Hi. First of all, here’s a heart-warming tale and update from Suzanne who looks after Symi Animal welfare.
“In March, 2016, I received an email re: horses over in Nimborio…
It would not be the first time that SAW has been informed of equines in poor condition on this island. Since I became the team leader of SAW, I have tried to take an interest in all the islanďs animals, and my first equine case involved a very emaciated 6 yr old mare, Niki. At my insistence, the owners did call in the vet to see her, and her owners hopefully are now better informed about equine feed care and well-being.
Symi horses being looked after
The horses I saw that day in Nimborio were 2 mares and 2 colts, the mares were very thin, I knew the owner, so could speak to him about the animals. He told me the 2 mares were for sale, for a cheap price, so, I had a good look at the young chestnut mare, about 13.2 hands, and decided I could give her a better home. The rest of the deal I left to my husband and, a few days later, Tara arrived at our farm in the mountains and started her new life with us. Here she would have all the hay and feed she needed, a stable for the winter, and a large enclosure just to walk around in.
The other mare, a 9 yr old grey, was sold to a farmer who has a working team of mules and ponies, her foal went with her. As for Tara, 8 months later, she is in good condition, has a shiny winter coat now, enjoys being groomed, comes to me when I call her, is quite vocal, and is being trained to be a riding horse (with a western saddle), to trot along the mountain trails of Symi, and hopefully she is happy with her new home on the farm.
Symi horses being looked after
We love all our animals, they are our life ….
Suzan @Filimonas’ farm, Ayios Dimitrios, Symi.”
Back to me: So, it’s more than cats – though Suzanne and her husband have organised us with some more winter cat feed for the local strays that we looks after, so they have a winter of food to look forward to.
Meanwhile, we have our own Symi cat welfare to take care of and, to that end, there will probably be no blog tomorrow, and maybe not on Friday either. Jack, the Alarm Cat has not been well. Neil rang a vet on Rhodes yesterday and told him the symptoms (being sick a lot). The vet said to bring him over ASAP for blood tests – and he needs his ears looking anyway -and so we decided that, as the vet would be away from Thursday, that today, Wednesday, is the soonest time we can take him. There are other vets and they are all just as good and conscientious and speak ‘sick cat English’, as we don’t, and this one, Panayiotis, said to call him at around 8.30 in the morning and he would pick us up from Rhodes Town and drive us, and cat, to Kremasti, where his surgery is. (Talk about going the extra mile! But that’s Greece for you.)
Morning windmills
The reason for the early phone call-to be is due to the Blue Star boat coming in and leaving by 5.00 a.m. in the morning. So, as I write this, on Tuesday afternoon, we are now settling down to an early night, a 3.30 a.m. alarm call, and discussing the logistics of getting the noisy, and otherwise quite active and healthy, AC into his box at 4.00 a.m. tomorrow, ready for a long day: boat at 5.00, vet at 8.30-ish, boat back at 17.00 and home around 18.30. That’s about 14 hours for Jack in a box, unless he must stay over.
No doubt there will be some kind of blog post about this is due course. Meanwhile, please excuse me while I go and prepare for a very early start and a long day with a large, vomiting, deaf, heavy cat in a box.
New Symi book and other news
A couple of photos today from a brief walk in the village on Sunday, in the sun as you can see. I also had time to start putting together some ideas for another book about life on Symi to go with ‘Symi 85600’ and ‘Carry On Up The Kali Strata‘ (currently available for a free on a special five-day deal) and also ‘Village View’, the three books I’ve compiled with writings about life on the island.
Look closely – where’s the Wally?
The new one is now titled, ‘Symi, Stuff and Nonsense’ and the comma is very important. I found an old diary I had started, but not kept up, when we were preparing to move here in 2002, and it also had some entries written during the first couple of weeks of our adventure. When we arrived here we were too busy finding a house and jobs, so it runs out but it has given me a good starting place for a new book of travel stories, Symi notes and, well, other stuff, some of which is nonsense (word play and observations about nothing in particular). So, for the next couple of months, that’s what I shall be working on. There are stories from travels other than to Symi or Greece, and that’s the ‘Stuff’ of the tile and there will be other smaller bits and pieces that might be mildly interesting or amusing.
Afternoon winter sun on the lane
While that’s going on… We have some army doctors on the island for a couple of days, apparently. We saw the navy ship come into the bay yesterday morning and a smaller boat came from it with some passengers, I assume they were the doctors. They are visiting various islands and currently it’s Symi’s turn to benefit. Luckily I don’t need them at the moment. We are also sourcing some worming tablets for the cat to try them on him to see if it stops his regular afternoon up-chuck, and we’re also asking about the next vet visit (via the pet shop) so we can see if he needs to have his ears taken off. If so, I imagine we will be heading to Rhodes for a day, with a Jack in a box (cat box) to have a minor operation. Btw, there’s a Symi Animal Welfare update coming along soon.
One of the older pathways
Other than that, the week started well, with a clear and sunny day, calm weather, cool but not bad at between 14 and 19 degrees and a new book to start working on while ‘The Saddling’ goes before the editor. I await her marking and it does feel like I am waiting for my exam results this time as I know she is going to be thorough.
Symi weekend
All quiet on the western front, or rather, the northern Symi front as that’s the way the house faces. This makes for a great view over the harbour, but also for cold days and nights when the wind is from the north. Having said that, yesterday and Saturday were very quiet days weather-wise, with no breeze, calm seas, bright blue skies and a bit of a chill in the air.
Saturday catamaran on a calm sea
We called at the Rainbow bar on our way to a birthday gathering on Saturday night. We sat outside, jackets off, and watched the world go by. There was a large gathering at Georgio’s, either a wedding or baptism party, and the whole taverna was booked out; busier than I have seen it in the summer at times. The birthday party at the Sunrise was good fun, we stayed for a couple of hours and were home by 11.00 for a relatively early night. Sunday dawned bright and clear again and I was at the desk by 7.30 checking up on messages, ordering a few Christmas presents and then preparing this for today.
Symi on Thursday
I know it’s early to talk about Christmas, and I am a firm believer in keeping it in December, calling it ‘Christmas’ and not ‘Holidays’, remembering what it is meant to be about and not putting decorations up until much nearer the time of the celebration. But I am also aware that some folks, like me, like to get gifts arranged and ordered in advance to a) spread the cost out over several weeks or months and b) get organised so there is no last-minute rush. When ordering things online you need to plan a bit further ahead and that’s why we’ve already made our Calendars available – and have been selling them for a while. If you’re looking for something different for someone then there’s a choice of two calendars with Neil’s photos and you can find the links over there on the top of the right column. But you probably already know that…
The train has not been put away yet
In other weekend news. The cat has been acting strangely and I think/hope it’s only a tummy bug but if it is it’s a very selective one. Once he sees the bathroom light go on, in the morning, he comes tearing down from the roof, sprints across the courtyard and is at the door before you can say ‘Whiskers.’ He’s then straight into his bowl for his breakfast which he gets down him at a rate of knots. After that he heads to the sofa, makes a fuss about it, telling us that he’s there, rather loudly, and then settles down for the morning. He often gets up and wants to be accompanied to his bowl through the morning where he snacks on biscuits. All fine. But recently, after his lunch (which is usually around 13.00 as he is very consistent), he comes into the sitting room, sits by the fire (if it’s on) for about 15 minutes and then throws his lunch up all over my Turkish rug, or over me if I happen to be having a post-lunch half hour on the sofa. I deal with that (Neil goes gagging to another part of the house a bit like I do when a spider appears) and then the cat settles down again, apparently fine. All very odd.
For those in the know about cats, his other end is fine – I know this as, in his household, I am one of the Grooms of the Royal Stool and so inspect things on a daily basis. No worms, nothing nasty, all as it should be. And the rest of his behaviour is fine too; cleaning, being noisy, eating as regularly/frequently as ever. It’s just the after lunch up-chucking which, for the past few days, has become oddly regular – if you’ll excuse the oxymoron. I am hoping it’s just a bug, but if so, how come it’s only an early afternoon event?
In the square of an afternoon
Ah well. While watching the cat and keeping an eye on him health-wise, we shall also, this week, be filling out Neil’s passport application now that everything is here, including things we don’t need. But, as I look down at my diary for the week ahead, that’s all there is in it at the moment, and that’s exactly how winters should be on Symi; blank pages that can be filled with the unexpected day by day. And a bit of cat sick, it seems.
Symi, this day in history
I thought I would try something different today, for no apparent reason. I managed to get back into the old Symi Dream blog site, not having used it for a couple of years, and looked back over posts from the few years, a kind of ‘this day in history.’ So, here is what was going on, on November 18th (the day I am wiriting this) over the last three years. I was going to do it for further back but there’s already two big posts and half a book for you to read!
November 18th 2015 Quick news roundup
Here’s some other news to catch up with. It was all happening in Yialos on the afternoon of November 16th. First of all a chicken went shopping…
Off to buy some eggs
It’s one of those things that you see every now and then. You’re just walking along the backstreet towards the post office, passing the Xatzipetros supermarket when from behind the flower shop comes a small chicken. This is being followed at a polite distance by a curious young cat. The chicken crosses your path, you grab a quick photo and then it heads into the super market (sic) to, I assume, pick up a few essentials. The cat loses interest and wanders off somewhere else and you go to the post office.
Meeting with Solidarity Symi
Later you attend a meeting organised by Solidarity Symi, the refugee and island charity newly set up to help those in need. Attending are a group of interested observers plus the hosts, the island doctors, the head of the port police, people form the Rhodes charity ‘Helping Hands’ and members of the UN. A good two hour discussion with questions and some answers follows.
A message to remember
Later, having a glass at Pacho’s, you see a red flare being set off and wonder if that’s got anything to do with incoming refugees. It doesn’t, on closer inspection, seem so as the person holding it was on the quayside. The Dodecanese catamaran was leaving so maybe someone was saying goodbye in style. It did remind me though of a time in the summer when we were on the balcony and saw a flare, red, over by Nimos which did turn out to be a refugee boat in trouble. Red flares in the sunset.
Red flares in the sunset
And that’s my news for today, except to remind you that if you haven’t already put in your order for a Symi calendar or several, then now is the time to do so. You can find the order page here: Neil Gosling at Lulu. Or you could just ‘Google’ “Neil Gosling Lulu” and, surprisingly, you won’t find Neil singing ‘Shout’, but will find links to where you can order a copy, or several, of next year’s calendar. Well worth shouting about.
And again
November 18th 2014 Carry on up the Kali Strata
Amazon edition
Carry on up the Kali Strata is what you might call part two of ‘Symi 85600’ as it follows on to cover the next couple of years of living on Symi, so it is actually a carry-on from ‘85600’ and hence the name. Well, it’s not rocket science is it?
Back in the days when we had the Symi Visitor newspaper to look forward to each month, I would write a column for them. These articles sometimes also appeared on the Symi Dream blog, but they were often constrained by the number of words allowed in the paper; column inches I think they call them in the biz. After the success of ‘Symi 85600’, people were asking if there was going to be another book. So, it seemed a simple process to collect the articles together, the newspaper having since finished operating, and put them in a compilation with some other pieces of writing that I wanted to get ‘out there.’ And that’s how ‘Cary On’ came about.
DonkeyHarry
We also decided to add in some of Neil’s photos for illustrations (some pictured here) and we had Gill Bennett, who used to live on Symi, design the cover. The thing was, it was still just a collection of articles and had no real through-line. ‘Symi 85600’ had taken us on a journey, the first five years living here, and so that had a kind of structure, but ‘Carry on’ didn’t.
I started thinking about the questions we often get asked here, ‘What’s it like in the winter?’ for example. (And, as I write this – last Friday – there’s a thunderstorm raging, I can’t see Nimos or even the sea through the rain, much of which is coming in under the doors and through the windows, some of which is coming in through the kitchen ceiling, the roof over Neil’s office (for the first time) and through the still not fixed bedroom window. All towels are down, the electricity keeps flickering and there’s a junction box nearby that keeps sparking. We’re expecting a full on power cut any time now and I have to get to Yialos to buy boat tickets. Yeah, like that’s gunna happen.) That’s what it’s like in the winter madam!
Sam
Another oft asked question is, ‘What is it about Symi that made you stay?’ And that’s what I thought should be the structure (loosely speaking) of ‘Carry on up the Kali Strata’, ‘What is it about Symi…?’ So, through articles, anecdotes, a couple of short stories and the photos, the answer is found in this book.
Originally published in landscape format (it can still be found at Lulu.com in this format) it was republished via Amazon a couple of years ago in portrait format, and, like my other books, is also available on Kindle. Same words, same images just a different layout.
“Thoroughly enjoyed this insight into a small Greek island life. For all of you who’re familiar with Greece in any way and love its warmth and can’t QUITE put your finger on what exactly it IS about Greece, James is here to help you answer that.” Amazon review
“This is a good laugh out loud honest account of life on a small island.” Amazon review
November 18th 2013
[As promised, while I am in Rhodes for three days, here is the opening chapter of the novel of the film, The Judas Curse. It will be presented over the next three days with a few suitable images.]
The Judas Inheritance novel preview
You are in darkness. Your eyes are closed. You can’t see but you can hear. A strange kind of whispering sound, like voices from another room, frantically chattering, excited, hushing each other, gasping, begging, all mixed up. And behind all that but close to you, some kind of motor is whirring away, a small, tiny motor driving something on, steady, slowly. What is it?
It’s getting louder.
There is something in the room with you. Something or someone. You just need to open your eyes. You just need the courage to open your eyes.
A quick glance. Open. Shut.
You saw a photograph. A man. A priest was it? Something old, a bit faded, the colour draining, the edges tatty. And an album, the photo was going into a photo album, a small one, a red cover, a plastic wallet of old memories. Who was doing it? Whose hands were those?
Eyes still shut, ears still aware: thumping sounds, what is that? Sounds like books being dumped one on top of the other, a pile of heavy books being stacked and… Someone crying? If the whispers would die down you could hear better but that’s definitely someone crying. A man. An older man breathing fast, desperately, trying to control himself. A whimper of fear.
Another quick glance.
The crying man is pushing the red photo album into an envelope, his fingers are trembling. There is a name on the envelope. You can’t see it. You don’t want to know what is going on. You close your eyes again.
And hear the whispers rise in excitement, tumbling over each other madly, a crescendo, incoming chatter down an unseen telegraph wire, and the sounds of whimpering and the old man mumbling. You just wish it would all stop, all go away, leave you alone. Your eyes screw up tighter, your eyelids actually hurt, your face is distorted. And then:
A scream that holds within it all the horror and desperation of a man with no way out.
‘I can’t do it!’
You have to look.
You see Frank, a man in his sixties, in the darkness of a small, closed room at night. A candle on the table lights papers and books, and his face. It lights the lines on his skin as if his face is made up of crumpled shadows wet by the streams of his tears. His hands are over his ears.
The muffled thump-ker-thump of a heartbeat within a body. The rhythm of life or the sound of approaching death.
He takes his hands away. The whispers have changed key. Lower now and more conspiratorial. They have something planned.
Lie in
A few photos today, taken yesterday when I nipped down to Yialos to collect some post and do a few other of the usual things; shopping, bank, etc. It’s another of those Symi community things, when the postman phones you at home of an evening to tell you that you have a package waiting to be collected from the newsagents and Speedex delivery port, and also something at the post office. We are very lucky with our post-people here on Symi, always friendly, efficient and on the ball.
Settling down for the morning
So, a bit of work in the morning was followed by a stroll down the Kali Strata in the cold sun to Yialos. Here we collected packages and letters before walking around to the hot side of the harbour where it was very warm in the sun, to the bank. I see that Takis has already started on his changes and moving. It’s odd to see the old shop that I used to work at 13 years ago has now gone. Except it hasn’t, it’s now reducing in size and moving into the right-hand building, so the shop will still be there next year, no worries on that front. You’ll still be able to see genial Takis and his staff, and buy all your leather goods as you have done for the last many years.
Always a friendly welcome in Yialos
Due to the weight of the packages, ah-them, we took a taxi back up the hill and then stopped for a while in the square as one table at the kafeneion still had sunlight on it. We warmed up there before heading home to a cool house where the heater went on, and the cat found a decent place to sit (in front of the heater) for the rest of the day.
As you can see, sunny days are back
So, I’m not stopping long, but hopefully later today I will be able to write something more interesting for you for tomorrow.
