Off to Rhodes

We have decided to call the owl Eric. Why? It was Neil’s idea. There’s a song by The Alan Parsons Project called ‘Old and Wise’ and owls are supposed to be wise, and the song was partly written by Eric Woolfson, so there you go. I didn’t see him yesterday (the owl, not Mr Woolfson who, sadly, is no longer with us) and I doubt I shall see him today as I am in Rhodes, and I don’t think I saw him on the boat coming over. He may have flown… Actually, I am being silly, I am writing this on Tuesday, so I haven’t gone yet but, all being well, I’m in Rhodes today collecting mother from the airport, and Neil is at home tidying the house. I’ll be back this afternoon.

This means that there won’t be a blog on Thursday and, as I mentioned before, there may be fewer posts than usual over the next couple of weeks. I am taking a week off from work and other things from next Wednesday, but I will put up some photos and things if I can. We have various family members coming to visit and some to stay, so things could a get a little hectic.

The photos today, by the way, were taken at a concert in the village square a couple of weeks ago, maybe last week, I can’t remember. I only just found them on my camera. The concert was part of the Symi Festival, which is still going on. And, on a vaguely related note, I am told that the next screening of ‘The 13^th‘ the film shot on Symi, will be on September 24^th. I know some people wanted to see it again and others for the first time. I think I have that date correct. So, if you are on Symi on that date, then pop along to the venue (to be announced, but I assume either the sports’ centre in Horio or at Lefteris kafenion) and take a look.

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Boats, Islands and Owls

Sorry about yesterday’s blog, the weekend all got rather out of hand, and I realised I hadn’t had time to write anything suitable for a Monday. So, instead, here is some blurb for a Tuesday, including photos of our newest neighbour.

We were treated to a speedboat ride on Sunday, to go across to Nimos and have a look at the venue for our party on September 8^th. It’s all rather barren and does, in places, look like a bomb site, but it will be our bomb site for the night. The bay at Taviri, around the east side of Nimos, has a derelict house on it and a broken down path from the jetty to the beach. It’s possible to get to the beach if you are careful, but you’ll need to wear sensible shoes. This is a bit of a pre-warning to our guests, who should be receiving an update at the weekend with final instructions. However, the jetty/landing stage itself is flat concrete and reasonably comfortable. It’s surrounded on three sides by water; the boat will be moored on the seaward and. The inland end is up against the rocks. Guests will have to be careful not to fall off and land on the rocks or the water, but that’s up to them.

It should do. No, it will have to do, and it’s plenty big enough for 70 people with seating also on the boat, as long as we are careful. Not sure how our tap shoes will cope with the concrete, there may be sparks flying off the taps, but that will add to the fun. We can always replace the metal taps later if we ever need the shoes again.

While travelling over to the island we were stopped by the coastguard on one of their routine stop-and-check duties. If you have a boat there are so many things you need to have with you at all times at sea, I had no idea: Papers, of course, to show it’s yours and registered and taxed (or whatever), fire extinguishers that are up to date, flares that are up to date, and life jackets enough for all passengers. These checks are carried out for the safety of boat users, so that was no problem and our friends had everything in order. It’s good to know that seafarers are being kept an eye on in this way. It’s also fun to be stopped at sea by one of your neighbours, but you have to remember that they are doing their job, so personal chat is best kept for another time.

Back on land and our other new neighbour, the little owl that today’s photos are of. He or she has recently moved to the area and has become less nocturnal than you might imagine. We often see him now on the next-door roof, keeping a close eye on the trees and bushes below. There are a few cats around, but I reckon he sees them as being too big for him. He watches though and can stand there for hours just keeping an eye out for dinner. We also see him at night or, rather, feel his presence as he swoops past silently, a grey blur in the dark. Friendly chap though, he was talking to Mr and Mrs Patterson, our two pigeons who use our telegraph pole, they were having quite a decent chat, probably about us.

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Welcome to Monday

Very few words today – just some more photos from recently.

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Symi Saturday Photos

As usual for a Saturday, here are some random Symi photos. These are actually from July. The latest news from up here is that Neil passed his GCSE in Global Citizenship, which he was very pleased about. Now that he has a qualification, an Irish passport and has done a DNA test, I think I can agree to the civil partnership. There is also some exciting news to come next week from the Symi Film Festival; I’ll post that when I receive it. Have a good weekend.

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General chat and books

Things are going to start getting very busy here, for a while at least. We have family arriving next week and them more the week after that, coming for Neil’s 50^th and our Civil Partnership, both on the 8^th September. If anyone is here on that date, you are welcome to find us at the Rainbow Bar between three and five in the afternoon. We’re sorry that we can’t take everyone on the boat party with us in the evening, but there simply isn’t enough room to fit everyone in. Those who have been invited will have had an email from us a few weeks ago. But everyone is invited to have a drink with us at the bar before we head down town to sign the documents and do the deed.

I just thought I’d get that parish announcement out of the way now as I am not sure how much time I will have for blog posts over the next three or four weeks. I’ll try and keep them as regular as usual and let you know the news as I see it. At the moment, Thursday, I am seeing a cruise ship in the harbour, the boat from Cyprus that comes in from time to time. It arrived early and usually stays late so, when the day boats come in later, they will have to harbour on the other side. The wind has dropped today, it’s been a bit blustery and cooling of late, especially in the evenings, and the temperature had risen again, but not to the overwhelming levels of June and July; it’s all rather cosy.

I’d also like to thank those people who signed up for my newsletter on my Author blog the other day. I received notifications that I had some new sign-ups, so that part of the system is working. When I send out a newsletter (and I have no idea when that will be), I’ll also post here so you can keep an eye out for it. If you’d like to join it, just head to my James Collins Author blog and use the email newsletter sign-up box. Your info doesn’t get shared around, and I’ll only use the newsletter programme (if I can get it to work) when there’s some news about my books.

Good news there is that The Saddling is doing well, but I could still do with more reviews and more buys. If you’ve not read it yet, you can find it here: The Saddling. If you have read it and liked it, you could suggest it to friends and simply send them the link via email or social networking, wink, wink. Which reminds me, I had an email from Amazon today: “Hello James Collins, Are you looking for something in our Humour store? If so, you might be interested in these items. Honestly: A miss P novella by James Collins.”

Yes, thank you. I’ve read it and very good it is too! And other people think the same: I just found its latest review, another five-star!

“I read Honestly in one sitting whilst on the train from Newcastle to Halifax. The characters were well thought out and when they suddenly started to tell the truth their antics were hilarious. The vicar was my favourite and I would love to meet him. Also makes you think about how we treat people because we put them into compartments without seeing the individual. Am ready for my next James Collins novel.”

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