Don’t miss the boat
Friday morning: I was just out on the balcony (a bit blustery and cool, but not unbearable) and watched the Blue Star coming in, only two hours late. It looks like it was very busy with a students’ football or basketball team heading over to Rhodes in their jackets and with their bags. The late arrival is a knock-on from Thursday’s late departure from Piraeus, which was in itself a late arrival knocked on from Wednesday and Symi – perhaps other islands too.

Neil went down to the boat on Wednesday to help with the taking off of several boxes from Rhodes. The refugee organisation on Rhodes has closed down. I am not too sure why, something to do with bureaucracy or something, sad, but understandable in a country where bureaucracy still rules. They have arranged to send their supplies to other islands that need them, so some came to Symi. I was at home working on The Film, as I have mentioned this week, but had a text saying ‘The boat is here.’ I looked out and sure enough, there it was, blowing its horn and coming in sideways. I went back to the film. About an hour later I had another text, ‘Still not here.’ So I looked out of the window again and saw it just coming around the south headland. What? Déjà vu.

There then followed much horn blowing and manoeuvring as the boat tried to dock and, finally, managed to. Apparently (and I have heard a couple of stories so don’t know which, if any, is true), it had trouble getting in due to either a broken rope, a miss-dropped anchor or two, and the swell, which was definitely a cause. The people on board were waiting in the car deck behind the drop-down to get off, but after a while realised that nothing much was happening. It’s not possible to see where you are from there as the ‘gangplank’ is up so Neil was getting texts from passengers asking where they were. Are we by the clock tower? No, you are somewhere over near Nimos. This was during the in-out manoeuvring where it looked as if the boat would not be able to dock. It finally came in and dropped its back-ramp-thing and people and vehicles were able to get on and off, roughly two hours behind schedule.

Just goes to show you the joys of island living. The boxes were unloaded and stored and all came to a happy end. But it must have been very frustrating for everyone aboard. Imagine; you’re just back from a shopping trip in Rhodes, you’ve spent the day there and spent your money, and suddenly you can’t get home. Next stop is Kos where there is no sheltered harbour to land in, so you might still be worried that you won’t get off. Even if you did it would be late into the evening by then and you’d have to find a place to stay, pay for it and all the other necessary expenses and then wait for the next boat back which would be the same boat coming back on a Friday. Only, at Kos, it’s at something like 02.50 on a Friday morning, not wonderful. Mind you., there is a lot to see on Kos as there’s an ancient ruin around every corner (and I am talking about architecture, not inhabitants), but if you’d not planned and prepared for it, you might not find the place so appealing.

Anyway, a quick aside from the usual day to day to highlight one of the Inland Living problems we sometimes face over here. Have a good weekend and, while you are having it, here’s a fun quiz for regular visitors: Whose menu is this?

Symi news

Stepping aside from the debates about Europe and the lessons in punctuation, I thought it time we got back on track with our usual Symi updates; at least for now.

After a brilliant day on Tuesday, which was reminiscent of a summer’s day in England, hot in the sun and very calm, Wednesday dawned blustery and overcast. The Blue Star came in and looked as if it was being blown into port by the waves. This was just surface water being swept along in the direction of the harbour and you can see, as you watch form up here, how the wind works on the sea: patterns changing in the shades of blue/grey with some white sweeps of spray heading off in various directions. We nipped down to Yialos on Tuesday to pick up a new water pump, now fitted and working fine, bought some vegetables and then headed home; a flying visit.

The sad news of yesterday was that the priest who lived beside The Olive Tree passed away; his funeral was held yesterday. He had been unwell for some time but carried on patronising the Olive Tree for as long as he was able, with his daily coffee and chats with the ladies there while looking after his cat who often came to have coffee with him. He will be sadly missed.

In other news, the refugee aid station on Rhodes is, apparently, closing (I don’t know the full story) and some of their supplies are being shipped to Symi where Solidarity Symi will organise them and have things sent to where they are needed. Kastalorizo is currently having major problems. There is only a population of around 250 there but the last I heard they had over 800 refugees. They are very close to Turkey but only have one or two boats per week to Rhodes and onwards, and lack of facilities and space. Other articles on this subject read: “The latest figures from Frontex – the EU border security force, show 68,000 people crossed the Mediterranean to Greece in January. That’s 38 times the number that did it in January 2015. Over 400 died in Greece crossing in January. They’re expecting a massive surge in numbers this year compared to the relatively small number last year. Austria has now closed its borders, and the Greek PM is calling for an emergency meeting because Greece now has around 40,000 trapped in Athens (growing by the day) that aren’t now going anywhere.” Whatever your views on the refugee problem, it is clear that something more has to be done.

And in slightly more exciting news, at least for those who backed the film shot on Symi, ‘The Thirteenth,’ I have heard from the company that they are hoping to have a completed film ready to show backers next month. The sound work is nearly done, the colour grading is nearly done, and the credits lists have been finalised; they just need the editor to add them. If you are one of the backers who donated over a certain amount and have been asked to send in your photo for the end credit/thanks list, and if you have received another email recently to ask for a better quality image, then you need to get that sent off ASAP. The image needs to be head and shoulders (but not passport style in that you don’t need to look like someone just popped an eclair into the photo booth, or look like you are on remand or anything), but it also needs to be a big, original digital photo – shot on the best quality you can. The image may end up on a big screen and if you’re too low-res then you will come out as a blurred, pixilated mess. If it sounds like I am talking about you, then you can contact me to get more info.

And with that (and the film trailer, below) I’ll sign off for this morning and wish you a pleasant day.

Expats are country-less after 15 years, did you know?
The debate about this In/Out referendum thing has already started to rumble and grumble. Everyone has an opinion, of course, and everyone thinks their opinion is right. There have already been stories of ‘this would happen’ and ‘that would happen’ and ‘what a disaster’ and ‘we’re better off out of it’ and it’s the usual kneejerk reaction from a lot of people, as anything to do with change always is. In this case, it’s only the thought of change that seems to have sparked people off. It’s a debate that’s going to run and run until the votes are counted.

At the moment though it’s all speculation as I, for one, have not seen any lists or details of what it will mean to anyone; I’ve not seen any clarification on the effects an Out vote would directly have on me. I’m looking at the expat view of course my own view as there are potentially things that could affect me, and us, and everyone who is a UK citizen living abroad. But, until I get the definitive news on exactly what that means, then there’s no point getting all uppity about how those living abroad might be affected. But, the debate has raised another question and issue, and that is to do with the rule that: Anyone living away from the UK for longer than 15 years loses their right to vote. Whether you agree with this or not, this is the case.

And what that means for some folk here on Symi is that they can’t, at the moment, vote in any UK elections, despite the facts that they were born there, have paid their pension there, have paid taxes there, maybe own a house there, have family there and are British. A person of 15 years or more away from their homeland has no say in their homeland anymore. Okay, some people say ‘Why should they? They don’t live here.’ Fair enough, and some don’t have any contact with the UK at all, in which case those people probably would not care about a vote anyway. (Unless it means they can no longer live where they are living.)

But then there are others, those who stay in touch with what’s happening and have an interest in family, property, investments, land, savings, heritage, their mother country etc. All those things are still part of their lives and yet have no right to vote after 15 years away. Is that right? Is ‘because it’s how it’s always been’ a good enough answer to the question of why should they? Well, it’s up to the individual to decide on that one, but what some people may not realise is that these people don’t have the right to vote in their country of choice either.

No, not even if y are married here. Unless you become, in our case, a Greek citizen, you will, after 15 years away from your homeland (UK in this case) have no right to vote anywhere except in the local council elections in Greece and in the European elections (at the moment. Leave Europe and the only thing these folk can vote for is their local mayor). You cannot vote for the Greek government even though you pay your taxes here, contribute to the economy, work in the schools, the medical and other professions, you can’t vote in the UK as you no longer live there even if you do pay some taxes there (interest on savings, or other accounts etc.) even though you may own a property there, even though your loved ones, family, parents or children are there and affected by the government… You end up, after 15 years, being in a limbo of no-voice, and the only power you have over higher powers is the chance to vote in your local council elections and in Europe.

So, what do you do? Well, a lot of readers know Jean, founder of the famous Jean And Tonic Bar on Symi and Jean is one of those who fall outside of the 15 years; she is not alone. She has started a petition through Change.org to have this issue debated. Whether you think it’s a good idea or not, you may want to go and see the page and find out what this petition is all about. Support or not, it’s up to you, but it is a question worth debating at least. Only please don’t debate it with me. If in favour then add your name to the list of supporters and ‘sign’ the petition. If not, then simply don’t bother. After all, one doesn’t need to do anything to maintain a status quo, you just need to ignore other people’s views. Click here for the Petition.

Windy Symi
It was what you might call windy on Sunday. The sea was white with a hint of blue (do they still make those paint colours? ‘White with a hint of something nondescript’ etc.) and you could see the surface water being blown along over the sea. The patrol boat was out and about turning around constantly and ready for action, and it must have been pretty cold out there. It was pretty cold up here with the roof rattling and the wind blowing in under various doors. The new quilt curtain in the sitting room held out most of the gale and then doubled as a cover on the bed at night.

I spent some time pottering around with old CDs at the weekend, looking through that old pile of backups to see what was in them. I came across a couple of old plays I’d written, first draft of at least. One of them looks finished and tells quite a cute little story, I may use that again sometime. The other is a farce but I’d only written act one and a lot of very detailed notes. It’s called ‘Vile Bags’ and is about two old friends, in the musical theatre world, trying to practical joke each other all the time. All good fun until things go wrong of course. I am not sure I will do anything with that one as I haven’t studied farce structure and I know it’s not just a case of writing in a vicar who loses his trousers.

I also fed our strays, as we do just about every day. The only day they have to fend from the bins is when it’s raining as they are sheltering and their food would get washed away. But every other day one of us goes up there with leftovers and some biscuits and a tin of food. We regularly have around 10 bin cats and three chickens each day, the most we have seen there is 20 cats, two hens and a cockerel. I found some old bird seed I’d bought by accident so the chickens got some specialist food one day. We bought the huge sack of cat biscuits from Michaelis as the Symi Pet Corner, down at the bottom of the Kali Strata. He delivered it up to Georgios on his moped for us; next time we’re going to work on getting him to deliver it right to our door.

And then Monday came along and after a good night’s sleep, I was ready for the pump-repair man who came to fix our water issues. Sometimes it works, other times it doesn’t, and it sounds/feels like there is air in the system. Actually, as I am writing this he is still here, so I will have to let you know the outcome. I’m needed in the other house as our own cat wants feeding. Again. He’s looking at me with that stare of: ‘It’s been over half an hour since we last checked the kitchen what are you waiting for?’ Now he is starting to look really fed up, so I will stop typing and go and see to the master.

The joy of names – and some photos from the weekend to show you the changing weather

It was a weekend of changing weather with May-like temperatures and sun on Saturday (and other days recently) and a storm overnight followed by cloud and wind, but blue skies and certainly not cold, on Sunday. We were outside at a barbeque on Saturday in t-shirts, getting a tan and enjoying the view of the hills around the village, and some other malarkey.

Last week’s lesson in commas went down a lot better than I expected, and thanks for the comments. I’ll do more about that kind of grammar thing in due course, and there will be more discussion on the ‘Brexit’ referendum as time goes by too I dare say. Now that it’s official and a date is set, as I understand it, there is only one good outcome I can see from a ‘Yes’ (leave Europe) vote, and that is that David Cameron would probably have to resign. I’m not living in the UK so I don’t get all the details but from what I pick up from others in social media and on some news pages etc., it’s currently a close run thing between yes and no, but once word gets out that Cameron would resign if the country voted to leave Europe, then I can see everyone rushing to vote to leave, just to get rid of him.

The same that I see a lot of people wanting to vote to leave, thinking that it will mean an end to the immigration problems in Calais, the ‘Stack’ on the M20, and things like, ‘no more straight cucumbers, yippee!’ As if the answer to the ills of the world lay in the shape of a vegetable. These are, I think, pretty near-sighted reasons for leaving and come from folk who believe 100% what they read in their daily newspapers. And you know my thoughts on them! Particularly in regard to the old question, ‘Who is running the country?’ Answer: the gutter press, it seems. As for us; well, Neil is registered for a postal vote, no hassles there and me… Well, my story is a complicated one due to my name and variations thereof. I’ve just had a friend complete an ‘Attestation’ form for me to confirm that I am who I am. Why? Well…

I’m not going to go into details, but often people ask me why I am called James and I say because it is my name, and it is. Unfortunately I have two others and one of them has a variable and that variable was long used as my first name (which it isn’t) and so, when starting out at 18, I used it for banks, doctors, work, everything really, and also signed my name with it. Then comes along something called the Greek tax system and associated authorities and the issue of explaining that the name I am known by is not actually one of the names in my passport; so I reverted back to the real first name. In Greece, you see, not only do you need a first name (which comes second) and a last name (which comes first) you often have to use a family name as well. Example:

The barge working on the new jetty

At the Alpha Bank I am Collins James Richard (not my name, my father’s name). In the IKA system I was Collins James Richard Sar- party of my mother’s name. And in other cases I have been Collins James Edward Tobias Richard Sarah – just to add to the confusion. (Neil’s a Gosling Neil Ethel on at least one piece of official documentation.) So, when I applied to register to vote in the up-coming debacle, I was told that my info given did not match the info on file at Department of Works and Pensions. I assumed this was to do with my names. So I tried again, moving from putting my full name, as on my passport, to using the shortened version of the last name; still no good. I then wondered if it was a case of me having used the short version of my third name as my first name as I was always called by that name… But who knows? No one can help unless I fill out another form and post it off, which I will do this week. The joy of names, eh?