A Pleasant Blur

It is a bright blue and white spring day on Symi. The sun is sparkling on the water and the houses are dazzling in the pure light. A brisk northerly breeze is blowing through the tamarisk trees and ruffling the sun umbrellas. Most of the day-trippers have departed and all is quiet in the harbour, most visitors being happily settled on the beach in Pedi or further afield. Now that the water taxis and excursion boats are in operation and the weather perfect few visitors staying on the island are seen in Yialos or Chorio during the day. As we are only a month from the solstice there is no need to head for home until late in the day and a pleasant blur of twilight gatherings in bars and cafes fills the interval before dinner.

While late spring rains have given Symi a lingering verdure, the insect population this year is exceptional. Even my cats are complaining at mosquitoes biting their noses and ears and my usual supermarkets have sold out of fly-papers. Days are bad but nights are worse. The puddles of molten wax around the wicks of the citronella candles quickly become an unattractive soup of embalmed moths and leaving the window open and the light on is an invitation to a Pandora’s boxful of winged things. The geckoes and spiders, however, are delighted with this bumper crop and I have seen some so fat they are having trouble remaining aloft. White and yellow are attractive to many insects which is why they are the traditional colours for fly-papers and other organic pest traps. Although white clothes are cool they can also make you the target for unwanted attention so if all the mosquitoes in the taverna have made a bee-line for you that may well be the reason why!

Have a good weekend.

Regards,