Ochre and Rose, Azure and Peppermint

Despite early morning showers and ominous grey clouds rolling around the mountain top until midday, a stormy Sunday slipped into a perfect evening and Kleanthi (from the Symi Visitor) and Kostas were able to celebrate their wedding at Panormitis monastery with nary a cloud to mar the festivities. See www.symi-photos.com for photographs of this joyful occasion.

Monday meant another all day power cut for much of the island of Symi, which is why this posting is a day later than usual and the webcams were off line for much of Monday. Today it is Pedi’s turn to be in the dark as the Public Power Corporation is replacing several poles down there. Meanwhile in Yialos it is business as usual as we all catch up on yesterday’s chores. With Christmas only weeks away the post office is an inevitable port of call. More shops now have Christmas items in stock and decorations are going up in the businesses that are open for the winter. Santa Claus is climbing a ladder at the kiosk at Kampos which has just reopened under new ownership and every evening reveals more fairy lights in homes around Chorio. Watching the street lights come on over Chorio in the early evening, Symi’s dainty neo-classical houses in all their shades of ochre and rose, azure and peppermint take on the air of a cosy toyland that is very different to the sunsets of summer.

1 December is officially the first day of winter in Greece and, as you can see from the webcam images, it is indeed a grey and wintry day on Symi. The long range forecast for Symi for the next week is overcast with strong winds and occasional showers as weather fronts pile into the Mediterranean from the Atlantic. We can, however, be grateful that we are not flooded as is the case in Venice this morning. Even on Symi it does not take much of a storm surge to bring the waves lapping across the customs slipway and much of the harbour widening work in the last twenty years has been intended as much to reduce flooding of sea level properties in Yialos as to facilitate vehicle traffic round the harbour.

Have a peaceful week.

Regards,
Adriana