Don’t miss the boat or your flight
Now then, I should have added, at the end of yesterday’s lesson about making sure your boat departure matches you plane arrival, that you should also make sure your boat arrival matches your plane departure. Here’s why.

Nephew George left yesterday to start his new job in Rhodes (more about that in a moment). He trundled his case down to the clock tower to meet the Blue Star Diagoras with plenty of time – I have an app on my tablet that maps where the boats are, Marinetraffic.com, and I could see from that that it was going to be about 90 minutes late. No problem for George who was only going to Rhodes anyway, but he was waiting down there with a party whose plane was set to leave at 12.15. They had the choice to go the night before but decided to stay an extra night on Symi. All well and good if you have the time. If the boat had been on time then still all well and good, but it didn’t land in Rhodes until 11.15 leaving them only one hour to get to the airport and check in before the check-in closed. I still don’t know if they made it, I hope they did, but it’s a lesson worthy of a note on your ‘Things to do to make your Symi holiday more enjoyable’ list. Make sure there’s enough time, or leave early, so you’re not sweating and worrying and losing those holiday pounds through anxiety when on a boat that you can’t make go any faster.

Another exciting thing that happened yesterday was that Neil’s son and his GF (that’s girlfriend in youth-speak) booked a two-week holiday to Symi. They are coming at the end of August and staying at Anastasia Apartments in Horio, flight and transfers included, and for a good price. That’s an Olympic Holidays deal in case you were wondering.

And also, slightly earlier that that call, was a message from George saying he has arrived at Euromedica and picked up his results (all fine) and has gone to see the helpful lady who I had emailed; the doctor they wanted was not available but she was going to find him another. He later sent a message to say that he was now all legal to work, so his books must have been done. If not, his new employers have said they will get them sorted out, they are also going to help him set up a bank account and, I assume, will set up his IKA, health insurance. And the job? Well, it came out of the blue from a contact at the Kresten Palace Hotel, Kalithea, Rhodes. They were looking for someone to help with the entertainment department and could George start straight away? Last I heard they were picking him up from Euromedica and he was on his way. It’s a decent wage with accommodation and meals included, and a day off each week, eight or nine hours a day. Knowing what rep jobs are like it might be more than that but hopefully he will like it and they him.

I just had a look on their website http://www.krestenpalace.gr and it all looks very nice; four stars and plenty of poolside space, near the sea, lots of facilities and plenty of entertainment including ‘animation shows’ six times per week. No, I have no idea either, but no doubt we will find out in due course. So, at the moment, all the children are settled and sorted and… well, no famous last words here. Tomorrow is another day.

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Symi news, Horio news, Rhodes and boats
The news from up here today is the nephew George has been offered a job on Rhodes. It all sounds very exciting, something to do with the entertainment team at a four-star hotel in Kalethia, on the coast. It looks like a very nice hotel and the package is good with a day off each week, room and board included, and they will help him sort out the next stage of his legalities; a bank account and the work permits. He’s off there today, via Euromedica to collect his test results, and I think he’s looking forward to it. First day nerves and all that I expect.

That leaves us adjusting to having the house to ourselves again and just when we were getting used to regular meal times, the family at the table, and having someone to do the washing up. Ah well. So for me it’s back to the usual routine as it is going to be all summer, I hope. Apart from the first week of next month when I am going away on my writing retreat again.

This year I am going to work on a new novel, as the next one is nearing completion, edits and layout-wise, and the Donkeys book has given me a headache all year so far. I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s not meant to be. It started as a film script, and still is, and it works fine that way, but it’s not adapting to a novel and, to be honest, I’m not really into it. I found I was working on it for the sake of having something out there, and that’s not a way I like to work. So that’s in pieces on the back burner while I look into the next story: a thriller/mystery set on the Romney Marshes. No doubt I will bore you about that in great detail as it progresses. We’re still working on Remotely of course and I hope that will be out on Amazon by the end of June – a piece of silly summer reading for you. I’ll let you know when you can pre-order on Amazon.

Meanwhile on Symi: the sun is still out and looks to be staying for a while yet, the breeze is up and there’s pollen about, but nothing unmanageable, and the day boats have been coming and going. The Nikolaos X has started its daily runs too, adding a few more day-trippers to the mix, the Panagia Skiedani is coming in each day and the Pride and Express are doing their usual trips.

A quick note to anyone planning a trip to Symi: check your boats before you finalise your flights. Check them as much as is possible, though the schedules are out for the summer now. I’m still getting emails from people asking why they can’t get to Symi on the same day that their plane lands, as if it was a) a right, and b) my fault. The boats (at the moment) leave in the morning and unless you are in Rhodes and at the harbour by 8.30 at the latest, you are not going to make it that day. Unless it’s a Thursday when there is an 11.30 boat, a Wednesday when there is a 15:00 one and Friday when there is one at 19:00 – those last two being the Blue Star. And if you are planning on coming on the Skiedani, you can’t book it online and it always shows as full when it probably isn’t; you need to book via a travel agent or at the kiosk by the boat. And that’s the last time I am going to tell you, so make notes!

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A walk in the hills
Sunday morning: we were up early and had breakfast and then set out, around 10.00 for a walk in the hills. We followed my current favourite route, up through the village, out on the donkey path to Agia Paraskevi and then, just beyond the house near there, turned off onto the very rocky path that leads around the side of the hill and comes out at Saint Rafael.

Form here you can see the other side of the island and, on a clear day, Kos in the distance. We had quick chat with some goats and then headed back down the valley behind Yialos. As we neared the bottom we could hear the marching band and the church bells, as it was the May 8^th parade, celebrating the end of WWII. We thought we’d missed the parade (as we’d heard the band much earlier) and so went and had a beer at Pacho’s, a traditional harbour kafeneion. As it turned out, the parade hadn’t even started, but we were into our beer and heading for a light lunch by then.

We sat at Meraklis and had gigantes, crab salad (a dip) some chips, courgette fritters and an omelette – between three of us; and very nice it was too, and very reasonable. After that we walked back up the steps to home so that Neil could be ready in time for work at three. The morning walk from home to harbour on the circular route took less than two hours and it’s a great walk, though you do have wear the right shoes as it’s very hard underfoot if not. It was one of those things: we were on the way down and got to the point of saying, ‘I think the path goes this way,’ and ‘No, I think it’s further down,’ when a voice yells out, ‘Hello!’ and there in their mountain house, were our next door neighbours. I never knew they had a small farm/house there but they do, and just in the right place to make sure we didn’t end up on the wrong side of the terracing. How handy.

Anyway; off into another week, another trip to Rhodes, more work and the usual, and then a dinner invite on Thursday and the weather looking like it’s calming down and warming up. There are also lots of people we know starting to arrive for their holidays so we can officially say, winter is over, spring has spring and summer will be along in a minute.

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Symi update
It’s a bit chilly here today with a north-west wind blowing the clouds away. Apparently we’ve got this for a couple of days and then it should calm down. It’s good weather for sailing though and we’ve had a flotilla of sailing boats in as part of a regatta. They were in overnight Thursday and set off again Friday morning. Hopefully this has given the island its first major visitor-boost and helped those in their ‘end of winter finance’ mode.

I think I left you yesterday at the medical centre waiting for an X-ray. It was finally sorted and, though we’d not finished in time to make the boat, we had a great service from Euromedica and since then I have had an even better service from them via email. It used to be that we had a doctor on Symi who could authorise the paperwork after medical tests to allow you (by which I mean ‘one’) to work in food places; cafes, tavernas, kitchens etc. That doctor has now left and, at the moment, there isn’t one who has the right authority to do this, so another solution must be found. While in Rhodes I made some enquiries and was told various different tales from various people I know in the restaurants and hotels there, some of whom did their ‘books’ under the old system, some of whom had done it under the new system. The new one having come in this year, apparently. I was left not knowing if we would have to come back next week, stay overnight again, get to the clinic, collect the tests and then be at a place called 100 Palms, where the state doctors can do the ‘book’ and spend a morning queuing and waiting while fretting about maybe missing the boat again. So I asked Euromedica.

After some emails they confirmed that there is a doctor at their hospital who is able to authorise these books (which may not actually be books anymore), and that we could return next Wednesday, collect the results and then see the doctor. When I asked where we had to go for that they emailed back telling me to come and find them at the International Department and they would call the doctor to see to us. That simple email took all the stress and worry out of the process and now I am confident that Nephew will be fully authorised by this time next week. Okay, so two trips to Rhodes adds to the cost, but that’s because we live on a small island. I am almost looking forward to the trip, though will only be totally relaxed when he’s got his papers authorised and I know I don’t have to take any more trips across for a while. Well, I have to return the week after for an appointment of my own and then two weeks after that I am off to Tilos for a week, but otherwise, I’m staying home. Meanwhile, because the tests have been done, he is still fine to work in the taverna. I know a lot of people have been talking about this medical process and are not sure of the new regulations. I just spent half an hour trying to find them online without success. My advice would be to ask the doctor, the KEP office, or IKA, make a phone call and try and find out what this ‘new’ system is, if it is new at all. If anyone does get a link to the definitive, correct-department, answer, let me know and I will share it here.

Anyway; talking medical, Jack the cat has just scratched his ear and is dropping blood about the courtyard. He’s fine in himself but his dark patches on his ears and nose are growing slowly. This is what his personal physician called ‘pre-cancerous skin tissue’ and so we expect it only to get worse. Maybe to the point of where we have to have more of his ears taken off so he becomes a cat of the Lugless Douglas class. There’s nothing we can do about his nose but keep an eye on it and hope it doesn’t break out into full blown nastiness, though that is inevitable. People have been asking after him, which is very kind, and he is still as soft and daft, loud and deaf as ever, getting a bit more crotchety in his old age, a bit more grumpy and he loves sitting in laps and next to you on the sofa now more than ever.

That’s my update for today. I’ll just read it over to make sure I haven’t made that many typos -but even if I have I doubt I will spot them. Like the other day when I said I had been watering the pants, I meant plants; I’ve not got to that stage yet.

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