Saturday morning Symi photos taken over the last few weeks – just a medley of images today. Enjoy the photos – and have a good weekend.

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For a change, this is coming to you on the day it was written, Friday. Just back from a run up the hillside to ‘To Vrisi’ and back, and sitting down at the desk after a shower, at 6.37 with a mug of hot water and lemon, and a relaxing day working on the book ahead. At least that’s what’s planned for now, you never know what might come up around here.

There are loads of boats in the harbour this morning and in Pedi. I counted roughly 50 in Pedi as we went up the side of the hill this morning. And as you can see from the photo taken from the roof there are a fair few in on the north side of the harbour and out in the bay. There will also be boats on the near side that you can’t see from this photo. So, it looks like the harbour guys will be having a busy time today.

The flags are out at Agia Marina, so I assume there’s a name day or a festival day today, or this weekend. Perhaps that’s why there are so many boats around? Or it could just be the fact that Symi is a great harbour to call into, has many bays to stop in and places to explore and is just so popular. Or a mixture of both.

We are having a dispute over our electricity bill at the moment. Well, not a dispute as such but: the landlord gave us the bill yesterday. We’ve paid one estimated one since we’ve been here, and it was only about €40.00. The meter was read a few days after we moved in, so that was all pretty neat. But we’ve been here five months now and three of them were pretty cold and so we had the heating on for some of the time. And yet the bill was still under €50.00 – that can’t be right. In fact it can’t be right as the reading doesn’t match the reading on the box, and I know that was read only a couple of weeks ago. And the numbers on the bill don’t match the numbers on the box either, the ‘arithmos’ or meter number. So, we’re hoping the electrician who did the electrics will be around later to explain if this is the right bill against the right meter. Happy to pay a little bill of course (as long as it’s to the right account) just don’t want a massive one further down the road if this is an error.

The water bill also came in yesterday and that was the standard amount for us, around €40.00 for three months, or €13.00 per month. Not complaining about that either. The water bill is the only one we have to pay in person at the town hall, our other bills get paid on line. Which is just as well as the banks aren’t open to receive them – though you can also pay via ATM and the post office or at the actual DEH office, or OTE office for phone.

So, that’s my early morning ramble. The head is now clear thanks to the fresh mountain air and the mind is tricking over. The internals are getting cleaned through by the lemon water and the half litre or more I’ve already downed. The fan is on, the window by the desk is open, and the temperature is rising. Our ‘porch’ is pretty cool, it was only 34 yesterday in the coolest part of the house. Have a good day!

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Before we get onto birthday bashes, here’s a note from Melanie at Symi Animal Welfare that I should have put up a couple of days ago: “Thankyou Tove, the unusual glass cats have now all been sold at the Sunrise Kafeneion, €300 was raised for Symi Animal Welfare, in a very short time too. During these last weeks with so much uncertainty & cash-flow limits, our supporters have once again shown such kindness. We have recently explained the vet situation on the island, please read the report on our website www.symianimalwelfare.org

Thanks again, Melanie”

If you’ve not checked out the website you should, it is very informative about the animal situation and care on Symi.

Meanwhile, back in birthday bash-land. A great time was had by all down in Pedi on Tuesday evening where ‘several went mad by the sea.’ No dressing up as a pirate for Neil this time, just a sober time at Katsaras Taverna, who looked after us perfectly. The boys were swimming and snorkelling, finding starfish and playing in the sea. The adults were at the table chatting, some went swimming, and then, later in the evening, dinner was served.

It was just the family with godparents and a couple of Sam’s friends. And dinner was amazing – thank you Ian for that. I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a large chicken fillet. And those Gigantes (my favourite) were some of the best I’ve tasted, bar mine. The taverna, with the jetty, is a good place to have lunch and watch the sea, or dinner and watch the many boats. There were loads in that night, a good sign that numbers of ‘yachties’ have not obviously dropped off this year.

And what’s happened to the ‘Greece as it happens’ posts? I hear you ask. Well, nothing, as nothing much has been happening yet. We’re waiting for the Wednesday’s results (I’m a day early as usual) of the laws that need to be passed in order to get some money to pay back some money that was lent by people who now say that there shouldn’t be any money paid back just yet, but then others do and they are screaming out for the country to sell itself off in pieces so those who shouldn’t have lent so much money can get some of it back and therefore stay in their high powered and well paid jobs. Or something.

There are various laws being put forward today (Wednesday), apparently and, as I understand it… No, as a web page and news site that’s usually pretty accurate understands it and I get the info from, those new laws are going to be:

• Ratifying eurozone summit statement
• VAT changes: Top rate of 23% to extend to processed food, restaurants etc. 13% to cover fresh food, energy bills, water and hotel stays, 6% for medicines and books
• VAT discount of 30% to be abolished on islands, but remotest islands to keep discount until next year
• Corporation tax raised from 26-29% for small companies
• Luxury tax for big cars, boats and swimming pools up from 10-13%; farmers’ tax up from 13-26%
• Early retirement to end (phased in by 2022); retirement age raised to 67
• Greek statistics authority Elstat to have full legal independence

I’m not sure which are the ‘remotest’ islands (apart from Kastalorizo I guess) not sure if that includes Symi. Corporation tax rise for small business will help finish most of them off I imagine. (See yesterday’s post.) And that’s as political as I am getting right now. I am rather tired of all the conjecture in the social media and anti-social media (and I don’t just mean the Daily Mail) so I am on a bit of a ‘crisis overload’ at the moment. So, should you pass me in the street don’t expect an intelligent conversation about it, you’re more likely to get a yawn and whatever. Eyes are on the situation of course, just my heart’s not in it at the moment. Far more important things to be getting on with, like new novels and birthday parties.

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General ramble today, but a little bit about the cost of having a business in Greece at the moment. First though: My copy of Lonely House arrived yesterday. I realised after a few weeks that I didn’t actually have one so though I’d better put one on my shelf. This makes number nine in the collection, sixth novel, ninth book. This copy came from Lulu and if you want to order one the link is here: Lonely House by James Collins.

Also on Tuesday we called in to get our last year 14-15 tax things sorted out with the accountant. Now then, you may not know this but as well as income tax on your personal income, if you own a small (or large) business there are other taxes to pay, some of which are paid after the event, some are paid in front. So, beneath this next photo is a quick rundown of what you can expect to pay for a business in Greece – numbers and things may vary depending on business and place and year and so on, so it’s not going to 100% accurate.

• First off you pay a tax just for having a business and that was, last year on Symi, €520
• Then you pay your income tax and that depends on your income of course, though there is a threshold which is, I believe, about to be lowered to a very low level indeed.
• And with that you pay €400.00 a year in advance, which you then have (I assume) off set against your next year’s tax or which you get rebated if you don’t work.
• And then you have your other running costs and cool stuff such as the VAT you need to pass on to your customers and then take from them to pass on to the government – 16% on some things, all about to change, depends on what work you do and so on
• And then you need to pay your town hall tax at a certain % depending again on where you are and what you do
• And then you pay your shop rent unless you own the building
• And of course you have the electricity and water bills
• And your stock bills on that otherwise you wouldn’t have anything to sell
• Staff? You pay your staff’s IKA (health insurance) for the year plus an Easter bonus, plus a Christmas bonus which a lot of folk don’t get because they work up until a certain date so no one is too sure where that goes
• And you pay your own TEVE or health insurance; this used to be around €200 per month to start with and increased year on year
• And then you have to pay your accountant for putting it all together and they charge at least €100.00 per month, again depending on business sand so on
• What did we forget? Probably something. I am sure there’s another tax that you pay for the fun of having to pay taxes; a kind of tax-tax, just to make sure you’ve paid something to someone somewhere.
•  So, you can expect to pay at least (does quick add up on the ‘set’ basics, i.e. not the stock or income tax or VAT) something around €9,000 just on the things needed before you start to make any money.

Is it any wonder small business are going bust left right and shopping centre?

I just thought I’d share that with you as I was thinking about tax stuff yesterday and it is actually yesterday today – just back from Town on Tuesday you see, ah, fooled you again! But tonight we have a party to look forward to and a walk to Pedi. There may be a bus back as today we’ve already been to Yialos and back. We took the scenic route down the zig zag below Lemonitisa which comes out, well all over the place, but in our case near the newly refurbished multi-million Italian property towards the bottom of the Kali Strata. Coming back up again with 10 kilos of cat litter, 10 kilos of shopping and a bag of 78s (thanks Steve! Love ‘em) in the heat at midday is something of a trial, but at least it’s exercise and you don’t get taxed on it. Yet.

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I think we’re both worn out from the ‘holiday’ week now, far too much entertaining and eating out. But no more guests for a while now, and I am going to get back into the habit of turning down invitations to things that start after eight p.m. Not getting old (well, I am of course) just want to get back into the early morning routine. It seems impossible this year though.

Still, here we are, Tuesday (Monday as I write) and I have a day in Rhodes to plan for next week. I think next Wednesday might be the day to go. I have some insurance things to see to and I fancy a day out. Before then there is work to do. I have started on the second draft of the new novel and will be progressing through that in the afternoons, without too many interruptions I hope. But having said that, there is one planned for this evening as it’s Sam’s birthday – and that’s not going to be too late a night; and even if it is, it doesn’t matter, It’s Sam’s birthday.

And meanwhile, on Symi, what’s been going on? The train is going, the horse and carriage is running its trips, the taxi boats are heading out, the Poseidon is doing its trips too – not sure about the Diagoras at the moment – and things are ticking along quite nicely. At least that’s how it looks from the outside. There’s lots on sale, there are day trippers coming in and the weather is hot. 30 degrees in the shade in our one porch by mid-morning. A slight breeze helps us keep cool, especially with all the windows open.

The cat’s not happy as usual, never is at this time of year. Doesn’t know what he wants. He’s always at my feet looking at me, trying to hypnotise me into taking him to the kitchen for another look at his food bowl. I keep it covered and as fresh as possible but he only thinks he wants to eat, he doesn’t really. He does first thing though, so it’s only the heat of the day that troubles him. Still alarms the house at five in the morning though when he thinks it’s time for us to get up.

And that’s my news really, another day of same old same old, ticking over, nothing to complain about, quite happy, getting on with things. And getting on with Tuesday: a trip to Yialos to see the accountant about my tax return, a trip to the post office, a trip to the pet shop to get cat litter (joy! 5 kilos to carry up the hill) and then a birthday party at Pedi to look forward to. Such is life.

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