One of the things about having apps and galleries that supply you with memories is that they also sometimes supply you with ‘This day two years ago…’ type stuff. Well, today, I have news that two years ago I was in Prague on a culture tour with Godson #2, and, having seen the cathedral of St Vitus, and attended a concert at Lobkowicz Palace, we walked down to Charles Bridge and, nearby, had an encounter with a coypu. We first mistook this for a beaver, which would have been more appropriate because April 7th is, apparently, International Beaver Day. Yay! However, for the purpose of this vaguely Symi-based blog, I have gone back a few further years and discovered that on this day X years ago, we were walking at the other end of the island.

This is towards Faneromeni, which is the area behind Panormitis. There’s a lovely wood to walk through to a large olive grove, a church, and views over the inlet/bay. Across the water you can see Sesklia Island, though you can’t in my photo.

As you can see, the pine wood was carpeted with green, and parts of the track are easy under foot. I’m not sure what it’s like now, possibly concreted as seems to be the fashion in the countryside these days, but we could only get so far by car back then. Hopefully, it has remained unspoiled.

Looking at other ‘this day over time’ photos in my gallery I discover that, having been to the music museum, the Petrin Tower, the observatory and on various trams, I am off to see the Magic Flute at the Estates Theatre with my music student godson. Five years ago, it was so misty/wet outside we couldn’t see Nimos (the same is predicted for today), and, in 2006, I was photographing the harbour. So, there you go. Remember, no blog tomorrow, but I will be putting up a shameless promotion you can help with.

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Actually, it wasn’t all wet, it was a case of rain one minute and sunshine the next. I’ve always said April weather can be changeable, and it’s certainly been that this year, as was March. There’s more rain to come, apparently, and it’ll be colder, but then warmer, then cloudy, windy… You know how it goes.

Since we painted the bathroom flat roof and had the ceiling replastered, we’ve not had any problem with rainwater coming through. Instead, the leak has moved to the porch, and can I find it? Can I buffalo. When it rains and there is no wind, the water runs down the wall, but when the wind is in the right direction, there’s no leak at all. Odd. Then, there are no obvious cracks in the stonework and rendering, though we’ve painted them with ‘plastic’ paint anyway. That only leaves the tiles on the sloping roof, and they seem okay, but I’m not a roofer. Possibly, the rain’s getting in elsewhere and running along to the wall only to find no way to go but down, but… Well, it’s a case of putting down an old towel or two and not worrying about it, as it’s outside/inside and not inside/inside. Anyway, that’s what happens here when it rains as it has been doing a lot of late.

Because of that, I didn’t go far from home over the weekend, favouring instead to stay in and research dentistry in the late 1800s, trawl some newspapers of the time for prices and adverts, and continue with my next mystery. I have no plans for anything different today, either, though Wednesday will be a day for lots of walking because we will be in Rhodes, and it’s so much easier to walk around there than it is here. (No steps and not many hills in the new town.) Hopefully, it won’t be raining.

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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.

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.

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.

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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.)

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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.  

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