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This month’s Village View and some watery things

I just realised I’d not posted this month’s Village View yet. Here’s the opening, the complete ramble is on the Village View page.

Necessary Evil

I don’t want to bring up the ongoing and thorny topic of traffic on the island but I overheard a conversation the other day which set me off:

“I don’t think I will be coming back, there are too many cars.” I assume the visitor was talking about coming back to the island (or not) rather than reincarnation. I started to wonder where else she might go. The Western Sahara, perhaps? Not many cars there, at least, not until the Dakar Rally zips through. And you won’t find the same clear sea, beautiful architecture and loveable, nutty locals. Well, you might find the latter, but the chances are they will also be driving. Camels, possibly.

This led me to think about something I’d read somewhere, some time ago, and sent me scuttling to the Internet to find out some facts and figures. Using various encyclopaedias, the United Kingdom’s Highways Agency and some of those places where clever, nerdy people post useless information, I came to the conclusion that the following statement is true:

There is more combined vehicle length in the UK than length of road.

So what would happen if everybody with access to a vehicle decided, one August bank holiday, to take it for a drive? Disaster… [Read more here]

Don’t worry, Symi comes into it later.

So, I’m sitting here waiting for the water to come through. It seems we are back to rationing again and the mains pipes are not always turned on. It used to be, a couple of years ago, that the village only had its water for two hours or so each week, depending on which area you were in. Then the ‘mains’ system came into play and most of Symi was getting its water permanently. I know several people then did away with their sterna (the water tank beneath the house) and turned them into extra rooms, relying on the mains supply and pressure for household water. I wonder what happens now, when the mains is turned off like it is today?

This photo was taken last winter and reminds me that it won’t be long before I have to cover the kitchen skylight with plastic to prevent the rain gushing through and flooding the floor. It’s a simple job by Symi standards and only involves a trip to the hardware shop, cutting up the plastic, moving 20 rocks, painting the roof with a sealant paint, covering the odd shaped skylight without tearing the plastic, replacing the rocks to keep it in place, painting the roof a second and third time and then waiting for the rain, hoping you didn’t miss any cracks.

If you get it wrong you end up like Sam.