(Actually, I haven’t been anywhere, I was just suffering a Doris Day earworm as I wrote that title.) Suffering from a bit of wind you see, Friday, with shutters rattling and roof tiles clattering, the olive tree outside bending and flapping about and the Blue Star ferry unable to dock. Apparently it left several hopefuls stranded on the quayside after almost making it in. Such is Symi island life in the winter.

We took a walk on Thursday afternoon, just up and out along the valley path, via crazy dog, passing a couple of dog walkers and their rather large hounds, avoiding the poo left by dogs, their owners (I mean as in, no pooper scooper… you know what I mean!), sheep and goats (such is rural living) and up to the monastery. It had become a cloudy day as you might see from the photos I took, but still, a pleasant walk. We checked the museum on the way back. The outside looks, to me, to be finished. I have no idea what is happening inside but I did notice, over the wall, that the facia on the roof of the old servants’ quarters/house was as it had been; un-renovated but not removed.

We also walked by the supermarket on our way home in case there were any boxes to be had, but there were none. I must find out the best time to pop down there and collect some. I’ve already asked George (at the ‘American’) if I can take them, and it’s not a problem as they only throw them away. There is often a truck load of the things outside waiting to go to the bins, but I can’t remember what time of day that is. Still, there’s been no word yet on when we will be signing the contract for the new house and no desperate reason to rush around packing just yet. Moving in is still three weeks’ away.

And so to the weekend and what does that hold in store? Well, not a lot so far. Perhaps some packing and box hunting, perhaps a walk on Sunday if it’s not too windy and wild, perhaps a quiz, maybe some housework and sorting out, perhaps some writing, and possibly attending the opening of the new Well Being centre in Yialos – more about that, with photos, after we have been. The weather is set to be cloudy and wet over the next week or so, with a day off on Tuesday apparently, but with this mighty wind due to have calmed and settling in around four or five Beaufort only. Here’s wishing you a good weekend and I should be back with you on Monday.

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So, that’s one small cabinet emptied and a couple of large boxes packed. Strange how there seems to be more things outside of the cabinet than there were inside. At least the packing has started. Well, I’ve chucked a few books and things into a few boxes…

We went to the celebration for Brian yesterday, there was a minute’s silence, we had his non-religious order of ceremony to read, some of his favourite songs were played and many stories were told. Neil’s silver boat was floated in a bowl, and candles lit inside it – the closest we could come to a Viking send-off, and we stayed far too late. But it was a bitter sweet time and glasses were raised and the bells were rung as a mark of respect.

Thursday dawned bright and warmer than it has been of late and we were able to get on with a few things around the house. It’s now Thursday afternoon and we may be heading up the hill for a short walk, or perhaps along the valley to ‘To Virisi’, one of the monasteries that look down onto the valley.

Apart from that, there’s not much going on, not too much to report. So I’ll just put up this short blog and then get ready to go or a walk. That’s it. Short but sweet. I may not be funny but at least I’m quick.

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Just back from a very productive meeting with the new landlord and the agent – all extremely helpful and reassuring. I feel I can now start collecting boxes and start packing.

In a little while we are heading to the Sunrise kafeneion for a memorial gathering in honour of Brian, who lived on Symi for a while. You may remember Brian, he covered two years at the Rainbow Bar for Yiannis, and his wife Marj worked for various people on the island, including a season (or two?) at St Nicholas beach. They left Symi a couple of years ago due to Brian’s health and he passed away a couple of weeks ago.

He used to tell us that he wanted a Viking funeral. ‘Just put me in a boat and send me out to sea,’ he’d say. We did consider this and, at the time, joked about it. We would have to push it towards international waters so as not to create an incident between Greece and Turkey, and we’d have to fire flaming arrows from the cliffs and aim well. Otherwise he’d wash up in Datca or somewhere and would be difficult to explain. Today, instead, we are going to do the best we can, because that’s what you do when you live in a place like Symi.

Neil has made a boat from silver foil and we are going to put a charcoal ‘brick’ in it and maybe some frankincense, as you do in church. You then light the charcoal and it flares up, with smoke, and then calms down and glows and the incense melts and does its stuff. That’s the nice smell you find when wandering the lanes on warm days, often on a Sunday morning, though on any day is acceptable; it’s a way of purifying the house.

That’s the plan for the rest of the day. Afterwards I can see us coming home and not doing much by way of working; it feels like an odd day – the thoughts of Brian, of course, and of moving house, and of how Jack will settle in (the new house is the property of a ginger tom who lives there now and who will be living across the road, so they will have to learn to share the courtyard). Having been a housing manager for 11 years and a member of the Chartered Institute for seven of them, I know all the potential problems that house rental brings with it. But, after this morning’s meeting, I am confident that we are all in the right hands, Jack included.

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I thought it was time we had an update on the house move. Even though there is not a lot to report, I am sure some people will be interested to know the ins and outs of what moving house on Symi entails.

Today I am having a quick meeting with the new landlord and our agent from The Symi Estate Agent (www.thesymiestateagent.com) who has been very helpful and understanding. We are just going to make sure both parties are singing from the same hymn sheet to make sure everything goes smoothly, for the benefit of all.

Meanwhile, we’ve been looking at furniture and things we need. There are places where you can buy and order furniture and white goods on Symi, and these days you also have the option of ordering online. I’m going for a bit of both. I’ve found out that I might be able to get the supermarket in the village to arrange a fridge freezer for us (the old one is on its last legs and needs replacing). That would be handy as they would also deliver it. We’re looking at Ikea via Rhodes for some other pieces, which does involve someone on the inside knowing how the delivery system works, but we have our agent for that too.

I’ve also has a word with an electrician who is going to come and wire the cooker in when we get there, so that’s that job sorted out. We have also started planning our system of actually moving but there are some questions still to answer and an order of things to do. For example, we need to find out if the current landlord wants us to ‘do up’ this place before we go. As I understand it he’s going to be ripping everything out and starting again, so I don’t see the point of filing in holes made by shelves, and then decorating. But we will ask. This house was last fixed up in 1981, according to the date on the paperwork found with the old boiler.

Then we need to get our new contract with the hand-over date so we can start arranging the moving party. We will need at least two strong men to move the heaviest things for us (will be advertising and paying for this in due course), though Vasilis has already offered his motorbike flat-bed ‘truck’ if we want it, which is very kind of him. A couple of strong lads and a sack trolley should do the trick. (Sounds like a Victoria Wood line.) Then, keys in hand, we will go in, clean up and paint up if necessary and move things in bit by bit.

There will, at that time, also be the thing about moving the phone line and I may ‘go dark’ for a few days if we get cut off here without being switched on there. These are all things you have to take into account when planning a move and the more you plan the smoother it goes. You also have to bear in mind that the nearest road to us is still a way away and the ‘road’ outside the new house is too narrow for a proper truck, so physically moving is not going to be easy. But that is still a few weeks away. I just thought you might like an update on where we are.

Meanwhile, I hope you enjoyed today’s photos which are some of the ones Neil took recently, as promised yesterday.

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Some more of my shots from the harbour today. Neil sent me some of his (much better) photos but I made them the wrong size, so I am waiting for him to send them again sometime.

Meanwhile, Monday started off as planned, I was up early, I got straight out of bed and straight up that mountain, to the quarry anyway, and then back down again; all at a fast pace/slight jog, just to test the knees. Then I got to my desk and only stopped for lunch and here I am doing Tuesday’s post and it’s 14.30 and I’ve not written any boko* yet. But as soon as this is done…

Now, talking of writing, here’s a thing. My typing is appalling as I have never learned to type correctly, I can type quickly though and, when not copying, I can probably manage around 70 words a minute maybe 80. But only about 50% of them will be correct. My fingers (I use four on one hand and three on the other) bump into two keys at once, very orften, and so I end up with words such as ‘orften’ and ‘managew’ instread of ‘often and ‘manage.’ In some cases I simply get the word wrong and many readers will no doubt be aware, so I will put ‘no’ instead of ‘on’ and ‘if’ instead of ‘of’ or even ‘bog’ instead of ‘blog.’ There is nothing I can do about those automatically speaking, but there is something I can do about the ones where my fingers have learned the wrong fingering, as a musician would say, and so repeatedly type the wrong word, or hit the wrong keys.

I use the AutoCorrect function in Word to change certain words for me. There are some common ones, ‘teh’ for ‘the’ and so on. I have some more specific ones though such as ‘hen’ (not a word I use often) changes to ‘then’, the rationale being that when I read through I will pick up on: ‘we went to the shops hen we went home’ and ‘I saw a then in the chicken coup’, and it’s quicker to do things this way around than it is to go back and make changes the other way.

There are some words that I type consistently incorrectly that I can’t really change, such as ‘nto’ for not, because I also type ‘nto’ for into sometimes, so I have to leave those and manually change them later.

But all this did give me an idea for how you can get back at someone in your office, someone you really don’t like and want to wind up. When they are next out of the office and have left their Word programme open, slip in, get the autocorrect box open and add in your favourite auto corrects. Here are some ideas for you: for Dear Sir change to Dear Madam, for Dear Madam change to Dear Madman (and see how long it takes for them to figure it out). For Yours faithfully you could change to Yours Marianne Faithfully and for Yours sincerely you could try Yours snivelly.

And so on, I am sure you can come up with many of your own. And, remember, the more you get to put in, the longer it will take for them to track them down and change them back. But when you get caught out, don’t tell anyone it was me who told you! And as for the boko* above; this didn’t show up as an incorrect word in my Word document so I checked the dictionary and could not find it at all. I have no idea how Word comes to think this is a real word, it’s not in my auto-change as ‘accepted’ and so I’ve gone and added it; for boko read book.

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