Yesterday

I spent some of yesterday morning working on an idea for a ‘Clearwater Companion.’ This is an idea to one day produce an accompaniment to the series The Clearwater Mysteries which I am writing under my pen name. It’s come about because I have started blogging more regularly on my other blog which, until now, has been a hit and miss affair. With things being what they are, I need to try and raise more sales, and a regular blog is one way to go. So, I took out all my research books and photographed them along with some of my notebooks. I also made up a list of ideas for what might go in such a book, things like character backstories with photos where I can find them, notes on the locations as some of them are real, and some of them are not. I could also add information about the real characters who appear in the books, Tennyson and Henry Irving, for example, and note the times I have made up names and places, but based them on the originals. Places such as ‘Greychurch’ where the Ripper murders happen in book one. That’s obviously Whitechapel, and the murder locations are also changed in my novel world, but sometimes subtly which might be of interest to Ripper’ fans’. Mitre Square, for example, becomes Bishop’s Square in my book, although some places, like The Ten Bells, keep their original name. Meanwhile…

That was what I was doing yesterday early morning before wandering into Yialos to chase up a bit of accountancy business and take a walk. I’ve been lazy with walks of late, though Neil has been taking long wanders and swims in the morning and I am with him in spirit. There are a few more boats in the harbour, some large ones, some smaller, white sailing boats, and we are still receiving regular day trip boats too. I see them come and go as I watch from my balcony like the Lady of Shallot in her tower – oh, that’s a Tennyson reference, so you can see where my head is at the moment.

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Fun and games

Sometimes you just have to make your own fun, which is what was going on here.

I’ve not been in the square late at night, which for me means after 7.30 pm, but when I have been there in the afternoon, things have been very quiet. It’s always been a bit like that as most people are at the beach in the heat of the afternoon or having a siesta. Later, though, there have been more people about, when it’s cooler, after around six, and then even later – way past my bedtime – I’ve heard it’s also been busy. Well, on most nights anyway, and when I say busy, I mean busy for these days. I’ve also seen photos of a very quiet harbour in the mornings and evenings, but a busier one when the day boats come in.

We’ve been seeing some of them quite regularly, and the other day, from a safe distance on the balcony and through the binoculars, I watched one come in. Hardly any mask-wearing going on, which was a shame to see, as one day, like other islands, we’re going to see a case or two. Not a nutcase like the tourists coming over with no masks – but you know, a medical case, and whoever that unfortunate person is will suffer being talked about for a long time, possibly even blamed. Let’s hope that doesn’t happen. I guess many of the trippers on these boats think that because they are outside, they are ok, but seeing groups of passengers piling off, bumping into each other and still unmasked, well, you may be outside, but… Anyway, there’s no point me going on about it, I don’t have to work with or be near anyone else, so it’s easier for me to stay away. Which is what I am doing now, at 6.55 on Tuesday morning when, having done this, I am setting about a new story while the last one is in beta reading. That’s a technical term for having one’s husband read through it and say how good it is… Actually, he doesn’t do that, he tuts at the typos and tells me off when he reads a part that makes him cry, but he also laughs in the right places, so that’s helpful.

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Inspiring photos

How about some inspiring photos (mainly from Neil) to see you through today?

Here you go…

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Blazing blasé

It is easy to become blasé about some things when living permanently in a place like Symi. Goats wandering past your door, finding a stray cat asleep in the bathroom towels one morning (when the door had been shut all night), snakes in the courtyard, a roach in the washing up… But let’s take the summer weather as a more pleasant example. Recently I saw some notes and posts from people in the yUK saying how hot it was at 32 degrees. I remembered a similar heatwave when I used to live there and how uncomfortable it was, so I sympathised. However, it made me wonder how hot it was here, and on checking our garden thermometer, found it to read 38 in the shade. I am inside a lot of the time with fans blasting at me and windows open, so I’ve become accustomed, I guess. The temperature dropped to 35 overnight, but you know, we just get on with it.

A day or so later (Friday I think it was), I woke up cold, or I woke up because I was cold. There’s no duvet on the bed these days, there’s not even a sheet, and the fans were on, but this was a different cold. By the time I reached the sitting room a couple of minutes later, I’d had to but a shirt on, and that’s not happened around here for some weeks now. Checking the thermometer later that morning, just before noon, actually, I found it was an icy 29 degrees. The shirt stayed on all day. There was some bad weather ‘up north’ around the mainland, so I assume we got the outer edges of that.

Today’s photos were taken yesterday morning, and as you can see, a calm sea, a few yachts up this end of the harbour, and a supply ship heading out. We are expecting some regular visitors to return over the next few weeks, and it will be nice to see them – remember, no hugging or spontaneous handshakes. It will also be good for many businesses who, I am sure, are in dire need of custom. Let’s hope everyone’s sensible and the country doesn’t have to stop flights coming in again. Meanwhile, I am planning a quiet week, mainly at home with a couple of walks before the day gets too hot, and, hopefully, a lot more writing.

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Something for the weekend

A collection of random images to be precise. Just a few I’ve pulled from the recent collection of shots taken when out and about which, as you know, isn’t something I do very often at the moment. Some of them are Neil’s. You can tell that from the quality. The upcoming weekend holds no surprises for me that I know of, but then, if they did, they wouldn’t be surprises. What it does promise, is the visit of a pair of ‘Rainbow Regulars’ who we’ve missed this year. Hopefully, they will have a trouble-free journey over, and won’t mind us sitting apart rather than with. I had to tell someone off the other afternoon. They passed by and did that usual thing without thinking – grabbing Neil by the shoulders, as he was sat down, by way of a friendly greeting. My barked order of ‘Don’t touch him!’ came out instinctively. I’m not paranoid, but really people! Just think before you act. I know it’s what people have always done, and they may have tested negative on the way over (but who knows whose breath they have breathed in between times), but these are not normal circumstances. Anyway… You know my feelings on all that, now here are some photos.

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