A warm weekend

A warm weekend that saw a few more pleasure yachts and boats in the harbour (I counted four on Saturday night), some kafenion still partying until three in the morning like the ‘good old days’, some badly dressed visitors wandering the village… All the usual sights of summer but on a much smaller scale. Some visitors so glad they are here they can’t help but approach with open arms ready to hug, or slap you on the back as they pass (don’t, a slap back in the face often offends), because they are just plain cheery to be here. That’s lovely, but it ain’t going to stay safe for long if you can’t control your enthusiasm.

That little social tut done with, what else…? Well, the usual: A chapter a day when I can. Still thinking about taking that early walk up the hill like I used to. Wondering why I only have one shirt that fits me, and where did those emergency shorts from even bigger days go? Lovely dinner on Saturday night with the neighbours, on the roof terrace, sunset, all the theatrical lighting effects you want from stars, harbour and candles, delicious food, a good chat and catch-up, air kisses and just a very special evening all round.

Then there’s a slight downside. Three hours sleep on Friday night because it was so hot. Up at 2.00 a.m. (29 degrees, humid), cup of tea, one and a half chapters written by lunchtime (around 8.30 a.m.), more done by dinner time (midday), and an afternoon dozing before a very light next-day’s breakfast at seven in the evening. Time clock all over the place, but back to its usual zone on Sunday. Which is where it is now as I write and scramble for a few photos to fill in the blanks before getting back to the next chapter and the next cup of tea.

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Friday Photos

Just a collection of photos today to see us through the weekend. Have a good one.

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Hot and ready

Yesterday was July 1^st. The temperature in the courtyard, in the shade, was 28 degrees at 6.30 in the morning. The day before, it had reached 36 at four in the afternoon, in the shade in the courtyard. My latest story, Artful Deception was published last month, and the next one, ‘Home From Nowhere’ is about to go off to the proofreader, and should be out by the end of this month. Meanwhile, I have started tinkering with a new novel, another in the on-going Clearwater saga set in 1889. “I think this is one of the best in the series.” Amazon review.

Here are a few more photos taken of late. I understand there’s a drive afoot to plaster social media with positive images from Symi and its businesses, to encourage folk here when they can travel. That’s happening on/from Friday. We’ve now got appropriate medical staff on the island, the village clinic has been reopened and prepared for use as a quarantine facility, which makes perfect sense to me, and anyone visiting and showing symptoms will be placed there and later moved to Rhodes by chopper should the need arise. At least, that’s as I understand it from what I pick up online.

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Pedi at dawn

Happy first of the month and all that.
Neil took an early walk to Pedi on Monday, setting off at 5.15 from home and arriving before the dawn. You may have seen some of his photos on Fakebook, but there are plenty more, and I’m sharing some with you today. Also on Monday, I popped down to meet him at the bar after work so we could do some shopping, and there, encountered our first visitors. One group consisted of four British ladies, and the others were regular visitors from Denmark who had just arrived. After the initial shock of a) seeing ‘new’ faces walking through the village, and b) seeing the ladies were coming from the beach in beachwear, I decided it was good to see. It did, however, also make me feel slightly uncomfortable at first. These were people from off-island walking past only a foot or two behind where we sat. We chatted to one of the visitors who said they had completed their forms before leaving their home country and had taken a test there and been cleared to fly. That’s good news, but you still wonder what might have been collected en route, what with plane, taxi and boat travel, but that’s just something we will have to get used to. There was no handshaking or welcome hugs, which is not a problem for me (never has been), but some people might find it hard not to show the same welcome and give the same greeting as usual. Anyway, that was an aside, here are some of Neil’s stunning photos. If you share them on your social media, please credit him as one of his classic shots of Pedi at dawn went viral on Fakebook, but his watermark had been removed. (Inserts angry face.) Enjoy!

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Movers and Shakers

After a day at home doing the final edits on a story, Sunday ended with a bang. Rather, a rumble and a bang as an earth tremor rumbled past in the evening. This was an unusual one, which I can only equate to being in a West End theatre basement when a tube train went past a few feet below the ground. (Any basement near an underground line will do, I just happened to be in a theatre.) We were watching a film when we became aware of a background sound, a truck passing, perhaps, or a large ferry pulling into port. This went on for enough time for us to slowly realise it was neither of those things, and we put the film on pause. Then, the air vibrated slightly, and we knew what it was. We sat there for what felt like several seconds waiting to see what would happen and expecting the rumble to stop as it usually does. It didn’t, it became more turbulent, the house shook, and the roof rattled. That part only lasted a couple of seconds before it passed, leaving the rumble which died away a few more seconds later. All in all, I’d guess the sound/vibration went on for a good 20 seconds, if not longer. Then we took the film off pause and carried on regardless.

It turns out this was a magnitude 5.3, centred 30.9 km NNE of Rhodes at a depth of 64 km (University of Athens), and you can see the placement on the map above.

Also moving about over the weekend was the Poseidon, running a couple of trips with fewer passengers due to regulations, and taking tours around the island, which was a welcome break for some. The boat was out again on Monday morning at 4.30 to take worshipers to Sesklia for the feast day St Peter and St Paul, to whom the small chapel there is dedicated. The photo below was taken later than that when the Blue Star came in. It’s difficult to capture the exact colour of the sea and sky on my phone camera, but hopefully, you have an idea of the tranquillity of the scene.

[Ironically, just as I am posting this (7.07 Monday), we’ve just had another, more traditional tremor: rumble, shake, rumble, gone in under five seconds.]

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