Well, here we are on the other side of New Year’s Eve and here’s wishing you a happy New Year!
I’m not much of a one for those ‘that was the year that was’ kind of posts, I always think, during the year, that I will make a note of particular events to mention in a year’s roundup and never get around to doing it, and by the time I come to try doing it, like today, I’ve forgotten, but actually 2014 was a pretty interesting year that included:
Publication of ‘Village View’ and ‘The Judas Inheritance.’ Work started on ‘Straight Swap’ and is on-going on ‘Stuff and nonsense.’ Despite a relatively good season Neil closed his shop – various reasons but mainly economic; it simply costs too much to run a small business in Greece these days and we were not prepared to go into debt and close down owing money as so often happens, so we wrapped up the shop, got everything paid up and signed off, though we still have things for sale online, which is a bit more of an affordable way to go about things.
We did some self-improvements, with morning walks and daily (almost) jogs and Zumba (Neil) tap dancing, workouts and diets, and I managed to reverse the onset of type two diabetes. Mind you, since our holiday in November, and what with the bad weather and the festive time of year, everything has slipped a little, but is due to start up against from next Monday. And that reminds me: we went on holiday to Kos. Okay, so not very far afield, but all we could afford and very pleasant it was too.
Other things that stand out in the (rather fuddled) memory this morning are: mother’s holiday on Symi; brother receiving an award for his and his team’s lifeboat rescues; the long walks with Lyndon and Justine, through the hills, to places I’ve not been before in my 19 year association with Symi; the parties and times with Harry, Sam and the family; working at the Rainbow Bar and meeting new visitors and seeing regular return visitors; sing-song around the piano on Boxing Day; my great-niece being born, not that I was there but you know… And now, to cap it all off rather wonderfully, Neil has ‘named’ a star after me. As soon as I find out where it is, or what constellation it is near, I will let you know.
Actually (an aside), if you’re clever at these things – and I have tried looking but not been able to find – perhaps you can locate the rough area of ‘my’ star. I know it’s a long way off, and not visible to the naked eye, and way off the naked eye visibility scale (at 13.6 magnitude) but it would be interesting to know what direction to look in, roughly, like: is it behind Orion, or Cassiopeia, or the one that’s all about a cat getting stuck in a tin of Whiskers, what’s it called? Oh yes, Canopus. If it’s possible to do this from the coordinates, please feel free to let me know via email. It’s got an ID of ‘AGASC_ID: 44439736 and then: RA: 15h 10m 1.82 & DEC: +3 (degrees) 16’ 1.5”
So, what will 2015 hold in store? Well, if I knew that I’d be able to make a fortune on the stock markets and at the bookies. But for us? We shall have to wait and see. Assuming all goes as normal, one of us will be working at the Rainbow Bar; having said that, Yiannis has had his operation and is now (finally) out of hospital, and I guess will be heading home before long. His operation was delayed due to him getting flu, but it was due to happen on 27th and we heard he was out by 29th so it looks like it all went well.
I intend to finish at least one of these book projects I have on the go and get a new title ‘out’ by the end of the year. I may also take up a creative writing course once we have bought the new fridge freezer and done a few other essential things to the house. And we may, if we can save enough, head to the UK for a couple of weeks at the end of the year to visit family. This will entail a lot of trains, I am pleased to report, as family are stretched as far apart as Dungeness (which you now know to be the only desert in the UK) to Penzance, and Edinburgh to Aberdeen.
And finally, to finish off this start to the year. One of the most oft asked questions of 2014 was ‘what news on the film?’ Well, you probably know as much as me. I’ve not seen a Kickstarter update for a long time and I too would love to see some return on my ‘investment’, or at least hear more regular news about it. The last I heard was that the editor was working on it, but was away for three weeks over Christmas, and the company were working towards a film festival early this year. But for more detail I can only suggest folk contact the company directly, and you should have their contact details via your last Kickstarter update. If not, then perhaps get in touch with Kickstarter themselves and ask them for advice. Wish I could say more and end more positively, but I only really know what I pick up from the limited updates that they release.
So, long New Year’s Day ramble there. Here’s wishing you a Happy New Year from Neil, Me, Jack the cat, Symi and Symi Dream.
