Welcome to the first day of a new month (already). Yesterday, the harbour was in full swing, the day-trip boats were coming in and out with no let-up in the number of visitors, and the sun was out. We had a very pleasant lunch with our friends in a taverna that was quiet at noon and nearly full 45 minutes later. Afterwards, we battled through some just-arrived visitors and managed to find a taxi back up the hill, so that all went swimmingly. I also picked up another new keyboard for this typowriter, and so far, this one seems to work properly. The old one wasn’t 100% compatible, it seems. When I’d highlight a word or phrase with the intent to edit it, either the highlighting would disappear when I let go the mouse button, or else it would select more text than I wanted, seemingly at random. As this new one is the same make as the laptop, I’m hoping it behaves a little better. It’s narrower, and the keys are lower and not clunky, but it will take me a while to get used to it.

Meanwhile, after five weeks, the hot water situation at home remains ‘almost there.’ We have a new hot water tank (arrived on Tuesday), it’s fitted and works, but it won’t stop filling up. That is, once the new tank was full, we expected the pump to turn off because all taps in the house were closed, yet the pump continued to run and refused to stop. This baffled the plumber as much as it baffled me. Where was the water going? It must have been going somewhere for the pump to run, right? Allegedly, our hot tank isn’t connected to the flat below, so even if a tap had been left open, it shouldn’t have been going there, but where else was it going? We can’t get into currently unoccupied downstairs to check, besides, it has its own hot water tank up on the other roof… The upshot is, still no hot water, and the plumber is due back today to get to the bottom of the problem. We shall see. Meanwhile, the cold showers continue… The joys of living in a house where the previous owner did all his own maintenance and most of his building, including the plumbing.

On the upside of things, my latest book is back from being proofread, and I am now making my final edits. The cover is coming along, too, so I can soon bore you with news of all that. In the outside but not too far away world, we saw new visitors arrive for their stay in the village, we still have day trippers reaching us up here and wandering the lanes, and there are still plenty of people about enjoying the variable weather of October.