Update: I did that think where I thought today (Saturday) was tomorrow (Sunday) so I didn’t think about a blog until it was too late, so I shan’t be adding plaything today (Saturday) apart from this to say I should be back with you the day after tomorrow (Monday.) Carry on enjoying the New Year. Thank you.

Happy New Year from Symi
Happy New Year, Xronia Polla, and all that from Symi! I am writing this on New Year’s Eve and my feet are getting rather chilly, even though I am wearing slippers, toasties, trousers, a t shirt, a jumper, a sweatshirt and a dressing gown, and the heater is on. But at least we are not flooded or being stormed on and the sun is out, the sea is flat-ish and all is right with the world as we leave 2015 and enter 2016.

I’m not one for NY resolutions, but I am one for setting myself goals. This coming year I aim to: Get ‘Straight Swap’ out there for you to read. Follow that with ‘Shocking The Donkeys’ by the end of the year. Start back on ‘The Saddling’ and get that first draft finished. That’s three major projects. I also need to rid myself of this holiday excess and get back to early walks, or later in the day walks, I feel like I’ve been in this house for two weeks without getting out, which, fabulous though it is, is not exactly true. So, writing and saving money are the aims for the year.

For all those who follow such things, I have also started fiddling with a new Facebook page. Rather than have a solo page for each title (of my books) I decided to put them all together in one place. The pages for the novels and books will start to disappear, along with their many ‘likes’, sadly, but news and info about them will be put on the one page from now on, and you can find that here: https://www.facebook.com/jamescollinsauthor/ There’s not a lot there and I am still working on it, but a new page for 2016 felt right. I will still have my own personal page and the Symi Dream page of course, and a couple of others that I am only one admin of so can’t get rid of, but it feels good to be tidying up a bit in the social media area.

I’m not going to stay long or get dewy-eyed about the year that’s just gone, a good one though it was, but I would like to say thank you to everyone who has: read the blog, sent emails and messages, contributed to the blog with guest posts, pointed out typos, been to the house for drinks, bought us drinks and meals on Symi, bought books and calendars, made this year so special and one to remember. The highlights? So many… Um… Let me think…

Birthday parties, beach parties, long walks, short walks, sunrises, publishing a new novel, starting on two others, moving house, working for myself (no bar work), visiting Vienna, Prague, Budapest, Belgrade and Rhodes. The view from the new house, helping the refugees, mother visiting for a month, nephew George visiting for a week, my Christmas dressing gown (so warm!), invites to baptisms, walking to Panormitis (and the sit down with a beer at the end of that walk), meeting new people, making new friends. There, that’ll do, Donkey, that’ll do.

So, onwards in to 2016 and with great plans ahead. We’ll keep on blogging even if it is only to give the weather updates and view from the windows. We’ll be here on Symi, no holidays planned, no money! We’re not planning to go anywhere else so keep reading the pages, keep reading the books, keep spreading the word and have yourself a great New Year. I will leave you with a few photos from my recent holiday and a quote from the up-coming new novel, ‘Straight Swap.’

“Friendship is the love that celebrates our differences.”

Happy New Year from Symi

Happy New Year from Symi!

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Symi in the winter
Wednesday morning, sitting with my dressing gown over my knees, the heater on my feet, fingerless gloves on, at the desk, with the gaps around the window taped up to keep back the breeze that blows through and looking forward to a New Year’s weekend. We went for a walk on Tuesday afternoon, just down to Pedi through part of the valley and around to the new jetty, where work has been continuing of late.

This is turning out to be a quiet week, which is a good thing after the madness, mayhem and food-fest that was Christmas. It is now starting to turn into a dark week as well, as we’ve closed several shutters around the house as the wind picks up. Not that it’s been gale force or anything, but when the wind blows, so the temperature falls. I expect it’s still reasonably warm in the sun, and on the north side of the harbour which faces south, but I’ve not been down there since before Christmas, so I wouldn’t know. The sun was out yesterday, but still, you can feel that winter is starting to creep back at last.

Doing a quick check of the weather sites I see that Wednesday night is/was meant to be around four degrees, with the temperature dropping to two degrees on Thursday night. Better check out the Symi winter bed-wear collection which has, in the past, included shoes, overcoats and woolly hats under electric and several other blankets. I kid you not. If you have ever wanted to ask, ‘What is Symi like in the winter’ but been too afraid to ask, then this blog will give you some idea as the winter progresses. This is also our first full winter in this house so it’s a bit untried.

The old house wasn’t too bad for heat (though it wasn’t so good for keeping out the rain) and we could heat one room and shut doors, light a real fire and then let the heat spread out by opening doors later in the evening. But here we have one long building with no internal doors. Curtains are up to try and isolate the sitting room where we spend the evenings. This room, which faces north, also has a mousandra balcony overlooking it, through now this is temporarily sealed off with large thermal curtain liners, which are helping. We’ve fixed the hole in the oxeye window which was letting in drafts, and also the gaps under the balcony doors, where the shutters are now shut. But a few feet away from the end of the sofa is the front door, including half inch gaps beneath, which now has a curtain across it too. There is also the plastic sheet contraption to try out which should keep some draft from entering the porch.

But, once again my ramblings have been taken over by a weather report. So, what else is happening around here in the winter? Well, so far, for us, it’s been work, walking, shopping and staying in. Symi in the winter is what you make it, and it could be a quiet and lonely place unless you have people with whom you can socialise. Although Greek living comes with the temptation to sit in bars and people-watch as the day goes by, it’s not so inviting in winter when many bars and tavernas are closed, the shops are struggling for fresh produce and you don’t really feel inclined to sit outside and watch people, even if there were any people passing by to watch.

Thus, we are settling in for the start of real winter and that could well include many days when I stay at home, write, watch TV, read, cook, serve the cat and do little else. What blog posts may come? I wonder, for days when I’ve done nothing.

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Rubbish and updates
Took a little walk on Monday afternoon and topped up the file of ‘photos to be posted.’ It’s now completely full (not) with about 20 images, so my plan is to get out there and get some more and really stock up the file. So, on this walk…

We stopped to feed the cats at our feeding station and then walked around the road to the back of the village, passing the other group of strays at the other bins. The bins don’t look that glamorous on Symi, it must be said and there’s no such thing as a recycling area with different coloured tubs for different things. Not like in some places I’ve been to recently, like airports, where each set of bins numbers about 15. Green for papers, yellow for plastics, red for ammunition, pink for unwanted child’s toys (unless 100% plastic in which case in the yellow one), a rainbow painted one for pure linen, plaid and anything from Marks & Spencer, paisley for all other material, white with a hint of apple for paint pots and a bastard-amber one for everything else. Yes, I’m all for recycling but there’s so much choice. Unless you’re on Symi, where you have a skip or a wheelie bin and make do. And yes, bastard-amber is actually the name of a colour, I quote: “Bastard-amber is the name of an amber-coloured spotlight used in theatres to produce a warm peach or pink glow on stage. It’s often used to recreate sunlight, or to give the illusion of dawn or dusk.”

But that’s how it is and that’s how it goes. You find all kinds of interesting junk at the bins too. I’ve known people restore furniture and build new pieces from what’s been found at the bins. They get emptied at least once a day and the area gets tidied up too. I often see the guys early in the morning when I am on my early walks (summer). I hate to think what time they start in the mornings, I’m often out at about at 5.30 and they are coming back from the tip (and recycling plant, as I was told there was some kind of recycling going on up there).

Anyway, I didn’t start today’s blog in order to talk rubbish, though I am sure there are critics out there who say that’s all I write. And talking of writing (rubbish or otherwise, time will tell) the new book ‘Straight Swap’ is now in what’s rather trendily called ‘the beta stage.’ I have no idea what that really means but for me it means it’s being proof read and also, chapter by chapter, being sent to the editor – finally. Mind you, he just had a huge computer disaster and loss and is rebuilding, so he may not be able to start on the edits just yet. Meanwhile…

Meanwhile, next on the list is now ‘Shocking the Donkeys’; the book version of the film script. Not quite a novel, not a screenplay but a mix of both, I aim to get this out by mid-next-year, as it’s a smaller project than a full novel. It will depend again on the editor. This is the story of Greece’s first gay wedding – not the actual one that took place on Tilos and was immediately annulled by Church and State alike (a few years ago now), but a made up one set on an island not unlike Symi. Now that the Greek Government have been kicked into line and forced to allow civil partnerships between same sex couples, the ‘Donkeys’ is slightly out of date, so will be updated. That’s next on the table, so keep your eyes peeled. Meanwhile-meanwhile, it’s back to work for me and have a nice day!

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Morning routine
I am pleased to report that I started Monday off on a positive note. Well, apart from missing the alarm clock and having an unexpected lie in until 7.30 that is. Even that loss of 30 minutes from my day didn’t put me off and I was straight to the kettle to make my fresh lemon in hot water drink. Well, maybe not straight to the kettle. Fist there’s the rush to get something warm on in that time period between warm sheets and the cold of the morning creeping in as you stumble around the bedroom trying to find something to throw on – a new dressing gown Christmas gift helped there.

And then, hopping into the hall as you try and pull one sock on and realise it’s back to front, it’s time to let the cat in before the whole neighbourhood gets woken up and advances on your gate in its night-wear with flaming torches and pitchforks, calling for cat blood. Cat inside and it’s straight to the kitchen and the bowl. There’s always a bit of a race there: for me to get last night’s left-overs out of his way before he starts eating what’s there – it’s not nice by then, overnight flies and stuff, you know. And then there’s a race to get his food down before his grumpy demands wake the rest of the house. That done the kettle does get switched on and there’s a dash for the bathroom…

…where the floor is usually cold and you realise you’ve left the window open all night – which isn’t a bad thing as it helps keep down the black mould that’s starting to grow on the grouting. A common Symi problem in the winter. Bathroom business done and the kettle is ready, so cut a lemon, squeeze in into a mug, add warm water and carry that through to the office to turn on the computers – and the heater as the offices are, basically, housed in a concrete block that faces north and that has reasonably large windows to let in the cold through the glass. The shutters are currently open. When the cold north wind blows and we (finally) get into the icy depths of winter, then they will be closed to help keep the wind out and I will work in more or less darkness, with the table lamp to light my fingerless-glove gloved-fingers like something from Dickens. Last winter there was tape around the window gaps to keep out the wind.

All that done, there’s then time to tidy up the sitting room from last night’s TV-fest, put the drying up away, and watch as the cat wanders the house deciding where to settle for the morning. Currently his favourite space is wedged between the back of the sofa and a sofa cushion, odd animal.

And that, should you wish to know it, is my morning schedule at the moment and has been for some time now. There you go! Have a good day.

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Symi Christmas
Christmas fun was had by all, there were parties, feasting, walking, laughing and family get-togethers. The High School held a fund-raiser at the Opera House which went on late into the night and on what we call Boxing Day (26^th December) there were more parties and dancing in kafeneion and a children’s party in Yialos.

We had a good time and I hope you all did too. There are a few photos to share, nothing too personal and we like to keep some things to ourselves, but what I can share I will over the next few days as I try and get back into writing mode during this in-between week. Always a bit of a strange one the week between Christmas and new Year, especially when the main Days are on Saturdays, it feels like a week where you shouldn’t be doing anything apart from reading your new books (thank you Sarah, and Neil and Jenine), or writing in your new notebooks – three for me, which means three new story ideas at least must be written in them.

The weather, as you will see from the photos, has been very kind; sunny, warm enough to be outside even after dark, as long as wrapped up, and calm, with hardly any wind. Checking things out online (when our currently very slow, intermittent and rather recalcitrant internet services works – the internet service on Symi needs a firm kick up its ASCI if you ask me) I see that we’re getting up to force 5 around 30^th and over New Year. That should give me something to look at through my dazzling new binoculars.

A couple of other things to tell you. If you don’t already know, the ‘American’ supermarket in Horio has trolleys now. I saw them for the first time on Christmas Eve, I don’t know how long they have been there. You can push them around as they are on wheels. You can load up with heavy stuff and it’s really easy. Until you come to go downstairs then you need to carry them.

And for those who donate to Symi Animal Welfare, we have been feeding the cats at or designated station this season, we gave them their S.A.W. ‘rations’ on Christmas Day and then, after lunch, went for a short walk and gave them seconds as a treat. We have around 14 of them and, on Christmas Day, we also had a cockerel a chicken and a donkey (or is it a mule?) looking very interested at first and then rather disappointed when they saw it was Rokus tinned cat food.

Anyway, I am sure there is more to tell you but today is just a quick catch-up written yesterday, so that I can then get straight back into work on Monday morning, which is my best time to get words out of the head and onto paper.

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