Bleating sheep, tinkling goat bells

The meltemi brought some relief from the heat on Saturday but by Sunday the sea was once again a shimmering mirror surrounded by hazy hills. The summer-deciduous trees are losing their leaves quite quickly now and many plants are becoming dormant. Green and purple figs are ripening and the vines are a tangle of green against the brightly painted houses. The caper bushes form verdant islands on the brown and rocky terraces.

Animals are increasingly nocturnal and the night is punctuated by bleating sheep, tinkling goat bells, munching donkeys and cats on the prowl. In the day time there is little movement to be seen apart from the occasional startled lizard and even the human life is slipping into the slow rhythms of summer.

I am going home to water my tomatoes - and the frogs who have taken up residence in the relative coolth of my shade houses.

Have a good week!

Regards,
Adriana
www.SymiVisitor.com

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It is 38 degrees in the sun

The Symi has finally departed and peace has returned to our little corner of the harbour. I have reopened the windows to let in the air now that the noise has gone. It is very hot with not much of a breeze. Just the passing whiff of calamari drifting up from the taverna next door. Anyone with a choice is at the beach today. It is 38 degrees in the sun.

There is a family of birds that lives in the air space between our office ceiling and the stone-flagged terrace above. (Stand on the balcony at your peril!) Now that the stones are heating up they spend much of the day chatting on the power lines and swooping through the scrubby trees on the rock face next to our entrance.

Speaking of the entrance to our office, the plants are looking quite good this year and recovered completely from being covered with paint during the renovations last summer. The hibiscus has big red flowers and the variegated bougainvillea is shooting in all directions. I have planted different kinds of scarlet and red pelargoniums between them which are taking well. Now if I can just persuade various savages from leaving cigarette butts and sandwich wrappings in the planters it would look perfect! (We got round the cat problem with a layer of gravel so thick even the most determined cat is frustrated.)

Have a good weekend.

Regards,
Adriana
www.symivisitor.com
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Glassy tideless calm

It is warm and windless on Symi this morning. The sky is streaked with high whisps of cloud suggesting that the meltemi is blowing somewhere to the north of us. It must be cold up there as the sky is cross hatched with vapour trails. The sea has that glassy tideless calm that I have only ever seen in the Red Sea and the Mediterranean. To paraphrase a children's rhyme, when it is calm it is very very calm but when it is windy it is horrid! Small fishing boats are puttering back from checking their nets around Nimborio and Nimos and the yachtsmen are only just waking up. It is not unusual to see sheet-shrouded figures lying on the decks at this time of the year as it is way too hot to sleep in the cabins. More yachts are swinging at anchor in Pedi which is considerably cooler, even if there is the hassle of having to row ashore for dinner.

The little hire boats are finally in the water by the clock tower. They had great fun rigging the mooring buoys on Tuesday, a day when the meltemi passed through Symi rather than around! It is commendable that they managed to get the row so straight, all things considered.

The tarmac is just about complete - they are rollering the fine top coat now and as most of it is set firm it is quite springy to walk on instead of like fly-paper.

Have a good weekend.

Regards,
Adriana
www.symivisitor.com
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Temperatures are expected to continue to rise

The Symi is departing (see webcam), as is the water boat which is reversing carefully, trying hard not to hit a yacht which has anchored off the Nireus. There is a rather ungainly looking mini cruise ship the Diogenes Something or other moored beneath our window, the bright green nylon astroturf decks gleaming nicely in the afternoon sun. Imitation grass is a bad idea at the best of times but on a boat it is really out of place...

There are a few streaky clouds in the sky and the yachts sailing over from Nimos are heeled hard over in a brisk northerly breeze which has also blown the away some of the heat haze and brought some relief from the heat. Temperatures are expected to continue to rise.

The first phase of the road-tarring operation is almost complete. A fine film of tar and sticky gravel now covers virtually every surface on the island as it is impossible to avoid either walking across or driving over the stuff in the course of the day. There have been numerous road closures and the taxis refused to wreck their tyres by driving over it until it is completely set.

Speaking of strikes, the banks have been on strike all week and although they should be open on Monday there's no guarantee that they won't be shut later in the week. Travellers are advised to bring sufficient cash euros to tide them over for a few days as of course no one is refilling ATMs, the money changers are running out of euros and, as old hands will know, not many places in the islands have credit card facilities.

And on that cheery note, have a good weekend.

Regards,
Adriana
www.symivisitor.com

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It's definitely hot out there

The tottering thunderclouds have burned away and Turkey is a distant shadow through the heat haze. The Greek flag droops on the stern of the Symi moored beneath our balcony and the only waves are those generated by passing boats. Visitors passing through our office this morning have varied between the gently glowing and the positively florid - it's definitely hot out there.

Temperatures were in the low thirties over the weekend and are likely to remain high for the foreseeable future. With the falling humidity the old houses of Symi are starting to speak in the eerie creaks and moans of shrinking wood and cracking paint. Doors no longer seal and the glass panes in windows slide loose against the tacks. Ants stroll in and out through chinks that in winter were too tight to permit a sheet of paper.

Up in Chorio the road gang spent the weekend pouring tarmac and by Sunday evening had worked their way down from Pireotissa as far as the corner below Lavinia. Coming to work this morning, it looked really strange to see a smooth black road without potholes, trenches and various battle scars. I wonder how long the canvas will remain blank.

Have a good week.

Regards,
Adriana
www.symivisitor.com
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Drifts of white oregano flowers

The thermometer continues to climb steadily and the thunder clouds tease us on the horizon. We had a total of 4 mm of rain. Sufficient to liquefy the dust on the citrus and rose leaves and make it pool on the edges so they look as though they have been edged with white paint. It is the time for spiders to spin their webs high in the trees and grow fat on a diet of mosquitoes and flies. It is quite extraordinary to look up at daybreak when watering the tomatoes and see the webs, fat spider in the middle, silhouetted against the brightening sky. The sun now rises towards the centre of Pedi bay instead of creeping up from the ridge of hills behind us, a crimson sphere emerging from distant mauve mountains and reflected on the silver of the bay. There are some rewards for being an early riser!

The last patches of colour in the countryside are the drifts of white oregano flowers, populated as usual with little bronze beetles, and the neat lavender-blue flowers of wild chicory.

Our youngest batch of chickens is now growing up and one of the cocks is learning to crow, a strange gurgling sound, cockadoodle-urk. Little does he know that he and his brothers are being fattened for the pot - we already have 3 cocks which is more than enough to keep the hens happy!

Have a good weekend.

Regards,
Adriana
www.SymiVisitor.com
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