Here’s a post for when you’re having a leisurely coffee break. It’s been a long time since we did some pointless wordplay on these pages, so today I thought I would stun you all with random thoughts on a random word or possibly two (I have to go and cook in a moment so not sure how long I will be staying around), and while stunning you with nonsense I might also stun you with some of Neil’s photos of Symi, as that word is in the title of this blog after all.

I did think about dipping into ‘The Elements of Eloquence’ by Mark Forsyth  but then, after reading a little about Merism, Epistrophe and Epizeuxis I decide that he puts it so well there’s nothing more I can do to make it all make sense, except suggest you go and buy the book, if you are keen to improve your understanding of the English language that is. [And for those who may be wondering, Merism, Epistrophe and Epizeuxis are not the Three Graces, they are: Merism is when you don’t say what you are talking about and the example in the book is ‘ladies and gentlemen’ is a merism, for ‘people.’ Epistrophe is when you end sentences with the same word. Or end each clause with the same word, or end paragraphs with the same word. (So, basically, most pop songs.) And Epizeuxis is when you repeat a word immediately and in the same sense, for example, ‘Location. Location. Location.’]

So, now you know that (and there will be a test) we can move on to something less interesting. I love receiving books as gifts, and that’s not a hint, surprisingly, and for my birthday my mother sent me a book about collective nouns titled ‘An Unkindness of Ravens’ by Chloe Rhodes (appropriate to our location here on Symi I thought). What’s even better is that it’s a hardback book. (I just like the feel of them.) So, thanks to this gift we can have a little quiz here as I ask you if you know the collective nouns for the following random entries:

1. A ? of gossips
2. A ? of jurors
3. A ? of harlots
4. A ? of butlers
5. A ? of cobblers (and it’s not ‘load’)
6. And a rather nice one, A ? of fishermen

The answers are at the end of the blog. I was going to put them upside down, but then thought it might be difficult for those reading this on a desktop PC who would have to turn the monitor over; easy enough to do if you are reading on a Kindle (of kittens, by the way), but if you’re walking around with a device and get distracted you might trip (of goats). That’s why I applied some shrewdness (of apes) and didn’t want to make this too much of a labour (of moles) for you.

One day we may return to this book and do some more. That selection was from the People department, there are also animals, professions, religious callings and (other) exotic creatures to look forward to. My favourite has to be A worship of writers, of course.

But back to the task in hand, a random word from my Samuel Johnson’s 1755 Dictionary (another hardback gift).

The letter of the day is ‘S’, and the first word that jumps out at me is Sabulous. Not Fabulous, though it is rather, sabulous means ‘gritty or sandy.’ So I guess you could stretch that and say that a Stieg Larsson novel is sabulous (as they are considered a gritty read) and that Olivia Newton John was no only fabulous but also sabulous when playing Sabulous in ‘Grease.’ (She played Sandy.) So, there you have it, lots of new words to ponder over today as you wonder where all this comes from and why you’ve sat and read it all. And finally, here, without the need to stand on your head, are the answers to the collective nouns quiz.

1. A gaggle of gossips (Makes perfect sense to me, especially when at certain local watering holes.)
2. A damning of jurors (Goes back to Magna Carta – buy the book for the fascinating derivation.)
3. A herd of Harlots (Reminds me of: ‘You can lead a whore to water but you can’t make her think’, which is the punchline, but I can’t remember the body of the gag.)
4. A draught of butlers (To do with a draught of wine, rather than leaving the door open.)
5. A drunkship of cobblers (Drunkship being an out of use word for a group of drunk people. Poor cobblers.)
6. A drift of fishermen (To do with, er, fishing techniques, apparently.)

And a worship of writers? (To do with ‘the established tyranny of patronage’ – Thomas Wharton 17^th century.

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Just having a trawl through some recent photos and thought I’ll just put a few up for today as in know people like to see images, and big ones at that.

But before we get too carried away with it all, can I just ask you to drop a line to the UK press and tell them to stop scaremongering? As Adrianna said on her blog last week, yes there is money in the banks, no you’re not going to get yourself stranded without any cash if you come to Greece, and I can also add that you’re probably not going to find yourself strike bound either, especially if the government does actually pay its people, which is something it should put as a priority.

There’s no great crisis here as far as I can see, apart from the refugee one and the usual day to day crises that the country seems to deal with. Everything’s a drama in Greece after all, wailing, arms up in the air, oh no! Now someone’s put too much water in my ouzo, what shall we do? Better let the British press know so they can tell everyone not to go to Greece becasue it’s a danger zone or some other twaddle. I mean, does this looks like a danger zone to you?

And does it look like no one has any money in the banks? I say, do what my mum has just done. Book yourself a holiday to Greece, Symi for preference, and bring all your own currency with you and leave it all behind when you go. That way there won’t be a crisis, not that there is one (in the holiday area), at least not as much as the Brit-Tabs would have you believe. But then again, as I’ve not actually read one for a while, what do I know? Well, I know what I read online.

Anyway, that wasn’t where I meant to go with this post. Just feeling a bit silly really. Have had a great weekend and it’s now Monday morning and I’m getting ahead as I have a lot to do before I depart on the Friday night boat. We’re out to dinner tonight and yesterday we had a great barbeque in the village and a lovely Saturday before that and a great Friday before that. The cat was absent for Saturday night and all of Sunday and finally came home again Monday morning at 4.00 so I am a bit sleep deprived as well. And looking forward to guests we have calling in tomorrow and then again on Wednesday and then, I think, we’re entertainment free. And I wouldn’t be able to do all that if there was no money coming out of the ATM now would I?

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Sunday morning… Great evening yesterday with guests in the courtyard, lovely night on Friday with guests on the balcony… Off to a party in an hour… Sounds to me like we are having far too much fun!

I have a week of work ahead followed by a slow boat to Tilos on Friday while Neil stays here to carry on working. I, too, shall be working while away, I’m not going for a holiday but I should have time to wander and explore after work in the afternoons. So, there’s that to look forward to. Before that we have some guests coming on Wednesday for drinks on the balcony, oh and we’re being taken to dinner tonight (Monday) so there is that to look forward to too.

Meanwhile: I am awaiting a proof copy of Lonely House and, as soon as that has been double checked, it should be available on line, in paperback, and then a bit later in Kindle format. I’ve said it before, and I will say it again, people often say (not just to me but generally) that Kindle books should be cheaper than print books because there is no pronating involved. In a way, yes, but in a word No. What I say is that the creator (if still in copyright) should receive the same amount per sale of a Kindle book as he does a print book. So, when the pricing is set for my print book of Lonely House, I will see what I am left with (around $.50 cents usually) and apply that as my profit on the Kindle version. After all, it’s the same amount of words, and took the same amount of time and skill to put together and.

If you are itching to spend money now though, you can now order Neil’s 2016 Symi Dream calendar on line from Lulu.com. People have kind of misunderstood how things work and asked us to keep copies for them to collect when they are here. Now then: we don’t have any. There is no shop to sell them from. You have to buy them on line. Follow the link. Use your credit card, or Paypal account and your Symi Calendar will be sent direct to your address. (I know Neil has arranged to get hold of a few for specific people, but that will have to be when we have enough money to buy them and have them shipped here – and that does add on an extra cost, so you’re better off buying online.) Here’s the link: http://www.lulu.com/shop/neil-gosling/symi-dream-calendar-2016/calendar/product-22165801.html

If you were wondering what the glass is all about, it was a housewarming present from Libby, a candle holder. She makes her own glass products such as this one. It’s sitting on another gift we were given, two in fact, and the bust behind it all is Apollo. We bought that when in Symi on holiday back in what? 2000? I think it was. I carried it home to England in my rucksack, and then a year or so later it found its way home again when we moved over here. Everything has a story.

And talking of story, I should get back to my latest. I still have some preparation to do before going away to write a few chapters, and a party or two to attend.

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Here is a quick and easy post: a few photos showing some of the things I saw on my Symi Friday yesterday. We were down in Yialos for late morning/lunchtime.

As were lots of other people who had come over on the ‘Sea Dreams’ Symi.

I like the way you have to slide off on the port side and then swim ashore. Makes sure that everyone arrives clean.

Okay, not the most inspiring image but look at the face over the name – do you think it knows something about the Greek economy that we don’t?

Meanwhile

Meanwhile, the Symi public transport system was in full swing:

It was my step-father’s funeral yesterday. My step-sister had suggested those who could not make the funeral drop a pebble in the sea as a commemoration, so we did just that.

And later, back home, I watched a new barge doing interesting things down below.

So, have a pleasant Saturday and Sunday and I’ll see you next week!

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Yesterday was the name day for Constantin, Constantina, Helen and Nantila, and various variations of the same. I spent the morning watching boats heading to and from Analipsi, Symi, the monastery on the edge of the island over Kokkinochoma Bay, just before you head through Diapori on your way to Turkey, or the open sea – if you head that way. This is a church I have not visited before, though Neil was over there last year to film a festival put on for one of the cruise ships.

So, during the part of yesterday morning, while out walking and while I was working at my desk I saw: The Panagia Skiadeni (The Scooby to its friends) going out at 6.30 and coming back in from Rhodes around 10.30 with its day-trippers, a full taxi boat heading out towards Analipsi, various speed boats, some of those white hired sailing boats coming in and out, and the Sea Dreams, Symi, boat over at Analipsi passing by and blasting its horn for a long while before coming into Symi with its own load of day-trippers. It was actually quite a quiet morning down there, some days it’s non-stop and it is still only May.

The other day the four (or something) most expensive or biggest or who cares, private yacht was in the harbour with some far too wealthy football person on it; a club owner, or owner of the largest shares in Folkestone United or somewhere. Football often passes me by as do the people who earn lots of money from it. ‘The first of the season’s super yachts’, it was being called. Not impressed. Well, you know me. When I see a phrase like ‘Super Yacht’ I immediately think, ‘Anagram opportunity.’ So how about, in future, when we see something like that pumping its fumes out into the atmosphere ten feet away from where 100 homeless and frightened refugees are sharing one toilet, let’s think: ‘Peachy Rust,’ or ‘Pushy Crate,’ or perhaps ‘Pushy Recta…’ And we will leave it there.

I think I might be in a bit of a volatile mood today because my wonderful pay €XX.00 per annum for Microsoft Office package 360 thing is turning out to be an absolute pain the Pushy Recta. It does this every few months, I am convinced of it: It forgets words I have added to the custom dictionary, and it forgets words I have added to autocorrect, so I have to spend hours putting back in my most commonly mistyped words. And, let’s face it, that’s going to be a lot. One day my page is nicely white with nothing underlined in red, thanks to autocorrect and spell recognition of such words as Yialos, Symi, Horio etc. and the next it looks like my old sociology homework. You ring Microsoft for advice and they expect you to pay a further €80.00 before they will even discuss the thing.

Ah well, just look out of the window, take a deep breath, enjoy the view and remember that Microsoft is an anagram of ‘Cost From I.’ (It’s also an anagram of ‘Cost Of Rim’ but that’s something else we shan’t go into.)

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