Catching up on news over the weekend

We have had a few people asking how they can get hold of tickets for the world premiere of the film, ‘The 13^th’ that was shot on Symi and which is showing on Monday 15^th May. Basically, you need to contact the box office which you can do online; you order tickets from there. http://www.londongreekfilmfestival.com/boxoffice.htm

Some Greek newspapers and online media have picked up on the story of the film. There’s an article here, for example, with a few shots from the film including some local stars. Click here.

The Symi under 11s football team has made it through to the final of the championships this week. As you may have read before, they, and the under 12s team are heading off to the UK towards the end of the month to take part in an international football tournament at Camber Sands, East Sussex. We wish them good luck for this week’s final, and for the tournament too. I have sent a piece to the local paper (Romney Marsh) to drum up some support.

The release of ‘The Saddling’ has gone well, and it’s already gained its first review. “Wow, another fascinating thriller from James. Gripping storyline full of intrigue and danger.” Great stuff. Don’t forget to share that link, and write a review if you liked it, and tell everyone to buy a copy; it’s on Kindle as well as in paperback.

There has been a lot of music playing around the village; at the Secret Garden, at Georgio’s taverna, and on Saturday night, at Lefteris Kafeneion where George had set up his mic and guitar. Both tavernas are open now, we went to Zoi’s on Saturday, and very nice it was too. One of the dance schools had its performance in the new sports hall on Sunday. The bars and cafés are all open now too.

Vague shipping news: More boats are appearing in the harbour as the season begins. There may be a seaman’s strike on Wednesday so check your travel arrangements. I don’t think the ‘Spanos’ boats will be affected if there is. They are not usually, and the Dodekanisos boats should be running. There have been reports of people swimming, so the sea is warming up. The Poseidon has been going out on around the island trips as long as there are enough people interested in going.

And close to home, Jack the Alarm cat has been out and about in the ‘hood, had a couple of good scraps, is nursing a limp (no sign of anything nasty, probably strained it giving a right hook) and is otherwise fine. Thank you to everyone who enquires after him. 14 years old and still going noisily. Neil is off to Rhodes on Friday and thence to England to sit his exam and attend the film premiere (on the same day, in two different parts of the country), which means I will be covering the bar for ten days while he is away. And that’s all the weekend news I can think of.

Symi Saturday Photos

Continuing my recent tradition of posting more photos that words, here are some for your Saturday collection. I’ve been a bit brief with words over the last couple of days as things have been a bit busy what with book launches and film festivals, but I am very pleased to report that ‘The Saddling’ has already had a review on Amazon and it’s a five-star review. Thank you for whoever it was that posted, “Wow another fascinating thriller from James. Gripping storyline full of intrigue and danger.” Find your copy here: The Saddling.

 Now here are some random Symi photos. Have a good weekend!

A few photos today

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.

All inclusive (apart from the brains)

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.

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!!”

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.’

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 407^th richest man in the world (Forbes, 2016). The yacht is the 10^th 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.

Books, films, football – a Symi connection

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.

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.

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.

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.