We popped down to the Rainbow last night to have a last drink of the season before Neil heads off to Vienna later today. Rather, heads to Rhodes later today, and Vienna on Tuesday. He’s got three extra days in Rhodes in case the weather is so bad the boat doesn’t come on time for his flight. I know, it’s a long way off yet, but if the wind/sea gets as bad as predicted, there’s a chance he might not make it, so better safe than sorry.

Everything’s fine and dandy this morning. The sky has a few clouds that look like those painting-by-numbers clouds that used to bank up behind great sailing ships in the drawings you filled in with paint (used to love doing them), but there’s no wind as yet, and the windows are open because it’s still warm enough. It’s also very quiet out and about, as you can see from the photos.

Our neighbour’s cat was also out and dressed for a date, and when I saw him, waiting patiently for a table at the taverna…

Before heading out, I’d spent an hour with my music student trying to explain music theory, or some of it, the circle of 5ths, harmonic progression and why harmony works or doesn’t work. Rather, why it sounds right and not so right because harmony is harmony even when it’s inharmonious. It suddenly struck me how weird it is to have to explain such a subject, and how odd that I don’t remember learning it, as such. I remember lessons in A level music about chord progressions and rules, like no rising 4ths or 5ths, and I know my subdominant from my leading note, and my diminished second from my plagal cadence, but passing it on so it makes sense? I turned to YouTube where I found some visual aids. I.e., someone else doing the explaining with charts and graphs and a keyboard, and I learnt a fair amount myself too.

Anyway, that’s the music out of the way until Monday (which is technique and pieces day), and the husband off to Rhodes at lunchtime, leaving me to fend for myself, so I have planned a quiet weekend of doing not very much other than what must be done. If the weather allows, I’ll head out for a walk so I can get you some photos, as my folder is running low on anything that’s not a sunrise from five years ago, a view from the balcony, or the village square. I’ll see what I can do and will check in again on Monday.

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Today is a day for preparing to make a decision and keeping a watch on the forecast. Neil’s due to fly early on Tuesday morning. This means being in Rhodes on Monday evening. That mean catching the boat early on Monday morning. However, the current forecast is for the wind to be up to force seven/eight through the Aegean on Sunday/Monday, and it’s particularly bad at the time the boat is due to leave Athens on Sunday. This could mean it doesn’t come in on Monday, or if it does, it comes in late. Late is not so much of a problem, but ‘doesn’t come in’ would be, so to be safe, he might have to do what we advise other people to do, and that’s to go early.

The only other boat that’s guaranteed at the moment is the Friday Blue Star which, last I heard, will be in around 12 on Friday, several hours later than its usual time. There may be an alternative from the SAOS Line or Dodekanisos, and he’s going to check with Symi Tours later this morning (but if the weather is bad… do you risk it?) If not, or if in any doubt, then he’ll go on Friday, and spend three days exploring Rhodes. Again. It might be a bit dull, what with being on a budget, bad weather, and having ‘been there, done that’, but it’s better than spending the weekend worrying and missing a vital medical appointment on Monday morning.

Also, we’ve found a hotel that does the dreaded all-inclusive deal, and for around €60 a night, he’ll get three meals a day, drinks until ten at night, and a very swank double room with a decent TV that has Netflix. I’ve always been uncertain about all-inclusive hotels, but in this case, the Castellum Suites offers the best value for money. It’s behind the Old Town, and about a 15-minute walk from the New Town area, quicker to get into the Old Town, and even comes with a Symi-born receptionist. At least, it did when I last stayed there. So, at least that will lessen the blow and save some money, and by leaving so early he won’t miss his appointment or plane.

Of course, the weather may change its mind between now and final decision time (around 11.00 am on Friday), and all this planning might be in vain, but still, such are the decisions faced during rough weather. It’s one of the reasons not many people choose to visit Symi for a week in winter. You can end up spending most of your days trying to get to or from Rhodes and the airport.

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I’m not staying long. It’s chucking it down out there, and the wind’s a bit blustery, so I’m staying inside in the warm getting some work done. Neil’s planning to go to the gym, but some days… Well, it’s safest to stay home. I haven’t actually been out to look at the sky or the view as yet. All the shutters are closed, and if I go into the courtyard, my slippers will get soaked. We’re meant to be going out this evening as a friend is leaving on Friday, and luckily for us, we’re only planning to go to the Rainbow Bar which is a short walk away.

Assuming we do end up there, we’ll be treated to the usual evening at the local: two TVs on at the same time, often playing different shows, but sometimes, for no explicable reason, both showing the same thing; Yiannis may make us an omelette, as that’s one of his winter ‘things’, and we’ll sit behind the pillar away from the drafts. Or is that draughts? I can never remember or be bothered to check. That’s why I have a proofreader for my books, and she’s about to get another one. A collection of short stories based around my Clearwater characters. 45,000 words long, and when ready, it will be free to members of my Facebook Group, and on sale for everyone else.

Just thought I’d slip that advert in there. Now, I must slip off to the kitchen to make another cup of tea, and on the way, I’ll poke my head out of the door to see what the sky is doing. Dropping rain, most likely.

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I was just looking through my photos for this time last year and saw that the village Christmas lights were already up by the end of November. I came home in the dark last night but don’t remember seeing them, and the photo I took may have been from slightly later in the month, but I can see the triangular trees of Yialos from the balcony already, so it looks like the decorating has begun.

When we first moved here, you could, as Neil puts it, ‘Blink and miss Christmas,’ because it was a much quieter affair than it is now. By which I mean, few houses were decorated for the season, and there were fewer adverts for Christmas consumables on the television. There are more trees, sleighs and snowflakes adorning houses these days, more TV hype for gifts of all shapes and sizes, and definitely more decorations around the village (when they go up).

We were also having different weather, of course, because that’s always changing, but there were still plenty of clear, sunny days that may look warm in the photo, but, like now, were cold. I was, as I still am, in my office with the shutters closed and the curtain drawn to keep out some drafts, and with my mind set to ‘create’ as I plough through research books and notepads, and I work on my next creation. In this year’s case, it’s a set of short stories held together by an overarching short story set on a train. This is to be a new series of spin-offs from my Clearwater, Larkspur and Delamare series of Victorian mysteries, and it is due out in a couple of weeks. In the absence of anything else to show you, I’ll share the cover with you, and let you wonder if you recognise any of the characters.

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Not only has it been a little ‘parky’ this past couple of days, it’s also had something to do with plants. First, for anyone not familiar with Victoria Wood and the word ‘parky’, it’s an informal British word for cold, usually associated with the north of England. I woke up shivering yesterday morning and had to hunt out a coat to wear because I didn’t want to return to the bedroom and wake Himself. Later, we set up the heaters and hung the curtain across the sitting room balcony doors where the shutters have been closed since we had a west wind on Saturday. On Sunday, according to Windfinder.com, the wind was up to force seven and from the northwest, and when I checked the thermometer in the courtyard, it read ten degrees, whereas a couple of days ago, it was eighteen. The weather is due to calm and become warmer again, leading to rain from Wednesday through to next Monday, off and on. Again, according to Windfinder.

I’m now at the point of sounding like a weather channel, so let’s talk about plants.

It started on Friday evening when we went to Scena for a pizza, and very nice it was too. I was sitting facing the bar when I noticed someone was looking back. On closer examination later, I discovered the vase was designed to look like a face, so I wasn’t being paranoid.

That put me in mind of doing a plant update, so I took some shots of the things we have in the courtyard. Neil’s been gradually cutting back the vine, but there’s still a little more to do when the weather allows, and some of the other plants have also had a trim. On the whole, they survived the excess heat of July and August reasonably well, and are now adjusting to the winter cold. Ain’t we all? We have a hibiscus that gives me cause for concern. It suddenly did rather well this year, too well in fact, and had loads of flowers. So many flowers that it became rather Victorian, popped out a stream of ‘children’ but most didn’t survive infancy, and the flowers died as they began to bloom. It probably needs a bigger pot, but it isn’t getting one, so it will have to do what poorer families did in Victorian times and survive the best it can in its cramped surroundings.

The others are battling on ‘Heavy Plant Crossing’ is still flowering. It’s called that because it’s in a heavy pot and as it grows, it crosses the laundry wall. ‘Jenny’ (a present from a friend called Jenny) suffered in the heat this year and had to be cut back. It’s now coming back on a smaller scale but needs to be moved somewhere more sheltered. The chilli family, currently feeling the chill, did well in some branches, but some of the plants were overwatered, so the leaves turned yellow. Neil cut them back, and they are growing like mad again already. The Anniversary plant has had a strange career so far. Now, it looks like it did when I bought it in September, but between times, it lost all its leaves just after moving in, and I thought it was a goner. I think it was just changing clothes to suit its new environment.

People don’t like too much reality on a Monday morning, so I’ll not bleat on about the other plants. I can save that for another day, but here are the objects in question, so you can look at them and join us in our suddenly-ten-degrees courtyard which, after the weekend’s winds, needs a good tidying.

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