Settling in for winter
And here we are back to the usual day to day blogging. All being well, I will be with you through the winter every day apart from Sundays, with maybe a few breaks over the Christmas period. I can’t say that the posts will always be interesting as winter is a quiet time but, for new readers, they may give you can idea of what goes on, on Symi, over the quieter months. Today’s photos were taken last Friday at The Oxi Day parade. On this day, the school children march in their uniforms (they only wear them on special days like this); it’s not compulsory for them which is why it’s always good to see so many there. Godsons Sam and Harry were both in it this year looking very smart and very serious.
On the way down to the parade on Friday I managed to catch Michaelis at the pet shop and order more cat litter for HRH Jack Cat (the Alarm Cat) and later picked up some more food for the same rather demanding housemate and later walked back up the Kataractis, sweating madly in the sun before making it home full of giros and good cheer.
On Friday night I watched the last part of The Hollow Crown, the TV version of Shakespeare’s Henry VI and Richard III – I thought it was a great production. I have since found out that there is an earlier series with Richard II, Henry IV and Henry V which I must look out for. If I’d known I would have watched them in the right order. It made me wonder if it’s possible to get (good) film or TV film versions of all of Shakespeare’s plays; there are some classics already of course, and some rather odd ones, but wouldn’t it be great to have one good film of each play – Olivier in Henry V, the Judi Dench and Ian McKellen ‘Macbeth’, NOT the Mel Gibson Hamlet (Olivier again instead?), and so on. An idea for things to collect in the future, maybe.
Anyway, Saturday was a day at home writing and working on the next novel, The Saddling. I am now up to chapter 20 of 40 in draft two form, and it’s coming along nicely, to use one of the ‘non-words’ that I am trying to replace in the text. Not that I use ‘nice’ unless it’s in speech, but other ‘non-words’ are being examined along with the typos and repetition, and many other things. Non-words, by the way, are, for me, words like ‘went’ and ‘goes.’ He went into the room only tells you a piece of action, he staggered into the room, tells you the action and gives you a little bit more. I also notice that a lot of my characters look at things (unnecessary unless it’s to do with plot), they turn around a lot (ditto) and things are always on their left or right, north or south… It’s like I’m stage directing them in the narrative, so a lot of that needs to go.
And Sunday started chilly and with an extra hour (that the Alarm Cat didn’t allow me) I was able to get this blog written and get back to the book. The sea out there was a kind of reluctant grey, first thing, it’s quiet in the harbour now after being so mad on Friday where all the bars and cafes, and tavernas (that I saw) were full at one point – we had to wait around 45 minutes for a giros and that’s actually a good thing because they were so busy. It was good to see the businesses having what might be a last good day before winter sets in. Mind you, I’m still sitting there watching my Shakespeare with the balcony doors open at night, unless the wind gets up. How long will that last? Not long, I fear. The duvet is down from its summer storage and ready to go on the bed… soon.
