that are set on Symi. The books don’t have to be factual, they can be novels too. It strikes me that this is a great idea. You’re going on holiday to, where? Let’s say Greece, and you want some inspired reading that’s appropriate to your destination. Simply search and if there are any titles there yet you will find them. Simple. The Greece search result comes up with quite a long list (with mine at the top at the moment) http://yonndr.com/location/greece but you can also just search for ‘Symi’ where you will find, surprise, surprise, my five again. But, as you’ve already read them all, you might want to try the general Greece search and see what else is available.

The photos today were taken the other day. You can see the Blue Star Paros heading in last Wednesday. There was talk of a strike that would affect shipping, but it seems that, on Friday, the boat still came in and was unaffected. I hope it’s the same next Friday or else my trip to Tilos will either be expanded, if I find a way of going early, or shortened, if I can’t go until after any strike (that’s not actually forecast, it’s just me being cautious). Actually, that gives me an idea; I’m just going to look something up…

Okay, let’s assume that you’re on Symi for a long holiday and want to try another island for a quick trip, Tilos in this case. There is a boat from Rhodes to Tilos on Thursday morning, 8.30, the Dodekanisos Pride. And, as you can catch the Panagia Skiedani to Rhodes on Wednesday evening, you could go over then and travel that way. The ‘Spanos’ boats, as they are called locally, tend not to be affected by certain strike actions, so it’s a safer bet if the Blue Star is going to get caught up. You can also come back from Tilos, via Rhodes, on a Thursday and Tuesday, but you will need to stay overnight in Rhodes on either end of the journey. The only direct Symi-Tilos boat is the Friday night one, returning Friday morning of the following week. (The Blue Star.) There may also be other connections from Rhodes that I’ve not searched for.

So, I shall be keeping an eye on the news and, if I have to, will be heading over to Rhodes on Wednesday night ready for an extra day on my writing retreat holiday. But having said that, the strike this week (if it happened) did not affect Symi’s boats at all, so you’ve got no worries there. The Dodekanisos boats are privately run and so should not be affected; don’t let it put you off your planned holiday on Symi. And, before you come, check out http://yonndr.com/ and get some reading organised for during your stay.

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Birds on the wire
Wednesday morning was a sad day in the village as many of us attended the funeral for Ged, who died last weekend. It was a stately service in a church filled with friends and family. It was presided over by five of the island’s priests and was a sombre and moving ceremony of the kind the Orthodox church is known for. Goodbyes were said under a hundred lights and candles and amid a thousand tears. However, a celebration of life was also held in the square afterwards with his photos and favourite music allowing us all to reflect and be thankful for, and joyous in, the time we had to share with him in our individual ways.

Thursday dawned with a sense of carrying on as before, as these days-after often do to those not so directly involved. We saw the day boats come in at their usual time, though there has been discussion of strikes by some of the seamen’s unions which may affect our Friday Blue Star. On Wednesday we had the fast, though small-ish, Paros coming in and out with the punctual preciseness of a (mainland) European train. I am hoping, for my own selfish reasons, there is no strike next Friday when I am due to set off to Tilos. Time, and the newspapers, will tell.

While enjoying the sun on our balcony recently we have been admiring some of our feathered neighbours. These include a pair of collared doves that I’ve called Mr and Mrs Patterson. Why? Because I remember we had some white doves when I was little and they were called Mr and Mrs Patterson after, I believe, the people my parents bought them from. I am sure Mother will correct me if that is wrong. Our pair are often together on the telegraph pole right outside the balcony and yesterday I noticed Mr P was doing some kind of mating dance and getting a bit frisky. He was approaching Mrs P (I assume, they do all look very similar), getting closer and closer up the phone cable and bowing as he went. He eventually went for an all out airstrike but was shown the metaphorical door.

We also have this chap, I’m not sure of his name, it could be Martin, or Johnathon (Swift) but I think he’s a swallow still waiting for the right thermals to take him off to southern climes, if that’s where they go. He’s very friendly and sits for ages only a few feet away preening and trying to get his hair in order. He often has bad hair days but sits and chats to us while he is sorting it out.

As you may have noticed, it’s Friday today and that means almost a weekend again. We are out tonight for dinner with some friends, one of whom is leaving soon, after being here a month; how the time flies. I have nothing planned for Saturday, apart from some college work. In my latest assignment, to write two openings and two closing scenes for the same story in a script or screenplay, I was awarded a 17 out of 20, which was rather thrilling. Neil has just sent off his first IGCE assignment and had his feedback and score within a few days. I was alerted to this early on Thursday morning by a ‘When Harry Met Sally’ type scenario from the other room; ‘Yes! Yes! Yes!’ And thrice yes! He got 95 out or 100, which is brilliant.

And now it’s on to his round two and my assignment seven, and I have only a few more weeks in which to complete four more, and the last part is to write a 15-minute film script (or play). Not something I usually do, but it’s going to be well-worth getting my head around.

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