Heading to Tilos

I’m looking ahead to the end of May when I shall be going away for a week. Once again I have booked the Eli Bay on Tilos, the same place as I stayed three years ago. Below are a few photos I took then. The plan is to write for a week and pick up my tried and trusted daily routine which runs something like this:

Wake early, usually around 6.00 if not before. Take a long walk along the seafront and back to clear the head. Open the laptop and sit down to work around 7.30. Work through until coffee time, take a break in the town square while the room is cleaned – they do it every day there. Another typing session until lunch, usually taken in the square or on the terrace as the mood strikes. An afternoon session that runs until around 5 pm when I shut up shop, change, take another walk if I feel like it, and then head to the square and dinner with my notebook.

As you might gather, I am there to write not swim or ramble, though I usually try and take one afternoon off for a stroll up the hills. It’s a working ‘holiday’ away from the distractions of home, and last time I was there, I managed 37,000 words during the six days. Getting there and back from Symi is easy but can only be done directly on a Friday on the Blue Star. (The alternative is via Rhodes.) That means arriving late in the evening, 10.00 I think, and leaving early in the morning, currently 6.00. On one visit, the boat left Tilos at 5.00, and that was on the Diagoras, it’s a bit faster on the Patmos.

So, I have that to look forward to, and hopefully, by then the rain would have gone, and we’ll be black to spring/early summer sunshine again. Btw, we are heading to Rhodes on Friday, so there may or may not be a blog over the next couple of days.

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The big bang

That was a big bang. I’m sitting here on Tuesday morning, tapping away on the keyboard, wishing I could type and listening to the rain when suddenly there’s this loud crackle right outside the window, followed a second later by an earth-shaking crash of thunder and flash of lightning. Possibly the loudest and closest I’ve heard here on Symi. Luckily we had just unplugged the computers and the internet. We do this every time there’s a suspicion of a thunderstorm because, in the past, several people have lost their routers and even PCs to a storm. It’s not so much the electricity to the router, but the phone cables. Any hint of a dangerous connection via the power supply and a fuse somewhere will trip out to protect your devices and wiring, but there’s no such safety mechanism with the phone lines.

So, Tuesday, another dark day in the house with water pouring on us from above, loading up the sterna only to drain away again within a couple of hours, some of it dripping where it penetrates cracks under doors or windows but, in this house, manly keeping its leaks confined to the door above the bathroom, as I mentioned the other day. Still, it’s a good excuse to unplug the social media and PC and turn my attention to books and paper. I am writing this on battery and will upload it later when the storm has passed. The way things have been going recently that might not be until May. Joking. The forecast is showing the rain clearing during Thursday. We shall see.

Ps, these photos don’t show you the amount of rain, but when you see an island only a few hundred yards away completely disappear, you know it’s heavy.

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St John’s Church, Yialos

Here are some photos I took while waiting for Neil to see his accountant last week in Yialos. This is St John’s church. I have also heard it called the island’s cathedral. It has a bell tower separate from the church and a long courtyard. We have, in the past, sat here while the Symi Festival has been on and enjoyed a glass of something while sitting under the stars, in August, listening to talented musicians playing live. One year, we took our drinks from what was then the Meltemi Bar and heard piano and saxophone jazz being played. That dates us a bit, not the music but the bar which has not been open for some years now. Michaelis, who had it now has the Secret Garden in Horio where the music tradition continues with Greek and jazz, blues and more on particular nights through the summer.

The election canvassing and meetings have begun. I reckon there was a political meeting in Horio on Sunday, but I am only guessing that from seeing who was in the square at lunchtime. Other meetings have already been arranged or have taken place including one by a candidate who has a member of the foreign community working with him; more news on that once I have been given it. As I understand it, three teams are running this time, and the elections will be on the same day as the European elections in May. By a strange quirk of fate, me as a yUK passport holder may/may not be allowed to vote. I am on the register, but a) the yUK may or may not be in or out or even shaking it all about by then, and b) I will be in Tilos on the day, and I am not sure if I can vote by proxy or mail. I will have to investigate, but I think it’s unlikely.

As for the weather, expect it to be changeable over the next week or two. My forecast is showing rain for today and on and off for a couple more, but no rain or high winds on Friday when we are going to Rhodes. I was going to take a walk yesterday as I am still trying to get back into my old routine, but the weather is against me. It was overcast and threatening, and I didn’t want to reach the top of the hill sweaty and panting only to get rained upon, so once again, I will have to wait. Meanwhile, I will snatch opportunities to wander the mountains just as soon as I can.

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And back to the weather

Another storm is passing over us as I write (early Sunday morning). Saturday was all about being rained on, and the wind was up to force nine at times, according to my weather site. Judging by the rattling roof and the vibrations through the house which is exposed on its north side, force nine sounds about right. The door to the storeroom above the kitchen still lets some water seep in which then runs through the boards and drips on you as you enter the bathroom like a pre-swim shower at a municipal pool. The porch between our two buildings was a couple of inches deep too, but otherwise, we are quite dry inside. The weather is to continue a bit wet and cloudy, but with less wind, and by Friday, it should have gone completely, which is just as well as we are going to Rhodes for the day, possibly the night too, for our annual health MOTs.

We (Neil mainly) has been giving they inside of the house a paint up, and Thomas A Basket, the cat who lodges in our laundry has found the paint tray and thrown it upside down on the floor, just to give us something to clear up first thing on a Sunday morning. The huge cardboard box my office chair came in, which was waiting in the courtyard ready to go to the bins, is now a soggy mess. So, plenty of clearing up to be done when it stops raining.

There are more visitors back on the island, most of whom are house owners who have arrived to check their properties after the winter, and other long-stayers are coming back this week for the summer. Neil is expecting to start work this week or very soon after, and I have booked myself a writing retreat on Tilos for a week in May. I choose Tilos because a) I like it, and b) it’s easy to get there and back with the Blue Star on a Friday (and for only €10.00 each way). Other than that, I don’t think there is any great news.

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Symi Saturday Photos – random

Here are a few random shots to look at over the weekend. The weather forecast is currently showing a storm for Saturday and Sunday, up to force seven winds with rain. We’re out at the taverna tonight and have the godboys coming on Saturday, so it sounds like it might be a weekend for staying in with a good film or two. It’ll make a change; we’ve spent the last two days redecorating the sitting room, going up and down ladders and crawling around on all fours putting tape on skirting boards and other insane activities.

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