Category Archives: Day to day on Symi

Day to day on Symi

Latest Chicken News

Latest Chicken News

Sunday morning, Neil’s off for a swim, the bells are ringing (not because he’s off for a swim, but for the Sunday services), the sea is calm, and I am on chapter 20. A typical Sunday morning at our house. It’s not so typical in front of it where a chicken has taken up residence. I think she came wandering down to check out the ’hood, and her two chicks came with her, but then realised they can’t get back up the steps. They’ve now moved into the old garden next door, which is overgrown and difficult to access. I was going to take the chicks up to the road, where they usually hang out, but now I can’t get to them. There was something of an owl disturbance right outside the house the other morning, so there may not even be any chicks left to move. Either way, mother hen will simply have to hang out in the wasteland until the young’uns are large enough to get up the steps as we can’t now reach them.

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In other news… We spent a little time counting 10 cents pieces the other afternoon. I say ‘we’, it was actually Jenine, Neil, Collette and Yiannis. I wrote down the tally, which was €80 in the end, all donated to the SNiP organisation by Peter who’d given his change jar. Rather than haul a hundredweight of coins to the bank, the change was exchanged for notes at the supermarket. It reminded me we have an overflowing bucket of tens and 20s to deal with, so when Sotiris has recovered from his run of 10 cents, we’ll negotiate another exchange.

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And apart from that… We’ve got yet another Blue Star boat calling into Symi, making it five times per week now. Plus, we still have the daily Sebeco, the Spanos and Stavros, and the day boats which, last week, were fuller than we’ve seen in a long time. Some visitors from the UK are still suffering the frustration of cancelled flights and the quarantine on the way back issue, while we’re basking in temperatures over 30 degrees, cooled in the evenings by some strong winds. That’s about it for today. Now back to chapter 20.

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Day to day on Symi

Friday Photos from Neil

Friday Photos from Neil

We have some of Neil’s photos to round off the week. He was over on Rhodes on Wednesday, making sure he was fit to dive (he is) as he’s planning to take a dive training day with Blue Lagoon as soon as he can organise it. I was at home and looking after the bar for a while — a much more mundane day.

The news from Greece now is that we no longer have to wear masks in public, but we do inside shops and crowded places, busses, I guess and other places where it’s sensible to do so. Other restrictions have been eased too. It’s easy to get over to Greece now regarding tests and so on, but the problem seems to be for people getting back and having to quarantine, especially if you live in the UK. I think it’s a scheme to get you to put your money into the post-Brexit debt-pit, but that’s my own little conspiracy theory. If you can come, though, you’re spoiled for choice with ferry crossings, and you can now get your pre-going home tests done on the island. If you do, please do the version where you pay and don’t sponge off our free medical service. Thanks. Have a good weekend, and now some photos.

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Medicon Man, a new breed of superhero
Medicon Man, a new breed of superhero
Day to day on Symi

Typically Village

Typically Village

I’ve had a few typically village days this week, by which I mean I’ve seen things which are what I’d call typical of the village. These are sights such as a donkey carrying shopping across the village square and a stray goat wandering the lanes in the middle of the village nowhere near the rural boundary. You get used to these kinds of sights as you smile at them and carry on with your day. I’ve had some typically village-style afternoons at the kafenion too, where Manolis told his story of being in Rhodes and ordering a pizza from a large pizza delivery firm only to still be waiting two hours later. Eventually, he rang the number on the flyer and spoke to someone only to find out they couldn’t find his address and his pizza was still in Athens. In Athens, malaka? A mix up of some sort and a humorous story that took a long time to tell and longer to laugh about.

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Another couple of typically village incidents happened on Tuesday. The first is just something you have to get used to; people stopping to chat outside your window when you’re trying to have a siesta. This was compounded by an accompanying screaming child. Later, Sotiris wandered by the bar with his usually cheery wave, but unusually, he wasn’t delivering from his supermarket. He wandered off up the lane and returned a while later, carrying something in the front of his t-shirt. After stopping for a chat with the neighbours, he wandered back past us, and we had to ask what he was carrying. Turned out to be a clutch of chicks someone had reported abandoned on the lane. There was no sign of the mother (or it had been run over or something), so he was asked to rescue them. I imagine they are now being brought up by a broody hen up at his farm, and in time, he’ll sell their eggs in his free-range bucket in his shop.

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All typically village, which is still rather quiet in the afternoons, and where everyone is wondering when the Brits we usually see at this time of year will be let out for good behaviour and be able to travel without being locked up on their return. Hopefully, by September, and although I doubt that will rescue many from the quiet season, it will certainly help see a few families through the winter. Meanwhile, temperatures are climbing towards 40 and above, the air is still, and the humidity is rising. We’ll soon have to open all windows and switch on all fans, and the men will be wearing vests beneath their shirts, tucked into their jeans, but, in summer, that’s typically village too.

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Day to day on Symi

The Children of the Night

The Children of the Night

‘Listen to them, the children of the night. What music they make.’ Dracula was talking about the wolves beyond his castle walls. My children of the night yesterday was actually only one, so a child of the night, or rather, early morning. Picture it:

I’m sitting there on the sofa with a cup of tea at 3.30 when I hear what sounds like a moth caught in a paper lampshade. Except the only light that was on was the one bulb in the sitting room ‘chandelier’, and there was no moth buffeting anything up there. The sound stopped, and I carried on reading the newspaper… and the sound started again. It then became a light buzzing noise, and a dark smudge weaved across the middle distance. It was a smudge because I have to take my glasses off to read, and without them, anything beyond a foot away might as well be a painting by Turner. Glasses on, and smudge becomes a cockroach flying about the room without so much as a by your leave. Well, we don’t want him moving in, and he’s quite big enough to carry his own luggage, so when he landed on the arm of the sofa, I approached, intending to give him a Subbuteo flick straight out through the open balcony doors, from whence he must have come as they’d been open all night. He must have sensed me coming because he took off on a journey to another part of the room, leaving me no choice but euthanasia. I do love the smell of Teza in the morning. Later, I shrouded him in kitchen paper and sent him to recycling.

Dawn happened not that long after and brought with it the pleasanter sounds of the children of the dawn. Not a horror film title as it might sound, but the blackbirds, sparrows and Tweety. That’s the name we’ve given to our personal swallow, who sits two feet away from the balcony on the telegraph cable. She pops back regularly to keep us up to date with neighbourhood news, someone of which is so far-fetched it’s hard to swallow. Get it?

Never mind. Here are some random photos, none of which feature roaches or, sadly, Tweety.

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Day to day on Symi

Boats and things

Boats and things

Standing at the window on Sunday afternoon, I saw a speedboat pulling people around on inflatable tires (or something, it was a distance away). The watersports place at Nos must be open, I thought, that’s good. Then I noticed the large umbrella was up at Petalo and saw a line of luxury yachts in the harbour. The Nikolaos X was in, the Spanos had come in and stayed, and the red ‘speedboat’ day boat was there too. There were also a few white sails out at sea. Things must be picking up.

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Later, the village was deserted. Well, it was five in the afternoon, and there were a few locals at the bars. Damianos from Georgio’s was saying they were getting some customers of an evening, but it’s a bit etsi-ketsi, and only some of the businesses in Yialos are doing a reasonable trade, so things need to pick up a lot more. You’re supposed to wear masks in public still, and definitely when on the bus, in a taxi or in the shops, but very few visitors (and locals) seem to be aware or bothered. We’ve been covid free since it began, bar one or two very limited cases that luckily led to nothing serious, and it would be good to keep it that way.

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Another luxury yacht came in on Monday morning and headed around to Nimborio just as I was heading up the hill for a quick walk. I was back by seven, by which time it was already up to 28 degrees. It’s due to get hotter soon, so if you are heading this way, be prepared.

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