Photographers are having a wonderful time

We were awakened in the early hours of Sunday morning by the quick patter of rain across the tin roof. This rapidly increased in velocity and within the space of 3 hours we had 22 mm in the rainwater gauge, 3 tonnes in the cistern and 2 cm of water in the house as the gutters could not cope with the volume of water and overflowed. Long after the rain stopped we could hear water roaring down the Panormitis road and even this morning, more than 24 hours later, large parts of our road are a lake. Fortunately it did not come through the bedroom and we were able to divert the flow in the workshop so that it went out through the drains drilled in the front wall to cope with previous inundations.

This is the heaviest rain we've ever had this early and by mid-morning we had the plough out and were taking advantage of the now loosened soil to get some early sowing in. Normally we have to plant our winter vegetables in seed trays as the ground is too hard to plant in until November.

The snail gatherers were also out in force, an unusual sight this early in the autumn. One regular visitor to the island was amused to witness an absent-mindedly placed bag full of snails escape all over a neighbouring roof terrace, much to the consternation of the woman who had gathered them in first place and forgotten to tied up the bag.

The weather should remain fair and dry until the end of the week with temperatures in the mid twenties. Visibility is marvellous as the rain has settled all the dust and photographers are having a wonderful time - the horizon has just shifted by about 20 miles!

Have a good week.

Regards,
Adriana
The Symi Visitor