Tuesday morning Symi
Just a few words this morning as I’m already running late. It’s on mornings like this that you don’t want to be out in a small boat doing your fishing at seven in the morning. It’s not particularly cold, though it’s not warm, it’s not windy, but it is rather overcast and it looks like there could be rain on the way today. And down below, in the bay, there is one small, lone fishing boat; the rest of the sea is clear, lonely.

This is the first time in ages I’ve written a post actually on the day of the post, as I usually do them in advance now, but I got caught up in things yesterday and never got around to it. So, straight from bed, straight to the roof for some photos and then straight to the desk and no idea what to tell you. There has been no earth-shattering news from Symi that I am aware of, everything ticks over rather quietly. We have had no refugees arrive for a couple of weeks, the scheduled boats have been coming and going and the Christmas decorations are still up in certain parts of the island, but that’s all par for the course at this time of year. The bins get emptied…

Things continue to run as usual and also rather smoothly and I continue to do my thing. I did do some work on another writing project over the weekend, leaving the Donkeys to fend for themselves for a day or two. I started work on another story idea that’s been floating around for a while now, as stories tend to do. It’s slowly developing in my mind as I work on several other projects (must sit down and finish one at some point) but the weekend was a turning point in ‘getting it out’ (of the imagination and onto paper). At least, the rough structure is down, the timeline, the outline of characters, the logline, synopsis and basic structure questions: who, where, what, why, how, will, whether, and many others starting with W and ending with a ?

So -that’s at least some good, creative news from over the weekend. That and the fact that Neil bought some drops for the cat’s eye and we’ve administered the proper stuff twice now and, later this morning, I shall do battle with him again (the cat) and see how his poorly eye is doing.

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Symi in the winter
This time Monday feels like the first Monday back to work after Christmas. Even though I did do some work last week, it still felt too festive to settle right back into it. But today is the day.

I am not sure how many people are working down in Yialos though, as Symi in the winter continues to feel very quiet – more so than I have noticed in other year’s. We were down there on Friday and had a walk around and, as you will see from some of the photos, there was hardly a soul about. The ferry had been in so no doubt some of the population was over on Rhodes getting things done, others staying indoors, others away still for the festive period. There would be no trouble finding a table at this time of year, unlike the busy days of summer, but the trouble isn’t so much finding a table but finding an open taverna. But that’s how it is on Symi in the winter.

I imagine it is very similar on other island or even quieter on some; I wonder what Tilos is like at this time of year. It would be possible to go and find out though I’d have to stay for a week, or else travel via Rhodes as our only direct connection is on a Friday night. You can get up and down the islands without too much hassle during the winter, there are three trips up from Rhodes to the other Dodecanese islands via Symi, though not all to the same destinations; you can reach Patmos only on a Sunday, but on a Monday and Saturday you can reach Agathonisi, should you wish to pop in there for five minutes (it doesn’t stop, just turns right around and heads back down the line of islands again).

But I’ve got no plans to go anywhere until March when the annual MOT becomes due – the health insurance covers me for a round of annual check-ups courtesy of AXA. I’m saving up to invest in new glasses too, so might get the full package this year. I usually do this in March every year, or April, as the resulting telling off by the doctors usually inspires me on to get back out on my early walk regime… something I will do when the weather is warmer. Meanwhile, walking up the Kali Strata once or twice a week will have to do and it’s still more exercise than I used to get in car-obsessed Blighty in a month.

Anyway, I didn’t sit down here to ramble and yet I can’t help myself. I should now sign off and get on with some work as this is, after all, the first real day back at work after Christmas. But maybe I’ll just go and get the binoculars out and see what’s going on out at sea first, or put some ointment in the cat’s eye – actually I need to go the pharmacist and get some first, I am running him on weekend-make-do treatments at the moment. He’s got a touch of conjunctivitis (as diagnosed by a private word with the Royal Personal Physician (thank you again for the advice)) which needs some antibiotic drops. As often happens on Symi, the cat needs something but there is no ferry to Rhodes for five days (as he went down with this on Friday morning) so you improvise and visit the pharmacy, both of which are very good at helping with animal medicine when they can. So, after those distractions are dealt with I might get down to some work at last.

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Facebook and Symi Dream
I’m not sure if it’s the same today (I will check in a moment) but yesterday we had a slight glitch with a widget. I think something had updated within the workings of the site but something else wasn’t able to keep up. If you see a link on Facebook and it doesn’t link back to the site, bear with me while we sort the new upgrade out.

Technical news out of the way, what else is there to tell you? Well, Thursday started grey and very overcast with heavy clouds keeping back the sun. The sea as all shades of gunmetal and grey with darker parts where the wind was blowing, but no white caps, and lighter parts where the clouds above were not quite as dark. Later, all view was extinguished by heavy rain and a thunderstorm. Still a pretty amazing site from the office window though, and one which an old school mate was jealous of when he rang me…

This Facebook thing has certainly brought me up to date with some old school friends and others from way back when, but this was the first time I’d actually spoken to someone from all that time ago, 34 years to be exact. But it was great and we fell into a conversation really easily. We had been in school shows together, though we weren’t in the same year, so we had things to talk about. Mainly some school revues, ‘Cox and Box’, ‘Trial by Jury’ and ‘the Sound of Music’ which we were both in. Pete is now living in New Zealand after doing a similar thing to me (leaving the UK when in our thirties), where he has a wife and a son. It seems like only yesterday we were duetting on ‘The Buttercup’ with all that Fiddle diddle dum. Great to catch up with my Mr Box, Pete.

Okay then, a little background for those who are interested. My old comprehensive school was very good at theatre and music and all of the old school friends I remember or am still in touch with were friends made during shows and concerts, of which there were many. In my time as a teenage thespian I played: The art teacher in ‘Unman, Wittering and Zigo’, Lord Paul Posthumous in ‘Free As Air’, Bolligrew in ‘The Thwarting of Baron Bolligrew’, ‘Max in ‘The Sound of Music’, something in ‘The Mikado’, Cox in ‘Cox and Box’ and the Judge in ‘Trial by Jury.’ I was, outside of school, also in several other shows including playing Charles in ‘Blythe Spirit’ and Ali Hakim in ‘Oklahoma’ the finale of which always foxed me as I could never get the spelling right. There should be an ‘a’ in Oklahoma. (Oaklahoma. Yes, I know, but that’s how my mind works.)

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Quick Thursday post
Quiet days on Symi in the winter. Very quiet, actually. In fact, taking a walk yesterday afternoon we hardly saw anyone, even when we came back into the village square mid-afternoon. Rainbow is closed for a while but Lefteris’ is open, and the weather was warm, usually there would be someone outside the kafeneion, or inside, but no. It all feels very quiet indeed around here at the moment…

But that’s kind of standard for this time of year. Many people are away, or have gone away to work, while others are staying in, resting after the season and saving what little money they may have made and saved for the winter. There are some festivals happening through these winter months, like Epiphany yesterday, plus other church events and people will get to together there and meet up. Later in the winter there will be the carnival too, but with Easter being late this year in Greece (Great Sunday is May 1^st this year but 27^th March in the UK) carnival and Lent will also be late.

But still, we had a good short walk around the road behind our house. This road gives you views down to the back of Yialos and the hills on the other side. You can also see the back of the village when you round the corner by the second bin collection point, where other stray cats are being looked after. And then the road bleeds off into the village lanes, with an option to head down the Kateractis to Yialos if you want to.

It’s still a bit cloudy and grey around here at times, and more rain is promised for today, but at least it has warmed things up a bit. The Blue Star came and went on Wednesday, back to its usual timetable after the Christmas and New Year period, and the catamaran has also been doing its trips from and later back to Rhodes, though the island is still without a boat on certain days of the week and you can only really spend any time in Rhodes, if on a day trip, on a Friday, which often results in arriving back later than you hoped. But I don’t hear anyone complaining, at least not yet and I’m certainly not complaining. But then I am not intending to leave the island for a couple of months unless I absolutely have to. And on the subject of have to: back to work.

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A Brief History Ramble

I am reading a history book at the moment, it’s a really good one that I bought for Neil for Christmas. (Tip: always buy them something you can share, it feels like you are halving the price of the purchase.) The book has a rather in-depth title: “Great Tales From English History: Cheddar Man to DNA: A Treasury of True Stories of the Extraordinary People Who Made Britain Great” and was written by Robert Lacey. It’s informative, funny at times, easy to read and gives you some amazing little stories.

The stories are not as in-depth as the title, but they provide you with interesting outlines of things from English history. He also puts different spins on some of the tales, while showing up some as myths. Alfred and the cakes for example: not cakes and probably not a real event, but shush, don’t tell anyone. I’m back in the dark ages at the moment, in terms of where I am in history, and it’s all very interesting. Did you now the Vikings got as far as Spain and that Russia is named after a Viking settlement? Hmm, interesting. Each chapter or tale is only a couple of pages long making it a perfect ‘pick up and put down’ book. You can catch a story while waiting to use the loo (or while on it), or you can read a whole century’s worth while waiting for a bus. There are three volumes in total and you could probably read all three several times through while waiting for a hospital bed in certain parts of the kingdom, so there you go.

While thinking about history in general, and while taking a break from writing ‘Donkeys’, I had a quick check up of what else happened on this day in history, January 6^th – Epiphany in the church calendar, the day after the 12^th Day of Christmas and the day local men are, as we speak, throwing themselves in the cold grey sea to retrieve the cross, after the church service and blessing of the waters and boats, before parading said cross around the town and village and raising money for their church. (Search the blog for more detailed posts about Epiphany on Symi.) But before you do that, what else went on, on this day in history?

1066: Yesterday, Harold has his eye on becoming king. Today, January 6^th, 1066, Harold II was crowned king of England. He didn’t last very long in the post as someone else had their eye on the throne and, on October 16^th, Harold said, ‘No!’ and William said ‘Aye!’ And someone shouted, ‘Keep your eyes peeled for arrows.’ But Harold didn’t and the eyes had it. Allegedly.

The news didn’t travel very fast because Morse had not yet invented the telegraph (or any other national newspaper). He didn’t get around to demonstrating it until today in 1838, by which time we’d had a few more Williams on our throne and no more Harolds. In other disturbing news, it was on this day in 2001 that a Bush won the USA elections and, in 1975, 2,000 Led Zeppelin fans trashed a theatre in Boston. And finally, here’s one for Neil, though he probably knows it already: Superman made his debut in a comic strip on this day in 1939 – and although you won’t find that in Robert Lacey’s excellent book, you will find all kinds of other fascinating history. Check the book out here.

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