Yesterday was Halloween as I am sure you are aware. We don’t have so much of that trick or treating around here, although it sometimes takes place. There were a few younger people out and about in costume yesterday, maybe heading to a private party or just dressing up for fun, but no great big American style street decorations and all that spam. We did, however, have a treat and it concerned this piece of music…

My pupil came for his Thursday lesson at the appointed hour, and after the usual, Hi, how are you? Ola good. Sure? Yes. Any news? No… kind of overture that usually precedes an hour’s concentration, we got on with it. Scales: A major, A harmonic minor, A melodic minor, arpeggios of A major and A minor, and on to the next sex in the key of E flat… Then, a look through Bach’s 48 Preludes and Fugues to identify keys from the key signature and first/last notes of a piece. Then, on to the pieces. We started out five years ago by meeting once per week for around 15 minutes. Now, we meet twice a week for an hour at a time. One day we do the usual warm-up scales etc., followed by work from the course book, duets (for a Boxing Day concert we’re planning), and other random pieces for sight reading practice. The other day of the week, we start in the same way and then move on to the grade four examination pieces. Soon, we’ll concentrate more on the exam pieces and technical stuff, anyway…

After a quick break to admire that random photo… Yesterday we worked through a Chopin piece which focuses on playing in octaves, dexterity and speed, and then moved on to the exam pieces, blah blah, and after fifty-five minutes, I decided that was that, so we sat at the piano and chatted. Oh, then he played through the Bach prelude we’d opened on Monday (Neil had joined us by then) and which he’d played by himself for the fun of it (there’s your first result right there). We started chatting about Halloween, and it turned out H and his mates had recently watched the last Halloween film. In fact, he said, ‘We watched this…’

… and played the theme from the film score. It is in moments such as that one that you realise you have made a difference. It might look simple, but have you tried playing in five/four time? Have you heard and then transcribed a piece of music? I’d not taught him how to do this, there had been no music, he’d heard it and gone to his piano and worked it out. Heard it, replayed it, and (and this was the most stunning thing for me who can play nothing by ear not even Happy Birthday), he’d done it in the same key as the original. Hearing/playing is not something you can easily teach, and I don’t think I have, but needless to say, my gob was more than a little smacked. You might think it’s only one line of music, but it went on, the bass came in after the repeat, and that was accurate too.

Anyway… Enough about spooky Little Mozart, and back to the island. We’ve been promised a weekend with temperatures into the early 30s, it’s sunny out there, and I’m currently in here about to work on chapter 18 of the next release. Neil’s weighting next door before heading out, the washing machine is already churning, the water tank is filling, and we’re out to dinner with Miss P tonight, so there’s that to look forward to. Have a great weekend!

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Here are a few more shots from a recent morning in Yialos. Boys fishing, fishing boats moored up after being washed down and having had their nets mended; those two things remind me of the age-old question, ‘What do you do in the winter?’ Although I don’t go fishing, it continues through the winter months, with professional fishermen on their boats, and amateurs with their rods. As long as you have a licence, I guess you’re good to go.

Random thought: Licence. Another of those English words that’s easy to confuse, as in ‘license or licence’? To put you out of my mystery, Licence is the noun, as in fishing licence, while License is the verb, as in to license someone to fish.

Of course, being an ‘English’ word, Licence is not English at all, but has arrived in our language from Latin, via Old French, to Middle English. License, however, derives from Licence, so that can be counted as being English, based on a word derived from Latin and Old French.

I think that’s right.

Meanwhile, Practice and practise work in the same in in that the noun has the C in it, Practice, while Practise, with an S is the verb. In this case, the verb came first, from Latin and Old French, and the noun, Practice, came from it.

I have no idea how or why I drifted into that, so here’s a fishing boat, and I’m drifting off to work.

Ps. A collective noun for a group of fishing boats? A drift.

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It is starting to sound like the winter season, at our house at least. Today’s activities have already begun with a one-hour workout (Neil), and a cup of tea (me). After posting this blog, and my Jackson Marsh update blog, and after typing up half a chapter, and sweeping the floors, we’re having an ice cream workshop. That is, we have some friends coming later this morning to make ice cream with Neil. I’ll probably read, take a walk, or carry on writing. Later, I have some piano playing to do, which I am looking forward to, and this evening, the same friends are coming for dinner, part of which will be the ice cream. I’m on starters (tomato soup, homemade, of course), and laying the table. Meanwhile, outside, it’s still busy in the harbour during the day…

Also, to show that it’s finally calmer season-wise, we were able to get together with the family on Sunday and have a roast pork dinner, including gravy by Sam which is always a treat. Sitting in the courtyard under the shade of the umbrella because it was too hot in direct sunlight, chewing the cud or whatever, and catching up on news with all of us together for the first time in ages. we’ve also talked about our first ‘boys’ night’ maybe the weekend after next. The weather isn’t playing winter at all, which is both good and troublesome (some rain would be handy), and it’s still warm enough to sleep with the window slightly open and only one sheet on the bed. Looks like it’s going to stay that way for a while, too. Oh, and the train continues to run.

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What can I tell you? It’s still pleasantly warm, there are fewer boats coming in but still day trippers, and the Blue Star timetable and booking only reaches to the first week in November at the moment. Hopefully, that will be extended soon. I expect the company is waiting to hear the details of subsidies before deciding what will be possible and profitable. On Friday, we went for a short walk through the boat yard at Harani…

Yesterday saw the Oxi Day parade in Yialos, and today has dawned clear, calm and a little humid. I have half a chapter to write after this, yesterday my piano pupil sightread an entire Bach prelude at a reasonable pace and with more than reasonable accuracy, and right now, Neil is throwing weights around the living room while my lightbulb flashes on and off as though I were in a 1980s disco. (Note: Must buy a new bulb.)

As you can see, not a lot to report today. I’ve been doing some writing and a fair amount of little else, and I must force myself out of the door for more strolls around the neighbourhood while the good weather lasts. On the one hand, we want it to stay warm so the cost of heating is lower, but at the same time, some rain wouldn’t go amiss. Apparently, we’re going to see longer, hotter and drier summers followed by warmer and drier winters, which sounds lovely, but which will eventually cause problems through lack of rain. Which reminds me, we must buy some paint for the roof. I’ll put that on the shopping list for later too.

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We had something of a triumphant end to last week. On Thursday, halfway through Harry’s piano lesson, there came a knock at the door followed by a chap bearing four copies of the new contract for the house. We arranged, with some helpful translation by my student, to meet at the KEP office the next morning at ten because this chap had been instructed to return two completed copies to our new landlord. Sorted. So, the next day, we trotted down to the KEP office, signed the contract, and waited while the extremely helpful and patient lady added our passport details and my biometric card details to each copy. Meanwhile, the chap from the day before was doing his signing along with three other tenants of the same house. That’s a lot of passport detail copying (by hand) to be done. Anyway… We then went off to the accountant to give him his copy… Break for a photo:

Stelios told me I needed to ask the landlord to send the contract up to Taxistet (the online tax portal), and I explained that when George the landlord and I talk, it’s via written message which I can translate because I’m terrible on the phone in Greek, and terrible on the phone in general, so Stelios rang him. The business side of the discussion was completed within two minutes, and all was well. There then followed about 20 minutes of general chat and catching up. George, it seems, used to be a teacher here, knew Stelios from when he was young (I think that’s what was going on), told him the story of how the houses became left to him in Andreas’ will… And so on. The upshot was, eventually, that our new landlord is a very nice chap who doesn’t know where the houses are, but, we think, isn’t interested in selling; at least, not just yet. So, we have a year’s contract and next summer, before it runs out, Stelios will check in to see what the future holds for the house and for us. Who can tell…? Another break for a photo:

By way of celebration, we went for a coffee and a walk and ended up having lunch at the Trawler because Neil fancied the psaronefri and I had a spag bol because I’m going ‘carb free’ (not). Meanwhile, Neil received news that his British passport had been processed and was on its way back. This is another rambling story, but in brief: his yUK passport expired so he sent it off for renewal, but also had to send a copy of every single page from his Irish passport (or the document itself). When that arrived with the UK office, they decided not to process the renewal until both passports matched. In the UK one he has all three forenames, but in the Irish one, only two. Therefore, he then had to apply for his Irish one to be renewed three years early and have his third name added… We put in a covering letter, and it all went smoothly, arriving back here about three weeks after being sent by courier at an exorbitant price. Then, once the new one (with all three names) came back, he had to send copies of every page even if blank, off to the UK offices, who had given him an application extension, and then wait, and then receive innumerable communications asking him to send his documents, and then chatted on their helpful chat box helpline, and then… Finally, it was done and on its way back.

There, I told you it was a ramble. To close, another photo:

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