As you may know, and as more local people will definitely know, we’re currently under storm Bryon, and the day is set to get worse. That’s one thing. Another is, when did all this storm naming start, or have we always had it? Do records really exist of the famous storm Æðelþryð of 590?
Whatever the weather holds for us today, we’re staying inside (apart from Neil popping out to feed the cats as long as it’s safe to do so). The wind isn’t cold, but it’s rattling things, and the rain hasn’t arrived yet, but the shutters are shut. As long as we don’t have to unplug everything because of lightning, I shall cosy up at my desk and write something, and later, cosy up on the sofa to watch something. (Currently trawling through Bake Off Professionals, The Traitors (done the UK, now on the USA), and various fantasy shows about vampires, the Jacobite Rebellion, werewolves, Vikings, witches and Gogglebox.)
(Must fix that curtain ring.)
I might come back in here and play the piano, pretending I’m that chap out of ‘The Legend of 1900’ who’s on a passenger liner, and playing the piano which is being waltzed around the ballroom by the heavy movement of the ship. We shall see, and we shall also see what Mr Byron brings us today. Meanwhile, a couple of better-weather images to change the subject.
The return trip to the dentist in Rhodes tomorrow is off. That’s thanks to the weather and the resulting change in the Blue Star timetable. (And not wanting to add another €300 or so to the bill by going yesterday and spending until Monday there, or coming back on a boat at two in the morning on Saturday.) We once worked out that if we wanted to go to the cinema, it would cost us over €200, what with hotels and feeding, etc., Mind you, these days, if we did, we’d stay at the Castellum (where we will be staying in a couple of weeks), and pay only €75 for a night with all our meals and drinks included, so a cinema trip would probably now only cost us around €150 if we were careful.
Anyway, not what I was going to say. It’s been raining already, and we’re expecting a big storm over the next two days, so I plan to stay in as much as possible. Here’s the new look for Rhodes rainfall on Friday afternoon, and the wind is just as bad.
I had a successful trip to town yesterday. A check up on the teeth, and now the naughty one has had its roots pulled out, the others around it seem to be behaving and don’t need any work, at least for now, so that’s good news. I picked up some supplies for our forthcoming trip, some new joggers, and some USB rechargeable heated gloves, some… What? No, honestly, it’s a thing. Two things, in fact, and they work. They are for when the office is down at 6° in the winter, and it’s hard to type. Some days, it can take me all morning to get the room up to 10°, and some days, I simply don’t bother coming into work, but take work home with me (and write at the kitchen table). That’s all to come after Christmas.
Before that, we have a long-planned and saved-for trip, and we’ll be leaving two weeks tomorrow, or earlier if the weather looks like it’s going to be dodgy. More about that in due course.
As for today, I am planning to hoover the office carpet, which is always something of a workout, then there’s some piano playing, and a guidebook to work on. I’ve also started on another winter project, which is to transfer my old music from CD to digital storage before the CDs refuse to stop playing. This is my music, btw, not other people’s CDs, but the cabaret recordings, and the theatre show studio recordings.
So, there’s plenty going on, and it’s all going to go on behind shuttered windows with towels ready in vulnerable places, like the porch.
One of those starts to the day. Five random emails from people’s AI bots all fishing for me to write back and pay them $$ to do something or other with this book or that. Here are the opening lines of each one:
I hope your day is unfolding gently and that the creative space around you is giving you a bit of calm. It’s 5.40 in the morning, so nothing has yet unfolded, and better to substitute ‘a bit of’ for ‘a little.’ Much more suitable for someone pretending to know about writing.
I recently came across your work and was struck by how confidently you blend atmosphere, tension, character psychology, and… lots of other things I’ve not read, but have had my AI guess at from the blurb, ’cos if I randomly send out 200 of these a day, someone, one day, will bite.
I will be glad to got a positive feedback from you. I have no idea why this one started with such a random giveaway. I.e. (no disrespect) but clearly English is not a fore language, because a) that sentence is not a way to begin an email, and b) the email then went on to use flowery and ridiculous AI prose.
I recently spent time with *Other People’s Dreams* and was completely drawn into the blend of Greek island beauty, emotional tension, and the unsettling pull of obsessive desire. Yeah, right.
Hey there! I’m just circling back. OMG, dear Symi Dream reader, how I long to reach out to you and interface about these AI-generated spam emails from chancers. Perhaps we can find time to de-layer this issue and curate some answers. I’ll circle back in the morning…
Meanwhile, in more important news, someone left a boot on the lane to St Nicholas (Kataraktis), and it can be found on the wall near the big corner.
And, along with the village Christmas decorations, someone has been busy painting over my favorite graffiti wall outside the Chinese emporium. Shame in a way, but looks nicer and is less embarrassing for boys with bits that resemble space rockets from 1950’s B movies.
In my news, though, a collection of Clearwater shorts should be out before Christmas – more news on that later. More dentistry later today (maybe just advice), a package to collect, and a decision to make nearer the time. There’s to be a very bad storm on Thursday night/Friday, and the map still looks like this for the wind forecast:
I.e., it’s bad. Force 7, 8 and maybe more.
All very rainbow and that, but representing a force 7-8 B storm and who knows how much rain, on Friday morning. I will check again on Thursday and see what the boats are doing. I don’t mind getting wet, but I don’t want to get stranded and have one of those ‘the boat won’t now be leaving until 2.00 in the morning’ situations. As they say, we shall see.
I took these photos and this video at the weekend during the heavy storm that came across. I was at my desk when the hail started, and I attempted to get a quick sample of the sound. However, this doesn’t do the noise justice. You might be able to see the hailstones bouncing off the windows.
If a storm is coming from the north, we can see it approaching. Stage one would be the gathering clouds above, and stage two is when the coast of Turkey starts to vanish into what looks like mist, but is actually rain. A little while later, Nimos has been swallowed by the cloud/rain, and before you know it, Harani is lost, and then (when it’s really bad) even the clock tower and the other side of the harbour.
This was around stage two-to-three:
Then, luckily, after however minutes of pelting rain, rattling thunder (when provided), winds, running around checking window leaks, changing towels where needed, and unplugging the internet and phone line… Five minutes later, and we have this:
The UFO ball of light is the reflection of the bare bulb in my study. A study which I spent some time on Sunday rearranging and clearing out. I’m one of those ‘It might come in useful one day’ kind of people, you see, and who knows when I might be in need of a mobile phone from 2004, four tatty copies of Fur Elise, and half a hundred weight of used notebooks. And that was just one cupboard.
Anyway, there you are. I don’t have anything much else to report other than my tongue and lip continue to heal, more dentist activity tomorrow, and some deliveries to collect, and the planned trip on Friday may yet be called off thanks to another force seven/eight storm that’s predicted to hit us on Thursday/Friday. We shall see…
We’ve had some wet weather over the weekend, but so far (Sunday morning), we have escaped the worst, unlike other parts of the country. I wasn’t looking forward to the latest Rhodes trip, because the forecast said it was going to be wet all day, but as often happens, it depends on which forecast you look at, and although there were a few sprinkles in the morning for about five minutes, this was the morning coffee-stop view and later, we had lunch outside in the sun.
The purpose of the trip was threefold. 1) me to see about a root canal, 2) Neil for a checkup, 3) us to have lunch with Harry. So, the Blue Star over — the queue of cars waiting to board stretched back to the main road at one point (Black Feriday traffic, I guess), and a very busy boat, but a very smooth crossing. Then, a gentle walk around from Akandia to Mandraki, coffee, some window shopping, and then off to our appointments. Mine was to a dentist who specialises in root canal work, where I had one done at a very friendly surgery, and came away with a list of instructions on how to behave ‘After your operation.’ One of them was not to eat until all the anaesthetic had worn off, and as I’d needed three deep injections, that was going to take some time.
Met up with Neil afterwards, and we started walking over toward the St Nicholas area at the other end of Kanadas St. A couple of miles, via some shops I wanted to call back into but, quite frankly, couldn’t face doing so with half my face feeling as twisted as the Phantom of the opera without the mask. We arrived at the Harry house, where he’d been entertaining his brother all week while the two of them did some driving school things, and the four of us trundled off for lunch around the corner at a classic Greek taverna called Padelis. ‘Classic’ as in they could rustle up just about everything from burgers to soutzoukakia, and with plenty of chips. Chips I couldn’t eat, but as I’d not had anything since six that morning and as it was, by then, after two and I was in danger of falling over, I risked some soft soutzoukakia, eating very carefully on the other side of my mouth. The conversation went on, there were many laughs, the boys were such fine company, I forgot myself, and at one point, and thought I was eating a chip, but it turned out to be the inside of my mouth and half of my lip. Silly me. Anyway, once I’d stopped the blood flow and quartered the wounds with some table wine, it was upwards and onwards to Pappou with the boys for some shopping hilarity, and then, goodbye, and back to the boat.
Friday morning clouds
The boat back was also busy, and we were all set to walk up when we landed, but we spied Lakis with his bus, and although he was waiting for a private party (I think), he let us hop on, which, with the anaesthetic now worn off, and the wounds coming to the fore, was an offer gratefully received.
More rain on Saturday. We met up with Miss DJ for her birthday, and I managed to get down some mashed-up spag bol, having only eaten half a bowl of porridge, three spoonfuls of mashed potato and a failed soutzoukakia since Thursday night, I was ready for it, but it was like eating razor blades. It still is as I sip my cold tea this morning (still Sunday), and look forward to a roast dinner at Jenine’s later. What a weekend to have all these meals arranged. Still, they smelt nice, and things will improve, but the next time, I will show more restraint after a tooth operation. Mind you, I blame the boys for making me laugh so much that I forgot what I was doing.
Anyway, Happy month to you. I shall be around for a couple more weeks, and then we’re off on our much planned and saved-for trip. Meanwhile, thunder is still rattling the hills as the sun comes up, I can hear the rain, and I need to try a little more porridge so I can take a painkiller. As for this week… Back to our local dentist on Wednesday, back to the Rhodes specialist on Friday, then, soon after that, back to the local dentist to finish the job. And that was only one of a possible three such treatments queuing up in my mouth to bring me joy in the future. Hey ho, and off to work we go.
