FRIDAY, JUNE 28th 2002
It has been quite hot this week despite a cooling Meltemi yesterday and the day before. The dragon has breathed over the Pedi valley and scorched the mountain top. The papery rustle of leaves fills the quiet places.
We mulched the hen run with leaf sweepings yesterday afternoon - an alternative to dust and dry grass. The hens think this is a great game and run into the drifts of leaves, flapping their wings to make them fly up, like children playing. We added a bag of bougainvillea petals for aesthetic effect. Imagine Rhode Island Reds running around with pink petal confetti on an autumn leaf carpet and you realise why cartoonists recognised the chicken's comic potential early on!
Now that the 'season' is well under way it is interesting to examine the contents of ones purse. I have a German 2 Euro coin, a Dutch 20 cent piece, an Italian 1 Euro coin...
Have a good weekend.
Regards,
Adriana
The Symi Visitor
www.SymiVisitor.com
MONDAY, JUNE 24th 2002
Last night we enjoyed a rare out-of-season
treat. A low cloud rolled out of the east and gave us a bougainvillea hued sunset and tumbling lacy black curtains of rain, just as the Symi I was coming into Yialos. The storm continued to rumble around the island for several hours, starting and ending with two refreshing downpours and with a crackling forked lightning display over Bosburun and Pedi Bay in between. All told we measured just over 2 millimetres of rain which, while not a staggering amount by anyone's standards, is nonetheless unusual for having fallen on Symi at all at this time of the year. Have a look at the latest pictures on the
Out and About page for the sunset.
This morning the island was once again tinder dry beneath a cloudless sky and it was only the restaurant staff tossing pools of water out of awnings and tipping water from salt shakers and pepper pots that served as reminders of what had been.
There are two trucks parked in the town square, piled high with fragrant melons. Big pink wedges of watermelon are on display beside mounds of small golden and green sweet melons. Rickety umbrellas have been rigged to keep the sun off and children wave fly-swatters at the ever present wasps.
Have a good week.
FRIDAY, JUNE 21st 2002
Between strikes and gales and cancelled ferries, it has been an interesting week. Our office has been filled with hopeful souls longing to inform their employers that
they are marooned on a Greek island indefinitely. One drawback of all the disruptions, from the point of view of the permanent inhabitants of Symi, is that we haven't had any post for ages (all stuck in some airport or harbour somewhere). At the moment all the big ferries are sitting in Pireaus and it is only smaller companies like ANES that are running a reliable service, although on Wednesday the evening Symi I and the afternoon hydrofoil could not run due to bad weather.
On the way to work this morning there was a great commotion on the bend in the road below the big oak tree at Lieni - an army chap had failed to take the corner and gone straight over the edge. The car was on its roof, two terraces down into the valley, and a jeepful of conscripts was swarming around it. Of the luckless driver we have no news as yet, but this is the second major accident on Symi in recent weeks as a heavy duty lorry went over the edge of the bend above the Pedi road the weekend before last when the brakes apparently failed and the driver, fortuitously dragged from the cab by passers by just before it burst into flames, is still in hospital in Rhodes. As I have said previously in this column, driving on Symi is not as easy as one might think, and it is as necessary to drive carefully here as anywhere, particularly given the nature of the terrain.
It's very quiet in the harbour this afternoon and I discovered why when I went on the last coffee run - everybody is indoors, watching football on the big screen. What a way to spend a sunny afternoon on holiday...
Have a good weekend.
MONDAY, JUNE 17th 2002
The anticipated strong winds passed us by and Symi baked this weekend. It was 40 degrees at midday on Sunday and there was a steady stream of beachgoers heading down the Pedi road in pursuit of water and some relief from the heat. It is expected to be even hotter this week.
A red truck is going round the island, selling fat braids of garlic. Judging by the number of garlic ropes hanging outside the restaurants, business has been brisk. He's parked in the town square at the moment as it is too hot to do anything or go anywhere. The Nissos Kalymnos comes through later this afternoon on its way to Rhodes so quite a few larger vehicles are gathering in the town in anticipation of departure. There is not much activity otherwise as anybody who doesn't have anything else to do is at the beach.
The oleanders and bougainvillea continue to make a brave show of colour but the geraniums are cooked to a crisp in most places and won't really get going again until September, when they grow new leaves and start flowering again.
Have a good week.
FRIDAY, JUNE 14th 2002
For the statistically minded, last weekend's heatwave peaked at 44.7 degrees centigrade, resulting in a lot of frazzled gardens and burnt noses. The barometer was also exceptionally low, below 1000 millibars, which is unusual for this time of year. This weekend looks as though it is going to be fairly unsettled with possible gales in the Aegean which could cause a few headaches in the shipping schedules.
The paving in Chorio is certainly proving contentious - the Archaeologia has now stopped the works in progress. We will be following this and will probably report more fully on developments in next month's Symi
Visitor newspaper.
Meanwhile the bees drone on in the Virginia creeper outside the office window and the grapes and figs continue to plump in the sun. Small fragrant melons are for sale at the grocers and whiffs of coconut oil and vanilla ice cream follow in the wake of passers by.
Have a good weekend.
MONDAY, JUNE 10th 2002
The tail end of the heatwave lingers over the island with a shimmer. Although the worst is over it is still sizzling in the harbour and we are glad of the air conditioning in the office. On Sunday morning at 8.30 it was already 35 degrees whereas today at the same time it was a more bearable 25C. My chickens were not too happy about this state of affairs. Well, would you like to be wearing a down jacket in a heatwave? They fluff themselves out to increase the air spaces between their feathers and pant open-beaked in their bamboo-covered gazebo in the olive grove.
The sun is rapidly ripening the tomatoes and figs and the grapes are swelling on the vines.
Among the ruins, rosy apricots are falling from the trees in sticky heaps to be harvested by greedy ants and wasps.
Up in the lanes of Chorio work is continuing at a rapid rate to complete the tiling of the road through the shortcut. This is something of a contentious issue as it is not really a suitable surface for vehicles and locals are not too keen on the idea of the paving of a section of the upper Kali Strata either. For further comment on this see the June edition of the Symi Visitor (and, as with all contentious issues, probably, July, August and September as well!)
Have a good week.
Regards,
Adriana
The Symi Visitor
www.SymiVisitor.com
FRIDAY, JUNE 7th 2002
The first heatwave of the season has settled over the island like a hot pink blanket. The sea is like burnished metal and there is little movement in the harbour - everyone is on the beach. The garden furniture sellers were doing a brisk trade in plastic chairs and tables down in the town square early this morning but they have all retreated into the shade now.
Those who come into the Symi Visitor office to see us show a marked reluctance to leave the air conditioning and venture forth into the heat once more.
The first small heart-shaped red tomatoes are ripening in my garden and, apart from a number of very fat spiders, there is little insect activity - the heat has killed off most things now. The spiders and lizards have so many mosquitoes to choose from, its hardly surprising they are growing stout.
Down in the harbour there are cats sleeping in every shady corner, including behind our sign board at the bottom of the stairs.
Have a good weekend.
MONDAY, JUNE 3rd 2002
Although, as usual, the shopkeepers and restauranteurs are wringing their hands with mutterings about where the people are, there doesn't seem to be any shortage of people in the harbour and our office seems to be as busy as ever.
The hawkers are busy too. From the office window I can see a tottering pile of plastic garden furniture, a truck laden with watermelons and onions, another with terracotta pots and bay trees (crowned with what looks like a repro-Victorian cast iron park bench... interesting) and a gypsy with a huge plastic bag full of washing up sponges. He has made a sort of igloo out of duvets wrapped in plastic carry-cases under the stage in the town square. I can't see much of a demand for duvets myself but perhaps he's a pessimist... There is a heatwave forecast for the rest of the week. As it is already in the thirties here we are not really looking forward to this. The various people clattering through the office in the course of the morning have assured us that the sea right now is wonderful for swimming.
Have a good week!
