Wednesday

I’m having one of those days where I slept so well I woke up tired if that makes sense. Mind you, I’m not planning to do much as it’s blowing a gale outside and the forecast is for high winds and heavy rain all day. This is Wednesday, and currently, there’s a lull, but the sky is still very dark. I can’t post any photos of the view because the shutters are closed, but below are a couple of shots taken on Tuesday when it wasn’t so cloudy. After preparing this post, I have some editing to do and then, I think, the sofa will beckon for an afternoon of laziness and TV watching. Another afternoon, I should say, it’s became something of a habit, but when the weather is cold and wet, and the roof is rattling, it just feels like the right thing to do. In my defence, I do get up at 4.30 and work through until midday, so anything after that feels like evening.

There is some good news for us at least. We now have appointments booked to take our paperwork and proof to the office in Rhodes to exchange our residency cards for the new biometric ones. (Thanks to Jenine for organising us.) We have to wait until the end of April to go, not because of restrictions, but because that was the nearest appointment time. I’m still not sure how we get permission to go if the current lockdown is still in progress, but apparently, we can. If you are still wondering how to change your card, beige or blue, my advice is to phone the Rhodes office and ask them. The number is 22410 27612, and you can call between 13.00 and 14.00, Monday to Friday. English is spoken.

In other good news, for us, I see that one business UK per day has been calling an agent in the Netherlands seeking storage or distribution locations. The idea is to avoid these new charges, VAT and other things when delivering to the EU. These UK companies are setting up EU based locations to distribute from, so we, the customers, don’t have to pay extra charged the oven-ready Brexit deal has landed on us. That will save us the hassle of worrying about extra charges when receiving gifts (over a certain value, I think) or ordering things online we can only get from the UK. Shame that it will take jobs and business away from the sovereignty-restored UK, but there you go.

And on with my day. Neil has just invaded my office with the vacuum cleaner (not complaining), so I must get up and move around for a while.

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New Grocer’s, Models and Drips

A bit of a mashup today. A couple of photos from the top of the village taken on a walk the other morning when it was sunny, a shot of the models I have been making over the winter so far, and a photo of what was, for many years, the Jean & Tonic bar. It’s now a greengrocer (well, a pantopoleio, an ‘everything shop’ or village store.)

We called in the other day on the way back from buying a cap for the unused washing machine water-feed tap, thing that’s dripping in the bathroom. (A great adventure in the DOI shop that came to nothing because I bought the wrong size.) Zouroudi’s is situated along the main village lane where the J&T used to be. It has vegetables and fruit in the outside and courtyard area, and a selection of other groceries inside, with some new (to me) and unusual sauces and other products. We’ve only been once so far as it’s not long been able to open, but we intend to return, and the produce we found was fresh and plentiful. It’s good to have another shop in the village, more choice of where to go for certain things, and it is keeping to the regulations about distancing, masks and hand-wash etc.

As for the modelling, that’s two I have completed this winter so far, and I have a Wolfman on the kitchen table ready to go when I am next in the mood. I am still waiting for another Phantom from the USA. I ordered this in November, and it left Miami on December 22^nd and is currently on the way… somewhere. I usually expect to wait up to three months for deliveries from America, so I am not worried. However, I ordered a sweatshirt as a Christmas present from a company that I believe is based in Europe – Belgium, I think – and this has still not arrived despite being ordered in the first couple of days of December. I wrote to ask them what postal service they used, so I could ask around in case it’s here but with part of the label missing or something, and the company wrote back ready to fall on their own sword. They sent a very sweet email apologising for the delay, but not actually answering the question, and have refunded the payment. Not what I asked for, and now I hope it doesn’t turn up as I shall feel guilty, but it’s been nearly nine weeks now, and I can only assume it has got lost en route. Ah well.

And to finish the bathroom water-feed/tap thing story… I purchased a very robust, brass ‘cap’ that I thought was the right size to seal the thing and stop the drip, took it home and found it was too small. So, on Monday, after my walk, I called into the DIY shop again and bought two more ‘caps’ of varying sizes only to discover a) one was the same size as the first, and the other was too large, and b) the threads on these caps were on the outside, not the inside, so they wouldn’t work even if they were the right size. I tell you, me and DIY don’t mix. Back to the gaffer tape while I think of what else I can use to stop the drip without replacing the tap. Can you imagine if I tried to do that! I am thinking a hosepipe might do it. A bit drastic, but all I have to hand. I will keep you informed of critical developments.

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Meanwhile, this time last year…

Well, almost this time last year. I was wondering what to blather about today, and I thought I’d have a look at my old folder of photos taken in 2020.

In order, between December 2019 and June 2020, these are a few shots from Symi through that year. They include:

A night at Rainbow (not been able to do that since last November), and heavy hail in the early months that scarred the plants. Cold clear days in January and February, but still time and suitable weather for the occasional afternoon glass of wine outside in the afternoon.

There were flowers in March and will be again soon, we had 18 degrees in April (we have already had this in January), the weather was warm in May, and the plants flowered right through to June where the following collection runs out. For now. I will no doubt do this again when I can’t think of anything else to talk, moan, mumble about in days to come.

A night at Rainbow

Heavy hail in the early months

Cold clear days in January and February

Still time and suitable weather…

Flowers in March

18 degrees in April

The plants flowered right through to June

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My Monday Moan is free of the €700 import charge

Don’t read this if you are/were in favour of Brexit and don’t want to hear some home truths about the consequences. Things like believing the NHS would get millions per week, you’d be running through sunny uplands (whatever that’s meant to mean) and the lies about trade deals, oven-ready or otherwise. Luckily for all of us, Neil has supplied some beautiful photos of Symi to lighten my Monday morning mood, so you can always look at them and ignore the text.

Today’s advice. Don’t order anything online and have it sent directly to me. Certainly not cheese, horse feed or football shirts, not that I need the latter two, and I can buy cheese here at the moment. I’d also be wary of sending anything from the yUK to Europe right now as couriers may refuse to deal with your parcel. If you’re thinking of sending a gift to friends abroad, then think again or tread carefully. The likelihood is, us over here will either have to pay a massive import tax to collect it, or we’ll have to refuse to take it, and it will be sent back and possibly burnt. Sadly, I am not making this up or scaremongering. That’s how it currently is with the yUK’s ‘oven-ready’ trade deal with the EU. Ironic really, as some exports are being burned and, thus, really are ready for the oven.

To back up my wildly outlandish statement: A small business that makes and exports cheese from Cheshire… has lost 20% of his sales overnight after discovering he needed to provide a £180 health certificate on retail orders to consumers in the EU, including those buying personal gift packs of his award-winning wax-wrapped cheese worth £25 or £30.

 To save his business, he will now have to switch a £1m investment he was planning to make in a new distribution centre in Macclesfield to the EU, with the loss of 20 jobs and tax revenue to the UK.

Meanwhile, in another part of the newspaper: British businesses that export to the continent are being encouraged by government trade advisers to set up separate companies inside the EU in order to get around extra charges, paperwork and taxes resulting from Brexit. (My emphasis, simply because… Well, honestly! What a shambles.)

Oh, here’s another one and it’s to do with books: [A Berlin publisher] said that, as a result of new rules, regulations and costs resulting from Brexit, it had decided not to export any more books to the UK at all, not even ‘111 Reasons to Love England.’

As you can gather from today’s post, I can find few reasons to love England right now, and by England, I mean the whole of the UK, though it seems those blithering about in Westminster sometimes forget that it is a united queendom.

Anyway, I’ve got that out of my system, and really, I just wanted to warn against posting things from the yUK to friends and family in the EU unless you check carefully what extra charges may be incurred (at either end). Brexit, eh? A gift that keeps on giving. Thank the stars for Neil’s photos.

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Cats, Goats and Weekend plans

Let’s enter the weekend with some animal shots, shall we? I have no idea why. I was simply browsing through my folders and saw a few cute cats and characterful goats, and thought, why not?

While you’re doing whatever you’re doing over the weekend, I’ll be working away on my latest story. I am one chapter away from finishing the first draft. This one was born out of an idea that only took proper shape as I wrote my way through 90,000 words (with another 4,000 or more to go), so I will need to start again next week on draft two and do a lot more work. I almost have a title, and so I can start my designer working on a cover. I will also finish my Phantom model as best I can so I can clear the kitchen table for Neil’s baking. We’ve had a wonderfully endless round of cakes and biscuits, curries and other delicious things since Christmas, all made while he’s wearing his MasterChef apron (personalised, of course).

There may be some rare walking going on, from me, I mean. Neil’s been doing up to eight miles each day with Clare, and bravo them. He left yesterday bundled up in several layers looking like the Michelin Man and set off for Nimborio again. If you walk from the village, down the main road, follow it around the coast, reach the far side of Nimborio bay, and then come back on the same route, you will be covering eight miles, should you ever wish to know.

Meanwhile, if you head up to Xissos and try to get up to St Nikitas church on the steeply sloping path that’s the middle of three roads (if you know the area, you will know where I mean), you can’t. Not this week at least as the road is being improved and resurfaced. This will make driving and walking to Ag Nikitas and that area easier. At least, I think that’s where Neil described his route, he wasn’t too sure where he’d gone that day, but it sounded like that was the right direction.

Anyway, I’m off to write and create and keep warm, do the shopping, try and find a cover for a leaky wall-tap in the bathroom that’s there to feed a washing machine and seems to have deteriorated despite never being used. I tried the universal fix of gaffer tape, but that’s not worked, so I need to investigate some basic plumbing items, a bit of a first for me. And that will be my weekend. Whatever you’re doing, I hope you have a good one.

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