Here’s a question many people ask when visiting in the summer: Does everywhere stay open in the winter? The answer is, no, not everywhere, because some businesses are summer enterprises only (beach tavernas, boat hire, water taxis, some souvenir shops, etc.). Essential businesses remain open, of course, banks, pharmacies, health clinic, town hall, etc., and some cafés, bars and tavernas also stay open. Some eateries, such as the Taj Mahal might only operate at weekends, while others, such as Scena, Niki’s Kitchen, and Georgio’s remain open throughout the winter, perhaps with a day off here and there for a holiday, repainting, Christmas… We were at Georgio’s the other night, actually, and the BBQ was on…
The menu may be limited at this time of the year, there were chops, chips, cheese fritters, salads, and what you might call staples, but a lot of the time, what’s available depends on what’s in the shops, or in some cases, what’s in the freezer. We manage, thank you, and there are places to eat out, socialise and sit and watch the world go by in both the village and the harbour.
While, at home, there’s plenty to keep us occupied. I finished my model locomotive yesterday, and the Titanic’s funnels are now complete and rigged. The next stage is to add the three deck levels together which should happen on Thursday. The following week, my piano student is away with his class for five days, so the ship and Chopin will have to wait, but I reckon, she’ll be seaworthy by mid-April. In fact, she might be ready to set off on her maiden voyage on April 10th, 113 years to the day after first leaving Southampton.
(‘The Ship and Chopin’ sounds like a great name for a pub. I’ll have to write that into one of my books.)
