June 1st
Morning views from my terrace. The first two to the left and forward, and then to the right where there used to be a nice old stone building. . . Funny, in a village a few miles down the road some people had all sorts of trouble with the ‘archaeology people’ because they had to renovate their house in keeping with the village. This obviously doesn’t apply in my village.
June 5th
The garden has achieved gardenness and now it’s time for another sideline: renovating a chair. I blame Ian M Banks ‘Use of Weapons’ for this obsession.
The start of my walk. I really should have taken pictures of the broom when it was fully in flower. Stunning.
June 6th
Iced glass in Revans Bar.
Another day of garden and then kayak – recent other work (writing) I dispatched yesterday. Time to get on with some short stories now everything is running smoothly. Meanwhile I’m drinking a beer and watching the pirate ship come in.
June 7th
Chair progress. It looks a bit crap at the moment but the final product will be good.
Yay! New seat for the kayak I must road test today. Thanks for dealing with the order Revans Bar!
June 11th
Been bollixed by what seems to be a bladder infection but, in retrospect, now seems likely to be lower back and groin pain as a result of exercising like I was in my 30s and not my 50s. So rather than kayak 10k or mountain walk 12k I stayed in my house to relax. This of course meant 20 to 30 hours of painting and cleaning inside. I think I have an off button, but I’m not sure where it is. I am now in Revans Bar for a pre prandial drink.
Meanwhile, the chair has also advanced. No human bones or skin included yet but some local bamboo. It amuses me to see this stuff everywhere knowing how much one must pay for it in a UK garden centre.
Busy in the Gabbiano, nice to see Stelios is busy.
June 14th
Chair completed (though I may have to do something with the feet). Okay, I’m running out of jobs to keep me from the keyboard. I’ll start with a blog post and move onto a short story.
It looks lovely but is a bad day for kayaking. The North wind is blowing, hopping over Makrigialos, hitting further out and either direction up the coast. Last time I went out in this I ended up hanging in the anchor rope of the moored ‘Pirate ship’ wondering how the hell to get to the beach. Tha kolimbiso simera, that is to say I will swim today.
Windy yesterday and I swam instead of kayaking, even then I was finding myself getting blown out to sea. Even windier today with chairs attempting to take flight from my terrace, so I stayed home, wrote 2,000 words of a blog post, then did one of those ten minute jobs that takes two hours and requires a barrowload of tools. Now in Revans Bar where Yorgos has been putting down the umbrellas while beer crates have been crashing over in the entrance corridor come wind tunnel.
Obviously a discussion about breakfast in Revans the night before last stuck in my mind. I all but inhaled this one.
Yeah. Better than gin and tonic. . .
Objectives achieved. This morning it was to write 2,000 words of a short story, this afternoon to kayak, and during the last miles back the objective is as below.
Ah well, start with a few bits and pieces that might make an interesting short story, 10,000 words on and as ever the story is not looking so short. But good stuff: I’m doing my 2,000 words a day.
