A bit of a later entry today following the birthday festivities yesterday and an early alarm call from the cat, followed by dozing off on the sofa listening to the shutters rattle and the spare roof tiles clatter about above.

Thank you to everyone who sent messages and emails and texts yesterday, pretty overwhelming really. Hundreds of best wishes on Facebook too, and not just a quick ‘hippo birdy, two ewes.’ It was lovely, I had a great day and was ‘well spoiled.’ The next celebration in the social calendar will be Easter in a few weeks’ time.

It’s been very windy these last couple of days. There was (or still is) a ban on shipping so no big ferry is due in today, at least not at the right time. I just had a look at ‘live ships’ and it is still in Piraeus. It looks like the wind is coming from the east, or north-east; it looks like the sea is being blown inland.

 

I can’t believe it’s nearly nine and I haven’t even posted this yet, so I won’t hang around this morning, I’ll get these photos of yesterday up and leave it there. There is now some recovering and catching up on house duties to see to. (The cat litter got wet in the rain yesterday so that’s a job to look forward to. Not.) Thanks again for the birthday wishes; normal service will be resumed shortly.

 

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The following are (mostly) taken from History channel and its Day In History, and other history websites, word for word. You will be able to tell when the other words are mine, I hope. This day in History, March 26^th

 

1484, William Caxton printed his translation of Aesop’s Fables

1799, Napoleon captures Jaffa (I suspect he was after the smashing orangy bit in the middle)

1824, 1st performance of Beethoven’s “Missa Solemnis”

1827, Beethoven died in Vienna, aged 56 (‘I shall hear (it) in heaven.’)

1839, 1st Henley Royal Regatta

1845, Joseph Francis, NYC, patents a corrugated sheet-iron lifeboat (nice try!)

1859, 1st sighting of Vulcan, a planet thought to orbit inside Mercury (live long and prosper)

1874, Robert Frost born

1881, Thessaly is freed and becomes part of Greece again

1885, Eastman Film Co. manufactures the first commercial motion picture film

1886, 1st cremation in England

1904, Xenophon Zolotas, Greek economist, Prime Minister of Greece (d. 2004)

1910, US forbid immigration to criminals, anarchists, paupers & the sick (what went wrong?)

1911, Tennessee Williams born

1916, Birdman of Alcatraz receives solitary (fill in the missing word: solitary what? Cage? Diamond? Cuttlefish?)

1920, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s first novel published (‘This side of paradise’, in case you were wondering.)

1934, Driving tests introduced in Britain (made no difference)

1940, Ernest Hemingway & Benjamin Glazer premiere in NYC (Premiere in what? ‘Top Hat’? ‘42^nd Street’? ‘Much ado about nothing’?)

1953, Jonas Salk announces polio vaccine (one wonders how? ‘Mr and Mrs Scene and their son Vac,’ perhaps?)

1956, Red Buttons debuts on TV in Studio One (meanwhile on BBC2 you can catch ‘An evening with a purple zipper.’)

1957, The European Economic Community was one day old (bless)

1963, James Collins, born (not many people noticed)

1971, East Pakistan became Bangladesh

1973, Noel Coward, English playwright, dies

1979, Israel-Egyptian peace agreement was signed (presumably by Israel and Egypt)

2000, Vladimir Putin became president of Russia (oh dear)

2008, Ford sells Jaguar and Land Rover to India’s Tata (so they said ta-ta to them then)

And let’s leave it there, except to add that on today in history, Richard III of England was re-buried, and I turned 52.

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Today is Independence Day all over Greece and so there will be a parade in the harbour later this morning. The weather forecast is suggesting cloud and wind, but it’s all calm and reasonably clear down there so far, mind you it is only seven. And last night saw the festival at the church of Saint Evagelismos where lanterns are lit along the path leading up to the church.

I called down to the harbour yesterday to collect some supplies for His Lordship the cat, and staggered back up the steps under a few hundred weight of cat litter and food to find the courtyard covered in cat litter where he’d been enthusiastically digging around in his tray. It had all gone soggy thanks to the rain so that was a fifteen minute joy, sweeping and washing down, and sifting through, and cleaning out.

His Lordship also decided to go out last night. I left him sleeping on one of his sofas at 10.00 when I went to bed, at 11.00 he called me as he wanted a door opening, and then at 4.00 he called Neil to open the same door so he could come in for a midnight snack. At 4.30 he was making himself comfortable on my head, and at 6.00 we finally gave up any hope of sleep and gave him his second breakfast. He’s now up on the roof watching the cat next door and being quite happy.

While down in the harbour I noticed many businesses preparing for Summer, or being ready – almost. Symi Tours has been having a makeover, Meraklis the taverna is being done up, as are several others, To Spitiko looks like it’s well on its way, and the Vapori bar has had its tables painted for some time now. It’s all starting to kick off. If you are heading over to Symi for Easter then you might like to know that the Dodekanisos Seaways timetable is out and there are several crossings from Rhodes to Panormitis, and then on to Symi, over the Easter weekend.

Yesterday I did some more work on ‘Stuff and Nonsense’ the collection of stuff that I have written about nonsense, and I also have the last two chapters of ‘Lonely House’ ready for editing and setting out by the editor. This means that we should soon be able to go through and check for widows and orphans and check the layout, we’ll then need the cover sorting out and the ‘front matter’, and be ready to get a proof from publishing. Hopefully not long to go now. Mind you, this is a horror story so not everyone who likes the Symi blog is going to want to read it. ‘Stuff and Nonsense’ might suit you better when done.

And I’m done now, off to work. Have a good Greek Independence Day.

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First: The Judas Inheritance – update

 

I received word yesterday that the film project now has ‘almost ready visuals’ meaning that a final cut of the film is nearly ready for the next stage. That stage is music and sound and the cut has been sent to the composer, Michael Bishop http://www.michaelbishopmusic.com/ who will start adding music. Things have been delayed slightly as Chris Hastings has been in hospital – he is now fine and recovering.

 

But this news did remind me that I need to find a photo and you might need to as well. I know the Kickstarter backers have been contacted about this but in case you let it slip, if you donated £20.00 or more, you get to have your photo in the montage in the credits. A smiling, happy, head and shoulders only shot. If you don’t want this ‘perk’ perhaps you can let them know. They’ve had some pics in but there are some folk who have not responded as yet and I’d hate you to miss out. As usual, all enquiries should go to the email address sent with the Kickstarter update. Thanks.

This morning’s early walk had to be postponed; rain stopped play. And it was going to be a very early one, thanks to the antics of the Alarm Cat who has now taken to waking us up by leaping on the bed and purring loudly at 5.00 in the morning, sticking his nose in where it’s not wanted (the ear) and ditto his claws (the head). Never mind, I have to go down the steps and find some new cat litter later today so will get some exercise that way. Seems life is currently being ruled by the cat.

But not so on Sunday when we all went off for a day out. First to an exhibition of children’s art down at Villa Sofia in Harani. Sam had some work n show, as did many other youngsters, so we called in to admire and take a look there. After that it was off around to Nimborio to enjoy the sunshine and have a barbeque.

The new paving is going down, a lot of the old path has now been done but not all, and you just have to watch out that it’s not too slippery when you’re heading down or up the hills. We found a jetty to hang out on, got the portable barbies going (slowly) and the boys went off to do boy things; throw rocks in the water, pull ropes, get wet. We grownups sat and chatted and did grownup things; poked at things on the Barbie, took photos and admired the warm, clear afternoon.

Later we walked back and up over the donkey path, across the top and back down into Yialos where the boys went and played on the new playground in the town square and where Harry became very philosophical. ‘They don’t care about us in the village,’ he said. ‘They have a new playground here but we have nothing, just a big hole in the ground.’ ‘Ah yes,’ I said, ‘but that’s because they are building us a new hospital.’ He thought for a moment. ‘I’d rather have a playground.’ (I think I heard that there are plans for a new one in the village but can’t remember where or when.)

Monday’s early morning walk didn’t happen either, for the same rain stopped play reason (it’s been a bit dull here these past couple of days), but we did tap in the evening, even Neil, whose bad foot had been playing him up all day. He could hardly walk in the morning, but managed a section of 42^nd Street in the evening.

That’s caught you up on the weekend, there’s not much planned for the week ahead. Neil’s doing his aerobics with Dawn, as long as he can walk when he gets up (it’s still only 6.00 thanks to the AC) and we’ve a birthday evening planned on Thursday. Apart from that, it looks like it’s going to be a quiet week. Cloudy, damp and quiet.

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Sunday morning, the cat is up on the roof in the sun, half the housework is done, chicken is marinating in the kitchen ahead of a barbeque later and I am watching small fishing boats coming in and out of Harani down below me. The washing machine is on, I’ve checked my emails and messages, stripped the bed, put the washing up away, had a shower, hung things out to dry and am now sitting down to get ahead of myself by writing this, and it’s only 7.45.

The joys of having a loud cat.

The other night he was allowed to stay in and we avoided the 5.00 shout-out, but did have to put up with a 5.00 bedroom exploration instead. But at least I was able to stay in bed, mostly asleep, until half seven on that day. Last night we tried the same thing but this resulted in a ‘wanna go out’ shout at some deep-dark, unexplored, time of night, and so I got up to let him out. That was followed by early morning ‘I wanna come in’ shouts that finally got me out of bed at 6.30 – Neil had gone to see to his Lordship even earlier than that.

But, on the happy news side; we’ve had a good weekend so far and there’s still the children’s art class exhibition to go and view later this morning followed by the barbeque. We’re aiming for Nimborio for that but it will depend on the wind. It was blowing madly yesterday, and a bitter north wind was finding every possible crack to whistle in through in the house. There’s less wind today but it still looks cold out there.

The ear thing seems a bit better today too, though it’s still very noisy in there, but the keyboard isn’t sliding about too much. I’ve made an appointment with an ear doctor in Rhodes for the week after next, and hope to at least find out what causes all this and, even better, some way to get it under control. I have spoken to a doctor recently who thinks, as I do, that it’s caused by some kind of RSI, from sitting here at the desk blogging away all day (almost) every day; pressure on a part of the back or neck that restricts blood flow to the inner ear. It’s one possibility and the most likely. He recommended acupuncture but that sounds far to much like changing a tyre under water for me. I suppose I could try randomly sticking pins in myself, it would be a lot more pleasurable than the tablets I tried on Friday. ‘Vertigo-Vomex’ (I’ve had them before, I should have known better). Yes, yucky name, and yes the dizziness did stop but that was only because I was so drowsy from them that I was practically drooling. Took me a good 24 hours to get just two of them out of my system and start functioning again.

But hey! You didn’t sit down here to read about all that. You want to know the latest Symi gossip. Well, what can I tell you? Her form down the road hasn’t washed her step and is no better than she should be, and he from along the lane is reportedly seeing someone who you would never guess, and that scandal over at number 26 with the politician’s brother’s other half and the milk bottle, well, what an odyssey that’s been…

I’ll be back with more of the same during the week. A week which is a birthday week. And to celebrate my 52^nd I have arranged for Richard III to be buried on my birthday. And that was not easy to arrange I can tell you!

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