What's New on SymiVisitor.com?

Blink and it's nearly another half term at work gone. Following the fire over Christmas that put a whole block of the school out of action, we are currently teaching in 10 portakabins which were put up on one of the yards. They are really top quality: warm, clean and spacious. Not the same as having your own rooms of course, but they'll do until the rebuilding is complete. The contractors have almost finished gutting the block; they've had to pull down one of the outside walls, rip out all the ceilings and rip up all the floors. I occasionally don a hard-hat and slip between the wire fencing to climb the stairs and survey the progress. It is very strange to walk through rooms where you have taught for over twenty five years and to see absolutely nothing left. Looking on the bright side, we will end up with brand-new classrooms which we can set up to our specifications. I also gain a new office: the original which I share with two colleagues was on the ground floor, four floors directly below the room into whose roof the fire brigade pumped thousands of gallons of water to douse the fire; it had to go somewhere.... The contractors asked us to go and rescue what we could. As you can see in the photo that wasn't much: some sellotape, glue, a tub of hair-gel and one of those things for getting staples out of things you wish you hadn't stapled in the first place. And I know the hat doesn't fit; I had to borrow one. Mine has 'Benny' on the front (Top Cat reference).

Anyway, enough of all that, what's new on the Symi Visitor website?

I've put two new holiday houses to rent on our accommodation page: Villa Voyatizis and Byron's House (no relation).

I've recently started a webcam gallery where I save and display interesting or unusual shots from our two webcams, bearing in mind that these are fleeting images and people may easily miss them.

The ANES ferry timetable has changed several times, as it is wont to do, especially in the winter. The 'new' ferry "Proteus" seems to be doing the neighbouring island run most lately performed by the "Nissos Kalymnos". Certainly a boon for Dodecanese island-hoppers such as ourselves.

Just yesterday I wrote a new 'testimonials' page, where we can display the emails sent to the office by happy and contented Symi visitors who have been accommodated and looked after by Wendy and Adriana.

Talking of whom, Adriana acquired a digital camera for Christmas; her twice-weekly reports from the island have sprouted photos recently, further to illuminate her inimitable prose.

That's about it; I'm off to Lisbon a week on Sunday to watch the mighty reds play Benfica in the Champions league. Booked the hotel and return flight, just need a ticket for the match now-still waiting for the phone call from the club. So if anyone out there is in possession of a pair of tickets for the aforementioned game, I'll gladly take them off your hands, or swap them for a pair for the FA cup game v. Man U. Yes, I'm that desperate.

Photo is of Joe Morgan Gadd, aged 1 year 10 months-showing you he can count to five as well as Robbie on the right....

All the best,
Mikey x