Sunny days

Just realised I didn’t put up anything on the blog yesterday. I think that was because I was adjusting to a new routine which involved going out for a short walk between work and real work. As you can see from the sky in the photos, it was a wonderful morning for it. The rest of the week looks a bit dodgy with a severe storm warning for the Cyclades and Dodecanese from Wednesday evening onwards, so today might be the ‘second and last walk for a while’ chance I get to go for a ramble for a few days.

I saw that Neil put up a post on the Symi Dream Facebook page recently asking who had booked their holiday to Symi so far, and it is receiving a lot of replies, which is good news. Meanwhile, I read in the Greek news that the government are looking at ways to restrict/limit, etc., tourism on Santorini, which might be an interesting thread to follow. It’s always bugged me that when you see photos of Greece on posters (travel companies, websites etc.), it’s usually of Santorini. Looks like the island has become a victim of its own success with overcrowding in certain places and at certain times. Busloads of people off to see the sunset and only getting to see the back of the person in front, that kind of thing.

We’re off on holiday in a few weeks (beginning of March), so there won’t be any of this blogging business for that month. This trip’s been planned for over a year now, and we’re looking forward to it. Before then, though, there’s the same old routine to get through each day, plus some fun stuff like a quick morning walk when the weather allows.

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Symi Saturday Photos

The first random photo collection of 2020, with some photos taken recently.

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Today is…?

I am gearing up for a weekend of book editing. At least, I think it’s the weekend. It’s that time of year when I am still unsure what day it is. I spent all of Wednesday thinking it was Thursday and all of last Tuesday thinking it was Tuesday, which it was, but then when Wednesday became Thursday for half a day… You know how it is. Anyway, I am nearly back on track now but did have to look at my diary to see what day it is today.

Easter is still three months away (April 19^th for Easter Sunday in Greece, I believe), but sheep and lambs have started appearing in the village already. Despite being brought up on the Romney Marshes and being best friends with the son of a sheep farmer, spending long days playing on the farm and even helping with lambing, I still know nothing about it, and can only assume this pair has been brought down from the hills to be closer to the farmer’s home (?). Just seems a bit early to be grazing in the village when the hills are sprouting green, and there’s plenty of vegetation around. Perhaps the lamp was so early it needed looking after? I don’t know, but it’s always pleasant and, for some reason, amusing, to round a corner and find livestock wandering the village, or tethered in a place you don’t expect.

The Blue Star ferry finally made it into port around 3.00 a.m. on Thursday and will be back again today, though in the afternoon rather than the early morning as the timetable moves closer to being back to normal. The sky is clearing, and no more rain is forecast for a while, but I am being dripped on in the shower thanks to the condensation in the bathroom. A sudden cold shock really wakes you up between washes when you turn the water off to lather-up. Just thought I’d share that with you. And now, back to the editing.

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Weather warning

Returning to the age-old question, what’s it like living on Symi in the winter? Well, one of the things you have to be aware of is the weather, particularly when it comes to travel. Not wanting to put anyone off travelling here at this time of year (because the island is beautiful all year round and the peace and quiet of winter weighs up nicely against the trauma of storms, leaks, floods and so on), but you do have to watch the boat schedules. Due to bad weather further north, there has been a ban on shipping for days. I think it might have now been lifted, but here’s a story…

If anyone wanted to go to Rhodes last Friday, either for shopping, or a weekend away, appointments etc., they found they had to wait until Saturday for the boat (Blue Star ferry). And then, instead of a reasonable morning arrival time, the boat came in around 4 a.m. That’s one thing. I’m not sure if the boat came back that day as scheduled, but the one due to leave on Monday night was still there on Wednesday evening due to weather, and even then, passengers were told it wasn’t going at 4 pm, but at midnight. The company did say, though, that you could get on at ten in the evening. The last I heard from the Godboys who were on it, it wasn’t then going to able to leave until two on Thursday morning, and as I write this (at half-six), it might still be there for all I know. I hope not, they are due back at school tomorrow.

Meanwhile, another friend arrived in Athens with ferry ticket in hand last weekend, intending a short trip down to Symi, and hasn’t, so far, made it. The flights were massively expensive, apparently, and not an option in her case. I assume she had to go home in the end.

Anyway, that was just a reminder to be aware that your travel plans may have to change due to weather. I hope I’m not tempting fate here as we are heading up to Athens in early March, and coming back via the same route later in the month. We always keep an eye on the weather at least a week ahead of our planned departure when travelling at this time of year, and if it looks in any way dodgy, we leave early and book into cheap accommodation to be near the airport or wherever. Not the cheapest way around things, but better than missing flights, or not making important appointments.

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Morning chitchat

I woke up this morning thinking it must be about seven o’clock and I’d had a lie-in. Turned out to be four, but I was up, and the kettle was on by then. It was only 3.50 in the bedroom, 4.05 in the kitchen and 4.00 exactly in the sitting room due to the use of three time zones in one house over three clocks, so time was irrelevant anyway. Or was it? It’s given me a couple of extra hours to get a fist draft finished before sofa time and the ongoing adventures of the Australian Survivor contestants streaming to the TV. I can’t see what the state of play is outside as all the shutters are closed, but as I popped my head into the courtyard on my commute to the office just now, I saw a few stars up there, so it looks like the clouds may have gone. The wind has dropped along with the temperature, but I hear no thunder or pelting rain for the first time in a few days.

That’s just as well as one of us has to nip downtown later to the pharmacy and post office, and there’s some shopping to do as we have guests for tea tonight; the stranded godboy family who should (all being well) finally be able to return from Rhodes on the afternoon ferry. All shipping was grounded (ported?) for a few days thanks to a bad storm which has knocked out all power on Andros and Tinos – something like 13,000 people without electricity. Last I read, they hoped to have power restored today.

We had a call from our telephony provider yesterday, Cosmote (Ote, as was), offering us faster internet now the fibre optic cables are completed. I queried whether they actually were over here, and Christos Giros (it sounded like) told me they were, and the new package comes with a huge amount of local and international calls – I hardly ever use the phone to call anyone, and even more rarely answer it – and it’s only €3.00 extra per month on what I pay now or something, so we will see. He did tell me I had the right modem already, which was a worry as I thought I was alone in the house, and that I should notice the increase in speed in a few days. Shame it wasn’t a call from the bank, but there you go.

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