For me, it’s the end of a varied and pleasant week, not that I really ‘do’ weekends anymore. We’ve had visitors coming to the island, the boats are starting to appear more frequently, and many businesses in the harbour are up and running already. The weather has been warm, though the air was a little more chilly yesterday, the sea has been calm, and the flowers have been blooming. There are now poppies in the meadow in front of the house. I say ‘meadow’, it’s actually a piece of wasteland that looks after itself. It’s currently covered in long grass and various wildflowers, all of which will be gone as soon as someone grazes their sheep or mule on it, which usually happens in the runup to Easter.

I’ve managed to get out and about for a few walks, but not as many as I would like, and we’ve been social, meeting friends to play cards, or just to sit and chat. My piano pupil passed his grade two music theory exam yesterday gaining just over 82%, which, in this case, meant only getting one question wrong, so I was very happy with that. As part of the ongoing music tuition, we’re starting to look at songwriting, so yesterday also saw me playing the role of English teacher and giving a crash course on poetry and lyrics. I realised, a while ago, that I still have my Albatross Book of Verse from when I was at school, oops, maybe I should have given it back, but it came in very handy. After the music session, we set to our model building, and his Yamaha is nearly completed, while I have embarked on my book-nook. Talk about fiddly!

Neil’s been heading back to the gym, cautiously since his recent attack of vertigo, and he’s also been gardening, not that we have a garden. We have a courtyard, like most, but you don’t really go courtyarding… or maybe you do. The weeding is done, some replanting has taken place and the whole yard has recently been decorated.

Plans for the weekend? Neil and Harry are making us all a roast dinner on Saturday – the older godson has now finished his chef’s training, so we thought it was about time the younger one had some life lessons in the kitchen. I intend to plough on with chapter six of the new book, take another couple of walks, and practice some of my new sonatas (I’ve found a Schubert one I might be able to cope with).

So, that was that and this is this, and off we go into another week’s end. Have a good one.

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I’ve noticed there’s been an interest in the greenery of late. Many visitors arrive here in the summer or later in the year when the island has been sitting under the sun for several months. By then, the green has given way to the heat of summer, and everything looks a bit barren. Unless you come in the spring, that’s how you remember the island, so today, in response to a few enquiries via our Facebook page, I thought I’d throw up some pictures taken over the last couple of weeks, both by myself and by Neil. Not everywhere on the island is as green and fertile as this, but spring plants are up and about everywhere. Some places, like the valley and down at Marathunda, are lusher because that’s the way the land lies, while elsewhere, the hills are greenish with herbs and shrubs. So, while I plough on with chapter six of the next story, enjoy some plant life which you may not see by the time you get here in June, or whenever.

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I can’t remember when it started, but I think it was between Christmas and New Year. I was wasting a morning browsing Facebook when I took a look at a ‘reel’ not knowing exactly what they were. Turns out, they are short videos, and they can be fun. They can also be stupid, nasty, pointless, daft, you name it. It’s part of today’s culture of showing off nonsense while making money, I guess, like all these other programmes and platforms that are fine for other people but don’t bother me. Like them, I guess it’s a case of each to his own and all that.

You can find all kinds of oddments on these things, and my morning viewing (which I’ve got down to the time it takes to drink a mug of tea) includes some things I’d not asked for because you don’t ask, they just appear, and usually they are things that have nothing to do with what I like, view or buy. Example: I regularly see a group of young men in India (I think), who pose as statues while covered in mud. That’s actually quite poignant at times and artistic. There’s a whole barrage of silly cats, dangerous drivers, and people losing their mobile phones, and I notice a current trend for young men to waggle their equipment through their shorts and joggers. Whether what they are sporting is real or not is up for debate, as is whether I want to see that with my morning PG Tips, but one can always scroll on by to the tours around exotic locations, beautiful cities, and AI-generated ridiculousness.

So, having entertained myself with his kind of thing for long enough, I thought I would start adding reels to the Symi Dream Facebook page, and yesterday I uploaded my first short video to the ‘reels’ section. You will be pleased to know it’s not me covered in mud (we’ve had no rain since early March), it’s not me falling off a skateboard, doing gymnastics, being attacked by a cat/dog/snake/random seagull, and nor is there any waggling. It’s simply a view from the balcony early in the morning accompanied by natural sounds. I’ll add more over time, meanwhile, you can view it by clicking over to: the reels section of the Symi Dream Facebook page.

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It looks like the tourist season has well and truly started, or at least, there are visitors here enjoying their Easter break. Things may quieten down after Western Easter, but for now, we have warm weather, calm seas, day-trip boats and visitors staying on the island. It seems too close to winter, as though winter shouldn’t have finished yet (and maybe it hasn’t, and the cold winds will return), but it’s good to see, and good for those who have businesses.

The King Saron has been calling in, and the Sebeco is up and running again, offering daily trips to and from Rhodes. Tavernas and shops, bars and cafés are opening in the harbour, and the next thing you know, people will be swimming in the sea. Mind you, the beach tavernas don’t usually open until later in the season when the taxi boats start running. I heard, but I’m not 100% sure about this, that they apply for six-month licences, rather than annual ones, so they make their six-month season from, say, May to October. Mind you, May is only a month away, yet it only seems like last week we were in Athens celebrating New Year.

Still, life in this house continues as normal. Yesterday, I worked on chapter five of my next book, did some publicity admin for the others, had a look around for some new freelance writing or editing work, and the godson came for his piano lesson in the afternoon. After that, he worked on his Yamaha kit while I began on a Book Nook puzzle. They’re not really puzzles, not once you work out how the instructions work and that only takes a second. They are model kits and very detailed they are too. It took me two hours to build the front of a bookcase.

Today, under another clear and calm sky, I have an online meeting with my pension people, chapter five to finish, the new Mozart piece to bring up to scratch, and I’d like to go for a ramble, but I’m not sure yet whether my online meeting is at 11.00 my time or there’s, which would be Dublin, though it could be Madrid depending on who is phoning, so I might be needed at 11.00, 12.00 or even 13.00.
Whatever, it’s a lovely day.

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Well, that was blustery. Yesterday, according to Windfinder, the wind was up to force six. Felt more like force 16 at our house, with the roof tiles rattling in new ways, the aircon unit vibrating up on the roof, and the windows shuddering as though a freight train was coming through. Strangely, the shutters didn’t come away from their moorings and start banging about, but all kinds of things were flying through the air. Across the water, the sea was smashing against the rocks at Nimos and along the coast, and I didn’t see any boats venture out. My phone camera doesn’t do it justice, you; need the sound to go with the sight, but it’s better than nothing.

The spray was blowing inland across the top of the water in great gusts, and there was plenty of white blown up and about. Among all this wind was half the Sahara Dessert, apparently. [It’s made with whipped cream, sponge and custard, a little like a triffle. Of course, I meant to write Desert and trifle…]  There’s a great big cloud of very fine dust being blown across Europe as far north as the top of Italy, and although it happens every year and more than once, this year apparently, it’s bigger than before. The government have issued health warnings for anyone sensitive to fine dust, I guess, and the next time it rains, we’ll probably get what they call ‘red rain’, where the sand dust washes down from the atmosphere. It might mean you have to clean your outside surfaces afterwards, but at least it gets the stuff out of the air.

Today, though, it’s as calm as you like at, at seven in the morning, already 18 degrees. It’s hazy out there, but a good day for a short walk which I will do later before continuing with chapter four of the new book. That’s after I’ve done a little publicity to try and sell the others, and after I’ve posted my last photo of the week, the neat line of bikes on the top of the Pedi road. Made me wonder what was going on, except nothing was going on, it was simply where local folk park. Have a good weekend.

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