I finally got back to it yesterday, having a walk before I start my day, I mean. Up at five, out by quarter past as it was getting light, through the empty village and along the road. I only saw one truck, but I was deafened by the cockerels and birds in the Pedi valley and around the village. Back at home, I had to set about the day’s work in a slightly smelly fashion as we ran out of water on Monday. It usually comes in and fills our tank three days per week, but we’d missed days due to the bank holiday weekend. Luckily, there was a flush left in each of the toilets, and we had plenty of bottled water for cleaning teeth and making tea, but it’s amazing how quickly the washing up backs up, and how much we take water for granted until we don’t have it. It was on again on Tuesday, so the tank was filled, and we watered the garden as it was coming in, had showers and washed up so that when the town hall supply stopped, we still had a full tank. It should be in again today, and we should be back to normal. Meanwhile, here are some photos from yesterday.
We had fireworks and dynamite on Sunday night as celebrations of Pentecost continued, and we had a pleasant couple of hours with Yiannis at the bar for his birthday. There were visitors about, quite a few actually, all from other islands or the mainland, and on Monday morning, I even saw a yacht in the harbour. The new ferry, the Stavros, the Blue Star and the Dodecanese Seaways catamarans have been coming and going, so the island is being well served for deliveries. I heard that several tavernas were open and doing good weekend business in Yialos, including Pantelis and the International. Up in the village, Noufris tells me that Georgio’s is opening again on Saturday, and Katsaras down in Pedi has been open for a while.
One of the first things I read on Monday morning concerned a beach bar on Mykonos that has been heavily fined and shut for 60 days because it flounced distancing rules on its beach and had sunbeds too close together, so that’s something for seafront tavernas, bars and beaches to look out for. We’ve not had the usual hordes of tax inspectors or IKA officials visit yet, that I know of, but that’s hardly surprising as nothing has been open. I doubt many people have been taken on for the seasonal work a lot of people rely on for income. But, with the weather finally warming up again, but not as hot as that flush we had a few weeks ago, and with visitors from other islands calling in, perhaps some people will be able to make a living or part of one. Of course, it was a special weekend, so we can’t expect every day to be like this from now on, but it was good to see, late on Sunday evening, that the village cafes were in use and there was a bit of a buzz, if not yet the sound of a whole swarm.
Let’s go up the Kali Strata… A couple of years ago one of these blog posts was about ‘Let’s all go down the steps (‘ ave a moussaka)’ sung to that old music hall song (which never originally had ‘have a banana’ in it, by the way), and today I thought we’d go up the steps in photos. Except I can’t find a song to mess with that fits, apart from ‘Let’s all go up the steps (‘ ave a souvlaki)’, but there’s nowhere doing souvlakis up here, you’d have to go down to Yialos for that, and if you go down to Yialos today, you’re sure of a big surprise. (Repeat first part of line and end with ‘you’d better go in disguise.’) You’re not, actually, I’m just being silly. But if you want a souvlaki, then there are now places open in the harbour. In fact, over the weekend, there were visitors using the cafes and tavernas, busses and taxis.
These were Greek visitors from other islands coming to celebrate Pentecost at Panormitis, and elsewhere. I don’t have photos as I was at home all weekend and haven’t been out very much at all of late, but I am popping out this afternoon (Sunday) because it’s Yianni Rainbow’s birthday, and it’s one with an 0 on the end. So, basically, my news for Monday, written on Sunday, is that I’ve not been doing much, but Symi has had some visitors for the first time in ages, and I’m showing some random photos of the Kali Strata. A bit of a mixed blog, if you ask me, but it’s 6.00 on Sunday morning, and I want to get back to writing my story.
And here we are heading off into another weekend. To celebrate, here’s a collection of shots taken from the balcony mainly at sunrise, and others to keep you in touch with the island, from our point of view, at least. There is definitely an air of ‘Empty chairs at empty tables’, as noticed when I called at the bar the other day for an ice cream. By the same token, however, the music was playing from Lefteris’ kafeneion, so it was a case of ‘And the band played on,’ keeping spirits up and providing background atmosphere. If you’re still not sure what may/may not be happening with your trip to Symi this year, and you want a well-written and informative update on current restrictions to and from Greece, you should read Adriana’s article Covid confusion and Empty Cafes. This explains everything you need to know as of June 3rd. The situation is still changing from day to day, and last I heard, Greece’s measures can revert to strict lockdown at any time to prevent more cases should the need arise. And talking of arising, here are the photos of the sunrise and other things to see you through the weekend.
I just went to my Amazon Author page to look at something and noticed that a stray book had slipped in unnoticed. These author pages are where Amazon customers can see an author’s complete listing of publications, so mine has the four Symi books and my thrillers, plus some older things that occasionally make me €0.70 when sold or read in Kindle Unlimited. I know I’ve written a lot in the past few years, but my skills don’t run to German, sadly, and “Zauberberg für Anfänger: Roman” is not by me. Apparently, the title means ‘Magic mountain for beginners’, and after a quick Google translate I learned that the story concerns a man meeting the love of his life on a plane between NY and LA, but then loses ‘the precious side.’ I thank that’s a mistranslation of something vital, I assume he lost her phone number and goes looking for her – you can read for yourself if you read German, and whether you like the book or not, it is not by me.
Symi, Yialos
Nor is a book about learning Greek which has nothing to do with actually learning Greek, but has something to do with America. This was written by another James Collins, and I once got a load of his publicity stuff delivered to Symi by mistake. Not by my mistake, but the publisher’s. I tried to raring to send it back, but no-one was interested.
Symi, Horio to Pedi view
Anyway, the point of all this was to say I noticed I’d sold a few more copies of Symi 85600, the first of four books about moving to and living on, Symi. The early ones were put out there during the very early days of indie-online publishing (we were are pioneers back then), the second one ‘Carry On…’ comes with photos, the third ‘Village View’ is a diary of a complete year on Symi, 2013, and ‘Stuff and Nonsense’ is a bit more autobiographical and made up of old diaries from early and pre-Symi days, other travel stories and some bits and pieces. Maybe it’s the lockdown, but Symi 85600 remains popular and, it seems, is bringing a little bit of Symi to distant readers who, perhaps, won’t be able to get here this year. If you know of any, send them the link; all my books are available on Amazon in Kindle, print and Kindle Unlimited.
