Symi news, Horio news, Rhodes and boats
The news from up here today is the nephew George has been offered a job on Rhodes. It all sounds very exciting, something to do with the entertainment team at a four-star hotel in Kalethia, on the coast. It looks like a very nice hotel and the package is good with a day off each week, room and board included, and they will help him sort out the next stage of his legalities; a bank account and the work permits. He’s off there today, via Euromedica to collect his test results, and I think he’s looking forward to it. First day nerves and all that I expect.

That leaves us adjusting to having the house to ourselves again and just when we were getting used to regular meal times, the family at the table, and having someone to do the washing up. Ah well. So for me it’s back to the usual routine as it is going to be all summer, I hope. Apart from the first week of next month when I am going away on my writing retreat again.

This year I am going to work on a new novel, as the next one is nearing completion, edits and layout-wise, and the Donkeys book has given me a headache all year so far. I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s not meant to be. It started as a film script, and still is, and it works fine that way, but it’s not adapting to a novel and, to be honest, I’m not really into it. I found I was working on it for the sake of having something out there, and that’s not a way I like to work. So that’s in pieces on the back burner while I look into the next story: a thriller/mystery set on the Romney Marshes. No doubt I will bore you about that in great detail as it progresses. We’re still working on Remotely of course and I hope that will be out on Amazon by the end of June – a piece of silly summer reading for you. I’ll let you know when you can pre-order on Amazon.

Meanwhile on Symi: the sun is still out and looks to be staying for a while yet, the breeze is up and there’s pollen about, but nothing unmanageable, and the day boats have been coming and going. The Nikolaos X has started its daily runs too, adding a few more day-trippers to the mix, the Panagia Skiedani is coming in each day and the Pride and Express are doing their usual trips.

A quick note to anyone planning a trip to Symi: check your boats before you finalise your flights. Check them as much as is possible, though the schedules are out for the summer now. I’m still getting emails from people asking why they can’t get to Symi on the same day that their plane lands, as if it was a) a right, and b) my fault. The boats (at the moment) leave in the morning and unless you are in Rhodes and at the harbour by 8.30 at the latest, you are not going to make it that day. Unless it’s a Thursday when there is an 11.30 boat, a Wednesday when there is a 15:00 one and Friday when there is one at 19:00 – those last two being the Blue Star. And if you are planning on coming on the Skiedani, you can’t book it online and it always shows as full when it probably isn’t; you need to book via a travel agent or at the kiosk by the boat. And that’s the last time I am going to tell you, so make notes!

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A walk in the hills
Sunday morning: we were up early and had breakfast and then set out, around 10.00 for a walk in the hills. We followed my current favourite route, up through the village, out on the donkey path to Agia Paraskevi and then, just beyond the house near there, turned off onto the very rocky path that leads around the side of the hill and comes out at Saint Rafael.

Form here you can see the other side of the island and, on a clear day, Kos in the distance. We had quick chat with some goats and then headed back down the valley behind Yialos. As we neared the bottom we could hear the marching band and the church bells, as it was the May 8^th parade, celebrating the end of WWII. We thought we’d missed the parade (as we’d heard the band much earlier) and so went and had a beer at Pacho’s, a traditional harbour kafeneion. As it turned out, the parade hadn’t even started, but we were into our beer and heading for a light lunch by then.

We sat at Meraklis and had gigantes, crab salad (a dip) some chips, courgette fritters and an omelette – between three of us; and very nice it was too, and very reasonable. After that we walked back up the steps to home so that Neil could be ready in time for work at three. The morning walk from home to harbour on the circular route took less than two hours and it’s a great walk, though you do have wear the right shoes as it’s very hard underfoot if not. It was one of those things: we were on the way down and got to the point of saying, ‘I think the path goes this way,’ and ‘No, I think it’s further down,’ when a voice yells out, ‘Hello!’ and there in their mountain house, were our next door neighbours. I never knew they had a small farm/house there but they do, and just in the right place to make sure we didn’t end up on the wrong side of the terracing. How handy.

Anyway; off into another week, another trip to Rhodes, more work and the usual, and then a dinner invite on Thursday and the weather looking like it’s calming down and warming up. There are also lots of people we know starting to arrive for their holidays so we can officially say, winter is over, spring has spring and summer will be along in a minute.

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Symi update
It’s a bit chilly here today with a north-west wind blowing the clouds away. Apparently we’ve got this for a couple of days and then it should calm down. It’s good weather for sailing though and we’ve had a flotilla of sailing boats in as part of a regatta. They were in overnight Thursday and set off again Friday morning. Hopefully this has given the island its first major visitor-boost and helped those in their ‘end of winter finance’ mode.

I think I left you yesterday at the medical centre waiting for an X-ray. It was finally sorted and, though we’d not finished in time to make the boat, we had a great service from Euromedica and since then I have had an even better service from them via email. It used to be that we had a doctor on Symi who could authorise the paperwork after medical tests to allow you (by which I mean ‘one’) to work in food places; cafes, tavernas, kitchens etc. That doctor has now left and, at the moment, there isn’t one who has the right authority to do this, so another solution must be found. While in Rhodes I made some enquiries and was told various different tales from various people I know in the restaurants and hotels there, some of whom did their ‘books’ under the old system, some of whom had done it under the new system. The new one having come in this year, apparently. I was left not knowing if we would have to come back next week, stay overnight again, get to the clinic, collect the tests and then be at a place called 100 Palms, where the state doctors can do the ‘book’ and spend a morning queuing and waiting while fretting about maybe missing the boat again. So I asked Euromedica.

After some emails they confirmed that there is a doctor at their hospital who is able to authorise these books (which may not actually be books anymore), and that we could return next Wednesday, collect the results and then see the doctor. When I asked where we had to go for that they emailed back telling me to come and find them at the International Department and they would call the doctor to see to us. That simple email took all the stress and worry out of the process and now I am confident that Nephew will be fully authorised by this time next week. Okay, so two trips to Rhodes adds to the cost, but that’s because we live on a small island. I am almost looking forward to the trip, though will only be totally relaxed when he’s got his papers authorised and I know I don’t have to take any more trips across for a while. Well, I have to return the week after for an appointment of my own and then two weeks after that I am off to Tilos for a week, but otherwise, I’m staying home. Meanwhile, because the tests have been done, he is still fine to work in the taverna. I know a lot of people have been talking about this medical process and are not sure of the new regulations. I just spent half an hour trying to find them online without success. My advice would be to ask the doctor, the KEP office, or IKA, make a phone call and try and find out what this ‘new’ system is, if it is new at all. If anyone does get a link to the definitive, correct-department, answer, let me know and I will share it here.

Anyway; talking medical, Jack the cat has just scratched his ear and is dropping blood about the courtyard. He’s fine in himself but his dark patches on his ears and nose are growing slowly. This is what his personal physician called ‘pre-cancerous skin tissue’ and so we expect it only to get worse. Maybe to the point of where we have to have more of his ears taken off so he becomes a cat of the Lugless Douglas class. There’s nothing we can do about his nose but keep an eye on it and hope it doesn’t break out into full blown nastiness, though that is inevitable. People have been asking after him, which is very kind, and he is still as soft and daft, loud and deaf as ever, getting a bit more crotchety in his old age, a bit more grumpy and he loves sitting in laps and next to you on the sofa now more than ever.

That’s my update for today. I’ll just read it over to make sure I haven’t made that many typos -but even if I have I doubt I will spot them. Like the other day when I said I had been watering the pants, I meant plants; I’ve not got to that stage yet.

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No time in Rhodes
Back from Rhodes, again, after missing the boat and staying overnight at the Lydia Hotel (where we were given a very good deal on two single rooms for my nephew and I).

Wednesday consisted of the Blue Star Diagoras boat over to Rhodes, and then getting in a taxi. This where the first piece of excitement happened. We knew we were pushed for time as the boat had left late after already being on a later than usual schedule. We made sure we were among the first off a very busy boat and headed to the taxi rank. It was its usual organised chaos, slightly reminiscent of an Egyptian bazaar, but a helpful driver called us over and popped us in his taxi. He then disappeared for no apparent reason. Meanwhile, everyone else found their taxis and set off, leaving us to be the last to go. I eventually got out of the car and did that very Greek thing of raising my arms in the air in a gesture which was a mix of confusion and annoyance. He came back and brought another passenger with him.

It’s common in Greece for other passengers to join you on the ride and, as our driver knew where we were heading, I assumed we were dropping this chap off en route. Finally, we set off and had a wonderful tour of some of the most obscure backstreets of that part of Rhodes between the Old Town and Sgoupou (I just had to look it up on a map; It’s a rather appropriate name as you will read in a moment). After a couple of double-backs we dropped off the passenger and set off for where we were going. After a little while it was clear that this was not a good day to be out and about on the roads of Rhodes: every traffic light was red, seemingly in all directions at once, and every driver was out stopping to chat to every pedestrian. A little while longer and the main hospital came into sight. I checked that we were going to the private hospital and yes, he knew that but there was [something unrepeatable] about the roads and roadworks on the usual route. Well, it gave us plenty of opportunity to admire some varied industrial estates, warehouses and even more obscure parts of this wonderful island.

We did arrive, in the end, and found the reception area to go to. When you go for X-rays and microbiological tests (as Nephew has to do for his work papers), or any other treatment, you have to pay in advance. This payment station is, rather alarmingly, housed in A&E, but there were no emergencies taking place that day. Well, there may have been as there was something of a slow moving queue, various people waiting for various things and so another delay for us. What was impressive though (apart from the service and the place itself) was the way the receptionists seemed to be able to turn their tongue to any language. I heard Greek, of course, English, German, French and something that sounded like a terminal throat complaint; I assume Flemish. Anyway, after doing all that, we headed to drop off the, er, sample at microbiology. That took all of five seconds and I started to relax a little more as time was now in very short supply.

A quick aside here (as we wait for the X-ray to be done) to explain to those who don’t know what this is all about. Actually, I haven’t met anyone yet who knows what this is all about, though I have had some very helpful friends in Rhodes messaging me and offering help and advice over the last week. Basically, to get your ‘health book’ approved for work in a taverna you need a chest X-ray and some test done on your poo. There. It’s been said. This had to be produced by my Nephew on the day of the trip. (He will hate me for this.) Of course, this can produce anxiety in anyone and not only because you have to do your number two to order. You can do it before you leave home, or on the way. Had he not made use of the excellent, though rather communal, facilities on the Blue Star Diagoras, George might well have been able to produce during the taxi ride. There were plenty of near misses and almost head-ons, and Lord knows, plenty of time. But he had it all in hand before then, so that was fine. And when I say ‘in hand’ I mean… Well, details are not needed but it apparently involves paper towels, latex gloves, a special pot from the pharmacy, some peace and quiet, a little privacy and a lot of skill. Oh, and a tea spoon, or Sgoupou, as we shall now call it. As we left home that morning, I did look in the cat’s litter tray and wondered if we would get away with borrowing something, but thought better of it.

Anyway; the upshot of the late arrival, magical mystery tour, roadworks, queues, blah, blah, and then the trip back (repeat part one above), was that we were too late for the last sailing to Symi of the day. More about the rest of the day another time perhaps, it wasn’t that spectacular except I spent a lot of time trying to figure out what stage two would entail: IKA doctors, collecting results after Friday, another day in Rhodes, maybe private doctors to sign the papers, where to go, etc. But it can all wait as I’ve gone on enough and shared too much detail already.

By the way: no, there are no photos of the trip for obvious and decorous reasons. Today’s are from my general ‘to post’ file.

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