Alarm Cat update
I am going to sign off this week with an Alarm Cat update mainly because we haven’t heard from him for a while. Well, we have, at five in the morning, but other than that… Oh and again at half five and six too, and sometimes after six, and just before seven. We’ve heard from him after that as well as breakfast wasn’t waiting for him on his entry, and then we heard him some more again later when he wanted to go outside. It’s outside, when it is sunny, that he likes to get his finger exercises in and also catch a few rays. It’s the cat’s ‘catch and scratch’ time, you might say if you were to Think Jack.

The other week we bought him a scratching post from the pet shop. It’s gone ignored until today when I put it in the only place I could think of where he might be encouraged to actually use it: On the old outside bench. But, as you will see, it’s slightly redundant as he already uses the entire bench as a scratching post. We don’t mind. We cover the bench up in the summer to avoid splinters. It’s getting on a bit and comes with a story, though not much of one. We chipped in to buy it for some friends when they lived here; then later, when they moved off the island, we bought it back from them. Seems a bit odd, but that’s how things sometimes go around here. It now serves as a bench for the summer (though we may well buy a new one this year) and a scratching post for the AC. This also means that he is not tempted to take his claws to the furniture inside the house. I was hoping he would take to his run-over squirrel or whatever the thing is, but so far he’s only bashed it around for a bit before getting back to serious bench scratching.

After this task, his next is to find somewhere to do some sunbathing. His favourite place in the winter is on the lower roof and, if possible, right on the edge of the porch overhang. He can’t see anything going on from up there but it gets more sun. He’s also rather keen on the bathroom roof in the summer, and also the front balcony for when he wants to see what’s going on in the ‘hood. He can’t get out there at the moment as we are closed up against the cold weather, so the porch roof will do for now.

Meanwhile, we are planning a walk on Sunday which we are looking forward to; I’ll try and get a blog post of some sort done on Sunday morning ready for Monday. The last two Monday’s blog posts have attracted record numbers of viewers for some reason. Over 1,400 unique visitors each day, as opposed to the standard 700 to 900 per day. I checked back to see what the posts were about and they were nothing remarkable really. Perhaps more people than usual had arrived at the Monday morning office and Googled around for holiday destinations to dream about and found Symi. I hope so. Anyway, off now, have a good weekend and don’t forget to ‘Think Jack.’

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Sunny yet cold
It’s a lovely winter morning out there this morning. The sea is calm, there is still some pink left on the hills by the rising sun, there’s not a breath of wind and the blue-grey sea is patterned with lighter coloured, flat rivulets. I finally got out of bed when the alarm went off at seven, even though the cat was outside all nigh making a hell of a row and had me awake more or less continuously since around five. No idea what the complaining was about, he’s quite happy now and he’s not usually that noisy during the night.

Anyway, it’s Friday, I didn’t get this ready yesterday and I have won ken up with two tasks to do. One, I’ve been asked to help put the credits list together for the film and two, I have some Donkey work to do. That’s easy enough but as for remerging who did what for the film over two years ago now… We’ve already got a kind of list together and it’s now a case of going through it and double checking that no one has been forgotten. The thing is, if I have forgot ton, how will I know? So, I’m going to be very brief with this post this morning and head off to look at that and get it over with so I can then concentrate of Donkeys.

I’ll leave you with some pics I took on a walk down to Yialos yesterday. As you can see, the weather has perked up and although it’s still cold (in our north facing house at least), the sun is out and the sea looks good. I was down there, on the south side, yesterday wearing my village winter gear: thermals, four layers, and a coat – plus trousers and shoes of course. Boy was all that unnecessary… until I got home again. Sunny and yet cold sums it up at the moment.

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Olive, Feta & Ouzo (and some other news plus photos from last summer to warm us up)
I am just watching the Blue Star Diagoras coming in (sideways it looks like) on Wednesday morning. It’s calm and sunny out there and the boat is only a little bit late; a couple of hours. I think an afternoon walk might be in order, but that’s for later today. First, a piece of stunning news. The first (legal) civil union in Greece was conducted by Athens’ Mayor Giorgos Kaminis yesterday (Tuesday). You can see a fuller report here.

This means that, after posting this blog, I need to get back to ‘Shocking the donkeys’ the book I am working on that is all about a small island’s first civil ‘marriage.’ Equality within marriage is still not on the Greek statute books, but from today civil partnerships are legal, having been specifically outlawed as recently as 2008. Greece has come under fire for that piece of legislation, it seems to be coming under fire from all quarters recently, but a new law was passed a couple of weeks ago to ‘end a circle of embarrassment’ (Tsipras) that the country has been suffering. About time.

Meanwhile, going back a few days to when I posted links to a few blogs about living in Greece that I had found, here’s another one that you might like to add to your dream list and come back to regularly. Olive, Feta & Ouzo is a blog by Amanda Settle who lives on Rhodes. Amanda is also at the forefront of the refugee aid work in Rhodes, she gave us a guided tour of the facility when we there last November and she has been to Symi to meet with Solidarity Symi and share experiences. Her blog is a neat mix of personal observations and updates and general articles about living in Greece, being and Ex-pat and helping with refugees, among many other things. Click the link, take a look and I think you’ll love it. http://www.amandasettle.com/

And back to life on Symi. We were taken out to dinner last night (thank you Sue and Phil, a great time!) and we went to Georgio’s. Regular Symi visitors often ask what it’s like here in the winter and whether the tavernas are open. Georgio’s is one of the few that stays open through the year and we’re lucky that it’s only 30 seconds walk from home. Last night on the menu was fresh fish, as caught by Manolis who was on the next table, plus lamb chops in the oven (very nice) and the usual mezethes and salads. It’s warm in there, the atmosphere is fun even when it’s quiet as there is always a table of local chaps chatting and debating, and guests are made welcome at any time of the year.

Now, having posted this, I must email a man who may be designing book covers for me and then set about more Donkey work, before the usual daily routine of housework and cooking kick in. After that, perhaps a walk, and then the rest of the day will be given over to relaxing and enjoying life on Symi.

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Ela malaka! EU interior ministers please talk sense!
Some potentially bad and breathtakingly unfair news today, emerging from reports in Greek and other newspapers and on the broadcast news. Summed up by Greek Reporter as: “Europe is about to warn Greece that it has six weeks to stop migrants crossing from Turkey or it will be forced out of the Schengen zone for two years, says a London Times report.” I don’t think I am the only person who immediately sees the stupidity of this ruling, if indeed it is true. I am certainly not the only one to be outraged by it, though I am probably one of the few who doesn’t fully understand its political implications. I don’t go into all that, I simply look at the simple. And that ‘simple’ is: How?

Apart from anything else, apart from the fact that Greece is up to its meatballs in debt, its people are literally being crippled by pressures on services (hospital staff shortages, strikes etc.), apart from the pressure the government and country are already under to do the bidding of the EU, how on earth is anyone going to ‘secure the external borders’ when most of Greece’s border with Turkey looks like this:

It’s a bit ludicrous really when you think that Greece has 13,676 km of coastline and ranks 13th in the world in the table of longest coastline (2012). Not all of it is a border with Turkey of course, but a lot of what is, is simply made up of rocks and jagged rocks at that, and it’s all rather remote.

I wondered how the negotiations might go up at the EU headquarters when they sit down to talk to the Greeks about this issue.

EU: So, Greece, it’s now up to you to stop refugees and migrant workers, asylum seekers and immigrants coming through Turkey. If you don’t then we’ll take our Schengen toys away and then boot you out of the agreement that no country is supposed to be booted out of, or else the Union starts to fall apart. Okay?
GREECE: Ela malaka! I’ve not even finished my coffee yet.
EU: How are you going to pay for it?’
GREECE: I’ll put it on my tab as usual and consider paying for it later. Perhaps.
EU: No, the new border patrols, the boats, the communications, the medical supplies needed, the staff, the paperwork and the housing you will have to give to all the migrants (of various castes) who will start to fill up your nearly-third world country over the next two years. How are you going to stop migrant flow and pay for it?
GREECE. Pou na xeroume?
EU: Say what?
GREECE: Dunno.
EU: Well, it doesn’t matter. It’s your problem now, it’s your fault that you happen to border with Turkey at sea and a little on land, and it’s your fault that we are basically dumping this problem on your ancient doorstep. Deal with it.
GREECE: So, what do you suggest?
EU: We suggest that it’s not our problem. We’ll just block Greece off from the rest of Europe and expect you to deal with it. And, by the way, can we have our money back too?
GREECE: If you are going to be like that about it, we’ll just go back to the Drachma and invite others to do the same. Then we won’t owe you anything and we can keep the ‘donations’ you gave us to pay for the increase in population until the country descends into a riot and you have a border war to deal with. Sound okay with you?

And so it could go on. I can’t be the only one who thinks that this proposal, if it gets passed through whatever committees and groups it needs to be passed through, is at best unfair and at worst a annexing of a struggling country by more affluent countries and leaving it to struggle further. Apparently half a million displaced people arrived in Greece last year (according to the Express online) which represents around 4.5% of the 11m population of the country. Which means, in theory, that by the end of this year the country could have grown by 10% and that 10% is made up mainly of people fleeing a war Greece had nothing to do with. The country would then have to house, clothe and administer that extra one million. Unless it uses its “one of the biggest navies in Europe” (Austrian interior minister Johanna Mikl-Leitner) to repel borders at its coastal borders, the EU will do what it has been trying to stop happening and cut out one of its own union countries. That makes no sense either.

Hopefully tomorrow I’ll have something else to blog about. Something that doesn’t raise the blood pressure and make one want to bonk some safely removed and unaffected EU officials on their empty heads.

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Symi cold, windy, now calm…
I sound like the shipping forecast. Rising Dogger, Blight, westerly…

After yesterday’s long and winding ramble, I thought just a few photos today. I am actually in the middle of some Donkey work and thought, ‘I must get a blog ready for tomorrow.’ Then I realised I am running low on images, so apologies if these are all a bit samey these days.

I’ve not been out much, it’s a bit chilly. Over the weekend we had all the shutters shut against the wind – the wind which pulled the eye from my office shutter so I can’t now hook it back; the wood looks to be a bit rotten so I need to think of an alternative. I won’t use a rock as we do on other shutters as the soldier next door hangs his underwear and uniform out to dry directly under my window and we don’t any accidents. I feel a wedge coming on. (Nothing to do with the soldier’s underpants, I mean for holding the shutter back.)

The house is pretty dark without the shutters open and if I keep my office ones closed I don’t see any daylight, apart from that which leaks through the small kitchen window. There’s keeping warm and there’s enjoying the view, but the two things are not compatible when there is a north wind in January and it’s down to around five degrees (minus temperatures and ice are reported from the Pedi valley). But, I’ve been brave, I’ve had a shower first thing in the morning – no mean feat when the water pump decides not to work willy-nilly, as it has been doing of late – and I’ve spent today so far in thermals, five layers, gloves and hood. I may well finish this now and then go and camp out in the sitting room where yesterday we had both heaters running full tilt. The room was just about warm enough to take the blanket off my knees about half an hour before going to bed.

But, in other news: Symi had its ‘Vasilopita’ party on Sunday – the cutting of the new Year cake; that took place down at The Opera House function room. Georgio’s is still open and we’ve been saying for weeks that we must go there; we’ve not been since before Christmas. Every time we come up with the idea of going for dinner we then discover that we are holed up in the siting room and too warm to want to go out. One day soon! And while out and about, as I must be at some time or else I’ll go bonkers, I shall try and take some more interesting photos.

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