It looks like the festival concerts are a great success, and there are a few more left to go. This week, if you’re on Symi, you can attend the wine festival on Tuesday, with music from the Giannis Barbaris Band, and on Thursday, there is a concert from Symi’s own young musicians and their band, both being held in the town square. Also happening this week is the traditional feats of St Maria of Nimos, so there will be boats going back and forth to the island throughout that evening and into the night; everyone welcome. [Festival programme here. Scroll down it for English.]
The concerts at the weekend were well attended. The amphitheatre was packed, with the chairs at the back full, and festival goers forming large rings to dance on the main amphitheatre floor. People were still on their way home from a good night out when I got up early on Sunday, and it’s been a while since I’ve heard the harbour still going at that time of day. Both sides were full of boats; there were more lying off in the bay, and come the Sunday Panagia ferry and the end of the weekend getaway, well, I’d say that boat was totally full. Obviously, the church festival on the 15th swelled the numbers greatly, as they did on Tinos and other islands where this festival is particularly marked, and I get the impression that many people will be returning to work today with a sense of, ‘Phew!’
I see the opposite of this during my coffee break in the afternoon. I’ve fallen into my own tradition of heading down to join Neil at Rainbow around 16.00, and to sit there and watch the world go by until five. Only, there isn’t much world going by at that time of day, and sometimes it’s only a couple of us. I remember, when I started work at the bar in 2004, ‘Just for two weeks’, it was in late September, so the afternoons were busier. Over the following 12 years (because two weeks is a long time in Greece), I found July and August to be almost embarrassing; I was basically paid to do nothing because there were few customers during the siesta shift. Everyone was either at the beach or taking a nap, and my only customers were the occasional day-trippers with enough time for a quick snifter, or people on holiday who weren’t beach fans. It seems the afternoons are still the same. The evenings, though? Apparently they have been very busy, and that’s partly due to us now having 12 or 13 places to eat and drink up in the village where a couple of years ago we had fewer. I’ll put up a note about them, maybe tomorrow.
One thing I did do at the weekend was get distracted by a cardboard box. I know. So fickle! I was going for a walk, and dropping off the rubbish on the way, when I noticed a decent box, and thought, Ah ha! I took it home, cut it about a bit, and placed it over the water pump, leaving an airflow for the machine, and then bunged an old towel over it with an even older pillow on top as a muffler, and a couple of rocks to keep it down, and he presto! It made hardly any difference to the noise, but it’s helped a little. It’s only temporary while we wait for a new and hopefully quieter pump to come in before this one breaks down. It should be with us, ahem, ‘within the next two weeks.’ And we know what that might mean. Not to worry; the box has helped in the meantime.
I also had a look at our thermometer, which came from the Chinese emporium a couple of years ago. Convinced it wasn’t capable of rising over 37°, I put it in direct sunlight while I threw some water on the plants. Within five minutes it had climbed to its maximum, 50°, and was still climbing, so I put it back in the shade. Just think, while you’re sunbathing, swimming, or just walking about, you’re walking in temperatures of over 50°, and thinking, ‘It’s only 37,’ when, of course, it’s not. So, bear that in mind the next time you pay €10.00 to oil up and lie down. All I can say is eek!
Meanwhile, as you will see from the photos, Neil has been catching more sunrises in Pedi.
