Category Archives: Day to day on Symi

Day to day on Symi

This and That

This and That

I’ve got some odds and bods to show you today. These are photos that don’t seem to fit anywhere or haven’t yet found a place in one of my quick ‘catch up’ blog posts. Oh, apart from the boot which falls under my ‘things found by the side of the road’ collection.

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I’ve also got a preview of what you can find in next year’s calendar, which is now on sale at lulu.com (and only there). You used to be able to do an online preview at that site, but I haven’t yet found out if I still can. So, this will have to do:

Preview smallerClick here to go to the purchase page.

The glass of wine shot was just one of those moments when a butterfly fancied checking out the vintage and hung around for a quick look.

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This other one is there because I thought it was about time we had a shot of Yialos and the boats. It’s looking a bit busier down there right now. The taxi boats are going out, the beaches are open, there are more visitors, and there’s more activity. The same goes for the village where there are more people about in the late afternoon/evening.

Rhodes 26 4_04

Day to day on Symi

A view from the bridge

A view from the bridge

Well, not exactly from the bridge, but from the balcony looking towards the bridge… of various ships. Hey! It’s early. We had a new Blue Star boat coming in yesterday. The Ariadne is doing the Monday run for the time being. According to Yiannis, it is 197 meters long, and I have to say, it did make an impressive sight. When I first saw it coming around Nimos, it looked like a cruise ship, only not as high. The other boats you can see are the other Blue Star with the Nicolaos X day boat behind it going home, and the one going out is the Sebeco taking Neil over to Rhodes for his health checks last week.

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Day to day on Symi

Busying Up

Busying Up

I’m not sure if that’s a phrase, ‘busying up’, but it kind of describes Symi these past few days. More visitors are arriving, some from the UK, many from other parts of the world, all tested and so on, and those I’ve spoken to report that are double-vacced, which sounds like what Sam does to my office carpet when he comes to do the cleaning. So, that’s all good news, especially as Colette arrived the other day bearing the gift of Tetley teabags. (Inserts gratefully smiling smiley.) The Rainbow bar was almost back to normal on Saturday afternoon/evening, as far as I remember.

Neil May 21_06

In other news, Neil has produced his Symi calendar for next year. He’s always had this ready about this time of year because, when he had the shop, he needed it to be in stock by June ready for visitors to buy copies. Now, you can only buy it online. I’ll say that again to make sure the message is clear. You can only buy it online. When you go to the sales site, you can change your country/currency to suit what’s best for you. So, if you’re in the EU, for example, choose Ireland and Euros, that will save postage costs and import taxes from the UK, or long delays from America. If you’re in the USA, then there are no long delays, but as the calendar starts next January, you’ve got plenty of time for delivery. Click on this link to learn more: Symi Dream Calendar 2022.

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As for me, over at my desk, I have just published the 10th mystery in my Clearwater Series, and over the weekend, it shot to the top 10 of the LGBT Mystery rankings on Amazon, which was temporarily thrilling. There are actually 11 books in this series, the 11th being a prequel which I count as one of my best pieces of writing to date. You can find the full series under The Clearwater Mysteries on Amazon. The 10th book, ‘The Clearwater Inheritance’ is currently available on Kindle and in Kindle Unlimited (as are all my books), and I’m hoping the paperback will be approved before long. Amazon can take a few days to check the print files, and as this novel is 150,000 words long, someone’s got a bit of checking to do. So, bear with, and prepare to order. Ta.

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You know me, workaholic, I’m already on chapter eight of the first draft of the first book in the follow-on series, ‘The Larkspur Mysteries’, and I am taking myself back to the Hackney workhouse in 1890, so, I have some reading to do, followed by some writing, followed by a piano lesson, followed by a collapse in front of the TV to watch a film. I’ll see you tomorrow.
PS. The photos today are not on the calendar, but they are by Neil.

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Day to day on Symi

Friday Photos: Takis Leather Art

Friday Photos: Takis Leather Art

To see us through the weekend, a collection of images from Takis Leather Art. Neil took these when he was passing the shop recently. These works of art are made by burning tiny dots into leather. In some cases, Takis uses a whole hide, and in other cases, a smaller piece of leather which is then framed. You can see the finished pieces at his leather workshop in Yialos, on the north side of the harbour between the war memorial and the clock tower, and the shop is open all summer every day. As well as showing and selling his artwork, Takis also sells a large assortment of leather goods, including bags, wallets, coats. You can find the shop on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/takisleathersymi

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Day to day on Symi

Black & White

Black & White

Today, I thought I’d share some more of Neil’s black and white photography work.
We were invited to dine in Yialos on Tuesday evening, beginning with a drink at Eva’s, one of the cafés on the harbour front which looks out onto the taxi boats and yachts. A few more yachts are coming in now, and I believe we’ve even had a flotilla visit. There were more people about than I’d seen for a long time, and it’s always a mild culture shock being in the harbour for the evening, mainly because I tend to stay in the village or home at that time of day.

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Afterwards, we had dinner at Trata, the Trawler Taverna in the small square at the bottom of the Kali Strata. Again, it was good to see there was some custom, and as usual, the food was perfect. This taverna offers something a little different, such as the spiced pork, stuffed mushrooms and garlic potatoes. As with just about every eatery on Symi, the service is friendly and with a smile, and like several others, it is still family-run in the traditional style.

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We knew we weren’t going to get a bus back up the hill when Lakis and his family came to eat at the next table, and as we didn’t finish until after ten, there were no taxis. So, a slow walk up the steps on a balmy evening, with stops to admire the properties now being done up or built (and rest the legs, of course), and we were back in the village at closing time and ready for bed.

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Me being me, I was awake at 4.30 even though I’d not gone to bed until nearly midnight, and so I started Wednesday a little bleary-eyed and then realised I had loads of work to do preparing for a book release this weekend. Ah well, no pleasure without pain and all that. No black without white, I guess you might say.

PS, I sported out my OneDrive problem. It had something to do with a Firefox update that had knocked off the ‘make Firefox your default browser’ thing. Once I’d reset that, everything worked as normal.

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