Sunday Symi
We’re just in the middle of an autumn spring clean, now that it’s time to shut some of the windows and prepare the house for winter. Everything is covered in dust from the summer, no matter how much cleaning you do during the days. The sofas are in the wash (just the covers of course) though it looks like we’ll need new ones as parts have faded in the sunlight, the windows are being cleaned and the mountain of cat hair has been removed from under the sofas and the bed -enough to make a couple more litters of fully grown cats I reckon.

But it’s not all been work this weekend. We had a lovely evening on Friday with our neighbours who gave us an amazing dinner. And then again on Saturday when another friend took us first to the Old Markets for a drink and then to Mythos for another stunning meal. We are spoiled. The evening was warmer than the other evening when it was windy and everyone was out in fleeces and long trousers. It’s that time of year when you are half and half in the wardrobe department; sandals and long trousers, or a long sleeved shirt and shorts, perhaps with a cardigan or similar for later. It’s still in the 20s here but if there’s a breeze and it’s after dark it can feel quite chilly.

The cat has his voice and annoying habits back to good form and is back into his usual routine after his late summer holiday: Breakfast, a sleep, wake up and stare at you until you take him to his bowl, a light snack, another snooze (on one of the occasion tables this morning, for no reason) and then another light snack, a bit of sunbathing on the roof, lunch, a light snooze, then staring at you until you take him to his bowl, where he didn’t want to go actually so back to your feet to stare at you until you take him back to his bowl where he considers another light snack… And so on.

And so on into the week. Mother arrives on Wednesday evening so we are looking forward to three weeks of parties and dinners, G & T’s and general malarkeyness… Only joking. Neil actually had a day off from the bar on 7^th October as Yiannis is going to Rhodes for a wedding so, if the weather is good, we may do the around the island boat trip. Lots to look forward to. Have a good week.

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Fed up with the UK? Come to Symi
I was going to start this post with, ‘Fed up with the UK? Come to Symi’, but I kind of went off track, as I started to think why I am fed up with the UK. Here’s what I got to, sorry about this…

You know, I can’t believe that the BBC put out some kind of ‘Breaking news’ mass hysteria inducing headline just become some old dear isn’t doing a cheap TV show about buns any more, what is the world coming to? Well, we know what the BBC is coming to, got to and carrying on being and let’s not go there. Let’s also not go back to the subject of an online poll that’s being run to ask, three months on, how you would vote in another leave/remain EU referendum – when I looked just now it was 75% remain – yes, well, it probably would have been that result had people known the truth about what they were voting for or against – but let’s not go there either. Actually do, search it out on the ITV website here and put your vote up; changed your mind? Stayed the same? Still totally confused about the hole Farage thing? (Typo intended that time.) Let them know, it’s half way down the page, just click it.

Let’s instead go to a fairly new campaign that I know all right minded Symi dreamers will think seriously about putting their encouragement behind. ‘Stop funding hate’ has been set up to, basically, try and get the message across to business who advertise in certain newspapers, that they are in fact fuelling the xenophobic, refugee-hating, people-scaring, right-wing, far right-wing, keep going a bit further right, you’re almost there, sexist, homophobic skata that’s only put there to sell papers. Their Facebook page will explain it in much more coherent detail, but I’m all behind it. It’s a good idea. You’ll never get the likes of the Mail or Express to listen to reason but they might start listening to income if they stop getting advertising from the likes of Virgin and Waitrose, both of whom have been in trouble recently for advertising in these rags. (The Express, for example, had nine anti-immigrant/refugee headlines in 20 publications one month and those publications are part funded by Waitrose’s advertising – and others. NINE xenophobic front page screamers out of 20 – in 30 days. Unbelievable.)

Anyway, sorry to be a bit off the Symi trail today but these things just popped into my mind and I was wondering what to write about. I hope today’s photos are interesting, I’m off to cool down with some shipping news and a beer:

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Three Symi updates

I have some information for you today, and a Symi Animal Welfare message and an opportunity for you to stay rent free in Nimborio for up to three months over the winter. First things first, in the order the messages came in:

Dimitris Zographos, one of our local architects, sent me a press release about DAFNI and the project, ‘Promotion of the Simi island hiking trail network,’ which I have attached. You can open the PDF document by clicking this link; it’s written in English and will be of interest to anyone who enjoys hiking the trails on Symi.

Secondly, from SAW: “May we remind cat-carers who are also resident on the island, of the arrangement we have with 2 different vets on Rhodes: If an appointment with one of these vets is made through Suzan, Symi Animal Welfare will pay for neutering, but unfortunately we don’t have sufficient funds to cover personal expenses such as taxis or ferry tickets. Her number is 6981356421, she will be happy to explain how to get to either surgery if you don’t already know.

The Blue Star return ferry service on either a Wednesday or Friday is a good option –  an opportunity to complete any other business on Rhodes, shop or simply have an away-day and, at the same time, be a Symi Animal Welfare volunteer!  By helping in this way, hopefully we will all see less kittens struggling to survive once the season has ended and the weather changes into winter-mode?    Thank you.”

As a note, at the moment, if you go for a day on the Panagia Skiadeni, you can get the return ticket for free, making it even cheaper to help out by taking cats across to be seen to.

And the third message: How do you fancy up to three months in Nimborio for free? What’s the catch? Well, you will have to look after the owner’s house and her cat, that’s all. There’s no rent to pay, you just need to house sit and cat care between December and February. I’m not certain of the exact dates as yet but if you’re interested I will put you in touch with the person who needs their house sat. It’s right by the sea (I’ve been here and stayed there and it’s lovey – a perfect place for a writer or someone who wants to get away from it all) and comes with all mod cons and internet, TV, music etc., plus a large garden. If you might be interested (you will have to commit to the time and actually do the job as the lady will be away and can’t be left stranded mid-sit) then email me and I will pass the message along. Just click here.

That’s my update for today along with some bird shots I took the other day – or I think Neil took the one of the swallows (?) high up and you can’t really see them but there were loads of them flitting about. Which is what I am off to do now.

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Pet shop Symi
This is mainly a post about ‘pet shop Symi’ but first: The weather has cheered up somewhat (Wednesday) and the dawn was bright and dramatic as there are still a few clouds around, but it was something of a gold-and-dazzle fiesta of colour and light.

This followed on from Tuesday’s expected rain which came in, in the morning and was on and off until the afternoon. There was a display of lightning over Turkey and we had one or two rumbles of thunder over Symi. But it’s cleared the air, the sun’s out and hot, the breeze is cooling and, when the fluffy clouds clear out of the way, it’s back to normal. A good bit of rain to water the plants and wash the roof. And the bathroom floor – must get up there and fill the gap in the tiles on the flat roof. I will remember next time it rains.

We were down in Yialos to do some bits and pieces, including ordering some cat food for the strays and for the Master of the house, Jack. If you don’t know it, there’s a lovely pet shop at the bottom of the Kali Strata, just up from the Kalodoukas office and next to Freddie’s boutique, Krisalis. The pet shop is run by the charming and English speaking, Michalis (and his wife) and we call in there for supplies as he also delivers them to our door on his motorbike. Saves lugging 20 kilos of cat food up the steps.

We walked in to find another young guy sitting at the till, which was unusual. I said hello and then, as I walked further into the shop was met by an ‘Ela, malaka’ coming at me from the storeroom. Michalis appeared, cursing jovially and saw it was us, laughed and explained that it was aimed at his friend who had brought coffee, and had put ‘about eight sugars’ in it – Michalis doesn’t take sugar. We all had a laugh and ordered the supplies, which Michalis was arranging and discussing at great speed, so much so that he knocked two bird cages from the shelves. We told him to slow down and take less sugar. The supplies were delivered later in the evening exactly at the time arranged – he is very punctual.

He also has other pet supplies there, some medicines and so on, and works with the vet in Rhodes, so if you need animal advice, go and see him. It’s a great shop to support, a young island couple (early/mid 20s, I am guessing) who have set up something different and useful on their own. When you do, say hello to our favourite ‘pet shop boy’ (refrain from singing one of their songs, it won’t help) and tell them we sent you to support. I should have taken some photos of pet shop Symi, I will ask next time.

After that we went and had lunch in the rain and watched the masses of people milling about; there was a cruise ship in and three day boats and the taxi boats weren’t going due to the weather so everyone and his assistant was in the harbour. More pics from that at a later date.

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Symi rain
It’s Tuesday morning as I write and we’ve just had a couple of showers. Nothing dramatic though there is talk of a thunderstorm later and there was lightning over Turkey this morning. It was spitting when I got up at six and, later in the morning we had a little fall of rain, but nothing much. Except some came in through the bathroom roof, which means we will have to get up there and paint the flat roof with special paint to fill the cracks, and we’ll have to do it before the next rainfall which could be… well any time from now on, as we’re heading into winter.

You can tell when the rain is heading your way as Nimos disappears and, when it’s really bad, the harbour disappears. It didn’t vanish for long thought and soon enough the boats were coming back in, including a cruise ship and the day boats.

I had a dentist appointment booked for Tuesday evening but that has now been changed to Thursday as the dentist has a council meeting – it’s what happens. But since he worked on a very annoying back tooth last week, I’ve had no trouble with it and the temporary filling is holding, so there are no worries there. Instead, I shall head down to Yialos soon and do what I was going to do this evening, visit the bank, order some cat food and a big bag of biscuits from this strays and hopefully make it back up here for lunch. However, knowing what we’re like when we go to town for jobs in the morning there could well be a Yialos lunch involved.

The sun is starting to come out and the online weather forecast shows the storm has passed over so, unless it comes back, we should stay dry. You don’t want to get caught in the Symi rain when it really gets going, not without a wet suit and a mask.

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