All posts by James Collins

Day to day on Symi

This ‘n’ That ‘News’

It looks like it’s going to be another calm and sunny day today, so there should be no trouble with boats and such like. Talking of which, we’re off to Rhodes again next week so Neil can get paperwork for work, we can pick up some framing and other things, and that will be on Wednesday when there’s a general strike across the country. This shouldn’t affect us though, but if you are flying in on 9th April you may have some issues, one of which will be no air traffic controllers, or a limited service, I’m not 100% sure. After that, you should be fine. I’m also not sure if the farmers have done their annual protest yet, the one where they drive tractors and block roads…? Every year it seems to be less like a protest and more like a festival.

Preparing for summer.

While all that’s going on out there, more locally, the kafeneion in the village square are preparing for summer with some fresh paint. Lefteris’ is going for a new colour scheme, it seems, while Rainbow is staying more or less as it has since 1987.

A slightly different shade of yellow-orange-whatever.

Even closer to home, after an hour of Tchaikovsky, Haydn and Lalo Schifrin (H is learning some film theme music as a diversion from classical, in this case, Mission Impossible), we spent a lovely afternoon at the modelling station in the kitchen. The lifeboats are going on, and the rigging has been started, though it’s nowhere near finished and tidied yet; there are still loose ends to snip off and more lifeboats to add (for what good it will do the 1,517…).

It’s warm enough to sit outside in the evening now, and that’s what we did last night before going to Georgio’s for dinner. There are many homeowners coming back and doing up their houses either for a long summer or a few weeks, we have day-trippers with many on some days and only a few on others, but while adding boats to the boat desk yesterday, we definitely heard ‘foreign’ voices outside the house. I.e. English accents. And that’s the news for now. I’m off to 1893 and a very dodgy shop on Holywell Street, and, from there, I’ll wish you a pleasant weekend.

Day to day on Symi

A Room with one View

It’s all rather lovely in the office this morning, as the weather has cleared, the view is delightful and sunny…

…and I have Debussy playing on my new speaker. I will turn that off when I start to write the rest of chapter one of ‘Holywell Street’ as the next mystery is currently titled. Yesterday’s research included discovering the answer to such questions as, ‘What did men use to dye their hair in 1893?’ and ‘What did a felt pork pie look like?’ (Clue: it’s a hat.) I managed to write about half a chapter while looking things up in the Newspaper Archive where I find the advertisements as helpful as the stories, and where I love to read that in April of that year, for example, Henry Irving was appearing as Becket in Becket, and there was a display of high diving at Olympia.

Meanwhile, closer to home, the Sebeco set off yesterday just after I had posted the blog and written something about the storm having passed. The Sebeco sailed blithely through a huge downpour not long after setting off but managed its first run of the season without and issues, and returned later for its second run, so that’s now fine and dandy.

The photos today are from the same window (which needs cleaning after the dust and storm), as you can probably tell. Apart from not wanting to get my slippers wet by going outside, we still haven’t opened the balcony shutters, so this view will have to do. As I am not likely to be going out anywhere else today either, they will probably be the same view tomorrow, but at least you can see how the weather changes, as they were all taken yesterday.

Finally, I’d like to introduce you to a book promotion that doesn’t cost anything to browse. I’ve a few titles in a few of these through the month, so you’ll see others along the way. Today’s mission, should you care to accept it, is to click the banner or link and look at the titles in case anything is of interest. It doesn’t cost anything, but each click gets me a point which helps me get books in future promotions which, in turn, help me find a wider readership which, in its own turn, means baked beans on toast for tea rather than simply toast – not that I’ve seen baked beans in the shops for weeks. Have a great day!

Lit Fic, Women’s Fic, Memoirs, Historical, Time-travel books

(Look out for ‘Bobby, a life Worth Living’, apparently, it’s a book worth reading.)

Day to day on Symi

After the Storms

If you follow Greek news sites or TV, you might have seen the state of some nearby islands over the last couple of days. As I mentioned yesterday, the weather was foul for a while, with warnings arriving by phone, travel cancelations, floods… The whole kit and kaboodle of kakokairia hit across the country with hail in some places, and massive rainstorms in others. We had thunder rolling about for most of yesterday, including a couple of mega bolts from the blue, but as far as I know, there’s been no damage other than what usually happens when there is heavy rain, such as the top soil being washed into the lanes, roads and sea. Our courtyard is a minor indication of what was lying around elsewhere.

That’s sand from the Sahara, we’re told. At least the rain brought clearer air, for a while. This is what Poseidon System is showing for dust cloud cover right now.

With what us humans are doing to the planet, we can no doubt expect more extreme weather as the years go by, so don’t be surprised if you start hearing folk around here say, ‘It’s hot, isn’t it?’ earlier than usual. It tends to be around June 1st that someone turns up the heating, but we’ll see. Perhaps this year won’t be as intense as last with a humid 40° plus for so long. Right now, the colds are gradually clearing, and the sea is calm, so there’s hope that ships will be able to move again, and that the Sebeco will be able to make its first trip of the season. It’s due to set off in a few minutes so I’ll have to take a look from the window.  

Yesterday
Day to day on Symi

Not an April Fools

Here, it’s been a little stormy these past few days while in other parts of Greece, mainly the Cyclades… I saw some of the news last night with videos of cars being washed down streets, rivers of mud-coloured water across Mykonos, Paros and over in Patmos, where they must have had masses of rain. There was a traffic ban on Mykonos, and even here on Symi, and in Rhodes, schools will be closed today. Students will be taught via video camera, but as pupils are not allowed to turn their cameras on, I know of at least a couple who will be playing the Xbox while occasionally turning a page and saying, ‘Yes, Miss.’

That was the dull view from the roof yesterday and today is not much better. We have red dust/Sahara sand in our courtyard by the dune-full, the porch is awash because the roof there leaks and I can’t find out why, and every shutter bar no is closed. I was woken by thunder this morning, but it looks like all that has passed over now, and the Poseidon weather channel shows everything calming down for us today, and remaining damp, cloudy, but not so windy. Some friends were travelling from Rhodes last night, but the plane was cancelled, so they should have taken off at 6.00 this morning after being put up in a hotel for the night. The Sebeco was due to start its schedule today, but that’s not going anywhere, not today at least.

And that’s the weather update from my desk, where, outside, the wind has just stopped in a sudden, but eerie fashion, and I can only hear the rain dripping from the guttering. I have to wonder what the weather holds in store for us next.

Day to day on Symi

Weekend

Here I am back at the desk after a long weekend. It started on Thursday when Harry wired up my new Bluetooth speaker to the TV. Now, we have to rewatch every film we’ve ever watched because they all sound so different. Then, on Friday, we spent the day in Rhodes as did half of the island, it seems, because the boat was so busy.

I saw a couple of things over in Rhoes that made me smile. One of them was this, a five-aside football pitch built between the walls of a UNESCO World Heritage Site, in the moat of the Old Town. A perfectly peaceful and community use for something that was built to keep others out.

The other was found in Pappou, the supermarket on Kanadas, where we usually pop in to hunt for tea bags and things we didn’t know we couldn’t do without. We were lucky this time and found some decent ones, and while searching, came across Symi salt on sale. It’s good to see the expanded distribution.

The rest of the weekend was spent in contemplation of the weather, the rain we had off and on, but mainly off. Today, it’s grey and windy, and a day for staying home, writing, then teaching piano and building models.