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[vivienne]

OK Trailer ...... don't quite see why my message should have wound you up quite so tight, calm down dear.

Anthony, thanks for the advice about the avatar thingy, will have a search, don't want to wind Trailer up even more by treading on his Snoopy as well.

[Kon]

Vivienne hi and welcome to the SV chat page ,i think your idea in spending some time in Symi is the envy of many of us including myself ,i think you are going to have a fantastic time and experience .Pets are always more comfortable with their owners and they will adapt to new souroundings with time ,if and when you do move to Symi i for one would love to hear your monthly blog if you get to find some time on a computer about your experience in life in Symi.

Best of luck with your endevours and i hope it all pans out.

[Ozzie Geoff]

Sorry, Vivienne but I'm becoming a little sceptical as well.
Central heating? Open fires? You do not appear to have done much homework on the island. .
Trailer was a bit more forthcoming that I was but she (Trailer is of the fairer sex) is 100% correct, your moggies would be lucky to survive 24 hours... and that is not a "wind up".
Do not think for one moment you will be able to keep them inside and all safe and sound. Those Symi cats will sniff 'em out and the massacre will be indoors.

[Tove]

I don't think you are quite fair, OG and Trailer. Central heating, yes you are right, I haven't seen any but know there are some houses with it. But open fires. Nearly every old house has got at least one, mine has two, but the problem is to get the wood. You can buy it but you can too pick it up. A lot of work, give you the warm twice.
And concerning the cats, you can adjust them to live with the ferals, just need some patience. Depends of how you treat the ferals too. I know of several pets who have survived.

[Kojak]

Don't be put off by the sceptics Vivienne! You are doing what many of us would love to do! Like any house move you need to consider and plan for all the possibilities but as Tove has said, with careful planning you can sort things out. Best of luck and do keep us informed of progress!

[Trailer]

Viv, my love, I doubt you could wind a clock convincingly. You are abusing the kindness of people on this site. Still you're not the first, and you won't be the last. Wonder who your best friends are?

[Mille]

Ahem, can we please find a more sober tone, thank you.

[Trailer]

Hic! Absolutely. Oz, behave yourself. Just how many have you had today[img]http://planetsmilies.net/eat-drink-smiley-5179.gif[/img] Already!

[Allan]

Welcome to the Chat Page Vivienne.

Kojak is right, please don't be put off by the strident comments from Ozzie Geoff and Trailer.

Tove has had a house on the island for some time and is also something of an expert when it comes to cats! She'll no doubt be able to answer any questions you have.

I have added a bunch of Snoopy avatars for you, they should be right at the bottom of the list. If you'd rather have a different one just let me know.

[Adriana]

Steerforth, our 'ship's cat', made the transition quite happily and was with us for a good three years or so before he disappeared, probably either a snake bite or rat poison in our neighbour's grain store. :cry: We accept that living in the valley our cats are subject to more perils than they would do in the lanes of Chorio or Yialos and no matter how well fed they will still hunt and forage. Most of us who live here all year round wind up with a fluctuating feline population, some 'official' and others not. :)

Cats in a more urban environment have a good survival rate - Jean's cat is about 12 and still a force to be reckoned with. :D

Central heating is a bit of a rarity on Symi. The usual arrangement these days is a split unit air conditioner which provides cool air in the summer and warmth in the winter. These can be expensive to run, however, particularly with the high ceilings that are characteristic of the local architecture. Stone floors and thick stone walls are designed more with providing respite from the heat in the summer than warmth in the winter. :( Some houses still have functioning chimneys for open fires in at least one room, usually the original kitchen. As Tove says, the problem is finding the logs to burn in them. :idea: Living on a farm with lots of trees we generate our own firewood but I know that it is problem for some people.

Steps? Those are rather harder to find a solution to as, along with neo-classical architecture they fall into the category of things for which Symi is famous. :o

If you are serious about this project, a preliminary investigation on the ground might be advisable before you go the whole hog and have the cats micro-chipped and shipped :)

[vivienne]

Trailer, I have no idea what your problem is, so to put you straight, I will tell you this, then perhaps you will stop being so unpleasant to a visitor to this site and someone who has merely asked a perfectly innocuous question.

I have lived in Greece before, so know all about houses with and without central heating, wood fires and the rest. I haven't lived on Symi, it is quite true, so maybe Symi is the exception to what I am familiar with, regarding wood for fires and central heating and being able to find a house to live in which isn't at the top of mountain. Other places in Greece that I have lived in have animal welfare organisations, often run by the locals and the expats together, where a vet comes over for a week or so every few months and sterilises the wild cats to try and keep the population down, perhaps Symi doesn't do that, but then again that's something I would expect some helpful person, not some snidey nasty person, to tell me. I know that the winters on most Greek islands are cold and damp and that sometimes you can go for days without seeing a soul in the streets. I know that most islands demand a certain amount of walking up hill and down dale to get to the supermarkets, tavernas and beaches. I have been to Symi, for your information, which is where I met my husband, many years ago when we were very young teenagers. I have spent the last three years nursing him and he died a few months ago. It was always our dream that we would one day move to Symi and now that I am on my own I would like to carry out our plans and do the things that we dreamed of and that carried us both through the last few dreadful years.

Now, I am very sorry if you think I have my head in the clouds and for some reason you feel you can patronise me and poke fun at me, and I am really surprised that you would think it clever to be so unpleasant for no good reason. If you are the sort of person who does live on Symi then perhaps I am better off forgetting my dreams and those of my late husband and moving somewhere where the people are warm and welcoming and helpful and don't think themselves too clever by half.

All the nice people who have posted a comment to me, thanks, I do appreciate them a lot, I am so sad that my one bit of brightness and looking to the future has been spoiled by a couple of begrudging souls.

[Ozzie Geoff]

Back in 1990 we (myself and the lady of the time) went to Symi and Turkey by Yugoslavian Air, which entailed 2 visits to the home city of Belgrade.
On the way home we had an overnighter and they put us up in a hotel. After a quick walk around the block it started to rain so we went back to the hotel. Loking out the window I saw PW was showing at the cinema across the road, there was a large cardboard cut out of the 2 stars. I told Donna I'd duck across to see if it was in English with local sub-titles.
Off the road I went and approached the lady in the box office. I nearly laughed, she was about 50, blonde beehive, pink lipstick and puffing on a fag. The conversation went like this:
"Hello, can you tell me if PW is in English?"
"No PW, only for police, inside f*** movie..." which she stressed by making a circle with thumb and forefinger and rapidly poking the forefinger of her other hand in to the circle.

Isn't travelling great, especially off the beaten track....

[Ozzie Geoff]

By the way, Allan, I don't consider my comments "strident" and in no way can be construed as such.
Note that Tove knows of "some" cats that survived....

[Tove]

Vivienne, we really do have a Symi Animal Welfare, in which locals and foreigners work. We use to have a vet every autumn coming from UK. This year it failed, sadly our vet was sick and couldn't make it, but he has been there for many years and the cat population has become much better in that period.I am myself the organizer of the vet week and we have a commitee of locals, mostly expats, working on Symi with a winter feeding programe too. There is too another organisation, Faros, which had some young vets from the University of Thessaloniki coming several times a year. So many people on the island takes care of the animals. The locals greeks are feeding as well, at least in my area in Chorio no cats suffer. I know of an old female, who was around the place where I lived for 10 years before I got my house. I got her spayed and she still meets me when I am passing (always have some bisquits for her) and looks happy and well fed. She must be at least 10 years old now.

[Kojak]

Don't be put off Vivienne. It's a shame when someone makes a perfectly reasonable request and receives replies like that. As Adriana says, you need to make a few exploratory visits before making your mind up. Best of luck whatever you decide to do!

[maziemoo]

There is a thread with specific reference to Symi Animal Welfare on the first page of this Noticeboard.

[MacDuff]

Talking of felines, when can we expect a report upon Lugless Douglas How many folks have suppied him with tins of Tuna Vivienne, I wish you happiness in pursuit of your memories and dream

[Allan]

Lugless is doing well MacDuff.

He even gets a mention in the latest Symi Animal Welfare news

[Eleanor]

ozzie geff, pw great film but it was the manager who liked v what was his name

[Richard]

Hector Elizondo.

. Good film in spite of Richard Gere.