International Buy a Book Day

Hello, and may I wish you a happy International Buy a Book Day? Obviously, as I’ve written four books about Symi, I’d suggest buying one of them to celebrate, but I think most of my readers have already read them. I’ve been doing a lot of research of late which means a lot of reading of new books, so for me, I think today is more about not buying a book day (though I probably will), and instead, I’ll get on with writing one. After I’ve told you what we’ve been up to over the weekend…

Well, let’s see… It started on Friday with a trip to town where I went looking for a surprise for someone’s birthday and wedding anniversary tomorrow, and, that done, we treated ourselves to a taxi over to Pedi where we were being taken to lunch. This was at Apostolis, right by the sea and very pleasant it is too. I can’t remember the last time I had a lunch that didn’t involve eating salad and chicken while watching MasterChef on TV, and although Neil had to go to work for 3pm, Anne and I stayed until the 4.30 bus. Masks, handsan, caution but still only €1.70 and beats walking up after a four-hour lunch.

Completely unrelated, but that night, one of Neil’s crowns fell out leaving him toothless. What do you do? Send your dentist a photo, put the crown in an envelope, and pop down the next morning and have it fixed by 10.30. That’s Symi living for you. Meanwhile, Godson #1 came to do the cleaning and earn his coffee money, I finished off reading the last draft of ‘One of a Pair’ and wrote a blog post about what I am currently working on (click here). Later, it was salad and chicken in front of MasterChef (Aus), and then back to work. The day was cooler thanks to a mighty wind which had blown half the courtyard into the house, and down at the bar, threw as something of a gathering of regular visitors at distances and the usual malarkey.

It’s Sunday morning as I’m writing so I can’t tell you what happened today as it’s not happened yet, but I can remind you it’s International Buy a Book Day, and here’s a link to my two author profiles on Amazon just in case you’re hankering for some reading. Me… The other me.

Friday photos

To see us through the weekend, here is a collection of photos taken on Symi over the past couple of weeks. Have a good weekend.

Up in the village

I was asked to write a bit about what the village is like at the moment, but it’s a bit difficult for me to say, as I only see it at certain times of the day. I walk through the square around 6.30 in the morning when Lefteris is setting up the café as he had done every day for… well, for many, many years. The bakery is at work as I pass, sometimes with the front doors open, sometimes with the oven door open and they’re taking out the bread. I might, on a weekend, encounter someone coming home from a night out or a night at work, but that’s rare these days, and there’s usually no-one at the bus stop when I pass.

Along the road, I come across one or two people walking their dogs early, and later, around seven, the army guys heading up the hill in cars and on mopeds. I often see the shepherds and farmers who have probably been at work for hours, and once or twice in August, I saw other walkers going up the road as I was coming down, rucksacks and determined expressions fixed. Back in the square, a couple of early birds may have joined Lefteris, and Nikitas is usually at his empty kiosk by then, so a few more hellos and good mornings and I’m home.

Later in the day, I might be in the square where some days the bars are busy with locals and a few visitors, and other days, there are only a couple of us residents. I’ve heard that some nights have been busy and others, empty, so it all sounds up and down, hit and miss. I have been to a couple of tavernas, sometimes with only one other table in use, and at other times, things look brighter. What’s for certain is, the village is nowhere near as busty as it should be, was, used to be. What’s also certain is that residents are doing their best to be safe, though some flout the advice and rules alike, the kids continue to play in the square (bikes and scooters are the ‘thing’ at the moment), the shops are open doing what business they can, and local life continues more or less as normal. There are just fewer visitors to welcome.

Thoughts

What can I tell you? It’s quiet around here, but not as quiet as it has been and nowhere near as busy as in the past, but that’s to be expected. Throwing up hands in despair at those who have been putting out messages on Fakebook telling people not to bother with masks and caution. Also, those who gather in large crowds, and (on other islands) groups of holidaymakers thinking because they are in a ‘safe’ country they can ignore all advice and hold beach parties, crowd together and so on, only to find they return home infected (possibly from the plane, airports, the bus, of before they even left home). End result? Scotland now says Greece is ‘unsafe’ and hundreds of sensible people are inconvenienced. Meanwhile, schools here are put off going back until 14^th, but they will have to start soon as children haven’t had a lesson since March, or have only been for eleven staggered days since then. Only hoping that the teachers who live on the mainland return a week early, and quarantine before going into school. Anyway…

It’s bound to be a tricky month because September is usually the busiest month for north Europeans coming here on holiday, but we’ll just have to wait and see. If you don’t see me out and about so much, or wonder, when I am, why I’m not sitting with you, it’s because I’ve got my own rule of not getting close to anyone until they’ve been here a long enough length of time. Not being OTT, just trying to set an example. Anyway…

On a lighter note, a picture of a mule.

Smile

I couldn’t think of what to tell you today, except the square was again busy yesterday evening, and the temperature in the courtyard was up to 36. So I thought I’d have a look and see what odd photos I have on my OneDrive. The sheep thing was funny, though it’s not easy to see them in the picture below. I was coming back from the hillside, and just before the path joins the main road, this small flock came running into the lane, saw me, and stopped dead in their tracks, as did I. The leading sheep, centre, front, had its head tipped down, glaring as we faced off, playing chicken to see who would move first. After a few tense seconds, I took a step to the left, they a step to the right, and we circled cautiously until they scrambled off towards the hill and I carried on down, chuckling.

I found a couple of other images on the drive. The one about coats is research, the courtyard as it looks with the light on at 4.30 in the morning, the biker boys gathering in the square, and a couple of Neil’s from when he took Paddington for a morning walk to Pedi the other day. Enjoy, and smile, ‘cos that’s what it’s all about, isn’t it?