If you look over to the right… No, not there, to the right of the screen, you will see the list of Books and things, and then some other handy stuff and then, further down… No don’t scroll now or you won’t be able to read what I am about to tell you… Oh heaven’s to Betsie! In a moment, have a look down to the right of the screen and you will see a list of events that are taking place on Symi this summer. This is what you might call an alternative Symi Festival, as the official one is not running. I am not sure how official this one is but it’s keeping the arts alive and well and living on Symi with classical and modern music, books and poetry. Everything is free, so if you are here on one of these dates, you can go and have a look and a listen.

So, back to Rhodes, where I was on Wednesday and where todays’ photos are from. I didn’t take many during the middle of the day as that was work time. Having two in depth discussions with two different insurance companies within a four hour time frame was a bit exhausting. I was glad I’d booked to return at 7pm on the Scooby as I didn’t finish until 2.15 and Diagoras leaves at 3pm on a Wednesday.

The first office was near the Lydia hotel and the man picked me up from the boat. The second was out more towards the hospital and I walked there using a very rough map I’d downloaded. It was an interesting walk through the back streets of the new town and I arrived in plenty of time, drenched with sweat and looking rather like a drowned rat. After that meeting the lady I saw was kind enough to drive me back to town. ‘Not because I want your custom,’ she said. ‘This is simply Greek hospitality.’

A lunch at Napoleon was called for (out of the Plaza turn left and over the road on the corner) as they do a wonderful tomato soup, slightly spicy, and a nice spag boll – makes a change. It also came with a free ouzo – more Greek hospitality. And then, a wander to H&M to get a new shirt as the wet one I was wearing was, well, wet. The five litres of water I drank that day were going in and coming out kind of at the same time. So, I found a very nice new shirt for €15.00 (interesting to see the prices were in Euros and in Roubles) though there was a bit of scrummage through the Russian visitors to get to the racks.

A nip to the convenient conveniences in the old fish market beneath the ‘bandstand’ which is not a bandstand, new décor, looked after, only 50c a throw, or for whatever you do in there and a good top-half wash at one of the sinks. Putting on the new shirt afterwards felt good, and so, refreshed, I went to see Maria at the Symi café. Heading towards the harbour later, I could see the Panagia Skiadeni (which is not really called the Scooby) had just come in so there were some Symi leavers to wave at as they passed. The boardwalk has been completed now, all the way around to Akandia and Commercial harbours, so it’s now a safe and rather pleasant walk. But it does take some time.

And so, back on the boat and a good read of a history book about the Princes in the Tower and safely deposited back on Symi for a walk up the steps and a quick stuffed pepper before a nightcap and bed. And so far (Thursday morning) only one of the insurance salesmen has called me to see why I’ve not made up my mind yet. Hmm, if that carries on they won’t be getting my business out of sheer pique.

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Good morning. I’m only going to put up a few photos today as I didn’t have a chance to get the blog done yesterday as I was away, and I want to get straight on with other things this morning. There will be more photos from Rhodes and news on the trip over there before long, and normal service will be resumed as soon as possible.

It was a very calm crossing as you can see:

“I hear the accommodation in steerage is quite good on this ship.”

“The best I’ve seen ma’am. Hardly any rats.” [Titanic]

A change from my usual sunrise photos – here’s a sunset over Symi.

Arriving back at Symi:

And finally:

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Wednesday morning as you read this and I should be sailing off to Rhodes for the day – so I am getting this ready the day before. Tuesday:

Tuesday morning after a pretty dreadful night’s sleep, I was up at 5.15. I didn’t know why it was so bad. I kept waking up thinking it must be time to get up and my mind was wide awake; this was at 3.00 a.m. I did drift in and out of sleep and had some very strange dreams. We’d watched ‘Behind enemy lines’ in the evening and I was, at one point, in WWII and behind enemy lines. That’s odd as the film was set in Serbia. Later there was something to do with a huge bridge lifting up, but not the road part of the bridge, the pillars that hold the suspension cables…

So, after all that mayhem we were up early and out on the road by half five, way before the sun was up. We did our quick walking up to the museum and up the steps to the top road – often the worst part of the exercise, and then on to the main road and carried on up. Stopping at the Kantia for a quick swig of water, the sun still not up, and then back down again to home. During the morning Neil went to his ‘trampettes’ class and then…. Hang on. What? Trampettes? Are they some sleazy close harmony girl group perhaps? An a capella group of street ladies?

No, rather disappointingly it’s an exercise class where you do stuff on small trampolines. Anyway, he did that while I was at home working and then he went to get my boat tickets and then went to explore the bank. It was open and he says it was quite busy but he was able to pay a tax bill. Horary! The Greek economy is saved at last. If only. So that’s good news. Another one to pay next week – all on the old business which it seems is never quite done and dusted. I am sure the accountant keeps finding random bits or paper behind filing cabinets and thinks, ‘Oh, Neil will pay that.’

So, Rhodes today. I’m going to see about this health insurance thing so I’ll let you know how that goes, in case anyone is interested to know. I’m doing it because my IKA runs out early next year and as I’m no longer earning money in Greece I can’t be in the Greek system. All a bit of an adventure and the day may well start with another walk up the hill, as the boat is not until 8.15, if it is on time. Mind you, if I have another night of enemy action and flying bridges I might not feel like going for a run.

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Banks reopened yesterday, with restrictions, only effects Greek accounts though so if you’re coming on holiday you can access your foreign accounts at the ATM and go about your holiday in the usual way. Not sure about cashing travellers’ cheques though – does anyone still use them? I’ve not seen one for several years thanks to the rise of the ATM – which is not the new Terminator film, as it happens.

But ATM is, or are, the initials of my old BSF from school, Andrew T Mackay who is now a leading composer of, among other things, film music in the Indian film industry. He is also half of ‘The Bombay Dub Orchestra’ which I have mentioned on here before, and their latest CD is available, with their others, and you can find it by following this link.  It’s ambient, ethnic, multi-cultural listening and hardly ever off my turntable these days.

Which is not true as I don’t have a turntable. We have an old gramophone but that only plays 78s at whatever speed it is in the mood for at the time. I use a DVD player as a CD player at the moment, through the amp and ancient Panasonic speakers – I keep meaning to replace them with something smaller and chic and discrete but when you’ve been with something for over 30 years it’s hard to let it, or them, go. But when not playing ‘Bombay Dub’ I am often playing APP as opposed to ATM.

APP is the Alan Parsons Project, which you may have heard of. He, or they, are often the underscore to my housework and pottering around at home time. And talking of pots, Neil bought another potted patio plant from the garden centre by the town hall. Due for delivery any time now along with some extendable clippers (I can’t spell secateurs) with which to trim the vine. Parts of it are hanging over the road and are in danger of garrotting moped riders.

So, that’s how we get from Greek banks to Bombay (via West London and Abbey Road Studios) to APP and the grapevine. And if you fancy listening to some Alan Parsons then you might like this ‘best of’ compilation to get you started. Click here.  And with that I shall leave you to find your way back to the Greek bank again, which is where we came in today. Oh, and if you are wondering what BSF stands for, it means ‘best straight friend.’ Hope you enjoyed Neil’s photos today.

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Sunday morning, Symi, blog, doing it now so I can have the rest of the day off. Just checking up on the news and found a report from Greek Reporter about the ‘migrant’ situation as they call it.

“The problem is just mounting on a daily basis. On one side, you see refugees queuing for registration; on the other side, you see Greeks queuing at cash points for their 60 euros a day. It is a perfect storm,” said David Morrissey the actor from ‘The Walking Dead’ (and many other things) who has come with UNHCR.

We were in Yialos on Saturday and though there was no queuing for the ATM, on the way back in a taxi, saw the latest group of refugees on the south side of the harbour, finding shade as best they could. They will probably be waiting for the next Athens ferry, which is not due until Wednesday; meanwhile they must rely on whatever money they have for food and water, and the police station for shelter, and generous restaurant owners such as Pandelis who offer what free food they can after service.

The other thing that we did on Saturday was get some money out of the bank in order to put it back into the bank during the week. Apparently the banks are opening again from Monday, or Tuesday depending on what you read. If you’ve a Greek account you can still only take out €60.00 per day but there is talk of letting you take your weekly allowance in one go, to save you having to return. And some places have reported that at €300.00 per week, which is clearly wrong, as it should be €420; unless they mean €300 over the counter for five banking days and then another two visits to the ATM at the weekend. Some are reporting that it’s the full €420. Still, at least they should be open, and that means we can pay our income tax bills and put the country on the road to recovery. More on this story here.

Another thing we did in ‘town’ was to buy another plant for the courtyard and some clippers on a pole so we can reach the vine. All that should be delivered today, Sunday, or tomorrow, Monday, which is today as you read this, unless you are coming back to it at the end of the week for a catch-up in which case you can work out what day it is for yourself. But for me it’s Sunday and I am looking down on Harani and can count 11 boats of various breeds in the water, waking up slowly as it’s still only half seven. I’ve been up since six, thanks to a Zak Effron film sending me to sleep very early last night.

After sorting through my photos of Saturday and posting this I intend to spend the morning with the second draft of the latest novel and get to the end of my read-through. (Sounds so pretentious.) Then all I need to do is write in the rewrites and send it out to my ‘beta readers’ for spelling mistakes and the like. And that is all I have planned for the rest of the day, that and keeping cool as the temperature continues to climb, and the breeze to stay noticeable by its absence a lot of the time.

Other pans for the week ahead? Well, none really apart from going to Rhodes on Wednesday to see about health insurance. My state IKA scheme comes to an end early next year now that I am not working for a Greek business, and I need to get some kind of private health cover in place. I have two people to see, the first of whom has offered to collect me from the boat and drive me to the office. There’s service for you. Though seeing as it’s an insurance salesman I also feel like I might be letting myself walk into the lion’s den. But they both sound very nice in the emails and messages, so let’s hope it’s only a question of having questions answered and there’s no hard sell. I am sure there will be more on this in due course.

Ah well, back to my view…

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