Around here, there’s always something new going up or something old being done up. For the past year and a half (maybe more), we’ve had a little Tonka Toy dumper truck shifting rubble from A to C via B (B being just outside our window). This is to remove building rubble from a ruin lower down and away from the lane. To make things cheaper for the project, the developers built wooden and metal-rod ramps over several sets of steps leading to the property, and these are now dangerous to walk down, thanks to the metal supporting rods being an inch higher than the planks. The same arrangement also rattles whenever anyone drives a motorbike over these newly found shortcuts to their houses, because covering steps with ramps only leads to a deeper infiltration of mopeds into the so-far unreachable parts of the village. You never used to see parked bikes much further from the ‘main’ road than a few feet; as close to the driver’s destination as possible, but stopped by the first set of steps. Now, you can drive all the way into Ag Athanasios and beyond, and thanks to the ramps now near us, halfway down to Yialos below Lemonitisa, a place that was previously unreachable.

We’ve become used to the relentless chug and puff of the little digger/carrier thing, which carries about half a mule-load each time it growls up the slope, past the front door and to the patch of ground nearby where the rubble is dumped. Then, it comes back empty, trundles past the bedroom window and down again, and there’s a lull before the process starts again. I guess it’s cheaper that way than hiring the mules (I’ve only heard one braying this year and not seen any others), and I can only wonder how many more months or years this is going to go on for. We’ve got used to it, but I’m glad I’ve not paid an exorbitant amount to holiday nearby.

On the other side of the coin, this non-stop building work, for which all islands are now well known, I expect, leads to new ventures for some. Such as this new/old place:

I’ve not stayed there, of course, there’s no need. I don’t know who built it, but I assume it’s to do with the Village Hotel (or it’s been sold on to someone else) because it’s behind the hotel. Rather, it’s the old part of the hotel that’s not been in use for a while. It’s now done up and ready to receive visitors, which it probably already has. I had a quick look online, and it’s charging around €100 a night for a ‘budget double room’ right in the centre of the village, and the rooms look very nice too. I guess that’s not a bad price for a night in July.

When we arrived here to live and needed a place to stay for a few nights while we found a house (it was relatively easy in the greed-free days before Airbnb), we were quoted €30.00 per night, but that was nearly 25 years ago. I notice that during August, the price rises to roughly €130 a night. The price includes an ‘airport’ shuttle, but I think that’s Booking.com’s generic term. It would, of course, be a ferry shuttle. You can find all the details on that site and elsewhere.

This new place (new to me at least) is opposite another revamp: the Windmill Restaurant which is now open again and serving traditional Greek fare. I passed by in the morning, so the outside terrace was closed and left fallow, as it were, for the night/morning. Therefore, my photo doesn’t give any hint of the warm atmosphere it must have in the evening, but at least you know to check it out when you next come this way.

So, here we are with another day of truck trundling to ignore, and loads of more new accommodation for visitors to stay in. There are so many now, I seem to pass a new one every day. ‘Someone’s Symi Villa’, ‘Someone’s Symi House’, ‘Someone’s Symi-View-House Villa…’ Tiny one-beds or studios that used to be shops, a storeroom or granny’s flat downstairs, are now available for visitors to enjoy the latest in traditional island Ikea furniture and suchlike for city-centre prices… Sorry, don’t mean to be cynical, but this Airbnb bubble has got to burst at some point. I only hope people can recoup their outlay in time. I also hope ‘they’ get rid of the lethal ramps once the building work has finished nearby, but I doubt it. The new route to ten feet nearer to home has already become a popular racetrack for someone heading homewards at three in the morning…