|
The latest news & weather from Symi, reported by Adriana Shum from 'The Symi Visitor' office. Adriana's Greek Recipe of the Week>>
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER
29th 2003
The weather continues to be exceptionally warm for the time of year, much to the dismay of the hawker selling jeans, winter boots, sweat shirts and slippers from the back of a van in Chorio. No one really wants to think about wrapping up warmly right now! There are plenty of day-trippers about including a group of disabled people. Although Symi is generally steep and the Kali Strata could never be accessible to someone in a wheelchair, the harbour area is actually quite good as everything is on the level and the restaurants all have outdoor seating.
There are still some late
season charter boats around but the main yachting activity is
cruising boats heading back to their winter bases in Turkey or
Cyprus. They are easy to spot - netting round the
railings to prevent the ship's cat or dog falling over the
side, pots of basil on the cockpit tables to keep the flies
away and someone beavering away somewhere, fixing something,
in an aura of nautical domesticity.
The waterfront souvenir
shops are now advertising their end of season sales.
Symi T-shirts and other memorabilia at cut prices. The
post cards are curling in the autumn sun. A month from
now the shops will have vanished, the shutters will be up, the
awnings stripped away and the frontage given over to the
parking of boats. The planter across the front of the
town square has been a great success - the hollyhocks and
sunflowers of the early summer gave the shrubs and succulents
a chance to become established and there is a good mix of
plants with something in flower at any time. The drip
irrigation system keeps everything going. I was amused
to note that among the carefully planted shrubs one lone maize
plant and a tomato are making a stand. The tomato
probably came from someone's sandwich (why do tomatoes always
do better when they grow by accident than when deliberately
planted and cosseted?) and the maize is probably the legacy
from one of the poultry sellers or a burst bag of chicken
feed. The planters around the harbour edge where the
excursion boats dock have also stayed the course and the
rosemary bushes and dwarf cypresses have softened what was a
bleak expanse of concrete.
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER
27th 2003
The weather is expected to
break early next week with the possibility of a thundershower or
two and a slight drop in temperatures. Symi being so far
south is still considerably warmer than the rest of the country
whereas many islands further north have more or less shut down
now.
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 22nd 2003
It's not just the website
which has wandered off in a time warp. Symi is
experiencing a late heat wave with temperatures in the low
thirties as a big high pressure system hovers over the area.
A hawker was on the island
over the weekend, selling ducklings, turkey chicks and other
poultry. One of the big cruise ships from Cyprus was also
in the harbour and it was quite amusing to see elegant
well-dressed passengers stopping to gawk as the gold-toothed and
moustachioed poultry salesman, clutching specimens of his
squawking stock by the ankles, ran through his sales patter.
A gypsy Clark Gable counting chicks into covered baskets
held by elderly Symiots while the best of bourgeios Nicosia
looked on in amazement. Sometimes it is no bad thing to be
reminded that chicken for dinner starts with a squawk!
Still on the subject of back to basics in the food department,
one of my neighbours bought a couple of piglets about a year ago
and keeps them in a sty at the bottom of our road. Looking
over the fence a few days ago, those piglets are now the size of
large donkeys (just subtract the legs!) and will soon need to be
moved to larger quarters. Probably the butcher's cold
store...
There is certainly an
increasing amount of agricultural activity evident on the island
as the tourist season winds down. Everyone who lives on
the island all year round has more than one occupation and the
Symiot who does not have a patch of land somewhere in the Pedi
valley or up on the plateau is rare. This morning's taxi
driver can spend the afternoon transferring bales of hay with a
donkey and the nattily dressed waiter hangs up his crisp white
shirt when he tends to his goats...
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 19th 2003
September is a month for
early risers. Walking down from Chorio this morning,
first the bus to Panormitis groaned past me, low on its springs
and standing room only. Then a stream of bright faced
school children scampered past, new bookbags stiff as wings
behind them. Hugo was next, strolling up the Kali Strata
with a string of walkers spread out around him, chatting
amiably. As I approached the final bend another
stout-booted group of hikers strode passed, followed by Kosmar
Dave bringing up the rear. That is the most people I have
passed in ten minutes around 8 am in months!
Temperatures remain in the
mid to high twenties and the breeze is cool. As the air
conditioner in the office has decided to drip water all over the
place whenever it is switched on it has been given a rest.
Instead the balcony doors are open and the blinds are up.
A hawker has an impressive display of vegetables laid out on
trestles by the bridge - the first purple beetroots, spring
onions, endive and dill - a welcome change from the robust
tomatoes, courgettes and aubergines of summer.
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16th 2003
Suddenly cold showers don't seem so appealing first thing in the
morning, particularly when the mist lies low over the valley
- we turned on the boiler for the first time since April!
Out in the garden weed seeds are starting to germinate wherever
we have been watering. Some seeds simply do not germinate,
even if watered, if the temperatures are too high, but now, as
we move into what is effectively a second spring, albeit with
ever decreasing hours of daylight, the right combination of
warmth and water is being reached and weeding is back on the job
list!
The peppers and aubergines
are ripening on the plants. Lipstick red, lemon yellow and
gothic purple.
Of course this also means
that it is time to prepare the seed beds and seed trays for our
winter crops: calabrese, lettuces of all kinds, spinach,
sweetcorn (in case it turns out to be a mild winter), brussels
sprouts (in case it turns out to be a cold winter) There
is a lot to be done in anticipation of the first rains.
Circles are dug around all the trees so that the water soaks in
deeply to the roots. Land is cleared and shrubby
trees cut back to allow light into the terraces. There
will be many bonfires in a month's time. Rotavators are
being serviced in anticipation as it will soon be time to start
ploughing and planting grasses and grains.
Oh well. I never did
get to the beach this summer either!
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 12th 2003
It has been warm and quite
humid all week. Every morning cloud has hung low
over the Vigla. The sea is pigeon grey and mauve, turning indigo
at mid-day. The full moon has given us some splendid
evenings out in the garden, watching it rise over the mountains
and light up each terrace and slope in turn. Mars has been
particularly clear as well. One of Symi's great advantages
is the clean air. Only dust and humidity affect the
clarity of the light and it is only as the mist forms in the
early hours of morning that the stars dim and fade.
The island is quite busy with
the usual September visitors - mainly English-speaking but also
plenty of Germans and Scandanavians, many of whom have been
coming here for years. They are largely creatures of
routine and habit, re-establishing relationships with friends
both Symiot and visitors to the island. Changes
are noted, improvements enthused over and negative developments
lamented upon. Their observations are a useful barometer
of change on the island and we are always interested to hear
their comments.
Meanwhile, up in Chorio, the
hawkers are selling jeans, sweat shirts and other items
suggestive of encroaching autumn. Many parts of Greece
have already experienced heavy rain and falling temperatures and
inevitably it will be our turn in the next month or so.
There was an unsubstantiated report of a rain shower on Rhodes
yesterday but so far all we have seen on Symi is passing clouds
and the odd thunderhead over Turkey.
Have a good weekend!
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 8th 2003 The gales have abated and the ferry timetable has shaken itself back to normal. Temperatures are pleasantly in the mid-twenties and the air has the sparkling clarity of autumn. Even though we have not had any rain the trees seem greener having had the summer's dust blown from their leaves. The mountains on the Turkish coast march in infinite rows of purple and blue and the clean white sails of yachts in the strait slip briskly across the indigo sea.
There are quite a few day trippers
about. There are also quite a lot of island hoppers in evidence.
No longer the footloose and fancy free teenage tomato pickers of yore,
these days back packers are more likely to be of mature age and
respectable employment, at least if the ones who come to our office in
search of accommodation and ferry advice are anything to go by!
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 5th 2003 Autumn arrived in a swirl of rustling leaves and the percussion of banging shutters yesterday afternoon. The Nissos Kalymnos has been tied up in Yialos since last night, waiting for the gale to subside. At the moment all shipping has been stopped as there is a Force 8 blowing in the central and southern Aegean, gusting Force 9 in some areas. Temperatures have dropped from the forties to the twenties over night, bring considerable relief from the heat. Apparently it will warm up again in the course of the weekend but we are unlikely to see any further extremes of heat until next year.
Meanwhile the marooned
passengers on the Nissos Kalymnos plus those from all the yachts
stuck in the harbour are promenading the front, examining what
Symi has to offer by way of souvenirs and diversions.
There is a nasty swell in the harbour and the water is swirling
round the bridge and squirting up onto the road over
at the bus stop. Pedi bay this morning was white with
marching whirlwinds tracking across the sea, throwing spray into
the air and yanking at the yachts at anchor.
The first of the equinoctial
gales... Fortunately this one should be fairly short-lived
and is expected to have blown itself out by tomorrow. The
barometer is rising sharply.
Have a good weekend.
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 1st 2003
It's another hot day on
Symi. The sunflowers have been dug up and new shrubs
planted along the front. The World Peace Day swim
has been
underway since 6.30 this morning and the participants should be
reaching their respective destinations in the next hour or so.
The island is a lot quieter
now as the peak of the season has passed. The Athenians
are back in smoggy Athens and the French and Italians have
vanished. English, Danish, German, Norwegian and Swedish
are the languages heard most in the harbour now - mostly
exclaiming over the heat in their respective languages while
mopping their brows and homing in on the nearest purveyor of
cold refreshments. This present heatwave should break
tomorrow or Wednesday. With temperatures over 40 the last
three days no one will be sorry when it's over!
Have a good week - and keep
an eye on the out and about pages. We'll be sending
through the photos of the swim as soon as we can.
© Adriana Shum 2003 Send Adriana E-Mail News Archives |Jan '03|Feb '03|Mar '03|Apr '03|May '03|June '03|July/August '03| 2002 News Archive HOME |
