The ridiculousness of Amazon
First though: If you are on Symi between now and 20^th August, I can highly recommend a visit to the Symi Cultural Centre and the art exhibition that’s taking place downstairs. Paintings by Nikos Psarros, all about colour and movement and with plenty to see. We went on Thursday night. I bought one for Neil’s birthday as a surprise and then he went and bought one as well, so we will have a pair when the exhibition is over. Miss DJ and George were supplying live blues music too, all rather brilliant (photos to follow next week I hope). The Cultural Centre is in the side street that runs up to the bottom of the Kali Strata and Bella Napoli Pizzeria, go past the Harani and Vapori bars (stop for a drink) and then turn right at the end. It’s open 6 – 11pm every day and entrance is free.

Back to my desk and Friday brought me a ridiculous email from Amazon. I had set up an advertising campaign, only a small one, to get Lonely House some more publicity for a few weeks and here was their reply after reviewing the campaign, as they do with all of them:

“Thank you for submitting your ad campaign for review. Unfortunately, we are unable to approve your ad as your book cover violates one of our ad guideline policies. There are blood stains on the book cover image. As a result, your campaign will not be served.”

I ask you: how many thriller, detective, horror and other novels are out there and not allowed publicity because they have blood on the covers? Never heard anything so ridiculous.

By the way, the latest review for Lonely House reads: “Really spooooky and tense. Read it straight through as it was so gripping.” 5 stars. Thank you!

Meanwhile, Neil did a quick walk down to Pedi the other day and so today’s photos are from him; some of the things he saw on his stroll. We are trying to get back into the habit of walking again as it has been let slip of late. I’ve managed two morning hill climbs and a Kali Strata so far, and there are more planned for the weekend. I was going to do the steps again on Thursday after the exhibition but there was this taxi, you see and, well, you know… It was after nine in the evening by then, so it would have been a bit cooler but then the taxi had air conditioning… Well, the windows were open and it was Zoi’s brother Konstantinos and he’s always good for a chat and a laugh and… I don’t need excuses! I’ll walk about a bit today to help with the weight loss campaign. Another great result this week after near starving myself for six days and walking up mountains: 0.01 kg or something. I wonder why I bother.

So, enjoy your weekend wherever you are. I have nothing planned apart from working on the last of my scriptwriting college course, I am nearly there after six months, almost, working on it. Just a screenplay to write. I’ll get that done after breakfast tomorrow.

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Symi Calendar 2017
Some more of Neil’s photos today. You might have seen the advert over on the right, for Neil’s Symi calendar 2017, if not, have a click and it will take you to the page at Lulu.com where the calendars are published. I know it might be a bit early to look for next year items but it’s also a good idea to start ordering your Christmas gifts now. Yes, I know! It’s still summer but I start my collecting well in advance so there is no great and sudden rush at the last minute.

Just below the calendar image on the Lulu sale site is a small word, ‘preview.’ If you click that you can browse through the images: Harani, Yialos and the Blue Star, Nos beach, St George, Koukoumas with girls in traditional costume, Pedi in the morning, the Poseidon, A wedding in Syllogos Square, the sea at sunset, the village and Castro at sunrise, the windmills and Pedi bay in the morning. Everyone’s favourite places and things captured in 12 great images.

He’s also got a cat calendar for sale, and again the link is over there on the right of this site and you can also do a preview there. Everyone’s favourite image of Jack, the Alarm Cat, is included. What little he makes from this calendar goes towards feeding the strays up the road from us as we are always ordering large bags of biscuits and, in the winter, trays of Rokus for them, giving them Jack’s left overs and water and generally keeping an eye. This means that the local animal charity, Symi Animal Welfare, doesn’t have to use its resources on these particular strays.

He was saying yesterday that he may not make another Symi calendar… we will have to wait and see. That’s mainly because he’s not out and about taking photos so much these days, now he doesn’t have the shop. But let’s hope there’s a change of mind there. Meanwhile, I’m going to start thinking about my Christmas ordering (can’t believe I’m writing about it in August, but it helps to cool me down) and I know a couple of people who are going to be getting a copy of the Symi Calendar 2017 in their festive parcel.

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One of those days…
It’s one of those days (Wednesday) where I needed another half an hour’s sleep to be able to fully function and I think Tuesday could have had something to do with it. So excuse me being brief today but I am nodding off into my keyboard.

Tuesday started at 5.45 with a walk up the road to get my daily 30 minutes of exercise. That was then followed by a morning’s typing as per usual and the early afternoon working on the course I am finishing off, as well as cutting back the vine and sweeping up the courtyard. After that came some time chopping back a fig tree, clearing the rubbish, doing some shopping and making the dinner (salad) followed by a film and an early night, Wednesday came around all too quickly with another 6.00 a.m. walk, work and cooking, writing on the course work and hanging new lights in the courtyard, a salad, a film and…zzzz.

Might not sound like a lot, but typing our 7,000 words per day, on average, soon takes its toll. I was also adding some new header images to the site as we’ve not had any for a while, and setting up some special deals on Amazon to try and promote the books. ‘Remotely‘ has sold well this month as we’d expect from a new release, but some of the others need boosting. Here are a few titles that might interest you or your friends and you might be able to find the special deals if you look on Amazon and Amazon Kindle.

Lonely House (Thriller/horror)

You Wish! (Mad comedy)

The Judas Inheritance (Set on an island not unlike Symi – and later filmed there)

And, as always, the best seller, Symi 85600

Thank you and now I’m going back to sleep.

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Symi harbour at night
I tried some shots of Symi harbour at night, without a tripod as you will see if you look closely. I also got some on a morning walk yesterday. Yes, I managed to get out of my lazy bed at 5.45 and did a short walk up the road to the zig zags and back. The photos weren’t very spectacular as the sun had not come up by then.

The late morning was spent cutting back the vine in the courtyard so we could get to the gate without being caught up, and then sweeping up loads of dead leaves. It looks like part of the vine has given up the ghost, or been cut, and some of the branches have died off. There’s still plenty here and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with it. It does make a lot of deal leaf mess though and, just as you finish sweeping and bagging, more flutter down defiantly.

On the course front, I am working my way through a screenplay I have to submit by the end of the month. It’s only supposed to be 15 pages but they have told me it can be longer. I’m not even half way through it yet and it’s already around 20. They might be in for a shock. Mind you, there are edits to make, as long as I keep within the structure that’s demanded, and I’ve already completed the first part of the last assignment and this is the second, so I should be okay.

It’s still sunny here, if anyone is wondering. There’s been a slight breeze which has been nice, it brings with it the sounds of whoops of joy from the people using the jet skis as Nos, and the water skiers, sometimes even the swimmers. The best ones though are the yells from the people on the big yellow thing who get dragged through the water. I’ve not done one of those for many years but here’s a tip: leave your glasses on the beach.

As you can see, there’s not much news. The Festival continues, tonight there’s a dance show from Rhiannon and her girls – not us this year though, phew. There’s a new fruit and veg shop opened in the village apparently, I’ve not been yet. The outside and inside of Jean And Tonics have been done up and look really nice – it’s probably been like that for months but I only went past for the first time yesterday, and everything else is ticking along nicely.

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Spring flashback
I was just browsing through my collection of photos and, once again, realising that I need to get out more and take some new ones, when I decided that I might put up a few taken in the past months; a kind of flashback to the spring, May and June. So, with no great news to tell you other than a quick update on the film project, here are some images from earlier this year.

The film, ‘The Thirteenth’, is now finished, as you might have heard already. This doesn’t mean it’s out on DVD or anything yet. It simply means the production company have done all they can with it and now need to find distribution deals and people interested in selling it. They announced last week that there would be an online version for the backers to see, under a password protected page and that’s what will happen next. The problem at the moment is that the file is huge as it needs to be the best quality for potential distributors to see it at its best, and the backers of course. So…

They have been looking for an online facility, like Vimeo, where they can put up the film, protect it and then let backers have the password. Trouble is, these sites charge and money is in short supply, so they are working out what they can do about that. But, last I heard, it will be along soon. It should then be followed, at some point, by the other ‘perks’ the backers were promised; the book, the DVD and so on – once the DVD versions has been made; there’s no point sending these things out one at a time, that would be very expensive.

So, that’s the latest I have heard and you now know as much as I do. The film, for those who are new to this site, is based on a book of mine called ‘The Judas Inheritance’ and it was filmed entirely on Symi in 2013.

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