A walk up the donkey path, fun at the bar and a concert in the square, those were the highlights of yesterday, though I didn’t attend the concert as it started after I’d gone to bed. Today, up at four, work on the book, another stroll this afternoon and then who knows. The air is noticeably cooler this morning, and we are expecting bad weather later in the week. The forecast keeps changing, and it varies from site to site depending on which one you use. I reckon, and I may be wrong, that the forecasts for Symi are never 100% accurate because, as far as I know, we don’t have a weather station here and the forecast comes from either Rhodes airport or somewhere closer in Turkey.
What was also very special about yesterday was having one of my readers (of this blog and my books) sit and chat with me. It’s not just the compliments, but the fact that people take the time and trouble to stop and chat and tell me that the blog is appreciated and the books are good to read. Makes it all worthwhile. It’s not the first time it’s happened, and you know who you are so a big thank you to everyone who has commented on the blog, in person and virtually – it reminds me why I post something almost every day.
Good morning (afternoon/evening) and welcome to the last week of September. Already? Aye, that’s how time goes. And the time is 5.00 on Sunday morning as I’m up early as usual. I seem to have fallen into a pattern of early mornings since… June I think. I much prefer this time of day. I like to make an early start and have my jobs done by mid-morning, leaving me the rest of the day to myself. Recently, that rest of the day has involved a walk in the afternoon, though I took Saturday off and am not yet sure if I will go for a stroll later today.
Early morning up here, late night down there. (Photo taken on my phone.)
A few years ago, we were in the habit of rising early and going straight out for a walk which, after a month or so, developed into a jog/walk and then into a run. I’m not sure my knees will cope with running up and down hills these days, but I might give it a go in a few weeks and see how I get on – at least my knees are insured now. (My private health insurance didn’t cover knees for the first three years of my policy but now I am in year four, everything is covered.) One of my favourite walks is up to ‘To Vrisi’ (Lit., ‘the tap’) the monastery of Zoodohou Pigis Vrisi where there is a natural spring from which you can fill up your water bottle. From our house off the village square and back, depending on the route, this is roughly three miles, half uphill and half down. I have to admit, the uphill part can be a bit of a slog, but once your calf muscles stop burning, it’s pleasant. Running back down is like being twelve again – banking on the camber of the corners, jumping over goat poo, feeling the wind rush past, and you’re hardly making an effort as gravity does most of the work for you. Just watch out for the knees.
Up in the hills.
Last week I put some music on my phone and plugged myself in. I’ve not done this before, not even when I was in my early 30s and used to run from Hackney to Islington and back before work, along the side of the canal. (I sound very sporty today. I’m not.) I loaded up a selection of music that I happened to have in Mp3 format on my laptop, put it on shuffle and off I went – not too loud so that I could still hear approaching cars, bikes, mules, goats etc. One moment I was wandering the top road on the way back from Roukouniotis listening to The Bombay Dub Orchestra, sublime, ethereal, Indian and composed by my best mate from school, and the next we had The Weather Girls and ‘It’s Raining Men’, left over from last year’s wedding. A bit of a jolt. What I did find, though, was that the music took my mind off the calf muscles as I trudged uphill trying to keep in time.
Sunrise from the roof.
Anyway… That was a bit of an early morning ramble in more than one sense, and now I must get on with the rest of the day. I’ve had a cup of tea on the balcony listening to the party going on down in the harbour, and there’s a second draft of ‘The Eastling’ waiting for me to tidy it up, so, it’s back to the book and on with the week.
Meanwhile in YialosMy holiday day earlier this month.
It’s been a week of walking for me, well, an hour a day in the afternoon, up into the hills or up the road. Some of today’s Symi Saturday Photos are from those walks. The island looks very barren at this time of year, but soon, when the rain starts again, there will be more green to see. There are, however, still some interesting sights to be enjoyed if you look around, such as…
Someone order a fridge-freezer?Neighbours in the hoodOne of our more detailed road signs
The travel agency is back in operation; that’s our home travel agency, aka, me. Neil has a couple of trips coming up in November which will make him sound like an international man of mystery: Rhodes, Vienne, Czech Republic, Scotland, Athens, all within three weeks and all for family visits. Apart from Athens. That’s on the way back, and I’ll go up by boat to meet him, do some shopping and come back by boat too. The flights have all been dealt with by family, it’s just down to me to arrange boats and hotels in various places. Just the kind of work I love to do when not writing, or dealing with film scripts…
The screenplay that I wrote for Rebecca Hall based on her book, ‘Girl Gone Greek’ is a finalist in the L.A. Femme Film Festival, which is good news – another laurel, not that I show them off. The awards aren’t until October, so we’ll have to wait and see. Meanwhile, I’ve a three-day weekend ahead to work on The Eastling which is, I have to say, proving harder to get right than the two in the series before it, but we’re getting there.
Meanwhile, on the island, things are pretty much the same as they have been of late: visitors arriving and going, warm weather, calm seas, chilled-out atmosphere, everything ticking over nicely. We’ve been getting in some exercise walks, up the road to various points and down again, usually three miles per day. It will be interesting to see how we manage in the winter when it’s cold and wet. Well, when it’s raining, we shan’t be going out in it, as it can be dangerous, but on other days… Anyway, enough early morning blather. I have a book to improve.
A few shots taken from the Rainbow Bar on Sunday, plus an early morning trip to the bank. I was down in Yialos at 7.30, taking advantage of the cooler time of day to make the walk up the steps afterwards more bearable. Pleased to say I was able to do it in one go without being out of breath and without sweating too much. Today (Monday as I write), I intend to take a walk up the old donkey track to Xissos and then back down the road, that’s after I’ve worked on and edited two more chapters of The Eastling.
We’re still catching up on washing after the nephew’s visit. How can two lads get through seven towels in ten days? Best not to ask. Neil’s off out soon to lop a friend’s bougainvillaea, I’m going to turn the water off and then turn the washing machine on… I should explain: we can take in water three times per week, Monday, Wednesday and Friday and the best time to do it is early. It was on at 7.00 this morning, gushing in for a while but, as more houses do the same, the flow reduces to a trickle, but we keep it going for as long as we can. Especially after having four of us in the house for those 10 days. Luckily, we have a large sterna under the workhouse, but it can take a couple of weeks to get it back to full again. Roll on the rainy season when the water will be free.
