“I’ll get my people to reach out to your people, and we’ll do brunch,” said someone in a film, probably in the 1980s. Do brunch is exactly what we did last Friday. Come this way, and I will tell you all about it…

Neil was at the gym, I walked down to Yialos to pick up some paperwork, we met up and wandered around to Pavone Café.

The café is currently the talk of the town. It is attached to the Anastasia Hotel, which is situated just behind the old post office/police station/big white building by the clock tower, at the top of these steps…

Actually, when you get to the top (and the handrail doesn’t go all the way), you need to carry on along the balcony/veranda straight ahead, and the café is on your left.

When you reach the courtyard, you’ll find plenty of seating outside, and the hotel reception inside, and you’ll also find the two fine gentlemen who run this establishment…

That’s Kostas, the proprietor on the right, and our eldest godson, Sam, on the left. Between them, they rustled up some very fine fare. In our case, eggs Benedict and a croque madame. I’ve never had either before, and never had such a perfect lunch-brunch.

Apart from being very tasty, organic, and inexpensive, it was also surprisingly filling, so when a plate of desserts arrived as a gift from the godson, it was a fair old match to get through it and do it all justice.

The desserts came along with the largest Greek coffee I’ve experienced to date, and a nice chat with the eldest before he had to deal with other customers. I’d highly recommend Pavone, and not only because Sam works there, that’s a bonus. It’s the food, style, presentation and menu that you’ll fall in love with.

Visit the hotel’s website and you’ll learn more about the café, click here: Pavone Café, Symi.

Ps. I looked up the meaning of the word, Pavone, and found it to be a) a now obsolete word for a peacock (a male peafowl), b) the word for peacock in Italian (?), c) a place in Italy (Pavone Canavese) near Turin. So, there you go.

Pps. Sam did say that people have been coming in and asking if he is Harry. No. Harry is the other one who does kit building with me after piano and music lessons. He’ll be working at the Kali Strata Restaurant any day now.

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The theme of today’s quick chat? Skyscapes, or at least images with some sky in them. Just a few pulled from my collection, including one of Rhodes, morning and evening views, and last night’s view which is what set off the idea.

This was after the final kit-building session of ‘modelling season.’ All kits are now built to our general satisfaction, the equipment, paint, pliers, brushes, and glue are all back in the boxes and will go into storage until the winter. Music lessons will continue until the end of music term on June 24th, to restart again after the heat of summer in September, and after the lessons, while time allows, we may watch a film for an hour, ‘Ford V Ferrari’ would be a good place to start as it’s about motor racing and cars. I’ve seen it, but don’t mind watching it again.

As for today and the weekend. First of all, I have a newsletter to prepare for my Jackson readers, as I have book in promotions during July and must promote the promotions to support other authors. After that, I must call into the KEP office. They rang yesterday to tell me I now have my AMKA insured under Neil’s national health insurance, which means, should I need medicines, I can get them on prescription at a much lower cost than otherwise, so that’s good news. So, picking up some papers there, a visit to the accountant, and then, to lunch at Pavone, where the oldest godson is now working. That’s today’s treat. After? Well, I have a couple of days to finalise the latest book and then I must send it off to be proofed. Have a good weekend.

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(And random photos.)

That was a strange night. I found myself unknowingly involved in the football celebrations at 00.50 hours, and all I was doing was going to the loo. I’d gone to bed around 21.30, and unusually, had to get up during the night, which I did. I didn’t put any lights on, because there’s no need. The Temu light in the WC pan comes on when you get too close, so you can see where you’re going. Climbing back into bed, I looked at the time out of interest and saw it was 00.50, and then I dozed back to sleep against the sound of three dynamite explosions and some fireworks. Apparently, the Greek team, Olympiakos beat someone else with a ball somewhere, and are now the best at their times tables or something.

Then, on waking up again at the more reasonable time of 5.30, the first thing on my mind was, I must give you my recipe for rice. Don’t ask me why, but here’s how I do it. A cup of rice, washed etc. Into a saucepan with a tightly fitting lid. Add salt if you want, Neil adds turmeric which turns everything a yellow colour, including the worktop. Then, add two cups of boiling water from the kettle. Pour that on, put a sheet of tin foil over the top, press on the lid, seal the foil around the edge, place on the stove. I put our ceramic hob on the low setting of 2.5 and leave the pan there for 20 minutes. Then, I take it off and let it stand for five minutes, no peeking, and that’s it. Saves a lot of steam which saves a lot of black mould on the walls in the winter.

Why I thought you should know that, I have no idea, but that was the kind of night that was last night/this morning, and I’m not sure I have yet recovered, because of the weird dream that went with it all… I’ll have to save that for another day and for a time when no-one is listening, just you and me…

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Thank you to everyone who replied to yesterday’s post and suggested nail varnish remover. We’ll give that a go just as soon as I track some down. In the meantime, here’s a photo of the harbour that Neil took yesterday.

As you can see, blue skies. It was a fresh morning after an overnight thunderstorm that happened between 4.30 and about 6.30, apparently. I didn’t hear a thing, but the plants were nicely watered in the morning. Talking of plants, and with not very much else to talk about today, here’s a photo of a lizard on a wall. Look closely…

It’s there, honestly. I cropped it in so you might see it better in this version:

If not, then I’ll get on with my day and leave you with another random photo taken just up the lane. I call it ‘A Bird on a Path’ because it’s a picture of a bird. On a path.

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(But mainly in.) A couple of photos today, taken when I was last wandering the lanes and road enjoying a fresh, almost October like day. The other was taken right opposite where I am sitting as I wrote this, at the kitchen table. Harry hasn’t quite finished his Lexus, but I have finished my project. So, rather than do nothing, I’m sitting wittering to you while he’s doing things with paint and plastic. On which note…

If anyone has a remedy for fingerprints, can you let me know? I’ve asked at my modelling pages on Facebook and tried various things, but nothing works. It’s a white car with a couple of black smudges, you see, and they are acrylic paint on shiny plastic. You can’t scratch it off without damaging what’s beneath, white spirit doesn’t work, and nor does any of the household cleaners we have here, nor water. I had some success with window cleaner, which worked on my test subject, part of the plastic frame called a sprue, btw. That took the same paint off, but it didn’t work on the body piece which must be a different plastic. Anyway, I have yet to try Dettol as recommended by a kit builder, but any other ideas, fire away.

As for being out and about, the weather is getting back on an even keel, and there’s still some greenery about. Maybe not as much as a few weeks ago, but still a pleasant sight to see. Having said that, this photo was a while ago.

This one, though, was taken on Friday, I think it was.

I did my mile route, which is up through the village to the museum, out onto the main road there, and back down. The 1.5-mile route starts the same, but I go right to the top and down the road. One takes me 20 minutes, the other about 30, and half the distance is uphill. Now and then, I head further up the road, but I’ve yet to make it to the bridge so far this year. That takes longer and I am always keen to get back to work, especially at the moment because I’ve finished a first draft and am editing.

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