Cold Tuesday
One word for Tuesday: cold. At least if felt cold, the thermometer read 17 but that was tucked out of the north-westerly wind that found its way into the house via the balcony doors (closed) and around my office window (closed). I shut the shutters and have put up the thermal curtains across the mousandra to keep the draft from up there out and any heat from below, in. I’ve also put up a temporary windbreak at the bottom of the office window, a towel with drawing pins to stop the draft blowing across my fingers as I’m working. All holding up fine for now.

I didn’t venture very far from home, though the rain had left and the sky was bright. I did go to the shop for a few supplies and the sun was warm, when you’re in it an out of the wind. The supermarket was its usual jovial experience with people in and out, jokes being cracked, the phone being ignored until the last ring and then long conversations happening as you’re half way through checking out, cheery greetings from all and sundry passing by. And then more on the way home, passing the taverna which, although its doors were shut, was grilling something very tasty, judging by the smell of it; perhaps cooking ahead for the evening. The square was quiet although there were two visitors there with walking poles and a healthy complexion apiece, settling in for a drink of some sort at Lefteris’ in the last remaining patch of sunlight. And this was all at midday.

That’s all there is for local village news today. A quick thank you to everyone who has recently written to say ‘thanks for the blog’ and who has sent best wishes for the winter months. I’ll be here as much as I can, filling you in on all the non-news from Symi as it happens, if it happens, if I see any of it, or learn about anything. The next big event is the Panormitis Festival which is held over the 7^th, 8^th, 9^th, November with services and festivals at other churches dedicated to Saint Michael(s) on the island. Not sure if or where I will be going yet, but if I do get to one of them, there will hopefully be pictures.

First Symi rain for a while
Now that feels much more like winter. Monday: started with some sun and low clouds that soon built up and, by 12.00, it was raining, slightly. No downpour as yet and, as I write, not enough to make any difference to the water levels in the reservoirs I expect, but there’s hope that we’ll get a lot more rain later – both Symi and Rhodes are suffering from lack of rain water at the moment and the farmers are worried about crops.

But yesterday it certainly felt as if winter had finally arrived and the season was definitely over. No day boats, no taxis, very few sailing boats in and a chill breeze, plus the rain. Lights on during the day and the windows finally closed. Next it will be the shutters, when the wind starts, and later I must put up the thermal curtains across the mousandra to help keep the heat in the sitting room. I hope my patch repair on the bathroom roof worked so the rain doesn’t seep in there again. If I am very lucky then it will rain harder later today and I will be forced to spend the afternoon on the sofa watching Time Team instead of going out for the walk I had told myself I was going to do. Yesterday was all about getting back to the Ws. Work, Water (fill the sterna), Walking, Washing and Weight, but…

My lovely neighbour called around with a ‘meals on wheels’ for me, a large slice of meat and potato pie with gravy; whoops, there goes the diet I wasn’t on!

Mind you, the rain didn’t deter a trio of canoeists who I saw heading out around the headland alongside a catamaran yesterday. I don’t have the benefit of Neil’s long lens as he has it with him on his trip to Scotland, but I zoomed in as much as I could on my rather appropriate underwater camera to get a shot. The sea was calm enough so I am sure these intrepid explorers were safe enough.

Right then, back to the Ws, the Work and the Washing, the Water (rain) and the Watching of TV or Wreading of a book… Kalo mina!

Settling in for winter
And here we are back to the usual day to day blogging. All being well, I will be with you through the winter every day apart from Sundays, with maybe a few breaks over the Christmas period. I can’t say that the posts will always be interesting as winter is a quiet time but, for new readers, they may give you can idea of what goes on, on Symi, over the quieter months. Today’s photos were taken last Friday at The Oxi Day parade. On this day, the school children march in their uniforms (they only wear them on special days like this); it’s not compulsory for them which is why it’s always good to see so many there. Godsons Sam and Harry were both in it this year looking very smart and very serious.

On the way down to the parade on Friday I managed to catch Michaelis at the pet shop and order more cat litter for HRH Jack Cat (the Alarm Cat) and later picked up some more food for the same rather demanding housemate and later walked back up the Kataractis, sweating madly in the sun before making it home full of giros and good cheer.

On Friday night I watched the last part of The Hollow Crown, the TV version of Shakespeare’s Henry VI and Richard III – I thought it was a great production. I have since found out that there is an earlier series with Richard II, Henry IV and Henry V which I must look out for. If I’d known I would have watched them in the right order. It made me wonder if it’s possible to get (good) film or TV film versions of all of Shakespeare’s plays; there are some classics already of course, and some rather odd ones, but wouldn’t it be great to have one good film of each play – Olivier in Henry V, the Judi Dench and Ian McKellen ‘Macbeth’, NOT the Mel Gibson Hamlet (Olivier again instead?), and so on. An idea for things to collect in the future, maybe.

Anyway, Saturday was a day at home writing and working on the next novel, The Saddling. I am now up to chapter 20 of 40 in draft two form, and it’s coming along nicely, to use one of the ‘non-words’ that I am trying to replace in the text. Not that I use ‘nice’ unless it’s in speech, but other ‘non-words’ are being examined along with the typos and repetition, and many other things. Non-words, by the way, are, for me, words like ‘went’ and ‘goes.’ He went into the room only tells you a piece of action, he staggered into the room, tells you the action and gives you a little bit more. I also notice that a lot of my characters look at things (unnecessary unless it’s to do with plot), they turn around a lot (ditto) and things are always on their left or right, north or south… It’s like I’m stage directing them in the narrative, so a lot of that needs to go.

And Sunday started chilly and with an extra hour (that the Alarm Cat didn’t allow me) I was able to get this blog written and get back to the book. The sea out there was a kind of reluctant grey, first thing, it’s quiet in the harbour now after being so mad on Friday where all the bars and cafes, and tavernas (that I saw) were full at one point – we had to wait around 45 minutes for a giros and that’s actually a good thing because they were so busy. It was good to see the businesses having what might be a last good day before winter sets in. Mind you, I’m still sitting there watching my Shakespeare with the balcony doors open at night, unless the wind gets up. How long will that last? Not long, I fear. The duvet is down from its summer storage and ready to go on the bed… soon.

Rhodes trip 2
Meanwhile, still in Rhodes… It wasn’t all official meetings and legal things to help Neil become an Irish passport holder as well as a British one, though I have to say, getting the paperwork done was very easy. As was arranging to see a specialist about a minor skin thing. It always amazes me how easy it is to see a specialist in Greece. Okay, so you have to pay for it (€40.00 in this case), but you can also go to the IKA (National Health Service) doctors and be referred to hospitals and so on, but if you have a few Euros to spare and can afford a consultation then it’s worth it for peace of mind. You phone up – or email in my case as you know what I feel about phones – and arrange your time, turn up, get seen (every doctor I have encountered in Greece has spoken better English than I have Greek) and get your diagnosis. If any treatment is to be a costly thing and you’re not privately covered or can’t afford it then you get referred to the hospital, as long as you’re covered there through reciprocal arrangements or IKA. I wonder what will happen to the reciprocal/EU health care/emergency cover thing if/when Brexit happens?

Anyway, another positive thing from the last week or so was that we both got a couple of medical things sorted out quickly and cheaply. We also went into the Old Town and bought engagement rings. Not diamonds or anything but two simple, meandros design, Greek, silver ones to tide us over until the wedding next year. I must say, everyone we told in Rhodes about our future plans not only didn’t bat an eyelid or pull a face, but congratulated us happily and even, in the case of some, gave us hugs and best wishes kisses. The jewellers and his assistant, the ladies at the Lydia hotel, the Vice Consul and her assistant, the lawyer, even the notary, the guy at the restaurant and… well everyone. That was all very heart warming.

On that note; we’re still looking into the best way to do things; partnerships here, weddings there, this or that, what’s best and so on, and our lovely lawyer (I have trouble pronouncing the word ‘solicitor’) is looking into what is best in terms of inheritance and tax ‘n’ stuff between a Greek version or a British version. So, no firm decisions yet on that front apart from, at the earliest, September 8^th.

Meanwhile, eating out. We do a lot of this when in Rhodes and I usually come back a few pounds heavier after three days there though we do also do a lot of walking; over five miles a day according to my Fitbit which gives me a tap on the wrist and a fanfare when I reach my daily target. It did this once just as I arrived at the Plaza Hotel public toilets. Open the door, light goes on automatically, shut the door and your Fitbit congratulates you. All very odd and I’m only glad it doesn’t actually play a fanfare.

But walking… and eating. We did a lot of the first but now I think about it, not too much of the second. After a large breakfast at the hotel you tend not to need much for several hours so our first lunch was not too big, we thought when ordering: a Nimos salad (salad with three cheeses and egg at Nimos, the new taverna near Akandia gate owned by two Symiots), a slice of moussaka and some chips (between us, not each). That was more than enough for two and came with the addition of complimentary cake and ouzo afterwards. We had a dinner at the China Burger, which is an event that’s become some kind of regular ritual, a wonderful dinner at Saffron Indian restaurant and a light lunch at George’s souvlaki house in the old fish market. Here I deliberated between a tuna salad (salad with real tuna as opposed to the dip) and a tuna baguette. I thought the baguette would be smaller but actually it consisted of a whole tuna salad crammed into half a loaf of bread that had been flattened under the weight of the filling. On the way to the boat on Wednesday I had a toastie and that was it for the day. There are so many good places to eat it’s hard to know which one to choose.

But it was while at Nimos that I heard the ‘quote of the trip.’ An English mother arrived with her two sons, one around 17 the other around 11. The youngest boy was happily playing with a Hello Kitty soft toy (and being allowed to by his mother which I thought was great), chatting to it and reading the menu to it. The older son asked his mother, ‘Are you going to drink beer?’ with that kind of tone usually used by mothers when talking to their sons. She replied that she wasn’t and he said, ‘Oh good.’ I was wondering why that was such a good thing and imagining all kinds of wild behaviour from the mother, when the youngest son came up with, ‘Cheese balls? Whoever invented them must have been drunk.’ I giggled at that all the way back to the hotel.

Rhodes trip 1
Hello. Although I’ve no great photos from my trip to Rhodes there are some pics I took on the way in and way out on the boat. The Panagia Skiadeni was packed on Sunday night; I guess a lot of Rhodes folk came over for a Sunday on Symi. The Blue Star Patmos on Wednesday was also fairly busy with Symi folk, but it’s such a huge boat that five of us more or less had the upper deck to ourselves. It was great weather, and still is, though cloud is forming as I speak (on Thursday). Today (Friday) is Oxi Day and there’s a parade in Yialos later this morning. This will be Harry’s first parade in school uniform and he’s very excited about it.

I have to say, we had a very good week last week, a week full of good news and interesting things. For a start, Neil found out that his exam is to be on the day before he is due to be at his niece’s wedding. The story is: he’s doing a home course, an IGCSE in ‘Global Citizenship’ and at the end of the modules is a written exam that he has to sit at an examination centre in the UK. He found a place and asked them if they could help him, they replied the next day saying they could and telling him what was needed. The set date for the exam is the day before the wedding that he was due to be at anyway, and 20 minutes down the road. So that was a result.

On top of that, he’s also had news recently (as I expect many of you know already) that as his mother was born on the island of Ireland he is an Irish citizen and can apply for a passport. There are a few certificates to get, many of which we already had, and he has to prove his address – always a nightmare on Symi where the streets have no name, well, only some do. The very helpful folk at the Irish Embassy in Athens suggested an affidavit, or similar, and we contacted, via the Vice Consul in Rhodes, an Irish/Greek solicitor who set everything up. When we were in Rhodes we met up and called in, with her, to the notary – literally right next door to our hotel – who set up the declaration and witnessed his signature; all done and dusted in ten minutes and for only €50.00 – the solicitor will translate it for us as the embassy wants it in English as well.

And while we were there we called in to see the very helpful people at the British Vice Consul, mainly to say hello and have a general chat but also to get advice on civil partnerships in Greece. The Vice Consul wanted us to let our blog readers know that they are there for us British citizens and they are arranging more meetings with local communities on Rhodes and other islands in due course. This is to inform people of what their role is and what they can and can’t do for us. Meanwhile, if you have a question, simply email them. There are things they are there for and others that they can’t deal with, but if in doubt, ask. They are lovely ladies and very helpful. The Vice Consul is opposite the Germanos and Public shops in Rhodes new town, around the corner from the Lydia and Plaza hotels, so it’s easy to find. Website here.

There are a few other nice little stories from Rhodes to tell you, but I’ll save them for tomorrow. Sorry about the rather dull images but I was taking a holiday and kept forgetting to take my camera out. Hopefully I’ll get some walking and photographing done over the weekend and have something more Symi based on Monday.