|
The latest news & weather from Symi, reported by Adriana Shum from 'The Symi Visitor' office. Adriana's Greek Recipe of the Week>>
Symi
Report, Monday
The clocks changed on Symi yesterday. Combined with the continued warm dry weather we really do feel as though summer has arrived. We had a sandstorm over the weekend and there was no shipping on Saturday due to gale force winds in most of the Aegean. Symi was largely unaffected, apart from the lack of ferries. We just had some spectacular skies, particularly around sunset. There were black clouds and white squalls over Bozburun, mist banks rolling down the Vigla and the sun setting in a golden halo of dust behind Datca.
The sky is clearing a bit
today and visibility is improving as the wind changes to the
north. Apparently it is raining in Athens. Whether
any of this will reach us remains to be seen. According
to the Greek Met Office this is one of the warmest and driest
Marches this corner of the Med has experienced in many years.
My first experiments in
Brussels Sprouts did not yield much in the way of sprouts but
the yellow flowers look pretty... I think the chickens
will have them for breakfast tomorrow.
There is a lot of dashing
about going on in the harbour. It seems as though
everyone is running errands at top speed. This is
always a hectic time of year as there is so much to be done
before the season starts and most of the locals have more than
one iron in the fire at any one time. Bags of
whitewash, pots of paint, baulks of timber and everyone in
overalls with paint spotted elbows and high on thinners.
Have a good week.
Adriana
Symi
Report, Saturday The weather continues dry and unseasonably warm. Right now the island is engulfed in a major dust storm licking up out of Africa on the back of a southerly gale. The water boat is rafted up to a cargo ship in the harbour and there are no ferries today. According to the forecast this will continue at least until tomorrow with temperatures touching 30 degrees and winds up to Force 9 in the Aegean. Temperatures should drop slightly on Monday but there is no promise of rain beyond a mud shower if we are (un)lucky.
Leafy vegetables are
bolting rapidly in the warmth and my rocket is flowering
nicely, grubby off-white flowers nodding in the wind like
stocks gone wrong - not a desirable state of affairs.
The almond trees are shedding nuts as the water table drops
and with every gust of wind we hear a volley of sharp 'pings'
on the roof. The apricot and peach trees have almost
finished flowering but it is too soon to tell if any fruit has
set.
Down in the harbour the Big
Hole looks interesting. It is about half full of murky
water and odd rubber gloves in different colours are floating,
suspended by air pockets trapped in the fingers.
Presumably the workmen are no longer attached...
Symi
Report, Monday As
far as the island’s cats are concerned, spring is definitely
in the air. Apart
from nocturnal sing-songs, the toms are chasing the queens
around the lanes and alleys at every opportunity, to the
detriment of any freshly cemented surface.
Thursday
is not just the Annunciation but also the commemoration of the
beginning of the Greek War of Independence so it is a fairly
serious bank holiday. Apparently
the first tourist boats from
The
weather continues unseasonably warm and dry,
forcing the wild flowers into premature bloom.
The hills are spangled with a multitude of small white
daisies that echo the infinitely starry moonless nights.
Distant clouds pass over the Turkish mountains each
afternoon but they do not linger, drifting on eastwards to some
far part of Pickup
trucks bearing water tanks and jerry cans, bales of hay and
sacks of grain, sheep dogs and squealing goats, grind up the
hair pin bends to the upper farmsteads where only a few weeks
ago ice still lingered in the shady places. Yesterday,
on my way back from one of the bakeries in Chorio, I saw the
first obvious new arrival – a tanned blonde of Nordic
appearance, wearing beach sandals, red sarong and woolly fleece.
Her eccentric attire more or less sums up the indecision
that confronts all of us each morning as we dress like Russian
nesting dolls and slough off layers like peeling onions. Rumour
whizzing round the harbour has it that the first excursion boats
from Symi Report, Monday March 15th 2004 Northerly
breezes have cleared the air, leaving sunshine sparkling on
the water and crisp clouds scudding across a sapphire sky.
The continued dry weather is fading the cyclamens and
irrigation is becoming necessary to keep the gardens and fields
growing. The early
almond trees are already covered in tiny hairy green almonds and
the apricots have burst into bloom.
Down on the Kali Strata the alexanders and angelica scent
the air and feed the donkeys. It
is a busy time for the Symi shepherds.
Many ewes gave birth early during the cold weather and
their premature off-spring have required extra attention and
care to bring them up to size.
Easter is only a few weeks away and it is the annual sale
of Easter lambs that provides the only real income for the local
shepherds. Old
shepherds and their elderly dogs perch on sunny rocks and give
instructions to the younger ones while the flocks mill about
among the daisies. In
the harbour the big hole outside the Symi Visitor office is
expanding and a large part of the Symi Report, Friday March 12th 2004 The fresh green leaves of spring are erupting across the island and the Easter lambs are fattening nicely on oregano shoots and daisies. Tuesday was very windy so the hydrofoil did not run but it did a double shift on Wednesday to make up for it. We had 4 mm of mud rain mid-week - enough to send the housewives scurrying for their mops. Most cars on the island are now a uniform buff colour and will probably remain that way until the mud-rain season is over. From now until the end of the rainy season in a few weeks we are unlikely to have clean rain as it all comes up from the south, bringing the Sahara with it. There is a possibility of mud showers today and the sky is overcast. Hang the washing out at your own risk!
Now that the road is open the
hawkers are back. Gypsy trucks laden with carpets and
tangerines trundle up and down between Yialos and Chorio,
playing exotic music and calling their wares over loud hailers.
Down in the harbour the Great Symi Septic Tank project is still
underway - the one in front of the Symi Visitor office vies with
the Olympic facilities in terms of size, if not in quality of
water! We will all be relieved when this particular part
of the spring spruce up is over and we can open the windows
again.
The new paving is proceeding
well and the portions completed already have cafe chairs and
tables on them, from which the usual assortment of 'helpers' can
offer unsolicited advice and opinions while sipping Greek
coffee. More people are returning to the island to prepare
their businesses for the season. After all Easter is only
a month away and, judging by some of the emails we are
receiving, the walkers are already breaking in their
boots and practising climbing stairs.
The Symi II is away for its
annual inspection. As soon as we have the whole fleet,
nicely painted and lined up on the quay, we'll put pictures up,
Mille! We'll need to - so that no one misses the boat!
Symi Report, Monday March 8th 2004 The election is over. New Democracy, the conservative party, won by a reasonable margin overall but within the prefecture of the Dodecanese Pasok won as usual so Symi is pretty subdued this morning. A few New Democracy supporters tossing crackers around in smug celebration while everyone else is in huddles in the cafeneions, mulling over the implications of having a conservative government for the first time in half a generation.
It is a cold clear day with
the threat of rain this evening as the weather system that
is currently pounding Italy tracks this way. The full
moon is giving us exceptional tides at the moment and the
equinox is just around the corner.
The Symi II and the Aegli
did numerous shuttles between Rhodes and Symi yesterday to
ferry voters. The Symi II has now finished her winter
shift and is taking a break for inspection and maintenance so
the Aegli is running for the rest of the month. The
fleet has changed its livery so both the Symi II and the Aegli
have been painted ice cream colours to match the Panormitis.
It takes a little getting used to!
Symi Report, Friday March 5th 2004 Apart from some more mud showers we have had little rain this week. The wind has brought more dust rather than cleared the air and visibility is still poor. It has been warm enough for all the infant locusts to hatch in my garden and they are making great headway among the daisies and daffodils. Meanwhile, in northern Greece, they are still in the depths of winter with snow, sleet, rain and cold northerly winds while we cough in the sands of the Sahara.
Election posters are up
around Chorio and supporters of the two dominant parties, New
Democracy and Pasok (the current ruling party) have been
competing with each other when it comes to painting party
emblems on the roads in dead of night. The vestiges will
still no doubt be visible when the first tourists arrive.
Generally, however, little store is set by propaganda leaflets
and party printed bumph - the spoken word counts for more so
television and organised rallies are the main vehicles for
getting the message across. These are then reported in
the newspapers of which Greece has an amazing number.
Even in the blizzards and storms experienced in much of Greece
in recent weeks turn outs have been good at rallies and
meetings judging by the television footage. As the two
main contenders are extremely close in the polls the voting
public is evaluating their relative merits very carefully,
particularly on issues such as immigration, social security
and agricultural policies. There are several smaller
parties as well, the largest of which is KKE, the Greek
Communist Party, which has a surprisingly large following
considering that Communism has gone out of fashion in other
European countries. One thing is certain, there are no
'lunatic fringe' parties such as Screaming Lord Sutch and
Greeks take politics very seriously.
Meanwhile, on the playing
fields of Chorio, the whistles of school teachers grow ever
more demented as they try to instil rudiments of drill into
children who lack the brain washed fervour of the North
Koreans when it comes to parades. March 7 is,
of course, Dodecanese Day, a holiday celebrated with joyous
enthusiasm on the Dodecanese islands as it commemorates the
day when this group of islands finally became part of Greece
proper.
Symi Report, Monday March 1st 2004 The dust has settled - literally. Every window and shutter on the island, every car and blade of vegetation is covered in fine sand. Every housewife in Chorio was out with mop and bucket this morning. The storm finally blew itself out at midday yesterday, enabling the Symi II to make a quick unscheduled there-and-back trip to Rhodes as it had not been able to go on Saturday.
There is the possibility of
some rain over the next few days and strong winds are once again
forecast for Friday and the weekend. This is a pain as the
Greek parliamentary election is on Sunday 7 March and everyone
has to get back to wherever they are registered to vote.
This means that a large proportion of the population will be on
the move over the weekend and ferry disruptions will be most
unwelcome.
The temperature is several
degrees warmer than is normal for this time of the year and the
poppies are starting to open. Other aspects of nature are
also active at the moment, most annoyingly the local field
rats who have been working their way up and down my chickpea
field, digging up and eating the seeds as they sprout.
Instead of cheery staggered rows of bright green shoots we have
depressing staggered rows of little holes with small fat
footprints leading from one to the next in the damp earth.
So much for the theory that just the merest whiff of a cat is
enough to send them elsewhere.
A big boat has just docked
and a convoy of vegetable hawkers and lorries loaded with
polystyrene fish boxes, new filing cabinets (?!) and gaudy
duvets is lumbering past, carefully negotiating the obstacle
course created by the Pachos paving project.
We hope to provide a shot or
two of the new bus stops shortly. They are lying at
various stations, awaiting concreting. No comment.
© Adriana Shum 2004 Send Adriana E-Mail News Archives: |January 2004|February 2004|2003|2002|2001| HOME |
