Thanks to everyone who sent himself their best wishes. He’s now got the rather medieval name of Neil Blackfoot, though he is again mobile and almost back to being as normal as whatever normal is.
As for today… I need to pop down to town and pick up a delivery from Skroutz, and that seems like the perfect opportunity for a quick lunch somewhere. We may go down by bus, which will probably be a first for me. At least, I can’t remember the last time I took the bus down rather than walk down the steps, so if we do, that will be an adventure in itself. I expect there are still many who remember the old Symi bus, the green transit van which was, for some of its afterlife, parked up by the side of a road (can’t remember where, and I expect there was an earlier version I don’t know about). We’ve had various coloured and sized buses over the years, and as you get older, you rely on them more and more. At this time of year, it does an amazing job running every hour from morning to night with only one hour off; same route, same time, with an excursion up to Leoni for Sevasti Studios and others if you ask nicely. I can’t tell you the times, but there is a timetable at the bus station.
The ‘bus station’ isn’t one of those municipal concrete buildings where the dodgy and bewildered hang around outside the public toilets, but a charming little place near where the Sebeco ties up, now complete with shelter and benches, and with a kiosk nearby. You can also take other buses from there to Panormitis and across the island, and there are now more minibuses on the island than there are mules, I reckon. Several businesses are now running tours and journeys, as well as renting cars and scooters, four-wheeled farm vehicles and electric whatnots. Soon, there will be no more room for any more road vehicles, and we’ll have to have hover-vehicles that fly above the road so they can avoid the congestion. Can you imagine? Driverless, flying taxis and rent-a-hovers getting lost all over the place, ‘dial-a-ride’ Uber hover cycles flying overhead and trying to find a parking spot in the last existing piece of free road on the island. ‘You’re late!’ ‘I know, I had to park at Marathunda and walk back.’
Of course, things will be worse in August when the entitled Scorpioni come to stay in their once-a-year three-bed houses locals can only dream of living in. They’ll bring their latest petrol, diesel, gas, electric, banana skin, whatever-fuelled vehicles and complain that there is nowhere for them to park, and how dare that happen on ‘their’ island? Makes one shudder at where it’s all going and where it will all end up.
Meanwhile, I’ll use Shank’s pony until Shanks won’t have any more of it, and then I will rely on the good old, stalwart Symi bus in whatever manifestation. And, of course, the taxi drivers where we’ve always had a great service and a good old chat about the weather, the roads, and the families as we’re whisked to altitude in style. Today, Blackfoot and I will see which to use after we have had lunch ‘down town,’ as it usually depends on the time. Is it cheaper to wait for the €2.50 bus and have a €4.00 drink while waiting, or spend €6.00 on a taxi to the village? Walking up at one or two in the afternoon in summer is not an option for me these days, it’s a risk. Have a great day, and remember, if you’re driving, don’t forget to take the car.