We all got a bit of a shock on Monday night, around nine, when an earthquake/tremor struck just off Symi, between Symi and Rhodes actually. It was a 3.9, which isn’t particularly big, but it was only 2k down and fairly close. Some people didn’t notice but we heard a huge bang that sounded like an explosion and then a rumble that went on for a few seconds. Some people in Rhodes have been talking about it sounding very loud there, while others didn’t notice it. I suppose it depends on where you are and how close you might be to the fault line and the shockwaves.

Good, so the earth has let off a bit of steam. It’s been a while since we’ve had any noticeable tremors, a couple of years ago we had loads through one month, November I think it was. Apparently there’s an underwater volcano not far away. Don’t let that put you off your Symi holiday though; we’re solidly built on rock.

And talking of Symi holidays, it looks like now is the time to get your Euros in and book (and pay for) your accommodation; the exchange rate between the Euro and dollar (US) and Sterling is looking favourable. Who knows how long this will last though? It’s also time for us to think about our off-Symi holiday and we have started planning for our next great adventure. And where are we going?

Rhodes for a night or two, yippee! It’s that check-up time of year again, or will be in a couple of weeks. And it’s pre-season shopping time, as once the bar work and season starts we won’t be as free to pop over the water for a day or two at the shops. Not sure when yet. I’m not sure how Jack cat will take to being left alone at the new house for a few days, he’s still not 100% settled and is still jumpy, probably because his paw is still ailing him and he feels a bit vulnerable. But as long as we can arrange for his litter tray to be changed and his food to be presented he should be fine. He is, after all, a cat; it seems to be only he who has not realised this yet.

As you can see from the photos I went out and about- this was Tuesday morning actually- and was out and back before the sun. I’d been awake since 5.15 thanks to the Alarm Cat’s insistence and so, at 6.10 thought I might as well go out and get it over with. I was back by seven by which time the sun was up but behind the clouds.

I gave our postman bit of a shock later in the day. I heard someone calling for ‘Daskale’ (Daskalos = teacher, which is what a lot of people call our landlord, because he was their teacher), so went out to see who and why. And there was our postie in the courtyard. He was more surprised to see me come out of the house than I was to see him in the courtyard. I explained that our landlord had moved across the road and we lived here now. He went on to explain that there was a package for us at the jewellery shop, and that one had been given to him by the DHL courier to be kept for us at the post office because the DHL courier didn’t know who we were. (Which is wrong, as they usually ring us and tell us we have a package, I think it was because our landline is unplugged at the moment, so they couldn’t ring). Anyway, all that info was exchanged and the postie now knows where we live, though we continue with the PO Box as our way of receiving the mail.

Don’t know why I told you that, something related to shocks perhaps? Off now, so have a good day and remember to go and book your Symi holiday. Best do it now before you forget.

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Monday morning walk. After getting some jobs done around the house and a bit of work at the desk, I headed out to get some jobs done out and about.

First stop, the hardware store in the village, passing, en route, two tourists heading towards the museum, or at least following the signs. I was so gobsmacked to see tourists (you can tell them from the outfits) that I didn’t tell them it wasn’t open. Anyway, they looked like they needed the exercise. But the hardware store excursion: This was the one near the doctor’s surgery that you could easily pass by without noticing. In fact I’ve done that once before. Now I know where it is though, I’ve become a regular. Inside you find there are aisles and all the products are laid out in neat rows so you can see what there is. This saves you the embarrassment of asking for a length of small pigmy when in fact you only wanted a hosepipe. It also prevents any misunderstanding when dealing with plumbing, ballcocks in particular, and makes things a lot more comfortable for everyone concerned.

I was looking for ‘ose. What? Rubber ‘ose? ‘No, Os, letter Os, for the gate… Yeah, yeah, I know. Fork ‘andles. What’s that? Four candles. No, no, no, fork ‘andles, ‘andles for the garden fork. And so on. (See, ‘The Two Ronnies’ hardware store sketch.) I was actually looking for a length of hose to connect the trap thingy under the sinks to the overflow widget. The current ones are both cracked and if too much water goes down the sink in one go it backs up and starts to flow the wrong way, i.e. into the cupboard and out onto the floor. I saw something that looked suspiciously like what I’d measured (with my thumb) but decided it was best to leave it to an expert as it means taking the whole gadget apart, and I may not get it back together again if I did that.

So, declining the kind offer of help, saying I was only looking, which I was, and then heading out of the door (being given two complementary cigarette lighters for my trouble) I headed off to the supermarket. George was having a quiet morning. There was no sign of the guys carrying boxes around, no piles of incontinence pads on the wall waiting for homes, no determined old ladies piling up shopping on the counter and then heading off more things and piling them up on top, no one getting their aggouri mixed up with their neighbour’s kolokithi, none of this accidental swapping of pantoploion that can cause so much hilarity and riot. In fact it was very quiet. I added to the lack of rush by only needing to buy six waters, a yoghurt and a red washing up bowl.

And then, after dropping them home, it was my turn to play the part of Sir Henry Norris, Groom of the Stool, and clear out Sir’s litter tray. That done, I headed off down the Kali Strata to collect a new bag of the stuff and headed straight for the pet shop. (Just up the steps past the Kalodoukas office, bottom of the Kali Strata, by the carpenter’s, opposite Freddie’s Chrysalis shop…You’ll find it.)  There I had a chat with (excuse me, embarrassed, can someone drop me the name?) the ‘pet shop boy’ about cats and how he came by his collection – strays born in the ruin opposite attracted to the shop by the birds he has there. And from there I proceeded to carry the five kilo bag of litter back up to home.

But I went a different route to the usual, as it was such a pleasant morning. Past the accountant’s office (keep your head down), and then first right and up, and along and towards, ‘Where does this go?’ and past, ‘Oh I know where I am now,’ and towards, ‘That looks interesting,’ taking shots of various things as I went. Having passed three chickens, several cats and a downhill tourist (camera, backpack, bewildered look and everything), I finally came out next to the large house next door to us and made it home only slightly humming.

And so, here we are, Tuesday morning, and I wonder what today will bring. More cat litter and privy chamber duties I have no doubt.

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Good morning and welcome to Monday, and the start of a ‘settling down’ week. After a wonderfully bonkers weekend in our house, I think we can at last start getting back into a routine. At least, that is my intention.

On Saturday we took a walk down to Yialos to pick up a few things needed for the god-boys’ tea that night: mainly sausages and beans, and bought a couple more items for the house from Christalos. Also included: A cup of coffee at Elpida’s café, a walk around the harbour, escaping the rain by ducking into Pacho’s and then by taking a taxi back up because, by that time, we also had three bags of shopping.

Saturday afternoon and the boys and their mum came for tea, and then the evening disintegrated into a 1980’s quiz session and impromptu sing-a-long. (It’s a good job we don’t have any attached neighbours.) And then on Sunday, Neil spent the morning cleaning the house and cooking while I got on with a few bits and pieces; putting up pictures and cleaning out the litter tray, and so on. And after the boys have been back for Sunday lunch (their mum was on a health and safety course for two days, and yes, they do happen here), we had some friends up for a Sunday afternoon drink in the courtyard, moving inside later when the sun went down, as it’s still quite cold.

So, a busy and pleasant weekend now leads to a quieter week. But this is the week I settle back into my routine, at least that is the aim. It’s been difficult to do so far, what with moving house and moving in, but I feel now that I can set aside my two hours every afternoon to get on with my writing or my course… The course I have still not started, but intend to. I have some background reading to do though, so that’s a start.

This morning, and every morning for the next two weeks, Neil is off to aerobics, tonight is the tap class, and then Tuesday to Friday I intend to get out there and do my fast walking/jogging up the hill to the Kantina, or down the hill to Pedi, and back, or maybe get back to the To Vrisi walk. It’s all so much easier when I can get up at 5.30 or 6.00 and not be cold, get out and back just as the sun is coming up and still be at my desk by 7.00, but those days will soon be on us.

So, here’s to the week ahead. The sun is shining, the weather forecast is set for fair but cool, from 16 degrees today to 10 at the weekend, and I can’t think of anything else to tell you this morning so will go and get on with my stuff… Oh yes, that was it. While getting ‘Lonely House’ together I am also going to start on ‘Stuff and Nonsense’, a new book. It will be a collection of, well, stuff and nonsense, some of which will be Symi/living in Greece based, other stuff will be tales of travel from the past, and other nonsense about life in general. Not sure when that’s going to be ready, but I intend to start on it this week.

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Here’s the latest news from Symi Animal Welfare.

“Finally, we are seeing more sunshine than rain and the island’s cat population is ‘coming out to play.’ Those which have survived the awful weather conditions of the last few months can be seen basking in the warm rays or chasing after imaginary butterflies or birds, the cats like the people have suddenly come to life once again.  Most of the feeding supplies have long since gone but we ask volunteers to at least try to provide a twice-weekly meal at their feeding-station until after Easter; we are currently in the Lent period so any meat scraps are few and far between, however, pasta & biscuits are gratefully received by the bin-cats.

Slowly, restaurants & businesses are re-opening and many of the owners tend to put food out for their local cats as do returning residents.

This year, we are going to ask some of the business owners to keep a water-bowl filled up near to their premises – the warmer it gets, the greater the need for available fresh drinking water is.  One of our supporters who has a summer house on the island, has kindly offered to donate a number of suitably-sized plastic containers for this purpose.

As you are aware, our work depends entirely upon donations so we were delighted to receive one from Australia this week.  Yvette Berkeley, the volunteer vet who visited Symi at the end of last year mentioned Symi Animal Welfare to one of her surgery clients and she contacted us to find out how to make her donation.  She loved our website www.symianimalwelfare.org and just how easy it is to make a donation whether large or small.  We will be ordering a specialised cage, recommended by a colleague at Greek Cat Welfare, useful for both nursing & catching feral cats, paid for thanks to this generous, distance sponsor.

Tove, our vet-week co-ordinator and her husband aren’t too well at the moment, so their traditional, early Spring return to Symi has been delayed.  Last November when they returned to Denmark, she took back a kitten she’d been caring for since birth – Daphne is thriving apparently in her new, flower-filled garden.  Please join us in sending Tove & her husband Ib, best wishes for a speedy recovery……Melanie, Suzan, Claudia & Hazel”

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Today’s photos were taken yesterday. Some of our walk down to Pedi where a little jogging was involved, and some at home where Jack is still suffering with a damaged paw.

I had a look at it in detail yesterday, as much as he would let me, and found that he’s ripped a claw out, almost. He must have been fighting, or else got it stuck while executing some kind of acrobatic (unlikely) jumping from roof to a pole or something (very unlikely) and one of his from paw claws is not quite completely attached to his finger, or whatever they are called.

It’s not infected, nothing is swollen but we are keeping an eye on it just in case. If it shows signs of going nasty we will have to hold him down, apply some ointment and then start throwing antibiotics down his screech. If that doesn’t work then he’ll have to go to Rhodes for a vet visit, but we are hoping that won’t be necessary as it distresses him so much and absolutely kills our arms, carrying a six kilo cat around the old town for an afternoon.

Meanwhile, he’s limping and standing with his paw raised, but he’s not distressed over it, he’s getting about, doing his business, making a lot of noise, getting bored, bothering me, eating, drinking and using his littler tray, so it all seems fine as can be expected. I am hoping it will heal up on its own. What with that and his smelly breath, tatty ears, and skin condition on his nose, he’s turning into a right old Bagpuss.

So, that’s your Jack news for the time being. What else has been going on? Not a lot really, not for me at any rate. A few days at home, some writing, looking around for a possible course to do during the summer – on line, to do with writing, that’s affordable and purposeful, and some house tidying. That’s something I’ve noticed about the new house, you (me) feel more inclined to sweep floors, tidy up and put things away. Perhaps it’s because it’s new, perhaps because it’s a big bigger and more open plan and you can see when things don’t look quite in place. I don’t know, but it’s a nice house to look after.

Which is what I shall go and do now. That and look after the cat.

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