And here we go…

Off into 2020 with Christmas officially over and me back at the desk with an almost daily blog.

We have had a great time, and it’s hard to get back into the old routine. It’s become normal around here to be up late (i.e. 6.00 a.m. rather than 4.30, but that has been achieved at times), to work through the morning until midday and then spend the rest of the day hanging out on the sofa. We’re currently working our way through another series of Australian Survivor, having seen a couple already, plus every available episode of The Amazing race (USA, Canada and Australia), many films and other TV entertainment. The stockpile of treats has now dwindled to the strawberry ones no-one cares for much, and all that chocolate and laziness has ended up back in the belly area, so we need to start working on that with our daily walks… Soon. Honest.

The weather has been up and down. Dropping below 10 degrees outside the house and, somehow lower inside the house. We’ve had rain and thunderstorms, some days when we’ve not gone out of the house at all and made do with unlabelled surprises from the freezer, and others where the sun has been out and blazing the temperature up to 14 degrees. Meanwhile, the windows are condensated each morning, so need to be left open for a few hours, the bathroom roof is dripping with condensation, and I’ve de-moulded it once already, the towels never dry, and we put the heater in the bathroom for half an hour before the ‘shower-dash’ game on cold days.

There have also been parties and dinners, events and fun stuff over the holiday period. Christmas Eve and Day with the godboys (Godson #1 loves his piano, and lessons resume on Friday), ditto New Year’s Eve and Day when godson #2 cooked for us all, we’ve called at the bars a couple of times and been to a quiz night. All this, and I have very few photos to show for it.

And so on into the new year. It’s started well with a consolidation Act of the Greek Parliament, again spelling out the rights of British citizens in Greece after the end of the month and beyond: the law is already in place to protect those registered to live here before the bidet… I mean, B Day – brexshit day, which is a weight off the mind, though finer details of how and when we will become biometric are yet to be decided. I think that’s the part where your paper records, in my case going back to 2003, are somehow gathered, checked, ordered and turned into a plastic card with digital data rather than an old piece of card stuck inside my passport, but we’ll have to see.

There is other news and chat to be had, but not all in one day, so I will leave it for another time, try and find some photos and brighten up this ramble with then, and let you get on with 2020. All being well, I’ll be back tomorrow and onwards through the year (apart from March).

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Merry Christmas

I’m leaving you for a few days now, as I’m going to take some time off, but will leave you with some snaps from the carol and song night at the kafenion on Thursday. They are mainly of people pulling funny faces as they sing along from song sheets, but there you go.

We’re off to Yialos later this morning for the last of the Christmas collections and shopping, having lunch with the godboys, and then maybe going out this evening for the Christmas quiz at the Sunrise café (7.30 pm if you’re around). A quiet day planned for Sunday, some deliveries to make on Monday, Christmas Eve preparations on Tuesday and Christmas Day with the logical family, and so on into the week. Here’s wishing you a Merry Christmas from Symi where it is currently calm and warm-ish (though with a rising north-westerly wind forecast) if a little bit damp and humid in the mornings. Stay safe, stay happy and remember, if you are driving this Christmas, don’t forget to take the car.

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Singing and giving

Just a couple of Christmassy photos from my phone today, and a quick message to say well done to everyone who came and supported the fundraiser, Christmas carol and song singing at Lefteris kafenion yesterday evening. Nearly €300.00 was raised for the orphanage in Rhodes. There was a lovely atmosphere, singing, a little dancing even, and I must say thank you to the boys for helping move the piano back and forth, including Yiannis from the café who took it home for me on his shoulder (eek!). A great night with, I hope, more photos to follow in due course.

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Worried about your status in Europe?

I saw this post on Facebook today, from a place called British In Europe. As far as I know, it’s accurate, and it explains our position. We being British citizens in Europe who could be put at risk because of the Con government in the yUK and so on. If you’re worried about your status, as many of us are, this (para 4) may help allay some fears. (As for para 5, Greece has already put into law protection for us who are properly registered here. This, of course, could change, but then so could any and everything.) I have no reason to assume it’s not accurate as the group/page British In Europe seems to know what it’s talking about. I quote:

The media is not helping us at the moment by using interchangeable terms for things that are quite separate. So:

1. This week Johnson is bringing to Parliament the European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Bill, and will use his majority to pass it at second reading before the recess. It’s in this bill that he intends to insert a clause barring an extension to the Withdrawal Agreement’s transition period. BUT
2. This is NOT the same thing as the Withdrawal Agreement (WA) itself. The Withdrawal Agreement has already been approved by the European Council and cannot now be amended without further negotiation (which ain’t going to happen). The WA contains an article (Article 132) allowing an extension of 1 or 2 years to the transition period if it’s requested by July 2020. Clause 132 will remain in the WA even if Johnson’s bill passes with his proposed amendment barring an extension, which means that the UK government could change its mind on extending the transition period at any point up to July 2020, just by passing a new bit of legislation.
3. The media is now using the term ‘deal’ to relate to the trade deal that has to be struck during the extension, and the terms ‘no deal’ and ‘crashing out’ to the situation where no trade deal can be agreed. Confusingly, these are the very same terms that they used to denote the UK leaving without a Withdrawal Agreement, but the meaning is very different.
4. As I hope you all know by now, once the Withdrawal Agreement becomes law – expected on 31 January 2020 – then our future rights that are contained within it are guaranteed whatever happens with the future trade deal. So a failure to conclude a trade deal might be a ‘no deal’ situation for the UK, but not for us. We can’t say this enough, as it’s important and the subject of much confusion and concern.
5. Once the WA becomes law, the ‘no deal’ legislation already passed in each of the EU27 countries becomes defunct, and we then have to wait for each country to publish details of how it intends to implement the WA for its British residents.

If you’ve already made sense of this, then apologies for repeating myself … but I know from comments that lots of people are still confused (not helped by the media!).

And breathe …

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Coming Up

A few things are coming up over the next week which might be of interest to readers on Symi, and anyone following our adventures here during the winter. This morning, we’re having another run-through of the music for the carol and Christmas song night at Lefteris Kafeneion on Thursday which starts at 7.30 pm. On Saturday morning, I believe, the postponed Christmas bazar and concert is taking place in Yialos in the morning (but check that as I only heard this second hand), and on Saturday evening, the Sunrise café is hosting a Christmas quiz. While these things are going on, we shouldn’t forget that there are refugee families arriving on the island, and recently there was a call for children’s clothes, hygiene products and shoes. If you can help, contact the authorities.

The blog may be a bit ‘off and on’ over the next couple of weeks, so if you switch on and there’s nothing new here, you’ll know it was planned. You can keep up with what’s happening on the Facebook page and on other Symi related pages there.

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