A Pale Rainbow

It has been raining fairly steadily since about nine o’clock this morning and for once no one is grumbling about it as the rain is sorely needed. This is the driest winter in 35 years and the effects are already being felt in the agricultural sector. It seems as though the weather will be following the same pattern as last weekend with rain followed by strong winds and a subsequent period of sunny weather.

We are hunkered down in the Symi Visitor office, working on the February edition of the Symi Visitor newspaper while the rain patters down on the stones outside. The Proteus has just passed through on its north bound journey, bringing fresh supplies onto the island. There was a mad scramble to get the boxes off in the wet and the vegetable trucks were swathed in plastic sheeting.

A huddle of damp conscripts is clambering into the back of a Bedford, ‘step out’ uniforms darkening in the rain. A bleak introduction to an island which new arrivals have been known to refer to as ‘Alcatraz’. Extraordinary though it may seem to those visitors who come of their own volition in the carefree days of summer, Symi is not a popular destination to do ones army service, being regarded by those from the cities as the most remote posting possible. A matter of perspective perhaps?

A pale rainbow is forming across the entrance to the harbour, one foot at Tholos and the other at the hairpin bend in the road out of town, as the rain clouds shift on the gathering breeze and a puddle of sunlight is catching the monastery over on Nimos. A fleeting interval as the next shower is already spattering across the grey water.

Have a good weekend.

Regards,
Adriana