Nocturnal Nibblers

Symi has sweltered through another heatwave with day time temperatures hitting 44 degrees centigrade and the island soaking up the heat like a giant storage heater. The rocks are too hot touch. The water that comes from the taps is scalding from the black plastic pipes that snake along the lanes and paths, supplying water to the households of Symi. The cats lie around, panting in hot heaps wherever they can find a puddle of shade and the nights are filled with tinkling of sheep bells as my woolly neighbours have become nocturnal nibblers.

In my Symi vegetable garden the first tomatoes are starting to ripen. As they are shaded by the olive grove for much of the day and we are watering them morning and evening they are looking quite good despite the heat. The roses and citrus trees are not so lucky and all the soft new growth has been singed off as if by blow torch. The only flowers flourishing with extraordinary eccentricity are the sweet-scented foulis. The waxy blooms turn brown within a day but are at least unfurling, whereas many flowering shrubs and climbers are just shedding their buds, unopened.

Symi is very quiet during the day as everyone who can is on the beach. The island’s labourers have been starting work at 6 a.m to avoid the heat of the day and it is only the foolhardy who sally forth hatless between 10 a.m and late afternoon.

Have a good week.

Regards,
Adriana