Still windy
Writing this on Wednesday morning and the wind is still blowing. The Blue Star bypassed us today, presumably because it was so rough out there. You can clearly see the wind whipping up the sea surface from up here.

But the sun is out and the wind is not cold, though you’d have to be careful if you went out in it, something I was going to do first thing this morning. I decided against it when I woke up and thought an express train was hurtling across the roof above me. Each time I hear a sound like that I think of the strange case of ‘The Dyatlov Pass Incident.’ This is a story that my friend Ged alerted me to a couple years ago; a group of Russian hikers, all students and trained for outdoor pursuits, went missing on a hike in 1959. The bodies were found in very strange circumstances, there was an inquiry but no definite conclusions, at the time. The theory was that local tribes (this was in the Ural mountains of Russia) killed the hikers, and this theory was put forward in a recently published book called ‘Don’t Go There’ by Russian author, Svetlana Oss. There is another theory, put forward in ‘Dead Mountain’ by Donnie Eichar, that it was a low-frequency sound phenomenon, something called ‘infrasonic sound’, that would cause vibrations, interrupt brain patterns and cause disorientation and panic. This then caused the hikers to flee and freeze to death. It’s all very creepy and the sound of the roof rattling and the wind howling low across the house makes me wonder if this is what the group heard (only it would have been even lower and more intense). Was that the reason they fled their tent, without shoes and some clothing, and ran? Click the links above if you want to read the story and make your own conclusions. It’s a fascinating read – the Oss book looks a little at Russian rural and tribal song poems/storytelling which is itself fascinating.

But back to Symi and it’s a day for staying in, with the shutters closed against the wind, and the cat by the fire, though it is not that cold. I do wonder, on days like this, what happens to those who wanted to get off at Symi this morning and hope that the wind subsides so the boat can dock tonight. I know of at least two people hoping to get back today. Fingers crossed. It was so windy that the Dodecanese catamaran harboured at Symi, presumably on Tuesday night. I am pretty sure it wasn’t there when I went to bed on Monday (might be wrong), but it was there are 6.30 Wednesday morning. I wonder where that came from and where it was going to when it was told to pull in here and wait for the wind to die down.

And, on another note, I now have seven people reading ‘Remotely’ in its current draft format, all prepared to offer notes on typos still remaining and also provide reviews for future publicity. I could still do with a few more readers if anyone is interested to read the book before it comes out. Its current format is not professionally formatted as yet and not checked by the main proof reader, so it’s about pointing out any obvious errors and maybe posting a review of it on Amazon, Facebook and other useful sites (assuming you think it is worthy) in return for having an electronic copy for free. Email me if you might be interested.

And with that I shall leave you and head off into the wind, which is due to have faded somewhat by the time you read this on Thursday.

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Talking wind
It looks like we could be in for some rough weather again over the next couple of days. The sites I look at (Windfinder and Poseidon System) are both showing the wind getting up to force seven with gusts to eight on Wednesday afternoon and overnight. They also show some rain on the way later in the week. Good for the water supply.

Wind is often a problem here, and I am not talking the aftereffects of a Greek salad and humus, I mean the άνεμος, the wind. But when I say ‘problem’ I probably mean annoyance. Yes, if the weather is harsh and particularly the wind, then the boats are not allowed to travel and that can mean no fresh supplies, no Rhodes visits, and basically not being able to get off the island until it dies down. But these things tend not to last for long and, as I always say, ‘Where there’s a will, there’s a relative.’ By which I mean, the wind issue is relative to your urgency. If you need hospital treatment like, right now, then other forms of transport are provided, assuming the helicopter can land and/or the coastguard boat can go – in an extreme emergency. Otherwise, you simply have to re-plan and make do. And the winds tend to be more amenable in the summer and it’s very rare that anyone misses a flight from Rhodes because if it. Anyway, back to άνεμος.

Village shadows

The word, άνεμος, can be found in some English words as I am sure you know. Anemophilos, pollinated by the wind, from άνεμος and also φίλος, for friend. And also, anemometer, an instrument for measuring the wind. But I wonder about the word that comes between the two in my dictionary, anemone. A little research reveals that this word, which is a plant of the buttercup family and also an underwater animal, comes into English (in the 16^th century) from the same word in Greek. An anemone or ανεμονε (with a couple of ancient Greek accent included that I can’t reproduce here) was a ‘wind flower’ so called because the petals were said to open only when the wind blew. Sweet.

Another Mousecatsle view

Well, the wind flowers might be up for a challenge if we do get they force seven or above tonight and tomorrow, there may not be any of them left standing. Let’s hope it turns out not to be as bad as forecast, as that’s what very often happens.

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Wet weather again
We’re back to grey skies, some cold wind, and the promise of rain today. There are clouds rolling over the Turkish mountains, and they are looking pretty dark and thundery. So, for a change, I’m posting up a blog first thing in the morning and then going to the shops to get what’s needed for the day, before the rain starts. I will just nip out and open the tap to the sterna, so that I can collect as much rain water as possible.

Okay, done that. What does the weekend hold in store? Well, by the looks of it from my window, a wet one for Symi generally, but here at the house… We have friends coming for lunch later, hence the need for speed and shopping, so there’s that to prepare and enjoy, and then… well, that’s it. It’s one of those no-planner weekends with nothing on the card apart from some coursework. This is for both of us. Neil is taking a qualification in Global Citizenship, and now has his course materials, and a lot of work ahead.

My next assignment is much simpler: I have to come up with a story, a real life event, and write it from four different points of view and in four different structures. Each ‘story’ is only 300 words long, so it’s not like popping out four novels or anything. I have a story in mind and aim to get it done and dusted by Sunday evening. That’s my weekend homework. But, if the weather clears up, I might go out for a walk as well. We headed down to Yialos yesterday to get some shopping and ended up sitting outside the kafeneion as it was so warm. That’s not going to be possible today, not unless you have a coat, umbrella and all the necessary gear to scale the South Col at Everest.

Actually, it’s not that cold, yesterday was colder, but it’s still not that pleasant, as it isn’t around here sometimes. But it will only be a matter of days before it’s back to normal and we’re all saying how warm it is. I hope. So, whatever you are going to do now: remember to share the blog, share the Symi news and our take on it, and have a good weekend.

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Power cuts
Another thing that you might want to know about, especially if you were considering staying on Symi for any length of time; power cuts. I mention this because I am currently writing this in one, with my laptop on battery for a couple of hours; I will post it up later on when, hopefully, the power comes back on.

What causes them? Well, electricity not flowing through cables I guess. Why that happens though, I have no idea. I do know that it is not a problem at our house as the first thing you do when you are plunged into darkness is check the fuses. Actually, I was plunged into daylight this morning as the power went off at around 7.45 and it was light. That doesn’t help when you are researching online and have your writing stored up in the cloud. So, check the fuses and make sure they are all where they should be; up. If they are down, then there is a problem somewhere on one of your circuits. All up means the problem lays outside somewhere and outside your control. So what do you do?

Well, usually you ask your neighbours or send a text to a friend to see if they have power. That way you start to isolate the area affected. Sometimes it’s the whole island, other times, as was the case last week, it’s only a small area in your neighbourhood. Occasionally (and I’ve not heard this for a couple of years now) you get a warning, an announcement or, more likely, word of mouth around the village. Someone actually knows in advance when there is going to be a power cut so you can prepare. Today there was no warning, so I was not prepared.

And now you are going to ask how do you prepare? Well, for a start you fill up water bottles with tap water so you can wash up, boil the kettle and flush the loo, though not all at the same time. You might also want to get a gas burner in if you don’t have one, so you can boil water. If you have an open fire you might want that ready – it’s not windy this morning but it is cold and there is no heating. And you may also want to get candles and torches ready for when it starts to get dark. We have candles in certain places and a torch always in the same place just in case.

And so what do you do when there’s no power and you can’t use your computer (for long) or have no internet connection? Imagine the horror of it for some: they wouldn’t be able to sit staring at their phones all day checking Facebook every 30 seconds in case something has changed, wasting hours of their lives seeing who had what for breakfast and how a dog gets on so well with a cat, and how the whole world hates Donald Trump and yet keeps voting for him, and how the UK Prime Minister is a hypocrite, and yet someone still voted for him too and how… And no online games, no instant television, no films, no nothing. What do you do? (Hysteria mounting.) Well, I usually start with the housework and get jobs slated for later in the day, out of the way so that when it comes back on I can get back to my work without then having to do the chores later. Then there’s the courtyard to tidy up, litter tray to empty, bedroom to tidy, bed to make, floors to sweep, books to read, books to write (remember longhand?), coursework to do (ditto), there’s always something to dust and clean and if that all gets done and it’s still not back on, there’s always a long walk. Maybe to the electricity company to see what’s going on.

And now I am going to check out some photos and load them up to go with this ramble and then go and set about the housework, once I’ve shouted across the lane to Andreas to ask if he has power at his house, just to be sure.

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On a lighter note
After yesterday’s not so positive frustrations you will be pleased, and no doubt relived, to hear that the internet has been fine so far today (Wednesday). It’s like that around here, off and on, and that’s one of the main frustrations; not knowing what you are dealing with.

Living on a Greek island, there are always going to be frustrations but the fun and light side of life usually outweighs them. You have to put a brave face on things and a happy one too. I remember, years ago, going to get my residency permit organised at the police station. That took a bit of doing I can tell you. It’s not so much the fact that there were not that many police on the island at the time, or the fact that the ‘cast’ change every now and then so you don’t always get to be known and recognised (thus having to answer the same questions and prove the same things each time you visit), it was more to do with the fact that everyone there seemed surprised that I wanted to register. You don’t need to, I do, ask the council, they say to come to you, well go and ask them again, they say the same thing, then get them to do you a form saying you are able to register, why? I have a passport, yes, but it will give us time to investigate what we need to do, okay, thanks for doing that, now come back in two days when the right person is here, hi, I came two days ago… Who are you and what do you want? I want to register, well go and see the council, we’ve done all that, oh, well try this form then (produces ancient piece of Gestetner, hand-rolled, copy paper smelling of flu jabs and irons it out, squints at it and passes it over), okay, done that now what? Come back in two days. Hi, I’m back. Who are you? And so on, until, finally, after six weeks, the papers were stamped and a card issued. Take it to the council; Hi Town Hall, here’s my card… It’s the wrong colour… Ad infinitum. But you keep smiling.

Of course, Greece is known for the mystery of its bureaucracy which has been the subject of many a tale and article, investigation and archaeological dig and, even with the new streamlining of the system (i.e. sacking lots of people), it’s still not much better. Mind you, the doctor and medical set up is now computerised so you don’t need a book, with photos, stamped by various doctors on a different island and produced each visit with new stickers in it from the insurance office (or maybe you do, who knows?); you just need your AMKA number and there you are; your records should be on the system. Mind you, around here it works better than in larger towns in that the doctor usually knows who you are and recognises you. And being a friend of his/hers on Facebook helps a lot.

So, no struggling with bureaucracy today, only in that I had to look up how to spell the word. It’s one of those that gives me instance word-blindness, like about 70% of other words in the English language. Instead, we’re battling with a cold wind, coming from the north-east judging by the movement of the waves on the sea. And that’s going to be fun as, after posting this and getting ready, I have to head down to Yialos to go to the bank and get the rent money out. I went yesterday but the machine was temporarily out of service; there were clunking sounds from off stage and some shouted words of advice which I translated as either someone filling it or robbing it. Either way, I went away empty handed, so, I’ll head off into the cold wind and clear skies now and see if I hit the jackpot this time.

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