I had an idea, on Friday evening, to take photos of various flags on boats in the harbour, so we could see how many countries were here. Then I ran out of light, but I took some.

We were down there to meet some friends from the Blue Star when it came in, only slightly late. But before we went to Taverna Xaris on the south side of the harbour, right next to the taxi rank, and very nice it was too. Good service, very attentive, good Greek food served with potatoes rather than chips which makes a very welcome change, and generous offers of free afters. No matter how much we declined we were still treated to a slice of cake and a glass of Samos sweet wine. And all a reasonable price. Thanks James.

We waited for the boat at Elpida’s kafeneion, a very popular place amount locals and visitors alike, and then, after greeting our friends, went to wait at Pacho’s (also very popular with locals and visitors) while they checked into the new Symi Centre apartments by the nautical museum and has a bite to eat at To Spitiko.

And so the weekend went on, as it does when friends visit. Visits to the house, meeting up at a kafeneion, lunch there, dinner here, walks around the village, I was well and truly done in by Sunday morning and couldn’t get the energy together to do anything else but read and listen to music. I also had a bad throat and headache so I must have picked something up while out and about. But enough of that! We are now officially a ‘No moan zone’ so please bear that in mind if you bump into us at work or out and about.

I did notice, while down in Yialos, that everything was running as normal, the place was busy, the harbour was packed with boats, new visitors and old friends alike were pouring in and the day boats and ferries were coming and going as usual. It was good to see so many flags from various countries, Germany, Spain, Turkey, St Vincent and the Grenadines, and elsewhere. Over the weekend, we also so a few refugees with their whole life in a bag, looking for somewhere to stay while they wait for the big boat on Wednesday. And that kind of puts the holiday atmosphere into perspective.

I spent some time on Sunday looking for flights as my nephew said he might be coming over in September (not sure if Symi is quite ready for that but…). Apparently Ryan Air is doing a flight for £5.00 or something though I couldn’t find it, and it would probably end up at £500.00 once you’d paid for each individual piece of clothing in your 20cm x 30cm baggage alowance, paid for your seat belt, put 20ps in the meter for your decompression, used the loo (cheques taken), paid for your breathing space, paid 50p a time to read the magazine, put down a deposit on a life jacket just in case, topped the thing up with four star, and promised the driver at huge tip at the other end. Easy Jet and Aegean were doing better and probably more trusted deals where you don’t have to bring your own fuel, so I pointed him in their direction.

Before that though, we have a few weeks off from visitors before Neil’s son returns to Symi for the first time in nine years, or something. So, on that note, I am going to put the house back in order, make the beds and be a happy little house husband before starting work on another draft of another book, as Cole Porter might have said had he written books instead of songs.

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So, let’s get up to date with Symi as it happens, or as it happened up until Monday morning, which is where we are now up to in our day to day blog from Greece. But fist, let’s start at Sunday morning where we left off.

Sunday we needed to get the rest of the rent money from the bank so we went down and took it out, no problem. I did have a sneak peek at some of the receipts in the bin and saw that people were still able to take out €60.00, where as in some places in Greece the banks had run out of €20 or €10, so only €50 was available.

After that there was time for some shopping and a quick look at ‘Symi Central’ from the outside. This is a new apartment place next to the Nautical Museum, where some friends will be staying on Friday. Looks nice, quiet and on the flat. We then went along to look at the polling station as Neil wanted some photos, possibly for The Guardian, to whom he had submitted some of the wedding pictures from Saturday. There were one or two people going in and coming out, but with only a couple of thousand people to vote and 12 hours do to it in, it’s never going to be that busy there.

And then onto the shops, avoiding the clock tower at Agios Yiannis which is cordoned off, I assume for repairs. Loads of fruit and veg at the supermarkets so we did some shopping and also got some Jack food, and then as it was nearly 11.30 it was Diet Coke Break time, but as that stuff eats through toilet bowls we went for the Greek beer option. (Neil had sold a couple of next year’s Symi Calendars  (as he had a very limited supply at home) and so we thought we would celebrate the new ‘Oxi Day’ (though we didn’t know it at the time) with a beer.) We watched the boats come in and unload the day trippers, chatted with folk, including Hugo and enjoyed a Sunday morning.

Later, finding no taxis, I assume they were busy with family visiting from Rhodes for the vote, we walked up the steps, with bags of shopping at 2.30 in the afternoon. Not recommended. But once there we discovered that The Guardian had used two of Neil’s photos for their web pages, and they used another two later on that day. All good publicity for Symi.

In the evening there was a concert on the steps, just down from our old shop and Neil got the photos you see here today. It was a good turn out and a great concert. It had been organised by a new group who are arranging cultural events and who are running on donations only. As the Symi Festival has kind of ground to a halt, this new group is doing what it can to keep live music and arts going for the people of Symi and those who visit every year. So, Bravo! But no, I have no intentions to play the piano in public. Ever. So I’ll be happily in the audience from now on.

And then Tuesday started with the referendum news – which I’d seen on the TV the night before – and off we go into the next round of question marks. I went up the mountain for a run and very nice it was too, and then got to work. So, I hope you enjoy the photos and I hope you have good day. Keep reading, keep supporting with the advert links and the books, tell your mates and all that, get your calendars and keep living the dream.

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It’s yesterday morning here on Symi, the country is voting in the referendum and, to be frank, I’m done with all the ‘What if?’ and ‘They should…’ and ‘No!’ and ‘Yes’ and ‘He’s lying,’ and ‘they should never have…’ and ‘If only,’ and so on. I have my opinions on what should happen but, as I can’t vote in this one, there’s no point trying to force them on others, and certainly no point in calling those who disagree ‘stupid’ or ‘ignorant’, ‘ill informed’ or just plain ‘wrong’, as I’ve seen some people do of late.

By the time you read this it will be all over bar the shouting, at least the vote will be. I reckon that on one side there will be years of hardship imposed by outside, and on the other there will also be years of hardship but at least it will be self-imposed. Let’s see what happens and, in the meantime, return to our usual programming. And, in today’s case, a set of photos taken over the weekend.

A weekend that started on Thursday with dinner at the taverna, went into Friday with the boys and Tina coming to the house in the evening for films, pizza and ice cream, and then into Saturday where I managed to write 7,500 words of the new book, ‘Straight Swap’ and now have only three scenes left to go. There was also a wedding on Saturday and a huge reception in the village square. We sat on the balcony listening to the music and trying to take photos of the view at night. Mainly unsuccessful.

We also put up some lights in the courtyard on Saturday, solar powered so they don’t cost anything, and they come on when it gets dark. Jack also went exploring for the first time in several weeks. He had been watching other cats from the balcony and then, when he saw the gate open, headed down there for a good look around. He even came back of his own free will to use his litter tray, which kind of defeats the object of having the big wide world to dig in, but there you go.

Sunday, well, it’s only 8.40 and I am getting this out of the way so I can get straight down to work tomorrow morning. But we’re heading into town later to get some decaf coffee and have a look around. Then there’s a concert tonight on the freshly painted steps of the Kali Strata which we hope to get to. Like all of these summer events though it doesn’t start until 21.00, which usually means 21.30 and that’s about the time I’m usually heading for bed, with the alarm set at 05.15, but I’ll see, we may make it.

And that was our weekend. I’ll drop in more photos during the week as the country enters the next phase of its mismanagement and keep you up to date with what we’re doing on Symi, and how the new book is going. Neil’s brother is visiting us this week so the days ahead could possibly involve beer.

Here are a few more photos from the weekend:

And two more from Neil who is a great wedding photographer, as we know.

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It’s going to be a fun weekend here on Symi, Greece. There’s a festival being held on the Kali Strata on Sunday, a concert by Alexandria Koniak, with Christos Serenes on the piano, organised by Ομιλός Αζιών Σύμις and starting at 21.00. Everyone is welcome  and it is all completely free.

Oh, and apparently there’s a referendum taking place as well, though it’s still pretty unclear exactly what’s being referendumed and what the exact question is. I did see a post online that said anyone who is registered to vote in the mayoral elections is able to vote in this, Greek or not, but that was only a fleeting post and I’ve not seen or heard any more about that. I’m assuming it’s Greek nationals only. I did look around for more information but I reckon what I saw was a rumour that was quickly scotched. Anyway, that’s also happing on Sunday and so Monday’s blog post should be interesting. (Unless I write it on Sunday morning in which case Tuesday’s post will cover any photos I get at the concert.)

Meanwhile, from some reason Symi seems unperturbed by the growing disaster. Maybe we’re lucky and day trippers are bringing in cash, though they don’t usually spend much here as they are often doing the small business busting ‘all inclusive’ to the extent of bring packed lunches, or having their meals included in their trip. But, as far as I’ve heard, people have been managing to get their money out, everyone is knuckling down and getting on with it, and in the traditional Symi way, putting on a big smile, opening arms wide to visitors and friends alike, and enjoying the fact that we’re alive.

We had a lovely meal in Georgio’s on Thursday with Jenine, Ian and the boys, and the boys are coming to us tonight (Friday) with their fairy godmother (Tina) for an evening on the balcony. Here are a few more shots from Yialos:

As I write, with my window open, I can hear the carriage bell ring as it goes around the harbour. I can also hear the engines of the boats coming in and out, the day ferries and the super yachts, and I can hear Greek music playing somewhere. Someone’s lunch smells good as the smell wafts in through the window on a lazy breeze and through the leaves of the massive fig tree I can see groups of people walking around the harbour enjoying the day.

Taxi boat Eirini (and the others) are going out to the beaches and back all day long.

Someone has to keep control of all the boats.

Look closely and you can see that the top deck is more or less full with visitors. 🙂

Here’s Neil again. Same shot as yesterday but he had a van coming out of his head in that one. Today it’s people.

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Lots of Symi photos today and a little backstory. We were out and about on Wednesday. It started off with a quick trip to the bank. You might be interested to know that the Alpha Bank gave me my money without quibbling, and the National Bank was issuing pensions only.

There was a small queue as the bank were only allowing people in a couple at a time I guess, to make things easier. Some tourists got caught up in the queue assuming it was for the ATM which is in the lobby. I just excused myself through and used the ATM there too. Working fine. And don’t think I was panic withdrawing – I only take out what I need. If everyone went bonkers and withdrew hundreds of euros (on their foreign accounts) there would be none left for those claiming their pensions inside the bank. Think before you withdraw (as the actress said…).

So, financial success, it was off to the post office to collect some solar lights for the courtyard, the pharmacy to collect something for Neil to shove up his nose or something, and while there I noticed that the pharmacy we used (there are two) was well stocked and selling Greek pharmaceuticals, like the one Neil bought and actually it was for his throat, and it worked brilliantly.

We had a wander around the back lanes where we noticed that the supermarkets were well stocked with supplies, and someone had even gone rather overboard with their beetroot rearing. Now that’s an enthusiasts sized beetroot of ever I saw one. (On the left in this picture.)

We then had a little more wandering time, having finished work and in the mood for a chill. So we went to Pacho’s and had the obligatory beer (brewed in Greece I believe so stocks are still doing well on that front, phew) and watched several hundred day trippers come in on and off of the Nikolaos X, the Symi and the Panagia Skiadeni.

Here are a few other observations from the last couple of days:

And, at the bars…

Warm welcome at The Old Markets hotel

And we can’t miss…

And, up in the village, the square prepares for Sunday’s Village Festival with all the chairs from the town square…

And new (and safer) railings.

Back tomorrow with more photos and things. Remember, if you want to support Greece, come on holiday here, and if you want to support us, use the search box, click the links/adverts (costs you nothing) and buy the books and calendars. Ta muchly.

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