Another week begins and follows a weekend that for me included taking a walk (wearing shorts for only the second time this year), spring cleaning parts of the house (though Neil did most of the hard work), being taken out to dinner, writing, of course, and enjoying some calm and warm weather. While working, I wanted to discover what the transcriptions from the Old Bailey would have looked like to my characters in 1893, so started hunting around. I assumed I’d see things like the censuses you can find on family research sites, and I was interested to see how they were set out, so I could be accurate in my descriptions. I very quickly found that they were typewritten and published, and thanks to the Old Baily online website, you can search them, or simply browse them out of interest, which is what I did. That kept me occupied for quite a while.

In the wider world, there was a wedding and a baptism over the weekend, so we had dynamite, fireworks and bells to help the celebrations. The visit by the team of doctors was very well attended and saved many people much inconvenience, time and money.

Here are a couple of photos. One is from yesterday morning and the other is from the same date and time but last year.

This week starts with a necessary trip to the shops to buy washing powder. How exciting is that? The highlight of the week promises to be Thursday when we’re going to watch the Life of Pi on National Theatre at Home, which I’ve subscribed to for the month. I’ve already watched Amadeus, but after the piano lesson on Thursday, we, Harry and hopefully Jenine will gather for tea, then sit down to watch the production. I am particularly keen because my best friend from my teenage years wrote the music. I’ve listened to it on Spotify but not heard it in situ yet, so I am very much looking forward to that. And off into the week we go…

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It seems strange that people who have been here for a break are already leaving, but that’s the way it goes when Easters collide. A rise in visitors for a week, and then a lull until the more usually holiday months: May/June for the northern Europeans, July/August for those from the south, September/October for those who don’t like it too hot, and it’s back to winter.

Yesterday, I watched a TV program about people on a cruise visiting Santorini. What was good about this episode, I thought, was that it showed how things really are. A pair of passengers who wanted to reach the main town had to wait in a queue with no shade for a long time, because the cable car can only do 1,000 people per hour, and there can be upwards of 10,000 visitors a day on the island. (Shudders at the thought.) Other downsides were shown, like the crowded streets, the long walk up if you don’t want to wait, and so on.

This doesn’t compare, but it made me laugh. I was putting the laundry away when I heard youthful antics taking place on the lane. I looked out to see a group of teen lads wandering along, tops off, trousers around their knees in the current fashion, ogling the view, being lads and a little rowdy, until the woman who was sitting panting just out of sight got her legs back after the climb up, and appeared. Trousers up, butts away, best behaviour as mum and dad arrived, and off they went, their little moment of bravado put away for another day.

On another note, there’s this parish announcement:

Three days of medical specialists starting today, to be found at the clinic, I believe. Appointments are needed, but you can easily translate this with an app. Mind you, if you live here, you a) can read the language, or b) probably already know about this. It happens a few times per year: private or state funded, I’m not sure, but ‘Doctors of the Aegean’ specialists come to the smaller islands for free consultations and treatments. How good is that?

Anyway, have a good weekend. For me, my view will be mainly the computer screen and, beside it, this…

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Complete randomness this morning, after waking up with a song in my head that won’t go away. We watched a film last night and part of the musical soundtrack sounded a little like a couple of bars from a song in Sondheim’s ‘Sweeney Todd’, so guess what? I woke up at 4.45 with the whole song going around and around… Now, those two words will be going around and around in my head to music by Chris De Burgh as they feature in one of his old songs. There’s no escape. Perhaps a walk down the Kali Strata will clear the head…

A head which is currently filling up with information about 19th century dentistry. Don’t ask. It’s also a bit randomised by clues I have left myself. I used to map out my stories but found that too rigid a structure stifled creativity. Now, I often start with a beginning and an end and fill the rest in as I go, so I discover and know as much as my characters as they solve cases. In other words, the mystery is often a surprise for me too. This is currently being proved because I thought I had made and important note, and now I can’t find it, or I didn’t write it down. So, I have given my detectives a clue (which I did note down), but now I can’t find the answer, and as it was an historically correct fact, I need to ensure I get it right. It was to do with a convent school on Fulham Road in the late 1800s, and I am sure it was there but now I can find no reference to it, though there was one on Fulham Palace Road, but the note I made didn’t say the word ‘Palace’ and that one is at the wrong address… Perhaps another walk down the Kali Strata will help clear the mind…

What will help clear it is to get on with some work, which I must go and do before songs and mysteries take over completely. Just to show you how diverse the weather has been of late, the blue skies in the photo were from last week, and this one is from this week.

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Yesterday was a strange weather day; cloudy, a little cold when the breeze was up, sunny, warm, then repeat in uneven measures. We were also covered by a dust cloud, as we still are.

If you want to keep an eye on that and the weather over Greece, I recommend https://poseidon.hcmr.gr/

Click on the weather section and then choose if you want to see wind, rain, cloud etc. Fascinating.

Here’s the view yesterday morning…

And in the evening…

This was after we popped down town for dinner and were heading to the bus at eight. Apart from that pleasant couple of hours, I did very little yesterday – some writing and not much else, and I’m in that kind of mood again today. I think I am recovering from Monday when I tidied and dusted my office. It can take a long time to recover from that kind of madness.

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Well, I was going to share some photos of feasting, festivities and fun but for some reason, my photos haven’t uploaded to the place I usually find them, and I can’t get them off my phone and onto the laptop, so that will have to wait. Instead, I can tell you that, in our house, the past few days have been something of a festival of chocolate. I’m still finding it in the most unlikely places. Neil made some Easter eggs that wouldn’t come out of the moulds, so he made some Easter chocolate bombs, a cake, decorations and other things from half a hundred weight of the stuff, and the fridge is still rammed wit it.

This is one of the aftermaths (he didn’t stick that rabbit on it, someone else did that).

I made bread, which is what these two cake-like things are.

Over the weekend, from Friday until the stillness of Monday morning, there were church services, celebrations, solemn processions, bangers, fireworks, dynamite, dancing, you name it, it was a riot of sound and light. Apparently. We slept through the three nights of dynamite and majestic firework displays, being in bed by nine most nights. I know, I know…

However, we spent a glorious Easter Sunday with the family and friends feasting and laughing, and now we can settle into the season. As often happens when we have an early Easter, there may be a lull for a couple of weeks, but we have sailing boats coming in, the day trip boats are already doing a brisk trade, the Sebeco is running a few times a day, and the tavernas have been busy. It will be interesting to see how some businesses fare this year because, for the first time, everyone now has to clock in and clock out of work. This is, I assume, to protect worker’s rights and ensure people don’t end up doing what people have been doing for years and are still doing, which is working from nine in the morning until midnight without a break. How people who do flexible hours are supposed to manage is yet to be seen. I.e. those employed to meet guests from boats at all hours, or who only need to service properties for an hour here and there, rather than for eight hours a day in one block. We’ll have to wait and see.

Oh, I found this photograph of Limehouse, London taken in 1893, and it got transferred to the blog gallery by accident, so you may as well see it.

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