I’m running a bit short of photos in my ‘To Post’ folder now. I have some originals still, some more from Tilos, but can’t remember which I have used and which not. So, if things start to repeat, visually speaking, it’s because I’ve not been out and about to get any more snaps. I’ll see what Neil also has in his folder.

I have been out and about but mainly to the same places. Up the hill in the morning to go for the walk and catch the sunrise, though clouded by cloud yesterday; and then to the square in the afternoon after a day’s writing work. It’s always hard to resist that hour or two at the café, watching the world go by, catching up on the news, seeing who has arrived, getting the gossip. So, as the best way to deal with temptation is to give in to it, I pop down usually around 4.30 for a soda water or two.

What else is going on…? Oh yes. I noticed a lot more ‘Live Music’ signs have gone up. With things being on the quiet side around here it seems that more places are getting in on the act, or rather, realising that they need to provide something to help attract the customers. Georgio’s has been having live music on a Friday (and sometimes Saturday) for a long time now and it was more or less booked up last Friday. The Secret Garden have live Greek music on a Monday night and then live… thinks of the word… Western (?) music on a Friday with blues, jazz, two guitars one bass and Claire on vocals. There are other places also presenting music nights, I must get photos of the posters and put them up.

I am keeping an eye on my Facebook friends, Konstantinos and his group, too. They have played at the Kantarimi and, were these things not so late, I’d love to go and hear them. These guys were pupils of Vasilis (maybe they still are) and are still quite young, so it’s good to get them some publicity and audience. And all this live music is at least good for the musicians after all, and hopefully too for the places presenting it. Not to mention that fact that the audience gets to hear some incredibly talented musicians playing traditional and more up to date music. So, in the end it works for everyone. Let’s hope that the bars and tavernas get it together so that music nights don’t clash too much.

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It’s hard to believe that we are nearly half way through the year, but we are and there’s nothing you can do about it so let’s just enjoy it. As you can see, the AC is going all out to enjoy himself on one of his sofas.

We’ve been doing some courtyard work at the house. Neil’s in charge of things in pots and I took to the old dining table and thought, ‘Well, I can’t make it any worse than it is,’ and went and stripped off most of the cracked veneer, then gave what was left and underneath a bit of a sand and a prime and, so far, one coat of gloss. Might need a second, we will see.

So, the courtyard is coming on and the next job is to redecorate the offices, as they weren’t done when we moved in. I’ve got the paint, all I need to do now is move things around and out and Neil said he would paint it for me. That could be a job for the weekend. I’m hoping to get it done before the sofa bed arrives, as that’s going to have to fit in here as well, somehow.

The top Symi story of the weekend was the car that overturned on the Nimborio road and ended up upside down in the sea, with no great injury it has to be said. And here’s a shot thanks to Jeanette from Nimborio. It’s a reminder to us all to wear seatbelts. It might not be a long way down at times (though at other times there are long drops) but if you got thrown out of your jeep or car and rolled down the rock, there wouldn’t be much left of you worth taking a selfie of. And people who ride motorbikes, it’s quite simple: wear a crash helmet or suffer brain damage. Yes it’s hot, but so will the concrete be when your skull scrapes across it, to say nothing of your arms and legs. I used to ride a 550cc around London, and out into the countryside, and there is no way I can get on a motorbike now without a helmet and proper leathers. So I don’t.

There, mild lecture over and done with, don’t say I didn’t warn you. So, the weather is looking reasonable for the week ahead, according to Accuweather, and the bars and tavernas are now all open in Horio. This includes Taverna Zoi where we went the other night for some barbeque. So there is plenty to see and do and enjoy once you are up in the village, just make sure you drive up here carefully and, if you are driving this way, don’t forget to take the car.

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A few shots of the pampered Alarm Cat this morning as I try and get back into the swing of things, back to the more usual routine. Except I’m not yet, as it’s still Sunday. But I want to get ahead of myself as the alarm is to be set for ‘very early’ tomorrow so I can get up and out and back into my morning walks. That’s the plan.

And before moving on, Jack says a big Thank You to Ian and Lynne who look after the animal welfare on Tilos. He loves his ‘Cats of Tilos’ calendar, it’s being hung close to his bowl so he can check it every day, well, every half an hour actually.

It feels like I’ve not only had a week away (working, btw, not a holiday) but also a long weekend off. Friday was mainly pottering around at home, but Saturday was more of an adventure. We went to Yialos for the most important thing ever, cat food, and to visit the bank. And the banks, btw, do have money in them, we’re not yet Russian, there is no civil unrest (well, someone rather grumpily said ‘ela! I’ll do it avrio’ about something but that was it) and everything is all fine and dandy here right now. If you have heard stories about Greece and they are putting you off the country my advice would be to stop reading the British press especially the Daily hate mail, and only pay attention to the television reporters who give a balanced view.

Anyway… back down in Yialos we were joined by Sam and Harry as they both had important missions to carry out. Sam had a new computer to collect and Harry had to buy himself a new towel. Here’s a tip: shop around; we found one towel that he wanted for X amount, and then later, once he’d bought it, saw the same one in a different shop for four euros less. Hmm…

There was, of course, a stop for ice cream along the way, and then we picked up the PC and carried it to the taxi rank. On the way up Thanasis told us that here had been an accident and a jeep had gone off the road in Nimborio and ended up in the sea, but no one was hurt and Harry sang to the mountains all the way up, which was lovely. PC installed, I left Sam with tablet and You Tube in one hand and his new PC in the other, looking up how to put the system language into English.

Later, after a lazy afternoon, K&S called around, and P joined us later, the Alarm cat got some serious grooming and attention, and then we all went out to the opening night of The Windmill. Well, the cat stayed home as he’d already eaten. A great night, great food and a very good price too. Highly recommended when you are next on Symi. Okay, off into my Sunday now which is meant to involve potting up the new plants, cleaning the kitchen cupboards (note: buy more ant poison) and maybe doing another 3,000 words on the book this afternoon.

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First of all: Hello to…. you who emailed me yesterday – the nice lady whose name appears in the top banner occasionally. I want to say Anne, but I only saw the email for a second then accidentally hit the wrong button and it vanished, I didn’t download it so I can’t reply. Sorry! But thank you and please resend! (How embarrassing.)

Here is your helping of Saturday Symi photos, though only the last few are Symi because of my journey back from Tilos on Friday morning.

That went smoothly enough. The boat was only about one hour late. It was a very grey and slightly hazy morning at sea, and very calm. Coming in to Symi we could see a line of life jackets left abandoned on the rocks, no sign of the refugees until we came closer to the police station. These are, I guess, a new lot of arrivals and the previous group would have gone up to Athens on the Wednesday boat; if there had been any new arrivals since I’ve been away. It looks like Greece is getting more refugees arriving these days than tourists.

Still, it was good to be back. I arrived just as Neil’s aerobics session was finishing so he met me in Yialos and we took a taxi up. My main rucksack with clothes etc. was light, but the laptop and books one was a bit too much for the steps. A quick call into the Olive Tree in case Neil’s order of plants arrived there – he thought he saw them in the back of a car on the way up, but they’re not here yet. Must have been another order – and then home.

I’ve just had a quick look at the weather forecast and it seems we’re heading for thunderstorm on Sunday and Monday, but that’s just the weather forecast; things change. And, apart from that, I can’t think of anything else to tell you, so I’ll let you go and view these last few images. I’ll be back on Monday.

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So, last afternoon on Tilos, a few more thousand words down (4,000 and a few more to go after this), a walk taken to the end of the bay and back, lunch had, a free beer up on the roof had, packaging half done, bill to sort later and boat due tomorrow morning at 06.00. I shall set my alarm for 5.30 wake up, see where the boat is and amble down to the harbour which is all of, oh, 90 seconds away. Should be home around 08.00, or just after, depending on how the boat gets on coming down.

I came here to get some writing done away from hustle and bustle of Symi, and that’s exactly what I have done. My aim was to start on Sunday and write 6,000 words per day for five days, i.e. 30,000 words, about a third of a book the length of ‘the Judas Inheritance.’ I have actually managed just over 30,000 with a few more hopefully popping out as soon as I’ve written this. More importantly thought, I’ve gone through the middle section of the story, almost, and about three chapters away from the last act; the climax of the piece which should be about another 20 – 30k words or so.

This is all first draft stuff of course, but it’s better to have it down than have it in the head and I can do lots more work on it at a later date.

While being here I have also seen some of the island, though not as much if I were not working. I haven’t, for example, managed to get to the Megalo Xorio and the miniature elephants. But I have done some walking and have seen some sites, and sights. I’ve also been to a few tavernas and a list might be in order, for anyone else who is thinking of coming this way – and also as a bit of free publicity for the places themselves.

I stayed at Apollo Studios, where Andreas and Irina look after you in spectacular fashion; from free trips to collect spring water to towel art and a daily room clean. There are some shots from the roof terrace where I had me beer (a gift) while the room was being done this morning.

I’ve also eaten at Nicos Taverna, daily specials, great hostess Maria, good prices. At Eleni Taverna with the view over the sea, the Oasis when I fancied a change and some pasta and again, right by the sea, the kafeneion/Snak-bar ‘Michaelis’ which is open all day (8 – 23) and where you can have a full lunch or just a glass, and also at Armenon again on the seafront where we had dinner on Wednesday night. I’ve mainly used two bars in the main square and it’s very easy to fall into a rhythm there. Lunchtime beer and people-watch where, after your first day, your order arrives at the table around the same time as you do, and then at Merkouris’ bar in the evening, ditto, which stays open until the last people leave – and I was never the last people. Person.

There are plenty of other places to eat, drink and chill out of course, and had I been staying longer I may well have tried them all, were that possible. I would say that the prices are good, and I have never paid more than, say, €20.00 for a starter, main and jug of wine. In fact, it was more like €17.50, depending on what you have or course, and I tend not to have fish, which can be more expensive. But things like pork in red wine gravy with mashed potatoes (a highlight), and then today’s lunch which was simply an ouzo with water and a plate of gigantes and bread, for under €8.00, well, you can’t go wrong.

So, my little trip has been something of a success. I only need to make sure I don’t miss the boat in the morning, but there are worse places to get caught if I do, and plenty of places to stay. I do wonder how anyone keeps going when I see so many empty seats, but the season, I hope, hasn’t yet completely kicked in and things should, I hope again, pick up.

Any downsides? Well, only the internet connection which for the past few days has been racing along at a local rate of 0.3 Mbps and which sometimes does not work at all, but which has reached a top whack of 1.8 Mbps (home on Symi we get 4.00 Mbps).

But, more importantly, highlights of the trip? Writing a lot of first draft stuff on the new book. Learning that Kerry and Steve have rescued the sight of a stray cat which had a bad eye (piece of prickly grass seed stuck in there, got it out, eye now opening and already looking better), the pork and mash event, walking in the deserted village (though obviously not deserted once I was there), watching the daily fishing activity of boat in, unload, and sell. Listening to the return visitors around me in the square who come back to revisit their Greek friends and without whom, I suspect, the island wouldn’t be alive. And finally, the couple of sunrises I was disciplined enough to get up for. I will leave you with my fav shot of just such an event. Oh, and there should be a blog on Saturday, assuming I make it home and get my act into gear!

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