Symi! (Exclamation mark, why?)
Photos of some more plants in the courtyard, clouds and sun, calmer winds, cool breeze, just another ordinary day for me on Symi.

I spent a lot of Wednesday night watching ‘Saving Private Ryan’ and making notes. I then spent Thursday morning typing them up, a total of over 800 words, but I only need 500 for the assignment, which is about the script of a film. In this case SPR. After the note typing came the sifting and sorting and moving things around so that I had a structure to my piece, and then came some editing. As I pause to write this, I have 640 words. I need to hone it down to 500 or less without losing any of my main points. It’s been a while since I did anything remotely academic, even though this isn’t relay an academic exercise, and, so far I am quite enjoying it. I think. I’ll leave it for now though and come back to it later or tomorrow and see what I have written. Hopefully I will like it.

And talking of films. Is it me or does every film these days have to have someone throw up in it? Even some animated stories have someone doing something nasty with fluids from the head; spitting, hoiking, gobbing, vomiting, you name it they all seem to do it. The number of times I’ve watched a film and seen something like that going on seems to be on the increase. Yes, I know, ‘keep it visceral’ and ‘make it realistic’ and all that, so when someone sees a dead body there’s usually a stomach reaction. But in every single film? Okay, I’ve not seen it in Love Story and a quick up-chuck would be out of place in ‘Women In Love’ (perhaps not), but they are old films. These days it’s everywhere! Even in TV shows!

And I must apologise for the overzealous use of that exclamation mark! Oops, did it again. I hate them and think they should be banned which, as far as I can pick up, means I am close to being in agreement with someone in the British Government. You have to admit, though, that when someone writes Hi! It works and that’s fine, so we won’t outlaw the ! completely. Or when someone shouts, ‘OI! Come over here,’ it makes sense. But what I hate is when people write to you and say things like, How are you! (Should be a question mark.) Or, We’re coming to visit Symi in two months! As if were an announcement of ‘Quick, run for the hills!’ Or even worse, We have now taken delivery of three new kittens!!! (One for each mini-moggy, I guess.) In every novel of, say, 80,000 words, I say that there should be no more than four exclamation marks. They don’t give sentences any more weight, especially if overused. If you want to show surprise or joy, write ‘I am surprised, or joyful.’

I have no idea where that came from, but then I rarely have any idea where these morning posts come from. But still, it’s there now! (Stop it!) (No, really.)

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March on Symi
March marches on on Symi and we have more grey skies and fairly strong winds. The wind may have changed direction as it’s now noticeably colder in the house than it has been of late. We’ve had several days without having to put any heating or thermals on, but today it’s back to long-johns and the electric bar heater, much to Jack’s approval. And talking of Jack…

Old routines are falling back into place. Another walk on Wednesday morning at 6.40, only up to the second bend in the road after Periotisa; on Friday I will head up one more, and so on until I am back to regularly reaching the Kantina and getting home again within 40 minutes or so, three or maybe more times per week. Neil has now done two aerobics sessions in two days (mad fool) and has another one to attend this morning, making it three in a row.

Elsewhere in the village, the Olive Tree is now being prepared for the summer season, the Village Café has opened up again and Georgio’s has been hosting some events while staying open for the evenings. The Rainbow Bar is open in the afternoons again and, despite the cold weather, folk are out and about preparing their businesses for the months ahead. The Blue Star came in on Wednesday morning, only a little bit late, and the Frontex or navy boat is out in the bay on call and doing whatever it is that it does out there. The coastguard has also been patrolling but so far we’ve not seen any of the expected refugees boats turning up in mass numbers, as predicted by some media, due to the amount of NATO and other ships on their way to waters between Lesbos and other islands, and Turkey. No doubt things will change but the prediction is that there will be more attempted crossings from Marmaris to Greece. The nearest port of call from there would be Rhodes or Symi, so there could be busy times ahead.

Back at home, I have started on my new scriptwriting course and my first task is to write 500 words about the script of ‘Shaving Ryan’s Privates’, I mean ‘Saving Private Ryan’ (there are other options, but I happen to have this film and know it reasonably well). But only 500 words? I have no idea how I shall discuss the plot, action, dialogue and character development in only 500 words, I don’t usually get out of bed for less than 700, as regular readers will know. But I shall give it a good old go.

And as for the rest of this week, well, there’s nothing on the dance card apart from paying the Netflix subscription, the website host’s invoice and my annual Microsoft invoice which seems to have come around very quickly, oh, and that post office box rental bill I’ve had on the desk for a few weeks now, that’s due at the end of the month. Best go and find some way to see to all that before getting back to my typing exercises. I’m still not doing that well as I am only on the middle row and no matter how much I try and keep the fingers in the right place, I still use the wrong ones for the keys I’ve not yet rehearsed up. So I can write slag, glass and and, for example, without looking at my fingers and by using the correct fingers, but then when an E gets involved or a P (I usually get the symbol [ by mistake), I am still moving my hands into the wrong place and, usually, missing the right keys. Once I’ve mastered the first row though, I can start to expand. So, onwards and u[wards with the ty[ing [ractice and, without looking at my fingers, I will wiosh yout a bery food dat aheaf. (A very good day ahead.)

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A small pile of books
Yesterday was rather grey and a bit windy on Symi. The sea was grey, the sky too, the wind rattled the shutters a little and I stayed home; no early walk for me, though Neil did go to his aerobics class and then walk back up the road.

It looks like this could be another week of staying home for me, until I need to get to the bank or post office or something harbour-located. And so I am at my desk, wondering what I can tell you today and there happens to be a small pile of books waiting for me on one side. They are an interesting collection, the top one in particular might be of interest to you:

Your Eyes Fourteen by John Carr and Paul Anastasi – I am using this for Shocking the Donkeys (again) as it is a collection of Greek sayings or idiolects. In linguistics, an idiolect is an individual’s distinctive and unique use of language, including speech. This unique usage encompasses vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation. The book is made up of phrases and their explanations. Such things as: ‘Eating moustaches’ (getting into an argument), or ‘Careful the chandelier’ which means ‘don’t make such a fuss.’ Then there is ‘Being an Englishman’ which could mean all kinds of odd things but actually is a phrase used for when someone is punctual. There are loads of others in the book but ‘Shocking the donkeys’ is not one of them. We made that one up for the story, it means to give the old guard a bit of shakeup.

[By the way, if you follow the link for that book you should get a page at Amazon where the book is being sold for a ridiculous price. Don’t do it! Check out other sources for it; I think I bought my copy from Athens News but it was a long while ago now.]

The next book on the pile is my ‘Elements of Style’ that I have been dipping into slightly of late, and beneath this is (oh! A bill for the post office box which I must get paid) a book that was a Christmas present, ‘501 Must-Visit Cities’ a guide to, well, 501 cities that everyone should visit. If only I had the time and money. I think I’ve seen around 25 of them, though I’ve not counted. Then we have ‘The Curios Lobster’ a 1940s children’s book that I read when I was younger (it belonged to my father) and which I keep meaning to send off to my friend who runs Krazy Kat Theatre Company as it might be of interest to him for one of his children’s shows for the deaf and hard of hearing.

And beneath that is a large and empty notebook which reminds me I should go and do some thinking or drafting or writing, or thinking about writing…

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Dodecanese, March 7^th
Monday morning, up for an early walk despite the clouds and cold wind, and back again by half seven ready for the day ahead. The March 7^th Parade is set to happen down in Yialos, celebrating the day the Dodecanese were handed back to the Greek state. This actually happened on the first of April 1947 after a few years of British Military Administration, but the day is celebrated on March 7^th as this was when King Pavlos sailed in to Rhodes. There you go.

Looking out of my window now I can see a sailing yacht heading out towards Nimos and the channel between it and Symi, its main sail up and the boat tipping to port. You can always remember which side is port from the phrase: ‘There is no red port left in the bottle,’ a phrase my father taught me. Red, Port, Left are the three words to remember there, the fact that starboard is green and right is left ‘implied’, though you do have to know that starboard is green (when talking about lights on a ship). Where the bottle comes in is anyone’s guess, but that’s about as far as my nautical expertise stretches.

Anyway, I was just looking for some new ‘Books set in Greece’ titles that might be of interest to readers and found this site: http://www.greekislandbooks.com/ It’s good to see Anne Zouroudi with an author interview there, and her novel ‘The Feast of Artemis’ listed. This is one of the seven Greek Detective Mysteries, the first, ‘The Messenger of Athens’ being partly inspired by Anne’s time spent on Symi, the landscape and the people inhabiting the island. As you may know, Anne kindly wrote an introduction to my second collection of tales from Symi, ‘Carry on up the Kali Strata.’

Which kind of leads me on to Donkey news. I was able to get my head down over the keyboard and carry on with the first draft of this unusual ‘novel’ based on my screenplay. I say unusual as it’s not taking a standard novel format, not that there is one. There are no chapters, simply scene headings as there are in the script. For example: EXT: Village Square – DAY. There then follows the description of the scene that takes place in the village square at that time in the script, with dialogue added in as you would expect to see in a novel, rather than formatted as a screenplay. The dialogue is being expanded, as are the descriptions from the ‘black stuff’ as the stage directions are called in a screenplay, and I also have the luxury of adding in some background and other elements which you wouldn’t normally have in a film script. The first draft is chugging along nicely and well on its way to be ready for my second draft in June; or before, if I can get it done.

I have also just booked myself onto a writing course with the South African Writer’s College, as I mentioned the other day, as I thought it about time I did some learning in scriptwriting. I mean, after four musicals, several revues, a couple of plays (all performed) and two films (both filmed, one nearing post production, the other one… well, who knows?) I thought it was about time. So, that will hopefully keep me busy in the in-between times when I am not working up ‘Shocking the Donkeys’ or finishing off ‘Remotely’ (just seen the cover design, latest draft, very nice), thinking about a screenplay version of ‘Lonely House’ and also working on many other ideas, including another set of tales from Symi with other short articles and stories included. Plenty of work to do to keep me off the streets and steps for a while, I hope.

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Monday morning ramble
Having decided not to succumb to the fate of many, I did not waste my Sunday morning on Facebook, pottering around looking at photos of other people’s animals doing daft things with each other, or watching videos of people getting hurt as they try and do really stupid things. I did not spend more than five minutes reading other people’s ill-informed views on refugees, Great Britain, and Europe. I didn’t even have a good laugh looking at some of the dreadful things the potential next American president has to say; I did not say ‘Amen’ and save a child’s life, I refused to ‘share and get good luck for the next seven years,’ or even make a comment and see what happened to the picture. All of that kind of rubbish went out of the window in favour of my own kind of rubbish. This Monday morning blog which is, as usual, written on a Sunday.

Instead of doing any of that time-wasting nonsense I got together this post for today, did some work on the Donkeys, if you see what I mean and then set about housework. The day started off sunny enough, but soon clouded over. I say ‘the day’ it’s actually still only 8.30 in the morning as I write this so anything could happen, weather-wise. I also pointed off some information about a short course I have applied to do. Although I’d really like to do an MA in English Literature by distance learning over the next two years, I can’t afford it. The lowest cost course I can find is still over €5,000 per year as, naturally, these things don’t come cheap. So instead, I have signed up for a short course for interest’s sake and it’s on scriptwriting. I should hear this week if everything is okay and if/when I can get started. Once started it much be completed within five months. And I am able to afford to pay for this (much cheaper) course thanks to Mozart. I won’t go into detail here but next time you see me you can ask me, if you’re really that interested.

Studying might make afternoons at The Rainbow Bar more of a luxury than a daily occurrence for the next few months then, depending on how much work is involved. We stopped for our first one of the season there on Saturday evening after shopping. Actually, it wasn’t that we stopped there it was more that we were stopped there – is that the difference between an active and a passive verb in English? Yiannis whistled us back and indicated to sit for a glass, on him, and of course you can’t argue with the boss. He’s back there open every day now after his winter wind-down and it’s expected that Neil will start work again in a month or so. How soon the time flies.

And time is flying as I am rambling on, so I’m now heading off into Hooverland to run the old ‘James’ (the vacuum cleaner, not me) around the floors, put the washing out, put the washing away, ‘take away the sardines while leaving the receiver’* and do all that kind of jazz, while Neil sees to the courtyard and starts repotting things. Here’s wishing you a good Monday and week ahead.

*Noises Off

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