Blue Star and Proteus, click to see better

On the way down to the shop yesterday we saw that there was something of a traffic jam in the harbour. The Blue Star was coming in and the Proteus had pulled out to let it berth. At least that’s what I guess was happening here. And then, as you will see in the second photo, there was something of a traffic jam in the road as well. Well, a blockage at least.

What exactly is it?

Only temporary though as it was gone by the time I finished at the shop and went to the supermarket. A cheery ‘yasou Dobby’ from Sotot as usual, a rummage around the veg (should have waited for the boat to unload and deliver) and home with supplies for a few days. Later Neil reported visitors in the village, on their way to Pedi for a day out. Later still I got news that my mum and her friend have booked their holiday for July (I hope the apartment has air conditioning!), so that’s great news. Could this be the start of a big trend towards early holiday bookings and visits? I know several people are coming for Easter, and Lent starts soon, so before you know it we’ll be saying ‘where did that winter go then?’

Talking of Lent. Today is Τσικνοπέμπτη (Tsiknopempti) and here is what I wrote up on this same festival day two years ago:
Tsiknopempti. There are various translations of this word, from ‘barbeque Thursday’ which is not literal to ‘smoky Thursday’ which is a bit more literal, the word coming from τσικνίζω to burn (in cooking) or to have a burnt smell (not to be confused with the expression τα τσίκνισαν ‘they had a tiff’), and the word for Thursday, Πέμπτη.

You can, of course spell smoky with an ‘e’ and have smokey, or you can add an ‘ie’ at the end and have smokie, which I’ve just discovered is a kind of Scottish smoked haddock, so now you know.

Part one of two showing Symi residents celebrating ‘Smoky Thursday,’ Tsiknopempti in the village square. This short compilation, shows some of the early evening on February 4th 2010.

We had a great time in the square last night, cold though it was. The wine was flowing, and the Fanta orange, the mayor and co. were handing out souvlakies and the children spent most of their time spraying each other with foam, a more recent ‘tradition’ that has crept in to this event. I’ve put together two short films, the first showing the start of the evening mainly with the children running around and the second showing the rest of the evening, that we saw. We were driven to the Rainbow bar by the need for warmth. There may be some photos from last night on the blog in a couple of days.

And talking of photos – we’ve had a great response from people about the old Symi photos which may be from the 1980s rather than the 1970s, what do you think? Scroll down to find them or check our Symi Photos page for the complete gallery. Thanks for the comments and emails.

Part two of two showing Symi residents celebrating ‘Smoky Thursday,’ Tsiknopempti in the village square. This short compilation shows more of the evening on February 4th 2010.

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