Monday morning walk. After getting some jobs done around the house and a bit of work at the desk, I headed out to get some jobs done out and about.

First stop, the hardware store in the village, passing, en route, two tourists heading towards the museum, or at least following the signs. I was so gobsmacked to see tourists (you can tell them from the outfits) that I didn’t tell them it wasn’t open. Anyway, they looked like they needed the exercise. But the hardware store excursion: This was the one near the doctor’s surgery that you could easily pass by without noticing. In fact I’ve done that once before. Now I know where it is though, I’ve become a regular. Inside you find there are aisles and all the products are laid out in neat rows so you can see what there is. This saves you the embarrassment of asking for a length of small pigmy when in fact you only wanted a hosepipe. It also prevents any misunderstanding when dealing with plumbing, ballcocks in particular, and makes things a lot more comfortable for everyone concerned.

I was looking for ‘ose. What? Rubber ‘ose? ‘No, Os, letter Os, for the gate… Yeah, yeah, I know. Fork ‘andles. What’s that? Four candles. No, no, no, fork ‘andles, ‘andles for the garden fork. And so on. (See, ‘The Two Ronnies’ hardware store sketch.) I was actually looking for a length of hose to connect the trap thingy under the sinks to the overflow widget. The current ones are both cracked and if too much water goes down the sink in one go it backs up and starts to flow the wrong way, i.e. into the cupboard and out onto the floor. I saw something that looked suspiciously like what I’d measured (with my thumb) but decided it was best to leave it to an expert as it means taking the whole gadget apart, and I may not get it back together again if I did that.

So, declining the kind offer of help, saying I was only looking, which I was, and then heading out of the door (being given two complementary cigarette lighters for my trouble) I headed off to the supermarket. George was having a quiet morning. There was no sign of the guys carrying boxes around, no piles of incontinence pads on the wall waiting for homes, no determined old ladies piling up shopping on the counter and then heading off more things and piling them up on top, no one getting their aggouri mixed up with their neighbour’s kolokithi, none of this accidental swapping of pantoploion that can cause so much hilarity and riot. In fact it was very quiet. I added to the lack of rush by only needing to buy six waters, a yoghurt and a red washing up bowl.

And then, after dropping them home, it was my turn to play the part of Sir Henry Norris, Groom of the Stool, and clear out Sir’s litter tray. That done, I headed off down the Kali Strata to collect a new bag of the stuff and headed straight for the pet shop. (Just up the steps past the Kalodoukas office, bottom of the Kali Strata, by the carpenter’s, opposite Freddie’s Chrysalis shop…You’ll find it.)  There I had a chat with (excuse me, embarrassed, can someone drop me the name?) the ‘pet shop boy’ about cats and how he came by his collection – strays born in the ruin opposite attracted to the shop by the birds he has there. And from there I proceeded to carry the five kilo bag of litter back up to home.

But I went a different route to the usual, as it was such a pleasant morning. Past the accountant’s office (keep your head down), and then first right and up, and along and towards, ‘Where does this go?’ and past, ‘Oh I know where I am now,’ and towards, ‘That looks interesting,’ taking shots of various things as I went. Having passed three chickens, several cats and a downhill tourist (camera, backpack, bewildered look and everything), I finally came out next to the large house next door to us and made it home only slightly humming.

And so, here we are, Tuesday morning, and I wonder what today will bring. More cat litter and privy chamber duties I have no doubt.

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Good morning and welcome to Monday, and the start of a ‘settling down’ week. After a wonderfully bonkers weekend in our house, I think we can at last start getting back into a routine. At least, that is my intention.

On Saturday we took a walk down to Yialos to pick up a few things needed for the god-boys’ tea that night: mainly sausages and beans, and bought a couple more items for the house from Christalos. Also included: A cup of coffee at Elpida’s café, a walk around the harbour, escaping the rain by ducking into Pacho’s and then by taking a taxi back up because, by that time, we also had three bags of shopping.

Saturday afternoon and the boys and their mum came for tea, and then the evening disintegrated into a 1980’s quiz session and impromptu sing-a-long. (It’s a good job we don’t have any attached neighbours.) And then on Sunday, Neil spent the morning cleaning the house and cooking while I got on with a few bits and pieces; putting up pictures and cleaning out the litter tray, and so on. And after the boys have been back for Sunday lunch (their mum was on a health and safety course for two days, and yes, they do happen here), we had some friends up for a Sunday afternoon drink in the courtyard, moving inside later when the sun went down, as it’s still quite cold.

So, a busy and pleasant weekend now leads to a quieter week. But this is the week I settle back into my routine, at least that is the aim. It’s been difficult to do so far, what with moving house and moving in, but I feel now that I can set aside my two hours every afternoon to get on with my writing or my course… The course I have still not started, but intend to. I have some background reading to do though, so that’s a start.

This morning, and every morning for the next two weeks, Neil is off to aerobics, tonight is the tap class, and then Tuesday to Friday I intend to get out there and do my fast walking/jogging up the hill to the Kantina, or down the hill to Pedi, and back, or maybe get back to the To Vrisi walk. It’s all so much easier when I can get up at 5.30 or 6.00 and not be cold, get out and back just as the sun is coming up and still be at my desk by 7.00, but those days will soon be on us.

So, here’s to the week ahead. The sun is shining, the weather forecast is set for fair but cool, from 16 degrees today to 10 at the weekend, and I can’t think of anything else to tell you this morning so will go and get on with my stuff… Oh yes, that was it. While getting ‘Lonely House’ together I am also going to start on ‘Stuff and Nonsense’, a new book. It will be a collection of, well, stuff and nonsense, some of which will be Symi/living in Greece based, other stuff will be tales of travel from the past, and other nonsense about life in general. Not sure when that’s going to be ready, but I intend to start on it this week.

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Here’s the latest news from Symi Animal Welfare.

“Finally, we are seeing more sunshine than rain and the island’s cat population is ‘coming out to play.’ Those which have survived the awful weather conditions of the last few months can be seen basking in the warm rays or chasing after imaginary butterflies or birds, the cats like the people have suddenly come to life once again.  Most of the feeding supplies have long since gone but we ask volunteers to at least try to provide a twice-weekly meal at their feeding-station until after Easter; we are currently in the Lent period so any meat scraps are few and far between, however, pasta & biscuits are gratefully received by the bin-cats.

Slowly, restaurants & businesses are re-opening and many of the owners tend to put food out for their local cats as do returning residents.

This year, we are going to ask some of the business owners to keep a water-bowl filled up near to their premises – the warmer it gets, the greater the need for available fresh drinking water is.  One of our supporters who has a summer house on the island, has kindly offered to donate a number of suitably-sized plastic containers for this purpose.

As you are aware, our work depends entirely upon donations so we were delighted to receive one from Australia this week.  Yvette Berkeley, the volunteer vet who visited Symi at the end of last year mentioned Symi Animal Welfare to one of her surgery clients and she contacted us to find out how to make her donation.  She loved our website www.symianimalwelfare.org and just how easy it is to make a donation whether large or small.  We will be ordering a specialised cage, recommended by a colleague at Greek Cat Welfare, useful for both nursing & catching feral cats, paid for thanks to this generous, distance sponsor.

Tove, our vet-week co-ordinator and her husband aren’t too well at the moment, so their traditional, early Spring return to Symi has been delayed.  Last November when they returned to Denmark, she took back a kitten she’d been caring for since birth – Daphne is thriving apparently in her new, flower-filled garden.  Please join us in sending Tove & her husband Ib, best wishes for a speedy recovery……Melanie, Suzan, Claudia & Hazel”

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Today’s photos were taken yesterday. Some of our walk down to Pedi where a little jogging was involved, and some at home where Jack is still suffering with a damaged paw.

I had a look at it in detail yesterday, as much as he would let me, and found that he’s ripped a claw out, almost. He must have been fighting, or else got it stuck while executing some kind of acrobatic (unlikely) jumping from roof to a pole or something (very unlikely) and one of his from paw claws is not quite completely attached to his finger, or whatever they are called.

It’s not infected, nothing is swollen but we are keeping an eye on it just in case. If it shows signs of going nasty we will have to hold him down, apply some ointment and then start throwing antibiotics down his screech. If that doesn’t work then he’ll have to go to Rhodes for a vet visit, but we are hoping that won’t be necessary as it distresses him so much and absolutely kills our arms, carrying a six kilo cat around the old town for an afternoon.

Meanwhile, he’s limping and standing with his paw raised, but he’s not distressed over it, he’s getting about, doing his business, making a lot of noise, getting bored, bothering me, eating, drinking and using his littler tray, so it all seems fine as can be expected. I am hoping it will heal up on its own. What with that and his smelly breath, tatty ears, and skin condition on his nose, he’s turning into a right old Bagpuss.

So, that’s your Jack news for the time being. What else has been going on? Not a lot really, not for me at any rate. A few days at home, some writing, looking around for a possible course to do during the summer – on line, to do with writing, that’s affordable and purposeful, and some house tidying. That’s something I’ve noticed about the new house, you (me) feel more inclined to sweep floors, tidy up and put things away. Perhaps it’s because it’s new, perhaps because it’s a big bigger and more open plan and you can see when things don’t look quite in place. I don’t know, but it’s a nice house to look after.

Which is what I shall go and do now. That and look after the cat.

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The new RAM for the laptop did indeed arrive yesterday and is now installed on the machine. So easy, I don’t know why I haven’t tried before. Now Neil can upgrade to my old machine (at 4Gb, from his current 2Gb) and get to grips with that, and we will have the spare one for backup and emergencies. It’s only taken about six months to pull this plan together.

We’re just back from a morning walk/jog down to Pedi and back, it’s 7.19 as I sit down to write, the sun is up and the sea is calm. I can see fishing boats coming in from beyond Nimos and Nimborio and the cat has had us up and about since around 5.30 today; the lighter it gets in the morning the earlier he is up.

As he gets older he gets more demanding and his ‘alarm’ becomes grumpier. It’s not just a few yowls now but several and they get more and more annoyed each time to the point of sounding desperate. Poor old thing –and I am talking about the neighbour there. Neil went and let him in around six in the end.

I should explain the photo I am putting up today, it’s from the housewarming party – as are all of them actually, but this one in particular. It shows Cobi throwing wine over the pitched roof of one of the buildings.

Why? Well, it’s a blessing apparently. I am not sure if it’s an ancient Greek tradition or a Dutch one or just a Cobi one, but the house was in deed blessed last Sunday. I know that blessing the seas, or rather, giving thanks to the gods by throwing the first wine in the sea, is an ancient Greek tradition. I read that when researching ‘Jason and the Sargonauts.’ In the original myth, the Argonauts give an offering to the sea god with wine before they set off. In my up to date telling of the story, Oliver (representing Orpheus (he lost his wife in the underground)) accidentally spills his ice tea in the sea just as the party are boarding the fishing boat for their excursion. So, it’s in there.

There are other parts of the myth mixed in with the story in ‘Sargonauts, and character names, challenges and references. ‘Your rocks are clashing, dear,’ was one of my favourites. There is also a lot of real Symi history involved. If you’ve not read it, you can get a copy form this link, and Kindle versions are available too, though I can’t vouch for the layout. Have fun! Jason and the Sargonauts.

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