There was a post on the Facebook Solidarity Symi page a couple of days ago letting us know that there has been an increase in the number of refugees arriving on Symi. The numbers are up, not as bad as elsewhere tough, and nowhere near the levels during the 2015 crisis, but still, these people need help. But: The charity (Solidarity Symi) no longer operates, and the authorities are doing what they can.
However, if you are on Symi, you can help by donating food and supplies via the supermarket in Yialos, Taxas (pronounced ‘Tahas’ or ‘Tachas’ with a soft ch, and not Tax-as, as it might read). Yiannis, the owner there, knows what’s needed. Unfortunately, there’s no way of assisting from abroad as yet. I’ve had a few messages asking what people can do from afar, but all I can tell you is to contact the Symi Solidarity page on Facebook. Even then, Andrew, who used to run it, is also working 24/7, as is everyone at this time of year and the charity isn’t there anymore, so he’s doing what he can from the goodness of his own heart. In other words, don’t hassle as it’s no longer his responsibility, in as much as it’s all of our responsibility to do what we can. I hope that makes sense
While that sinks in, here are a few photos from Yialos, taken on Monday.
Out and about in the village yesterday late afternoon and I noticed a couple of things that might interest you. First of all, the new cake shop that’s opened up where the fruit shop was last year. This is just along the main lane from the square towards Zoi’s taverna, and it’s open during regular shop hours. That’s regular Greek shop hours, don’t forget siesta time is when most shops close. (Roughly 14.30 to 17.00.)
And the reason for that siesta is the temperature. A neighbour recorded 44 degrees on their terrace on Monday, while we recorded 36 late in the afternoon. That was about that same as inside one of Sotiris’ freezers…
The freezer is in the process of being cleaned and aired. I was interested to see that it was as warm in there as it was outside – the freezer was turned off, by the way. And the other interesting thing I saw has been there for at least ten years. It’s an old ACS bag in the shop that used to be the ACS courier in Horio. I assume there’s nothing in it, but if you have been waiting over 10 years for a delivery, then it might well be inside this place. The guy who ran it moved off to Rhodes, I believe, and I reckon that was at least 2007, if not in 2005 or 2006. I wondered what had happened to my garden seed catalogue…
It looks like the warmer weather is back with a vengeance; 36 degrees in our courtyard on Monday, with the thermometer on a west-facing wall in the shade. I, as usual, was inside most of the day with a fan on me and the windows open. I don’t realise how hot it is until I leave the house. I intend to do that every day from today onwards, leave the house and not come back for an hour. I’ve been very lazy with my morning walks of late, getting up and straight into work which I don’t want to leave until it’s finished. By that time, it’s too hot to go out for a , walk up the hill, so I need to retrain myself to go at dawn, or just before. Certainly before it gets to 36 degrees.
While I’ve been working, I’ve been listening to the landlord and his decorator working downstairs. The ceiling of the flat below must be made up of our floorboards as I can hear everything. Ladders moving, talking, the occasional bodily sound; I hate to think how it would be if anyone ever moved in there. They’d hear our TV as if they were in the room with us, and we’d hear every intimate detail of their lives. I’m not sure how lucky he will be in renting it out, he’s had no-one there for over four years, but then it has been in a mess. Now, it’s being done up slowly, but it still remains not the nicest place to be. Last time I saw it, there was water pouring everywhere, and there’s a strange pipe that looks like a soil, pipe, running across the kitchen ceiling from somewhere to an unknown destination. I couldn’t work out where that was meant to go as it wasn’t coming from or to our bathroom above, as far as I could see. All very intriguing.
Interesting light in the sitting room. Looks like 1!
The chap working downstairs is also doing some odd jobs and called on Saturday to ask if we had anything he could borrow to cut down the vine. This comes from our courtyard and across the road (more across the road than across our courtyard actually), and it was ladened with grapes. They attract hornets who feast on the fermenting fruit, get drunk and get in the way, and it makes a right old mess on the road, so it needed cutting back. We have these loppers which are lent out more than we get to use them, and the chap was delighted. I was also able to lend him a ladder. In return, he asked he we wanted our vine cutting back. Very kind, but it’s the only shade we have, and there’s isn’t that much of it. On Monday, we were also expecting another round of plumbers to call and check out the water situation across the road, but so far, they’ve not been. It’s still all go at our place.
Found this photo of me and the nephew on Sesklia back in May.
There has been a fair amount going on out there in my big wide world that is Symi. Last week there were several name days and festivals, Agia Marina, Profitas Ilias and others. There have been some large ships in, including a massive, masted one called Flying Fox that looks like it will topple over at any moment. I was going to take a photo, but the Symi groups and pages on Facebook have that covered. Besides, I was watching it at night (early morning) and it was half-hidden by the house in front, so I thought I’d get it later. I turned around about ten minutes after that, and it was gone, slipping silently from the harbour at around five in the morning. And we had a brief encounter with a kitten. Well, two actually…
Rescue kitten in a basket
The water saga continues, only his time it was the landlord who wasn’t getting any coming in while we were, and both properties run on the same clock/pipes. I couldn’t work out why he wasn’t, all the pipes seemed logically arranged, all the taps were open (there are several on our side of the street to deal with), and there was no reason his water tank shouldn’t be filling up. He looked and told me it wasn’t. I asked Symi Property Services to pop up and advise/sort, which they kindly did on Friday. An inspection proved that what I’d suspected was correct; there was no reason the water shouldn’t be flowing to the house over the road. With a quick call across the street to the landlord on his terrace, SPS asked if he had water coming in, so he went and opened his tap and reported that yes, he did. (When I’d asked before, he’d not thought to open the tap, doh!) After SPS left, the landlord seemed to think I’d done something miraculous, told me to wait there on the doorstep, disappeared, and came back holding a kitten. He had three, he said. More, he was offering me the thing as some kind of payment. I politely declined and scurried back inside.
Tiny dot above blue house is an eagle
Elsewhere, we saw an eagle flying low over the harbour and over the house, but unfortunately, I only had my phone to hand, so in the photo it comes out as a tiny dot when in fact it was massive. Possibly a snake eagle, if I remember correctly; very impressive. We had a little owl close to the house the other morning being quite loud, and, as you can see, we have also been having some peaceful sunrises over the sea.
Anything else? Ah yes. Apparently the Symi Festival 2019 schedule of events has been published, but I’ve not found it yet. On Saturday, the Nikolaos X, one of the regular day boats from Rhodes, was on its way over when it came across a refugee boat with about 11 people on board, in trouble in open water. It was obliged by maritime law to stand by until help arrived, which it did eventually in the form of the Turkish coastguard, and only once they were on the scene could the ferry continue. There have been more refugees arriving at Symi but not in the numbers we had in 2015, although the number of those fleeing to Europe has increased this year and latterly this month. The Rhodes newspapers reported that the Symi authorities had recently arrested one Turkish boat owner for human trafficking. I think that’s about all my news for this Monday morning.
Hello. Here’s your collection of random photos taken recently on Symi. The first couple of shots show an incident that happened after the storm the other day. One of the Rainbow neighbours must have had a leak because he was emptying buckets of water out of his upstairs window. Luckily no-one was passing by beneath and got caught in it, unfortunately, though, a chap heading down the steps slipped on it and fell on the steps, just after Neil had warned him to tread carefully. A reminded that the steps are very slippery when wet, and one shouldn’t throw water onto the street. There were no permanent injuries, I hope.
Arabi was back for his usual at the barAnd held up foot traffic with a quick kipSymi and Rhodes featured on a Coke banner
