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The latest news & weather from Symi, reported by Adriana Shum from 'The Symi Visitor' office. Adriana's Greek Recipe of the Week>>
MONDAY, APRIL 28th 2003
A distinct and unusual silence hung over the island this morning. It was the silence of the exhausted sleeping off the excesses of a very successful Easter. It was easy to spot those who had not been attending the all day BBQ in the town square or similar private events - they were waiting at the corner in Chorio for the trucks to pick them up and take them up the mountain to St George's church. Yes, today may be Easter Monday but it is also the day on which all the Georges - and anyone else whose name day fell in the course of Holy Week, gets to celebrate his name day - with further feasting.
Down here in the harbour a few
lingering sticks of dynamite must have missed the multitudes
yesterday because there were several loud bangs around midday.
The tourist boats have come in and the harbour is busy, people
strolling in the sun in shorts and T-shirts and fanning
themselves with sunhats.
The barometer is very high with
not a breath of wind. The first heatwave of the season is
likely to hit us towards the end of this week with temperatures in
the thirties. It is already so dry it's necessary
to water the garden each evening. Only last week we were
watching the rain through the office window and the snails were
munching my lettuces. Now the lettuces have bolted, the
snails vanished back into the stony walls and the lizards are
basking on rocks while the grass rapidly dries to straw.
Symi Summer has arrived.
Have a good week!
Regards, FRIDAY, APRIL 25th 2003 April showers and tempests have bedevilled us all week with erratic boat schedules, rain and frustrated visitors. Fortunately things seem to be improving for the Easter long weekend which is just as well with most of Greece on the move today. City dwellers of Athens and Thessalonika return to their island and rustic roots for the holidays with the result that the mainland roads are clogged and the ferries packed. Years of experience in travelling around the Greek islands has taught the locals never to leave home without a huge bag of paximadia (rusks) and another of fruit, usually oranges, as ferries are subject to the whims of the weather and you never know when you might be stuck somewhere with the shops shut.
Even those who do not fast for the
whole of Lent usually do so for the last few days. The gyros bar
by the bridge is not selling meat. Instead they have approved
fasting food such as octopus sandwiches. The bakery is selling
small loaves of olive bread. The devout have been in church
since last night and there were plenty of big bangs to keep the evil
spirits away after dark. The children throw themselves into this
task with enthusiasm. The local housewives have been baking
cheese pies and whitewashing steps and there are few eggs left on the
island that have not been hard-boiled and dyed red.
We will be taking photographs of
the Easter events on Symi as they take place in the course of the
weekend so keep an eye on the out and about page for updates.
FRIDAY, APRIL 18th 2003* Alas, it is raining once more. The BBC’s satellite photograph shows an evil looking black cloud centred over Greece and heading roughly north east in the general direction of the Black Sea and Central Asia. Gale force winds woke many people in the night with windows broken and shutters banging. Needless to say shipping has once again ground to a standstill. Fortunately it seems to be clearing quite fast so the outlook for tomorrow is more promising. On the positive side a little late rain goes a long way to keeping the wildflowers and grasses going for a while longer before the inevitable summer drought sets in. The lambs are fattening, ready for Easter next weekend, innocently skipping among the daisies in happy oblivion. One of the last boats to pass through yesterday off-loaded a truck perilously laden with garden furniture. Three tottering piles of plastic chairs (red, white and orange) are wobbling round the island in close company with a cane two-seater sofa and some wicker Art Deco armchairs. At present there are no takers but if the sun comes out tomorrow… Have a good weekend and Happy Easter! (It’s our turn next weekend) Regards, * Note from Mike: Sorry for the late update this week; Adriana did actually write this report on Friday and left it on the office computer for me to upload. As is the way of these things, as I'm actually on the island at the minute I've only just got round to uploading it this morning (Sunday). To update Adriana's news further, the weather has been awful; cold, windy and wet. However we woke this morning to blue skies again, although a chill northerly wind is still blowing. I've taken a stack of photos which I'll put up on the 'Out & About' pages as soon as possible. But now, I'm off to Agia Marina to sunbathe. Here's a photo I took this morning coming down the Kali Strata about 11.30am:
MONDAY, APRIL 14th 2003 After weeks of dressing like Eskimos we are all peeling off the layers and enjoying the spring sunshine. At this time of the year the young people of Greece traditionally travel around their country, visiting the islands, towns and cities are part of their heritage. Symi is currently humming with several hundred of these youngsters and on Friday afternoon, before rain interrupted the proceedings, I saw one energetic group giving an impromptu demonstration of Greek dancing to an engrossed party of elderly German tourists at one of the tavernas in the harbour.
Yialos is certainly busy.
Between the Greek teenagers with their ghetto blasters and
the elderly visitors from northern climes following tour guides, there
is a not inconsiderable amount of ambient noise. After the
silence of winter it comes as a bit of a shock but it is the same
every year. The transition from winter hibernation to
summer season is not a gentle one - but it does jolt us awake!
Up in the quieter rural areas the
bleating of lambs and kids is the more usual accompaniment to daily
activities. The shepherds are taking advantage of every
last clump of daisies and verdant verge to fatten their animals in the
run up to Easter. While the donkeys are not being fattened for
the spit (we hope), they are also enjoying the abundance of greenery
and as the building season draws to a close more members of the donkey
trains have the opportunity to graze in the open countryside.
FRIDAY, APRIL 11th 2003 After a few good spring days it is overcast this morning and there is the possibility of more mud showers on the way.
The valleys and terraces are a mass
of yellow daisies and nodding poppies. The more delicate
cyclamens and buttercups are fading away now and won't be seen
again until next winter. As the weather steadily warms up and
the days grow longer and brighter plants that have only been
making leaves are now erupting into flowers. Unfortunately these
triggers also result in bolting lettuces and flowering radishes, so
perhaps its time to concentrate on planting out the tomatoes, peppers
and courgettes.
The harbour has been smartened up
no end with the provision of benches and dustbins in sensible places, including
across the front where the metal bars used to be in front of Pachos.
An aesthetic solution to a practical problem. The new benches
are a more robust design than the previous mock Art Nouveau ones
which, although pretty, seldom seemed to last more than a season
before rusting into total collapse. The more energetic may also
enjoy the spectacular view of the harbour from the hairpin bend
on the road out of town as a new view site has been prepared,
with benches and bins replacing the old thistles and rubbish.
The trees planted during the term of the previous mayor are now a good
size and provide some shade up there, even in the heat of the day.
Regular visitors to the island will
all be familiar with the island's solitary and hard-worked bright
green bus. Yesterday afternoon I had cause to catch the two
o'clock bus up from the harbour. As usual it left a few minutes
late as Lakis wanted to be sure that he didn't leave anyone behind,
not even the old boy who lives near the carpark in Chorio and who
talks non-stop, regardless of whether he has an audience or not. (Today's
topic seemed to be the bag of fish he had bought in the town) When Lakis turned
the key in the ignition there was just a forlorn whirring sound and
nothing happened. He repeated the exercise to no avail.
With a sigh he dismantled the central panel and whacked something with
a 2 lb hammer. Still nothing. Then he spotted a tribe of
school boys pushing and shoving their way down the lazy steps and
called them over. The bus was duly push started and we were on
our way. The talkative old chap did not pause in his chatter
throughout the entire procedure, still expounding the virtues of his
bag of fish. And Lakis no doubt spent what was supposed to be
his lunch hour between 3 and 4 servicing the starter motor, but that is
another story.
MONDAY, APRIL 7th 2003 April on Symi. Red skies alternate with blue as the seasonal dust storms of Africa and Arabia blow this way, turning the whitewash ochre and the housewives into a frenzy of mops, brushes and the ubiquitous chlorine. Athens experienced heavy rain on Saturday. By the time it reached us on Sunday morning it was a steady persistent downpour lasting several hours and continuing somewhat mysteriously, for a good 5 minutes after the last cloud had drifted away. The afternoon was sparkling bright and a great relief after the cloying dust and low visibility of the previous days.
The first tourists arrived on the
island on Friday and the Symi II has conscientiously brought groups
everyday since, even on Saturday when the hydrofoil was not permitted to
run as there was a heavy swell in the Rhodes channel.
Big black and grey clouds are still
teasing round the Vigla and the satellite picture shows a big depression
active in the area so we cannot rule out the possibility of further
downpours. Whether clean rain or the muddy red stuff depends on
which direction the wind is blowing when it falls. There is
frantic activity to finish relaying the stone paving in the harbour
where the new drainage system is being installed past the shipping
offices. With a bit of luck they should get a few more square
metres down before the next shower. Sales in sheets of builders'
plastic are doing well!
Have a good week!
©
Adriana Shum 2003 January
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