Hugo has turned up alive and well, but with non-working phones and laptop, hence the silence from him and concern from everyone else. His family are very grateful for everyone’s attempts to locate and assist, though I fear he might now be in deep doo-dah from his daughter and wife. Still, good news.
While we’re familying and not having much time or brain space for blogging, here are a few photos of the last couple of days to give you something to look at.
Good morning. Today, I am simply copying and pasting two posts from Facebook which many readers may have already seen, but I am sure there are also many who have not. I know nothing other than what’s in the posts. The details of how you can help are included. Hopefully, this post will be redundant by the time you read it, but if not, please read and get in touch with Hugo’s daughter if you have any information.
APPEAL – Hello Hugo ‘s friends (I’m his daughter fyi). We have lost contact with Hugo over the last 3 days (he’s is in the Ukrainian alone on holiday). He was in touch every day before this but we now can’t reach him and we are very worried. If you have had any contact with him (email, phone etc.) since Saturday can you please send me a message on here [Facebook – Arwen Tyler] or email me – a.i.i.tyler@leeds.ac.uk. Many thanks for your help.
And:
Our friend Hugo Tyler has been missing since last Saturday while he was traveling in the Ukraine (Odesa was his last contact). He sent his daughter an email on Saturday which is the last time she heard from. His phone had WiFi signal until Monday and he has 2 phones and a laptop with him. If anyone has heard from him since Saturday or if he’s happened to mention the hotel name he was saying at please let his daughter know (a.i.i.tyler@leeds.ac.uk) or the Greek or UK police. Many thanks.
I’ve not shown you any photos of Yialos for a while as I don’t get down there much at this time of year. Some were taken from the balcony, others while pottering around last week. Meanwhile, up in the village, we at our house are looking forward to the arrival of the family on Thursday. It will be the first time I’ve met my grandson, so that’s something special. The temperature has stabilised a little, with cooler early mornings, but it’s still hot in the sun, of course. It’s also been windy in the evenings. I’m not sure if that’s the Meltemi, but it’s welcome in a ‘close your shutters before they are ripped off’ kind of way. I now need to dust everything in the house – again – but that’s hardly a high price to pay for cooler air. Anyway, without much news, here are a few random shots taken recently in or of Yialos.
I felt cold on the balcony yesterday morning. Mind you, it was 4.00 a.m., and there was a wind blowing. The temperature was probably in the high 20s, but I had to put on a t-shirt. We were both out on the road before the dawn, which is happening around six o’clock these days. Neil has this routine of going down the Kali Strata and then back up the road, and then reversing the direction and doing the circuit again the other way, sometimes jogging down. That’s not for me. I did the steps the other morning, and my knee was painful for the rest of the day. When I do three miles up the road and down, which is all slope and not steps, it’s fine. So I will give the ‘Kali’ a rest of a while unless I have to use it.
We are preparing the house for the family visit which starts on Thursday. This has involved removing a bed which isn’t ours from the spare bathroom where the ceiling paint has flaked and dusted off, hoovering the ceiling and floors, washing it down and putting the mattress outside to air while the frame goes up in the mousandra in pieces. We also need to buy three more pillows today; hopefully we can find them in town, otherwise, we’ll have to use cushions, and we don’t have many. Then we need to find another mosquito repellent machine, another fan (we just bought one from the Chinese shop, and on setting three, it’s so fast the thing reversed across the counter), and finding suitable sheets. It will all be done in time for when we meet the Sebeco from Rhodes on Thursday morning. If the blog goes ‘dark’ and I miss days, you will know why.
Meanwhile, the festival is well underway with dance shows and plays, music and talks. There are loads of visitors from Athens and elsewhere, our neighbours are back from France for their three or four weeks, and the island has become the holiday home to many from Italy and Greece, which is nice to see.
I’m back from Rhodes after my two-day visit for various things. I went over on the Sebeco, the ANES boat that now does several crossings a day. This trip takes about one-hour twenty and, from Symi, you land at the commercial harbour, the one between Kolona and Akandia. If you like, it’s the one where the cruise ships go. (See the photos, and yes, the boat does tend to rock a little when you go over the rough patch in the middle of the crossing. It’s like being on a very large speed boat.) From there it was an easy 20-minute walk around to Mandraki where I had booked a room at the Savoy hotel. It’s a simple place, basic, clean enough, could do with new locks on the doors, and I’d put it somewhere around a three-star. The staff were pleasant enough though looked rather bored, and their breakfast is adequate. It was also cheaper than my usual hotels and right in the heart of things if you have business in the new town.
I took care of my appointments and shopping before heading to Napoleon’s for a moussaka for dinner and then spent some time at the Plaza bar because it’s comfortable, cheap and friendly. On Friday, after a couple of appointments, there was time for a little more shopping, each bout of it followed by a return to the room to drop bags and have another cooling-off shower before heading out again. I finally collected my bags and wandered through Mandraki via the Symi Café to say hello to Irini and catch up on the news, and then wandered into the Old town for lunch. I stopped, again, at Nimmos, a taverna right next to Akandia gate and only 10 minutes’ walk to the Blue Star quay where I was to catch the ferry back. Nimmos Taverna is run by Aris who used to work at Aris taverna in Symi. He now works at his own taverna with his son and a few other cheerful staff, and as always, I was made welcome. I like pausing there because it breaks my walk to Akanida and the boat is not far from your table, so you don’t feel you have to rush, and there’s not so far to go after you’ve eaten. In the past, Aris has offered me a lift to the boat on his bike, but I declined as I don’t do motorbikes any more, and the walk helps digestion after a Caesar salad, or a carbonara.
Back on Symi, I was lucky enough to catch a lift up the hill. I wouldn’t have minded the walk up through Pitini (the most direct path to Horio) with my rucksack, by then heavy with purchases, but it was still in the high 30s and I wold have arrived looking like a drowned rat. Symi is currently hosting the summer festival with a large concert and a headline act last Thursday, other concerts both pop and classical, a play and talks and music this week, another concert last Saturday, and church festivals lined up through August too. There are banners posted around Yialos and Horio, and maybe elsewhere, telling you in Greek and English what is on, what time and, for a nice change, where. We used to rely on the Tannoy system to make the announcement during the day, but now you can see the venue in advance.
And so, back to the work routine for a couple of days, but after Wednesday things may be disrupted for a week as we have some family coming to stay, and I will meet my grandson for the first time. Very excited about that, but wishing the water tank hadn’t sprung another leak (don’t get me started). I am sure we can manage on 500 litres between six of us for a few days as long as we don’t shower for longer than two minutes each, and the drips from the leak are being caught in a bucket so I can use the water on the plants and not waste it. Hey ho, off we go!
