Another late start today. I could get used to this not getting up until 6.30 business… Anyway, a glance at my collection of ‘Last Week Through the Years’ images shows me:

Neil showing off his new teeth (having had a couple fixed), a chicken in a tree, an aerial photo of my home town, and this one of the carved shop front in Horio which I’ve always thought had something to do with Aesop’s fables because it shows a fox and a dove.

Scrolling down, we must have walked to Nimborio at some point because there are photos of and from St George’s church…

Three years ago, I was with Harry having a massive plate of noodles in Rhodes, for some reason, Neil was in his rainbow shirt at the Rainbow Bar, and the same old sun was rising in the morning. Then come pictures of Pedi, goats, my parents wedding my brother being a DJ…? Ah! I was preparing a book for my brother’s big birthday, and scanning the images from the old family album. Meanwhile, back in Symi…

The same old sunrise, which I missed this morning because we sat on the balcony and chatted until far too late. Which is what I am now, so, to work.

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Sunrise photos today, the same one (this morning) in different versions, so you can choose the one you like the best. This was just before seven, in case you want to be up for the sunrise tomorrow.

The dawn chorus starts early here, although the cockerels are constantly rehearsing and sounding off no matter the time of day or night. Later they’re joined by the chug of fishing boats, the squabbles of sparrows and other small birds, and the early-worker moped turning over and driving off. Depending on the day, you have suitcases being wheeled past, ferry claxons, the rumble of heavy anchor chains being dropped, and the louder chug of the gulets. Then there are the passing voices, and the thump of footsteps as the boy next door leaps down the side alley making his way home either from a very early start or a very late night.

As for sights, there are the cloudscapes when we have clouds, like this morning, the chickens and their chicks up the lane living in reasonable harmony with the cats, the boats coming and going in the harbour, and the lines of refugees or asylum seekers being walked around the harbour to sit in silence and wait for the catamaran to take them to wherever their next port of call may be.

And then, my view changes to this machine, my fingers on the keys, the cup of tea next to me, and badly typed words on a page. So, the rest of the day begins.

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I took a whole day off yesterday and did nothing but play games on my tablet, read, watch a little TV, and straighten a photo in a frame that’s been wonky for at least two years. Neil went back to work in the evening because there was live music at the kafeneion, and, after watching a creepy episode of a drama/documentary series about the Enfield Poltergeist I decided to read some more. There was music coming up from the harbour, first opera and then Greek trad, and the 4/4 beat of the music from the village square set against it, making for an interesting mashup. I suffered about eight mosquito bites during four or five chapters, before finally turning in, only to be working by a further four or five four hours later. So, here I am at 4.20, having already been up and about for over an hour, getting on with things ahead of a siesta probably around breakfast time.

We went down to Yialos on Friday for a little shopping and something to eat, and that’s where today’s photos come from.

At this time of the year, it’s not only the mosquitoes which can creep up on you. I got into the shower on Saturday, turned on the water, and noticed something crawling up my arm. I must have disturbed a young Symi spider from wherever it had been lurking and wasn’t too happy to have it traversing across me, so I gave it a blast from the shower, and then called for the husband to come and remove it. Normal service was then resumed.

For the last couple of mornings, when I have been up before the dawn and have gone to the sitting room with my first cup of tea, I’ve caught another interloper creeping about. This one has lived with us a while now and has recently moved into the sofa. At least, that’s where I’ve found him nosing around before darting between the cushions to escape. I rustle them about before I sit so he knows to move away, and to make sure I don’t squash ‘Squiggle’, as we’ve called him. He’s a Mediterranean house gecko, and I need to have a word with him about eating more mosquitoes.

So, the week starts, and so far, there is nothing remarkable planned other than the usual writing.

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My intention was to finish the week with some more photos from the ‘Last Week in the Past’ collection on my One Drive. However, I discovered that I’d exhausted the past yesterday because there was no more past past 2020 and that photos of the goats. Instead, I hit on the bright idea of trawling the collection by hand, but then discovered that most of my images are of my book covers, artwork, mock-ups, research images and such like. Either that or they are pictures of friends and family on holiday, and showing you those would be akin to Douggie and Jeanette forcing you to watch the slides from their recent trip to Bognor Butlins where they met that lovely couple, oh, what was their name, Douggie? Was it Willy and Carmelle? No, it were Willie and Caramel. Don’t be silly, was it. Nay, I remember distinctly it were Caramel, as I remember thinking how nice she’d be to nibble on. Ooh, take no notice of Douggie, he’s got a hernia. Show them your hernia, Douggie, and I’ll fetch us all another glass of snowball…

So, here’s a photo of me and Neil on holiday in 1998. No prizes for guessing we were in the Jean and Tonic bar.

We met some interesting people in there and elsewhere on the island while on holiday. On one occasion, I met a chap who remembered me from a holiday in Skopolos back in 1988 or ’89. I was very impressed until his wife explained that before coming out to Symi he’d bored her ridged with his previous-trips-to-Greece photos on the back of which he’d written the names of every person he’d encountered, main players and extras like me included. I didn’t know him from Adam, and the whole thing was a bit scary.

Aye, we’ve met some odd ones in the past 22 years. The lady with no shoes who never paid for her drinks, and who lit a campfire in her hotel bedroom. The man who wanted to ship his entire family to Nimos so his unfortunate children could ride their 4x4s over the island, presumably for the rest of their lives. Then, there was the one who went to Rhodes and came back on a horse, the couple who did nothing but row all the time, the one who went to the town hall because she wanted to marry a rather bewildered man she’d met the day before, or something.

We didn’t meet them in the J&T bar, but when working, or socialising, but talking of that bar, we had some fun times there, including a few times when I played keyboards with Mike and Susan – and that reminds me of another old snap I found while trawling my One Drive. Now, this one goes back even further, to around 1986, I should think. I was asked to help out at some special 60s night thing in some obscure place like Walthamstow because the band didn’t have a keyboard player. Can you do it? Someone asked. Bung me the notes and I’ll have a go, was my reply. Two weeks later, there we go, ‘A Whiter Shade of Pale’ keyboard solo, natty outfit and everything (Thanks to Top Man, Oxford Street.)

Oh, now I’ve seen it enlarged, it must have been Steve’s birthday.

Anyway, you’ve had this odd ramble thanks to a sleepless night leading to an early morning, and I suppose, I’d better show you some Symi images before I get on with chapter seven or wherever I am. So, here are three random shots from my more recent collection. Have a nice weekend.

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Here’s a thing: the ‘Last week through the years’ feature on One Drive. With a lack of much else to tell you, I thought I’d put up a few shots from this last week from the last four years. The one with the goats is 2020. Maybe I’ll go back further tomorrow. Before then, though, in local news, we had a few drops of rain yesterday, not enough to water the plants but enough to cause conversation. The bar was busy in the evening, so Neil tells me, and the temperature hangs around 25 degrees. Others have reported that it is becoming increasingly necessary to book tables at restaurants, particularly if you want to eat later in the evening. I always advise it at this time of year anyway.

Now, some photos.

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