Views and News

Looking from my office window on Saturday, I saw this unusual ship passing on its way towards Nimborio.

Looking out of the same window yesterday morning, the sea was calmer, and the lighting different as this was earlier in the morning. Not a bad view.

And, as you can see from the next photo, there’s not a lot happening on the desk at the moment. That’s because I’m over in the corner on the PC table where I do the typing and computer work. I’m thinking about switching operations back to the old desk for the winter and using the computer table as a modelling station. I’ve still got the Invisible Man waiting to be finished. He’s been in the laundry room all summer as it’s too hot to paint and glue in the warmer months. And yes, I can see him even though he’s invisible. I’m sure there will be photos of the work in progress as time goes by.

Time is definitely going by, and quickly too, it feels like. Already the middle of October (almost), the temperature is cooling, there’s more talk of rain on the way, some businesses have closed, some never opened, sadly, but everywhere in the village is still open for now. The bars in the square have been busy of an evening, so hopefully those away from the square have been too. There’s still music and open mike night at the Secret Garden, the Sunrise is open evenings until late, Scena remains popular, and some of these bars will be open all winter. Building work continues on some houses nearby, workmen putting on new rooves before the rain starts. The mules are at work, church bells ring, baptisms are being held, there was one at Panormitis the other day, but there’s no definite news of the Panormitis festival. I know the Oxi Day parades have been cancelled across Greece this year, though when the May 8^th parade didn’t happen, we were treated to music from the town hall speakers instead.

So, we’re heading into another autumn and into another week. I’d just like to draw your attention to the Symi Music School appeal if you’ve not already seen it and joined in. The full post with links can be found here. We have so far managed to raise 36% of the money needed to keep the music school open for the next two years, and every little helps.

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Friday photos

As it’s Friday, here is a selection of photos. Neil took these when out and about earlier this week. As you can see, the sunrise seen from Pedi is no longer the glowing orange of August, but greyer. This doesn’t mean it’s cold, but being lower, the sun is behind the hills when it first rises, and by the time it’s high enough to be seen, the colourful overture is over. There has also been some cloud around, and we had a few drops of rain yesterday, though it remains warm, and the forecast is for clear skies for the next several days. Friday is turning into Rhodes day for many as the ferry comes and goes at a reasonable time, though for me, having just finished a 1^st draft, I have 101 things stacked up waiting to be done at home while I take a couple of days off from writing. Have a good weekend wherever you are, and stay safe.

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Birthdays, Cats and Mules

Happy birthday to anyone who has a birthday today. I open with this because there are several people we know who have birthdays today, and our third grandchild is due today too, though I think she might be held up. That gives me a slightly weird segue into the next subject, cat neutering. As you can see from the photo, the bin cats down our way have multiplied somewhat from the one or two of last winter to the several of yesterday. I went to drop the rubbish off and came across this little lot just after someone had been past and left them food and water.

There has been a free neutering programme running, and if you want to know more, you can check their Facebook Page. Symi Neutering Programme – SniP operates out of Pet Island, the island’s pet shop at the bottom of the Kali Strata, and works with larger cat welfare organisations and a veterinary surgery in Rhodes.

You know, yesterday, after dropping the rubbish and chatting to the bin chickens, I headed off to Sotiris supermarket to pick up a few supplies and came across a roadblock. The flower and garden shop was unloading a van in the lane, and there was no way anyone could get past for a while, so I took the long-cut around the back of the old Olive Tree to come out on the other side of the truck, only to be faced with another potential delay…

The mules still work on Symi, delivering to parts other transportation cannot reach, and we often hear them coming past the house, bell tinkling, hooves clomping stoically, and their boss calling ‘Oishi, oishi’ which is a version of ‘oxi’ I guess, but sounds like the Japanese word for delicious. (Or similar, and I picked that up from MasterChef, so it might be wrong.)

Anyway, quick ramble over, I have nothing on my slate today apart from revisions of my next novel, and as it’s not yet six, and I have eleven hours before attending a birthday event, I should get on with it.

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A few random photos

That’s all I have for you today, a few random photos as my mind is a more or less a complete blank when it comes to thinking of what I can tell you. Unless you want to know that yesterday I took delivery of a new book, a sociological study of slumming, the 19^th and early 20^th-century practice of the better-off taking tours to the slum areas of London to see how the other half live. Out of interest, to make themselves feel better, to improve knowledge, to inspire charity or to engage in more nefarious activities, there were lots of reason people did it. I now have several research books on my to-be-read pile, though I have already started on this one because it’s background for a current writing project and there’s another book about the East End in 1888 on its way, and I also need to read that one before returning to my current first draft and creating the second. Here’s a random and unrelated photo…

Meanwhile, it’s five in the morning, and the Blue Star has just pulled in. It’s not the most popular time of day for folk to catch a boat on their way to the airport, but it’s the best we have if your flight is Wednesday daytime or early evening, as there are no boats to Rhodes until later in the day, and it is reliable too. And here are a  couple more random photos as I really have run out of things to say today.

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Chugging along

The weather has warmed, cloud is due on Wednesday and Thursday. The boats continue to come in, people have been taking advantage of cheap flights at the last minute, and a couple of the taxi boats are still running to the nearer beaches. I heard the Poseidon is continuing its trips for a couple more weeks, numbers permitting. People are still donating to the appeal to help fund the music school, which will have to close if it can’t raise enough funds. The Oxi Day parades have been cancelled this year.

The cockerels continue to crow from early morning to late at night, the owl sits on the pole outside the sitting room and calls in the early hours, and the mules have been working. There are more cats at our local bins these days, the mosquitoes are back, but so far, no October spider invasion.

Messages are passed – there’s a parcel for you at the book shop, but he couldn’t get you on the phone, visitors welcomed, buildings worked on, diner invitations sent and received, walks planned, swims taken, gossip passed along and embellished. Cars drive down to meet the early morning ferry, fishing boats chug out to sea, the occasional church bell rings, and the same old sun shines in the morning. Life goes on, and the cockerels are still crowing for twenty hours a day.

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