Friday morning: The Blue Star came in and whisked the football team away to Rhodes, thence to the airport, thence to London, and from then on, down to Camber Sands and the football tournament. I had a message from one of the Romney Marsh angels saying she had already dropped off towels and a few things at Pontins there, and they know to expect more. Helpfully the teams will have some treats and necessities waiting for them when they get there. Good luck to all and again, bravo to the organisers, Jeans, Dawn and many others.
Gathering for the off
My news is that ‘The Saddling’ now has six five-star reviews after being online for only two weeks. Excellent news. It’s already catching up with the others that have over ten and the more the merrier, as regular readers will know. I won’t go on about the importance of reviews, not again, you know the score, but a huge thank you to everyone who takes the time and trouble to add reviews; not just for me but for all indie writers who use Amazon. I have a new blog post on my Author blog if you are interested to see it: https://goo.gl/REL4rP
An early start to a long day
The weekend looks like it’s going to be filled with fun and parties as we have two invites already; the summer has started! [Note to self: must calm down; there’s a wedding to slim into in just over three months.] So, I will leave you with some Symi photos and wish you a great weekend…..
Symi boys football team on their way
A calm, early morning for sailingNot sure why I took this one; the ripples maybe
Here’s a thing. If you are putting your rubbish in the paladins at the collection points around Symi, please check first. I went up to the bins yesterday to drop off some bags and feed the cats. I always check the bins before I drop anything in, it saves the trauma of a wild cat flying out at you when it realises it’s going to have trash dumped on its head. I checked, and the bin I was using was empty because the hard-working collectors had recently called. I did that and fed the cats and then heard a kitten crying somewhere close by. Further investigation revealed two tiny things at the bottom of another bin, trying desperately to get out. They couldn’t, they were too small. I remembered Symi Animal Welfare saying that you shouldn’t touch young kittens because our scent can stop their mothers from finding them, so I didn’t do that. What I did instead was to gently tip the paladin forward, making sure that the two bags of rubbish at the bottom did not slide onto the animals. I got some odd looks from a passing couple, ‘A strange Englishman, going through the bins? Brexit must have started early.’ Eventually, the kittens realised what was going on and managed to run out and escape. I righted that bin and then heard another kitten making the same complaint and found him/her in the next empty bin along. I did the same thing, and all three were able to dash off to safety.
So, a little request there: check your paladins before dumping your trash. You don’t want to kill anything.
Hard at work as usual
Meanwhile, as you can see from the photo, our cat (clearly not a kitten) spent a pleasant morning in the shade of the washing.
Symi water taxis at work
And, as you can also see, the taxi boats are going out. This was early in the morning, so there must have been something special taking place somewhere; one went across to Analipsis and the other out of the bay to somewhere else. One was running back and forth to Analipsis all morning yesterday.
Rainbow view
Today, Friday, the Symi football team are off to Camber Sands, in East Sussex, to take part in a European football competition. We’re wishing them good luck. We’re also very touched by the good people of Romney Marsh and surrounding area who have clubbed together to bring them some welcome packs of towels, shampoo, soap and drinks. Let’s hope that the donators manage to meet up with the organisers and deliver them for when the boys arrive, sometimes around five pm today. When I hear how they have got on, I’ll let you know. If you are in the area, you can go and watch the games for free. I know that the Symi boys are playing in the first match at 9.00 on Saturday morning, but am not sure of the timetable after that.
Symi update first, with some older photos as Neil still has my camera, and I’ve not been out to get new images yet. Maybe tomorrow. In Symi news… Well, I’ve just seen one of the taxi boats heading out around the headland towards the further beaches, one of Lucas’ boats I think. The old familiar boat drone and hum are back, bringing the summer with it, as the taxi heads out. Another boat is already going to Nimborio; I’m not sure if George and his brother have started their St Nicholas and Ag Maria service yet.
The harbour is getting busy again
I made Yiannis laugh at the bar on Tuesday. Neil and I had met up to go to dinner (at 11.00 in the morning – long story, don’t ask) and, when I was given another glass of wine (only my third) at seven pm, I just mumbled ‘Panagia mou!’ under my breath. For some reason, this reduced Yiannis to fits of laughter. Must have been the way I said it. I was hungry and ready to eat and had been since the effects of a wonderful Olive Tree bacon roll lunch wore off at about five. Still, it was a lovely afternoon chatting to everyone who came by and watching Neil working. Ha-ha. A Georgio’s pork chop is just what’s needed after a hard day socialising, and very nice it was too.
Just drifting
Meanwhile, at the desk: I had a bit of an admin day yesterday, we both did. Neil came back on Tuesday and spent Wednesday morning working on the photos he took at his Niece’s wedding. I, on the other hand, got stuck into admin about films and books.
Over in the film office (in England), the admin department there are busy entering the film, ‘The 13th’ into more film festivals, including the New York Greek Film Festival, so they are now busy doing promotions, and also working on the distribution deal with the distribution company. It looks like things could finally be moving along. Mind you, it may not be accepted to every festival, if any, but we can hope.
Horio
As for my admin, I was thrilled to see that ‘the Saddling’ has already gained six reviews, all five-star, at Amazon.co.uk. As I keep saying, these reviews, no matter how short, really help put the book up the rankings and the more a title gets, the more attention it receives from elsewhere. You can put them on whichever version of Amazon you use (.com or .co.uk, etc.) but they don’t get shared between the various Amazon sites. Most of my reviews are on .co.uk, which is understandable, and I went through the list yesterday morning. I found that over 11 books I have 65 reviews and most of them are five-star. I accept the few lower rated ones (left for the older books) as these titles were brought out in the early days of indie publishing and I did the editing and formatting myself, so yes, typos and things can be found. But, since ‘The Judas Inheritance’ I have used a professional editor (though we still find the odd typo, but then I’ve found typos in books published by Bloomsbury, and others), and so things are a lot better. I also ignore the one three-star review that was not about the book at all. Someone hijacked the review process to take a pop at Amazon and its tax status, which had nothing to do with my book. I reported this but nothing came of it, and it’s still there; the same crazed woman has posted similar things on other people’s books for her own gratification – very unhelpful for everyone else.
The latest covers for Judas and Saddling
Anyway, today’s ramble is clearly about me and books as that’s what’s on my mind right now. If you would like to put a review up for me, that would be great. You can find all my titles listed on my author page here. Judas is in the lead with 11 reviews, and Jason is chasing his rear with 10, as are Stag and Gary in ‘Remotely’, also with 10, but Tom, Dan and Barry and the Romney Marshes are fast catching up with six already, and ‘The Saddling’ has only been out a couple of weeks. Please do take a look and, if you can bear it, share the pages around social media and also add reviews – we are saving up for a wedding after all, wink, wink.
Here’s one of the latest reviews for Saddling, which might help you make up your mind if you want to buy a copy.
“Wow! What a read.
Wow! Thank you, James Collins, for a brilliant thriller come horror, right up there with The Wicker Man! Delivered on Saturday, finished by Wednesday – unable to put the book down. Excellent final twist. This would make a brilliant movie.”
If you have read it, please don’t give away that final twist!
I stopped off at a shop on the Kali Strata the other day, and had a chat with the owner. She let me take some photos of the inside and outside of the shop and I thought I would share those today. This will give new visitors to Symi an idea of the kind of high-quality things that are for sale on the island. There are other shops of course, and many of them too. We do have some of those ‘tourist items’ available for those who want them; guide books, maps and souvenirs, but we also have high-class jewellery shops and craft shops, many selling homemade items and art. A great variety of shopping can be done, from rope at the chandlers to gold at the gold shops. Here is just one example of what you can find when you visit.
Off to meet Neil from the boat now, so back tomorrow.
The start of the Kali Strata, the steps up to HorioBlu, on the Kali Strata
Thunder and rain is rolling in this morning (Monday). It came in at about 6.00, so I was just in time to bring the washing in. I have to head to Yialos later this morning, so I am hoping it doesn’t come back. We’ve had some unsettled weather this May, but the forecasts show that this should be settling down over the next few days. I can see a belt of rain heading towards us now, across the sea from the far coast so I will leave setting off to town for a while yet. I only need to get cat food for the fussy furry thing, but we all know how noisy it can be if he doesn’t get what he wants when he wants it.
The London Greek Film Festival winners
I pulled a couple of photos from Facebook and the London Greek Film Festival pages so you can see ‘The 13th’ director and producer receiving our awards. He’s the second on the left in the group shot and, obviously, the man in the other one. I’m just waiting to hear what the news is on the distribution deal now. Kickstarter backers should have received an update by now, but I have a copy here so, if you didn’t, email me and I’ll send it on to you.
Chris Hastings, ‘The 13th’ receiving an ward.
We’ve had a great response, still on-going, from the good people of the Romney Marshes who are now gathering not only towels but also shampoo and even hot chocolate and biscuits for the boys, for when they arrive there on Friday for the football. The boys leave here on Friday morning and have quite a journey to get to Camber Sands for about five in the evening, so they will be ready for a shower and hot chocolate by then, I am sure. It’s a wonderfully heart-warming gesture from the Martians – or should that be Marshians?
Yialos
In home news, Neil is due in Rhodes in [checks the time] 90 minutes and back here on Tuesday. Had I known there was going to be a Blue Star sailing from Rhodes on Monday we would have booked that so he was home earlier. He could still catch it, but the hotel in Rhodes is booked and paid for, and he is meeting a friend there for dinner, all pre-planned, so I think we are leaving things as they are. The cat is going slowly mad. Last night he spent half an hour running around the house (he never runs, unless it is towards his bowl), shouting and searching for something. I opened the courtyard gate, and he was out like a shot. He wasn’t home by the time I went to bed, so I had to shut him out. But there he was, at half five the next day, ready for breakfast and into the courtyard as soon as I opened the gate. He’s just been doing the same thing but, as it’s about to rain, I’m not letting him out right now.
Horio
Finally, today I have asked some of the other writers in a Facebook group that I belong to, if they have any books about Greece, or set in Greece. If any of them have anything, I thought I’d give them a mention here as I know our blog readers might be interested. If you have anything of your own that you have written and published on Amazon (so I can link), drop me a line and I’ll do the same.
And that’s that. Hopefully, in the next few days I will have my camera back and can go out and get some up to date images for these pages; I am still running on old ones – won’t be long now.
