Sinking boats...
There are some more photos of the storm and its aftermath on our 'Out & About in Symi' page.
Dodging Dollops of Spray
It is a wild and stormy winter's day. The wind is howling across the island and the old houses are creaking and groaning under the onslaught, shutters banging and rattling with every gust. Squalls of heavy rain have been driving across the bay, pushing whitecaps before them, since this morning. Waves are breaking along the quay all along our side of the harbour and cars and bikes negotiating the waterfront are dodging dollops of spray. The fishing boats are tied up to the quay and the men are huddled in Pachos, warming their hands on their coffee.
There is a country wide shipping ban as there is a Force 10 northerly gale blowing in the Aegean and Force 8-9 everywhere else. Some of the more exposed airports are also closed, particularly on the Aegean islands. Temperatures are continuing to fall and snow is expected on the Turkish mountains visible across the water from Symi.
The internet is also playing up with connections breaking down every few minutes. This has become a feature of communications every time we have bad weather. A frayed cable swaying in the wind? I shall now have a go at posting this!
Have a warm week.
Regards,
Adriana
Calling Ornithologists
On Sunday we heard a tremendous rumpus in the henhouse and went to investigate. Due to the avian flu legislation all our poultry runs are roofed over with chicken wire but someone had managed to find a gap at the top of the gate...
We removed him without incident, although he wasn't too impressed to have his lunch plans interrupted. The young hens had taken refuge in the laying boxes and were unharmed.
Free and away, just a distant speck in the sky within seconds of being let go.
If anyone can identify our visitor, please email me! Thanks.
Between Christmas and Easter
After a week's capricious internet service things seem to be working again, more or less. The problems seems to be country wide but this time there was no apology or explanation from OTE in the press - just endless frustration at dropped links and every error message possible short of 'out to lunch' and 'gone fishing'. I hope it holds long enough to post this.
Yesterday I made my annual pilgrimage to the Traffic Police in Rhodes to pay the licence fee for our Piaggio Ape. In previous years this has involved standing in queues for hours but not this time. I was in and out in five minutes as I was the only person there. The policeman who completed the transaction cheerfully informed me that this piece of bureaucracy can now be accomplished at the KEP office downstairs at Symi town hall. Now what excuse can I use to get over to Rhodes for the winter sales?!
The Christmas stuff has been packed away in the Rhodian shops but Pappou, the last of the old fashioned department stores in Rhodes, was clearing the ground floor display area for Carnival paraphernalia and children's fancy dress costumes are already appearing in shop windows. Proof that in Greece at least there is something on the commercial calendar between Christmas and Easter.
It rained all day in Rhodes so I was most surprised on my return to discover that not a drop had fallen on Symi. The cloud drifted over to Symi overnight, however, and it has been dripping here since before dawn. As it is perfectly calm and the cloud is low the sea is the colour of pewter instead of its usual indigo variations. It is unusual on Symi to have a day so dark that it is necessary to have the lights on as is the case today. It is not particularly cold, however, with temperatures around 10 degrees centigrade. The weather is expected to clear tomorrow but more rain is forecast for early next week.
Have a good weekend.
Regards,
Adriana
A Lone Robin
The rain missed us and we had an idyllic weekend of clear skies and sunshine so we took the opportunity to load a few friends into the rubber duck and head for Nimos with a picnic hamper. Skipping across the flat sea in an inflatable boat is a bracing experience at this time of the year but worth it when the destination enjoys the sun until late in the afternoon. We had an extra guest at the buffet-a lone robin who amused us greatly with his antics and bold forays at self-service-he found the feta a little on the salty side but kept returning to the bread board long after the remains of the loaf had been packed away.
Meanwhile, back in the Pedi valley, we are in an ovine maternity ward and the lambs are anything but silent. These two families posed for the camera this morning. The black ram has certainly been busy!
That long forecast rain is expected to hit us tomorrow-the remnants of the same weather system that has been dumping snow on the Italian Alps.
Have a good week.
Regards,
Adriana
Adriana's blog on your phone
Now you can catch up with the latest news from Symi on the go, without needing to log on to a computer!The text and photos are automatically re-sized to fit your screen's resolution, making everything easily viewable.
You can access Adriana's Symi blog on your mobile phone at the following address:
http://adrianassymi.mofuse.mobi/
If you have any problems accessing Adriana's blog in this format, please email me. Read more...
Cabbages to Carpets
The halcyon days may be coming to an end as a spell of unsettled weather is expected to bring countrywide showers over the next few days. Wind-torn high clouds already hint at gales in the Aegean and further shipping disruptions are likely due to industrial action among port workers in Greece's major harbours.
While we are all waiting to find out what the ferry schedules will be to get us from Symi to Rhodes and vice versa between now and April, a Google news alert has just popped up to advise us that a luxury Silversea cruise ship will be passing through Symi in the week starting 12 September 2009, on a voyage from Istanbul to Athens. Now that's what I call forward planning.
Meanwhile the crowds are gathering on the quay below our office window, waiting for the Proteus to come in from Rhodes. The orange seller's truck has more empty crates than full ones so bad luck, Tilos and Nissyros. The peripatetic hawkers of everything from cabbages to carpets are an essential part of island life in the winter and everyone waits with interest to see what will roll off the boat next. Limited choices are a characteristic of island life but the very randomness of what those choices are adds an element of excitement never to be found in huge shopping malls where everything is available all year round.
Have a good weekend.
Regards,
Adriana
Halcyon Days
The halcyon days are here and anyone who can find an excuse to be out of doors is enjoying the wintry sunshine. Looking across the harbour I can see a huddle of basking residents sipping coffee and exchanging holiday stories outside Elpida's. On days like this it is usually warmer outside than in. It is about 15 degrees at midday, falling to around 8 degrees centigrade at night. The breeze is from the north which makes for a chilly draught after sunset but is also responsible for the amazing clarity of light and sharp visibility that is a feature of this time of the year. At dawn we can see the sun shining on the snow on the distant peaks of Asia Minor and at night the headlights of cars on the coastal road around Bosburun. The stars are every bit as bright as those in the Karoo.
In the Pedi valley the sheep are fast disappearing in the undergrowth as the grass is now growing quicker than they can eat it. The lemons are ripening at last, about a month later than the last two winters, but heavy and full of juice none the less. Time to knuckle down and start on this year's lemoncello, not to mention lemon chutney and lemon pickles. Still no cyclamen flowers though and the almond blossom is running late. Many of the almond trees are still covered in leaves as we haven't had a long enough cold spell yet for winter dormancy to kick in. The rosemary bushes in my garden are in full bloom, buzzing with my neighbour's bees as the hives are just on the other side of the fence.
Webcam fans will have noticed that the bus is back after its annual service and inspection - it came over on the Proteus last night.
Have a good week.
Regards,
Adriana
This Joyful Day
Epiphany is one of the most colourful events on the holy calendar and this year was no exception. Vivid oranges glowing amongst the evergreen branches, bright blue and white Greek flags fluttering along with ecclesiastical bunting and the priests in their most splendid regalia.
A bitterly cold day with high cloud, there was some relief when the sun came out for the celebrations as the lightly clad participants stoically sat in the boats, awaiting the crucial moment. Over at Harani where the accompanying photos in this diary were taken there was a moment’s anxiety when the crucifix became entangled in the mooring line of a near by power yacht but the problem was quickly solved with a scoop net and no harm was done.
For more photographs of this joyful day, please see the Out and About page.
Have a good week.
Regards,
Adriana
A Piercing North Wind
The sun is out, the sky is blue and a piercing north wind is rattling at the shutters. A chilly reminder that much of the Balkans and Turkey is currently under snow. The Aegli hydrofoil ran this morning, despite some apprehensions on that score as the sea is quite rough. The Proteus has just pulled in from Rhodes, laden with fresh fruit and vegetables, the first to be seen in the shops for some time due to the holidays. Crates of red and white cabbages, oranges and tangerines, apples and bananas are stacked on the quay, awaiting collection, and local shopkeepers armed with trolleys are scrambling to unload boxes of groceries into their vans. Tonight will be a good night for shopping!
This is the last holiday weekend of the festive season, culminating in the Epiphany celebrations on Sunday. After that it is back to work for many people as the count down to the start of the next tourist season commences and it will be a case of calculating how many shutters/doors/tables and chairs have to be repainted before Easter. Although the days are getting longer again the coldest winter weather is still ahead of us. Hawkers selling blankets and quilts are doing brisk business and the small halogen heaters that are standard in this part of the world are prominently displayed outside the shops in Chorio and Yialos. Something that is increasingly difficult to find, however, is the old fashioned hot water bottle. Much less expensive to run in these energy-expensive days than an electric blanket so perhaps they will make a come-back!
Have a warm weekend.
Regards,
Adriana
Pedi 2 January 2008
A fine example of why it is not a good idea to tie ones boat to a tamarisk tree during the stormy season. This tamarisk has been yanked clean out of the ground in the recent strong winds.
New holiday accommodation is springing up along with the squills.
A convenient use for a bench when there are no tourists around.
Three-Dimensional Damp
Thirty-eight millimeters of rain isn’t a bad New Year’s gift from St Basil for an island with a perennial water shortage. As you can see from the photographs even the barren hillside on the hot side of the Pedi valley is turning green and Pontikokastro (Mouse Castle) is now surrounded by vegetation of sorts. Nearby Rhodes fared rather less well with flash floods in many areas.New Year passed off fairly quietly on Symi with no fireworks, just some dynamite and lots of bells. From our roof we could see the faint flare of distant fireworks over Turkey. The rain came the following morning, a persistent drizzle that escalated into the continuous and penetrating rain that finds its way in under shutters and seeps through the walls, making the whitewash bloom. A good supply of dry firewood is always useful when Symi has one of its spells of three-dimensional damp and the aroma of woodsmoke still lingered on the air as I was walking to work this morning.
Most businesses are still closed today and the on going rain is keeping people indoors. The weather is expected to clear again tomorrow as the wind changes to the north, bringing with it a drop in temperatures. At the moment it looks as though the Epiphany ceremony on 6 January may well be quite chilly. With much of the high ground in Greece and Turkey under snow even here on Symi a northerly wind can bring wind chill down to below freezing.
Have a good week.
Regards,
Adriana
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