Political thoughts and then some nice photos
Now I can share some of Neil’s wonderful photos of last weekend with you, and they will be a distraction as I am feeling a little strange today, a little political, and that’s not like me at all.

I was just browsing around for news and discovered a report on the Greek Reporter website alleging that the Greek PM is calling for everyone to strike today – to protest at the austerity measures being imposed by the country’s creditors. We’re used to strikes in Greece, they are about as common and as useful as early closing days. But hang on a minute… He’s calling for everyone to strike against austerity measures? Well, I can’t put it any better than the report put it so here is the quote: “How fitting that the people who are the backbone of the government that has imposed the harshest austerity measures so far, call on Greeks to protest against the government!” – While I stop laughing, you can see more at Greek Reporter.

And then I saw another report about Britain leaving the EU and that’s another subject where I can’t help thinking that anyone who thinks the country would be better off out of the EU is a little bit ‘Current Greek PM’, if you see what I mean. Mind you, from what I have seen of my homeland recently, there are too many people who voted for the Government now pretending that they didn’t, and everyone seems to be turning against it and yet someone is responsible for putting it there. But like I said, I’m not really political though I will vote in the referendum about leaving the EU if I can – and the last I heard I could, so I can put my vote where my mouth occasionally is. Anyway… enough of this boring stuff…

As you can see, I am not on strike today though I am writing this yesterday, though I will be writing tomorrow’s today… And so on. So, with no other great news to impart, I shall let you enjoy some more photos from the Panormitis Festival, this time courtesy of Neil. Remember that you can click a photo here and it should then open up a slideshow where you can browse through and if you want you can download the images and save them, though they are only at 1,000 px at the most and watermarked.

More photos tomorrow.

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Still walking to Panormitis (4)
Yes, we’re still on the long and winding road – photographically speaking. And I’ve not even got to Neil’s photos yet. I hope you’re not getting too bored. It’s interesting, but many of the emails I’ve had in with guest blog posts for when we are away, are about Panormitis. It, along with the Poseidon and boat trips, seems to be the most popular subject on the island. Obviously not everyone has seen Neil doing a shift at the Rainbow Bar yet.

So, along with these images, what other news and details from our day to day lives on Symi can I tell you? Well, Tuesday was an exciting day as I headed off down to Yialos to collect the parcel from the bookshop; they had rung the night before to let us know there was something in. I headed down the KS (Kali Strata) and the sun was shining. We’re at that time of year when the house feels colder inside than the air outside; the courtyard is positively hot and I could sunbathe if I were into that kind of thing. But I am not, so I don’t. I reached town and said hello to our landlord who was sitting on one of the benches watching the sea, the town felt busy with locals going about their odd jobs. There were waves from restaurant owners now on holiday and many others, and there was definitely a calm-down, end of term feel to the place.

For a change I was not visiting the dentist and only had to collect said parcel and buy some printer ink. I remembered! I bought two, and just as well as one cartridge of HP black only does around 130 pages of A4 as it turns out. Luckily it’s not too expensive, but last time I wanted a draft of a story printed I went through Lulu.com and got a proper draft book, rather than print it myself, and it was cheaper (though took longer to arrive). But there you go. And, for more cheery news, the parcel turned out to be the new duvet. Yippee! (The following morning I received an email to tell me a delivery attempt had been made. Yeah, you think? Well, it was a successful one at least.) So, I carried that back up, chatted to Zoi about the baptism on Saturday (her grandson) and then walked back up to home.

The duvet is very warm and will be fine when things really cool down. We’re still in the 20s at the moment but it’s on the bed. After lunch I tidied the courtyard and we did some of that pottering around housework that needs doing almost daily and then watched some TV in the evening. Wednesday was a work day, as are most weekdays and that’s dull, so, back to last weekend and ‘what I did at the festival.’ Here are a few more pics.

The sea view just past the turning to Marathounda:

We arrived just at the end of the service, the bells were ringing, the boat horns were blaring, it was all very kind of them to welcome us in such a way.

But there are things than need to be done before going to see the procession, light candles, buy quality goods from the market (!) and eat souvlakies…

More photos tomorrow.

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Still walking to Panormitis (3)
I think it is going to be a week of walking pictures; I mean, pictures of us walking. Neil’s just sent me loads as well, so I’ll let them out over the next few weeks, filling you in with anything of interest that might come along. Like today’s news that there is a parcel waiting for me at the bookshop. Could this be the duvet that was delivered from one side of a warehouse to the other…?

I’m just going to put these photos up and then I will be off to have a look, and must try and remember to buy some printer ink. Three times I’ve gone down there now and three times I’ve forgotten it. Mind you, on each occasion I had come from the dentist, so maybe it’s excusable. That work is all done now and I can eat without grumbling; at least until the next one goes wrong.

And talking of going wrong, the main loo needs fixing as there’s a slow leak on it somewhere. The pump, in the sterna beneath my feet, can be heard turning on every few minutes and that means there’s a drop in water pressure and that means there’s a leak. I isolated all the taps and luckily in this house (and it’s quite common elsewhere) you have have a feed tap to turn on or off to make it easier to change your taps, washing machine, shower etc. Doing this I was able to isolate the problem, which I wouldn’t have known about had not the pump gone off – and it’s a quiet one. So, later today I may stick my hands in the WC cistern and see what I can break in there.

Back to the walk: we arrived at the top of the famous zigzag road two hours after leaving home, at 9.50 to be exact. From up there we could hear the Papas at the monastery as the service is played out through speakers. As we would find out later, there were thousands of people at the festival and it is a very small chapel so most of the congregation are outside.

Man stops to take photo on the way down. There are 15 bends in this stretch of road. And from the top to Panormitis took us one hour 50 to walk/limp/hobble.

The picnic spot. Last time we were here it was to see the stars.

And here we found another Symi sundial:

More photos tomorrow.

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