It’s coming to that time of year when those who have jobs set up for the summer season start to think, ‘Only a few more weeks to go. What happened to winter?’ It’s funny how that happens, isn’t it? When you’re little, even a day and a night (such as Christmas Eve) can feel like a week, and yet, times like the old six-week summer holidays of youth in the rural 1970s used to last forever. Until the last couple of weeks, when time whizzed by as you crammed six-weeks’ worth of homework into two tedious afternoons.
The same goes for trips abroad. Like our trip over Christmas. It took a year to plan, save and pay for, and during the first week, time was endless, but during the second, it was, ‘Where did that go?’ And we hardly stopped moving and doing things, so no moment of any day was wasted.
The road around Yialos is like it too. It seems to have been up and under repair for an age, and yet, today, as if it never happened, it is open again. (At least, I read a prediction, so it is hoped it will reopen again today.) The works were hampered by bad weather, but it’s now been so dry that we need to water the plants for the first time in ages.
(I nicked this image from David, who posted it in a Symi group last night. He’s coming for dinner on Saturday, so I will ask permission then.)
It’s time to start putting names on the calendar: Who says they are coming this year, and when we can expect them. The Bother-in-law has already booked his place on the sofa bed for a few nights, and other friends are also due to return to the island. I’ve been reading potential visitors’ questions on social media and have seen many saying they are looking forward to coming. The businesses are starting to put things back together gradually – there’s no rush just yet – and soon, people will be doing up their properties ready for Easter. It’s all starting to roll back towards the summer season, but you have to wonder what kind of season it will be, what with everything going on in the world. I’m not going to go on about all that because there is nothing I can do about any of it except hope. So, I shall carry on regardless, as the film title said, and hope for the best.
Here, instead, is a photo of the new step-free arrangement that’s been built alongside the Kali Strata ready for the summer visitors.
No, silly. It’s a ramp put in by builders who have been doing something to a property near us on and off for the last year or so. We are now quite used to the trundle of the transporter machine that passes and shaves the corner off the house now and then, and neatly stacks its rubble and whatnot along the lane.
Yes, preparations for summer are underway, and as if to back up the statement, we didn’t have to turn any heaters on yesterday, not until eight in the evening.
