Friday, so a look back on what’s been going on this week.
The weather is finally starting to become more like its old self for this time of year. A short, sharp thunderstorm early on Thursday morning cleared some humidity and brought temperatures down to a more late-September level. The winds are still calm, so transport is not a problem, and we’ve still got windows open at night, but now, I put on a shirt during the morning, much to the relief of anyone passing, I am sure.
The early mornings are quiet. Today at around four, all I could hear from the balcony was one lone cricket and the waves lapping at the quayside wall. The moon, behind the house, was so bright the sky was grey — when it came up last night, it was huge and full over the Pedi hills.
We’ve had very busy days and nights in the village cafés, but now the September regulars are starting to leave. This doesn’t mean things will quieten down because October is also a popular month, and I just heard Tui are extending their charters into November. Not sure if that will affect us here, but it will hopefully be good news for someone.
In wider news, there’s a new leader of the leftist political opposition party and apparently, he’s gay, so that will be an interesting story to follow. While here, the island is gearing up for mayoral elections next month. Right here, at this desk, I have sent my next novel to my proofreader, and the cover is with my cover designer, so I hope to have the book released by the end of October. Meanwhile, I can start on the next one. (I already have, actually, and have a cracking plot with a sideline of angst, several twists, and some fun scenes already plotted in my head.)
I’ve been out and about a couple of times, up the hill and down the hill for the sake of it in the mornings after work, but only as long as I haven’t been up since one in the morning as I was yesterday. I’ve looked into putting a PayPal donate button here on the blog to help with running costs, but to do that, you need to have a business account and that gets complicated, so I can’t. Not to worry. We’ve managed all these years.
And so, into the weekend which, for my part, will hopefully be another quiet one where I can march onto the next story while seeing to my chores. In this case, I have the courtyard to sweep today to clear it of the dead vine leaves blown about during that rain, and that’s about it. As I said, a quiet time ahead, I hope, leaving me headspace for something more creative, like putting mastic on the gaps in the porch cover so the rain doesn’t drip through; I’d forgotten I had to do that. It’ll take me five minutes, he says. It’s bound to go wrong, and I’ll chop my finger off somehow, or bring the whole roof crashing down, but it will be fun trying to be Mr DIY.
Assuming all goes well, I’ll see you back here on Monday, and leave you now with a reminder that the Symi Dream Calendar is on sale.
For anyone who has read my Clearwater Mysteries, there’s also a Clearwater calendar on sale this year (as asked for by readers), so if you can’t decide between the two, you can have both.
