I was just having a cup of tea on the balcony—listening to the new neighbours’ new air conditioning unit and watching nothing happening because it was too early in the morning for anything to be happening—and realised it was July. I’d suspected this for a few days, but you know how it is when one day is pretty much the same as the next. It occurred to me that it was also 2023, and ten years ago, I was preparing to release ‘Village View, a Year on Symi.’ This is a collection of blog posts from this very blog, all written during the year ten years ago, and it comes with pictures.
Rushing to my study at the pace of someone holding a mug of tea, I took the book down from the shelf and had a flick through, only to realise I have one of the few copies where the photos are in colour. I remembered speaking to Amazon about this a while back, and asking why the book was on sale for around $200.00, thinking it was one of those scams organised by the unscrupulous who occasionally manage to get through Amazon’s defences. Turns out it’s what the book costs if printed with colour images. I’m sure I never paid that for it. Luckily, the black and white version (which looks just as good) is only $19.63 in paperback and $4.99 on Kindle.
According to the book, ten years ago this month, I was talking about the new Nautical Museum opening (now closed and turned into the house for the top clergy, I believe) and the Symi Shrimp Festival which was around this time. There are other snippets of info and island news/stories too. The book takes you through an entire year with several posts per month and runs to nearly 300 pages. It’s the third in my four Symi books, the first being ‘Symi 85600’ which also continues to sell and doesn’t cost $200.00, I’m pleased to say.
That was one thing. Another was news from my yUK ex-journalist mate who told me that the fires on Rhodes have now dropped out of the UK news (or at last, the news he sees). In the tradition of the great British press, when a story has made its sales, it’s shoved out of the way in favour of what dress a certain ‘celeb’ was popping her boobs out of on a red carpet last night, and who fell over on ‘Strictly’, whatever that is. But Rhodes hasn’t dropped off the agenda at all; it’s still happening, though some good news yesterday from an online Greek reporter told us at least one of the fire fronts had been brought under control. (There are more, and that info might have changed by now.)
As I posted the other day, if you want real, local and reliable news, then check the Greek press and not the distant scabloids of other countries who put up headlines such as, ‘Tourists sent into the jaws of death’, when they mean a plane landed at an airport 30 km away from a fire, and on it were people who had chosen to keep their holidays because they were staying in an entirely different part of a very large island. Is it any wonder readers are ill-informed when those who have taken on the role of informant batter readers’ brains to a pulp with sensationalist nonsense because they need to sell copy at any cost?
Anyway… That’s my early morning view on thoughts that sparked when I was on the balcony. If you want to know what they were ten years ago this year, then pick up a copy of Village View: A Year on Symi.
