Monday, April 29th 2002

It is a sparkling spring day on Symi. Sunhatted tourists are standing on the bridge, watching the reflections across the water. The faintest breeze is riffling the trees in the square where a hawker is selling oranges and spinach greens from crates. The geraniums planted along the front where the dustbins used to be are starting to flower hot pink and mauve and the pruned tamarisks are bristling with new leaves. Things seem to grow before our eyes at this time of the year. The temperatures are in the mid to high twenties at the moment but the breeze is still cool and it turns quite chilly at nightfall. Quite a few people are already swimming on a regular basis - once the initial shock has passed, the water temperature is quite pleasant. Or so they tell me!

The road around the harbour reopened on Saturday and the new surface and increased width are much appreciated.

Up on the hills the daisies are starting to droop in the sunshine. A few more weeks and they will have vanished altogether so we are enjoying them while we can. The olive trees and grape vines are smothered with tiny flowers and the susceptible are sneezing their heads off, the pharmacist included! The bees are still romping through the poppies, tossing petals in all directions. Wednesday is May Day and it is traditional to gather wild flowers and put a posy or wreath on the front door of the house. That is the tradition. The reality is often a polystyrene circle sporting a wreath of washable silk flowers!

As Friday is Greek Good Friday, my next report will probably be on Thursday.

Have a good week.

Regards,
Adriana
The Symi Visitor
www.SymiVisitor.com

Friday, April 26th 2002

Tuesday, April 23rd 2002

No, I hadn't forgotten all you Symi devotees out there. The Symi Visitor has been humming with the preparation of the May edition of the Symi Visitor newspaper. That is now safely in the can, as they say, as we are back to what passes for normal around here until next month's frenzy hits us.

The sun is shining, despite the ominous mutterings of the Greek weather boffins, and I'm in shorts and a T-shirt - probably from now until October! The big ferry disgorged truckloads of tottering plastic garden chairs this morning and the cries of 'kareklas! trapezas!' gurgles through loud hailers up and down the hair pin bends.

Saturday morning saw a clean up of an unusual kind as divers descended into the murky depths of Yialos harbour to retrieve the detritis of the winter storms. Barnacle encrusted motorbikes and various items of furniture which had blown in were hauled out and taken away to the dump. Fewer fouled anchors, we hope!

Have a good week!

Friday, April 19th 2002

It hasn't rained so far today. In fact it is quite a bright and breezy spring day with blue skies, fluffy clouds and the sleepy scent of yellow daisies on the air. The dusty haze that has plagued us this week and covered everything with ochre streaks has blown away on the north wind and the weekend looks quite promising. The synoptic chart shows plenty of activity in the Mediterranean so we can expect fairly changeable weather for a while to come. There's a flurry of activity outside today as everyone takes advantage of the sudden improvement in conditions to catch up on the painting and decorating before the next rash of showers.

The housewives of Chorio have had a frustrating week. This is the time of year when they wash all their carpets, quilts and blankets and pack them away in mothballs until November so that the houses are clear for the Easter preparations. A week of mud showers and dirty winds have rather thwarted this activity. As water supplies are limited, washing bulky things is usually done during the few hours in the week when the town water supply is turned on so bad weather on water day can be a domestic disaster.

The tourist boats are coming in on a more regular basis now with either a boat or a hydrofoil coming in each day, weather permitting. The harbour is generally becoming busier with more people around and most of the local business people have returned to the island for the season, flaunting antipodean sun tans and tales of the outside world. The summer season has begun.

Have a good weekend.

Monday, April 15th 2002

As I write this the rain is lashing down and the harbour is fast turning into a lake of muddy puddles. The day trippers have scuttled back to Rhodes and the vegetable hawker in the town square is hastily draping plastic over his crates of beetroot and oranges. The sky is yellow as this rain came piggy-back on the khamsin all the way from north Africa, riding in on the southerly gale which disrupted the weekend's shipping schedule. This time last year we had a dust storm in the Eastern Med that was so bad Rhodes airport was closed for two days. We hope that this one won't be quite as dramatic! Thunder is growling around the Vigla and the mist has rolled down almost as far as Chorio. These storms are a feature of April and October but the April ones are particularly annoying as they coincide with the beginning of the Easter tourist season and the spring house painting. As whitewash, the traditional paint for this part of the world, is water soluble, the muddy rain quickly turns it pink. Perhaps this is why the traditional tint used to be ochre!

On the plus side, these storms usually bring with them opulent sunsets, extravagant sunrises, great toppling mountains of clouds and a procession of double rainbows - a photographer's dream and a Turneresque fantasy.

Have a good week.

Friday, April 12th 2002

After several delightful spring days the weather has turned ominous for the weekend. There are gales expected (well, it is Friday...) and the sky has turned a murky shade of beige as the dust builds up, ready to cling to all that fresh paint.

The warm weather is making the roses and carnations open on balconies and in courtyards. A rickety truck full of potted palms and bedraggled camellias trundled off the Kalymnos this afternoon. Neither plant does particularly well on Symi but there are always optimists! Mike the Harbourmaster's tuk-tuk is gaily festooned with geraniums and flags - he is zipping about, giving berthing instructions to charter yachts.

The repairs to the road around the clock tower and in front of the Nireus have been completed amid some controversy as only part of the road has been flagged and the rest is concrete. Whether this was because either time or money ran out no one knows but, while no one can dispute that the road had disintegrated to the point where something had to be done, resurfacing it with concrete has not proved a popular move. And so, now that the crane story has been laid to rest, a new soap opera develops. Who needs a Millenium Dome to keep the bricks flying?

Have a good weekend. If you get bored, you can always a: try the recipe of the week; b: send me an email.

Monday, April 8th 2002

Saturday started with showers and chilly squalls but soon improved and Sunday was glorious. Every puff of breeze rained fresh aphids out of the almond trees and chains of chomping caterpillars munched their way through my nasturtiums. Bees rolled in the poppies until the petals fell off and the contents of my cistern are a wriggling soup of mosquito larvae. So much for nature's beauties in the spring sunshine.

Down in the harbour there are also definite signs of life, but this time of a human nature as day trippers from Rhodes blink in the sun and photograph each other on the bridge. Family groups are in the majority with straggles of bored children trailing anoraks and drooping ice creams. More places are re-opening everyday and sponge displays are sprouting between the T-shirt racks. A solitary hawker is selling oranges in the town square to the locals who are relaunching their boats on the slip by the customs house. A gift shop near Pachos has a bright display of children's toy windmills in buckets, whizzing like mad flowers in the afternoon breeze. Speaking of breezes, evenings are still on the chilly side and many tavernas have invested in plastic drop cloths to protect their patrons from the elements. Combined with free-standing gas heaters like giant mushrooms these work quite efficiently and still retain that idiosyncratic appeal that has its origins in plastic checked tablecloths and tubs of souvlaki skewers protecting geraniums from feline depredations and is uniquely Greek.

Have a good week!

Friday, April 5th 2002

A typical April week with squalls and showers and more on the way. Looking at the weather maps, it seems unsettled for the whole Med and right out into the Atlantic so this very variable weather seems likely to last for a while. There is a small high pressure system forming which should make the weekend a dry one, if the low forming over Italy doesn't get here first! This morning the island was completely engulfed in thick cloud which is only slowly lifting. A brisk wind is flogging the awnings along the harbour front but so far shipping is running normally. The ferry timetable is a bit sparse at the moment but should improve next week when the hydrofoil comes into commission. Meanwhile we are still rather at the mercy of the big ferries which have a disconcerting habit of altering their schedules at whim at this time of the year.

The spring titivations continue and more excursion boats are returning to the water, bright with new paint and eager for their annual inspections. The maritime inspectors come over from Rhodes and check all the boats before they get their licenses for the season. As there are an awful lot of boats in the Dodecanese and not that many inspectors, there is a strong element of 'hurry up and wait' about all this. This is very frustrating for the captains as they cannot commence operations until the inspection is completed and the resulting license issued, no matter how many would be customers are lined up on the dock. On the other hand it is reassuring to know that such safeguards exist to ensure that the boats used by visitors are seaworthy.

Enjoy your weekend!

Monday, April 1st 2002

I hope you all enjoyed your Easter long weekend. As Greek Easter doesn't happen here for another month, it was life as usual on Symi.

Despite all the dire forecasts, the weather over the weekend was pretty good and the bad stuff tracked south past Greece, hitting the Middle East instead. There was a brief and very localised thunderstorm on Saturday evening and Sunday morning started overcast but it cleared rapidly and the afternoon was very warm. This morning started off clear but it is now completely overcast and it looks as though we are not going to escape this one. Rain is expected in Athens with low temperatures but it should improve mid-week and then deteriorate again. The weather can be very changeable at this time of the year.

The first tourist boats came in today so there was a flurry of sponge-selling. There are a few more overnight visitors on the island - conspicuously 'foreign' in appearance. Well, Symiots don't usually wear hiking boots, 'Drizabone' hats and khaki knapsacks! Yes it is that time of the year when the rugged outdoor types come here to stroll o'er hill and dale and sniff the daisies. The locals look up from their paint pots in greeting and carry on refurbishing their cafe tables and restringing their awnings. They know it will be a while before the island becomes truly busy and they still have time in hand.

Have a good week!