New lodger

We seem to have a new lodger. You might remember Thomas A Basket who stayed with us last winter, mainly in the laundry basket, well, now it seems, we have another ‘help-yourselfer’ taking advantage, this time of the courtyard table. As you can see, there’s still enough sun around for sunbathing, as long as you are wearing a fur coat, and tabletops are the place to be seen.

This does mean, however, that we will have to shut the doors when we are not in one or other part of the house, to prevent bin inspections and ad-hoc use of the furniture or bathroom arrangements, you understand.

It is still warm enough to sit with the balcony doors open in a north-facing house, as long as there is no wind, and I can still have my tea out there when I get up, listen to the first birdsong of dawn, the sea lapping at the quay in the harbour, and the last of any party-goers going somewhere else, though that is less frequent these days now that some bars are closing or have closed for the winter and there are fewer boats in. Yes, there are still some sailing boats about. A mid-sized cruiser was in the other day with a party of Americans, and there have been some yachts with sails doing real sailing around the bay and mooring overnight in Yialos. It’s generally quiet though, as, at the moment, much of the island’s activity is centred on Panormitis where the three-day festival begins today.

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Bar Gossip

Well, it’s not really gossip, but… After a rather brilliant late lunch at home yesterday, cooked by Neil and shared with a guest, we were invited to the Rainbow Bar for a drink to help Yianni celebrate the birth of his sixth grandchild, his fifth granddaughter, born to his son Dimitris and his wife a day or so ago. As you can see, there were silly shenanigans going on, but there were also flowers, wine and congratulations all round. And talking of all round, you will notice that the tables have had their corners circled, rather than squared, and, to my mind, are now much more stable.

Stable tables aside, the Panormitis festival is about to get underway. We were on the balcony earlier as the Blue Star came in at around 5.45, disembarking a stream of cars. Presumably, people coming from Athens and the islands to attend the festival which starts proper tomorrow. I’m not sure what the weather holds in store, but we were sitting outside the bar last night, the thunderstorm of the other morning has washed everything clean, it’s still warm enough to have the balcony doors open for the morning at least, and a very pleasant time to be on the island. And a slightly bonkers one too:

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First weekend

The first weekend of the winter season went off well. A lovely, long day at home writing and pottering about on Saturday, and an afternoon/evening with the godson on Sunday which included a barbeque, dining outside, carving a butternut squash (in the absence of a pumpkin) and catching up on the news.

Monday has dawned a little cloudy and cooler with a grey sea but no sign of bad weather yet, though I believe it is coming. This week sees the Panormitis festival between 7^th and 9^th, and already the monastery is preparing. The fifth-year high-school class has been down there setting up their souvlaki stall. The 5^th class runs this each year to help raise funds for their annual school trip, and the class do everything themselves from arranging the pitch to the ordering, serving and clearing up. It’s a real team effort with no adults in charge, from what I’m told, and every time I’ve seen it and used it, it’s been well organised and has run smoothly. Nice souvlakis too.

There will be other stalls in the market, dancing and of course the religious observances. The ferry and catamarans are calling into Panormitis rather than Yialos for the week, though I’ve not checked the timetable, and I’m only going on what usually happens, so trips to Rhodes from this end of the island have to be done on the Blue Star, Monday, Wednesday and Friday, else it’s a trip to the other end on the bus and a boat from there.

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Winter shopping

I’ve had a few people over the summer ask me the traditional questions, ‘What’s Symi like in the winter?’ ‘Are the shops open?’ and so on, so today I turned my mind temporarily to winter shopping on Symi. By ‘winter shopping’ I mean day-to-day rather than souvenirs and the like. The simple answer to ‘Are the shops open?’ (apart from replying, No, we starve), is, Yes, the ones you need are, at any rate. Supermarkets, pharmacies, household gods building supplies, shoe shops, clothes, butchers, bakers, just as you would expect.

Up in Horio, only a couple of tavernas/cafes close for the winter, everything else is open, thus we have three supermarkets, two bakers, two cake/sweets shops, a kiosk, the corner shop with its iconic sign, ‘Cigarettes, Beers, Painkillers’, butcher, herbs, flowers/garden, building supplies, clothes shops x 2, hairdressers and household goods – and anything else I’ve forgotten. If there’s anything else you need, like boat tickets, post office, bank, pharmacy, etc., then it’s a trip ‘down town’ by foot or bus. But overall, we’re well covered.

You do have to watch out for fresh supplies during times of bad weather when the supply boats may not get here, but generally, you can find most of what you need. That is, as long as you’re not on an ackee, rambutan and mangosteen diet or anything equally as pretentious. As for the cost of living, well, I’m the world’s worst shopper as I’ll go into the supermarket psyched up to spend muchly on what I need for the week and come out with what I can get away with for that day. I do sometimes shop in advance, usually when the husband is supervising me. For example, the other day, we went to the butchers and bought eight large chicken breasts and a kilo of beef mince, and that came to €20.00. Half a kilo of mince has done us four meals so far, with the inclusion of a few veg, the other half will do four more, and the chicken will do at least another eight (12 if made in a casserole/stew). So, around 14 to 16 meals for €20.00, plus the minimal cost of the veg and additions. So, yes, you can shop, and it doesn’t have to cost you a lot.

Obviously, some things are expensive, and more so here than in other parts of the world, which is probably true for anywhere that imports goods from abroad. So, you cant buy Tesco’s own brand baked beans for tuppence a can (yippee!), but you can buy the Greek-company version for much less than the Heinz. You end up eating more fresh food and preparing it thanks to a lack of ready-meals and processed rubbish, though the pot noodles are an occasional treat and much appreciated by workers on building sites and in the hills during the winter. Another thing you can’t easily do during winter is plan dinner parties. ‘Sandra! Do come for duck and asparagus terrine with lashings of d’espinola sauce, and we will have a Vienetta with our ’76 Cognac reserve before the Serbian Pule…’ Yeah, well, forget that, even if there was such a thing as d’espinola sauce. You say, ‘Come for dinner, and we’ll have whatever we can find on the day.’ At least, that’s how we do it.

Anyway, I should get on and let you get on too. Btw, the photos today have nothing to do with the subject matter, it’s all I could find.

Footnotes:

A Vienetta as a 70s/80s blast, “The original Viennetta was an Italian product comprising layers of vanilla ice cream with sprayed-on layers of compound chocolate. The layers of ice cream were extruded, one after another, onto trays sitting on a moving belt.” Sounds delightful.

Pule is the world’s most expensive cheese. Hailing from Serbia, it costs roughly $575 per pound. It’s made from donkey’s milk.

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Symi Saturday Photos

A few random shots for the weekend. If you were wondering what the Panagia Skiadeni image is all about, yesterday was its last trip of the summer season so as it left it turned a circle in the harbour with its horn sounding before setting off to Rhodes. I think it will be serving Panormitis for a while over the festival time. Have a good weekend.

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