Right, I can get back to normal now. We had a storm pass over us on Saturday/Sunday, with the worst of it on Sunday morning. Usually when we hear thunder coming closer, we ‘unplug’, as in, ‘Let’s unplug,’ which isn’t as rude as it might sound. Out come the telephone cable from the wall, the router plug, and if it’s very loud, the TV and piano. On Sunday, I’d just unplugged and was at the balcony doors looking at the view when the island was hit so hard by a bolt from the grey, I took a step back from the glass for safety. I couldn’t see it land, but it looked as though the lightning hit somewhere around the windmills. Within seconds, the power went off everywhere.

Here’s the usual view.

The power came back on again not long after, by which time the storm was settling down, but I reckon lots of folk were still being wary. Later, when everything had calmed, I plugged in again, and everything was fine apart from the internet connection. There was power to the router but nothing else. To be expected. It’s happened before, so I left it and carried on reading ‘The Mystery of Edwin Drood.’

Here’s the view as the storm arrives (looking slightly more towards the clock tower).

Later, when all was very calm, I went down to visit Jenine and Harry for a couple of hours, and their internet was off too. This for the likes of our generation isn’t a problem, but for a 17-year-old who was halfway through an online video game and who’s only recently found ‘Breaking Bad’… I was expecting outrage, but no. Pleasant, fun, conversation, ensured, although I did get a strange look when I suggested, if bored, a man can always read a book.

And here’s the view, or lack of, when the rainstorm was at its peak.

The upshot of this was, I still had no connection on Monday morning, so I tried a reboot, to no avail. Ah ha! I thought, I’d give them a quick ring to see if it’s me or the line/box/whatever, but apparently, I am unable to call the customer support number on my mobile (which is odd in itself and to be investigated later). Ah ha! I thought, I will download the app because you can check your status from there. Only, to enter the app, I needed my old Ote password that I’d not seen for 100 years, so I clicked the ‘forgot password’ thing only to be told it would be sent to my email. I can’t access that email without the internet, so that was no good. Ah ha! I thought. I will send a message via my phone email or some other way and found the form on the website via my phone (on 4G), and sent it off. Thinking I’d have to wait a couple of days, I then thought, Ah ha! And went to the Facebook page and the private message service, and sent the same message to Cosmote that way, just in case.

I had replies to both within ten minutes, both stating there was a problem with the line (or whatever) and it was being fixed. I was also told, had I been with Cosmote mobile, they could give me loads of free data usage while I wait.

Anyway, I rejoined the information superhighway shortly after, but others lost their routers, or cannot now expect their internet to be restored until towards the end of the month, so I was lucky. Oh, and the 17-year-old was able to get back to the worlds of make-believe and make-meth later the same day.

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That washed away some dust. We’ve just had a fly past by a heavy downpour and an attention-seeking thunderstorm that had me rushing to unplug everything and close some shutters at six in the morning. I was too late in a couple of places, so there are now some wet towels to dry when the weather allows. I took 60 seconds of video from the window just before dawn and I’ll put it up on our Facebook page under the reels. Look out for it later.

And yesterday afternoon/evening was so calm…

That’s a nearly full moon taken at around half five on my phone, so not wonderful.

I have three appointments today, the third is at the piano this afternoon, the second is physio later this morning, but first is an appointment with my character who I have left in limbo these past two or three days. Luckily, I went to Yialos yesterday and collected what I needed along with some parcels, so I don’t have to risk wet weather out there this morning. Having said that, yesterday in places in the shade, the stones were slippery with unevaporated dew, so you’ve still got to be careful how you walk around. This was the scene yesterday…

And the scene now is, Delamere House, Knightsbridge, where my private investigator, Jack Merrit is just about to read a diary written by a dead man, and discover the ‘Who?’ and ‘Why?’ of the investigation before rushing to save a man from death (of course). So, with that in mind, I’ll move into the future while slipping back in time and wish you a good weekend.

Oh, the rain just suddenly restarted, hard, and out of the blue. And now it’s stopped. Random or what?

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I suffered one of those embarrassing moments yesterday when I completely forgot I had an online meeting. Neil left in the morning to head to Rhodes (with everyone else on the island judging from the line of cars queuing to get on the boat), and I got on with some work. Later, I had a physio appointment, then did some shopping, and came home to be home alone. Lunchtime came, and I found a series of ‘The Amazing Race’ I’d not seen, so I put that on while I had my lunch, and then pottered about washing up, and wondering what to do for the rest of the day, and then thought I might as well go and turn my computer off… And that’s when I saw the whacking great reminder note by the PC, and the time, and rushed to my Teams things only to be 25 minutes late. Ah well. I’ve rescheduled.

Feeling terribly guilty, I went about the rest of the afternoon, reading, watching a documentary, and I contemplated going for a walk, but knew I would be walking down town today and possibly back up depending on the size of the parcel I have to collect, so I wasn’t too bothered. The Blue Star came back just after five, and I stood on the balcony and watched the cars coming from it. It took about 15 to 20 minutes for them to snake around the jetty and reach the main road. I mean, where do they all come from and go to? And why on a Wednesday? After that, I decided I needed a new toaster, so I popped down to the household shop, made my choice, paid my money and was on the way home when I was called into Rainbow for one, and ended up chatting to David and Clare for about four more. The defence rests.

Later, at home, having checked out and tested the new toaster (all good there), I settled in to watch… What? Browsing Netflix, I saw something that acted as a ‘trigger’ I think the modern term is. You know how you see trigger warnings on the screen before a TV show saying things like, ‘Language’ (not a silent film then), and ‘Product placement’ (because tins of Coke and jars of Marmite might cause someone to leap from the nearest cliff). Well, as I was browsing I was triggered into heading to YouTube to find recordings of the 1980’s show, ‘Treasure Hunt’ with Kenneth Kendal and Annika Rice. Don’t ask me why. It was probably the most entertaining couple of hours I’ve enjoyed in a long time. ‘Are you in the helicopter? Can you hear me?’ ‘Hello?’ ‘Can you hear me?’ ‘Is it Queen Elizabeth the First?’ ‘Are you in the helicopter?’ ‘Hello?’ More is planned for this evening, after the piano lesson and after H and I have watched the first part of a three-parter about the life of Mozart.

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Some village photos today as I am in something of a rush. Well, as much of a rush as anything around here is rushed. Neil’s off on his travels in a minute, I have some small jobs that must be done ahead of an appointment at 11.00 and another none at 13.00 (online) when I do my twice-a-year checkup with my finance advisor which sounds very grand, but is basically, “Yeah, your pension’s doing alright, speak soon.” After that, I will have the house to myself for a couple of weeks, during which I will wander about on a daily basis taking photos of things like this:

Actually, I think Neil took these photos last week, but things haven’t changed much in the last 80 years let alone the last seven days. I chose today’s three because they are all looking down alleyways, and, let’s face it, that’s what you do in the village; you look down alleyways.

I’ve also looked at the weather for the week ahead and we might, finally, get some rain at the weekend. That’ll be the first time since, when? May? (Apart from a short shower in September, I think.) So, the wild plants and hillsides will hopefully be appreciative.

there, told you it was a quick chat today.

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The owl was with us again yesterday, this time at around 13.00 and closer to the house than before. The photos again aren’t great, because I currently only have my phone, but if you look closely, you can see him on one of the metal rods that are meant to support a vine in the garden beneath us.

The garden belongs to the house but really to the abandoned apartment beneath us. The last time I went in there was to see why the water was draining from our limited tank up here. The then landlord had some workmen in, and they were noisily doing something in the kitchen (which is beneath ours and has no ventilation or natural light). After an hour of banging around, they left, and our pump started running. Ten minutes later it was still going so I went to have a look only to find they’d left the front door wide open, and there was water spewing from some connection in the kitchen. I had to call in Symi Property Services to disconnect the downstairs water from our tank, else we’d not be able to use and water. That done, I closed up the flat below, and no-one has been in there since. I hate to think what it looks like now. But, the garden looks clear and tidy because Sam did it for us last week.

Last night, we went to Scena for something to eat and for Neil to see Jenine before he jets off to Scotland for two weeks, and I found I was sharing my table with a ghost.

Also yesterday, H came for piano and we’ve arranged to watch a recent dramatization of the life of Mozart that is now on a streaming channel we use. I’ve not seen it, but apparently it’s good, and it’s over three one-hour-long parts, so we’ll start after piano on Thursday. By then, Neil should have sailed to Rhodes, gone by car to the airport early on Wednesday for a 6.30 flight, arrived in Edinburgh by 11.30 (local), used a bus or tram to reach his city centre hotel ahead of catching a bus to Inverness on Friday morning. He’s in for some fun weather. I shall be here, locked in my eternal battle between having to type to earn money and typing paining my bad arm. Hey ho! At least I have Mozart with Little Mozart to look forward to.

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