Walking and wondering

Yesterday, we managed another morning walk in our attempt to get back into the routine while the weather is good. The day before, I’d gone up through the village, past the museum, out onto the top road and up, and yesterday, I headed off up the hill and out towards To Vrisi. I wasn’t listening to music this time, I was listening to the birds and the natural sounds of the hillside; goats scrambling about, that kind of thing. I was met on the path by Arabi the sheepdog (mainly a goat-dog) and his assistant, and later saw them on the way back. It’s a very sociable path.

I decided to come back through the upper village, so walked up to Periotisa and then down, passing the mules who were already at work, and bumping into Yianni Rainbow who was setting off to visit his mother before his morning walk. We chatted about his neighbour’s new dehumidifier, and his own, and how valuable they are at this time of year due to damp and condensation inside the houses. Our dehumidifier is an open window, but I am reminded that I need to wipe down and bleach the bathroom ceiling again before it gets too bad.

The weather has been good, but at the back of my mind is our trip to Athens in March. The plan is to get on the boat on the Wednesday of the week we go and be in Athens on the morning of our afternoon flight to London. Now, I am wondering if we should go on the Monday of that week and have an extra two days in Athens just in case… At least then we would have a fallback should there be any worries with the weather that week, leaving ourselves time for the Wednesday boat, or to somehow get to Rhodes and fly up if all else fails. Dithering, but might consider it seriously later. As long as we are at Heathrow by a certain time on a certain day to fly to Canada… It’s weeks away yet, so there’s plenty of time to alter the schedule of the European leg.

That’s my early morning thought-clearance process out of the way. Now I must get on with some work.

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No news

A few more shots from around the village today. We are waiting for bad weather, though neither Wind Finder or Poseidon forecast any rain here. The news is that storms with ‘red rain’ and Sahara dust are on their way to the south of the country, but there’s no sign of it yet. Let’s hope it misses, I’ve only just been able to start catching up on the washing. It’s not lack of water (makes a change at this house) it’s lack of drying weather and sunshine in the courtyard, but we will get there.

There’s also a lack of news on my part, so I’ll leave you with the photos and get back to my editing.

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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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