My weekend in brief: Mother and nephew arrived on Saturday. Walked to Pedi on Sunday, crowded 7.30 bus back for music in the square. (God) Father’s Day message from the boys to bring a tear to the eye. Chatting with nephew until far too late, thus, late getting up on Monday, a day during which we need to find the washing machine guy, I have a piano lesson and we’re supposed to be down town for lunch. More news another time. Meanwhile…
Today, I have a varied collection of photos for you. These are from my OneDrive, where, I noticed this morning, there’s a thing that says, ‘Last week through the years.’ I clicked on that, and all kinds of things came up, but not all of them took place during this second week of June. It must have been when I uploaded them, or last looked at them or something. I’ve put them up with only brief texts, and it’s a handy, quick thing for me to do because I have a lot going on today. While Neil arranged the fixing of the washing machine (I hope), and while I arrange the fixing of the water pump (I hope), we also need to tidy the house, prepare my nephew’s room for his arrival tomorrow, clear up the pile of books and other unwanteds in the laundry room, hoover, dust, do the floors and courtyard, edit a book, go to the gym (Neil), take a walk before it reaches 30°… Just had a look, and it’s already 31° out there and it’s 6.40, and make potato salad. So, instead of wasting time telling you all that, here are some photos to see you through the weekend.
Greece has just recorded its earliest heatwave, by which I mean, the earliest in the year, because until now, we’ve never had an official heatwave until after 19th June. ‘Official’ is recorded as temperatures of over 38° for three days or more. Outdoor tourist attractions are closed between midday and 5pm, including the Palace of the Grand Masters in Rhodes, and the Lindos and Athens Acropolises. It’s now a little after six in the morning and it’s already 30°, so if you’re here in Greece or heading this way, be prepared, and be sensible.
I’m having a stay-at-home day today, mainly to complete an interview, a book, and some housework (perhaps) this afternoon, while seeing about finding someone to fix the washing machine, if it’s possible. I have a couple of phone numbers (thank you folks), so we’ll be investigating those later when I’ve woken up. It’s not the kind of weather for mopping floors, but it is the kind of weather for drying towels after using them to mop up because the only way to access the machine was to drain it onto the floor, turn it off, reset it, and open the door that way. I’m not doing that every time. We’ve had the machine for about seven years (the last one we had for 14), and I can’t afford to buy a new one without at least trying a repair, so that’s been added to our to-do list.
That’s all I have for you today, apart from a couple of images to fill the page, and a reminder to go slowly, dress appropriately, drink lots of water (coffee, tea, beer and so on don’t count as water), take electrolytes which you can buy from the pharmacies, and generally stay safe.
Five thirty in the morning, I’m at the desk, and the fan is on. It’s 22 degrees, and 45% humidity in the corner of our courtyard, not that I am there, I’m in here, with both windows open, and a can of mosquito spray beside me which I blast beneath the desk at the slightest suspicion of unwanted attention. And so the day begins. A day in which I have much to do.
I suddenly find myself with three major projects on my hands, one I must start and finish in the next two days, and two which are nearing the end. Those two are editing; preparing my next Jackson Marsh book for release, hopefully, next week, and working on the biography of my late godfather, which I am hoping to release in July, but before then, an interview for Reader’s House literary magazine. I have the questions, all I need is suitable answers, so today, I will write a draft, and tomorrow, I will tidy it up and send. I hope they use it as it has a readership of 40k worldwide, and it’s a great opportunity. We shall see.
On the domestic front, there’s also much tidying up to do ahead of the nephew coming to stay on Saturday, and mother’s visit (she’s staying at Hotel Fiona this time, so won’t be far away). Of late, the laundry room has become a dumping ground for books and other things I must sort out, and to get to the washing machine at the moment requires an amount of breathing in, especially when the ironing board is up, as it is now. Ironing a shirt at four in the afternoon when it’s nearly 40 degrees outside… You never really get used to it.
After lunch, which these days consists of salad, I have some piano playing to do, and before that, Neil should be off to the gym. So, apart from the interview, it’s all set to be a normal day. (Famous last words.) If you were wondering, the photos today are from Neil’s collection that I was talking about yesterday. They are winter images, and I chose them in the hope they might help me feel cooler. Ha!
I was wandering through my folders on the PC yesterday when I came across a large collection of photos taken by Neil. These are from a couple of years ago, but they are mainly landscapes, and as Symi’s landscape hasn’t changed much in thousands of years (sea, sky, rocks, plants), the age of the image makes no difference. So, today, I’ll start sharing some of these shots, and I’m starting with three that stood out for me because of the colours involved.
First of all, a dramatic sky.
This is early in the morning, and I’d say early in the year, spring possibly, because the sun is coming up to the left of Pedi, which faces east. Later in the year, from the same location, the sun would be coming up more to the right, behind the hills beyond St Nicholas Beach.
The next could be called some colours of the sea. This shot wasn’t taken on St Nick’s beach, because it’s sandy, and this is clearly pebbly. It’s here because there is an amount of grey, cream, and a slight green, which, strangely, reminded me of the hillside, which starts out green in spring and ends up a kind of light umber colour mixed with grey rocks, and red-brown vegetation.
This last one, though, you could call your classic Greek blue. The summer sky, the calm Aegean, a shot of white from the boat and some houses, the colours of the Greek flag.
And together, they go to show the variety you find on an island like Symi, and the spectacle it often is. There will be more of these in due course. Today, I will be mainly editing the two writing projects I currently have on the go, taking a short, early walk before keeping out of the sun, and reading about life in Victorian London which was very colourful indeed.
