It’s Good Friday here today, so it will be a very quiet day, until this evening when there will be dynamite and bangers going off to ward away evil. For my part, I am planning a quiet day at home doing very little. We had a lovely day yesterday with a surprise visit from Aunty Tina, who I had been told was coming on Friday. In fact, I was told not to tell the boys (Harry & Sam) because it was a surprise for them. So what happens? I’m passing the time playing a game on my tablet at just after 2pm, waiting for H’s music lesson at three, when who should wander into the house but Aunty Tina (who’d arrived on Tuesday), followed by Harry who knew she was here before I did. All very complicated, but lovely. She stayed through the music lesson where we covered some grade three theory, and then set to work writing the chorus for a poem Harry is setting to music as this month is composition month. I’d chosen ‘The Splendour Falls’ by Tennyson because a) I’ve always liked it as a lyric, and it is classed as a song within a longer work, and b) it has a steady four-four beat and great imagery. The music for the song is coming along well, just an intro and bridging bars to create next week, and we can write it out and learn to play/sing it.

Anyway… After that, we set about the kitchen table, and I finished my book nook creation. (Below are a few photos to show off.) It’s fiddly but fun, and I was glad of the magnifying goggles, while across the table H is still putting together his car.

So, we’re now into the Easter Weekend, the island is busy with visitors both foreign and domestic, and there are serious services and celebrations yet to come. I’ll leave you with these shots and be back next Tuesday. Oh, and this morning, surprisingly, we had water, so we were able to top up the tank, so that’s a relief.

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We are now on water rationing. Not the island, just us. Ages ago, our sterna was infiltrated by a rampant fig tree, and was emptying as fast as we could fill it, and our landlord installed a 500-litre water tank instead. That’s fine by us because the cold water comes out hot in the summer, so we don’t have to use the water heater, and after all, 500 litres is a lot of water, isn’t it?

It is, normally, because we top it up every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and sometimes, on other days. Our feed is permanently open, so it looks after itself. However, this year for Easter, the May 1st bank holiday has been moved to next Tuesday, which means, unless we get water in today or on Saturday, we will not be able to top up the tank for a whole week. A full tank will last us three days, and that’s being careful. As you can see, 500 litres doesn’t go that far, and that’s one of the reasons we’re careful with water usage here on Symi. We do the washing on the mornings when the feed is on, and water the garden then too, so that water doesn’t come from the tank but from the mains. There’s a bowl in the shower to use in the loo, so that saves a couple of flushes, even though we only have a small wc cistern, and showering is a case of: get damp, water off, get soaped, and water on for a quick wash off. I don’t think we use even a standard non-Symi amount of water per day, but it works out at roughly 166 litres per day between us, or 83 per day each, which doesn’t sound possible, but apparently is.

We know we don’t have a leak as a) we would see it if it came from the tank, and b) the pump would run if it was leaking from a pipe. So, next time you’re here, think about how much water you use, because, come next Wednesday morning, we could be a bit dry at our place. Neil has to have a shower after the gym and before work each day, but I will go without for a few days, so if you find yourself standing beside me, well, sorry about the smell.

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It all looks very quiet in the village in this photo, but a few minutes later, it was much busier. Things are set to get busier still as more people arrive for Easter weekend, and the photo was taken during siesta hour, so that’s the main reason there’s not a lot of activity.

Now then, if you are heading over to Symi now or later and want to bring reading material with you, what do you do? I used to travel with at least one book, and then hunt around the book swaps for something to exchange it with when done. There are not so many of those places now, though they can still be found (the tourism offices often have some books, and the Sunrise Café has a few, I believe, as do other bars/cafes). I guess, since the onset of Kindle and digital reading, it’s easier to carry a tablet than a library, though now, you can carry your library in your tablet. Imagine saying that 20 years ago.

I started using the e-book system not long after it started on Lulu, where I first published my book Symi 85600 (it’s the postcode). Since then, things have improved no end, and now, I publish exclusively through Amazon. I’ve now got something like 40 + titles up there both as myself, and as Jackson, and in the last few months, I’ve started taking part in free promotions. Because Jackson is currently writing historical mystery novels, I’ve put a couple into a new promotion where the authors involved share the promo page with their readers and followers. This brings new readers to established authors, and new authors to established readers. So, if you’re heading on holiday now or later, and you want to stock up your portable library, take a look at this new promo which is all about historical fiction.

All you do is browse the covers and titles and click on any you think might be of interest. Do that, and you will get a screen telling you a little more about the book, and a link to its page on Amazon. The books are all in Kindle Unlimited, so if you subscribe to that, you can get them for ‘free.’

CLICK HERE

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We’ve had a few explosions already, I’ve heard some random bangers going off, and a few short fizzles from fireworks, all in the leadup to Easter. So far, it’s not been as noisy as previous years. Maybe everyone is saving the costly SFX for later in the week when we will once again be rocked by dynamite, bells, and joyous celebrations.

Before then, we have normal life to be getting on with, which includes model building (nearly finished my latest project), writing (nowhere near finishing the current project), walking (not as far or often as I projected, but better than nothing).

With little other news to impart, I scrolled back through my photos to this time four years ago when we were under strict orders not to socialise, but where we could go out walking. The weather then was as it is now, warming up of the summer, and there were some regulars around who are still here now, namely this chap…

… who I can hear singing outside as I type, and this one:

It’s been a while since I’ve been down to the sea, but I must make the effort to walk down to Pedi one day. I prefer to walk uphill for my necessary exercise, and often walk up through the village to the top, and then either one or two more corners up the road if I am feeling up to it, or down to the church and out onto the hillside, or, simply down the road again. The shortest trip I do is 1.2 miles, and the longest is three miles, it depends, but half of every walk is uphill. You do have to walk uphill when coming back from Pedi, but I’d rather get the slog out of the way first so once I’ve done half my walk, the rest is all downhill. I use these strolls to plot and plan the next chapter, and I must get one in today. Maybe, I’ll get to Pedi one afternoon.

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Today is the start of ‘Great Week’, the week leading up to Easter at the weekend. In case you didn’t see Jenine’s photo that did the rounds on social media the other day, here’s her view of the Blue Star Patmos last Friday afternoon before leaving Rhodes.

There was a big football event on Kos involving many schools, the Wednesday boat had been delayed, so some people were catching up on things they couldn’t do then, and it was the end of the week before the week before Easter, so something of a getaway. Sam told me that the only way his friend’s father could get across to Symi was by booking a cabin. All economy seats were sold out, and I guess, so was the availability of the airline seats. Crickey.

Things got busy in front of the house yesterday too when a cockerel and two hens ventured down for a rummage. You can’t see them very well in this photo, maybe, but they are there. The visit reminded me of the time a couple of years ago when a hen brought three chicks down and then discovered they weren’t big enough to jump back up the steps, so they moved into the wasteland. We fed them from our balcony until they were old enough to make their way elsewhere.

And the weather looks like it’s stopped playing up, for the time being at least, and it’s calm and sunny. We were taken to dinner last night, and Georgio’s Taverna was busy, as was the square before and for a while after, and we’re expecting more regulars to arrive this week in time for Easter. So, the harbour is busier than this shot from yesterday afternoon makes it look.

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