Poseidon by night

I didn’t take many photos in the end, but last night (Tuesday) we were invited onto the Poseidon by Pat and Hazel to celebrate their birthdays. What can you say? Yiannis and his team are the perfect hosts, not only working an extra trip after their gruelling all-day work but remaining charming, professional, friendly and serving up a delicious buffet.

On this trip, we went to Taviri, the landing stage/bay at Nimos where Neil and I had our CP last year. There was a gulet boat in which moved its ropes for us and waved, and then the passengers spent the evening watching football. Our party was more of a party, with dancing, chatting, fun, food and, afterwards, a trip home in darkness so we could all ooh and ah at the display of stars and the Milky Way. [Note, must learn more constellations other than the usual three.]

We passed the new ANES boat which had just come in announcing its arrival with a blast of its horn, replied to by other boats doing the same. The last taxi boat of the day came back in at 18.30, but their work doesn’t stop there. There are then a good couple of hours of cleaning and tidying before the crew can go home, making their working day around 12 hours, I guess. The Poseidon crew must have worked at least 16 or 17, from preparing the boat in the morning to cleaning it up again at night – not that we left a mess, but getting all the salt off and that kind of maritime thing.

I have a bit more time to write today as the booze brothers are in the other room and are going out for the morning and probably the afternoon. We’re meeting up again this afternoon to prepare to go and watch some football match. I am only going for the atmosphere, and because Croatia are playing, and everyone I met there in March was so lovely I want to support them, but don’t tell the English or they’ll call me a traitor and take away my right to vote. Oh, they’ve already done that. Anyway…

Meanwhile… I’m wrestling with two pension companies to try and get my private arrangements sorted and paid and have to go and research a ‘protection certificate’ or something I think I don’t need, but best be sure. So, I’ll head off now and by the time you read this, people will either excitedly be ‘singing’ “Football’s coming home” or singing “England’s coming home” in a manner that suggests “Now shut the eff up about it, you lost, get over it.” Either way, I wish they’d stop doing it.

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Brother-in-lore is here. Might get a bit scetchy on the blog for a few days. Keep an eye on the Symi Dream Facebook page for updates about what’s going on on Symi, and I’ll try and put up some photos when I can.

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New Boat, New Symi Calendar

Two pieces of news for you today to mix in with some random shots from last weekend. First, a reminder that Neil’s exclusive Symi Dream calendar for next year is now on sale, but only via this link. If you go to that page, you can see a preview of the included images, some of the best we’ve seen on any Symi calendar, even though I say so myself. There are images of many of your favourite places around the island. You can also change the currency of the shop when you get there, and make sure you order from your nearest Lulu.com outlet, so the postage is appropriate.

Secondly today, Andy’s Symi Travel Blog has the timetable and details of the new Symi passenger boat that’s starting service this week – 11^th July to 9^th September. Follow that link to see the timetable which apparently will be for every day of the week. That’s going to be excellent news for people who might otherwise have to stay in Rhodes overnight or leave Symi very early for a later flight. It looks like the Sebeco will be doing:

8.00 depart Symi for Rhodes

10.00 depart Rhodes for Symi

14.30 Symi to Panormitis for an hour, leaving there at 16.00 to come back to Yialos

16.45 Symi to Rhodes

18.30 Rhodes to Symi

So, you will be able to get from here to Rhodes every day at 8.00 and 16.45, and on some days also at 6.45, 7.30, 16.30 and 17.20 on the Blue Star and the Dodekanisos, depending on day – and those times are approximate because I can’t remember the exact times and days of departures, but you can easily look them up. The point being, we’ll be well connected for the summer in this direction. Landing at Rhodes airport after about 17.00 however may still mean a night in Rhodes depending on how quick you can make it to a port for 18.30, or on the afternoon Blue Stars on the days they run. My advice, as always, is to check the boats before you buy a plane ticket, so you know what you are doing.

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Pedi and Ποδόσφαιρο

I managed to write another (short) chapter of ‘The Eastling’ on Saturday morning, which brings the first draft word count up to 46,000 and I’m roughly halfway through the story. Afterwards, we set off to walk down to Pedi to have a drink and a chat with a friend who has a house there by the sea. That’s a very pleasant way to spend a couple of hours… Watching the world go by (the occasional visitor or local walking towards St Nicholas beech), catching up on news, discussing our writing, books, what’s going on in the world. Before we knew it, it was time to head back to the village as Neil had to go to work.

We took the bus up, not wanting to arrive for work sweaty and panting. Here’s another good thing about the ‘Symi City Bus’ to go with the other good things about it: if you’re in Pedi, it will stop for you at the jetty, outside Katsaras and also at the far end where it turns around. You can flag Thanasis or Lakis down just about anywhere on the route, and they will stop and collect you. The fare for any journey is now €1.70, and I’m sure having the correct change is always welcome. The bus will also deliver you to the Blue Star at new jetty at certain times – ask your driver for details.

Back in the village, it was an afternoon at the Rainbow with football (Ποδόσφαιρο – pothosfairo, from the words for foot and ballsup). I don’t have much to say on that score, except all this ‘football’s coming home’ claptrap is already doing my head in. If football were going home it would be returning to China, ancient Greece, Central America or Rome, all of which claim to have invented or played the game over 2,000 years ago. Okay, so England is credited with being the first to record rules, rules which players seem to have taken to heart these days. Example: Rule 03.12a, from the 1867 ‘Book of Etiquette and Established Procedures for the Fair Playing of the Diversion of Football’ states: “When approached by an opposing player to within a distance of no closer than two feet, a player shall – on the instant of the approach – fall to the grass in such throws of agony as to warrant his removal from the field under the pressure of complaint.” Or, in other words, behave like a five-year-old diva because someone touched his ear.

But, many people enjoyed watching the debacle inside and outside Lefteris’ kafeneion, and Rainbow, and in many other places too, no doubt. There was a good atmosphere as young and old worked themselves up into a frenzy of disbelief that England managed to win another game. And there’s something else: all I see and hear is ‘England won’t get through,’ and ‘They’re rubbish’, and then I see posts where everyone’s taking a shot at their national team and making jokes about how they’re going to lose… Apart from such supporters not exactly being supportive, they’re also hypocritical because, as soon as the team do win a match, everyone goes mad and says, ‘Yes! Good old England!’ ‘Knew they’d do it,’ ‘Go the lads,’ and ‘Football’s coming home — despite the fact we’ve been telling them they’re crap since the thing started.’ Makes no sense to me. I’d rather misquote John Betjeman: “Come friendly bombs and fall on football,” but that’s just me. And, I must admit, I also enjoyed my afternoon, with my back to the television, chatting away, watching other people also having fun.

Ah well. On with the week that will be.

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Sunny Saturday Photos

Here are your weekend snaps taken in the sunshine, you might even say heat, over the last few days. Have a good weekend and enjoy the photos.

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