Here’s the latest news from Symi Animal Welfare.

“Finally, we are seeing more sunshine than rain and the island’s cat population is ‘coming out to play.’ Those which have survived the awful weather conditions of the last few months can be seen basking in the warm rays or chasing after imaginary butterflies or birds, the cats like the people have suddenly come to life once again.  Most of the feeding supplies have long since gone but we ask volunteers to at least try to provide a twice-weekly meal at their feeding-station until after Easter; we are currently in the Lent period so any meat scraps are few and far between, however, pasta & biscuits are gratefully received by the bin-cats.

Slowly, restaurants & businesses are re-opening and many of the owners tend to put food out for their local cats as do returning residents.

This year, we are going to ask some of the business owners to keep a water-bowl filled up near to their premises – the warmer it gets, the greater the need for available fresh drinking water is.  One of our supporters who has a summer house on the island, has kindly offered to donate a number of suitably-sized plastic containers for this purpose.

As you are aware, our work depends entirely upon donations so we were delighted to receive one from Australia this week.  Yvette Berkeley, the volunteer vet who visited Symi at the end of last year mentioned Symi Animal Welfare to one of her surgery clients and she contacted us to find out how to make her donation.  She loved our website www.symianimalwelfare.org and just how easy it is to make a donation whether large or small.  We will be ordering a specialised cage, recommended by a colleague at Greek Cat Welfare, useful for both nursing & catching feral cats, paid for thanks to this generous, distance sponsor.

Tove, our vet-week co-ordinator and her husband aren’t too well at the moment, so their traditional, early Spring return to Symi has been delayed.  Last November when they returned to Denmark, she took back a kitten she’d been caring for since birth – Daphne is thriving apparently in her new, flower-filled garden.  Please join us in sending Tove & her husband Ib, best wishes for a speedy recovery……Melanie, Suzan, Claudia & Hazel”

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Today’s photos were taken yesterday. Some of our walk down to Pedi where a little jogging was involved, and some at home where Jack is still suffering with a damaged paw.

I had a look at it in detail yesterday, as much as he would let me, and found that he’s ripped a claw out, almost. He must have been fighting, or else got it stuck while executing some kind of acrobatic (unlikely) jumping from roof to a pole or something (very unlikely) and one of his from paw claws is not quite completely attached to his finger, or whatever they are called.

It’s not infected, nothing is swollen but we are keeping an eye on it just in case. If it shows signs of going nasty we will have to hold him down, apply some ointment and then start throwing antibiotics down his screech. If that doesn’t work then he’ll have to go to Rhodes for a vet visit, but we are hoping that won’t be necessary as it distresses him so much and absolutely kills our arms, carrying a six kilo cat around the old town for an afternoon.

Meanwhile, he’s limping and standing with his paw raised, but he’s not distressed over it, he’s getting about, doing his business, making a lot of noise, getting bored, bothering me, eating, drinking and using his littler tray, so it all seems fine as can be expected. I am hoping it will heal up on its own. What with that and his smelly breath, tatty ears, and skin condition on his nose, he’s turning into a right old Bagpuss.

So, that’s your Jack news for the time being. What else has been going on? Not a lot really, not for me at any rate. A few days at home, some writing, looking around for a possible course to do during the summer – on line, to do with writing, that’s affordable and purposeful, and some house tidying. That’s something I’ve noticed about the new house, you (me) feel more inclined to sweep floors, tidy up and put things away. Perhaps it’s because it’s new, perhaps because it’s a big bigger and more open plan and you can see when things don’t look quite in place. I don’t know, but it’s a nice house to look after.

Which is what I shall go and do now. That and look after the cat.

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The new RAM for the laptop did indeed arrive yesterday and is now installed on the machine. So easy, I don’t know why I haven’t tried before. Now Neil can upgrade to my old machine (at 4Gb, from his current 2Gb) and get to grips with that, and we will have the spare one for backup and emergencies. It’s only taken about six months to pull this plan together.

We’re just back from a morning walk/jog down to Pedi and back, it’s 7.19 as I sit down to write, the sun is up and the sea is calm. I can see fishing boats coming in from beyond Nimos and Nimborio and the cat has had us up and about since around 5.30 today; the lighter it gets in the morning the earlier he is up.

As he gets older he gets more demanding and his ‘alarm’ becomes grumpier. It’s not just a few yowls now but several and they get more and more annoyed each time to the point of sounding desperate. Poor old thing –and I am talking about the neighbour there. Neil went and let him in around six in the end.

I should explain the photo I am putting up today, it’s from the housewarming party – as are all of them actually, but this one in particular. It shows Cobi throwing wine over the pitched roof of one of the buildings.

Why? Well, it’s a blessing apparently. I am not sure if it’s an ancient Greek tradition or a Dutch one or just a Cobi one, but the house was in deed blessed last Sunday. I know that blessing the seas, or rather, giving thanks to the gods by throwing the first wine in the sea, is an ancient Greek tradition. I read that when researching ‘Jason and the Sargonauts.’ In the original myth, the Argonauts give an offering to the sea god with wine before they set off. In my up to date telling of the story, Oliver (representing Orpheus (he lost his wife in the underground)) accidentally spills his ice tea in the sea just as the party are boarding the fishing boat for their excursion. So, it’s in there.

There are other parts of the myth mixed in with the story in ‘Sargonauts, and character names, challenges and references. ‘Your rocks are clashing, dear,’ was one of my favourites. There is also a lot of real Symi history involved. If you’ve not read it, you can get a copy form this link, and Kindle versions are available too, though I can’t vouch for the layout. Have fun! Jason and the Sargonauts.

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In a word, mundane. Just back from a morning walk, gosh aren’t I good? Well, I did go to bed at 9.15 last night. Just as well as the Alarm Cat was very alarming at 5.45 this morning. He had a limp yesterday, and was standing with his near-side front paw up in the air for some of the time. Nothing too bad I think as he let me examine it, and wasn’t limping as much this morning. Just out for some kind of sympathy I expect. No sign of trauma of breakage, possibly a strain, may have tried to jump a wall, or heave himself up a step too many, more likely did it fighting. We will keep an eye on it.

Anyway, he’s in the house now and asleep on one of his sofas, having his post breakfast, pre-second breakfast nap. I’ve been out, around the back of the village, across the village and up to the top road and then up a couple of turns in said road to the place known as ‘Far enough for today.’ The bells at Ag Athanasios were ringing, there was a service going on, the sheep were bleating on the hill side, the cockerels were doing their thing, Ag Triada’s bells were going at one point, around 6.45 they struck three for no apparent reason and the sun was just coming over the top of Ano Pedi as I was heading back down through the village, and across the village to home.

Where I find Neil already up and having a shower before he goes to aerobics, which seems like the wrong way round to me but there you are. The sun is now hitting Harani, the sea is slightly ruffled by a breeze which I noticed on this, north, side of the hill, but not up there on the road, and I have a day at home planned with perhaps the excitement of a trip to the supermarket later.

There, that’s as thrilling as Symi news gets around here on a Wednesday morning. No, wait! The Blue Star is due in; it’s now 7.14 and the boat is just off the Turkish headland near Knidos, so that’s on its way. There will be excitement in town later – and maybe the new RAM chip for my computer. It took it about half an hour to go and look at the Live Ships site just then (I jest, but it is slow on certain programmes).

I ordered a new 8 RAM card which I am going to put in myself, I’ve had the tutorial and I have two experts standing by. More on this, and other Symi news before long.

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It’s not often I go to look at a ladies’ clothing website, but mother sent me a note the other day saying that she had had Symi popped through her door. This came in the shape of a magazine called Toast and some of it contained a fashion shoot with Symi in the background. I tracked down a couple of images at their website, in what they call their ‘lookbook.’ Here’s the link: https://www.toa.st/content/lookbook/women/ss15/spring.htm I think they were going for ‘textures’ there. (Some of the photos are not Symi, but you might like to see them anyway.)

Meanwhile, I had a very strange experience last night which involved the village post office and a lot of paperwork. Of course, we don’t have a village post office and that was the point of the dream; it was opening tomorrow and I was going to run it. I was actually taking over from a retiring couple who hadn’t shown me anything, so I was watching them on the afternoon before the big handover, to see where the tin was that served as a till, to discover what books they kept (many and completely out or order and with no system at all) and to try and learn a few tricks. I took a break to tell my brother (who does work for the post office, when not saving lives at sea) and he was particularly sympathetic, and then local people, who I didn’t know, came in and started sticking their orders to the telegraph pole behind the desk, which ended up looking like the till at Sotiris’ super-market, with I.O.Us taped all over it.

In the end I ordered a book with pages in alphabetical order and advertised for an assistant who spoke Greek. It wasn’t that I couldn’t understand the language (some of the notes I was receiving were not very pleasant) it was that the customers were not speaking any language I’d ever heard before. Eventually I was woken up by the sound of a choir singing a cheery ‘good morning’ on my tablet.

I am sure dream-watchers will have a field day with that one. Needless to say I was very relieved to wake up and realise I was not about to start working nine to five (it would have been eight to two, in reality + extra hours I am sure, even if just for sifting Sports Direct orders) in another ,language.

So thrilled that I went of a walk to Pedi at 6.30 this morning; well, a kind of jog downhill and a walk back up. I went down past the hotels and along the ‘soapy steps’ where, even at that time, someone had emptied their soapy waste all down them. There’s a big new house, or two, going up on the right of the road, going down, the chickens were nowhere to be seen, but there are lots of sheep about. The air was pungent with that rural pre-Easter smell of nervous farm animal, the sea was calm, and a thin veil of high, grey cloud masked the sun that is now, as I write, well and truly awake.

I bet it didn’t dream of having to tell local people that their pensions had been cut in half.

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