It’s been a week of walking for me, well, an hour a day in the afternoon, up into the hills or up the road. Some of today’s Symi Saturday Photos are from those walks. The island looks very barren at this time of year, but soon, when the rain starts again, there will be more green to see. There are, however, still some interesting sights to be enjoyed if you look around, such as…
The travel agency is back in operation; that’s our home travel agency, aka, me. Neil has a couple of trips coming up in November which will make him sound like an international man of mystery: Rhodes, Vienne, Czech Republic, Scotland, Athens, all within three weeks and all for family visits. Apart from Athens. That’s on the way back, and I’ll go up by boat to meet him, do some shopping and come back by boat too. The flights have all been dealt with by family, it’s just down to me to arrange boats and hotels in various places. Just the kind of work I love to do when not writing, or dealing with film scripts…
The screenplay that I wrote for Rebecca Hall based on her book, ‘Girl Gone Greek’ is a finalist in the L.A. Femme Film Festival, which is good news – another laurel, not that I show them off. The awards aren’t until October, so we’ll have to wait and see. Meanwhile, I’ve a three-day weekend ahead to work on The Eastling which is, I have to say, proving harder to get right than the two in the series before it, but we’re getting there.
Meanwhile, on the island, things are pretty much the same as they have been of late: visitors arriving and going, warm weather, calm seas, chilled-out atmosphere, everything ticking over nicely. We’ve been getting in some exercise walks, up the road to various points and down again, usually three miles per day. It will be interesting to see how we manage in the winter when it’s cold and wet. Well, when it’s raining, we shan’t be going out in it, as it can be dangerous, but on other days… Anyway, enough early morning blather. I have a book to improve.
Some more photos from afternoon walks today and my first Christmas gift of the year – what? Well, it looks like Sotiris still has some Christmas chocolates left over from last season, still well within date. I think that was the first chocolate I’ve had for a long time. Well, since that chocolate ice cream I had last week, at any rate.
The season shows no great signs of slowing down, not yet. There are still boats coming in each day, sometimes up to seven, and plenty of yachts and cruisers in the harbour. Things are a tad quieter now that the Italian visitors have mainly gone, August being a popular time for southern European visitors. At this time of year it tends to be northern Europeans and British who are, I guess, soon to be no longer European. Great shame that, and don’t get me started.
But, on that note… (I got started), I’m hearing rumours of what us non-Greek, non-European residents might need in order to be able to stay in the country after next March if that disaster happens, and there’s still time for it to not happen or at last to happen with less impact. Although I’ve still not seen anything official from the government, so far, I have gathered together: my passport (proof of ID), my residency permit from 2008 which replaced the original from 2003, proof of my private health insurance to show I’m not a burden on the state, my proof of income – which will formally kick in after November, I hope, and my tax records (or part thereof) which also date back to 2003, plus my CP contract to my European/Irish spouse and various other bits of information that prove I’ve been living here, in the tax system and for a while the health system for the last 16 years. If that lot doesn’t go through whatever process is devised to keep me here, I don’t know what will. Anyway… not what I intended to write, so here are another two photos from Tuesday.
I’m mentioning this soon to be released book because Roger Rogowski, the author, is a regular Symi visitor. He’s here right now, and we’re often chatting at the bar, and calling in for dinner. I’ve been following the story of his book for a year or so now and here it is, ready for publication (November) and with a special offer.
You can pre-order the book at a pre-publication discount of 20% (plus free P&P), and to do this, you can phone Macmillan Distribution (UK: 01256 302699) or email them at MacmillanDirect@macmillan.co.uk – the offer ends at the end of September. If you would like to have your name listed in the book as one of the subscribers (to this offer) you can contact Roger direct through his Facebook page: The Other Side of Notting Hill.
The book records the memories of people who lived in working-class Notting Hill before huge changes took place in the area in the 1960s. It takes us from Wartime to the Westway – from the 1940s/50s to the swinging 60s, and looks set to become a vital record in the living history project of the area. I shall be ordering my copy today.
And as for me… I took a walk on Monday, up to the main road by Agios Rafael, the small chapel behind Yialos. This is the route from the village donkey path to Agia Paraskevi and then, just beyond the newly built steps to the house up there, the right turn to the place marked on maps as ‘the Wall.’ It’s an ancient area with trees and old paths, very old terracing and some new, and gives you a gentle but rocky climb up to the main road from where you can see across Roukouniotis towards the west and the coast of Turkey. Here are a few pics, more soon.
A few shots taken from the Rainbow Bar on Sunday, plus an early morning trip to the bank. I was down in Yialos at 7.30, taking advantage of the cooler time of day to make the walk up the steps afterwards more bearable. Pleased to say I was able to do it in one go without being out of breath and without sweating too much. Today (Monday as I write), I intend to take a walk up the old donkey track to Xissos and then back down the road, that’s after I’ve worked on and edited two more chapters of The Eastling.
We’re still catching up on washing after the nephew’s visit. How can two lads get through seven towels in ten days? Best not to ask. Neil’s off out soon to lop a friend’s bougainvillaea, I’m going to turn the water off and then turn the washing machine on… I should explain: we can take in water three times per week, Monday, Wednesday and Friday and the best time to do it is early. It was on at 7.00 this morning, gushing in for a while but, as more houses do the same, the flow reduces to a trickle, but we keep it going for as long as we can. Especially after having four of us in the house for those 10 days. Luckily, we have a large sterna under the workhouse, but it can take a couple of weeks to get it back to full again. Roll on the rainy season when the water will be free.
