Still in pre-travel mode

I’ve been giving myself and a few other people a headache trying to organise these flights to Cyprus as I now have to be there on Saturday 17^th, in a university in Paphos by 5 pm. I’ve had help from all over the place, but the timing is the issue. So far, the easiest I’ve found is with Aegean from Rhodes, via Athens to Larnaca and then a bus down to Paphos. Other routes have been suggested by friends, but they don’t go on the days I need to go. And as for those flight compare sites…

Well, don’t you just hate it when you search around and you find ‘Fly direct from Rhodes to Paphos’ and head to a site, put in the details you want, being flexible on dates, and then they say, ‘no matches to your search?’ There are others that, after bringing up several pop-up boxes, then invite you to search each one on their own, which isn’t really doing the search for you, as advertised. Then you find ‘Yes, we do this trip!’ And you search there and ‘No you don’t! comes screaming out of you. False advertising or what? Good old Aegean are still the most straightforward, with a decent morning flight to Athens an hour’s wait and then an hour or so down to Cyprus. By the way, should you be interested, a taxi from Larnaca to Paphos is quoted at €87.00, which would still be cheaper than some of the ‘fast, low-cost flights’ I’ve found: Rhodes to Athens, Athens to Paphos… via Moscow, duration 13 hours. I don’t think so.

So, I am leaving it for today and will start the search again tomorrow. Meanwhile, the folks back in the yUK are still searching around for me, and I am contacting some travel agents in Rhodes. There’s been a suggestion of taking the boat to Turkey and then a bus down the coast and another ferry across to Cyprus… That would be a fun trip if I had the time and money. Ah well, on with the search.

I know it’s a crucial day in the yUK today and I hope that after today I will feel able to call it the UK again (rather than the yuk it’s become). You know how I feel so I won’t bleat on. But if things go horribly wrong, as I fear they might, I might just not mention the place at all after tomorrow, and I certainly will do all I can to avoid having to set foot in it again, no matter where I am travelling to. Whatever side you are on, just make sure you go and vote for someone.

New Symi photos

Finally, some more up to date photos for you today, some by Neil some from me.

Also today, there is a new interview with me published on a site called Expat Focus which you might like to take a look at if you have not already seen it. Click here to open the page.

As you can see from the photos, the sun is out, and the weather is calm and very pleasant, hot in fact. There are still many flowers out, and the hills and valley are still green, though not as green as they were in March and April. It won’t be long before the shrubs and herbs turn brown under the sun, but the beauty of the island will still remain; it’s just different according to the seasons.

I am researching flights to Cyprus though I don’t know the date I will be going yet; the film festival asked what date we would like the screening on, which is good of them, and we’ve suggested a couple. So, as soon as I know, I shall be booking what I can, when I can. I must thank Jean, and also Andy from the Symi Visitor Travel Blog for giving me advice.

Anyway, a quick post today with a few more photos taken yesterday here on Symi.

Lonely House

This is another post about me and what I am up to in the book/film/creativity arena. First though, I’ll just let you know that it’s hot here on Symi, summer has kicked in. As someone said the other day, the thermostat got turned up on June 1^st as usual. So, that’s good news. Taxi boats are heading out, day boats are coming in, the around the island boat trip is running, the bus is on schedule, the taxis are at work, it’s good walking weather, swimming has started, the Pentecost celebration was held on Sunday in Ag Triada square in Horio, I think all summer businesses are now open… Everything is ready for your visit.

Meanwhile, a quick list of highlights of my weekend: discussing the possibility of adapting and author’s book for film, being given the opportunity to go to Cyprus for the film festival in two weeks to present ‘The 13^th’ to some very important film people. Discussing a Danish translation of ‘Symi 85600’ and finishing off ‘Honestly – a Miss P novella’ (first draft), and liaising with my designer about a new cover for ‘Lonely House’ – see below, in a moment, I’ve not finished yet. There was also the meeting up with old friends returning for their stay, being taken out to dinner, starting on our courtyard redecoration (great job, Godson!), another dinner with good friends at their house, having our dinner donated to us by Yianni (there were more dinners than there were dinnertimes, so we’re having it for lunch today), good laughs and happy times in the square, Dawn’s sausage party – a birthday tradition – and several other things which, if I added them, would make it sound like we have more fun than a child with a free Disneyland pass. I don’t want to make you jealous.

So, here is the point of this post, the new cover for ‘Lonely House.’ I’ve not uploaded it yet. Well, I might have done by the time you read this, I am waiting to get the final file from my designer in Portugal. So, if you’ve not got this one in the ‘James Collins’ section in your library, leave it a couple of days until you see this cover on Amazon and Kindle. I hope it doesn’t scare you too much…

More good news for ‘The 13^th’

I received this message yesterday:
“We have been (against all odds!) officially selected the prestigious 12^th Cyprus International Film Festivals which is in the top 100 film festivals out of a possible 5,500.

This is really excellent news and there is a great deal to organise. The festival was started by the government in Cyprus and they put a lot of effort into getting lots of publicity. It’s held from 14-24 June at Paphos. As it happens, Paphos is this year’s capital of European Culture and so the festival is included as part of the EU’s programme of major cultural events. This year’s festival selection panel is headed by Bill Bulter, the legendary cinematographer of Jaws and many other great movies of the period. They are definitely expecting a presence from us and they have accommodation arranged at specially reduced prices of 35 euros single and 50 euros double per night for those going.”

Sadly, I can’t afford to go, but I will keep you posted on any news. Meanwhile, what I can do is give you some Saturday Symi photos!

Symi shopping: Vapori, Yialos

The boys are back. I think. I didn’t see them get off the boat, but that’s because I got fed up with waiting for all tourists to pile out. (Not complaining, it was good to see so many.) But, the football teams should now be back from their away matches at Camber Sands.

The warm weather is also back, with the temperature climbing as the wind changed from the north to come from some other, warner, direction. I have been working at home, as you know, though I have popped out for a couple of glasses in the late afternoon, to recover. And that’s about all my news for today so I’ll pop up some photos for you and let you get on. Oh, these photos are of Mary’s shop at Vapori. If you’re not sure where that is, it’s near the bottom of the Kali Strata, next door to Bella Napoli, and between there and… Well, everyone knows where the Vapori Bar is, surely? As you can see, there are plenty of wonderful things on offer here. I asked to pop in and take a few snaps, so you can see.