Little Sign of a Down Turn

The wind has been howling round Symi since Wednesday night as a strong south easterly gale has been buffeting the island. The whole of Greece has been coping with winds up to Force 10 on the Beaufort Scale and shipping is only now starting to catch up with its schedule as all shipping movements were banned yesterday. The Proteus is running a day late and as it is only passing through Symi at midday today en route to Rhodes, it will be late for its normal northbound trip from Rhodes to Symi, Nissyros and Kos which usually leaves Rhodes at 12.00 on Fridays. Meanwhile, a serious forest fire broke out at Kameiros on Rhodes. More information on this can be found at http://news.ert.gr/en/greece/politics/16305-se-katastasi-ektaktou-anagkis-perioxi-tis-rodou.htm. Conditions are expected to improve for Saturday and Sunday, deteriorating again on Sunday night as the next front reaches us. This time it will bring a drop in temperatures as the wind is expected to come from the north whereas this last blast was actually quite warm, nudging the thermometer up into the low twenties for a while.


The other repetitive theme apart from the weather at the moment is the travails of the Public Power Corporation – Symi was once again without electricity yesterday. They are not, however, the only work crew currently in evidence on the island. A large boring rig is drilling for water in the vicinity of the Pedi Road, hunting for Symi’s elusive water table. As they lubricate the drill bit with vats of industrial detergent, a bizarre tide of soapy slurry has been a feature of the Pedi road this week – enough to slow down all the motorbike traffic and force motorists to observe more caution than is usual at this time of the year. This exercise is, apparently, part of the eventual installation of the desalination plant at the Pedi Road reservoir. Meanwhile, the floating crane is systematically laying out the new mole and breakwater for the yacht shelter in Pedi bay. Work is also progressing steadily at the new undercover sports stadium in Chorio – the workmen are busy putting up the scaffolding for the tiers of seats for the basketball court. While the ‘credit crunch’ may have brought construction to its knees in other parts of the western world, here on Symi there is little sign of a down turn and everywhere one looks there is a bustle of activity.


Have a good weekend,

Regards,

Adriana