Mixed news and veg
Here is the final cover design for ‘The Saddling’. You may not be able to read the text on the back very clearly as I’ve made the file small so I can post it here, but you should get a good idea of how it is to look. All we need to do now is get it typeset and published. Hopefully, the wait won’t be too long.

You will be delighted to hear that I can’t bleat on about the weather today as I’ve not seen much of it. I’m in my office with the cat roasting in front of the heater and the shutters closed against the cold. It’s not windy, though, just very chilly – and sunny (I just poked my head outside and had a squint).

I have some sad news for those who have not heard it: Gabriel from the Diagoras boat has died. I know that many readers knew him and were fond of him as he was of them, and I know many readers also don’t use social media where the news has been shared. For anyone who also knew Robin, who used to live on Symi with his wife Gill, you will be saddened to hear of his passing too. He was a worthy cribbage opponent and great fun.

It’s always difficult to come back to the next paragraph after imparting news like that, but it must be done. Not that there is anything else much to tell you. Our busy week continues with early starts to get work done before social activity in the afternoon and evening. We went shopping yesterday, to the greengrocers in Horio, and I was a bit bowled over by the prices. We stocked up on a week’s worth of vegetables, all fresh, for less than €20.00 and I am sure we have enough to make every day a vegetarian day, with the addition of some rice perhaps. We didn’t though, as the butcher is almost opposite and he has the most amazing chops; Dino-burgers, I call them. So we feasted on a couple of those yesterday and didn’t need to eat for the rest of the day. Didn’t need to, but did, as the salad veg was so fresh. Still, at least it was only a small salad for tea and not another half a brontosaurus. If you are interested: two double chicken fillets weighing half a tonne each and two pork chops that were fresh (and so not from the Late Jurassic epoch after all) came in at €15.00. That will do for at least four meals between the two of us if not five, so, add the veg, and the basics have cost us €35.00 for the week. I’m not sure if that’s good or bad by your local standards, but I am not complaining.

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Cold and social
The cold wind has returned with a biting vengeance, dropping the temperature down to around six degrees in our courtyard, when in the breeze. It’s still lovely and sunny outside though which is a good thing as the town hall are currently paving the road around the town square and on towards the clock tower. The catamaran came in on the other side of the harbour the other day, and maybe did again today (I heard it but didn’t see it as the shutters were closed against the cold), which will cause some temporary disruptions for some – but it will all look great when it’s finished.

We were up early on Tuesday. Well, Neil was up at five and I opted for another hour in bed, but it was not to be. The cat has been in a strange mood and yesterday he was tap dancing up and down the corridor outside the bedroom while singing (badly) about something or other. It took him the whole morning to calm down, several trips to the food bowl to double check, a good hunt around the grounds and then, finally, a great bit cat litter visit, which must have worn him out as he went to sleep quite happily and quietly in the sun afterwards. I am sure he is ‘going over’ a bit, he is getting on after all. It was about this time two years ago that we moved house. Perhaps that has something to do with it. Also, two years ago, in April, I think it was, he went missing for a few days and again last year for ten days, so perhaps he is building himself up to another escape attempt. If so, we will have to go hunting for him again at the old house.

Thank you to everyone who has liked my Facebook page since I mentioned it yesterday; please feel free to share it around and to put up reviews on Amazon if you have read one of the books and enjoyed them. Today is the first day in a couple of years that I have not had to work on a book – though I have another Symi related one in the pipeline. I have an afternoon off from writing, unless I want to do some work on ‘Symi, Stuff and Nonsense’, which I don’t at the moment – I need to rest the brain and the back a little before getting back down to that one.

The week ahead suddenly holds many social things: friends popping in today for a catch-up, piano playing tomorrow, a walk to Pedi and late lunch on Thursday (also Psiknopempti, ‘meat eating Thursday’) and a birthday to celebrate on Friday. The weekend should be calmer, though there is also a party invite for Sunday afternoon. We don’t usually have this much social activity in the winter, it’s usually reserved for Summer. And, as today is Valentine’s Day, we are sending our love to all out readers. Remember, as Neil’s T-shirt reads, ‘More love less hate.’

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Book done, dusting next
Well, it’s finished. Except it is not. I am talking about ‘The Saddling’, the new novel I have been bleating on about all this time. Bleating being appropriate as it is set on the Romney Marshes, where there are a lot of sheep. This means I can now turn my attention to the backlog of housework, and take some time away from the desk to concentrate on what normal people do during the day, whatever that is. It also means that I can share the front cover with you. This is now agreed, apart from the font used for my name, the editor/publisher thinks a serif font would be better and Diogo in Portugal will change that while he also works on the back cover – not yet competed. But, before I show you the cover, I have a few other Symi related images to show you. Life is not, after all, all about me and my typing. Or so I’ve heard.

Sunday dawned bright and cold-ish. The wind has moved to come from the north and so it’s going to be colder. The barge has been busy over at the new jetty, where there’s been a drill hammering away and lots of building activity going on.

We were out on Friday night, a dinner at Giorgio’s with its winter-time atmosphere and ‘What do you want for dinner?’ kind of menu. There were some children out and about, dressed in fancy dress in a rehearsal for carnival, which will be on us soon. It’s ‘meat eating Thursday’ next week, I am told,’ the day for barbeques. Saturday was also a lovely day with a beer stop after shopping, impromptu, I should add. And Sunday was all about finishing the draft (seven) and sending it off to the editor/publisher so they can check it and lay it out. We’re hoping the book will be available towards the end of April. I will let you know.

So, another photo and then the front cover.

Remember, if you use Facebook, I have a page there: https://www.facebook.com/jamescollinsauthor/ where I put my author related posts. Please feel free to click through and give the page a ‘like’ and share, it all helps with publicity. Thank you, and have a good week.

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Symi photos: Haralambos name day
We’re just back from church as Friday was the name day of Saint Haralambos and Harry (real name Χαράλαμπος ) is our Godson. For more information about this Greek Saint (Χαράλαμπος, not Harry) , see this page at http://www.orthodoxchristian.info As you can see, the name is also spelt Charalambos and that’s because of the pronunciation of the Greek letter Χ , Άγιος Χαράλαμπος is the name in Greek. (And it’s pronounced, HarAlambos, with accent on the second A.)

Friday was a sunny morning so the light was streaming in through the incense. The army and other officials were represented as usual, the icon was paraded and Harry carried one of them, and there were coffee and cakes afterwards, including Jenine’s homemade cupcakes. There were also two surprise visitors from Scotland which made the morning even more special. I was going to stay in tonight, but suddenly we are all going to Giorgio’s – can’t wait! Enjoy the photos, I expect there will be more next week.

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Sunny Symi, general chat
A mixed blog today – a couple of frustrations and some good weather. The rain has gone (for now at least), and the sun is out, it’s warmer than recently and calm. I’ve been watching small boats (boats, note – I hit that O key with a vengeance today, like it was the entire yUK government) going about their business in the bay below. Fishing boats coming back after an early morning start, some others whose business it is not mine to know, but no big boats as it’s Thursday as I write. We only have the Friday to Monday catamarans, and the two Blue Star visits each day at the moment.

The frustrations? Well, one is my back which has decided to go wrong. Too much sitting at the desk, I fear. It’s fine when I am sitting down but moving around, carrying things and bending awkwardly feels like someone has come up behind and thumped me in the sides. I am tracking down a fixer in Rhodes, a fixer being an osteopath or similar, and I may have to go and make a call next week. Meanwhile, it’s a good excuse not to do anything. Mind you, I’ve just done several hours of typing, been to the shops, done some washing, fed the cat, made the dinner and am about to go for a walk so it can’t be that bad. Stop moaning and get over it! That’s my motto; good old British stiff upper lip eh? Well, not so much ‘Good old Britain’ anymore – and don’t get me started on that. I’m just very glad I don’t live there, that’s all I can say. (I don’t mean my friends or the countrywide or the majority of people, I am talking about the Alt Government you have, and the other right wing elements.)

To calm the blood, I’ve been looking at holidays in Ireland for next year. Visit the Titanic exhibition and Neil’s mother’s birthplace in Belfast (not historically related), take a train across country, maybe stay in the countryside for a couple of days, check out the west coast, see if there’s a village that’s like Symi in case Greeks kick out the Brits because the Brit-Gov is turning into a Trump… You know the kind of thing. But the other frustration? It’s one of those computer ones.

I have installed a programme called Grammarly to help me with my hideous typing, spelling, grammar and punctuation skills, or lack of. It works just fine, and I’ve even run this post through it to tidy it up a bit. The downer is that it has made my version of Word revert to US spelling when I paste in from another document. This happened before and I got rid of the problem, but I can’t remember how. I’ve asked the company who made the handy programme what to do about it but meanwhile, I go to check things and suddenly the language bar shows US spelling. I want as little to do with the US at the moment as I do with the yUK so I won’t be standing for that, thank you very much. I’ve changed my settings in the programme to only check yUK spelling, and it still does it. It’s a deeper problem. Anyway… On to the walking part of the day now that the sun is out. Proofing the last 30 chapters of the book can wait but, on that note, the cover designer has done me a second draft which we are just tidying up, and soon you will be able to see it. I bet you can’t wait.

Enough of my blather for now, I’m off into the sunshine while we have it.

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