Here’s a short tale of Monday that involves HMV, the helipad, crochet and moussaka, with a few illustrations from the day itself.

It started off a few days ago when Neil saw an old gramophone he liked the look off and negotiated a price with Natasha at the new Art Gallery under the old nautical museum. We decided to pick it up yesterday as we had arranged to meet Trevor and Gloria, visiting from Rhodes – nice to meet you! (Note to self: send Gloria the Symi Animal Welfare contact email as she was crocheting seats for chairs and wanted to send some over for sale or auction to raise money for SAW.)

So, setting off later morning, under the cautious eye of the AC we headed down, via the compulsory Hellooo at the Olive Tree, and met said Rhodians for a drink at Pacho’s. Then to the antique shop to collect the gramophone. And to buy whatever 78s were also available – Turandot, some German Lieder and something by an as yet unknown (to me) composer. Oh, yes and a table for the thing to stand on, and the piece of marble to go on top of the table, and maybe we can come back with a taxi and pick them up after lunch? Yes we can, and so we did.

Lunch – as by now it was too late to get home, eat and get to work, uh hu – was taken at To Spitiko where one of the homemade dailies was vegetarian moussaka, which Neil had. I went for the meaty option which was just as tasty.

And then back to the Gallery in a taxi. We’re just putting the various parts into the car, the turntable, the table, the records, the marble slab and the horn, or whatever it’s called, when we’re asked if we mind taking a detour so we can drop of a lady at the helipad. Why not? Never been up there before. So off we head up the slope towards the cometary and then right past the farm and on and round and through the scrubland to a couple of houses I never knew existed.

Said lady dropped off and very grateful, it’s back down to Yialos, around and up the slope to Horio. Much attention is attracted from the lunchtime diners at Georgio’s, as Neil carries the (light) turntable and 78s and I struggle under the (heavy) marble slab, table and bell-end, or whatever it’s called. ‘Mobile disco!’ someone calls out and Neil stops for an involved chat about his purchase. ‘Yeah, I’ll just hang around with the lump pf marble then,’ I mumble. Marble-mumble I suppose. ‘Just have to show this to Jenine…’ So carry Marble slab towards Olive Tree. Luckily the ladies are outside and can admire the table and the trumpet, or whatever it’s called, from there.

Struggle home with the thing and put it together and give it a play. There’s a need to adjust the playing speed, which can be done, as Nessun Dorma is apparently being sung by a chipmunk on acid. Good sound though and in fully working order, and we were even given free styluses as spares, and a piece of Chopin which played like chopsticks. So, that’s now taken up residence in the sitting room.

Neil went to work, I stayed home, wrote a bit, made dinner and watched the air ambulance do its Monday night practice landings back over there on the helipad – which is what this is meant to be, but clearly isn’t, a very good shot of.

The gramophone is a ‘His Master’s Voice Sound Boy’ and I’ve not yet managed to date it, but could possibly be 1940s, any experts viewing this – feel free to drop me a line, out of interest.

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That was the Sunday that was. What a great day, and a slightly unexpected one which didn’t work out according to plan.

It all started off nicely with a quiet morning at home, lounging about, feeding the cat, playing Sim City BulidIt* on my tablet, watching the view, feeding the cat, doing some mild housework, feeding the cat, arranging the courtyard furniture, sitting in the sun, feeding the cat and then, at about ten o’clock (the benefits of being an early riser: you get a lot of cat feeding done in a morning) we went out to the town to get some money out of the bank.

Stopping, of course en route to say hellooo to the happy madhouse which is The Olive Tree. http://www.olivetreesymi.eu/ Everything was fine and dandy there, all newly painted up and colourful. And then, after a quick chat, down the steps to the harbour and around to the bank. We’re still getting the occasional ‘bravo for the dancing’ from locals which is all highly flattering and lowly embarrassing, and there is always plenty of Kalimera, Yasou, Ya! Ya! And Alroit? going on when walking around in Yialos.

Bank raid was successful and then it was off to the nautical museum (forgot to get a photo, damn!) where Neil put down a deposit on a gramophone. If/when you come to Symi you must go and visit the museum. I mentioned it before, but now it’s open with an antique shop beneath and the museum above; a great idea.

After that it was time to wander around to, unsurprisingly, buy some cat food (and lemons), pack it all in the rucksack and then wander some more. We had thought about going to the plant shops but it was Sunday and they were closed. And then we thought about having breakfast as the cat had been well fed but we hadn’t. So we looked at a few menus and kept thinking, ‘we’ve got all that at home,’ and so walked back up the lazy steps, which are not the lazy steps at all. Thank you for the reminder, Adriana. http://adrianas-symi.blogspot.gr/

The slope by the old Symi Visitor office on the south side of the harbour is often referred to as The Lazy Steps. But these were in fact further along the harbour – I’m not exactly sure where. But I was told, ages ago, that people not wanting to work in the heat of the day wold hang out there, in the shade. Hence the name Lazy Steps; you’d just sit around doing nothing. Clearly these people didn’t have a cat to feed. So, next time you come up the slope, call it something else as there is nothing remotely lazy about it.

All that exertion called for a pit stop which turned into breakfast at The Olive Tree (see above), where we had a coffee with Sam who was off to work while his brother went off to the beach. Ah, such is life for a working elven year-old saving for a PC. Lunch went off swimmingly, and we then came home. Here I ordered a few essentials from Ikea; sofa bed (where’s that going to go?), extra shelves for the book case, coffee table for the bathroom (complicated story) and a new chopping board. My evil plan is that they arrive while in am away and someone else carries the sofa bed to the house. An afternoon spent writing another chapter and then to the bar to meet friends for drinks, which turned into more drinks with more friends and then a dinner, with returning friends and the next thing you know it’s Monday morning and the cat wants feeding – at 4.30.

And, BTW, I am off to Tilos on 29^th May, not just yet, another 11 days to go, during which time I want to get another 25,000 words of the book written.

*And BTW x 2, if anyone else plays Sim City BulidIt and wants to ‘ad me’ as a neighbour and knows how to do it (Android) please get in touch. I need friends. I know, it’s so sad.

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Sunday morning on Symi and it’s starting off a little hazy out at sea, but calm. It feels like it’s going to be a warm day, so I’d better get this ready for Monday morning and then head down to the harbour before it gets too hot. I have nothing particular planned today apart from visiting the bank machine, getting some writing done and maybe having a barbeque. But you want to know about the cat. In a moment. First, here’s a photo of the harbour this morning.

So, the Alarm Cat’s adventure… It started on Tuesday. He went out as he has been doing for a week or so now, out into the ‘hood I mean. He usually comes back the following day at some point, he’d been in a routine of going out at night and then returning in the morning the following day, so we were leaving the gate open for him as there’s no other way in or out of the courtyard. Actually, smaller and lighter animals can get in over the walls but that’s not something Jack has tried, as yet. Anyway, he went out Tuesday and didn’t come back on Wednesday. Not unduly worried, he’s a cat. Still no sign on Thursday and I’m starting to think, ‘Doesn’t the house look good when it’s fur-free?’ And didn’t come back on Friday…

So, we decided to look for him at the old house as we’d looked around this neighbourhood. I headed over to the other side of the Castro and to the old house on Friday afternoon, and heard him before I saw him. He was there, shouting at the door to be let in. Thing is, there’s no way to get into the old house (still empty) without the gate key, or without going over the wall. So, I reported back to Neil working at the bar, contacted Symi Animal Welfare, and we headed off to borrow a (large) cat box. Got that, headed to the house and I went in search of the neighbour, Michaelis. I found him on a roof around the corner, as you do, and he let us in through his house, through his back garden, and from there we could climb over the party wall onto our old roof.

By this time Jack had gone quiet and that was because he was asleep behind the water pump. He must have sensed me approaching as he woke up and started to slink away, looking over his shoulder, running on a bit, and then coming back. And then he smelled a rat (there was a dead one around the corner actually) and started to run. But Neil was there and made a grab for him. There then followed something of a scramble; fur flew, the air was blue with angry shouts and screeches, the claws were out, the fangs too, and the cat wasn’t much better behaved either. Neil managed to grab him, despite two bites, three scratches and a submission, and we got him into the box, poor thing. He wasn’t happy but he did get home, and he’s been here ever since. So, it’s back to 4.30 alarm calls by way of head sitting and loud purring, half sleepless nights and the sofas are covered in fur again.

Still, pretty amazing for a deaf cat to find its way back to its old house after three months.

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Here’s is an update from Symi Animal Welfare:

“As the 2015 holiday season gets underway, we have already received emails via the website + telephone calls from a number of concerned visitors worried about certain cats near to their accommodation. Contact details for Symi Animal Welfare have been taken from one of our collection boxes which now have new labels by the way. These can be found in Yialos at – Symi Tours, Kalodoukas & Symi Visitor offices, Crystallo & Kiara Luna shops.  In the village – at the Olive Tree cafe & the Sunrise Kafeneion + at the Pedi Beach hotel.

If you have been to Symi before, you will know that the cats here tend to be much slimmer than those you are used to seeing in your  home-town, in cooler, less dusty climates, cats tend to be fatter & fluffier. So, whilst you’re on the island, if you notice Twiggy-types with dirty-noses & covered in dust (and most street-cats fit this description!) please don’t feel too anxious, more than likely the cat isn’t sick at all, the climate here dictates the appearance.

However, especially as the temperatures go up, cats can suffer from excessive thirst leading to dehydration – as well as the ‘image’ described, a cat will possibly seem lethargic & be panting so requires liquid promptly, or in really bad cases an injection.

This year, we’ll be putting marked containers at shaded, safe locations in most areas & one of our volunteers will regularly check that there is fresh water inside, we hope that people don’t use them as ashtrays or rubbish-bins so that the street cats can always find a refreshing & clean drink!

Enjoy your visit to Symi, look out for our collection boxes & thank you for your support, Melanie!

www.symianimalwelfare.org

And as for our own Alarm Cat news, well, it’s not too alarming but he’d been away for a few days. He went out on Tuesday night, fair dashed off down the lane beside the house like he was late for an appointment, and he didn’t come back. We found him (alive, well and very noisy) on Friday evening. The full story will come out soon I am sure…

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I have to share this semi-spam email title I had in yesterday. I say semi-spam as it’s from a site I looked at once, though I don’t remember joining a mailing list, but they send me their daily dose of ‘how to be healthy’ and so on. It’s all very useful, it’s just a bit, well, oddly worded:

“Top 3 killers of women (and how to prevent them), 10 was to sustainably shower.”

I imagine there are some nasty people in places like the USA who are out there now looking for women to kill, but I didn’t know there was a top list. I suppose we could also have a bad taste top ten chart with suitable songs, such as Tammy Wynette singing the classic ‘Stabbed by your man’ and opening with the line, ‘Sometimes it’s hard to kill a woman.’ We could have Frank Sinatra singing, ‘The lady is a corpse.’ Or how about that all-time ‘Oklahoma!’ favourite ‘I’m just a girl who can’t say argh!’ Gretchen Wilson’s well known ‘Redneck Woman’ needs no alteration, assuming strangulation was the MO.

Enough bad taste, it’s more interesting to wonder what the preventatives were. ‘And how to prevent them.’ By which I assume they mean how to prevent the killers, not the women. ‘Top 3 Women and how to prevent them…’ is how you might read the line, and the mind then boggles.

And as for a sustainably showering, and other split infinitives and bad uses of adverbs, well, the mind kind of boggles at that too. I find it quite easy to sustain a shower thank you, I don’t need a newsletter to tell me how to stay under the water for a few minutes. Which is all I do do. Quickly get wet, tap off, get soaped, tap on, wash off, water off. As little water usage as possible.

Mind you, now that we have a sustainable sterna, filled by rain water for free, I may start sustain in the shower for longer. And while I am there I might sing ‘Stabbed by your man’ and hold long notes, perhaps that the kind of sustain they were thinking of?

Anyway, enough of all that nonsense the really exciting news of today is that Neil planted some plants yesterday and we now have six marigolds, thanks to Chris and Jeanette, and a thyme from Jean, plus a night scented Jasmine from Jenni, a Basil called Terri, the vine is growing nicely and Yianna’s yucca has also been re-potted into something less restricting for it. I’ve presented some rather dull images here so you can keep an eye on progress.

Best go off now and find a way ‘to sustainably shower’ those plants to keep them being killed off like so many women as the weather hots up.

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