September 2002

The latest news & weather from Symi, reported by Adriana Shum from 'The Symi Visitor' office.

Adriana's Greek Recipe of the Week-Tyropitta choris fyllo

Monday, September 30th 2002

Over 12 millimetres of rain fell on Symi over the weekend, from Saturday night until about 10 pm on Sunday evening. As it was quite steady most of it soaked in and the island looks very clean and bright today. The trees look newly painted and the moss has greened over in the stone walls. We should see grass coming up in the next few days. It is warm and sparkling today with clear visibility right across the straits to Turkey.

The baby donkey in Chorio is in quite a big paddock at the moment. He was galloping up and down the terraces this morning, chasing birds and sunbeams with enviable adolescent energy. There are a lot of migratory birds on the island at this time of the year and the robins arrive soon as winter closes in in the north.

Have a good week.

Regards,
Adriana
The Symi Visitor
www.SymiVisitor.com

Friday, September 27th 2002

Shortly before midnight last night we were awakened by the sound of what seemed to be a herd of buffalo skipping over our tin roof. It turns out it was an earthquake measuring 5.9 on the Richter Scale with its epicentre somewhere between Rhodes and Kos. That was the Greek television's account, as repeated by miscellaneous locals over their morning coffee so the measurement and location may well differ! Symi experiences several tremors a year but I have never known one do any damage. The Symi stone houses just shrug and settle again.

It is still warm and very humid. We have had a lot of ominous clouds but only a few spots of rain. The wind disrupted things on Tuesday but the worst of it passed us by. What was considerably more disruptive was ANES producing a dramatically different ferry timetable at short notice and putting it into effect yesterday!*

Have a good weekend!

* New ANES Ferry Timetables>>

Tuesday, September 24th 2002

Sorry to be a day late - we've been hard at it, getting the October edition of the Symi Visitor ready for the printers. Those visitors who venture into our office for the first time often express amazement at how many different things happen in a space approximately 4 metres by 3 metres.

Yesterday was as flat as a pancake but apparently, according the the farmers' weather forecast, the low which has been passing across the central Med is about to hit us with southerly gales and rain. Ugh. Mind you, if it puts some water in my cistern, so much the better.

Back to the paper! Have a good week.

PS Another carpet seller has arrived - and a chap selling winter shoes and doormats.

Friday, September 20th 2002

Early this morning as I was coming down the Kali Strata I noticed a fellow traveller in a similar hurry. A large black rabbit was bounding down the steps ahead of me. He took a hard right at the turn off to the lazy steps and disappeared into a lane adjoining the school play ground. No, my name is not Alice and the rabbit was definitely black, not white. Rabbit meat is quite popular and many of the Symiots in the more rustic corners of Chorio and Pedi keep the odd bunny in with the chooks and festive turkey but it is the first time I have seen one heading into town. I wonder whose carving knife he was evading...


The carpet seller is back. He had quite an impressive display set out in the road in Chorio. Sky blue and sunshine yellow seem to be the dominant colours available this year. One advantage of the Greek approach to carpets is that you can change the entire look of your place every year just by buying a different cheap and cheerful carpet from the carpet man. Despite what glossy coffee table books, romantic postcards and our own wishful thinking would like us to believe, real traditional Greek island decor has as little to do with hand crafted wooden furniture, flokati rugs and picturesquely crippling chairs as real traditional Greek male clothing has to do with those white pleated skirts and pompom shoes the chaps wear standing guard outside the parliament buildings in Athens. 

Enjoy your weekend!

Monday, September 16th 2002

The weekend was blustery with overcast and intermittently drizzly conditions on Sunday. On Sunday evening a thunderstorm hung around the island for several hours with quite strong winds and it was still blowing hard this morning. The Symi I did not run this morning and no excursion boats were allowed to leave Rhodes. Late this morning the boat from Athens managed to dock, taking several people off the island who had planes to catch. Apparently it will be coming back this afternoon from Rhodes.

As the wind is blowing from the south it is very warm and muggy with humidity up around 80%. The top of the island is swathed in low cloud and the top of the Vigla has disappeared.

Now is the time to start the winter planting, before the days shorten. We have been digging over beds and sowing neat rows of optimistic spinach and radishes. The cats follow us round the garden, romping in the shadehouses and rearranging those neat rows into wavy ones. The capsicums are covered with peppers in varying degrees of ripeness and the last of the tomatoes are flowering again. It will soon be time to harvest the almonds - they are already starting to drop from the trees which flowered first and the field rats have certainly been enjoying them, judging by the heaps of nut shells in quiet corners!

Have a good week.

Friday, September 13th 2002

The island has been very misty for several days. The rest of the country has had rain but Symi remains dry, if rather humid. Huge fluffy clouds came down over the Vigla this morning. I tried to download a picture of them with the webcam as they looked so impressive but, alas, it just isn't sensitive enough. If someone knows of a poetically inclined webcam that picks up every Turneresque nuance of the light, please let us know...

Symi is very full at the moment and the harbour is bustling. Regular visitors are inspecting old watering holes and renewing long-standing friendships with their favourite excursion boats. It is impossible to walk around the harbour without bumping into familiar faces as it seems as though most of the people on the island at present have been here before, many of them dozens of times.

Apparently a German women's magazine, Petra, ran an article about Symi in their August edition. If anyone has a copy they could spare or fax to us, we'd appreciate it - we are always curious to see how others depict the island!

Have a good weekend!

Monday, September 9th 2002

As thunderstorms and unseasonably wet weather are affecting the mainland and islands to the north an increasing number of gypsies and hawkers are arriving on the island. There is quite an interesting encampment outside the supermarket in Chorio at the moment. Several pickup trucks laden with everything from cooking pots to plastic basins, garden furniture, shoes and blankets have set up a peripatetic department store. To pass the time between customers, this enterprising group are repairing taverna chairs. Instead of using commercially available manila rope they have gathered bunches of rushes and are replacing the seats in traditional style. This requires considerable dexterity and is interesting to watch.

Meanwhile down in the harbour the first bunches of silver beet, rocket and chicory are for sale from a hawker by the bridge. He also has some radishes the size of tennis balls

Hailstorms and downpours in the market garden areas of Greece have pushed up the price of fresh produce throughout the country and there have been major protests among consumers on the mainland. As far as we Symiots are concerned, the 'high prices' they are complaining about are considerably lower than the prices we normally pay for fresh produce on Symi at the best of times, so they are not getting much sympathy from Symi housewives!

Have a good week!

Friday, September 6th 2002

There are a few other indicators that the season is changing, apart from pale visitors of mature age from northern climes clad in walking boots and tramping the hills with a purposeful air...

For instance the garden furniture truck has been joined in his circuit by another ramshackle lorry laden with big zip-up plastic bags full of luridly patterned quilts and truly amazing blankets.

And the watermelon man is diversifying into beetroot and potatoes.

And a steady stream of regular visitors to the island is calling in at the Symi Visitor office to renew newspaper subscriptions.

And I was about to say that people seem to be more conservatively dressed but looking over the balcony a girl has just trotted past with hot cerise pink pigtails and turquoise lipstick so perhaps not!

Have a good weekend.

Monday, September 2nd 2002

Autumn rolled in on Saturday night with a grumble of thunder and a sprinkle of rain. Thundery weather is expected to continue sporadically throughout the week as the weather changes to the north of us and tosses the odd cloud this way.

It is still warm with temperatures on Symi around 30 degrees at midday. The leaves are falling from the deciduous trees and vines. The geraniums are recovering from the summer heat and are sprouting new leaves and flowers. It will be a while yet though before the rose bushes come out of their heat-induced dormancy and flower anew. The first hesitant blossom is forming on the lemon trees and the leaves look less leathery.

Everyone is feeling a bit more energetic now that the air is lighter and the island's cat population is becoming more active, if the nocturnal choruses are anything to go by.

Have a good week!

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