Putting it together
I collected two deliveries on Friday, a new keyboard for the computer and a new kneel-on chair for the desk. Things did not go according to plan.

First of all, I ordered the keyboard from Germany as Amazon could not deliver one from the UK, and I was unable to find the one I wanted in Greece. I was rather proud of myself, wading through Amazon in German and securing my purchase, and saving myself a few Euros at the same time. I unpacked the keyboard on Saturday and set it up, only to realise that it is a German keyboard, of course. It works perfectly and is smooth and wonderful; no more clicking keys and sticking letters, but unfortunately… Well, let’s say it’s fortunate that I know where the letters and symbols are on an English layout keyboard. It’s not QWERTY anymore, it reads QWERTZ, as the Z and the Y are in each other’s places. There are also strange commands such as Einfg, and Entf, plus my favourite, Druken. I’ve still not pressed that one, I’m a bit worried as to what it might do. Hey ho! If I can’t get on with it I’ll have to search again, but so far so good and my fingers seem to know that Y is Z and the extra O (the one with the umlaut) is actually the ; and the symbol that shows ; is actually the comma. The ( is actually the key that shows ) and the key that shows ( is actually the * , the one that shows / is the &, and the & is the ^, and so on.

Putting that aside to see how it’s going to work out, or not, I turned to the kneel-on chair. Flat pack is no problem, and it all looks very straightforward until I come to put the thing together. The instructions are written in numerical code, which doesn’t help, but they show images of each piece, and there are many pieces, and they are numbered “Φ8x40mm A*2″ and ” Φ6x135mm F*2″ and so on. Some of the bolts are drawn on the first image with some nuts on the end, and I search out my D*4 – only 2 needed for this part – that go through the foot of the thing and into a leg which is part Q*1, which I have found, and this part (D*2) also has a nut on the other end and goes through a hole in Q*1 to join foot (M*1). What it doesn’t show you is that the main nut is meant to be inside the wood of the leg and there’s nothing to explain how it gets there.

Common sense prevails, and I realise, after half an hour of pondering and trying this and seeing if that will do that and scratching my head, that you’re meant to put nut number … Oh, that nut doesn’t have a number, so you have to put the guesswork nut through a second hole and line it’s fitting up with the hole in the wood before you put D*2 through and then try and get D*2 into the bore hole of the piece with no name and use the allen key (G*1) to tighten it. I finally manage to get that done, turn the chair around, find all pieces needed to attach bit with seat to bit with back leg and then wonder what on earth is a J*1. I find it (hiding in the box) and it doesn’t fit. Check instructions, but no help there. Finally work out that piece J*1 is extendable and so manage to join seat-bit to back leg-bit and put those two together giving me a very collapsible X shape of two main pieces and a leg.

And now to put the back foot on the back leg using the same process and the front one. I know what I am doing now and slip the piece with no name through the hole with no instructions and line it up, using the screwdriver (L*1) before putting the long bolt through the foot and into the cross-piece and turning it with the key. No good. I take it all apart again and check that the bolt fits the unnamed piece, and it does, perfectly, so I put it back together again and lo and behold, it won’t go into the unknown piece once that piece is inside the unchartered hole for such a piece. Maybe it’s not lined up – I find the torch and examine the depths of the hole, glasses off so I can see better, and yes, that’s fine, but still it won’t go in and now the bolt doesn’t want to come out again, I fetch the plyers and adjustable spanner because the spanner supplied (H*1) doesn’t seem to fit any part of anything. Midday comes, and I decide to go to a barbeque instead.

It’s Sunday now, and the thing is still waiting there for the second phase, which is basically trying the whole thing again but with Neil on hand to hold the D*2 while I swear at unnamed piece while wrestling with the collapsible N*1 and E*1 which are successfully joined together and I still have no idea where I left my glasses. It was that kind of a day, and that’s enough of that. Back tomorrow, when I may be sitting on my, new chair. Or is that kneeling on…? Probably I’ll be jumping up and down on…

Share on Facebook

Saturday Symi photos
As it’s Saturday, today we have a set of Symi Saturday photos for you, a custom I have started recently because I’ve usually run out of things to say by the weekend. I am off to Yialos today (Friday) though, and will take the camera. There is shopping to be done before a possible quick lunchtime beer with a birthday girl, an afternoon to get over that and then an evening at the taverna tonight. It’s just like the summer again. It’s as sunny, but a lot, lot colder. So, have a good weekend and have a glance at the images. The only other thing to tell you is that ‘The Saddling’ is coming along faster than I expected with its checking and setting out so it may be available before the end of April, my original estimated date. Watch this space. Now watch these photos.

Share on Facebook

To-do list
We took a walk down to Pedi on Wednesday afternoon, and I was going to take some photos, but we were running late, and I didn’t want to stop in the cold for snaps. So, I have promised myself that I will go out and about with the camera next week, weather permitting, and so, please bear with me and the photos, which are not so recent.

Yesterday, when I woke up at six, I was straight into my woollen socks, thermals (top and bottom) thick jogging ‘pants’ that have never been used for jogging, of course, two sweatshirts and a fleece, plus fingerless gloves and a hat Mother made me for Christmas. I’m not saying that it feels cold in a Symi house first thing in the morning but… It feels cold in a Symi house first thing in the morning, in February. It’s clear outside, and the wind has died down, which helps, but it’s still a bit of a rush to get dressed. Showers wait until later in the day when I’ve warmed up a bit.

Sitting at my desk with the shutters shut gives me no view of anything apart from the cat by the heater and all the mess in the office I really must tidy away one day. There’s my concertina (which needs repair) on the sofa with a book about Barbara Streisand I’ve yet to start, several notebooks each with a few pages used and lots of white space, some presents to wrap and some camera equipment to put away. Over there by the door on another table are the new keyboard that didn’t work properly (four clicks to get the mouse to work? I don’t think so) and the old office chair that did my back in. That needs to go to the scrap heap as soon as I can get it there. Next door, Neil is putting away the shopping he just went foraging for at Sotiris’ supermarket (though Sotiris is in Athens at the moment having medical work done on his arm) and very shortly I need to go and do some housework ahead of visitors arriving for dinner later.

So, it’s all a bit chilly, but there is a lot to do. Symi is still quiet though there’s building work going on up the lane, as there always is at this time of year when the weather is good. There’s a mule parked up in the grass nearby, and that keeps going off with a protest, and there is a distant chug from a fishing boat I can hear but not see. My list of jobs to do (when I get around to them) is growing by the day too. Take away the old vine cuttings, tidy the courtyard, cut down the fig tree opposite (it’s on common land so that should be okay), and get around to fixing the leaks on the kitchen tap, and showers.

Ah well, maybe after lunch…

Share on Facebook

New Symi jetty
Neil took today’s photos of the work going on at the new Symi jetty area. I call it a jetty, but it’s more like a piece of harbour, or a dock, but you know what I mean. As you can see, things are coming along. They have constructed a new wall and are filling the space behind it to make an area for vehicles. I’m not sure how those vehicles will get there and from there, but we will have to wait and see what the plans for the road are going to be. I’d heard, from Yiannis Rainbow, that the road may have to come out over the sea and curve up to ‘Council corner’ where the trucks are parked half way up the road, but that’s just speculation.

It was six degrees in the courtyard yesterday morning, but that was before the sun came up as I was up early as usual. What was not so usual was that I was zonked for a reason I couldn’t work out. Early night, decent sleep, early morning as usual but all a bit slow and with drooping eyes. Perhaps it’s the aftereffects of finishing a book and being able to relax a little more. I just went to see if I could find the origin of the word Zonked, or Zonk. My dictionary tells me it comes from the 1940s and is ‘imitative’, which means ‘imitating behaviour’; “Babies of eight to twelve months are generally highly imitative.” For example. I wonder who was being imitated when the word first fell into use? Mr Zonk, perhaps?

Anyway, what it means is that I am as tired of brain as I am of body and so I shan’t be staying around long this morning. I’ll just load you up with some more photos of the new jetty and let you take a look at work that’s going on. Once finished, this new… whatever it is, should be able to take the large cargo ships and perhaps ferries that come in. This will save lorries and suchlike having to drive through the harbour at certain times. Fewer visitors will have to leap out of the way, fewer café and shop owners will have to roll back their awnings, and there will be less pollution in the air around Yialos. That’s the theory. Let’s hope it works.

Share on Facebook

Mixed news and veg
Here is the final cover design for ‘The Saddling’. You may not be able to read the text on the back very clearly as I’ve made the file small so I can post it here, but you should get a good idea of how it is to look. All we need to do now is get it typeset and published. Hopefully, the wait won’t be too long.

You will be delighted to hear that I can’t bleat on about the weather today as I’ve not seen much of it. I’m in my office with the cat roasting in front of the heater and the shutters closed against the cold. It’s not windy, though, just very chilly – and sunny (I just poked my head outside and had a squint).

I have some sad news for those who have not heard it: Gabriel from the Diagoras boat has died. I know that many readers knew him and were fond of him as he was of them, and I know many readers also don’t use social media where the news has been shared. For anyone who also knew Robin, who used to live on Symi with his wife Gill, you will be saddened to hear of his passing too. He was a worthy cribbage opponent and great fun.

It’s always difficult to come back to the next paragraph after imparting news like that, but it must be done. Not that there is anything else much to tell you. Our busy week continues with early starts to get work done before social activity in the afternoon and evening. We went shopping yesterday, to the greengrocers in Horio, and I was a bit bowled over by the prices. We stocked up on a week’s worth of vegetables, all fresh, for less than €20.00 and I am sure we have enough to make every day a vegetarian day, with the addition of some rice perhaps. We didn’t though, as the butcher is almost opposite and he has the most amazing chops; Dino-burgers, I call them. So we feasted on a couple of those yesterday and didn’t need to eat for the rest of the day. Didn’t need to, but did, as the salad veg was so fresh. Still, at least it was only a small salad for tea and not another half a brontosaurus. If you are interested: two double chicken fillets weighing half a tonne each and two pork chops that were fresh (and so not from the Late Jurassic epoch after all) came in at €15.00. That will do for at least four meals between the two of us if not five, so, add the veg, and the basics have cost us €35.00 for the week. I’m not sure if that’s good or bad by your local standards, but I am not complaining.

Share on Facebook