Sunday afternoon, around 2pm, the sun is out, the neighbour is hanging out her rugs, her son has given us his selection of rock hits from the 1980s, and the neighbourhood is quiet.
Out in the street there are lumps of plaster and paint that have cracked off a few buildings, our own house included, thanks to the frost and cold wind (I assume). One of the triangles in our frontage-apex-pointy-bit (I don’t know what it’s really called, obviously) has literally fallen off. I hope it didn’t hit anyone. So, we can add that to the list of running repairs that need seeing to.
Talking of which, did I tell you I’d fixed a leak in the bathroom? The pump had been going off every now and then, a sign that all is not well in Plumbingland, and we’d been trying to figure out what was causing it. The taps in the kitchen were tried, turned off and not to blame, ditto the bathroom and also the WC. Thing is, if the leak is very small you can’t see it but, over time, it’s enough to drop the pressure in the system which then sets the pump off. Annoying when it does it every 30 minutes day and night. But, as things started to set worse, I was able to see the cause, a drip from the tap in the bathroom where the actual tap fitting, named ‘Gloria’ (the name on the box when she arrived), meets the pipe coming out of the wall.
I was dreading there being a leak within the wall. That would entail knocking things down and fixing things up and I’m not good at that kind of stuff. Well, I could probably knock things down, and I did once remove and install a WC in my Dalston flat, but that was years ago. Anyhow, I had a look at this drip and puddle of water in the bath, discounted cat activity and Neil, and thought, ‘What the hell, I’ll borrow a adjustable spanner and see what’s what.’ So I did and what’s what was that the nut tightened up and the drip stopped. So, feeling strangely macho and very satisfied with myself, I got back to writing my next book.
A process which was interrupted by a friend sending me a link to a piece about this young man who has kept a video blog for several years, in Brighton, who is now making something like 20k per month. Now then, if every reader of my blog would like to click on the adverts, send the links to the books to all their friends with instructions to buy at least one, order a calendar or two, book their holidays through our Booking.com link on the right and shop via out Amazon shop, also on the right >> we might be on our way to making €2.00 per month. Every little helps and goes towards the heating bill. I mean, 20k per month from a video blog? We are all in the wrong jobs.
Meanwhile, out there in Symi, Greek island world, things remain cool but calm, flowers are starting to come out, there is still ice around, Sotiris registered -7 up at his farm the other morning, and outside our house there is ice in the plant pots – no plants of course, the snails have had all them, they’ve almost finished eating the chilli plants now. I have borrowed the image of snow on Symi from Sevasti (many thanks). This one shows snow on Symi in 1978 though it did snow here in 1987 too, and in 2004, a little. It’s interesting to see from this old photo that there is snow on the ‘Symi boobs’ as the hills on the right have been called, but no radio masts, towers or army installations.
So, that’s that and what’s next? Sunday afternoon party invite where chilli is, rather ironically, on the menu; Monday evening tap dancing; Neil also has his programme of aerobics and Pilates to adhere to, and I am seriously thinking about taking up the morning walks again. A quick check of the weather ahead shows the temperature reaching the staggering heights of 13 and 14 during the week, thanks to rain, so it might be warm enough to take up the early mornings again. I’ll keep you posted.
