Back to relative normality
Things are all a little calmer now. The weather has been good, though we’re desperate for rain and so is Rhodes and, I expect, other places. (It’s forecast to be wet and windy for a few days this week though.) I’ve been watching the boats come and go: the Blue Star was late on Friday due to a strike the day before, but she came and went. There was a day trip to Tilos on Saturday, mainly for an inter-island football match, but also for a visit to the neighbours. We were going to go but the expense of last Wednesday put paid to that.
The Irish passport application is filled out and now just needs to be witnessed and the photos signed/stamped and the whole lot of paperwork sent off; we’re aiming for Monday or Tuesday on that one. I’ve started work proper on the new book, which is travel stories, anecdotes and some of them about Symi. I’ve also started on the Christmas collection so as to avoid a big rush, so expect blog posts over the next couple of weeks suggesting all or any of my books and Neil’s calendars as Christmas gift ideas for those you love – or hate, depending on how you see my books. [My Amazon Author page is here. Wink, wink.]
We arrived back on Wednesday night last week and promptly feel into a wedding invitation for next Sunday at Panormitis; that will be lovely, if we can find a way to get there and back. We also fell into the usual routine for our house in the winter: work in the morning, Neil on his college course, me on my book projects, afternoons too, with lots of television watching and reading in the evenings, housework, sweeping the dying vine leaves from the courtyard, feeding the cats – Symi Animal Welfare have delivered us a large bag of biscuits for the strays at the bins – and some light walking. Last Wednesday I met my Fitbit target in Rhodes by eight in the morning, it was positively ecstatic come lunchtime and could hardly contain its jubilation come three in the afternoon when we walked back from the New Town towards the boat. I was surprised that there was no tickertape shower when I walked into the house after several thousand steps beyond my daily target, which I rarely reach, I have to say. I’m not taking it seriously at the moment.
And so all is well, and settled and ticking along towards the busy time of December, and we all know what that means. Hours of searching for ideas for surprise gifts for people. I always have good ideas when I am in a place where I can’t write them down and always say to myself, ‘That’s such a good idea, I will remember that one,’ and then never do. I am looking through my diary for the next two weeks and, apart from the wedding (hopefully) there is nothing in it other than ‘Jack, flea medicine.’ Oh, the things we look forward to here on Symi in the winter.
Actually, there is more going on than that. For example, there was a Christmas craft fair over the weekend at the cultural centre, we have an invite to lunch today (Sunday as I write), we need to see the accountant for the passport form next week, I have a trip to the pharmacy planned by Wednesday and a whole heap of chores to do around the house. Could things be any busier?
