Yialos in the afternoon

It’s not often I am in Yialos in the late afternoon, but on Monday, we had cause to be down there for some business and stopped for a glass of wine afterwards. I was in time to watch the Blue Star leave on its journey back to Athens – or Piraeus, rather. I mentioned the ‘boat to Athens’ to Yiannis the other day and was pointedly reminded that it wasn’t Athens but Piraeus. The fact that the port is the port of Athens and that the centre of the city is only seven or eight stops on the metro doesn’t seem to matter, it’s Piraeus.

I also watched the ‘Spanos’ boat come in on its way to Rhodes and noted how much busier the quayside is already, and it’s only May. Hopefully, that bodes well for the summer to come. The shops and cafes were all open, the tavernas and other business too, and there are plenty of places to sit and watch the world go by. It used to be one of our favourite holiday hobbies when we were here as tourists 21 years ago. We’d spend the day on the beach or walking, mainly walking actually, as we’re not beach holiday kind of people, and be back in the harbour in time for the last of the day trippers to leave. A hush descends on the harbour at that time of day, as if everyone is saying ‘Phew!’, and a different atmosphere is struck. More laid back, quieter and settled and then, around eight in the evening, things pick up again, the lights come on, and people are out and about in their evening finery. At that time of day/night, the harbour glitters.

We didn’t stay that long. We took a cab back up. A couple of new taxi drivers were working, and it’s good to see young people set themselves up in the business. It’s a limited opportunity on Symi, and a good job to get if you don’t mind working long hours and spending some of your time sitting around waiting. Maybe, as the guys are young (we’re talking 20s I guess), they might be more inclined to run a service later into the evening. It can be difficult to find a bus or taxi after eight, nine, ten or even midnight later in the season, and it’s a complaint I hear from many; that there are no late-night taxis and no night bus. Can you imagine the N1 from Yialos to Horio, on the hour every hour, going via Trafalgar Square? No. Obviously not because that was London about 30 years ago. I hate to think what it’s like now. Not like Yialos in the afternoon, that’s for sure.

The week

Ah well, the wind has come and gone but may be back, the sky is white/grey with warm cloud cover, but the sea is calm, and there are no white waves being swept into the harbour as there were on Sunday. I can honestly say I did not set foot outside of the house all day, but I did look out of the window once or twice. I spent a lot of time at my writing desk, as opposed to the computer pod, writing notes longhand, notes which I will never be able to read again. If you think my typing is bad, you should see my handwriting.

This week is shaping up to be a quiet one – famous last words. The 8^th May parade is happening on Wednesday, so that will liven up the morning, and I know of a few regular visitors who are arriving this week as the season starts to busy up. May/June and September/October are usually popular months for northern Europeans, while July and August are favoured by the southern Europeans, mainly French and Italian. We’ve already seen several Israeli groups coming over from Rhodes, a few yachts, sailors and gin-palace floating hotels, and have had a couple of walking and painting groups, here to benefit from the mild temperatures we get (usually) at this time of year.

Looking in the diary, my week is dominated by payments; my Microsoft subscription and final payment for my accommodation on Tilos at the end of the month. Luckily, both are saved for and ready to go. I’m heading across the water for the last week of May to do one of my writing retreats; a chance to work all day without only self-induced interruptions, answering the doorbell, watching TV, shopping and so on, and I am staying in the same place as last time, which was, I realise, two years ago… Or was it three? Whatever. I shall be there in a few weeks ready to start on a new story of some sort with lots of background reading on various scandals in Victorian London in the 1880/1890 period. I’m hoping my research books arrive by then, the rest of them that is. I have two on The Cleveland Street Scandal of 1889, one about Victorian crime generally, another that is a collection of writings from a range of observers at the time, both writers and the general public, and a book of Victorian slang. If the two new ones I’ve ordered arrive in time, I will also have books about stately homes; the working of and design of. I might need a larger suitcase. So, plenty of reading for when I am not writing, or having a break in the square. I’m not sure if there will be a blog for that week, we’ll have to wait and see.

Weekend

Weekend highlights? A trip to the bank, post office and shops. An orange juice at Pacho’s, a walk up the steps. Dinner with friends. Saturday afternoon at the kafeneion receiving all kinds of weather reports, discussing ‘red rain’ and other subjects, watching the ‘boys’ being naughty (Neil and Yiannis are like a couple of teenagers when they get together), and having a general chillout time. That was after an afternoon at the writing table plotting and planning while sending another pen name story off to the publisher – a posh word for Amazon.

Sunday started very early for me, it’s only 5.40 as I write, and I’ve been up for nearly two hours. It’s windy and forecast to become windier with the chance of some rain later. I’ve got my shutters closed as they don’t fix back very well and the slightest breeze has them banging around, so it’s day for night in my study which, right now, doesn’t matter as it’s still night anyway and, as I’m up early, I can post a few photos up here and then get back to whatever it was I had planned for the day. Writing, playing Sim City Buildit, tidying the house and continuing the chillout theme, but probably without having to go to the square for it; the sofa looks very inviting on days like this.

Symi Saturday Photos

Seeing as how I’ve not been out and about much recently, I’ve pulled some of the old photos from the stock collection and, as usual, they are a varied bunch. I am heading to town later today (Friday) so you never know, there may be some more up to date offerings next week. I’ve been a bit ‘stuck in the house’ recently what with preparing a book for sending up to Amazon, publicising another and starting on yet another – this is in my ‘pulp fiction’ department. I must, one day, get back to part four of the Saddling series. I received some wonderful feedback from a reader yesterday and the day before. She has The Saddling with her and described it as a ‘real page-turner’ and said how she loved the descriptions, the landscape and, of course, the tension. It’s always good to receive face to face feedback like this and to know that someone who passes you in the street is actively reading and enjoying your work. Thank you to everyone who makes such comments live and online. If you do enjoy one of my books, please consider leaving a review on Amazon; genuine reviews do help promote more sales.

Anyway, here are some random photos to keep you going through the weekend.

Symi Property Services

Here are a couple of shots from the village taken the other day. The chairs in the square came from Lefteris Kafeneion and were, I guess, out there for varnishing. The weather is warming up, and so it’s time to change the winter café chairs for the summer ones, hence the work. Having said that, it did rain a little on Wednesday night, but not for long. Not long enough to water the plants as far as I could tell the following day.

You may have been following our water adventures through the winter. They started with the sterna being infiltrated by tree roots and thus put out of action – it still is. The tree has gone now, but the sterna won’t be fixed until later in the year, if at all. Instead, we have a water tank on the bathroom roof into which Symi Property Services (SPS) put the pump, so we also had water that came out of taps. Very handy. Then we had a leak from the hot water tank which SPS came and dealt with immediately, but we still need a new tank at some point; it’s fine for now. The replumbing meant that we no longer have to go through the process of turning off this feed and that tap when we want to fill the tank; it happens automatedly now, but it also means that we can’t water the garden unless the town hall supply is on. It hasn’t been on for days now thanks to Easter and bank holidays. Hopefully, we’re topping up our tank again this morning.

There was (and stil is) also the kitchen hot tap which, when the sterna went ballcock over header tank stopped working properly. It’s still up the creek but paddling a little. Turn it on, and if you get the turn just right, water trickles, but by the time it’s run warm, it’s given up the Flying Dutchman (a ghost related to water), and the trickle had dried up. It doesn’t ‘refill’ again for at least an hour. I reckon – and I’ve never plumbed the depths of plumbing – that when the sterna levels were low, the pump dragged up some muck which got into a pipe and caused an 80% blockage. I am guessing at the amount of blockage, of course. So, when the tap runs, we only get the water that’s on the tap side of the block, and when that runs out, the water above the blockage doesn’t have room to flow but drips through, eventually filling the pipe below, which is all we get. Just a theory, but one which needs an expert to sort out. Meanwhile, we boil the kettle of fill the washing up bowl from the shower. I expect the cold water to come out warm soon as the tank is in full sunlight. That’s another for the list for an expert when we get around to it.

Oh, and there was also the time a workman in the empty flat downstairs did some ‘work’ and buggered off leaving the kitchen taps spurting and the shower ‘unturnoffable’. Our tank was draining away until I managed to get in downstairs, see the problem, run black up to our house and unplug the pump to save our rapidly draining water supply. Of course, I rang SPS, and they were here within the hour and isolated the downstairs supply. The workman hasn’t been back since, so it was a good job I was able to get in and had someone I could call on to deal with someone else’s errors. If you have a house on Symi that needs maintenance or management, head over to Symi Property Services.