Still windy
Writing this on Wednesday morning and the wind is still blowing. The Blue Star bypassed us today, presumably because it was so rough out there. You can clearly see the wind whipping up the sea surface from up here.
But the sun is out and the wind is not cold, though you’d have to be careful if you went out in it, something I was going to do first thing this morning. I decided against it when I woke up and thought an express train was hurtling across the roof above me. Each time I hear a sound like that I think of the strange case of ‘The Dyatlov Pass Incident.’ This is a story that my friend Ged alerted me to a couple years ago; a group of Russian hikers, all students and trained for outdoor pursuits, went missing on a hike in 1959. The bodies were found in very strange circumstances, there was an inquiry but no definite conclusions, at the time. The theory was that local tribes (this was in the Ural mountains of Russia) killed the hikers, and this theory was put forward in a recently published book called ‘Don’t Go There’ by Russian author, Svetlana Oss. There is another theory, put forward in ‘Dead Mountain’ by Donnie Eichar, that it was a low-frequency sound phenomenon, something called ‘infrasonic sound’, that would cause vibrations, interrupt brain patterns and cause disorientation and panic. This then caused the hikers to flee and freeze to death. It’s all very creepy and the sound of the roof rattling and the wind howling low across the house makes me wonder if this is what the group heard (only it would have been even lower and more intense). Was that the reason they fled their tent, without shoes and some clothing, and ran? Click the links above if you want to read the story and make your own conclusions. It’s a fascinating read – the Oss book looks a little at Russian rural and tribal song poems/storytelling which is itself fascinating.
But back to Symi and it’s a day for staying in, with the shutters closed against the wind, and the cat by the fire, though it is not that cold. I do wonder, on days like this, what happens to those who wanted to get off at Symi this morning and hope that the wind subsides so the boat can dock tonight. I know of at least two people hoping to get back today. Fingers crossed. It was so windy that the Dodecanese catamaran harboured at Symi, presumably on Tuesday night. I am pretty sure it wasn’t there when I went to bed on Monday (might be wrong), but it was there are 6.30 Wednesday morning. I wonder where that came from and where it was going to when it was told to pull in here and wait for the wind to die down.
And, on another note, I now have seven people reading ‘Remotely’ in its current draft format, all prepared to offer notes on typos still remaining and also provide reviews for future publicity. I could still do with a few more readers if anyone is interested to read the book before it comes out. Its current format is not professionally formatted as yet and not checked by the main proof reader, so it’s about pointing out any obvious errors and maybe posting a review of it on Amazon, Facebook and other useful sites (assuming you think it is worthy) in return for having an electronic copy for free. Email me if you might be interested.
And with that I shall leave you and head off into the wind, which is due to have faded somewhat by the time you read this on Thursday.
