A few more photos today. I am in a bit of a hurry, lots to do. You know how it is, you get up at six and start work at ten past, and the next thing you know it’s midday and the cat litter needs cleaning out. Well, it’s one of those days. But, very quickly:
In village news, Taverna Zoi is now open for dinner and maybe lunch, and The Olive Tree is also open for breakfast and lunch until 15.30 each day.
And, for those who want the print copy of the new novel, ‘The Saddling’ just click there and you will get to the page.
Where is this wall? (No need to email me.)Ready and waiting in YialosPedi at dawnThe same old sunSunriseWork to do, but the sun’s out
Monday was a bank holiday. I spent a day at home working, writing, doing some odd jobs, watching the view, and getting some washing done in the super-fast new washing machine.
Take your tree to work day?
Tuesday started with an alarm at 6.00, a short walk up to the ‘Mousecastle’ (I’ll take my camera next time) and back, some work and some browsing around trying to find an idea for the blog. Then I came across an article that two of my blogging friends had picked up on. The news came from Fonier.gr, a site I’d not found before. The article starts: “A British couple were in the Old Town of Rhodes in a taverna, in the belief that they could eat and drink whatever they wanted, without paying, because……they had booked an all-inclusive holiday package!!”
Local cat reacts to dim tourist news
It’s mildly amusing, except that it is not. As that short article goes on to point out, this isn’t the first time something like this has happened, and the ‘all inclusive’ deal is killing smaller business. It looks like it’s spreading beyond the package hotels and stalag-style resorts. So, here’s a gentle reminder: If you are on an all-inclusive holiday, a) it only relates to your resort, b) get out of it and see the island around you, there’s more to Greece than free beer and a swimming pool/pissoir, and c) if you like the country, help the local businesses by venturing into them and using them. I know, many people do the dreaded all-in because of the cost and with a large family to feed and water they are cost effective, but if you can, do try and support small local business. You will be, after all, not just putting your money into a huge conglomerate but helping a family feed its own children and pay its own bills, the tax from which will stay in the country and help out everyone else.
Thanks to my two blogging mates for highlighting this horror story. Amanda has her Rhodes based blog, Olive, Feta and Ouzo with great pics and posts about life in Greece, recipes and other handy things, and Rebecca has Life Beyond Borders where she talks about travels as a professional travel blogger and Rough Guide reviewer (Dodecanese islands) and traveller. Rebecca is also the author of ‘Girl Gone Greek.’
‘Ocean Victory’ at Symi yesterday
And back to the desk, from where I have just seen the ‘Ocean Victory’ hanging about out in the bay. This is a 140m long Fincanteri super yacht belonging to Viktor Rashnikov, a Russian businessman ranked 407th richest man in the world (Forbes, 2016). The yacht is the 10th largest in the world. I bet that’s all inclusive and I wonder if they will come ashore and spend some of their wealth in some small Symi businesses.
We are getting close to publication date for the new you-know-what. I’ve put up a preview of ‘The Saddling’ at Amazon. If you follow the link, you can find a PDF file of one of the chapters. You can download that for free and have a read. Here’s the link to that. https://www.createspace.com/Preview/1217097 (please give a rate). We are still sorting out last minute bits and pieces, and they are working on the Kindle version.
Working on the boats
In other news, closer to home, the under 11 football team won the quaterfinals, winning 7 – 1, and will be playing in the Semi-Finals next Sunday the 7th May in Rhodes. This group of boys and their parents will be off to Britain soon, playing matches down on the edge of Romney Marsh, where I was born and brought up. Thanks to the generosity of both the residents of Symi and the public at large by providing substantial donations, this has enabled two Symi Football Teams the opportunity of travelling to the U.K. at the end of May to take part in an International Football Tournament. All the expenses for a total of 20 children have been paid for thanks to this generosity – the mothers who will be travelling with the children will be travelling at their own expense. Symi will be entering an Under 11’s Team as well as an Under 12’s Team at the UEFA Sponsored Tournament at Camber Sands where they will be playing on brand new football pitches on Saturday the 27th and Sunday the 28th May. Ex-Arsenal and Aston Villa midfielder, Paul Merson, will be presenting the prizes – so anyone living in the area, please go along and support the Symi Football Teams. None of this would have been possible without the Football Coach, Spiros Hatzipetros, giving so much of his free time and commitment to the Team. (Thank you to Jean and Dawn for the info and organisation.)
I’m going to see if I can drum up any of my old mates from the locale to go along and support.
Waiting for a boat
Up in the village, there were two baptisms on Sunday, lots of bells and lots of smartly dressed people eating at Georgio’s afterwards. It was packed. We managed to get squeezed into a corner for dinner, which was very kind of them considering they had so many other guests to attend to, but others who came later were no so lucky. Koukoumas was also announced to be held on Sunday evening, so there was a lot going on.
Fixing on that all-important selfie-body-cam
And now I must get back to setting up the new novel and getting it ready for sale. I’m not into doing all that free copy publicity for a launch, though I probably should be. If I put it up for free for a few days in the hope of getting some good reviews, no-one will buy a paperback copy. I know I can trust my readers here to write reviews for me (he adds a big smiley face icon but it doesn’t come out so takes it out and uses 26 words to paint a small picture instead), and I do put my other titles up for free on Kindle from time to time. I did that with ‘Jason and the Sargonauts’ over Easter, which reminds me: I have been tracked down and asked to sign a copy of ‘Jason’ this afternoon. What a lovely thing for a reader, here on holiday, to do.
Kalo mina! While out and about in Yialos on Saturday, I thought I would get a few random shots to put into my file and share with you. It’s amazing what you can see when out and about on Symi if you look up from your phone and actually view what’s going on. A few examples (which may not appear today but which will appear here over time):
Keeping the tavli tradition alive
Reflections of boats in the water, a man having a camera attached to his belt by means of a belt, presumably so he could film his walk around Yialos, furniture deliveries with a lad clinging on so he doesn’t fall off, the fishermen at work, the first taxi boat of the year in the water and ready to go (though I don’t think they are going yet), a tree on the back of a truck, another man perilously perching on the tall outcrop of rock taking his photos, a young chap hitching a ride in a speedboat that’s being towed around the harbour, four colours on one wall, and old man playing tavli with a younger man keeping the tradition going and handing down tips through the generations, a painted ladder drying, and that’s not to mention the interesting varieties of day-trippers and their attire. There’s a lot going on.
The Blue Star Patmos on a calm sea
There was also a lot going on in our household last week, as you might have read. One of the reasons I went ‘downtown’ was to collect a courier package. I had no idea what it might be. As it turned out, it was the free washing powder and softener that came with the new washing machine, how kind. While there, we also stopped to have lunch at Meraklis, who now have a new waiter, Vasilis, working with George. We were lazy and took a taxi back up noticing on the way that the bus was back from a day out in Rhodes, it’s windscreen taped up with masking tape. Apparently, there is a new one to go on and people catching the bus on Friday night after the boat came back (with the bus on it) were able to catch a lift from the clocktower as Lakis just happened to be there. They did have to step over the new windscreen which was also aboard. I expect that will be put on very soon.
Not a place I would go to take a photo
Little things, but lots to notice if you look up and around.
Busy Saturday lunchtime at Meraklis
In my own news, ‘The Saddling’ that I have been bleating on about for at least a year now (I have been writing the story since 2012, I think), should be out in paperback this week. I am now (Sunday morning) just about to go and look through the completed book in PDF format. I need to double check with the cover designer that the estimated page count was accurate enough for the spine. It has 282 pages, so it’s a decent length read and, I hope, a good one. I’ll put up links when it’s ready and also let you know when the Kindle version is ready to go. If you’d like to keep up to date on what I’m up to with my books, I’ve started a mailing list that you can opt into. See my author’s blog at http://jamescollinsauthor.com/, And now I must get on, it’s Sunday, and there is always a lot of nothing to do on a Sunday.
Some random photos to see you through the weekend. It’s been quite a bouncy week. News that the film has been nominated for several awards at the London Greek Film Festival, including for best screenplay. News that my other submission was accepted and is therefore also up for an award. The new washing machine arriving; we plumbed it in ourselves and, rather surprisingly, it still works. Another travel article accepted for a travel site (please click here and send the page a hit – it will open in another window). And ‘The Saddling’ is nearly ready to be released. I am hoping that, by next weekend, it will be available in print form on Amazon and, a week or so after that, also on Kindle.
After all that, here are some photos from the past few days/weeks on Symi from my collection. Have a good weekend.
Symi Saturday photos
PediPediSunriseWaiting for a boatIn YialosIn Yialos
