Hello, I’m back

It’s a glorious warm autumn morning here on Symi as I wake up bleary-eyed and ready to do battle with the admin and chores and all that jazz. Bleary-eyed because I set my alarm for 4.15 so I could ring Neil in Rhodes to make sure he was up and ready for his flight. The hotel was also asked to call him (which they did as I was speaking to him) but we had a backup plan in place because the morning before, the night porter had rung us at 6 a.m. to ask if we had booked a wake-up call. I was as polite as possible and said no, but it didn’t bode well for the next day, or for the person who didn’t get their call, or for everyone else in the hotel who was rung while he tried to find the person that actually wanted waking up. I also had Mr Box in New Zealand (11 hours ahead) give a call to make sure, and between us all, he was up in time for his taxi and flight which was at 6.40.

This morning I am off down to Yialos as I have a couple of things to do and will then be catching up on washing and so on, the usual household chores, before settling down to work for the afternoon. The daily walks will begin again tomorrow. We did plenty of walking in Rhodes and were lucky enough to be taken out for a drive to Filerimos, the monastery near the old and new airports with stunning views. There will be more photos in time, but here are some to keep you going.

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Symi Saturday Photos

The temperature has dropped, the duvet is on, the shutters shut against the north wind and there’s a real feeling, in our house at least, that autumn has slipped into winter overnight. I expect things will warm up again for a while and it’s just one of those passing weather fronts. Meanwhile, Friday was the name day for Dimitris, and we were meant to be going to one of the festivals. However, last minute and rather urgent business came up (to do with money so very urgent) and that had to be sorted on Friday before I go away on Monday. Maybe we will finally make it next time as we’ve been meaning to go for years now.

So, to warm me up, I thought I’d post some photos from back in warmer days to give you something to look at over the weekend.

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Wet and Windy

In case you are following this week’s scintillating weather updates from Symi… We did have rain on Wednesday as forecast, and it was heavy for a while. We also had a power cut in our part of the village, only for a short while, and another one later in the evening when we were saying goodbye to departing friends at the Rainbow. It’s always a fun atmosphere when you’re inside and plunged into darkness. Yiannis lit a candle, a couple of us used the torch on our phone, and just as we were settling in for a dark time, the power came back on. Such are the highlights of a Symi winter.

Yesterday dawned cloudy and a bit colder, and the wind (as I write) is forecast to get up to force seven, but it’s still quite calm now apart from some showers. That’s just as well as I have to go to Yialos to pick up a package and but some boat tickets. Anyway, as I’m rushing a bit, here are a few more shots from Wednesday.

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750 Feet Above Sea Level, Apparently

Still cloudy, a few spots of rain on Tuesday, forecast showing more later today (Wednesday) and windy later tomorrow night but it keeps changing. It’s still warm enough to be outside, though I am no longer in shorts, and we’ve started to hang the drapes to keep out the drafts, paint the bathroom roof against leaks, talk about finding the duvet, and where did I put those heaters?

I trotted up to the monastery again yesterday; three miles and a rise in altitude of roughly 400 feet. According to an app I have on the phone, To Vrisi is at 750 feet above sea level, and the house is roughly at 350 feet but who’s to say if that’s accurate. I do know that it’s uphill all the way for one and a half miles, and then joyously downhill again afterwards. I came home to find Neil was out on his walk as he finished work later than me. No idea where he’s gone.

And talking about that… Yesterday as you read this was Neil’s last day at the bar for the season. That’s about seven months, seven days a week with no day off. He only does a couple of siesta hours per day but imagine what the all-day and all-night people who work in tavernas and shops etc., must be feeling. The end is in sight, and they can think about having a day off. We’re taking a couple of days off next week (so no blog for a few days). I think I’ve mentioned it, I’m in Rhodes for two days, and then Neil’s away for three weeks, slightly over, on family visits while I come home to write books and stuff. I’ll be heading off to Athens on the boat around 17^th November for a couple of days there, and then we will be heading back, again on the Patmos on an overnight trip, arriving here at around 5.30 on a Wednesday morning. That’s going to be a fun trek up the steps with luggage in the dark. But that’s in the future, for now, I’ll stop rambling, add some images and get on with something else.

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Heading for silence

Well, maybe not total silence but we’re definitely heading for a quieter time. There were few visitors around in the village square yesterday afternoon, and a few still here with only a couple more days to go of their expended summer holidays. There are fewer boats in the harbour, at least at the end of it that we can see from our balcony, and although we’ve not had bad weather yet, it is expected soon. Mind you, it was also expected a while back and never really materialised.

I am looking at one forecast (Windfinder), and it’s showing rain right about now (Tuesday morning). Looking out, I can see the sky is a little cloudy, but it doesn’t look like rain. I’ve just come back from my three-mile walk up to the monastery and back, and everything was calm if overcast. The forecast is only showing a few mm of rain anyway, and it’s still warm, in the early to mid-twenties, with very little wind. Wednesday looks calm, maybe damp, but Thursday is showing high winds up to 7Bf and from the north-west, so the temperature is going to drop. Meanwhile: Viking, rising easterly, moderate, 3 – Forties, easterly, holding, good – Forth, Tyne, West Dogger: Westerly or northwesterly 4 or 5, occasionally 6 at first. Slight or moderate. Fair. Good…

That was the (yUK) shipping forecast which, incidentally, used to be read by someone I worked with, an actress who appeared on The Archers as a character from south London. She was a right old ‘dogger’ (no offence, Celia). When not putting on her ‘saff-Lundun’ accent, she read the forecast with clarity and was a very well-spoken and charming young lady and an excellent actress. But that’s an aside. I had a look to see if we had similar shipping areas around Symi and what I found was a little worrying. Symi, on the map I saw, came under area 8 of Turkey, whereas Rhodes was area 22 of Greece. The only other Greek island that came under the Turkish shipping-weather map was half of Lesvos, but I like to think we are safely in GRC22, from Karpathos to Rhodes, although we’re just beyond it.

Anyway, that was all apropos nothing but filling white space. I’m just back from my walk, going to have breakfast and then get on with a book or something.

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