Actually, two courtyards and a place to sit. It was a day for doing the ‘garden’ yesterday. Not for me, but for Neil who set about replanting the orange rose, weeding the pots and tidying up our courtyard, and this was the end result.

Taken with a wide-angle lens by the looks. Only the other day, he was in Panormitis, and took some photos of the monastery courtyard there, as well as some photos of other parts which I’ll put up here as the days go by. As you can see, it’s a traditionally pebbled courtyard as many are and, I am told, as ours once was. You can still see many such things on Symi. The floor at Georgio’s taverna, for example, and several church courtyards, up at the museum in Horio, and… well just keep your eyes open. It’s the same in Rhodes where in the residential areas, like Saint Nicholas outside Rhodes New Town/Old Town, you can see pebbled side streets, not to mention the Old Town itself, which is more or less completely cobbled. Anyway, before I talk too many cobbles, here’s the Panormitis courtyard.

Finally, this place is on the road out of the village heading up the hill. It’s in the hairpin bend at what was Lavinia Studios, and, I think, a lovely use of otherwise forgotten space. A bench with a view across the road towards Pedi, a handy litter bin, shade and a place to sit and contemplate courtyards, or courts, yards, Yardies, courting…

Yesterday was a wild one with the wind howling all day bringing the temperature down to 20° and making it feel like autumn, the shutters were closed making the house dark, and the ones that were open were rattling, as was the glass in some windows. In the afternoon and evening, the square was deserted as if it was winter, and those who were out and about were eating or sitting inside. That’s what we did as we went out for dinner at Georgio’s where you continue to receive a ridiculously large meal for a ridiculously low price.

During the day, Neil had been over to Panormitis in the morning, while I stayed home to send my current novel off to the proofreader, clean the bathroom, wash the floors, dusts some shelves, sweep up some leaves (during a lull in the gale), cook a chili, and grapple with some other housework.

After our meal out, we came home to watch a little TV before going to bed, and as we’re sitting there watching the film about Elvis, I notice a shadow moving in the alcove behind the TV and we shoot into spider mode. Although it doesn’t look like it in the photo, this one was about four inches from back to front. Neil’s superpower is that he doesn’t mind them, so while I was keeping my distance, he fetched a tea towel and set about catching the thing which vanished behind the bookcase. That meant moving the music stand and the small tables, pulling the bookcase away from the wall, and, when the thing ran up towards the ceiling, standing on the piano stool. There, he managed to grab it, and then escorted it up the lane to drop it off at someone else’s house. No, actually, he left it exploring near the bins, where it hopefully remains.

I must admit, I am getting better with these things, and didn’t spend the night awake watching in dread for another, but I do have to wonder where it came from and how long it had been in the sitting room. Anyway, I managed to semi-capture the heroic moment, though I was at a safe distance, in half light, and using a phone. (Am still shuddering a little, but I shall recover.)

The news from our part of the world today… I heard on the grapevine that the excursion boat, Maria, is making its first trip of the season on the 31st. I’m sure this is right, but please check in with the boat at the harbour to make sure, as this info was plucked from the shelf, not directly from the vine. What was harvested first hand, though, was the news that, currently, the Dolfin pizzeria is only doing eat-in or take away, and can’t do deliveries. If you want a job as a delivery driver, you know where to apply. The final piece of news is that it’s blowing a gale again today. Only force five on my forecast, but the trees are bending, and the shutters are complaining, the bigger ferries won’t be affected, but I’m not sure about the smaller ones.

Hopefully, there won’t be scenes like this (Click the image if it’s static):

That’s the cover for one my books, the finale to the Larkspur Mysteries, ‘The Larkspur Legacy’, but some animation thing has made the boat move. This was one of my favourite books to write. I had had it in mind from the start of the seven-book series and was writing the others with the notion that they were building to something spectacular. Why else would we need an academy for the gifted, a cartographer, sailor, historian, artist, financial wizard and so on? Because, at the end of the trail lies a massive treasure hunt that takes just about every character from both series of books and puts them in various teams. From there, it’s an amazing race from Cornwall to Egypt, to London, to various other parts of the country, and along the way people discover who they really are, who the villains are, and some even get married while some get crushed to death in a burning building… and so on.

Anyway… that was a sidestep away from local news snippets, which include the passing on of the dust cloud. We should now be dust free for the rest of the week. As you can see, yesterday things were hazy, but not through moisture, but dust. We weren’t as bad as in some places (see news from Crete, for example). Oh, and that bird you can see in the photo is a swallow as they have been back for some time.

That was the weekend that was, and it started on Friday when I went down to Yialos and had three fillings done. We have two dentists here, both wonderful, kind and quick. Inquisitive visitors are always surprised at the prices too, particularly when compared to the UK. After that, I called into ACS to collect a package we’d already collected (doh!) and was home by lunchtime.

The Saturday highlight was the arrival of a new mattress four months to the day after we’d ordered it from the shop in Rhodes. We knew it wasn’t due to arrive with them until the end of April because it was coming from Athens and had to be made first, so that was okay. Then, it was a case of the delivery company finding the right van, time and people to collect it and bring over here, and that didn’t come together until Friday. So, on Saturday, our friend from around the corner turned up with it on a van, he and his mate brought it into the house, took away the old one, and that was that. We unwrapped it and heaved it onto the bed where it feels six feet higher than the last one.

Apart from that excitement, the only other thing of note over the weekend has been the weird weather. We’re under a dust cloud again, but it’s due to clear tonight, and yesterday was also cloudy, a mix of normal cloud and dust, giving everything a dull grey appearance. There were even a few spots of rain later in the day, and this morning, at 5.00, thunder. It’s now 6.0 and raining a little. The temperature was up at 32° one day and 22° the next. So, it’s now a question of, what next?

For me, another cup of tea and on with my notes about the current work in progress.

Massive achievements yesterday: buying and fitting a new shower head… er… Think that was about it… Oh, no, there’s more. Spotted the first large cruise ship of the year hanging around and spending some time in the harbour before leaving again. Organised my proofreader, sent a message to my cover designer, commissioned an illustration from my usual artist, all for the next book. Oh, I also ironed a shirt for the first time in probably about a year. My favourite shirt is heading for the bin because the yoke is coming away from the rest and it’s unrepairable. Shame. It’s one of those that fits well, isn’t too hot and doesn’t need ironing. Hey ho. So, now I am down to two shirts. I did buy some more, but they both shrank in their first wash, so that wasn’t much of an achievement.

Today, I hope to achieve a few more things: some editing before a checkup at the dentist, collect a package from ACS, play the piano a bit… and that’s it so far on my to-do list. It looks like it’s going to be another hot one. The day before yesterday, the temperature started to rise, and yesterday, on the shaded north-facing wall in our courtyard, the thermometer read 30°. There’s no breeze so far today, and I’m barefoot in shorts and a t-shirt at 6.50 in the morning. Now you have all my news, there’s nothing more to tell you about this week, so I shall get on and see what I can get done this weekend. Have a good one.