Still and silent Symi
Kalo Mina!
I didn’t manage a long walk on Monday after all, but I did pop out to the village for a short one. It was so quiet! I guess everyone was at their family barbeques, flying kites, down by the sea, up in the mountains…
Both bars in the square were closed, but the corner shop was open. I felt like whispering when I called in there, it was so quiet. The square was empty, no boys playing football, no children gathered on the steps at Syllogos, nobody passing by. Only one old man was sitting on one of the benches in the square looking wistfully down at his house next door, contemplating life, or perhaps wondering when he would be allowed back in; once the floors had dried, perhaps. I heard no birds singing, there was no breeze to worry the trees, nothing passing by, not even the sound of a church bell or a motorbike. It was as if the whole world was on hold for a while. Someone had pressed the pause button.
The sky was clear and the day as warm. I could smell the new season in the air, which was clear and still. The sea was as flat as I had ever seen it, reflecting the hills like ice and, when I reached home and looked down from the roof, only a few people were wandering the quayside. Later in the day, the Blue Star came back and went just as the Dodecanese was coming back in, collecting a group of visitors from Rhodes, it looked like. Later, the evening settled in, and things took on a different sound.
There was a party… somewhere, on Monday night. We could hear (and at one point, feel) the music from down below and, with lights on a some of the harbour-front cafes, I assumed it was coming from down there. The music was still playing, though much more quietly, when we got up at 5.30 the next day, so it sounded like the party had gone on all night. The sound wasn’t at a level to disturb but, with everything being so quiet during the day, I was aware of it. Maybe it was a mix of music from the taverna, Yialos and perhaps even a private party. Wherever it was, it sounded like everyone was having a grand time.
Tuesday, and the outlook has changed. The sea is still calm, the air still, but today it’s grey and flat. Nimos is hung with a low cloud, the air is misty and dripping with humidity, though it feels colder than yesterday. I have heard a few cars passing by the house today, a sign that the world is turning out there, and soon I am heading down into to town to pick up my new keyboard; a proper Qwerty one in English and Greek. This is the one I should have bought before I got clever and ordered from Germany. That one is sitting over there, waiting to be used as an emergency measure, but hopefully, the new one will serve me for another year or two.
And that’s the no-news for today.
