Back to school

One of my winter projects is revision. By this I mean, I’ve decided it’s time to learn more of the Greek language and decided that the way to start doing this was to start again. For me, it’s mainly a question of vocabulary and confidence. I had nearly a year of private lessons before moving to Greece, and my teacher stressed the importance of learning the grammar as well as conversation. Luckily for me, nine years of Latin at school had prepared me for the grammar of language (I can’t remember any Latin though), so when discussing nominative and accusative, definite articles and pronouns, I knew where my Greek teacher was coming from. As an aside, she came from Germany, Greek was her second language and she was studying British law at Brighton University at the age of 24, which kinds of puts my book one of ‘Learn Greek Now’ at the age of 56 into perspective, but there we go, she was an excellent teacher, and fluent in at least three languages.

On Sunday, I took an hour out of my busy day of sofa surfing, and revised chapter one of my book. This did feel like a bit of a cheat, but as my writing skills are pretty rough, I wrote down any word that I couldn’t spell or was new to me. Chapter one is manly about hello and where are you from, which is pretty straightforward, but there were other words and phrases in the instructions, such as ‘put a line through’, which I noted in my ‘list of words I don’t know’, and although outside the remit of the exercises, I tried to learn these too. Chapter one done, I now have the homework book chapter one to complete before moving onto chapter two, which I will do later this week.

And the above photo is vaguely related to this story as I want you to see if you can guess what’s missing from the image. The clue came in a conversation I was having with Yianni on Sunday afternoon when we decided that there high Υγρασία, and the day was Υγρός. Another two words now on my list as, although I know what they mean and I use them (when I remember), I wouldn’t yet be able to spell them competently. Not yet, but then I am still only on chapter one. (The Y, epsilon, is one of several ways of sounding/writing the ‘e’ sound, so until you know which ‘e’ to use, you’re only guessing.)

[Note for the record. I’ve done all of this book before, but not with any great determination or success. Am aiming to change that over the next six months]

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Symi Saturday Photos

A variety of older shots from my folder of images I’ve not yet posted just to keep us going while I try and find something different to pepper my ramblings with. Off into writing world for the weekend now, have a good one!

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Ah, Friday!

Well, as I work for myself the weekend doesn’t mean a weekend anymore, I can work when I want, and that tends to be every day, so there are no weekends for me unless I want to take one on a Monday and Tuesday, or split one and have Wednesday and Friday off. I tend not to; there’s always something to write or write about. Like yesterday’s trip to Yialos for a big adventure. Not so big actually, just getting a Nominos Kritikos from the town hall for one of the godboys so he can start the process of getting his driving license. Driving license? Where did those 16 years go?

While down in the harbour, we stopped for lunch with some friends – Trata this time – and watched the world go by for a while before taking a taxi up as Neil needed to be at work. (Thank you, Pete and Pauline, for letting us go first; owe you one.) When I say work, I mean a social afternoon in the square chatting to all and sundry and pulling the occasional pint.

The photos today aren’t wonderful as some were on the zoom on my €150 phone, but it made a change to see a tour group taking an often un-walked path above the harbour to get some better views. Could do with a few more making it up the Kali Strata to the village. Next year, maybe. And as for the rest of today… Sweep the courtyard, hang the washing out, shopping, a couple of thousand words of something, and look for a good documentary on the History channel for some downtime. No need to celebrate the weekend, for reasons explained above, and actually, I very often forget what day it is anyway, but that might simply be age.

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Preparing for winter

Having mentioned the weather on Tuesday and commented that October, so far, hadn’t been its usual changeable self… Of course, it immediately became changeable. We had some rain, followed by a warm but cloudy afternoon and more rain overnight. It had just ended when I got up hideously early and started on some editing, the there are still some clouds hanging about as I write at 7.30 on Wednesday. The Blue Star has been in and gone on its down route from Piraeus, some of the gulets have left, but there are still many boats moored in the harbour, and the streetlights have just gone off. I took some photos of the Tuesday sky, and that’s what you’re seeing today.

A few of the tavernas have closed for the season, I am told, though the village restaurants are still open. People often ask what’s available during the winter months up here in the village, and the answer is Georgio’s taverna, and the bars, the supermarkets and other local shops, so that’s easy. The local shops in Yialos also stay open, supermarkets and so on, as do a couple of tavernas and certain bars, so there are plenty of distractions when it comes to shopping, eating and having a drink.

Neil will continue at the Rainbow Bar for a while longer. The end of his season depends on the weather and number of visitors and is, like the weather, changeable, but the bar usually closes for the afternoon hours from November onwards. So, you can tell from the skies and the smell of the air, the closing of summer businesses and the fact that the fans are going away and the covers are back on the bed, that the summer is nearly over. There will be warm days ahead, but also cold evenings and, later, colder nights, which reminds me, I must remember where we stored the duvet, blankets, curtains and heaters…

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Tuesday

Tuesday morning and it’s a cooler and greyer day, not because of the clouds, which cleared in the early morning, but because it’s misty. My photo isn’t very good (in fact, it’s dreadful) as there wasn’t much light when I took it. The air smells different now, damp perhaps and fresher, and I’m starting to feel like summer is slipping into winter. It’s been an unusual October so far, in that the weather hasn’t been as variable as it can be, and I’m not sure if that’s a sign of a wet and warm winter to come or a dry and cold one. Time will tell.

Apart from the excitement of seeing the inter-island ferry coming in (see below), my days are currently filled with a final edit of the next Clearwater and the first drafting of the next Saddling with two books on the go, and a deadline for the proofreader for Clearwater on the 29^th, a deadline I should have no trouble reaching, I’m pleased to say. We can expect that one out in mid-November, all being well.

That’s about all my news for now on this misty Tuesday morning as I look out on a clam sea through a no-breeze day where everything looks silvery. And now, back to the editing…

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