Well, that weather has been a bit of a let-down, so far at least. It’s Thursday midday and the wind has died down and we’ve not had that much rain. I was hoping to get some more free water in the sterna before the summer really kicks in. Perhaps things will worsen later and I will be in luck.

But I am sure those folk coming over on day trips don’t want the weather to turn bad. The day trips have already started, and have been going on for a few weeks now. But this isn’t the usual fleet of Nikolaos X and the others, this has been determined explorers via Dodecanese Seaways coming across to see what’s open on Symi. Not a lot, but getting more each day.

And on that note, I’ve been contacted by the Symi Nautical and Folklore Museum down in Yialos telling me it will be open again in a few days. I need to get in touch and find out some more information though. I am assuming this is the nautical museum at the back of the town square, by the town hall. The village folklore museum is up towards Agia Triada and I’ve not been past for a while so don’t know the state of play as yet. But no doubt when I hear more about either or both I will add something here for regular readers and potential visitors to learn more about our museums.

So, trips over have started, things are opening up again for the summer, and we already have regular repeat visitors back. All we need now is a bit of stable sun and less of this cold wind and gloomy skies. It’s not been like last year at all. By this time last year we were out regularly on morning walks in the sun, up and down the mountain like a fiddler’s elbow and back and forth to Pedi regularly. It’s far too cold, windy, or wet at the moment to get out and about as much as we did last year. We’ve done what we can when we could and that’s my story and I am sticking to it.

We will be on ‘Big Friday’ when you read this, with a day of sever fasting and death bells, the lambs get led to the slaughter (if they’ve not already been dispatched) we get that ‘silence of the lambs’ effect when all the nearby bleating is suddenly noticeable by its absence and there are solemn church services. The communities dress the bier and the effigy of Christ is taken from the cross and paraded, the churches are draped in black and the service is very moving.

Later, on Saturday, we will be in for the big bangs and then, after midnight the celebration of the resurrection, with a big family day on Sunday, the burning of Judas and possibly a firework display. So, a festive weekend lies in store and Symi celebrates Orthodox Easter.

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Season of rattling shutters. Another storm coming in today, apparently. It’s started already, with high winds rattling the shutters early this morning, the forecast is for high wind and some rain, and there’s been talk of a shipping ban… Yes, a shipping ban, not a ‘shopping’ ban as reported yesterday. Getting struck by a shopping ban when on Rodes, how however I accidentally wrote it; a classic Symi Dream typo for your collection.

So, anyone who came over on the big boat last night was lucky to have caught it; if this weather carries on it will be grounded somewhere, as will the ‘Spanos’ boats. I’ve not yet had a look to see the state of play there, but I can see a small fishing boat heading back in to Yialos as the dawn breaks. Well, no so much breaks as slowly falls apart behind the heavy cloud. It’s all a bit grey out there and I am happy I don’t have anywhere to go today.

Last night, driven by sheer laziness, we went to Georgio’s for supper. There’s not a lot available at this time of year. We’d asked the other day (did I tell you this?) if there were any brizolas on (chops). Only to be told, ‘No, it’s Lent, no chops. We have lamb or goat.’ It was the same last night, though there was some chicken but that was being saved for today because the weather was due to turn bad. There’s a reason in there somewhere. So we had some kolokethokeftethes (probably a typo in there somewhere) which are courgette fritters, some keftethes, meatballs, and some patatas, potatoes. Simple and did the trick.

And we sat with returning visitors, the first returners of the season who have come for two weeks over Easter. I know others have arrived as well, and it feels a bit odd to be thinking that ‘summer’ has started again. It hasn’t, not if you look out of the window, but you know what I mean. It’s about to get going.

Anyway, all that was followed by a night of broken dreams thanks to the cat who has now taken to sitting on my head at five in the morning, or earlier, and thanks to the rising wind knocking the shutters about. Which is where we came in and where I must leave as I have things to do.

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The sad news is that the helicopter seen the other day, and the boat, were looking for survivors after a boat of refugees tried to make it across from Turkey to Symi. There were some fatalities. The survivors are now at the police station having paperwork seen to and will (probably) be off on the Blue Star to Athens this evening. This is happening up and down the coast and has been for some time now, other islands also have the same problems to deal with as we saw on Kos last year.

Seems wrong, somehow, to follow that with ‘we have just come back from a nice walk’ but that’s what we’ve just done. I’m typing this up on Tuesday afternoon having just been to Pedi and back. Down by the road, up through the valley, photos of plants and grass abound, there are sheep and their lambs grazing, blissfully unaware that this weekend is Easter weekend here in Greece, and there are church bells ringing.

Pedi itself is preparing for summer, the taverna had customers, although I got the impression it was on a fairly informal basis. There are some boats around, a white sail has just tacked into Yialos below me, and there are others out there on the currently calm sea. The weather is reportedly going to turn belligerent and might cause a shipping ban over the next couple of days. That’s one thing that’s put Neil off popping back to Rhodes this week; he will go after Easter.

It’s all about getting ready for work and this year he will be working for Yiannis at the Rainbow bar. He will need to get some medical tests done first, as everyone who works in bars, cafes, etc. has to do. Well, you can decide to not, and risk a very hefty fine. It means a trip to Rhodes, some tests at the hospital, private doctors or Euromedica depending on how much you want to pay, and then coming back again. But if there’s going to be a shopping ban, you don’t want to be struck in Rhode for three days running up to Easter only to find the boat that does come back is already booked solid.

So, that’s Tuesday’s news. Have a good Wednesday.

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Just sitting down to write tomorrow’s post and there’s the coastguard helicopter circling overhead and one of the coastguard ships out in the straight. You can’t quite make it all out in this photo. I can only assume more refugees are trying to get arcos from Turkey and the recent crackdown on the people traffickers hasn’t put anyone else off starting up their own illegal business. Or it may just be an exercise of course.

It’s a grey day out there today with the wind getting up and the air feeling cold. We’re off to a tap rehearsal after a light lunch, then to Yialos to the bank and then back up for an evening in, keeping warm and probably starting on ‘Game Of Thrones’ series two. Yesterday we entertained a couple who we had chatted to in Rhodes when we went out for dinner; they came over for a day trip to Panormitis and Symi and came up to the house for a glass of wine in the afternoon. In the evening, Neil and I called in to Georgio’s for some local lamb, and very nice it was too. And now ‘Great Week’ starts in the build up to Easter. The smell of cooking from next door is wonderful as people prepare for the break of the fast on Saturday night/Sunday.

But before all that, I can share with you some of Neil’s photos from Rhodes, and my only problem is, which ones to start with? Well, I have to share the ones of us messing around in Mandraki. This was on Friday evening when we’d started to go a bit stir crazy. We’d done all the doctors’ things and everything was fine there, we’d had lunch, we’d done the walks and the shopping – including an hour in Jumbo for all those things you didn’t realise you wanted by don’t actually need. So, by the evening we were feeling a bit like being silly as we went for a sunset stroll around the harbour. It was a very pleasant sunset and just the right lighting for doing handstands on benches and practicing the tap routine.

But enough of that. Remember I mentioned the ‘Throne Of Helios’? That’s the 9D Cinema show playing in Rhodes right now. Here’s its website; you may have to click on the language flags to the right. http://www.throneofhelios.com/index.php

It’s a 3D show but it has other gimmicks and gadgets that add the extra dimensions – which are not really dimensions I guess, but you get to experience more than any other 3D cinema that I have encountered. The only thing missing is smell. At one point we had a chamber pot thrown over us, next moment we were riding up the Street of the Knights in Rhodes Old Town and then flying above the island before going under water. All very clever and great to see. It was €10.00 per adult, though there are various ticket options available. We were the only two in for this 20 minute show, the other people had come to see the other show which is about Darwin. Although that wasn’t due on until an hour later, the staff played it for the group straight after us.

That gave the other group time enough to see the exhibition that is in the same building, and learn more about the history of Rhodes. It’s a great adventure, good fun for children and adults alike, though under sevens might get scared. There’s nothing nasty in it but your chair moves, you get a bit wet, there’s wind and it’s all very realistic.

You can find this place just behind Starbucks, on Mandraki front, on the road that leads up to the Lydia Hotel and Ote. If you’re waiting for a ferry over to Symi and have a night in Rhodes, it’s a great way to pass a bit of time. As is doing handstands on benches, but I only recommend that for those who a) can do it, b) don’t care, or c) have had a drink.

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Here we are getting back to normal and having had an MOT in Rhodes. The sun (on this appropriately named Sunday, as I write) is out and things are starting to warm up. The sea is calm, the boat has just come in and dropped off some day trippers, people are opening their businesses and getting them ready, and the world that is Symi is ticking over nicely.

We’re back from a couple of days in Rhodes and I have some more Trip Advisor reviews to write: once again impressed with the Lydia Hotel (reduced rate and some free internet), and also with a couple of restaurants and ‘The Throne of Helios’ 9D cinema; well worth €10.00 for 20 minutes of fun. You can’t actually write reviews of medical services on Trip Adviser, or maybe you can, but I have now definitely found out what’s wrong with my ear and balance. I know you are so interested to know all about it that you can hardly contain your indifference, so here we go.

The thing is, here in Greece, if you have a bit of time and a bit of money you can see a private doctor for just about anything, if you want to. And when I say a bit of money I mean €50.00 for a consultation (in my experience). You can of course, see your GP and get your treatment for ‘free’ as long as you are in the national health scheme, or have other insurance. But, although I am in the KIA scheme and covered, I chose, once a year to go and see a couple of doctors, at a time that suits me, and have as long as it takes without waiting around, and slip in an examination as part of my ‘holiday.’ Which is exactly what we did last week. And, in this case, I saw a very cheery ear doctor, whose English was fluent, I should add (my Greek is still not up to discussing labyrinthitis and auditory systems, and I daren’t go near the word ‘cochlea’ without a safety net).

I took a taxi to his clinic as it was a little way of my usual path (tip: get a taxi from one of the many taxi ranks, if you order via the hotel you can add on about €3.00 per trip). I turned up at the appointed time and was seen, at the appointed time. I told him my symptoms: noise in ear, constant, sometimes loud, hardly ever stops, very annoying, and occasional dizziness, the keyboard waving up and down as I work, a bit of almost falling over etc. So, he had a look in, and up the nose, and down the throat and made sure my brain was in order with a ‘follow the finger’ test. Then there was some marching on the spot and walking with eyes closed and trying not to fall to the side. And then I became a contestant on ‘Mr & Mrs’ and sat in a booth with headphones on and pressed buttons.

All very exciting. And then, after some other tests, the diagnosis: high blood pressure. Ears are all fine, no hearing loss, no vertigo (as such) and, exactly as the doctor on Symi had diagnosed two years ago (and given me tablets for), I had it confirmed that the BP is slightly up and there’s not a lot I can do about the noise in the ear. It’s because your do-dah artery goes close to the cochlea and that’s’ what makes the sound…

So, that part of the adventure was over and done with. He did suggest I see a cardiologist though, just to be sure, and a quick taxi ride, a further €50.00 and one hour later and I’d seen one, been wired up like something from a James Whale film, and had an all clear from that specialist too. You have to love the private health arrangements over here and, I better add, that if I’d asked to do all this via IKA I would have seen just as good a set of professionals at the hospital or wherever.

No doubt there will be more about our trip during this week; I still have to tell you about the 9D Cinema, Thai noodles and doing handstands on the bench in Mandraki.

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