Here we go again, back on the boat and his time towards Athens. I’ll be back next week sometime and after that, should be back into the more usual routine of six updates per week. I’ll aim to start again around Thursday and see how it goes.
In the meantime, I’ll leave you with a set of random images from the last few months to scroll through. (Some are from Rhodes.)
Back to the old routine for a few days now, well, yesterday, today and tomorrow – until the evening. I found out that a lot of the roadworks going on are to do with the phone provider, Ote, but the lane we live on is, by the looks of it, stone replacement. It’s good to see that stones are being re-laid in the old style and we haven’t been tarmacked over.
I did my walk up the hill yesterday, and very pleasant it was, but from the sound of it, we’re in for bad weather at the weekend. That won’t worry me as I won’t be here, but it might if I have to sail through it. If the weather is really bad, there may not be a boat at all. I’m just checking the forecasts…
Windfinder tells me it will be up to force five and no rain, so that’s okay. Accuweather tells me there will be rain on Saturday and Sunday, but it’s a slow, clunky site that I don’t find very user-friendly and don’t trust. Weather.gr shows winds 4 to 5 Bf on Thursday dying down on Friday with thunderstorms on Saturday through to Monday with winds only up to five, and Poseidon.hcmr.gr, the one I trust, shows me winds across the Aegean between 3 and 5 Bf all weekend (very windy near Corfu), and a little rain down here on Sunday. The best forecast, still, is to look out of the window at the time or ask a Symi farmer.
I am back from my long weekend and have arrived home to find the road to the house blocked to traffic. There had been work going on before I left, so I wasn’t surprised. If you’re on foot, you can take the steps behind the village square. It looks like there are to be improvements to the slippery corner, which can only be a good thing.
Meanwhile, the road from Georgio’s to Sotiris supermarket is also being worked on, again, not too sure what it is for, I will ask Yianni later when I go down that way next. Meanwhile, meanwhile, Lefteris’ kafeneion is having a makeover too with drilling and ripping out and a concrete mixer going.
While all that has been going on, there has been a meeting for those non-Greeks living here who are not on the electoral register. There is a council/mayoral election in May, and if you want to vote (as you should), then you should be on that register. If you’re not following this story on Facebook, I will put up information when I can and when I hear it. We’ve been on the register for years. No-one is sure what will happen with this Brexit farce/tragedy but even if you think it’s not worth registering, it is, because if the B word is delayed or, even better, scrapped, you will be able to vote for your local council and European elections.
Okay, and now back to the washing and the shopping and those 101 other things that pop up when you’ve not been at home for a few days.
I’m writing this yesterday, Panormitis Festival main day, and it’s so quiet out there… Hardly anyone has gone past the house, there have been a few bells sounding, a couple of cars up and down the hill, but no boats coming or going from Yialos (except the Blue Star), and everywhere is shut, I assume. I’ve not left the house yet. I am about to head off for a few days. I may get to a blog on Wednesday, possibly sooner as I think I’ll take my laptop with me so I can work while I am away. But if you don’t hear from me, you’ll know why. In the meantime, here’s a reminder that now’s the perfect time to order your Symi Dream Calendar for 2019. This might be the last time Neil produces one of these, so make sure you have yours for posterity. Follow the link, change the Lulu Store to your nearest country or your currency and away you go.
And, to send me on my way, I thought I’d put up some random shots that I’ve not used yet. Have a good weekend/week, and I will see you when I get back. Remember, if you use Facebook, there’s a Symi Dream page there where I post interesting links about Symi, or Greece, even when there’s no blog.
This is the week of the Panormitis festival. I was out yesterday for my walk and saw various coaches and lots of cars heading up the mountains to the various churches that celebrate the feast of St Michael, and other saints around this time. I was doing my usual trek up to the monastery and back and took a couple of photos village en route.
Tomorrow, I am heading to Rhodes for the weekend so there won’t be a blog after Friday until next Wednesday, probably, and then I will be heading off to Athens the following Friday and back the Wednesday after that. Not quite jet-setting as I’m going by boat, so boat-setting maybe? I’ve paid for a cabin (on the way to Athens, it’s not worth having one for the Rhodes trip, one sneeze, and you’ve arrived) and paid the extra to have it to myself. I once made the mistake of sharing a cabin with a stranger – this was when I was in my 20s, poor and doing the boat/train to Amsterdam for a long weekend. The horror of what came next is outlined in ‘Symi, Stuff & Nonsense’ my book of travel tales, observations and life on Symi as we saw it when we first arrived. The Symi sections give you more details on certain days and events than you find in ‘Symi 85600’ which covers our first five years here.
As usual, the links to the books that I put here are for Amazon.co.uk, but they are available from all Amazon stores around the world.
