An icy blast

It is a wild and windy day on Symi. Apart from a few muffled figures hunkered down behind the plastic drop-cloths of the coffee shops there is not a soul to be seen. This was one weather forecast that proved to be hundred percent accurate as the clear mild conditions of Christmas changed to an icy blast on Boxing Day and all shipping has ground to a halt. It is 5 degrees centigrade on Symi today, with a wind chill factor around minus 7. The photograph shows the white caps rolling past Pedi early this morning. This particularly wind direction always hits Yialos hard but by passes Pedi. Fortunately conditions are expected to improve in the course of the day and shipping should be back to normal by tomorrow. We are still waiting to find out what is happening with the ferry schedule for January but at least it looks as though the weather will be reasonable…

Agios Vassilis (St Basil) traditionally delivers presents on his name day, 1 January, so there are still a few shopping days left for gift buying in Greece. These days Agios Vassilis is dressed in a Santa Claus suit, so we have one saint disguised as another, but as Santa Claus owes his red and white ensemble to the Coca Cola company anyway, who is to say where tradition really starts. The British didn’t have Christmas trees until Prince Albert married Victoria and the ‘traditional’ Christmas turkey is a post World War II American import. Who knows what new traditions the 21st century will bring to the celebration of Christmas?

Have a good week.

Regards,
Adriana